JAMES GRIFFIN: protecting your beaches

Manly is home to some of the most important marine ecosystems and its beautiful coastline. It comes down to us to look after our beautiful beaches. What’s our MP doing about it? COVERED. sat down with James Griffin MP for Manly to discuss all things marine environments and our beautiful, top grade beaches.

The marine environment is a crucial part of Manly’s identity. We’re even home to some endangered populations like the Little Penguins at Manly Cove! However, more often than not, when many Sydneysiders think about the marine environment, they think about the Great Barrier Reef, ignoring the ecosystem –seaweed forests – that are right in front of them, in their local coastline.

As James Griffin MP states, “I am committed to a clean ocean and advocate for practical environmental policies to improve our marine environment. We all know Manly is home to some of our most important marine ecosystems along the coastline, such as Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve.”

Griffin has funded $199,000 for a new art-meets-science marine festival coming soon to Manly, funded through the NSW Government’s My Community Project. This new festival will engage the Manly community in a celebration of these mighty ecosystems, increasing stewardship and the potential for preservation of Sydney’s marine environments for generations to come.

“Supported by the community’s deep connection to our marine environment, this art-meets-science festival will work to further educate and engage our local community in protecting our underwater forests. It’s another great investment in our local organisations that I am so proud to support.”

Manly, along with other beaches on the Northern Beaches, proved how great their marine environment is earlier this year. The state of the beaches 201819 report rated all ocean beaches on the Northern Beaches as Very Good or Good for water quality.

“It’s not all bad news as demonstrated by the high grading of our water quality across our Northern Beaches. Through the strong work of our environmental agencies, beaches such as Shelley Beach and it’s marine ecosystem have a Beach Suitability Grade of Very Good, the highest grade possible.”

The report summarises the performance of 228 swimming sites along the NSW coast in 2018–2019, providing a longterm assessment of how suitable a site is for swimming. 86% of swimming sites in NSW were graded Good or Very Good. •

With Chrissy shopping underway, why not get some beautiful gifts and support communities affected by drought? What began as an ingenious, simple idea is now @buyfromthebush with 200,000 followers and counting.

words by: tara wesson + regional pr photography: regional pr

It all started when Grace Brennan received a message from a friend in the city, asking her to recommend some stores in her local Warren. Living on a property in regional New South Wales, her friend’s coining of the phrase “buy from the bush” sparked a brilliant idea, and one easy to execute. Over lunch, Grace enlisted friend and local Millie Fisher as the project’s ‘Chief of Hustle’; the accounts were made, and the rest is history.

The social media accounts showcase beautiful rural boutiques and wares available from the bush. The suppliers featured rely on predominantly farming communities to keep them afloat, and at a time like this, that is difficult. Most farmers in drought regions are cash-poor at the moment, and many others are being forced to relocate in pursuit of work.

“I was very keen to feel helpful in what can often feel like a helpless situation. Having grown up in Sydney, I was also really aware of how much people in the city want to show their support if given a chance,” says Grace.

For Warren and the surrounding areas particularly, they are now rolling into their fourth year of drought. For the first three years, Millie explains that many had the stoic farmer mentality of “she’ll be right. It’ll rain. People have been through this before, we’ll get there.” But these assurances had begun to wear this and communities were beginning to lose hope.

“It’s just filling people’s minds with a little bit of hope, and positivity throughout towns. I mean, people are talking about it in the news agencies and cafes, schools and markets. It’s just gone through the towns in waves, it’s quite incredible,” says Millie.

For the economies of these communities, the benefits of this cash injection are clear from the business owners now paying themselves a wage, to the post office franchisees sending the products to the city. Some featured businesses have even had such spikes in sales, they can now afford to take on other staff, put their kids in after school activities, or invest in some self care.

For Millie personally, she has a one year old and three year old, and hasn’t worked since her children were born. Her husband is a contract farmer, and being a farmer’s wife in drought, she says it’s difficult not to get bogged down in the same circulatory thoughts.

“Obviously being very close to my heart, feeling that you are making a difference has selfishly had a huge effect on how I am as a mother and a wife and a friend, and it couldn’t have come along at a better time,” Millie says.

@buyfromthebush connects the rural and regional, bringing Australians together through the magic of social media. According to Millie, the power of this direct communication quite literally speaks volumes. Many regional retailers don’t have a website, forcing us city slickers to pick up the phone. She explains that for many, feeling that city folk have got their back boosts morale and mental health.

“They ask how they’re going and what’s going on in the town, and likewise for the country boutique owners. They love hearing what’s going on in the city as well. And I think maybe we thought that the disconnect was there. I only think it was there because people in the city didn’t know where to channel their help,” says Millie.

So sit down after dinner, put the kids to bed, have a browse and have a shop. Or, you can share the @buyfromthebush pages and spread the love. Every little bit helps. •