BEAM Annual General Meeting

The BEAM AGM is a fun event and not to be missed. Our guest speaker this year is Matt Shanks, Director of Cultural Land Management Strategy and Programs with Taungurung Land and Waters Council (TLaWC) who will introduce the role of TLaWC and cover some of the work of his team in Cultural Land Management.

The occasion marks the end of Peter Lockyer’s 8 years as BEAM President. Peter thinks BEAM is in good shape going forward with the addition of a diverse range of committee skills (hear his President’s Report). Peter has plans for other creative pursuits beyond the BEAM presidential role.

AGENDA - 2023 AGM of BEAM Mitchell Environment Group

Please RSVP for catering purposes.  (If you wish to note an apology in the minutes, please click through to RSVP as ‘not going’.)

A Financial Report and the Election of new Office Bearers is also an AGM highlight.

The meeting will also acknowledge the service of Caroline Morris, a BEAM Life Member who is retiring from her direct volunteer work with BEAM Bulk Foods after nearly a decade.

After the meeting, there will be a BBQ with some live acoustic music from the SilverBeats.

AGM guest speaker: Matt Shanks

Matt Shanks is a Director, Cultural Land Management Strategy & Programs with Taungurung Land and Waters Council. Matt headlines the 2023 BEAM AGM as guest speaker covering:

-   An introduction to TLaWC and

-   some of the work of his team in Cultural Land Management generally, which includes community and government partnerships for progressing healing and caring for Country in the policy, management and governance realms.

Matt notes that the referendum result will potentially shift the mood of the AGM. “A resounding YES means benefits to all Australians”  but local TLaWC work, Treaty work in Victoria and the wider push for justice for First Nations people will continue. Stronger working relationships with all people and the land we grow on is the winner in working partnerships.

The Taungurung Lands and Water Council has grown a lot in recent years, and working relationships between First Nations and community groups, like BEAM, hold a lot of promise in coming years as we collectively look for a more respectful way of engaging with all peoples, country, and a lighter footprint that may just be sustainable with the turbulent future we confront.

About Matthew Shanks

Matt is a Nira Baluk man of the Taungurung Nation.

Former Director of the TLaWC Board and Negotiation Team Member for Taungurung’s Recognition and Settlement Agreement with the State of Victoria.

Matt supports the Taungurung Nation to establish Cultural and Natural Resource Management objectives, merging Cultural and contemporary values and objectives to heal and care for Country.

Previous experience includes supporting Victorian Traditional Owners develop state-wide policy, strategy and legislative reform in a range of natural and cultural resource management areas including Cultural Fire, Public Land management, water management and Cultural Heritage management.

Holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science (Environmental Management and Sustainability).