59 meeting Minutes August 2011

**David** Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:32 am

Fundraising
Additional Comments- Goodwill Wine Fundraising . Amanda followed up re whether growers were “Wombat Friendly”, David Laiety has
researched this and none of the three growers involved harm wombats and one grower was particularly positive about them (ie; on their
property). The label can be modified at anytime as it is printed as orders are received. The Society will receive $20.00 donation a case.
In establishing rights re photograph for the label a number of issues arose and are being addressed. The photograph on our website was
confirmed to have permission from its owner, Tom Dempsey, for use “on the website”. Amanda/Lenore/Marie following up.
Members NFA
Jodie McGill concerned regarding change of name to Bare Nosed Wombat as per conference. She has further information regarding
NPWS atlas of names. This will be put in next Bulletin.

Support for developing organisations
David commented that the page listing organisations for support needs to be replaced ASAP onto the website so existing projects for support
are canvassed. This has been listed for work in August. Marie Wynan moved that rather than charge projects for support for
book-keeping, the Society keep GST from purchases as another way of supporting the project but covering costs.
The Movement Activated Camera Research Project works this way where members wishing to support research via movement activated
cameras donate funds which are used to purchase a camera. The Society claims and keeps any GST. Seconded Jan Smith.
This process may not work where monies are automatically transferred as is the case with the majority of projects receiving support from
donors. It only works where the Society buys the goods on behalf of the beneficiary as with WAO organisations flaps . The legality can be
checked with the auditors, as once we have paid out the money to nominated projects accounting by receiving receipts from them is not
likely to be acceptable accounting practise. In the case of the cameras, a specific project, there were no problems.
Projects for Support
Georgeanna Storey- research
Majors' Creek Wombat Rescue
Jarake Wombat Sanctuary
Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue
Southern Cross Wildlife Clinic
Wombetta at Bombala
Wombatrise SA
Fourth Crossing (wombat) Education
Phil Borchard General Research
David has put forward Central Tablelands Wombat Watch Project
(name to be advised) and Children's Education program.
(see also Public Officer's report covering issues under this topic, these
minutes).
ONGOING ITEMS
Directors
Previous meeting Marie Wynan moved Mirella Alencar be nominated as a Director/ seconded Amanda Cox/Shirley Lack. Mirella Alencar has been entered as Director on the ASIC site . A Directors' Appointment letter was sent to Bill Waterhouse following nomination at the AGM. Bill may be better placed to serve on the Public Fund Board which his teaching credentials would allow him to do. He has not been entered on ASIC and Amanda will follow up with him.
Potential Future Directors
Following the planning discussion at the AGM it remains the Society's aim to appoint at least two Directors for each State. At this stage the
Society needs to work on a second Tasmanian Director, two for South Australia and another for Victoria. There is a general consensus
regarding Director's taking on particular roles, for example Mirella taking over funding submissions and requests to foundations.
Discussions regarding potential Directors;
For Victoria
Post the AGM Denise Garrett suggested Sue Forrester who is an existing member of the Society. Amanda spoke with Sue who is very
honored and interested but is currently setting up a canine charity. It was agreed she would like to be contacted later in the year.
For Tasmania
Stephanie Clark has nominated two potential Tasmanian Directors, both known to the Society and both involved in wombat care. Wayne
White and Oma Rodger. These should be seconded during the 60th Board and those nominating them should explore with them their
particular areas of interest.
WAO finances
By the end of June all the money raise by WAO has been paid through the Public fund and general operating costs returned to them. A draft
financial statement has been received. The Society now holds the Portee Station Purchase money (approximately $9300) split between
the Public Fund and the Operating Account. (see treasurer's report). The Portee money will be returned to the Public Fund and any grant
balance paid out to WAO in August. Melanie Heffernen, WAO solicitor has advised that WAO would like this transferred to the Wildlife Preservation Society of Australia's public fund. Amanda/Shona/Jan from the Public Fund Board discussed same and requested a letter stipulating that the money will be maintained for the purposes it was raised- ie; purchase of Portee Station to conserve wombats. This via WAO solicitor .
Communication Systems
Stephanie Clark has investigated a number of communication systems which may be easier for the Board to use to help when
communicating. As the main computer is cleaned up, these will be sent out to Directors for comment. Directors have been asked which
systems they already used or could access. Directors are to be given contact details for one another so they are able to speak to one another by telephone. Amanda to send out Board contact file. A round robin with telephone calls has also been mentioned as a way for Board members to keep in contact and to get to know one another.
The external drive has been used to fully back up all existing data on the computer ( previous annual downloads exist for each year of
operation, going back to disks used in the first two years and data sticks post these.) Sadly an act of adolescent vandalism has seen both
the electrical and USB cord of the device damaged. Amanda will arrange repair/replacement. Further action on the Society's computer
now to occur early August as a technical assistance needed. (booked for 15/ Cool

Shop
Stephanie Clark is now receiving all emails pertaining to the shop and a decision made to have the Shop Director and Shop Co-ordinator
manage “shop@wombatprotection.org.au” email address. Discussion regarding receipt of donation notifications occurred (pay pal only allow
one email address) and on balance it was felt that this would have more benefits than deficits. The benefits include the central computer
not needing to receive “shop@” emails and as the only ones needed to go centrally are those notifications of donations via paypal (so they
can be receipted), those can be forwarded back to the Society by the Shop Co-ordinator/ Director as received. This also allows a double
check of donations received so it is an even better system than having to send out all the shop@ from the central computer. As the Pay Pal
statement is reconciled at the end of each month this will allow the book keeper and public officer to monitor both donations and pay pal
shop purchases.Stephanie will provide a report for the minutes about the Shop in future and will advise Directors re format.
NEW BUSINESS
New Members for Approval
Nil June/July
Public Officers' Report
Projects for Support
In response to questions from Clark/Alder re projects for support; In the 58th and carrying onto the 59th Board, issues surrounding
projects for support have been discussed by Directors. In the past any person or group undertaking work with wombats or on behalf of
wombats that fitted within the parameters of the society's stated goals (to protect, conserve and preserve wombats as individuals and as
species and their habitat, and to provide education about wombats to people) have been able to submit to the Society a precise of what they
are doing/ proposing to do and if agreed by the board this becomes a “Project for Support”. The most fundamental facility the Society
provides is the accounting for their project which allows them to raise donations and have these officially receipted and therefore made tax
deductible to their donors.
For some projects ( eg; WAO Murraylands Mange Treatment) our information and support was required for them to be able to design the
project, seek and get the grant. The Society also assisted there by assisting them write a number of proposed funding submissions to
government, non of which were successful. The National Parks Foundation eventually provided a grant for the Murraylands treatment
project and asked the society to manage the funds as WAO was not registered as a company or charity.
Other projects for support, such as Howard Ralph's Southern Wildlife hospital occasionally seek and receive donations from people who are
more likely to give if the can tax deduct their offering, so we process such donations on their behalf.
For some Projects where large purchases are likely we have purchased the materials on behalf of the group so that we could claim
back GST on their behalf. In the past this money has been returned to the project for their further use.
Projects currently receiving regular donations are Cedar Creek Wombat Rescue and Jarake Wombat Sanctuary, both of which receive regular
monthly donations from particular donors. In each case the donor stipulated to the Society what their funds were to be used for. In the
case of the Cedar Creek donor who gives 50% of their donation to the Society, it is their words, “use for general purposes” that determines
how the money is to be used.
The other area where we assist projects is in their fundraising. In WAO's case, they raised two sorts of donation. The first to WAO were
for “general purposes” and others “to purchase land on Portee Station for wombat conservation”; this allowed them to receive $33,000 in
donations for “general purposes” and a further $9300 was raised towards the purchase of Portee.
Directors may recall our concern and involvement with Bendeela where wombats were regularly (and to some extent still are) both manged
and mistreated. One of our members Tracey Atkinson worked tirelessly to try and address this problem. Tracey held a “fun day” at Bendeela
which raised money that we receipted and was used to purchase Cydectin to treat the wombats at Bendeela. We have continued to
supply Tracey with Cydectin for nearly two years for her treatment program.
Some projects get an occasional donation like “Wombatrise” in S.A. which hadn't received anything for two years but recently, despite our
page being down, received a $100 donation .
The stated purposes of donors has always been carefully reviewed by the board members who sit on the public fund (Smith/Torr/Macpherson/Cox/Bruce) as this is a requirement of their role. The public fund board have to have “purposes beyond” the actual organisation alone.
Mobile Wombat Pens
In response to comments/ question asked Alder
The mobile wombat pen investigation is not to do with displaying wombats, quite the contrary. For some time the Society has
investigated the sort of pre release pen which could be made movable . There are a range of reasons for this. When a site from
which enough wombats have been released is no longer used, the facility could be moved; such a facility would allow the expansion of
release sites by being able to erect this on land where owner's have offered to have wombats released but are not ongoing carers so
leaving the facility there would be purposeless. The other use for such a facility is nursing a sick ( eg; manged) wombat “in situ” where it can
continue use of its burrow. The main issue here is there are not many successful designs and it is that area that is being looked into.
Correspondence
During June and July a number of directors have taken on or offered to, various functions within the Society.
Mirella Alencar who became a Director has offered to write funding submissions and develop this area of the Society's work.
Stephanie Clark is managing the shop.
Shirley Lack took on Education at the Conference and is expanding her workshop to include the broader issues of mange and mange
treatment.
Marie Wynan and Lenore Taylor are answering website emails regarding mange treatment some general queries and harm mitigation
inquiries.
David Alder has offered to assist answer the general queries and has taken on follow through on conference papers, follow through on
mange research leads or unfinished contacts and wants to develop standards for education from our website which could become part of
an accreditation in “Wombat”.(see also mange report).
Other areas for education -fencing/ farmers/ handling / managing problems and giving appropriate advice -are areas that need
developing. Some information exists in partially completed work- the “cut and pasted” mange and fence pamphlet that Dianna Bisset put
together last year from the website was withdrawn while negotiations occurred in NSW regarding private property owners treating wombats.
This pamphlet needed editing and member Steve Garlick had offered to do this.
Committees Reports
Conference
Shirley Lack downloaded all presentations held and sent these to Dianne Bisset for merging the bios and presentations. David Alder
following up on papers and Queensland presentation permission.
Mange Treatment
The Society's stocks of Cydectin are depleted so we are reaching a point where we may not be able to supply kits containing Cydectin to
wombats needing them. A number of groups have however reported that their local wildlife group is buying in Cydectin to use, eg; WIRES
Far South Coast NSW which is a very positive outcome to the work done in attempting to get mange treated.
The Society has an offer from the manufacturers of Cydectin of 120 litres negotiated last year by Amanda but this was conditional on the
Society holding an appropriate license to use the product on wombats. This leads back into the NSW Scientific License (see previous minutes)
and a presentation to the NSW Wildlife council Amanda is doing in August. Other States are beginning to take independent action as did
WAO with SA Murraylands treatment project. Amanda will link the mange members together in a group email and ask they correspond
but also that they choose someone to minute their correspondence. We had problems when group emails generated so much traffic on the
Society's computer that it became impossible to minute and check all correspondence previously, hence why the forum was created. It
would be preferable for all th mange information to be displayed on the forum or website as we regularly repeat the same information to
callers regarding their treatment of mange.
Cydectin
David Alder has offered to revisit alternative legislation such as registration through DPI and to follow through on a number of
research links that may be useful (see previous mange report).
Mange Information
Marie Wynan took over a number of responses to mange inquiries and was interviewed for a Tasmanian ABC radio program about mange.
Stephanie Clark held a meeting with the Tasmanian wildlife officers to discuss mange treatment programs and Shirley Lack is presenting
training in this area to the Tasmanian Group.
In Victoria, members John Merrick and Jennifer and Louise via Marynoll Sanctuary are developing a mange treatment program
involving Landcare. Louise and Jennifer have spoken at length with Amanda regarding this project. Shirley has sent them a range of
information needed for them to put in for a Landcare Grant.
Harm Mitigation
Re Robe SA local council approval of submerging land containing active burrows- (58th) Robe Council replied stating the matter was under
appeal but if they were to go ahead they would take “appropriate action” regarding wildlife. The Society believes there is no “appropriate
action” documentation, environmental assessors who are often contracted to undertake such environmental assessments do not
appear to take wombats into account. Lenore Taylor has reported previously that major works through wombat habitat like the Bega
Bypass in Southern NSW do not require specific assessment of or action were burrows/ habitat to be disturbed. It was found out during
previous investigations regarding legal obligations in other states that in South Australia that it would be illegal to harm burrows without a
permit .
Wombat Sale in Victoria
A wombat advertised for sale in Victoria for $800.00 was followed up on by Marie Wynan. Initially “fogged off” by the relevant authority and
directed to written legislation Marie and Amanda reviewed this to find that it applied only to captive bred animals. It was clear that the
authority was unaware that wombats do not breed in captivity. Assurance was finally given, after Marie lodged a complaint, that follow
up would occur. Marie drafted and Amanda sent out a letter to the Department who have not as yet replied.

Amanda Cox minute secretary August 14th 2011