Lorraine Saunder's speech as Crystal Brook Citizen of the Year, 2007

In most things that I do or am involved in, I really do feel as though my time, efforts and contributions are valued by those involved (or by the parents of those involved) so recognition by the wider community really is not something I was looking for. I get fabulous cards from my little Day Care people with interesting pictures and a lot of effort put into the writing. I get lovely gifts at the end of the hockey season, presented by ever-more skilful little players and Guides and leaders have always acknowledged my contribution of time and energy.

What I am saying is, I have my rewards for what I do and the bottom line is that I don't do anything I don't enjoy. (You should see my house sometimes!!)

I feel as though I have contributed to this community over the last 30 years and this community has contributed to my life and that of my family in ways that could never be expressed in words.

When we first came here, Geoff joined the Apex club and one of the earliest functions we attended was a progressive tea. In an attempt to get my bearings, I asked someone who lived over the fence from the home we were at. The response came "Oh, they're not local. They are..." Out of curiosity I asked how long they had been here. "Twenty-five years" was the reply.

I thought to myself "How can you ever belong if you're not local after all that time".

Hopefully our children are considered locals and I like to think of myself as a Brookie, because I do care about this community as a whole and the people as individuals.

When I was first told that I was to be given this recognition I was quite excited, and thought "Wow! A soap box in a park, a microphone and a captive audience!"

Then I thought that perhaps it would not be appropriate to get on my "soapbox" on Australia Day.

Then I had a rethink and decided it was the absolutely perfect time to attempt to make an impact for Australia, so that's what I intend doeing now.

There are lots of things I would like to see happen here because most people really have a genuine concern for what is going on, for each other and such a pride in their town, state and country. I would like to think that on Australia Day we could all be aware of the need for our country to try and rectify some of the damage we have created over the last 200 years.

It would be great if many people here took up the challenge to grow and plant trees. "Trees For Life" are always looking for growers and with the planting of hundreds of trees each year, a tiny amount of vegetation may be able to be replaced for all the thousands of acres of clearing done in our state.

We could all recycle so, so much more than we do at present. Most of us probably take our cans and bottles in to Pirie for the 5c deposit, but at the same depot you can take all your tuna tins, dog cans, spaghetti and baked bean tins. You don't get any money for doing this but the metal is recycled and not put into landfill. All plastic milk containers can be taken there also.

I would like to see a plastic collection depot here in the Brook for things like milk containers, yoghurt pots, icecream and margarine containers, so that these could be taken to the plastic recyclers in Pirie in bulk.

It seems hard to understand why the Gladstone Senior Citizens are the only ones in this area concerned enough about the tones of paper going into landfill, to provide a paper collection service. These elderly chaps did do a pick-up in the Brook for a while but are no longer doing this. Why isn't this an option for our community?

Gayle has just shifted to Naracoorte and Pete to Esperance and their communities have recycle bins for every household for the collection of glass, paper, plastic and metal. In New Zealand 47% of all councils have a Zero Waste policy aiming at reusing, recycling or eliminating the production of waste material. We could do better than we do at present.

In Australia, we have the highest ratio of greenhouse gas production per head of population of any developed nation. This is not a statistic to be proud of. As individuals, we could all reduce the amount of power we use and the petrol we put into or cars - we could get out the push bikes, walking shoes, turn off lights, air conditioners, computers, T.V.s. We could take passengers in our cars if we know of others going to the same place or event as ourselves.

I am curious to know why the Clements Gap wind farm project seems to have lost momentum. This would be a fabulous asset to the health of the planet, which experts are tipping will have a temperature rise of 2-3 degrees within 50 years if we continue with our current level of polluting. If this becomes a reality it will mean tropical conditions could move down as far as Sydney, which is about the same latitude as us, altering habitat, weather conditions, health and lifestyle.

The announcement that uranium will be sold to newly developing countries really concerns me because of the amount of radioactive waste that will need to be catered for. I can see a lot of pressure being put on Australia to take back the rubbish it is encouraging other people to create and I feel sure that we will end up with nuclear waste dumps in our state, containing material which will remain radio-active for up to 200 000 years. Not something to look forward to, but something that WE are allowing to happen and which will impact on generation of people because of our, and our government's obsession with money.

A quote from Benjamin Hoff pits it in a nutshell, "The natural world is alright, voters across the country seem to be saying, as long as its preservation doesn't interfere with the process of destroying it to earn money".

So many people are quietly concerned about pollution and climate change but don't really do anything because they don't know where to start or think that they can't make any difference. My nephew was a civil engineer in NSW, now in Tasmania and one interesting discussion over the Christmas break illustrates just what can be achieved by individuals working together.

On particular council he know of was going to renovate or expand its water treatment set-up to cope with growing demands. Before they committed to any major works, each household was issued with a strainer for the kitchen sink. The use of these simple, inexpensive devices cut the solids going into the waste water so dramatically that no alteration was needed to their treatment plants.

I would like to think that the members of this beautiful little community could really be leaders in living more lightly on the planet, and could set an example for other communities to follow. There are many very passionate, dedicated people in Crystal Brook who could help make a difference in the world by setting programmes in motion that will make a very serious impact on our current poor performance.

Working with little people every day is a huge honour, privilege and responsibility for me because I know that I am able to influence wheat they learn and how they approach life. One example of this was shown in the results of a hockey survey we did a year or two ago. One question asked was shy your child chose to play hockey and the response from 5 or 6 parents was "because Lorraine brainwashed them at Day Care".

That's not entirely true, but they were certainly exposed to and were familiar with the equipment and concept. It is my hope that environmentally and community-wise, the children that I have contact with will develop a passion for improving the place in which they live; will have an appreciation of the magnificence of the natural world and a respect and wonder for the amazing plants and animals which inhabit it.

You have chosen me as Citizen of the Year for 2007 because of the contribution you deem I have made in the past. I would like to think that I have more to offer this community in the years to come as there are many things we can all do to make this area, our country and the world a better, safer, less polluted place for our grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I would just like to finish with this little treasure. I was given some time ago, a card by some year 1 or 2 boys who were doing computing practice and on it they wrote "Dear Lorraine you are great. But you could be better". How humbling, but true of us all.

• The Australian Conservation Foundation;
• Greenpeace;
• WWF (previously World Wildlife Foundation);
• and Trees For Life.