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August 2025 Update
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What's happening?
2025 is halfway through and whilst we have not had a dialogue for a while, a lot has been happening behind the scenes to set up GFD for the future as a sustainable organisation. The last three years have seen some great things happen as we have learned along the way; now we want to consolidate.
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What's next?
First up, an Annual General Meeting of members is scheduled for 4th September. We encourage all members to join us and help shape GFD. An email invitation will be sent shortly to all registered members.
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Our committee?
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There have been a few changes over the past year, but we have a solid steering committee led by Chris McEvoy (President), Tom Fairman (Vice President), David Bennett (Treasurer/Secretary) and general committee members : Dr Wendy Wright, Paul Haar, Wally Notman, Ewan Waller and Rod Keenan.
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What's coming?
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Yes, we have another dialogue planned.
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It will occur on the weekend of the 15/16th November in Heyfield at the Wetlands Centre.
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Further details will follow, but you can register on Eventbrite.
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What does it mean to be a member?
We currently have over 100 people registered to receive our newsletter and 50 people who have registered as member. If you are a member, you will receive an invitation (separate from this newsletter), to the AGM. In our constitution, a member is entitled to:
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- Vote at a General Meeting.
- Submit items of business to a General meeting and be heard.
- Nominate for a committee role (includes self-nomination)
Access minutes and on request, inspect the members' list
Participate in working groups or subcommittees.
To be a member
You must agree to the purpose of the association and act according to its rules and behavioural requirements.
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- There are no joining fees or subscription fees.
- You may resign in writing.
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Annual General Meeting
- A quorum of 10% of members is required to hold a vote.
- The offices of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary must be declared vacant.
- 21 days notice must be provided to members.
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It is our desire to see rotation and regeneration of the Sub committee, so we welcome new nominations.
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Join a subcommittee
To support our Steering Committee, GFD is looking to form some subcommittees. It's a great opportunity for you, as a member, to get involved. We are looking for members to nominate for the following subcommittees:
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- Finance and admin.
- Communications
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In addition, for every dialogue we form, we need an organising committee. If you are you interested in helping organise our Recreation dialogue, or have other skills you would like to offer, please hit the contact us button on our webpage and let us know: https://gippslandforestdialogue.org.au/
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Our people
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Wally Notman
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Well done Wally Norman on getting accepted to present at the next Forest Australia conference.
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Congratulations
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To Tom Fairman, our Vice President, and his partner on the recent arrival of a new member to their family
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Congratulations
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We want to give a shoutout to one of Gippsland's finest, Daniel Miller, who was CEO of GLaWAC but is now CEO of Parks Victoria. Well done Daniel!
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New Exec. Officer
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We are pleased to announce GFD is now supported by a part time funded Executive Officer. Peter West joined us in April, working 2 days per week. Peter has a long history working for DEECA including 28 years in various locations across Gippsland.
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Achievements since our last newsletter
- The Jindivick Recreation scoping dialogue
- Submission to Victoria's Great Outdoors panel on the future of our forests
- Employment of a new Executive Officer (see above).
- Financial and governance compliance to charity status.
The road ahead
The Steering Committee has undertaken some strategic planning and identified the following priorities:
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- Increasing GFD's profile in Gippsland
- Increasing and diversifying membership
- Partnering with other stakeholders
- Running dialogues relevant to Gippslanders.
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Community Tree Plant
Are you interested in a bit of tree planting with the Gippsland Community Leadership program?
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Upcoming events
September 2025
4 Annual General Meeting
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November 2025
15/16 Recreation dialogue - Heyfield
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December 2025
TBD Social catchup - recreation debrief, fire scope session
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TBA Proposed Alpine Ash dialogue
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June 2026
TBA Proposed private land conservancy dialogue
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November 2026
TBA Proposed fire in the forest dialogue
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Dialogue resources...
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Jindivick Recreation Scoping Dialogue
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Plantations in the landscape' Dialogue
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Kalimna West 'What's next?' Dialogue
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Orbost 'Healthy Forests' Dialogue
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Rawson 'Scoping' Dialogue
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What can you do?
We want members to have the opportunity to be more involved, you can:
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- Join a sub committee
- Join a dialogue organising group
- Spread the word, advocate, invite friends to events, share our posts
- Come along to one of our dialogues (calendar above).
- Follow our new Facebook page (below).
- If you have any ideas for posts, let us know. Email: eo@gippslandforestdialogue.org.au
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