Emeritus Professor Peter Leggat was a member in good standing Society and prime organiser  of 2016 workshop at the Cairns Institute on Community Health that initiated its Preconditions of Well-being project. We re-publish this obituary Vale Emeritus Professor Peter Leggat – JCU Australia from the James Cook University website.

Prof. Leggat also organised prizes for science students at JCU. The Society is grateful for his service to science, medicine and public policy through his membership.

As a teaser for this workshop, browse through this powerpoint: An Analysis of the Land-New System in Queensland, Multiple Problems and the Benefits of Constructive Reform (pdf version) by Society member David Marlow, sponsor of the workshop.

(ppt version)

Member Dr David George presented at a significant community event at “Glendon”, Nangwee, Queensland 4407 on 26 August. He has supplied the attached Executive Summary of the discussion. The paper concludes by calling for federal intervention to protect good quality food-producing land, because in administering mining and gas leases, the Queensland Government has failed in its custodianship responsibilities .

The Society held a face-to-face (plus online) seminar on Saturday 21 October on the theme:

“Are Queensland’s urban and regional planning regimes fit for purpose, given climate change, given the vulnerability of many residential developments to natural disasters, and given relentless environmental deterioration?”

We aim to produce an “Action Plan” in collaboration with SEQ Community Alliance. See the website of the Alliance.

See flyer for this event for more details. Background readings including the President’s introduction are accessible on the dedicated page.

Papers are now invited on this theme, to be published in volume 133 of our Proceedings and to be eligible for the David Marlow Writing Prize (if received before 31 December). See the dedicated page for further details.

“Given climate change, how can Queensland’s planning systems be rendered fit for purpose?”

Society member David Marlow has donated a purse of $1000 for the most meritorious original paper on this subject. Submissions will be assessed by a panel of experts. The author of the most meritorious article received by 31 December 2023 will receive $1000. All articles that survive peer review can be submitted for publication in Special Issue 133 of the Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland. Guidelines for the Prize have been posted on the website: https://www.royalsocietyqld.org/research/ . Guidelines for the Proceedings have been posted on https://www.royalsocietyqld.org/proceedings-133/

A scientific paper authored by four members of The Royal Society of Queensland has attracted considerable media attention. After peer review, the paper was published in Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland volume 131, at the end of 2022.

The paper, by Dart, Lynam, Pointon and Edwards concludes that:

“The performance-based statutory regime (which does not envisage refusal of  pplications and does not adequately monitor performance), the fragmentation of accountability across multiple authorities, the absence of any systematic resolution of landholders’ concerns over many years and the statement in 2021 by the Acting Director-General of the Department that companies, not the regulator, are responsible for gaining the community’s trust, are all evidence that the Queensland Government conceives of its role simply as facilitating this problematic industry and that the ‘public interest’ which the electorate appoints it to protect has no dimensions other than the narrow one of gas production”.

Online newspaper InQueensland published extracts from this paper in an article by John McCarthy on 1 August 2023, titled “On shaky ground: 10 years on, fight over CSG, water and farmland ramping up“. Further information on https://www.royalsocietyqld.org/coal-seam-gas/. Journalist McCarthy’s article quotes extensively from the scientific paper but it is disappointing that the paper is credited to the University of Queensland rather than the Society or the authors.

The concerns expressed by the authors and their informants in the rural community and the scientific community are not new but have been aired for two decades and more. It is beyond disappointing that the Queensland Government blithely continues to issue new leases for this highly problematic industry.

The Society is pleased to announce the successful applicants for grants of >$23,000 for research into microscopic or macroscopic fungi. The grants honour Queenslander Walter Fisher whose career focused on yeasts. Details are on the Research Fund page.

Understanding the molecular landscape and diversity of Queensland’s native Hericium fungi, Dr Kylie Agnew-Francis, The University of Queensland

Even Fungi Get Stressed Sometimes: Glutathione and Stress Tolerance in the Amphibian Chytrid, Dr Rebecca Webb, University of Melbourne

Investigating the Plant Growth Promotion Potential of Native Seed Fungi to Improve Native Australian Grassland Restoration, Ms Allison Mertin, University of Melbourne and Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

Structural characterisation of valuable new antibiotics from Queensland rainforest endophytic microfungi, Dr. John Dearnaley, University of Southern Queensland.

A paper by Alan Rix entitled The Dunstan Deals: How Some Geological Treasures Left Australia has  been published, the first for the new annual volume 132. Congratulations to the author and thanks to Honorary Editor Dr Julien Louys.