SEQ Catchments Annual Report 2015

Page 1

NEW CHALLENGES NEW OPPORTUNITIES

COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015


COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015

NEW CHALLENGES NEW OPPORTUNITIES CONTENTS About this report

2

About Us

3

Our Region

4

Our Services

5

Chairman’s and CEO’s Report

6

Our Finances

11

Our Performance

14

Performance Highlights 2014 - 15

14

Delivery against our performance targets

15

Our Strategy

17

Our Structure

19

Our Governance

21

Our Stakeholders

23

Our People

24

Our Environment

26

GRI Content Index

27

Feedback on this report

27

Corporate Directory

28

ABOUT THIS REPORT This report contains Standard Disclosures from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for the Annual Reporting period 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2015. At the end of the report is the GRI Index for a quick reference to a particular section in our Annual Report or on the SEQ Catchments website.

Cover photo: Sunrise at Miami on the Gold Coast by Ben Cooper www.bc3photography.com

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 2


ABOUT US SEQ Catchments is a community, not-for-profit organisation jointly owned by the SEQ Catchments Members Association and the Council of Mayors (South East Queensland). We are one of 14 Natural Resource Management (NRM) organisations in Queensland. We are a member of the Regional Groups Collective, the collective voice of NRM across Queensland.

> More About Us www.seqcatchments.com.au/about-who-we-are.html

We direct

$

funding

from government and business

TO WHERE IT NEEDS TO GET TO

1 3

70%

ABOUT

OF Queensland’s vegetables*

Working with landholders to support healthy land for sustainable, profitable production.

of the land in SEQ is privately owned

What is a catchment?

HOME TO MORE

Our waterways

native plant & animals

supply drinking water to over

THAN

Kakadu

3 million

A catchment is an area defined by mountains and hills that catches rainfall some of which flows into our creeks and rivers.

*As measured by value of vegetable production

PEOPLE

SPE CIE S

Working to control erosion and repair degraded waterways for improved water quality.

Protecting and restoring our region’s biodiversity.

Community owned

PLAN

and support for improved land and waterway management.

OVE R

Supporting over 200 community groups and landholders since 2007 by facilitating $200 million in environmental investment.

Providing training, advice, services

HOME TO

6

of the world’s 7 species of sea turtles Working with the community to contribute towards goals in the SEQ Natural Resource Management Plan.

SUPPORTING A STRONG

tourism

INDUSTRY

$5.06bn

Monitoring and restoring our delicate coastal areas.

$6.40bn GREAT BARRIER REEF

$

SEQ PRODUCES ALMOST

SEQ

#GiveMeSEQAnyDay

Preserving our beautiful natural areas

OUR MISSION We take a key role in regional NRM planning, secure funding and deliver collaborative and innovative partnerships with community, industry and all levels of government. > More about our Vision, Mission and Corporate Intent www.seqcatchments.com.au/strategic-plan.html

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 3


OUR REGION

NOOSA

MAROOCHY/ MOOLOOLAH

UPPER BRISBANE

STANLEY PUMICESTONE

PINE RIVERS MID BRISBANE

Yamahra creek in Mount Barney National Park by Ben Cooper www.bc3photography.com

LOCKYER

LOWER BRISBANE

MORETON BAY AND ISLANDS

REDLANDS

BREMER

LOGAN / ALBERT

GOLD COAST

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 4


OUR SERVICES Our Services

Community engagement

Country We mobilise Healthy and involve community groups and individual landholders to identify, develop and carry out projects at the grassroots level.

Project delivery We support both large and small scale landscape restoration and environmental works, often acting as a Managing Contractor for operational works delivery.

Planning regionally

Natural landscape solutions

We offer a cost effective and value for money service to assist government, industry and landholders to plan Healthy Country for and meet mandatory and voluntary requirements for multiple local, state and Australian Government back on Track natural resource outcomes.

Planning regionally

Vegetation management

We provide assistance to farmers to understand Energex carbon farming opportunities as well as planning, implementing and managing farm forestry. We work to maintain vegetation andback the connections on Track between them to protect habitats for plants and animals.

Land for Wildlife

Healthy Country

Landscape management We work with and support farmers seeking to improve agricultural production and sustainability through the protection and enhancement of their productive natural resources. Good land and flood plain management can reduce risk and improve farm value.

Biodiversity and ecosystem assessment We work with government, corporate, industry, research, education and community partners to conserve biodiversity and nature conservation values.

Waterway and coastal restoration

Energex

Our focus is on the remediation of degraded coastal and aquatic ecosystems (such as streams, rivers, estuaries and mangroves) andPlanning protectionregionally from risks, such as oil spills and intense storms and floods.

Land for Wildlife Healthy Country

Geographic information systems (GIS) – mapping Our Mapping Unit specialises in mapping what’s possible in the landscape and applying this information to protect and restore South East Queensland’s natural resources.

back on Track Property management planning (PMP) PMP helps landholders to analyse their property from an ecological, production, economic and social perspective. PMP integrates perspectives for Planningthese regionally the whole of the property enterprise and assists landholders to design infrastructure and management Energex practices to meet their aims.

Building partnerships

Planning We work with the Australian, Queensland and Local Governments as well as the corporate sector to influence policy and align planning with the SEQ NRM Plan.

back on Track

We encourage and assist the development of partnerships between the community, the corporate sector, other Land for Wildlife NGOs and Regions as well as governments at all levels to deliver NRM outcomes.

Energex SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 5


CHAIRMAN’S AND CEO’S REPORT

Robert Smith Chairman

As the environment continues to change, we must adapt Since the birth of regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) bodies in the early 2000s, we have seen NRM develop from an idea into an integral part of how Australia manages its economic and environmental prosperity. While the value of what we do is in most quarters unquestioned, the way we do things and the expectations of our stakeholders – community, governments and investors – requires us to be resilient and innovative. This means we need to continue to change. Shifting government policies and expectations, reduced NRM grant investment, increasing competition and growing demand for services mean both opportunities and challenges for us. SEQ Catchments has continually reviewed the way it funds and delivers its services in response to this ever-changing environment. In last year’s report we observed that there was a further shift underway. This included the impact of new Australian Government programmes such as Green Army, 20 Million Trees and the new National Landcare Programme, which were at that time still unclear. During this last year the board and staff together have looked at how we could renew and reorient SEQ

Simon Warner Chief Executive Officer

Catchments to remain relevant in this new environment and place ourselves well to lead change. We recognised that while our structure and systems have served us well to date we needed to change the way we ran our business for us to remain viable while continuing to deliver on our stakeholders’ current and future expectations.

Our financial performance There is no question that 2014-15 was a difficult time for SEQ Catchments. A continued lack of funding for core programs, delays in program and major project funding, the cost of investment in creating new business, the withdrawal of funding for administrative support all contributed to this. While none of this was unexpected, the pace of the change and the ability to source alternative investment to offset the impact took longer than we expected. As a result SEQ Catchments reported a loss of $835,142 for the 2014-15 period, with consolidated revenue down 13 percent to $9.2 million. While this is a significant figure we undertook action to reduce the impact and in particular to change the cost

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 6


base of the business and improve efficiencies for the future. Chief among these was our restructure, discussed later in this report, to reduce our costs, maximise revenue opportunities and where possible maintain our capacity to deliver for our community in different ways to how we did in the past. We also invested in the development of new business which will provide alternative sources of revenue to support our strategy as planned. The restructure timing was in part dependent on the outcome of the Australian Government’s change to its funding programmes and in particular the National Landcare Programme. While the renegotiation of this programme and the implications on our operations are still underway, we’re happy to confirm that SEQ Catchments will remain a key delivery agent for regional investment under the National Landcare Programme. Importantly, changes so far negotiated have enabled us to be much clearer in regard to the activities that the program will fund and the role that this important investor wishes us to play. We have also had a look at the way we have delivered support and services especially in those areas where funding has been difficult. This has resulted in the need for us to take a new approach which relies more on building community capacity so they can take the lead and our role being more focused on technical and community support. One such area where we are taking this approach is in water quality monitoring. More information is available on our website.

Despite the reported loss the company remains in a solid financial position, but we have needed to make rapid and sometimes difficult decisions to make the change required. To not do so would have adversely affected our capacity to deliver for our community and stakeholders into the future.

Restructuring our business As outlined previously, during the year we undertook a major restructure to enhance the sustainability of our business. Through this we have reduced the cost base of the business and will improve operational efficiency. As advised at last year’s Annual General Meeting SEQ Catchments is pursuing a social enterprise model with NRM at its core. Under this model we provide services to the market to support and fund our core regional NRM business. This strategy is designed to produce both social and commercial value aligned to our strategic vision and areas of expertise. SEQ Catchments remains a community not-for-profit organisation and our ownership will continue to be the Council of Mayors (SEQ) and the community via the SEQ Catchments Members Association (SEQCMA). The management structure of the business has been reduced and streamlined. We have created four teams with an executive team of four. The way SEQ Catchments operates will require significant coordination across the teams to get maximum value from the resources we have. Each of the executives has very clear responsibilities for the distinct parts of our business. They have been given authority to drive the changes in the business.

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 7


SEQ Catchments is pursuing a social enterprise model with NRM at its core.

The four distinct parts of the business are; Regional Body Operations, Business Development and Innovation, Natural Asset Solutions and Delivery, and Business Services. These changes are detailed further on our website.

Using our vast data warehouse we compiled an inventory of the region’s biodiversity and identified trends such as land use change, changing climate, pest plants and animals, fire management and salinity.

While the operational aspects of the business have now changed, there is still a considerable amount of work to do in reconfiguring our business systems and procedures to ensure that we are getting the best use of resources and systems. This will progress over the first half of 2015–16.

The strategy will inform development and implementation of the Scenic Rim Planning Scheme and policies, as well as supporting community and key stakeholder partnerships in order to maintain and enhance the region’s biodiversity.

Delivering for our community Despite being a difficult year, 2014-15 was a period of strong achievement. These are detailed in the ‘Our Performance’ section of this report.

In partnership with a range of government and industry partners including the Queensland Government, Queensland Urban Utilities and the Port of Brisbane, we project managed the restoration of mangroves and saltmarsh at Myrtletown at the mouth of the Brisbane River.

We would like to highlight some significant projects which demonstrate our ability to be innovative and to bring together partners to achieve meaningful, long term outcomes.

This innovative partnership pioneered techniques for restoring mangroves and saltmarsh which are vital to protecting coastal areas from erosion and storms, and are home to many birds, crabs and marine creatures.

Earlier this year SEQ Catchments completed work with the Scenic Rim Regional Council and local residents on a 10 year strategy to balance biodiversity conservation in the Scenic Rim with further development and population growth.

Another highlight for the year was the launch of the five year Australian Government funded What’s your nature? initiative. This joint partnership between SEQ Catchments, the Brisbane Catchments Network, Brisbane City Council, Queensland Urban Utilities, and Jagera Daren Cultural

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 8


Heritage Body will improve the health of our city’s creeks and green spaces by re-establishing people’s connection with their local environment. In early 2015, SEQ Catchments developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC), to ensure continued Traditional Owner guidance in NRM activities across the region. This agreement was subsequently signed in August 2015.

Defining our way forward SEQ Catchments is now a stronger and more sustainable business. It will take some time to settle down post the restructure and we will need to adapt and change as we go forward. We have made the hard decisions in a thoughtful, considered, structured way to create a better more resilient and responsive organisation; one that supports its community and builds capacity, supports its staff, keeps its focus on the bottom line and demonstrably shows a vision for the future.

thank them one and all for their service, dedication and wonderful legacy they leave behind. We would like to thank all members of the team during the year for all their hard work and commitment in such a difficult and stressful time. The New Year will bring other challenges which inevitably will include discussions regarding the rationalisation of Regional NRM across Queensland as well as arrangements in South East Queensland. It will be tempting to be distracted by these important discussions however our focus needs to stay with continuing to deliver real outcomes that make a difference on the ground. We are keen to preserve the good from the past while capturing the energy and enthusiasm our team have for the future. We can assure you that SEQ Catchments remains focused on delivery and making a difference, as well as proudly being a community owned, not-for-profit organisation that works to protect and restore the natural resources of South East Queensland.

Doing nothing has not been an option. Change is never easy but we did it to ensure that we have a future. Our restructure involved most regrettable, but necessary, redundancies. It has not been easy to lose so many valued and dedicated members of staff who collectively have provided over 80 years of service to SEQ Catchments. These redundancies were inevitably painful for the staff affected and for their colleagues. Each have been invaluable members of the team over the years and we

Robert Smith Chairman

Simon Warner Chief Executive Officer

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 9


CASE STUDY What’s Your Nature? What’s your nature? is funded by the Australia Government and is a partnership between SEQ Catchments, the Brisbane Catchments Network (and its 11 member catchment groups), Brisbane City Council, Queensland Urban Utilities and local Traditional Owners Jagera Daran. Launched in 2013, What’s your nature? is an initiative to connect the Brisbane community to their local waterways and help increase their appreciation for our natural environment. It evolved naturally from all the partners working together to find ways to link our collective efforts to look after our region’s waterways. So far 36 natural areas and spaces (and counting!) across Brisbane are currently being restored, supported by the installation of 100 WaterSmart Street Trees by Brisbane City Council and upgrades to the sewerage infrastructure network, by Queensland Urban Utilities. A key aspect of the initiative was finding interesting ways to involve Brisbanites of all backgrounds and ages. One of the solutions includes a website with an interactive suburb/region map to connect people to family and

community events in their area, as well as getting them in touch with their local catchment group. We’re also getting people together via social media and highlighting the issues right in their own backyards. As well as the website, more than 50 local events have been held as part of the initiative across Brisbane involving more than 1,500 people, including the inaugural Landcare for Singles event, numerous Family Fun Days, working bees and planning days. One of What’s your nature?’s most successful events was supporting Brisbane Catchments Network to host the New Farm Park Family Fun Day, which starred local native wildlife, as well as Maya the famous Koala Conservation dog. Another one of the key achievements was supporting Jagera Daran to create a cultural heritage display at the Brookfield District Museum, which has now become a permanent display of traditional artefacts.

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 10


OUR FINANCES 53%

OUR REVENUE

Self-Generated Revenue Self-Generated Revenue AG

2%

Self-Generated Revenue QG

21%

Self-Generated Revenue Corporate & Partner

28%

Other

2014 - 15

2%

Grant: AG - National Landcare Programme

30%

Grant: AG Water Quality Improvement Plan & Regional NRM Planning for Climate Change 1% Grant: QG - Department of Natural Resources & Mines NRM Programme

8%

Grant: QG - Environment and Heritage Protection Healthy Country

8%

AG: Australian Government QG: Queensland Government

Our top 5 funders 1

AG Department of Environment

$2,762,920

30%

2

QG Department of Natural Resources & Mines (DNRM)

$2,575,543

28%

3

QG Department of Environment & Heritage Protection (DEHP)

$745,265

8%

4

Energex

$614,212

7%

5

QG Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF)

$191,999

2%

As provided at previous AGMs: Government Programme Funding

2011 - 12

2012 - 13

2013 - 14

Self-Generated Revenue Other

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 11


INCOME AND EXPENDITURE SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2015

Consolidated Group

Revenue Expenses Surplus/(deficit) before income tax Income tax (expense)/benefit Surplus/(deficit) attributable to members of the Company

Parent Entity

2015

2014

2015

2014

$

$

$

$

9,213,127

10,605,880

7,872,815

9,828,610

(10,046,831)

(10,771,538)

(8,726,167)

(9,881,075)

(833,704)

(165,658)

(853,352)

(52,465)

(1,438)

33,423

-

0

(835,142)

(132,235)

(853,352)

(52,465)

BALANCE SHEET SUMMARY AS AT 30 JUNE 2015 Consolidated Group

Parent Entity

2015

2014

2015

2014

$

$

$

$

ASSETS Cash and cash equivalents

3,848,033

5,919,636

3,833,624

5,914,021

TOTAL ASSETS

5,655,182

7,213,278

5,506,604

7,180,187

LIABILITIES Revenue received in advance

2,727,713

3,184,960

1,220,171

1,323,431

TOTAL LIABILITIES

3,838,483

4,561,437

3,714,488

4,534,719

EQUITY

1,816,699

2,861,840

1,792,116

2,645,468

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 12


CASE STUDY A decade of working together In 2015, the first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SEQ Catchments and the Traditional Owners of the Moreton Bay region, the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC), was formalised. This is the first time a formal MOU of this kind has been developed between SEQ Catchments and a Traditional Owner group in the region. The MOU recognises the close collaboration between our two organisations and our commitment to learn from one another and work together to guide NRM activities across the region. Traditional Owners provide an invaluable role to working on Land and Sea Country and this agreement acknowledges the mutual respect and understanding of both organisations in working collaboratively across all NRM projects undertaken on Quandamooka Country going forward, from concept through to delivery. This formal agreement builds on over a decade of working collaboratively across Moreton Bay to achieve

positive outcomes for the region and recognises the close alignment between both organisations and QYAC’s commitment to protect and restore Quandamooka Country and Native Title Land. Previous work has included setting up an Indigenous Ranger team after the 2009 Moreton Bay Oil Spill, bringing together a number of State, Federal and Local Government stakeholders to restore the culturally significant site at Myora Springs, collaborating with the community to improve Sea Country and addressing feral animal issues.

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OUR PERFORMANCE PERFORMANCE

Highlights 2014-15

During the 2014-15 year SEQ Catchments managed a total of 167 projects, consisting of 78 new projects along with 89 projects continuing from the previous year.

Community Engagement

155

121

awareness raising events with over

training sessions with 1,498 participants being trained in some aspect of NRM

5,249 attendees

86

community and environmental groups supported

Property Management Planning

Biodiversity

162

163

new Land for Wildlife voluntary conservation agreements covering 2,740 ha including 1952.2 ha of native habitat.

plans completed covering >15,000 ha

31

group and one-on-one training sessions held with 107 people

4

3,948

River Restoration

Land for Wildlife properties

136.4

(as of June 2015)

km of stream bank flood resilience works

1096.3 Vegetation Management

14.6

ha of fencing, weed control, ecological thinning and improved fire management

km of stream bank revegetation

34.9

ha revegetated

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 14


Delivery against our performance targets In last year’s annual report, we advised SEQ Catchments had completed its five year Strategic Investment Plan (SIP). The SIP detailed 22 specific, deliverable targets that we and our partners would achieve by 2014. These targets were set by our community and represented our first attempt to define the minimum targets against which we would measure our success and be held accountable.

2009-2014 SIP targets

At the time of reporting we had yet to set new targets as we were waiting for the new SEQ Regional Plan to be finalised before defining a new SIP. We have however continued to track our performance against these targets.

2009/14

2014/15 year

32,484 ha

13,115 ha

126 ha

30 ha

7,052 ha

231 ha

500ha of native vegetation management

10,278 ha

1,096 ha

100ha of habitat management for priority species

3,971 ha

1,056 ha

410 ha

35 ha

631 ha

0.2 ha

Yes

Yes

125km of stream-bank management

887 km

136 km

400ha of riparian weed management

897 ha

524 ha

1,000ha of wetlands management

319 ha

31 ha

Regional NRM targets commitment

Partial

Partial

Use of the Ecosystem Services framework

Partial

Partial

20% increase in partnerships per SEQC project

6.6%

1.8%

Raise the profile of an NRM issue with the public

Yes

Yes

Training to improve 1,000 land managers’ knowledge

19,730

6,674

Represent Traditional Owner interests

Yes

Yes

10% of SEQC projects with Indigenous involvement

6.1%

1.3

Land 20,000ha of improved land management 50ha of salinity management 125ha of hill-slope and gully management Biodiversity

200ha of revegetation Water 50ha of coastal management Community seagrass & mangrove monitoring

Enabling

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 15


Photo courtesy of Scenic Rim Regional Council

This undertaking is integral to delivering on the desired outcomes of the Scenic Rim Community Plan 2011-2026, a shared vision with the community for the future of our region. Cr John Brent, Scenic Rim Mayor

CASE STUDY Scenic Rim Biodiversity Strategy The Scenic Rim is one of the most biologically diverse places on earth. It is primarily a rural landscape at the foothills of the Border Ranges, surrounded by World Heritage listed national parks. It is home to Gondwana Rainforest World Heritage Areas, National Parks, nationally significant biodiversity corridors, and sub-tropical rainforests. Its outstanding natural values and heritage of national, state and local significance attracts large tourist numbers to the region every year. The Scenic Rim’s Gondwana Rainforests are also among the oldest forests on the planet. The Antarctic Beech and Hoop Pine in these ancient rainforests are a remnant link from over forty million years ago. Earlier this year SEQ Catchments completed work with the Scenic Rim Regional Council and local residents on

a 10 year strategy to balance biodiversity conservation in the Scenic Rim with further development and population growth. Using our vast data warehouse we were able to provide extensive expertise and input to help identify key assets to guide strategic investment areas. By turning data into knowledge, we were able to compile an inventory of the Scenic Rim’s biodiversity, identify potential risks, align the Biodiversity Strategy to the new Scenic Rim Planning Scheme, and identify future opportunities and initiatives. We also identified trends and threats which include land use change, changing climate, pest plants and animals, fire management and salinity. The draft strategy was put out for public consultation in June 2015.

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OUR STRATEGY We pursue a region-wide, multi-stakeholder strategy to integrate and coordinate NRM planning and activities between community, government and industry across South East Queensland.

Our Strategic Plan is supported by the SEQ Catchments Strategic Investment Plan (SIP), which defines what we delivered with our project partners over a five year period between 2009 and 2014.

Our Strategic Plan is aligned with goals and actions of the SEQ NRM Plan, the Queensland State Planning Policy, the SEQ Regional Plan and local government plans.

At the time of writing we are reviewing our Strategic Plan and SIP to align with the updated SEQ NRM Plan.

NATIONAL PRIORITIES

State Planning Policy

SEQ Regional Plan

SEQ NRM Plan

STATE PRIORITIES

SEQ Catchments Strategic Plan

SEQ Catchments Strategic Investment Plan

5 years

LOCAL GOVERNMENT / COMMUNITY PRIORITIES

SEQ Catchments Business Plans

1 year

Project Delivery

Shorter term

Multi year

State Planning Policy www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/about-planning/state-planning-policy.html SEQ Regional Plan www.dsdip.qld.gov.au/resources/plan/seq/regional-plan-2009/seq-regional-plan-2009.pdf SEQ NRM Plan www.seqcatchments.com.au/seq-nrm-plan-1/home SEQC Strategic Plan www.seqcatchments.com.au/strategic-plan.html SEQC Strategic Investment Plan www.seqcatchments.com.au/strategic-investment-plan.html

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 17


After

CASE STUDY Restoring Neurum Creek Many landholders suffered significant damage during the January 2013 floods. Thanks to a $150,000 investment from the Queensland Government, a badly eroded section of Neurum Creek is on-track to being restored. The creek running through Peter and Mary Brough’s grazing property had become highly unstable and eroded, which caused large volumes of sediment to be deposited in Somerset Dam. It is estimated that in excess of 20,000 tonnes of sediment was lost from the property during the January 2013 floods and washed downstream into the dam. These restoration works will help stabilise this creek bank, protecting the Brough’s highly valuable grazing land and will also have water quality benefits further downstream, as well as help increase the resilience of this creek to future floods. This restoration work was completed as part of the Queensland Regional Natural Resources Management

Before

Investment Program, demonstrating the commitment of the Queensland Government to make significant investment into local communities for the restoration of our local creeks. Works have included increasing the resilience of the creek by controlling erosion, stabilising the creek banks and revegetating the river banks. There have also been further opportunities to leverage off this investment, with Seqwater restoring a section of Neurum Creek further downstream which will improve the overall resilience of this waterway.

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OUR STRUCTURE Ownership SEQ Catchments Ltd is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and is jointly owned by the SEQ Catchments Members Association (SEQCMA) and the Council of Mayors (SEQ).

Council of Mayors

50% ownership

SEQ Catchments Members Association

50% ownership SEQCMA SECTOR REPRESENTATION

AUDIT & FINANCE COMMITTEE PLANNING & INVESTMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

DELIVERY PARTNERS

#

OF MEMBERS

Integrated Catchment Management and Landcare

68

Environment

33

Traditional Owners

13

Coastal and Marine

12

Local Government

11

Urban Industry

13

Rural Industry

9

Recreation, Sport & Tourism

11

Research & Education

9

Other

19

Total

198 Members

Landholders Landcare, community & volunteers groups Local Councils Schools & Universities

SEQ CATCHMENTS BOARD COMPOSITION

Local Businesses Industry groups State agencies Environmental groups Council of Mayors

SEQ Catchments Members Association

Independent

> More about SEQCMA www.seqcatchments.com.au/company-information-seqc-members-association.html > More about COMSEQ www.councilofmayorsseq.qld.gov.au/

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 19


Organisational Structure We replaced the existing structure with four divisions: Regional Body Operations, Business Development and Innovation, Natural Asset Solutions and Delivery, and Business Services.

During the year SEQ Catchments restructured our business to reduce costs and build our capacity to deliver for our community, governments and investors.

CEO

Special Projects and Transition

General Manager Regional Body Operations

CFO

Executive Assistant

General Manager Business Development and Innovation

General Manager Natural Asset Solutions and Delivery

Subsidiary Companies SEQ Catchments Ltd operates a number of separate entities to balance our commitment to supporting the community while delivering increasingly complex contractual obligations. This also allows us to manage a range of risks. Ultimately, all of these entities are obliged to undertake activities that support our mission and objectives. • Our consolidated group includes SEQ Catchments Ltd, SEQC Operations, SEQC Services, SEQC Offsets (trading as Natural Asset Solutions) • Tactiv Pty Ltd (partially owned by SEQ Catchments) is a software development and solutions provider and holds the license for the enQuire software. > Learn more at www.tactiv.net

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OUR GOVERNANCE The SEQ Catchments Board of Directors is made up of eight members, who bring an appropriate mix of skills, experience, expertise and diversity to Board decision making. Of the eight Directors, seven are aged over 50 with one aged in the 30-50 year band. One is female and one is an Executive Director. The Chairman is an Independent Director and does not hold an executive position. All Directors are required to declare their interests and at each Board meeting these matters are raised. Executive and staff potential conflict of interest are managed through their appointments letters and specific policies. The SEQCMA Board nominates four Directors to the SEQ Catchments Board. The Board delegates authority for economic, environment and social matters to senior executives and other employees via role descriptions and the risk management framework. It also nominates SEQCMA Board Members to sit on SEQ Catchments’s Board Committees – Audit and Finance

Left to right: John Brent, Bardhold Blecken, Jim Dale, Robert Smith (Chairman), Margie Milgate (Deputy Chair), Peter Matic, Victor Atwood, Simon Warner (CEO)

Committee (A&FC) and Planning and Investment Advisory Committee (PIAC). • The A&FC oversees SEQ Catchments’s risk management framework, including the statutory and management financial reporting process. It ensures that there are effective systems in place to manage risk across the business. The Directors, through the A&FC, regularly review the systems that have been established along with their effectiveness. The Workplace, Health, Safety and Sustainability Committee reports to the A&FC. • The PIAC advises on planning, prioritisation of activities and funding of projects to meet the long term targets detailed in the SEQ NRM Plan 2009–2031. SEQCMA Board Members also offer policy advice from a community perspective on strategic NRM issues through advisory committees to SEQ Catchments. Council of Mayors (SEQ) nominates two Directors to the SEQ Catchments Board.

> More about our Board of Directors www.seqcatchments.com.au/company-information-the-seqc-board.html > More about our Executive Team www.seqcatchments.com.au/company-information-executive-team.html

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 21


CASE STUDY New technology restoring flood damaged creeks During the year SEQ Catchments and partners used ‘engineered log jams’ for the first time in South East Queensland to stabilise creek banks and protect high value farmland in Warrill Creek following the January 2013 floods. Pioneered in the US, engineered log jams were first used in Australia 15 years ago with great results in New South Wales and central Queensland. So far 13 log jams have been installed at various locations across the region, thanks to funding from the Queensland Government’s Healthy Country Program. Engineered log jams are designed to emulate what we find naturally in streams, when logs fall into a creek and dig themselves into the bed, causing a jam, hence the name. 8-10 metre logs are stacked criss-cross to slow and deflect the water flow to protect creek banks and farming land during floods. We also include major revegetation exercises with the log jams as the roots of the plants do a great job in holding the creek banks together.

Julie Donaldson who co-owns a farm close to Tarome in the Fassifern region with her partner and good friends, has had four of these log jams installed on their property. “We’re used to summer floods when the creek rises quickly as we are high up in the catchment,” she said. “But January 2013 was different with the prolonged amount of rain causing the creek to rise suddenly and take away even old mature trees along the creek. “We lost quite a bit of land along the creek banks in several places. Initially we were looking for some technical advice to fix up the damage, but then the opportunity came up to be part of this pilot log jam project. “We hadn’t heard about log jams before, but it sounded so logical and sympathetic to nature’s way of protecting the creek banks. It seemed like a great fit for us. The log jams not only provide habitat for aquatic animals and protect revegetation efforts, but also stop huge amounts of sediment from being wash downstream to Moreton Bay.

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 22


OUR STAKEHOLDERS Our stakeholders are crucial to our success. We identify our stakeholders as those affected by our activities, products, and services; or those that affect our ability to successfully implement our mission, targets and strategies. Our stakeholders include governments at all levels, particularly local governments, the corporate sector, landholders, community groups, collaborations and our employees and contractors. We continually engage with our stakeholders in many ways as detailed below: Stakeholder Group

Types of engagement

Community

Community Partnership Managers

Landholders Government

Corporates / Investors

Employees

Frequency *

Ongoing

Social media

Ongoing

eNewsletter

Bi-monthy

Catching up Newsletter

Quarterly

SEQ Catchments Members Association

Quarterly

Annual General Meeting

Annually

Community Partnership Managers

Ongoing

eNewsletter

Bi-monthy

Policy submissions

Ongoing

Briefings by SEQ Catchments’s CEO

Ongoing

Social media

Ongoing

Reporting

Contractual

Annual General Meeting

Annually

eNewsletter

Bi-monthy

Client Managers

Ongoing

eNewsletter

Bi-monthly

Annual General Meeting

Annually

Social media

Ongoing

Daily management supervision

Ongoing

Performance reviews

Annually

Staff retreat

Bi-annually

Annual General Meeting

Annually

*In our new model, Area Managers will work together across the teams, and therefore across the areas. You can learn more about our Regional Operations team at www.seqcatchments.com.au/news/new-regional-body-operations-restructure-announced

> More about our government stakeholders www.seqcatchments.com.au/government.html > More about our corporate stakeholders www.seqcatchments.com.au/our-partners-corporate.html > More about our community stakeholders www.seqcatchments.com.au/community.html > More about our collaborations www.seqcatchments.com.au/collaborations

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 23


OUR PEOPLE SEQ Catchments leverages volunteer support through member and community groups across the region. We maintained an excellent safety record in the 2014-15 year with no days of lost time injuries, coupled with a low absentee rate of 2.36 percent for females and 2.07 percent for males.

15 percent of our staff are represented in our Workplace Health Safety and Sustainability committee including management, operational and administrative staff. The committee reports to the Executive and the CEO.

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 24


EMPLOYEE STATISTICS TOTAL STAFF 2014 - 2015

49

NUMBER OF FEMALE EMPLOYEES

26

NUMBER OF MALE EMPLOYEES

23

5 AGE GROUP

2014 - 2015 SUMMARY NUMBER OF NEW STAFF HIRED

4

16

0 <30

15

5

30 - 50

6

2

8 50+

All employees are engaged on individual contracts rather than collective agreements. Remuneration of our people is assessed on an annual basis supported by a market review conducted by BDO Kendalls.

STAFF LEAVING IN 2014 - 2015

9

NUMBER OF FEMALE EMPLOYEES

5

NUMBER OF MALE EMPLOYEES

4

% OF STAFF LEAVING IN 12 MONTHS

3 AGE GROUP

3

30 - 50

18.37%

2

1 50+

*These figures are inclusive of all SEQ Catchments’s business entities

> More about our Health Safety & Sustainability Committee www.seqcatchments.com.au/annual-report-2015-workplace-health-and-safety > More about our Employee Engagement Management and Feedback policies www.seqcatchments.com.au/annual-report-2015-employee-engagement-management-teamwork-and-feedback > More about our Employee Retention and Development policies www.seqcatchments.com.au/annual-report-2015-employee-retention-and-development

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 25


OUR ENVIRONMENT Our sustainability strategy Our vision is a sustainable future for our community. Sustainability is our core business and reason for being. We are dedicated to supporting positive actions to protect and enhance our natural assets. Our daily activities and facilities are designed to minimise the impact we have on the natural assets and landscapes of South East Queensland.

> More about our Carbon and Waste Reduction Strategy www.seqcatchments.com.au/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=67447

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 26


GRI CONTENT INDEX GRI G4 guidelines were used as a reference. The below table includes those aspects that were found material.

General Standard Disclosures

Page Number (or Link)

Strategy & analysis

General Standard Disclosures

Page Number (or Link)

Stakeholder engagement

G4-1

6

G4-24

20, 24

G4-2

6

G4-25

24

G4-26

24 24

Organisational profile G4-3

3

G4-27

G4-4

5

Report profile

G4-5

30

G4-28

2

G4-6

3

G4-30

Annual

G4-7

11, 20

G4-31

29

G4-8

24

G4-32

28

G4-9

11, 20

Governance

G4-10

25

G4-34

22

G4-11

25

G4-35

22

G4-12

20

G4-36

22

G4-13

7. 8

G4-37

22

G4-14

15, 18

G4-38

G4-15

18

From Page 3 Directors Report in Financial Statements, 22

G4-16

3

G4-41

22

G4-51

Page 4 Directors Report in Financial Statements, 22

G4-52

25

Identified material aspects & boundaries G4-17

21 Ethics & integrity G4-56

3

FEEDBACK ON THIS REPORT Thank you for taking time to read our Combined Annual and Sustainability report. Your feedback helps us to improve our sustainability performance, services and reporting process. To provide feedback on our 2014-15 annual report go to www.surveymonkey.com/r/SEQCatchmentsAnnualReport2015 The information will be kept strictly confidential and used for communication and statistical purpose only. All personal data are handled in accordance with SEQ Catchments’s privacy policy.

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 27


CORPORATE DIRECTORY Brisbane Office Level 2, 183 North Quay Brisbane PO Box 13204 George St Qld 4003 Ph: +61 7 3211 4404 Fax: +61 7 3211 4405 www.seqcatchments.com.au

Directors Robert Smith (Chairman) Margie Milgate (Deputy Chairman) Victor Attwood Bardhold Blecken John Brent Peter Matic Jim Dale Simon Warner

Executive Team Simon Warner (Chief Executive Officer) Louise Orr (General Manager Regional Body Operations) Paul McDonald (General Manager Business Development and Innovation) Simon Brown (General Manager Natural Asset Solutions and Delivery)

Auditors Whitehouse Audit Pty Ltd 22 Mayneview Street Milton Qld 4064

SEQ CATCHMENTS COMBINED ANNUAL AND SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2015 | PAGE 28


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