I am very proud to acknowledge the formal opening of Among The Trees, a new organisation that reclaims and recycles used timber in Marrickville.

Reverse Garbage is beginning a new chapter after relocating to a new premises at 30 Carrington Road, Marrickville, and appointing a new CEO, Kirsten Junor.

The Tempe Birdos are celebrating their tenth anniversary this year; for a decade, the Birdos have conducted their monthly survey of the Tempe wetlands, making a significant contribution to bird conservation efforts along the Cook River.

This week is National Recycling Week, a time for us all to make an extra effort to reduce, reuse and recycle. 

I congratulate Ferncourt Public School on its Waste Warriors program.

On 19 June volunteers from Landcare NSW and the Wilkins Public School Community joined to plant 400 trees on Wilkins Green, an extraordinary oasis of regenerated bush in the heart of Marrickville.

I thank the Inner West Movement for Life and Inner West Chapter of the Wilderness Society for their persistent and principled advocacy for our natural world.

I acknowledge The Village Project in Summer Hill for its terrific work leading the way towards making all aspects of our community more sustainable.

As mining communities like Lithgow move away from fossil fuels over the following decades, we need the vision and investment now to support local communities and create local jobs through initiatives like these.

Water is life. No-one knows that better than communities in far west New South Wales.