Management committee

Grant is a retired supervisor who worked in the coal and resource industry in the Mackay region. He joined Mackay Conservation Group in 2019 after recognising the global failure by leaders and politicians to abate carbon emissions. His interests and hobbies include a just transition for people working in fossil fuel industries, bush regeneration and the rewilding of local Mackay landscapes. Grant understands the value of natural landscapes to the Australian identity and wants future generations to enjoy them.

Michael is a consultant Paediatrician who worked for 39 years in Mackay, in private practice and as Director of Child & Adolescent Health Mackay Base Hospital. Now he is a paediatrician for Queensland Paediatric Telehealth Service – providing paediatric consultation to rural sites in Queensland. He enjoys travel to rural sites in Australia as well as running, swimming and bike riding. He loves the natural environment and is concerned we have lost too much and are continuing to lose healthy ecosystems. He is also concerned about climate change – its environmental, social and health impacts. 

Tony is an accredited Dive Instructor and before retiring spent 40 years as a dive operator based in the Whitsundays. Much of that time spent training instructors from Brisbane to Darwin and everywhere in between as well as Fiji, Solomon Islands and New Zealand. His real passion is being in the water and observing the myriad of life found on the Reef, an environment far more remarkable than anything found above water. His involvement in Reef conservation started nearly 40 years ago when he realised that the Reef is under pressure and little was being done to protect it.

Alison has always been passionate about our natural environment and has a lifelong interest in our native plants, animals and wild places as well as their connection to the health and wellbeing of our own species.  She has a Bachelor of Forest Science degree and 25 years of experience in various roles with state government agencies in Queensland. She became involved with the Mackay Conservation Group because she is very concerned about the impacts we are having on our natural world and the need to live more sustainably within it. She enjoys most outdoor activities but is particularly obsessed with bushwalking, mountain biking, gardening and rock hunting.

Peter first started volunteering with the group in 1993. Peter has academic training in environment, history and indigenous studies. He is a keen cyclist and especially enjoys bicycle touring in Queensland. Ensuring that the world his grandchildren’s generation inherits can support a diversity of life and landscapes is what drives him to work for environmental protection. 

Nicky has a long history with the environment in Queensland. She has worked with the Queensland Conservation Council (Rural Liaison Officer, and Coordinator – twice!) She also has worked with the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) and even a short contract with MCG. Most of the past 18 years, Nicky has been working overseas – mainly Southeast Asia and Timor-Leste where she is now working as a Communication Mentor with Red Cross. She loves cricket and crazy shark movies and hates injustice.