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

by leave—I rise with pride to congratulate and acknowledge school students within my electorate of Hughes. Just last Thursday, 9 November, I was privileged that you, Mr Speaker, visited my electorate as part of your Parliament in Schools program. Thank you for that.

We first visited Hammondville Public School where we met with the enrichment class 4/5/6 Cobalt and then years 5 and 6 at Jannali East Public School. At both schools, the students were engaged, articulate, interested and interesting. They also enjoyed role playing the Speaker and the Serjeant-at-Arms and having the opportunity to ask us questions, including whether we wanted to be Prime Minister, our favourite songs and the best and worst parts of our respective parliamentary roles.

At both schools, we held a mock vote to demonstrate how voting works in the parliament. The topic was important—proposed legislation dealing with the banning of pineapple on pizza. I'm sorry to say that on both occasions I was on the opposing side, being a proponent of pineapple on pizzas, and on that particular occasion the ayes had it.

Another school which is doing a lot of work educating their students around civics is Heathcote Public School, where I was also privileged to go and speak during the last couple of weeks.

I'll turn to World Environment Day. This year I ran a speech competition throughout my electorate for school students to write about solutions to plastic pollution. I'm pleased to say, even though it was a hard decision, the winner was high-school student Kayley MacDonald, who comes from Kirrawee High School. I told Kayley I would read out her speech, and I am going to do that now. I do hope my delivery matches Kayley's content. She said:

Protecting the environment is crucial since it's where life starts. Neglecting it leads to declining well-being, visible in issues like the climate crisis endangering life. Ceasing to care for the environment brings consequences such as biodiversity loss, economic harm, and global challenges. Our responsibility is to protect the environment as it directly impacts the future. The fate is in our hands.

Plastic bags have been an ongoing issue and have reached their climax. It is estimated we use around 5 trillion plastic bags a year!! 160,000 plastic bags a second! This fact provided by Plastic Bags Used Per Year made me beyond shocked and ashamed of the world we live in today. It is time to take action to beat plastic pollution and here is how.

A local organization will plan to establish clean-up clubs aimed at removing plastic waste from communities. These clubs will not only clean up plastic but also provide education on proper plastic recycling and waste reduction. To encourage community participation, the organization intends to offer rewards and recognition to individuals involved in these clubs.

Raising awareness about plastic's harmful impact on the environment is essential. Education should cover proper plastic recycling and alternatives. Starting at a young age is crucial … This ensures a deep understanding of plastic's environmental effects as individuals transition to adulthood.

Reducing single-use plastic bags is crucial, with some progress in stores and shops. Yet plastic remains pervasive in packaging and daily items like food wrapping. Despite their convenience, single-use plastics persist. To address this, the government should fund research for an affordable, sustainable alternative material to replace plastic. This effort will require international collaboration as the issue affects people globally.

I was quite overwhelmed by the quality of the speeches submitted. I thank all the school students throughout Hughes who submitted speeches, particularly Kayley for her winning speech.

Finally, Lucas Heights Community School in my electorate of Hughes is the only K to 12 metropolitan school throughout the state. Last week Lucas Heights Community School launched its First Nations wellbeing hub to address the health needs of Indigenous students to promote their academic success. I thank my colleague the honourable member for Macarthur for joining me on that day. I particularly congratulate Principal Julie Adams, the Lucas Heights community and all the fantastic students at Lucas Heights Community School for this initiative providing practical outcomes to address Indigenous youth health and the gap that exists between our Indigenous youth and non-Indigenous youth.

To conclude, I've used my five minutes to showcase some of the recent amazing achievements of schools and students within my electorate of Hughes. They are all to be congratulated.