Under New Management!

BIEPA's incoming Management Committee, elected at the 2026 AGM.

L to R: Peter Alexander, Colleen O'Gilvey (President), Angela Armitage (Vice-President), Paul O'Donohue (Secretary), Jenny Manwaring, Mike Howells (Treasurer) and back, Andrew Layton and Coll Callander.

BIEPA AGM President’s Report, 2026

Richard Ogden

Good evening everyone,

Thank you for joining us for tonight's BIEPA 2026 AGM, which acknowledges our journey to date, and more importantly greets the future with optimism.

We acknowledge the Kabi Kabi and Joondoburri Peoples, their elders from the past, of now and to come. No sound environmental achievements exist without first nations justice, engagement and leadership.

Welcome to our guests Councillor Brooke Savige, and State Government Member for Pumicestone Ariana Doolan MP, both of whom I know are as proud of BIEPA as the rest of us. I’d also like to thank Lynne Hooper who has kindly again agreed to act as returning officer tonight.

I’ll start with some general comments, and then demonstrate some of the exciting ways in which we are moving ahead. First and foremost, we’re here to look to the future, to a refreshed BIEPA with a really excellent crop of incoming committee members. While our achievements to date deserve to be celebrated, far more important are our very real prospects.

Bribie Island, and its context of Moreton Bay are incredibly significant. BIEPA has been a catalyst for community members to recognise this, and to engage in helping to ensure we value it for the future.

We are all part of a global community, and in our amazing, specific and local way, we are doing what we can to protect our habitat, flora and fauna.

BIEPA is demonstrating huge potential to achieve positive change. I believe that while our programs and actions are vital, the "story" of what we are attempting here on this little island is truly inspiring. And we must always take the whole community with us.

We have a unique opportunity to achieve best practice, in Queensland, and probably in Australia. BIEPA works best in partnership, cultivating a community-wide awareness of the critical importance of "putting Bribie's nature first".

People are central in this endeavour. Our volunteers, all of you here tonight, and hundreds more throughout our community are our lifeblood.

We provide practical support for willing, experienced and committed volunteers. While it is a challenge to protect our natural world from the hazards of human interaction, development and management, it is critically important to continue to work together with key decision makers.

Remember, despite the sad fact that money can buy influence, the community has the power. BIEPA is well positioned to voice community concerns, and push for better outcomes.

BIEPA has grown, and importantly it has matured. We have attracted and kept large numbers of excellent volunteers, engaged increasingly with partner institutions and initiatives. We have fostered a tremendous program of events and activities which are enthusing a huge portion of our local and regional community.

In this success, it is my conviction that culture is the most centrally important factor. As well as being focussed, competent and knowledgeable, we strive to be welcoming, encouraging, enthusiastic and inclusive. We have endeavoured to offer everyone an opportunity to participate actively in whatever way they seek to. BIEPA has had a truly dynamic, fantastic year, with activities constantly developing. These are numerous, with some being:

• Planning engagement, and a commitment to working with the necessary experts

• A successful development challenge through the courts, and a conviction to object where necessary

• Painstaking negotiations regarding beach management, likely to bear fruit soon

• The Buckleys Hole restoration project, with its astounding volunteer numbers

• Kakadu Bird Roost upgrades, and the prospective Shorebird Stewards program

• Turtle Monitoring and recognition for best practice initiatives

• Project Potoroo

• Plans for a significant Water Mouse research project

• Community outreach: pop-up shops, representation at a range of community events

• Annual community calendar project

• The building of bio-diverse verge gardens

• Environmental clean-ups around beaches and creeks

• Merchandise: new tees, books, including plans for a new edition bird book

• Updating the Constitution and streamlining governance procedures

• Ground-breaking data gathering and submission to State Government

• Developing our partnership with the amazing Bribie Nature Festival

• Discussions with HQ Plantations

• Vibrant monthly meetings

• A brilliant web presence - Mike Howells has created much of BIEPA's success, and

• A new home at BIEPA Central

In recent years we also have:

New brochures

Revitalised branding

Posh new tents

Effective fundraising initiatives

A visible and popular presence on Facebook, and

the Dugong Sightings page

And a community-wide presence as a result of annual events including the Changing the Narrative partnership, our amazing Giant Turtle event, and Eco-Flix.

We have maintained significant engagement with:

• Sunshine Coast Environment Council

• Queensland Conservation Council

• Pumicestone Passage Catchment Management Body

• Pumicestone Indigenous Education & Employment Council

• Take Action for Pumicestone Passage

• Coochin Creek Community Coalition

• Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service, and

• National Parks Association

We have given presentations at the Queensland Environment Roundtable, the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, and City of Moreton Bay Council. Our engagement with Council and the Queensland Government are constant. And I'd like to acknowledge again the presence of Ariana and Brooke with us tonight.

I must mention the special contribution made by Wildlife Team Leader Darren Jew over the last five years. His amazing, conscientious work with our turtle volunteers, on the Dugong Symposium, Eco-Flix, on the Beach Plan, on Kakadu Bird Roost, with QPWS, in the media, around the community, the Dugong Sightings initiative and more, has facilitated the work of citizen scientists and really professionalised BIEPA. He will now be our key connection with a vital partner organisation The Moreton Bay Foundation, where he has a new, senior and influential role.

Also Sherry and Jayda Bruce whose imagination and commitment are matched by their technical expertise, and whose projects enable BIEPA to stand tall in terms of significant research. And Libby Anstis of course, who has made an incredible dream real by creating the Bribie Island Nature Festival, and still made time to do a huge amount of work for BIEPA on grant applications across the board.

There are team leaders, and outstanding volunteers everywhere in BIEPA. All are vital, and I recognise everyone for the work they are doing. I’d like to especially mention Jill Cutting, whose energetic calendar initiative has been brilliant, Brendan and Sally, Lyn, Janet, Leesa and Rosie, all of whom have contributed massively. Right now Coll Callandar is also producing magnificent outcomes in fundraising. My special friends Geoff Ginn and Glenda Charles have been a constant support, and without Geoff’s application and efforts BIEPA Central would not have developed.

I thank the outgoing Management Committee, and particularly Vice President Angela Armitage and Treasurer Mike Howells, without whom the seismic improvements in BIEPA in recent years would never have happened. Angela has been a constant colleague, prompting many of the innovations which have yielded so much progress for our organisation. Mike's professional abilities, coupled with his immense kindness, patience and hard work have boosted us way beyond expectations.

To Colleen Ogilvey who is embracing the opportunity and challenge with vision, common sense and enthusiasm, Shontelle Cross who was Secretary for much of the year, and has been a champion for us while juggling an even busier life than any of us outside BIEPA, Paul O'Donohue, who drove the updating of our constitution, and without whose supreme efforts we could not have achieved the creditable result we did in our DA challenge on First Avenue, and Peter Alexander who continues to lead important projects including the Buckleys Hole Restoration and our Toad Busters program, and has also been a significant support to me personally.

We also benefited from extremely valuable contributions to the Committee from Neil Hampton who did his level best to improve our financial management, and from Grant Kirby who was on the Committee for two years, contributing to important strategic discussions. This work is the unseen, demanding and complex work shouldered by capable, humble and dedicated individuals. It has been an honour to have these and past Committee members Kathleen Catalin, Jenny Walker, CC Wilson, Roger Platt, Elena Telegina and Carol Wood as colleagues. Liz O'Byrne deserves a special mention in despatches, for her great efforts as Secretary for three years. Leanne Day has also been instrumental in the establishment and operation of our shop.

In BIEPA we have achieved something really incredible together. Every member can be proud of that, and we are also recognised as important standard bearers across our community. The organisation is in an excellent position to grow into the future.

We have a home base at BIEPA Central, we have the promise of the Yarun Environmental Discovery Centre, a hugely significant initiative advocated by BIEPA, and led by Moreton Bay Council.

We are in the black, and have increased our financial sustainability and transparency. Importantly we have systems and measures in place, and a culture to conduct fundraising into the future. The Committee has worked extremely hard to focus and improve our governance as an organisation, making us responsible, transparent and dynamic.

I have been privileged to be at the helm of BIEPA for four years. I believe we have worked incredibly well together, with our members, teams, and community partners. It has been an exciting and rewarding time. It was a responsibility I've shouldered gladly because of the amazing support from gifted, talented and committed colleagues, and the entire membership, which has so enthusiastically got behind our initiatives. The top outcome for me is to leave with friendships everywhere.

It’s blindingly obvious that I would have achieved nothing without the absolutely vital, constant and caring support of Anne, who has joined in with every aspect of BIEPA with unparalleled gusto!

There is much work to do as we face existential threats from a tsunami of wrong-headed development proposals, and we battle on in the face of an extinction crisis. But, never lose sight of the fact that an inspiring group of people, who work together with vision, kindness and respect can achieve great success if we don't lose faith.

Five years ago our mission was to change Bribie's tourism narrative to one that celebrates nature. I believe we have made substantial progress in that objective. I have never worked in a more rewarding role. It has been challenging, and it has been a fabulous journey with you all.

Richard Ogden MA MICDA