27 November 2019
Members of the 13th New Zealand Delegation with the Wildlife Queensland Executive Team.
The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (Wildlife Queensland) this week hosted a meeting with the 13th Delegation from New Zealand.
The meeting was held at Wildlife Queensland’s head office in Highgate Hill, Brisbane, and was part of a five-day New Zealand Delegation visit to Australia from 24 to 29 November, hosted by the Australian Political Exchange Council.
The Delegation, which comprised four current Members of the New Zealand Parliament, an accompanying officer from New Zealand and a member of the Council Secretariat, was interested in learning about conservation in Australia, specifically about preservation, recreation and tourism on the conservation estate.
The Australian Political Exchange Council invited Wildlife Queensland to participate in the program and provide the Delegation with an overview of the important work the Society does to help protect and conserve Australia’s wildlife.
Full members of the New Zealand Delegation were:
- Mr Matt Doocey MP (New Zealand National Party) Delegation Leader
Member for Waimakariri - Mr Brett Hudson MP (New Zealand National Party)
National List Member based in Ōhāriu - Ms Sarah Dowie MP (New Zealand National Party)
Member for Invercargill - Ms Harete Hipango MP (New Zealand National Party)
Member for Whanganui
Ms Gabrielle Cus from Parliamentary Service – New Zealand Parliament and Ms Alex Famelis from the Secretariat of the Australian Political Exchange Council accompanied the Delegation.
Members of the Delegation were interested to discuss a range of topics with Wildlife Queensland, including the Society’s interactions with different levels of Government in Australia, Queensland’s Protected Area Estate and commercialisation, the Land and Sea Rangers program, as well as the Society’s plastic waste campaign and how it communicates with the community.
The Delegation was also interested to know about how Wildlife Queensland is funded and was surprised to learn that the Society doesn’t receive recurrent annual government funding.
Wildlife Queensland was the only conservation organisation invited to host a meeting with the New Zealand Delegation during their visit to Australia.
The Australian Political Exchange Council informed Wildlife Queensland that it had researched a range of conservation organisations and after looking at the work that the Society does, including our volunteer programs and Plastic Bag Free Queensland campaign, which is very relevant in the current climate, thought the Delegation would greatly benefit from a meeting with Wildlife Queensland.
Wildlife Queensland Policies and Campaigns Manager Des Boyland said Wildlife Queensland was “delighted and honoured” to accept the invitation to host a meeting with the New Zealand Delegation.
Members of Wildlife Queensland’s executive team were interested to learn about New Zealand’s innovative approaches to legislation around the protection of wild rivers and First Nations Peoples.
“We were fascinated to hear that after a 170-year battle, the Whanganui River in New Zealand, which flows 145 kilometres from the central North Island to the sea, was given legal personhood by the country’s parliament in 2017,” said Des Boyland.
“The landmark legislation recognises the deep spiritual connection between the Whanganui Iwi and its ancestral river.”
Authorised by Des Boyland, Policies & Campaigns Manager, Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland, 30 Gladstone Road, Highgate Hill QLD 4101.