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The eclectic board of the LIA
- more than meets the eye

 by Mark Jones

 

Question: What do the following have in common?

The deputy chancellor of Wollongong University, a senior town planner, a Master of Applied Science, a Wollongong Deputy Mayor and mechanical engineer, a 60-plus year local stalwart awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Or how about an ex-Shellharbour councillor with 42 years experience in the Illawarra (along with being a local politician’s mum), a “BHP professor” of Environmental Science, an Illawarra Fisheries professional, an ex-mayor of Eurobodalla Shire Council, and a Shellharbour councillor who also happens to be a 30-year Bluescope employee.

Answer: They are all highly knowledgeable, qualified, empathetic and appropriately local board members of the current Lake Illawarra Authority (LIA).

At present the authority consists of 10 part-time board members - five drawn from across a lake-centric spectrum of State and local governments, along with five community representatives. Their tenure is for two years.  

Two members are each from Wollongong and Shellharbour Councils, one hails from the Department of Environment and Climate Change, one is from the Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries)  and another is from the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority (SRCMA).

The remaining five include Wollongong University senior staffers, along with long-term Lake Illawarra community representatives, each with an innate knowledge of both Lake Illawarra and relevant government.

The current Authority membership is to  to 31 August 2009. 

The LIA chairman is also directly appointed by the Minister. Currently the position is held by long-time local identity Doug Prosser, who has been a member of the LIA board since inception in 1988, and who became chairman in 1990.  

The authority meets six times annually. Meetings run for typically half a day, with board members receiving at the time of writing a taxable $104 per meeting  or $171 for the chairman.

Many LIA board members also sit on other local bodies and committees, mostly for free. And that’s on top of their professional employment, along with family responsibilities and personal interests.

There are no other perks or payments for board members of the LIA. As an example there are no wages, and no vehicles or communications are supplied nor bills paid. Costs are not recoverable.

Being an authority member is not a role offering monetary return, or for that matter even status. It actually costs members money to sit on the board of the Lake Illawarra Authority, to aid in the ongoing maintenance and care of the lake.

To many it would seem a thankless task. But in the vernacular, members of the authority are on a mission of love when it comes to Lake Illawarra.

Doug Prosser

LIA chairman, Doug Prosser, was instrumental in forming the Lake Illawarra Management Committee under the auspices of the Local Government Act in the mid-1970s. As the committee remained perpetually unfunded, constant agitation along with lobbying of local politicians undertaken by Mr Prosser fomented State-based legislation in 1987 in the form of the Lake Illawarra Act. The Lake Illawarra Authority is the governing body of that act.  

The sometimes maligned and often misunderstood Mr Prosser, to a large degree the unassuming face of the authority, has lived around the lake for over 60 years. He remembers camping on Gooseberry Island back in the 1940s, once he and his mates had paddled over in their canvas canoe.

Sue Chapman

Up the road at the University of Wollongong, deputy chancellor and LIA board member Sue Chapman holds a MBA (the highly regarded Master of Business Administration degree), and is CEO of management systems certification body, NCS International. A mother and resident for over 30 years, Mrs Chapman’s business carries strong environmental management systems expertise.

John Morrison

Also at Wollongong University is LIA board member, PhD chemist and BHP professor John Morrison, who focuses on land/water sciences management and particularly land/ocean interfaces. Professor Morrison has been involved in studies overseeing estuary pollutant concentrations, water quality impacts on ecosystems, mineralogy of soils and nutrient availabilities, salinities, waste management, and Australian and Pacific island estuaries and lagoons.

Ron Hales

LIA board member and local retired environmental consultant, Ron Hales, carries a Master of Applied Science degree, along with Health and Building Surveyors certificates. Mr Hales worked mainly with Wollongong Council for over 40 years, and has specialist expertise in local government, ecological studies, pollution control, waste management and community consultation.    

Robert Rawlinson

Robert Rawlinson was appointed by Minister Koperberg in September 2007 as a community representative.  Mr Rawlinson has lived in the Warilla area since 1968.  He served as a member of the Lake Illawarra Community Advisory Committee which was formed during the construction of the lake entrance improvements.  Mr Rawlinson is also involved in numerous committees including local sporting groups and looks forward to bringing a range of skills and experience to the Authority.

Dr Trevor Daly

Dr Trevor Daly is currently a Fisheries Conservation Manager for the south coast region with the NSW Department of Primary Industries.  He lives on the south coast and has over 20 years experience working in natural resource and fisheries management for both government and non-government organisations.  He has a Ph.D in environmental studies from the University of Sydney.

Pam Green

Pam Green, community activist on environmental issues, LIA board member, and former mayor of Eurobodalla Shire Council, is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is trained in local government planning. Boards and committees Mrs Green has served on include the Sydney Catchment Authority, Coast and Clean Seas, South Coast Water Management, South-East Catchment Management, the NSW Coastal Envirofund, the Natural Heritage Trust, the Southern Rivers Catchment Authority, the Southern Councils Group, Land and Water Australia, and the CSIRO Environmental Trust Project.

John Leedham

With a Bachelor of Science majoring in geology, LIA board member and Shellharbour councillor John Leedham has worked at Port Kembla’s Bluescope Steel (formerly BHP) for over 30 years. For slightly longer Mr Leedham has also lived at Lake Illawarra South. His hobbies include fishing at the lake, and going to local beaches. Mr Leedham simply states: “I am sick-and-tired of all the negative people who degrade the lake by pushing their own agendas - and who are not taking responsibility for their own actions.”

Chris Page

A recent addition to the LIA membership is Chris Page, senior landscape planning officer with the NSW Department of Natural Resources.  Armed with a Bachelor of Science (geography/biology) and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning, Chris has a lengthy association with integrating natural resource outcomes into landuse planning processes in the coastal catchments of the Illawarra and South Coast.  Chris has also been involved in developing and undertaking strategic riparian assessments throughout the regions including the local catchments of Lake Illawarra.  With his optimistic vision and front-line experience, he is well placed to support and contribute to the LIA.  As Chris often states, "Healthy cities have healthy catchments".

 

The overriding conclusion from just this short rundown of the LIA board is that the lake’s better interests lie in appropriate hands. The common notion that regulatory body officials are enjoying some sort of ride on an illusionary gravy train, that they are not appropriately experienced, qualified or educated to hold such positions, or that they don’t have the actual mission at heart, is quite clearly mistaken.

The eclectic mix of the board at the LIA ensures the health and future of Lake Illawarra is very much in the hearts and minds of all involved. As much, if not more so than any other interested party.

It’s a big ongoing job, which only ever reaps very limited budgets and tough-to-gain grants. The LIA board’s mandate though, is to continually persevere for the betterment of Lake Illawarra.

   

Not a member of the board, but executive officer of the LIA and
senior engineer in his own right, Brian Dooley.

 

ENDS

Available photographs:

Contact the Lake Illawarra Authority on (02) 4224 9633 to source photographs of members of the board of the LIA.

Media contacts:

Doug Prosser, LIA chairman, phone 4261 1342

Brian Dooley, LIA executive officer, phone 4224 9605