John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, hear, Member for Dunkley! Yesterday was Clean Up Australia Day. Like thousands of Australians, I donned gloves and got out in the community to help restore our beautiful country. Every year I join Victor Dominello MP for Ryde, local scouts, residents and our young supporters to dredge through the mangroves at the Meadowbank Wharf. Mangroves are great for cleaning our rivers and harbour of toxins, but they also collect a lot of plastic and other rubbish in their roots. Once again we saw bag loads of rubbish there that had been swept down with recent high tides. We did our bit and left the riverside sparkling and refreshed. I thank everyone who came down and put in backbreaking effort. We'll be back next year. Hopefully, there will be much less to pick up.

Clean Up Australia Day is a great event, but it's important to remember that the message is beyond the day itself, so it was great to see the Prime Minister launching Australia's first National Plastics Summit this morning in the Great Hall. The plastic problem we're facing is mammoth, but with innovative solutions we can seize the opportunities this presents and not just fix a problem but grow a sustainable industry full of opportunities. Until then, we'll keep picking up the rubbish down at Meadowbank Wharf.