House debates

Monday, 22 May 2023

Statements by Members

Love, Mr Geoff, Australian Conservation Foundation Community Macnamara, Kinglake Friends of the Forest

4:12 pm

Photo of Josh BurnsJosh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I begin just by paying my respects to Geoff Love, who was a local activist and someone who loved environmental issues. In fact, we met on the polling booth, where he was proudly supporting the Greens candidate. Despite us being in different parties, Geoff Love was a gentleman, a very good person and cared about our community. We both shared deep love of the St Kilda Port Phillip EcoCentre as well as Elsternwick Park. I pay my condolences to his family. He was a very fine person.

I also want to acknowledge and thank the wonderful volunteers at ACF Macnamara and the Kinglake Friends of the Forest. These are amazing people who joined me in a recent trip out to the Toolangi forest to spot gliders. It was pretty spectacular to be out in the middle of the night, looking at some of the most endangered species that Australia has to offer. The job was to go find these amazing little gliders, document where they were in the forest and then pass on that information to the department. The whole point of that is to be able to preserve this critically endangered species. To see those volunteers giving up their time for conservation and for the future of our amazing wildlife is inspiring, and I was proud to join them the other night.