Success at last

ELEVEN-year-old Bethany Henderson of Tuross Heads has seen her dreams become reality when her balloon banning campaign was passed as a Bill in Parliament last week.

Bethany has been in the public eye since her first letter was sent to Premier Bob Carr, and has since conducted experiments with balloons, saltwater and sunlight to produce results that concluded balloons took a number of months to break down in the environment.

Her main concern was that animals feed from the surface of the water and may ingest balloon latex pieces.

As Bethany witnessed, time and time again, the release of thousands of balloons at sporting events, celebrations and functions, she realised where the colourful masses were headed - straight into our waterways and oceans.

“Nobody wanted to listen to me in the beginning,” Bethany said.

“Experts were claiming my tests were ‘backyard’ and not inclusive, but a balloon is a balloon, saltwater is saltwater and sunlight is sunlight - you can’t change that, whether it’s done in a laboratory or not.”

Bethany and her Mother Susan travelled to Sydney last Wednesday for the passing of the Bill, where they were interviewed by ‘A Current Affair’ and given a guided tour of Parliament House.

A highlight of the day for Bethany was meeting Premier Bob Carr, who said he was extremely impressed to see an eleven-year-old with an opinion.

“The Balloon Bill is basically a result of Bethany’s persistence,” Mr Carr said.

“It’s great to see someone so young actually doing something about an environmental issue, such as this one.”

The Premier thanked Bethany for her idea and her dedication to campaigning with a handshake and a signed copy of the Bill.

“I shook so many hands - environmental ministers, reporters, and many politicians wanted to congratulate me,” Bethany said.

“My hand was sore by the end of the day.”

So what’s next for Bethany?

“Now that it’s illegal to release balloons in New South Wales I want to try and get balloons banned in every state.”

And now?

“I think I might just relax for a while, it’s good that it’s all finally over,” Bethany said.

“It’s been hard work campaigning, but the Bill is only a start of what’s to come for the rest of Australia.”