Meet our people

Our people are working towards bringing our legacy to life, creating a prosperous future for Queenslanders.

Meet some of our talented, down-to-earth and resilient people, and find out why they love working with us.

Brianna and Matthew are overcoming sustainability challenges

Find out how Brianna and Matthew are helping manage the sustainability of Queensland’s forestry resources.

• Video transcript

  Well, wood is a very important resource in Australia, and we need it for building houses, our power poles, our paper, and I like knowing that we're doing it the right way.

  It's good to know that it's coming from a sustainable source.

  As Forest Ranger, there's a lot of bushwalking and getting outside, communicating with stakeholders, monitoring our harvesting systems.

  Our role, I think it's pretty critical that we support ongoing industry.

  I started out in 2005 as a General Forest Worker, planting trees and spraying weeds.

  Now, everything is done on a tablet. A day at work for me currently is getting to work, receiving a lot of phone calls and helping out staff members, day-to-day issues with anything from a tablet to computer system or general operational stuff.

  Because you overcome one challenge and there's another one waiting right around the corner.

  So, you're always learning something new. That's probably why I like the role so much.

  My day can vary quite a lot throughout the week. Some days, I'm in the office all day. Other days, I'm collaborating with my peers, might do some training.

  We can be flying drones or we can be monitoring the silo area. We can spend days in the bush, we can spend a whole week in the bush and often, we can be camping as well. That's a really cool, team-bonding kind of moment.

  You're just always working with a great bunch of people, who really makes the work life really, really enjoyable.

  I've got to see a lot of Queensland that I wouldn't have normally seen. Not many people get to experience that kind of stuff.

  It's really important to me that when we are harvesting, we're doing it properly and we're doing it sustainably and that we're not damaging the environment, we're managing it and we're helping it regenerate, so we can come back and we can have these forests in the next 50, 100, 200 years.

Cherelle is making a difference

Find out how Cherelle is helping maintain sustainable fishing resources for all Queenslanders.

• Video transcript

  I've always been a big believer in making sure that I make a difference. My role as a Fisheries Manager is making the rules as to what people can and cannot do when they go fishing.

  Looking at how the rules are made, why the rules are made and implementing that.

  Making sure we have sustainable fisheries, economic fisheries moving forward into the future.

  I feel that being heavily involved in determining and implementing fisheries legislation in Queensland, I can make a difference.

  When I look back over those 20 years, I've stayed because I'm passionate about what I do.

  No two days are the same. So, I have been absolutely blessed.

  I've seen some things, done some things, that people could only dream of doing and I was getting paid to do those things.

  We were about 170 miles out to sea; water depth was about 200 metres. It was an absolute glass-out. Not a ripple on the surface and it just looked like a mirror. It was absolutely magic watching that sun come up over the water.

  I want to make sure that I've given it my all and that I've made a difference. I've been here for 20 years, I'm keen to see what the next 20 brings.

Our people are united by service and purpose

Find out how our talented employees are making a difference for the future of Queensland.

• Video transcript

  I love anything related with insects.

  
  Always been a keen fisher from a young age.

  
  My love for nature and the way of life in nature has brought me to this point.

  
  We've got people from all around the world in our science area.

  Nearly every project is a team effort and it's not just one or two people., iIt's usually quite a team of different experts working in that area.

  
  When we get to innovate, we are sometimes the first in the world to do these things.

  
  I love the diversity that it provides and the opportunities to learn.

  I feel that here, we can grow more.

  
  There's a lot of people that, especially in the department, that's dedicated their entire lives to individual subject matters.

  There's a lot of emerging industries and we need to work together and we need to harness our strengths as a team.

  Opportunities within the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, it's immense. Your life opens up to a career that's only limited by your choice and your ability to put the work in.

Our people are contributing to the future of Queensland and the world

Hear how passionate employees are contributing to a prosperous future.

• Video transcript

  There are so many things that I want to make. I want to do research about insects, that I don't think that I will have one life. I need like two to three lives for that.

  
  There are so many opportunities available for people within the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. I was really surprised with the breadth and the depth of work that the department does.

  Always been a keen fisher from a young age. What excites me is making a difference into the future. So obviously, climate change is one of those impacts that will shift species range. We're responsible for ensuring the fish for the future generations.

  
  The next five to ten years are going to be very interesting for the Queensland food industry. I really love product development in that it's an opportunity to be creative and identify scientific solutions for problems. I think some of the work that we’re able to do is quite transformational for the businesses that we're working with. And that's really rewarding.

  The department, it's so big. We have so many groups and we have so much resources. I feel that here we can grow more. I've been able to do a lot of things that I haven't been able to do in other places because we have more resources here. It's so, so interesting. You never know what new thing you can find. I'm very happy I’m doing what I'm doing here. I love anything related with insects. I think that entomologists never retire.

Our people share a powerful purpose to protect Queensland

Learn how our employees are preserving and protecting Queensland’s biosecurity.

• Video transcript

  There's a lot of people that, especially in the department, that's dedicated their entire lives to individual subject matters. And that information, there's no way you could Google, no way you could replace it.

  For biosecurity, the best outcome is that people don't know we're there. I like to compare them to superheroes who largely work in the shadows.

  
  But the work we do could make a difference for the future of Australia. To maintain the way of life that we have.

  That support for that, you know, agricultural environment is really, really important. That's the legacy, is to continue on the great work that's been done.

  
  Your knowledge that you can grow and build here is, it could simply happen by asking a couple of questions, just in the immediate environment. And it's raw knowledge that you can get out of people. So I just love being surrounded in this atmosphere of knowledge that you can just feed off and feed off. It's amazing.

  The fact that it is challenging, the fact that it does test you, the fact that you have to get out of your comfort zone, you know, sometimes and ask some questions and you know, get some information out of people, means that you are being challenged. Which is one of the reasons why you wanna be here.

  We make sure we're ready to be able to maintain that life. When something comes and that to me is value. Value to come and give what I've learned over the many years and to pass it on.

Be part of our one, diverse DAF

Our department is committed to a workplace where our employees are empowered to bring their authentic selves to work every day.

Learn about our journey and commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace.

• Video transcript

  [Laughs]

  Oscar - Yeah, I'm too nervous.
  
  I've been giving this quite a bit of thought throughout my entire life, to be honest. To me, those concepts are all interrelated.

  The first thing that comes to my mind is acceptance.

  
  It's about recognising that a range of people have backgrounds, really diverse backgrounds, but also interesting backgrounds as well.

  
  Your work is valued for its own sake rather than for, viewed through a lens based on who I am or circumstances about myself that I can't change.

  
  I think it's important that we reflect the community. As an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person, that means a lot to me.

  We are part of the community though. So we live that life as well. Bringing together all walks of life and experience.

  We need to be able to work collectively, collaboratively.

  
  It also actually in a way forces us and pushes us to actually think outside our own boxes to actually communicate differently with different people.

  And where we're problem solving and working on things you're like, ‘Oh, I wouldn't have thought about that.’ You just bring it together and it enhances the whole team’s value.

  
  I am already so accepted and that nobody sees my English as, you know, a difference.

  And when you feel like you're in the right place and you belong, that, it makes it easier to get up every morning.

  Drive with a smile on the way to work, and you drive with a smile back. I feel loved, I feel cared– for and I feel whenever I talk, it matters.

  Coming to this organisation, which has an absolutely brilliant culture. I think the lesson in that is that you have to work hard to maintain it.

  
  I just mentioned that in the male bathrooms, you know, there weren't any sanitary bins and they said, ‘Oh, you know, I never thought about that before’. And then, you know, within a week or two, there were sanitary bins and that was ah amazing to see, cause I've never seen sanitary bins in a, in the male's bathroom before. It's just a very small thing.

  
  We're at a stage in our history where we're creating change that our mothers and our fathers and our grandmothers and our grandfathers fought for. I feel very um proud to be able to do that work. Not just representing who I am as a person and my own um family and my own mob, but other First Nations people in Queensland.

  You know, all this is going to lead to one day when all this is actually not needed. iIn a way where, I know we don't actually have to make a conscious effort to be, you know, to be diversified and inclusive. We just do it. Yeah.

  I feel a bit more comfortable, you know, after you've had a bit of human interaction.

  [Laughs]