Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to commend Rochelle Ferris, the General Manager of the Australian Seabird Rescue Inc WildlifeLink Sanctuary, which is in North Creek Road in Ballina, for the wonderful work she is doing after stepping into the huge shoes of her late father, the much loved Lance Ferris, who was known as ‘the pelican man’. He was known as ‘the pelican man’ locally, nationally and internationally. Lance would agree that the best tribute to him would be for us to get rid of plastic bags from our waterways.

The environmental protection and conservation activities that are carried out by ASR include plastic bag use reduction campaigns encouraging environmentally friendly fishing practices, clean-up campaigns, removing marine debris from our waterways. Today Rochelle expressed her disappointment at being unsuccessful in attracting a small grant for voluntary organisations under the grants for voluntary environment and heritage organisations. I share her disappointment. I gave her a commitment that I will keep banging away and help her get some of the much-needed funds that she deserves for the wonderful work that she does in our local community and nationally.