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September 25, 2025
Country Needs People today welcomed Queensland Environment Minister Andrew Powell's announcement that the QLD Govt would deliver its election promise of growing the highly regarded Queensland Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers Program by an additional 30 new jobs.
“Queensland’s state-funded program of supporting community-based Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers is the leading example of any state or federal entity in Australia”, said Patrick O’Leary, CEO of Country Needs People.
“We’re glad to see Minister Powell and the Crisafulli government are delivering on their election promise with this announcement of new Indigenous Ranger jobs” said Patrick O’Leary. “Today’s announcement is a direct outcome of our campaigning, working alongside Indigenous Land and Sea Rangers across the state, with thousands of Queenslanders contacting their MPs across the political spectrum.
Country Needs People met with the LNP before and after the Queensland Election, receiving strong assurance from Minister Powell that he valued the QLD Indigenous Ranger program and would be looking to strengthen it further.
Queensland’s approach is recognised as a leading model due to their ranger program providing realistic operational budgets, which ensures Indigenous Rangers do effective work on Country. In addition, there is a specialised unit within the QLD environment department which works alongside the individual Ranger groups to strengthen and support their operational work, to build collaboration with government agencies, researchers local authorities and other stakeholders.
“The Queensland model is a huge success story which all state, territory and federal governments should be replicating”, said Patrick O’Leary. “The Federal Government once had this approach but it was dismantled under previous administrations. We urge the Federal Government to rebuild their environment department so that Indigenous Rangers and their operations are properly supported.”
“We encourage every other state and Territory government to look at the Queensland approach through the QLD Indigenous land and Sea Ranger program to see how to strengthen their own support for Indigenous led conservation and land and sea management” said Patrick O’Leary.
The QLD Indigenous Ranger program supports over 200 community-based Rangers working from around 45 Indigenous-led organisations across the state. Indigenous Rangers undertake a variety of work under the culturally informed guidance of Elders and community, and combine that with contemporary science and technology. They protect threatened species, manage fire and culturally significant areas, tackle feral animals and invasive weeds, conduct research and monitoring, collaborate with universities and research institutions, manage tourists, and more.
Led by a majority Indigenous board, Country Needs People is a leading national non-profit non-partisan organisation committed to Indigenous Land & Sea Management. Alongside 50 Indigenous Partners Country Needs People works togrow, strengthen and advocate for Indigenous Rangers, to ensure Traditional Owners and their organisations are properly supported to deliver land and sea management Australia-wide.
Banner Image: Ranger Manager Rickie Burchall with Octavia Cobb-Fischer, Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Organisation, QLD. Photo: Annette Ruzicka/Country Needs People.
We pay our respects to all the First Nations people around Australia and their unbroken commitment to keep Country strong on land and sea. We acknowledge Indigenous partners, Traditional Owners, Elders past, present and emerging and extend our appreciation of their support and guidance of our daily work.
