Thursday, 19 October 2023

 Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:02): I rise to again mention our campaign to return Sprite to Parliament, and I want to commend Dr Bach for his earlier comments in support of returning our dear little Sprite.

Matthew Bach interjected.

Sonja TERPSTRA: Yes, and a fantastic and well-received contribution I might add. I note that our campaign to have Sprite returned to the halls of Spring Street was well covered in the media last night. As part of that media coverage it was very clear the strong bipartisan support to have Sprite returned to the halls of Parliament. I might add, and I note Ms Purcell talked about this and continues to talk about this, the mental health benefits of having animals in the workplace is well known and well documented. As I said yesterday, it makes us all kinder and gentler people in the halls of Parliament, and goodness knows we need that. So I hope everyone will continue to join the campaign to return Sprite – or #FreeSprite, as the hashtag is now trending – to the halls of Parliament, and I call on the Department of Parliamentary Services to review their decision and reverse the ban immediately in order that we can have Sprite returned to the halls of Parliament.