Speechwriting

 

The following speech is based on fictional events for the purpose of assessment.

Sep 2021

Mayor CR Andrew Conlon
Chamber of Commerce Speech

 

Good afternoon. I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today. I would also like to pay my respects to Elders past and present.

I would also like to say thank you to the president of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce, Karyn Sobels, for joining us as a guest today for the local Manningham Chamber meeting. Another thank you to our local president for hosting this event today, and to all who have been able to attend, and those who will later watch the recorded session. 

On the weekend, I went to Ruffey Lake Park with my family and was disappointed to see plastic food packaging floating in the Lake. My wife asked me if I thought this was our future. All I could say was, I hope not. And it doesn’t have to be, as long as we, as business leaders choose to not let it end up that way. Today, I am here to introduce you to Sustainingham. A website we have launched to promote ways which businesses and shop owners can implement sustainable environmental practices in their stores.

Sustainingham was created to be easy to read and explore. I personally thought I knew quite a bit about environmental sustainability issues, but after just ten minutes on this website, I had a list of several new ideas that could save stores money, whilst reducing waste. The low-cost practices include natural lighting and switching to electronic receipts or asking if customers want their receipt before hitting print. As well as moving to reusable bags. This may seem like a higher cost to shop owners, however branded reusable bags also act as marketing tools. The concept of reduce, reuse and recycle allows shop owners to save costs in energy and resources. Sustainingham has many practical solutions to save shop owners time and a range of low cost and easy to implement actions which will help save money and take small steps to ensure local communities play their part in global environmental issues.

One of my objectives as Mayor, is to reduce the amount of waste produced, therefore needing collection, and being sent to landfill in Manningham. If we work together to reduce waste, we could save money in waste collection. Redirecting those savings to other areas which need funding and help local communities lead healthy lives. A recent survey conducted by our council revealed that consumers base their purchasing behaviours off a business’s environmental practices. By implementing sustainable practices and promoting our business as environmentally friendly, it’s highly likely that we may attract new customers. Customers that want to be living in more sustainable environment and do their part as consumers, rely on business owner to provide that opportunity.

Although our steps to be sustainable may be small on a global scale, it makes us local leaders. Willing to take action where others may only see effort. Leaders who are willing to put the health of our communities first. Land fill, and rubbish in our waters, is a global catastrophe, and a result of unsustainable practices and consumerism. But we have the opportunity to change those practices. Sustainingham will be available from 1 December 2021 at www.sustainingham.com.au. If we all do our part, there are benefits that will ensure a brighter financial and environmental future.