Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In March this year I was absolutely delighted to attend OzHarvest's flagship fundraising event for the year: the OzHarvest CEO cook-off at Moore Park. Over 150 CEOs, business and community leaders joined 50 of Australia's top chefs to cook and serve a feast for 1,300 Australians at an event that raised $2 million.

OzHarvest was founded by the inspirational Ronni Khan in 2004. I'm so proud of the fact that I attended the launch of OzHarvest in 2004, and at that launch in Surry Hills in my electorate, I said it reminded me of the lyrics in the Paul Kelly song 'From Little Things Big Things Grow'. I was certain that OzHarvest would go from strength to strength, and indeed it has. It was the first organisation in Australia to rescue perishable excess food. Ronni has been driven by her passion to make a difference and stop good food going to waste. Starting with one van in Sydney, OzHarvest has now grown to 50 vans operating across nine Australian cities. Over 100 tonnes of food is rescued each week from over 3,000 food donors, with the food delivered directly and free of charge to over 1,000 charities. Since 2004, 83 million meals have been delivered, and 28,000 tonnes of food has been saved from landfill. I urge people to watch the film next Monday night about OzHarvest.