Jennifer Hawkins: Australia’s Next Plastic Beauty Queen?

From Mercury

It appears that former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins, is either naive or wilfully blind when it comes to using ‘some of the most beautiful beaches in the world’ to promote her brand, the Australian Greens stated yesterday.

The Party’s waste spokesperson, Tasmanian Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, said comments Miss Hawkins made to the media yesterday – when using Tasmania’s famous Bay of Fires beach to help launch her latest swimwear line – about her loving “clean beaches” come across as little more than shallow and hypocritical.

“The single biggest global pollution problem in our oceans, and on our beaches, is plastic pollution, which often washes up in the form of plastic water-bottles and soft-drink bottles.

“Miss Hawkins is the public face of Mount Franklin water bottles, which is owned by Coca Cola – a company opposed to recycling-refund schemes for these plastic bottles, and whose discarded packaging litters Australian waterways and beaches.

“Mount Franklin and Miss Hawkins trade on the image of health and pristine beaches, but when it actually comes to doing something to keep our environment healthy and beaches plastic-free, they’re all at sea – like a good deal of their discarded drink containers.

“It’s not as if Miss Hawkins isn’t aware of this fact either, as I have attempted to meet with her and discuss the issue – yet was informed she was ‘too busy’. A shame, since our beaches are littered with her sponsor’s bottles, and that of their parent company, Coke.

“If Miss Hawkins is serious about looking after our beaches, and serious about avoiding accusations of hypocrisy, I would challenge her to use her profile to persuade Mount Franklin to take responsibility for their pollution – and get behind a scheme we know will help clean up our beaches.”

The Southern Coastcare Association of Tasmania will be holding a public forum on the importance of ‘cash-for-container schemes’ this Thursday, from 7.15pm at the Phillip Smith Centre, 2 Edward Street Glebe, Hobart.