Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last three years 120 tonnes of rubbish has been picked up by hand from Brisbane waterways by the incredible volunteers of Ocean Crusaders. Based in Hemmant, Ocean Crusaders specialise in waterway cleaning on a large scale.

I recently met up with Ian and the team at Ocean Crusaders to hear how the federal government support has enabled them to keep expanding their operations and is helping them achieve their vision for a cleaner Brisbane River. Ian, the founder of Ocean Crusaders, is exceptionally grateful for the ongoing support and has expressed to me how federal government programs have backed his team to enact meaningful, practical and innovative solutions to local environmental issues.

Most recently, I was happy to advocate on behalf of Ocean Crusaders to receive a federal government volunteers grant, which allowed the group to expand their volunteer capacity, making our oceans, waterways and beaches cleaner and safer.

I was also pleased to support Ocean Crusaders with funding for new solar panels through the Powering Communities Program for their innovative automatic river cleaner that they affectionately call Geoff. Geoff is an impressive waterway cleaning system, and I was lucky enough to see it in action alongside Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner earlier this month. Geoff has the capacity to work 24/7 removing rubbish from our waterways and was developed by Ocean Crusaders. Geoff is completely powered by solar— (Time expired)