President’s Report

Australian Association of Bush Regenerators (AABR) – November 2025

It is always a difficult process, writing the president’s report for the AABR AGM. My mind is always whirling with options around what I can say about the association, what we have done, pressures and opportunities, the people that make things work, those that we have lost and those that we have gained, and balancing the positive with the negative.

How does AABR run

I want to start with how AABR runs. I know from the outside, (and often from within) it seems that it takes a very long time to affect change, to deliver projects and products and to grow the association. In part that is because we operate on a fairly small, very tight budget and much of the work is done by volunteers on the board, the branches and the various subcommittees. We only have a part time executive/administration officer plus a part time funded grant officer who works on a specific project. It is also in part because the remit of AABR is so wide, and there are so many priorities where we want to have some input. Also, there are so many opportunities where we are asked for input that we often spread ourselves thin and one bit of new work impacts on the delivery of all others.

Our willingness to help has led to many other organisations, councils and agencies asking AABR to get involved, consulted or contribute to their initiatives. We try to help out as we see the value in collaboration and in building others up to support good management of ecosystems.

It is the hard work and commitment of our board, branch and subcommittee members and paid contractors that leads to our achievements. I often find myself as the public face of AABR; on various committees, speaking publicly or in communications, and often get thanked or acknowledged for the work of the Association. While I am happy to take the bow, it is really those people I mentioned, with their amazing skills, knowledge, experience and passion, that help AABR punch above its weight.

The traits of working to our strengths and collaborating have led to AABR being seen as a credible advocate for restoration across a broad range of externals, from community members to Landcare and Bushcare, council and agency staff, politicians and academics.

To everyone who has contributed to AABR’s impact in fighting for better regenerators, better support for regeneration, better recognition of regeneration and most importantly, better outcomes for nature; whether you are one of our paid contractors supporting AABR, the board or our projects; whether you are a board, branch or subcommittee member; whether you helped out at an event or even spread the word about our projects, events or existence; whether you are a donor; or whether you maintained your membership and your faith in what we do; you have my heartfelt thanks.

What have we achieved over the last year and what are we intending to do in the future

Branches: The best news this year, in my opinion, is the formation of a NSW/ACT Branch of AABR. This group has hit the ground running; holds regular meetings, has a full calendar of field trips and events and has a really representative committee of people with a broad age range (including young people… you know…those under 60!!) and from all over NSW and the ACT, involved in different aspects of bush regeneration

AABR now has two Branches, with AABR Victoria continuing to run events, form really interesting partnerships and collaborating on running events and driving some really interesting projects.

In the last month, I have also been in discussions with some AABR members in southeast Qld, from contractor, council and Landcare backgrounds, who are interested in forming a branch as well. We will be having an on-line forum with existing members and interested parties in the next few weeks to explore how a branch might come together up there.

AABR Fest: In 2024, we also ran the second AABR Fest, held at the Scout camp at Kariong, about an hour north of Sydney. A couple of hundred people came along for two days of networking, lectures and seminars, games, music, and camping out. It was kind of a Woodstock meets the Climate COP. The event was organised by a really amazing bunch of volunteers (with some help from Suzanne and the Board of course!), many of whom had never been involved in such a role before and were new to AABR. I want to make special note of the attendance of Janet Fairlie-Cuninghame at AABR Fest. Janet has been involved in bush regeneration forever and was there at the formation of AABR. She is also a regular supporter of AABR and donates to many of our projects. She is over 90, yet still drove up to Kariong and camped out in a tent the same as the rest.

Project ERIK: The NSW Environmental Trust funded Project ERIK progressed through the year. We employed a contract project officer, undertook a lot of consultation and are getting closer to the development of the website. Our early preferred IT option was deemed unsuitable when ongoing management costs were factored in, so we have been looking for other options that can host an information heavy database with a really user friendly intuitive front end. This project is led by AABR, partnering with the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, Local Government NSW, Greening Australia, TAFE, Landcare NSW, DCCEEW NSW and others, to develop a best practice guidance platform for ecological restoration. There are many opportunities through this project for involvement of AABR members, in writing, research and IT.

Conference:  AABR recently subsidised four members to attend the National Landcare Conference on the Gold Coast.

Sponsors and Donors: Over the last few years, AABR has been very lucky in building relationships with a number of sponsors and donors, who have helped AABR deliver on a range of projects, including videos, events and materials. These people come from a broad range of backgrounds and their contributions range from a few dollars to many thousands of dollars. Every contribution is appreciated and has resulted in us being able to do much more than we would have been able to do with our membership funds alone. With the changes to the constitution being put to the 2025 AGM, we will subsequently revisit our intent to become a registered charity and obtain deductable gift status.

Jane’s Retirement: A bittersweet announcement is that Jane Gye is retiring from the AABR board. Jane has been a constant in AABR for so long… she was active in AABR ever since I remember, right back to when I was President of AABR NSW back in the 80s and 90s.She has represented us on many committees and consultation processes, written submissions, encouraged so many people to join AABR and the committees and Board, been a massive advocate for the Accreditation program and always been there with steady, sage advice. Jane has always made new people feel welcome to AABR and has mentored so many people. It is Jane, and people like her that have made bush regeneration what it is today, in respect to the profession, the volunteers and the regard that bush regeneration is held in by other government and non-government organisations.

Looking to the Future.

So, to the future. The need for AABR and for bush regeneration is greater than ever.

The 2021 national State of the Environment Report and subsequent State and Territory reports, all show that our environment and ecologies are in decline. The biodiversity programs of governments over the last 30 years have generally been abject failures, or at best they have slowed the decline. Positive programs, policies and legislation have been swamped by government incentives to destroy the environment, with an estimated $500m a year spent on funding biodiversity positive actions and $26.5 BILLION spent on subsidising activities that degrade the environment.

Among all the negatives, there are positives though and I feel that AABR needs to continue to work in that space. We have always tried to work constructively and candidly with government.

The Australian Government and a number of State and Territory Governments have recognised that to reverse biodiversity decline in Australia we need to do more than just conserve high value areas. Many government programs are embedding the term ’restoration’ more and more in their programs and policies. Sadly, many of the government officers and the politicians that sign off on these still do not understand what restoration is. They often equate it with horticulture or gardening and have no understanding of the time, resources, skills and knowledge it takes to restore ecosystems and ecosystem processes.

I would like to see AABR work more closely with agencies and councils and their political leaders in pushing for the right type of restoration to be adequately resourced and mandated through all of their initiatives. This would be a perfect situation for AABR to produce resources so that all of our members can be empowered to write to their local members, speak to their councillors, sit on committees, write submissions and constantly, constantly remind our decision makers what restoration is all about.

Internally, I feel that AABR is at a watershed. The interest in restoration is growing and we need to grow to meet the need. To do this we need to not only build our capacity with people – both members and active participants, but also our systems and our activities. We have started the process of updating our support systems, our IT and our governance. We have started actively encouraging councils and agencies to join AABR or work with us. We are going to pursue our charity and DGR status and go for more grants.

I look forward to the range of AABR events planned over the next year for our 40^th anniversary year. We will be having another AABR Fest, plus forums, seminars, field events and celebrations. There will be plenty of opportunities to get involved in helping plan and deliver these, or to just attend. Planning has begun on these and our milestone year will hopefully be one where all of our members find something to make them proud of their Association.

And your organisation is valued. Anyone is welcome to contribute, to influence, to advise and to participate. We have become so much stronger over the last few years with our massive improvement in active members from all age demographics. We still have a long way to go in being representative of the range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the broader community, but that is a challenge we should take, along with better and more meaningful partnerships with First Nations peoples across Australia.

Please talk to us. Email or call your Branch committee or the Board. The more we hear from you, the more we can be sure that we represent your interests and work towards what we all want.

Peter Dixon, President AABR

Phone 0478 741 111.

Want to know more about the activities of AABR? The full  Annual Report for 2024-25 is available here

AABR Fest 2024 – Welcome, Tracie Howie