Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Hughes, our local environment is tremendously important. We have the Royal National Park, Heathcote National Park, waterways, beaches and beautiful green open spaces. That's why this year for World Environment Day I held a speech competition for all of the students within my electorate. The theme of this year's World Environment Day was 'solutions to plastic pollution'. In their speeches, students had to answer why they think protecting the environment is important and what their solutions are for beating plastic pollution.

I was delighted and, I must say, a little bit overwhelmed with the quality of the work that was submitted. They were fabulous speeches. It was a very hard decision. But, in the end, I'm proud to announce that Jayden Wang from year 5 at Sutherland Public School was the winning primary school student. It was a pleasure to meet with Jayden and to present him with the award. At that time, I said to Jayden that I would read his speech to the parliament and into Hansard. I can only hope that the delivery reflects his excellent written work. Jayden's speech is as follows:

Our Australian environment is unique, powerful and utterly beautiful with countless wonders that we, as the Australian people are deeply proud about.

However, one monumental problem still plagues us: plastic pollution.

Around 3.5 million tonnes of plastic are consumed each year, and 12.4% per cent of that is recycled. Along with that, a massive 80% of all plastic consumed in Australia finds its way into our waterways. These figures are unacceptable and are a blemish on our nation.

However, this data can be improved. And to do that, we need a plan. First, councils across the country must organise clean-up projects to clean up our streets and beaches. These community events are proven to work in the past, and are for our people's good.

If we are to clean up a large amount of plastic, where will it go? Certainly not in the environment, but placed in recycling centres, which is another fundamental part of this plan.

As stated earlier, only 12.4 per cent of plastic is recycled in Australia, and we need to improve that. The government must fund more recycling sites, because the ones we have right now, such as Redcycle, are unable to handle our plastic and have already resorted to compressing and storing plastic in large warehouses …

A larger number of recycling sites and recycling capacity are needed to change the nation, and we need them now, not later.

These measures must be implemented at once, because they are paramount to the condition of Australia when we hand it down to our children, our grandchildren, and all future generations of Australia.

It has never been more dire to act, and we must do it now, as a quote from Mahatma Gandhi says, 'The future depends on what you do today.'

Thank you, Jayden, and to everyone who submitted their speeches. Well done again for being successful.