Each morning as I walk along my local beach in southern NSW, I collect the debris that the night’s high tide has left strewn along the shore. Among the microplastics, toy peddle cars and 20-litre drums, I find balloons – whole ones, remnant ones, sometimes balloons complete with their clips and ribbons. I once found a dead shearwater tangled in old balloons. Another time, I pulled a pink balloon from the remains of a petrel, which had swallowed it whole.

Balloons are the biggest killer of Australian seabirds, according to a 2019 study by the CSIRO and the University of Tasmania. So it was with disbelief and anger that I watched Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet take part in a helium balloon release on Sunday, at the end of a church service calling for forgiveness.

People who deal with the consequences of balloon releases every day - the wildlife carers, plastics campaigners and litter collectors - were swift in their condemnation of the two leaders on social media. Within Morrison’s own electorate of Cook in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, there are dozens of dedicated people who regularly collect helium-filled balloons and balloon remnants from local foreshores and beaches to protect seabirds and animals, including turtles, which ingest them or become entangled in them.

It is well known that balloons, particularly helium balloon releases, are contributing to the demise of marine wildlife, and adding to marine pollution. A WWF report published on T said on Tuesday that global ocean plastic pollution had reached worrying levels, with 88 per cent of marine species now affected by it. The report called on governments across the world to take action to stop the pollution before it reaches the sea.

Yet NSW is behind the rest of the country when it comes to stopping balloon pollution. It allows up to 19 helium balloons to be released at a time, even though each and every released balloon – including those released last Sunday by Perrottet and Morrison – will come back to Earth as litter, threatening wildlife and adding to plastic polluting the ocean.

The NSW government needs to fall into line with Australian states like Victoria and ban the release of balloons completely. The federal government needs to regulate the sale and use of helium for inflating balloons, to stop releases at the source. Releases will still occur as long as helium is so easily available.

Balloon releases are not innocent fun. Their terrible toll is left by the sea for me to find in the morning. Banning balloon releases will save our wildlife – and save politicians from inadvertently promoting an environmentally damaging practice.

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