Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about a wonderful initiative in my electorate, which is the Mullumbimby Community Gardens. Of course, it is based in the fantastic town on the North Coast of New South Wales—Mullumbimby, a very vibrant and exciting town. I think the community garden really reflects the great diversity and enthusiasm of the town. I was pleased to announce recently that the Mullumbimby Sustainability Education and Enterprise Development, known as Mullum SEED, which is located at the Mullumbimby Community Gardens, will receive $12,000 in federal funding out of the Stronger Communities Program. This funding will contribute to the installation of a worm farm greywater system, plumbing fixtures, sinks and benches, enabling them to operate a compliant kitchen. Mullum SEED will be matching this funding with cash and in-kind contributions.

It is going to make huge difference having this in place. The project will operate a cafe and catering service using produce grown in its gardens and they will prepare cost price lunches for volunteers and also for homeless people. The facility will be available for community hire whilst also being used for training and the certifying of hospitality students with work experience in their kitchen. This community garden is absolutely fantastic and has grown so much in recent years. They have a variety of community plots where people can come along and take whatever they want from the gardens by giving whatever donations they are able to. They have people that pay for private plots as well. They have a fantastic kids area as well. It just draws the community together whilst at the same time producing some wonderful produce grown in the gardens.