Tuesday, 15 August 2023

More Trees for a Cooler, Greener West

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Early Childhood and Pre-Prep, Minister for Environment) (13:24): It was a pleasure to join earlier this month the member for Point Cook and students from Victoria University at their Werribee campus for a community planting day for National Tree Day as part of the Andrews Labor government’s More Trees for a Cooler, Greener West program. Students, including First Nations students and those from the Western Melbourne English Program, worked throughout the day planting around 5000 trees. Also, kinder students and teachers from the Werribee Children’s Centre joined the planting in the morning, providing enthusiastic support, even though they were more interested in creating a tower out of their pots than actually planting the trees.

This is the second event at the campus, with another 5000 trees planted last year. And it was great to see that those saplings that were planted last year are really thriving and giving us a glimpse of the kind of canopy that is going to be created, transforming that campus. Including this event, 15,000 trees were planted across the western suburbs for National Tree Day, meaning more than 250,000 trees have been planted as part of our government’s More Trees for a Cooler, Greener West program. So thank you to the university’s vice-chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor for their enthusiastic support for the program. This initiative is not just about planting trees for the campus, it is about creating shade, pure air and habitats, reminding us that our actions reverberate far beyond our immediate surroundings.