Join us to welcome new CEO, Dr Kirsty Howey, and discuss our latest report on Lutruwita / Tasmania’s globally significant World Heritage coastline
Panel discussion and Q and A, followed by celebratory drinks and snacks - RSVP today!
The Wilderness Society is thrilled to introduce Dr Kirsty Howey, our new national CEO.
Kirsty is a former lawyer, who worked for a decade at the Northern Land Council on various land rights and native title matters before completing her PhD, which investigated the intersection between environment, state and development. Over the last six years, Kirsty has transformed the Environment Centre NT’s impact and power. She oversaw the growth of a diverse and powerful environment movement and acted as the NT’s environmental watchdog, fearlessly holding government and industry to account. She has led powerful campaigns to protect nature, rivers and climate from fossil fuel expansion, deforestation and industrial scale irrigation, and supported Traditional Owner initiatives.
Kirsty will share her vision for the Wilderness Society in its next era. Our vital role protecting iconic landscapes, forests and ocean environments against the march of industry destruction and in the face of escalating climate change has never been more critical.
Andry Sculthorpe, from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Anne Boothroyd, from the Centre for Conservation Geography, and Fern Cadman, the Wilderness Society’s Fossil Fuel Campaign Manager, will join Kirsty, with Eloise Carr as MC. We’ll have a fun and wide-ranging discussion, and we’ll get to know Kirsty.
We’ll dive into the Wilderness Society’s new report, Global conservation significance of marine and coastal environments of Western Lutruwita / Tasmania. The report’s co-author, Anne Boothroyd, will provide an overview of the report, including the globally significant conservation values of the area and its unique marine and coastal environments.
Fern Cadman will outline the Wilderness Society’s national Fossil Fuel Campaign, expose the threat that exploration drilling and industrialisation activities pose to Lutruwita / Tasmania’s incredible western coastline, and how you can get involved to keep the gas rigs at bay.
Andry Sculthorpe attended the World Heritage Committee meeting in Korea in July, with Eloise Carr. They raised the significant impacts that salmon and other industries are having on the Tasmanian Wilderness and that no free, prior and informed consent has been obtained from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community for decisions affecting it. Hear more about what comes next..
Bios:
Dr Kirsty Howey is an environmentalist and strategist with more than two decades of experience driving policy, campaigns and change across northern Australia. She is the CEO of national conservation organisation the Wilderness Society, and previously led the Environment Centre NT. Previously, she was a leading native title and land rights lawyer, and is an established author, with a doctorate exploring the intersection between the environment, extractive development and First Nations rights in northern Australia. She is passionate about standing up for people and places on the frontlines of the climate and biodiversity crises.
Andry Sculthorpe is manager of the Country and Culture division of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. He works across multiple Land and Sea Indigenous Protected Areas and Aboriginal Ranger teams and includes the Palawa Kani Language program and pursuing repatriation of ancestral remains and cultural materials back to the Aboriginal community. Central to work of the TAC is the progression of self-determination and strengthening community structures that assist in Nation building through increased land return and culturally sound economic development. Andry is also a founding Co-Chair of the Firesticks Alliance Indigenous corporation.
Anne Boothroyd co-authored the report Global conservation significance of marine and coastal environments of Western Lutruwita / Tasmania. She is a conservation scientist with experience across academia, government and the private conservation sector. Her work focuses on understanding biodiversity values, human activities and environmental threats to support informed conservation decision making.
Fern Cadman is the Wilderness Society's fossil fuel campaign manager, working to halt oil and gas expansion in Australia's oceans. She holds Bachelors of Law and Science from ANU, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Public Policy. Fern joined the Wilderness Society following five years as senior adviser on climate and policy to Victorian Greens MP Ellen Sandell and eight years working across climate, agricultural and drug law reform in the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments.
Eloise Carr is a public policy researcher and advocate and a former public servant of 15 years. She has represented Australia in Southern Ocean negotiations as part of the Antarctic Treaty system and helped design Australia’s first national network of marine reserves. Until recently, she headed up the Tasmanian office of think tank, the Australia Institute. She is currently working as a freelance consultant.
RSVP today!
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This event will be held on stolen Palawa land. We acknowledge and pay our respects to the many generations whom have been fighting for Country since colonisation began. Sovereignty was never ceded.