The Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) is a not-for-profit incorporated association under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Queensland) operating in Queensland, Australia. The principal activities of CAFNEC are to safeguard Far North Queensland’s environment through advocacy and education.
The organisation is governed by a Management Committee in line with the requirements of CAFNEC’s Rules of Incorporated Association. The Management Committee is appointed by CAFNEC members at the Annual General Meeting, and are members themselves. Management Committee Members serve for a minimum one-year term and do not receive remuneration for their role, but may receive out-of-pocket expenses.
The Management Committee govern the organisation and retain ultimate authority over its management, delegating the day-to-day management to the Director. The Director’s responsibilities are guided by an annual plan, performance criteria and monitoring adopted by the Management Committee. The Management Committee conducts an annual performance review of the Director.
CAFNEC maintains a public gift fund, the CAFNEC Gift Fund, which is a tax-deductible gift recipient registered by the Australian Taxation Office and subject to the regulatory oversight of the Commonwealth Register of Environmental Organisations and the Australian National Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. All donations received are used to support CAFNEC’s charitable objectives.
Role of the Management Committee
The Management Committee’s primary role is the good governance of CAFNEC, including the development and monitoring of long-term directions and goals and the strategies and policies needed to achieve these goals.
The Management Committee also appoints and manages the Director and ensures that the organisation complies with its contractual, statutory and legal obligations; remains financially viable and proactively manages risks. The Management Committee regularly engages with employees via strategy planning sessions, sub-committees, events and meetings. The Management Committee also invites staff to regularly present key information to the Management Committee, and the Committee Members are always available to provide support and advice or receive feedback.
To meet our governance requirements, Management Committee membership is diverse and includes key competencies such as environmental policy and strategy, finance, legal, fundraising, strategy, audit, risk, communications and engagement. The Management Committee regularly reviews the skills necessary to undertake its activities and undertakes a formal appraisal of its performance annually.
The Management Committee operates sub-committees to investigate various issues and make recommendations to the Management Committee. The Management Committee currently operates four sub-committees, with membership consisting primarily of Management Committee members with support from co-opted experts. The Management Committee does not abrogate its responsibilities to sub-committee members. Sub-committees currently in operation are HR, Campaigns and Finance.
2020 – 2025 Strategic Plan
Our Management Committee
Pia Harkness | President | She/Her
Pia was born and raised in Townsville and was fortunate to spend much of her childhood on Magnetic Island where her love for the environment and the seeds of her interest in tropical marine ecosystems were sown. Professionally, Pia is a community engagement expert, working to support Traditional Owner-led land and sea management in the Great Barrier Reef and its catchments, with a focus on water quality. This work builds on her scientific background with research focused on bringing western science and traditional ecological knowledge based understandings together to support Indigenous land and sea management. Pia holds a Bachelor of Environmental Management, a Master of Tropical Environmental Management and a PhD which focused on marine conservation and community engagement practices and their implications for coastal ecosystems and communities in remote eastern Indonesia.
Pia moved to Cairns in mid 2019 and joined the CAFNEC management committee soon after in an effort to connect with the FNQ environmental community. She has served as President since 2021, where she has led important work to build cultural competency among staff and management committee for stronger partnerships with Traditional Owners. Pia now lives on Eastern Kuku Yalanji Country the Mossman region and has a deep understanding of the environmental and cultural heritage values CAFNEC works tirelessly to protect.
Belinda Billing | Vice President |She/Her
Belinda has worked in sustainable tropical agriculture in the Mackay Whitsunday and Far North regions for more than ten years. Her focus has been on improving water quality in Great Barrier Reef farming regions by working collaboratively with agricultural communities and science leaders. She also works with Traditional Owners to help design and deliver programs for the monitoring and management Country based on Traditional Owner values and aspirations.
She has a Bachelor of Professional Writing and Communication and is currently studying Psychological Science and Sociology, her work experience spans journalism, adult education and, more recently sustainable agricultural extension and project management. Belinda's passion lies in bringing together science and community to create change for a more sustainable and equitable world. When Belinda is not working you'll probably find her playing with her dogs or hiking the region's beautiful trails.
Charlotte Cox | Secretary |
Charlotte grew up in a quiet and leafy part of the NSW Central Coast, just a stones throw from the beach. Her love for the land and sea led her to Djabugay Country (Kuranda) where she lives with her partner, young daughter, and two kelpies.
She holds a Bachelor of Commerce Accounting and a Master of Environment from Macquarie University. Charlotte has dedicated her career to environmental and climate advocacy, playing key roles in campaigns such as Fight for the Bight at Greenpeace, and working closely with Traditional Owners on the Don’t Frack the NT campaign in her current role as Senior Climate Justice Campaigner at GetUp.
When not fighting for climate justice or spending time with her young family, you’ll find her in the garden, by the sea, or dominating a board game with friends.
A long admirer of CAFNEC, Charlotte is eager to contribute her skills and experiences to this incredible team and community.
Bess Murphy | Treasurer | She/Her
Hailing from country NSW and trained as an Environmental Scientist/Biologist Bess is passionate about environmental advocacy, science, social change & sustainability.
She has over half a decade of environmental campaigning and outreach experience spanning Bathurst, Wollongong and Cairns, including most recently working at CAFNEC from 2015-2020.
When not at CAFNEC you can find Bess crafting sustainable timber jewelery in an off grid shed on the Tablelands, under the sea, or hiking in the rainforest nerding-out on botany. She now runs two eco-conscious businesses with her partner and teams.
Will Higham | General Member |
Will is a Land Resource Scientist who specialises in crafting natural resource management plans and implementation strategies at regional and multi-regional scales. He has been designing and implementing successful community based natural resource management solutions in for over 25 years.
Michelle O'Loughlin | General Member |
Michelle is a sustainability professional, working in the local government sector for the last 9 years, largely in climate action and policy. She grew up in regional WA and has been in the Cairns area for 10 years, now living on Ngadjonji country in Topaz. She holds a BA in Indigenous Studies, Grad Cert in Sustainability and brings experience in stakeholder engagement, strategy and governance to the Management Committee. Michelle is passionate about fostering a community that is empowered to make positive impacts for environmental resilience & social justice.
Jesse Rheinlander | General Member |
Jesse’s primary relationship to the world began with isolated ecosystems, protected wilderness, human development and often-irrational management regimes. The sprawling human geography of WA’s urban centres provoked some of the seminal questions of Jesse’s trajectory, specifically regarding the relationship between socio-political environments, the built form and environmental footprints.
Jesse was involved in direct action movements as a young adult, but it was ultimately a burning desire to witness the majesty of climaxed rainforest, and a pressing need to consolidate untamed passions that put him in pursuit of a qualification from James Cook University, emerging some six years later with a degree in both Land and Water Management and Urban Design.
After some time spent developing his networks in the region, Jesse’s professional profile now incorporates administrative, operational and management roles, and he has been responsible for net-positive environmental decision-making, strategy and cultural change at all levels.
Jesse brings a background in evidence-based governance, strategy and ethical decision making to the CAFNEC management committee, and remains fundamentally impassioned by the public-facing campaign issues which they navigate.
Liam Roberts | General Member |
Liam is a Jirrbal man from the Atherton Tablelands.
He has 10 years experience working for Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service much of it as a project officer and has served as a director of Wabubadda Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC for 9 years.
As well as being a current director of Wabubadda Liam works in the Cape York Tenure Resolution Program providing governance support to Aboriginal Corporations across Cape York. He is keenly interested in protecting the environment and brings a wealth of governance knowledge and would love to use his experience to support CAFNEC and their projects.
Mandy Soymonoff | General Member |
Mandy is a Queenslander, growing up around the bush and beach of Mackay and the suburban creeks of Brisbane. She has spent 26 of the last 31 years in F.N.Q., immersing herself in the reefs, rainforests, mangroves and savannah country.
Mandy holds a Bachelor of Science with honours in Ecology. She has worked in Cairns and Brisbane for various state and federal government departments in biosecurity and invasive species. She has also spent two years working for non-government conservation organisations on sea turtles and shorebirds in north west Western Australia.
As a volunteer for CAFNEC for more than seven years, Mandy has a sound knowledge of the current projects being undertaken. In her down time, Mandy enjoys watching flying foxes at their daytime roosts and marvelling at trees.