Better partnerships project
Building regional governance and collaboration
Management of invasive plants and animals occurs across all levels of government, by landholders and the broader community, and in organisations such as Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups, industry groups, Landcare groups, and universities.
Through the Better Partnerships Project, the Queensland Government is funding two pilot projects that will foster regional collaboration by building and implementing shared governance structures for the management of invasive plants and animals at a regional level.
NQ Dry Tropics and Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC) are each receiving funding of $375,000 over two years from 2018 to 2020 to conduct the pilot projects.
The Better Partnerships Project will collect data from the two pilot projects to develop a framework for more robust regional collaboration between local governments, natural resource management groups and other interested parties.
Ultimately, the framework will guide organisations in developing strong partnerships, leading to comprehensive and collaborative regional biosecurity governance and planning that pools local resources to provide better biosecurity outcomes at a regional level.
A Project Board has been established by Biosecurity Queensland to oversee the Better Partnerships Project. The Project Board includes representatives from the Queensland University of Technology, the Local Government Association of Queensland and NRM Regions Queensland.
Overview of Pilot Projects
NQ Dry Tropics
The Regional Pest Management Group (RPMG) for the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM region has identified an avenue to improve regional collaboration and associated management outcomes by focusing on the benefits of collective impact. The project will include updating the Regional Pest Management Strategy for the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM region. Underpinning this revision will be the consideration of how RPMG governance arrangements can be improved to ensure the group is formally committed to demonstrating effective collaborative partnerships. An assessment of these improvements will be achieved by the delivery of operational pest management projects throughout the region.
Refining and formalising the current RPMG governance will ensure RPMG members formally agree to align future regional investment priorities and leverage investment from all regional agencies. These activities will also ensure local, state and national pest management plans/strategies are consolidated to achieve broader biosecurity outcomes across the whole of the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM region.
Wide-Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC)
The WBBROC project will develop a regional service delivery framework to strengthen partnerships and leverage investment in activities targeting the prevention and eradication of incursions of invasive plants and animals in the Wide Bay Burnett region. The project will be carried out by WBBROC in association with the Burnett Mary Regional Group.
The project will include activities to build detection and rapid response capabilities in the region through:
- The development of a service delivery framework and appropriate governance system to encourage ongoing input and leverage support from a range of stakeholders;
- Building understanding within the wider community of invasive species and shared responsibility for decision-making and action;
- Development of a rigorous approach to risk and consequence analysis by all delivery partners;
The project will seek to improve collaboration by:
- Undertaking a gap analysis to identify current skills and partnerships and to identify opportunities to enhance existing and new collaboration;
- Obtaining delivery partner endorsement of the Regional Biosecurity Strategy