Cockatoo rehab centre up for UN gong
Monday, May 28, 2012 at 23:32 
Chris Phillips with some of the rehabilitated cockatoos at the centre. KAARAKIN Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre in Martin is a finalist in the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Awards.
The centre is one of three finalists for the Biodiversity category in the awards, which recognise outstanding environmental programs, leaders and initiatives across Australia as part of celebrations for the UN World Environment Day on June 5.
The other two finalists are Victoria’s Hume City Council for its Caring for our Plains program, and Walpole’s Gary Muir, who led the team that invented the Phyto Fighter 1000, a wash-down station to prevent the spread of dieback disease.
Centre manager Chris Phillips or another member from the centre’s staff is expected to attend the awards presentation dinner at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt on June 8.
The Black Cockatoo Preservation Society rescues injured, or starving, black cockatoos, gets them veterinary care and nurses them back to health for release, where possible, into the wild. More than 100 volunteers make up most of its workforce.
Mr Phillips will soon leave the centre to continue his work with black cockatoos at the Department of Environment and Conservation.
This year, Mr Phillips won both the Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Award and the City of Gosnells’ Citizen of the Year Award, for his environmental, volunteering and fundraising work.