Gecko Environment Council

01/09/2026

🌸🌿 Entries for the Go Native! Australian Floral Art Competition are open until the end of this week!

All you really need is a love of Australian native flowers and flora, an appreciation for the unique beauty of our natural environment, and perhaps a little creativity hiding somewhere inside you. 🌸🌺

🌼 Love native flora? Get creative and Go Native! Enter today. 💐

💚 Visit our website to find out more and how to enter.

To celebrate National Biodiversity Month this September, Gecko Environment Council is proud to present the Go Native! Australia Floral Art Competition. National Biodiversity Month is an opportunity to recognise, celebrate and protect the extraordinary diversity of life that makes Australia unique. W...

01/09/2026

Join us at dusk for an insider experience of SWELL and stories of creativity, restoration, and the wonders of oysters! 🐚 🌀 🐟 Register your place via the link in our events and bio.

01/09/2026

Join espe-shell-y awesome storytellers for an insider experience of SWELL Sculpture festival on Saturday 12th September!

For anyone who loves our local waterways, we're sharing stories of creativity, restoration, and the wonders of oysters. We can't wait for this special event! Shell yeah!

"Friends are like seashells we collect along the way," so pop on your shell phone to register your place today (link in our events, bio and comments).

Altered Tides is for everyone in a love-affair with our waterways, ocean and bay and features SWELL and First Nations artists, every-day water lovers and scientists.

Kicking off with an immersive walk with Traditional Custodian Uncle Glenn Barry and SWELL artists among the sculptures, we then return to the Smalls Gallery at VIKA for creative and solutions-focused conversations with arts, science and cultural storytellers including:

🪸 Dr Sally Gregory, Hooked on Tallebudgera Creek, engaging community toward local oyster restoration
🐚 Dr Despina Linaraki, SWELL artist ‘Oystertecture’, living architecture expert
🌀 Uncle Glenn Barry, Traditional Custodian, artist
🐟 Robbie Porter and Erica Leal, Ozfish and oyster restorers
🌊 Kayla Finlayson, SWELL artist
🐠 Dr Marina Richardson, mapping endangered oyster reefs

Altered Tides is an annual event made possible through a collaboration of all the storytellers, and partners Griffith University Climate Action Beacon, Gecko Environment Council and SWELL Sculpture Festival.

Climate Action Griffith University SWELL

25/08/2026

H5 Birdflu is devastating to birds and wildlife around the world, and is now spreading across Australia with a recently confirmed case in QLD. Here are some things you can do about it...

🦆 Help reduce the spread of bird flu by not feeding wild birds during this time.
🐕 Walking your dog on the beach? Keep them away from birds as much as possible - consider a long leash - and help raise awareness with other dog walkers.
💁 Donate to Wildcare, your local Wildlife volunteers, who need PPE and other equipment to rescue, transport and care for local native wildlife. Legends!

Bird flu doesn't just affect coastal wildlife - everyone in the community is encouraged to keep watch for signs of Bird Flu and ⚠️ Avoid. Record. Report ⚠️

If you see sick or dead birds or other animals, avoid touching them. Instead, take a photo or video, note the location, and report it to the 24 hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline.

❌ Do not touch any sick or dead birds or marine mammals
❗ Keep your distance from affected areas
🧐 Report sightings of sick wildlife immediately to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline 📞 1800 675 888

🌐 birdflu.gov.au

https://theconversation.com/backyard-bird-feeding-could-be-a-bird-flu-superspreader-an-expert-explains-290317

19/08/2026

Don't miss our next Gecko Talk with Friends of Parks Queensland to learn more about threatened butterflies, ants, and the importance of old trees!

🦋 Tiny butterfly. Big Story.

Join us as we uncover a surprising fact about the Bulloak Jewel Butterfly.

🔗 FREE Screening Launch Event – RSVP by 24 August: https://events.humanitix.com/back-from-the-brink-bull-oak-jewel-butterfly-screening

13/08/2026

Join the Kombumerri Rangers for a morning caring for Country, planting koala trees and checking out the amazing work going on at Guanaba Indigenous Protected Area…get amongst it this Saturday 10am!

🌿🐨 The plants have arrived! 🐨🌿

Our plants are safely at the IPA and ready for this weekend’s Koala Habitat Restoration Planting Day! 🌱

We’re excited to welcome our volunteers to help us get these beautiful native plants into the ground and create more habitat for our local koalas and other wildlife. 💚

A huge thank you to everyone who is coming along to lend a hand. Every plant makes a difference! 🌳🐨

📅 Saturday 15 August
⏰ 10:00am
📍 Guanaba Indigenous Protected Area

Come along, get your hands dirty and help us care for Country! 🌿💚

🌱 You're Invited to Help Restore Koala Habitat! 🐨
Join the Kombumerri Rangers for a community tree planting day and help us restore vital habitat for our local koalas.
📅 Saturday, 15 August
🕙 10:00 am
Come along, get your hands dirty, meet like-minded people, and make a real difference for our native wildlife. Every tree planted helps create a healthier future for koalas and other local species. And there is no better place to spend your weekend than at the Indigenous Protected area.
Whether you're coming on your own, with friends, or bringing the family, everyone is welcome!
We can't wait to see you there and work together to care for Country. 💚🌿

11/08/2026

Matt and Caitlin run a regenerative farm on Springbrook mountain but fear a new bill - being considered now by MPs - could mean the LNP Government have the power to:
👎 fast-track developments
👎 seize private land
👎 skip environmental assessment
👎 reduce community consultations
👎 modify how existing laws apply

❗Use our quick form to contact your MP ❗

Across QLD, Traditional Owners, farmers, regional communities, conservation experts, and everyday Queenslanders are pushing back. Even a federal LNP MP has joined the "furious backlash" against the State Development Bill!

The new powers under this bill could be applied to ‘any project in the state’, including oil refineries and dams. On Springbrook, that could be a cableway.

❗Please take 1 minute action to contact your MP - via the link in comments 🤩
https://www.queenslandconservation.org.au/email_mp_reject_state_development_bill

Experts say new powers to bypass conservation and planning regulations are incredibly broad and could let the state effectively fast-track any project it wants

10/08/2026

The amazing crew at Sea World Foundation have been busy disentangling whales from shark nets and commercial fishing line so far this migration - we are so grateful! Please call in activity if you’re concerned a whale may be entangled and when out on the water always keep the legal and respectful distance as they head back south with their calves 🐋 💦

10/08/2026

Gecko and People for Nature are excited to invite 14 people to join us for a lunch-and-learn Climate Fresk!

🌏 💙 Climate Fresk is a fun game for small groups to learn about the elements driving climate change and work on solutions collectively.

🤩 Led by the wonderful crew from People for Nature, this event is for anyone interested in how we can positively engage with climate challenges, whether beginner or veteran, you will come away feeling re-energised and empowered!

Join us by registering your place today, and please share with friends 🙌

Learn about the elements driving climate change through a fun and collaborative card game, and work on solutions collectively.

07/08/2026

Despite serious concerns and objections from across landholders, community and environmental groups, a Parliamentary Committee has just recommended that a QLD Government be passed that gives the Planning Minister far-reaching powers to declare any development a State Significant Project and decide which laws will apply to it and which won’t.

Right now every member of parliament has a responsibility to decide whether this legislation is truly in the interests of Queenslanders and future generations who will live with the consequences.

Contact your state MP to voice concerns before the bill is voted on!

The State Development and Public Works Organisation (Critical Minerals) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 will dramatically expand the LNP Government’s ability to seize land, curtail community consultation, and change or sidestep other laws completely to fast track projects hand picked by the Minister for State Development and the Coordinator-General.

The parliamentary committee acknowledged ..."concerns that the Bill would confer broad powers on the Minister and Coordinator-General, reduce public participation and appeal rights, weaken established assessment processes and expose environmental, agricultural, cultural and property interests to greater risk".

Gecko Environment Council joined hundreds of QLD groups, farmers and regional Queenslanders in making submissions to this bill. It was passed with no changes hours after dozens of community members rallied outside State Parliament urging the Bill be scrapped.

Read the Parliamentary Committee report here:
https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/PIRC-1135/SDPWOCMOLA-9016/Executive%20Summary.pdf