It has been a year of thought leadership, rallying for community priorities and supporting meaningful change for communities and sectors across South East Queensland for the South East Queensland Catchments Members Association (SEQCMA).

This month, they held their Annual General Meeting, providing a valuable opportunity to reflect on a year of impactful actions in the region.

The group, which brings together the voices of over 200 members in local communities, sector groups, government and industry, is committed to finding solutions to issues affecting South East Queensland’s environment.

This year the group advocated for our region on federal and state issues and provided key advice to Healthy Land & Water in building a platform to access good news across the region. These stories will be collected and shared as part of a stewardship report for the region, which is currently under development and due for release next year.

This year the issue of declining funding for environmental projects, in the face of ever-increasing pressures on regional issues took centre stage.

Advocating for funding for region

During the year, SEQCMA mobilised to write to federal politicians, when delays in vital funding were impacting vital on-ground and community projects across multiple NRMs in Queensland.

On the State front, with a Queensland election in the wings, SEQCMA threw its collective weight behind NRM Regions Queensland’s campaign which they called “Nurturing Nature: Cultivating Culture”. Members of the SEQCMA Board actively rallied their local members with the focused set of NRM funding priorities needed to improve Queensland’s natural resources.

The collective pressure brought to bare resulted in commitments being made by parties vying to govern the State.

This included a commitment from the subsequently successful Liberal National Party (LNP), promising $117.84 million funding for on-ground land, water and biodiversity program.

As a community and industry-led group, it was so impactful to see our members use their collective voices to convey a clear message to state politicians: the environment must be a key consideration, reflecting the values of all of Queensland people.

On-ground field trips

Knowing how important it is to see first-hand what’s happening across their region, the SEQCMA Board prioritises site visits. These are a valuable opportunity to engage directly with ongoing initiatives across the region.

Recently, they have visited various projects, including local coastal restoration efforts on Coochiemudlo Island, urban park and water restoration at Davidson Street in Newmarket (Brisbane), large-scale river restoration works in Laidley, and a range of river and agricultural initiatives in and around Logan.

SEQCMA members consider these field inspections essential, as they allow the Board to gain a deeper understanding of the initiatives they advocate for. During these visits, they discover that the real stories and experiences shared by community members resonate most powerfully. The effectiveness of SEQCMA lies in this deep connection to those stories, showcasing the tangible impact of policies and funding.

Community input on vital reports

Healthy Land & Water’s stewardship report has greatly benefited from incorporating insights provided by SEQCMA on the design of a survey to collection information about clever initiatives being implemented across our region. With their advice, we have been able to design a way of more effectively collecting meaningful information so as to highlight the positive environmental stewardship stories as they emerging from across the region.

NRM plan update

Next year marks the start of consultations for the five-year update of our NRM plan for South East Queensland. SEQCMA’s guidance and advice will be key to this update. Healthy Land & Water is looking forward to collecting local feedback from across the region on how we can better work together to protect our lands, forests, bushland, waterways, wetlands and coastal regions.