By Chair, Kevin Love
The Phillip Island Nature Parks’ Board met on August 31 on Phillip Island. The Board welcomed new Board Members, Beverley Munro and Michelle Dickson and acknowledged the contribution of previous members, Danielle Auldist and Jane Foley.
Below are highlights from the August 2023 Board meeting:
Financial update
The Board reviewed the Financial Statements and accompanying annual compliance attestations, along with an acquittal report of the previous year’s business plan.
The Board noted the progress made on the business initiatives for the financial year ending June 30 and acknowledged the Nature Parks’ team for many great achievements.
Below are a few highlights:
- Visitation across Nature Parks’ sites continued to rebound following COVID-19, and we were buoyed by the substantial growth in visitors to our attractions, with visitor numbers at 97 per cent of 2019 levels and revenue tracking slightly above 2019 levels. These promising results were supported by substantial growth in domestic visitors, along with a steady return of international visitors and increased visitors attending on group tours.
- A new food and beverage partnership was advanced this year with Create Catering. Their expertise in delivering memorable event experiences was immediately evident as they continued to deliver high quality events for over 11 incentive groups, 56 conference/events and 13 weddings throughout the year.
- A fantastic year in securing grant funding saw the commencement of the “Future Proofing Little Penguins” project, which was awarded $227,000 from the state government’s Risk and Resilience Grant Program as well as funding from key partner organisation, the Penguin Foundation and NAB corporate sponsors. The evidence-based research project aims to mitigate the species’ challenges resulting from climate change, including extreme weather, dehydration, and fire.
- This year was an exciting launch of a new, high-tech sailing drone to explore penguin foraging grounds in partnership with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Penguin Foundation. The innovative sailing drone ‘Sailbuoy’ uses an echo-sounder (or fish finder) to take images of the underwater environment, and the research promotes our understanding of fish availability for little penguins within foraging grounds off Phillip Island, which is essential knowledge for marine spatial planning and conservation.
- Planning continued for the reintroduction of bush stone-curlews in collaboration with our partners Odonata toward the recovery of the species across south-eastern Australia.
- Extensive progress was made on several business improvement initiatives including safety, human resource management system, ticketing reservations system, procurement procedures and asset management.
Annual Report
The Board considered the Annual Report for year ending June 30 for submission to the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. Once finalised, the Annual Report will be tabled in State Parliament towards the end of the year and published on the Nature Parks’ website.
Board governance actions
The Board was pleased to approve the Financial Management and Accounting Policy, whilst also considering this important document in line with two critical financial risks around revenue generation and financial sustainability.
The Board also endorsed the organisations’ Code of Conduct and accompanying procedures and noted that the Code of Conduct was due to be refreshed in line with the Victorian Public Sector employee guidelines and the Nature Parks’ Values.
With the arrival of two new Board Members, the Board also determined its subcommittee and advisory committee membership structure for the coming financial year.
Penguin Parade boardwalks project
In June 2022, the Nature Parks was successful in securing $5 million in funding for the first stage of the Penguin Parade Boardwalks Redevelopment from the Victorian government under the Regional Tourism Investment Fund (RTIF). This stage of the project will provide a new access path to the Penguin Parade viewing stands that will improve the visitor experience as well as accessibility and emergency management outcomes.
The Board was pleased to endorse the preferred design contractor to progress the design drawings for the Penguin Parade Boardwalks project. The Board looks forward to working with Terroir Architects once again and progressing the design and construction of this important project.