Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's a little patch of beach in Mortlake, no bigger than a basketball court, that has been lovingly cared for by a wonderful group of volunteers. Ron and Edna Cox live right next to Fairmile Cove beach, and they took the initiative to start picking up rubbish on that little beach on the Parramatta River. Over the years they've been joined by their neighbours and other locals, including Angelo and Carol Patane, Pasquale Di Leo and Katherine Barr, to help keep the local beach clean. At its peak, volunteers collected more than 30 bags of rubbish. Fortunately, they've reported that, over the years, the amount of rubbish washing up onto that beach from Parramatta River has dramatically declined. Thanks to the efforts of this amazing group of volunteers, Keep Australia Beautiful awarded Fairmile Cove beach an award for cleanest beach in 2011. It's been 25 years since Ron and Edna Cox first started cleaning that beach, and they've created a wonderful community asset. It's a hub for local residents, who meet each other regularly for a chat and a beach clean-up. They've repurposed discarded sand toys, so now there's a little play area for kids to play on. It's volunteers like these who make our community a wonderful and beautiful place to live.