Governance

West Australian prime lamb and wool producer Chris Patmore brings more than 25 years’ farming and business experience to the National Wild Dog Management Coordination Committee.

The Patmore’s farming business spans across five properties, comprising more than 10,000ha, throughout the mid-west and north-east wheat belt.  They have been affected by wild dogs and estimate this impact cost them at least $20,000 a year in stock losses alone.

Chris feels it is important to continue to monitor and improve wild dog control inside the State barrier fence, make inroads into managing wild dogs inside fenced areas and outside the State barrier fence.

Geoff is a South Australian wool grower running a merino sheep flock east of the Flinders Ranges. He is Livestock SA’s representative on the coordination committee and chairman of the South Australian Dog Fence Board.

He believes it is imperative that wild dog control should be at the forefront of running a successful livestock business. Geoff was one of the original agitators for the National Wild Dog Action Plan, and he has a wealth of experience and knowledge of wild dog issues and is a champion of biodiversity protection and enterprise choice for farmers.

Scott is the president of the Stud Merino Breeders’ Association of WA and a renowned sheep breeder running his successful poll merino sheep stud in a mixed sheep-cropping enterprise in the Esperance district in Western Australia.

He is a passionate agricultural advocate, and lobbies for the completion of the State Barrier Fence’s long-awaited Esperance extension to protect sheep flocks from wild dog attacks.

Adam is a professional contract pest controller, based in Katherine, Northern Territory. The most requested enquiry for his service is to reduce the impacts of wild dogs on livestock. He usually travels more than 30,000km a year, from the Queensland border to Adelaide River delivering control programs.

Adam says that more pastoralists are taking stock of what they are losing and investing in good control programs, especially since cattle prices has risen.  On one station in the Katherine region, up to 20% of weaners were being bitten or damaged by dogs and after two years of a managed control program, the number of calves weaned lifted by 20% and the number of animals damaged fell to 4-5%. Larger steers selected for NT live export and sent to fattening blocks are also being injured and devalued.

As a sheep and cattle farmer from Nerriga in south east NSW, John has a first-hand understanding of pest animals and the problems they pose to farmers, the rural community and Australia’s biosecurity.

John has been active in wild dog control groups around the south east for many years and is the farmer representative on the South Coast Wild Dog Management Plan and President of the Nerriga Wild Dog Association. John is also the NSW Farmers representative on the State Pest Animal Committee.

Hailing from a small farm in NSW’s Manning Valley, Zac joined the NFF in 2024 as Senior Policy Officer for Rural Affairs. Zac has a background in media and is passionate about mental health, sustainability, AgTech, and increasing diversity in agriculture.

Tom Hersee is the Woolgrower Services Manager with Australian Wool Innovation Ltd based in Orange, NSW.

At AWI, Tom has managed projects across Industry Development, including stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and on-farm commercialisation initiatives, in addition to the focus of collaboration across the domestic and global wool supply chain. In December 2024, Tom took over leadership of AWI Wild Dog and Vertebrate Pest programs.

Tom holds a Bachelor of Agribusiness from Marcus Oldham College and has previously worked in subcontracting services to tier one construction firms, as well as in a range of commercial agriculture roles and has close involvement in his family Merino Wool growing operation in Bowning, NSW.

Adam has recently returned to Australia having spent 4 years working for the Falklands Islands Government Department of Agriculture, initially as an agronomist and subsequently as the Senior Agricultural Advisor. During his time in the Falklands Adam worked with landowners to operationalise baiting programmes for the Patagonian Fox; an introduced pest from mainland South America, which remains a significant agricultural pest on a small number of outer islands.

Adam is the General Manager at WoolProducers Australia. He grew up on a wool producing property near Yass in New South Wales and studied a Bachelor of Agriculture (Agronomy) at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga. Adam subsequently worked for 4 years as an agronomist in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales before moving into the federal Department of Agriculture,  where he worked in various biosecurity and trade related roles.

Having joined WoolProducers Australia in September 2020, Adam is keen to contribute to the long-term sustainable growth of the Australian wool industry through improvements animal welfare, environmental management, consumer awareness and product advocacy, of which the National Wild Dog Action Plan plays a key role.

Johann is a Technical Consultant with Sheep Producers Australia. A qualified as a veterinarian, specialised in Parasitology, Johann has a few decades’ experience in the global pharmaceutical industry, developing endo- and ectoparasiticides. Johann has fifteen years’ experience as an RDC (AWI & MLA) animal health welfare & biosecurity project and program manager.

He has been the MLA’s representative on the National Animal Biosecurity RD&E Strategy steering committee and a member of editorial board for Veterinary Parasitology since 2007, having peer-reviewed >100 manuscripts to date. Johann has been consulting for Sheep Producers Australia since 2022.

Sally is the Program Manager for MLA’s Producer Adoption program that aims to build the capacity of red meat producers and advisors to increase on-property profitability, productivity, and sustainability through uptake of the latest R&D.

Prior to joining MLA, Sally spent 16 years based in Alice Springs and Darwin delivering research and extension projects for the northern beef industry.

Sally’s career has seen her work closely with beef producers in developing new technology via the Precision Pastoral Management Tools project, delivering training workshops in pregnancy testing, nutrition and grazing land management, as well as undertaking collaborative research projects in supplementation, heifer management and grazing management. Sally has her feet firmly planted on the ground with her family’s cattle, sheep & goat property in far-western NSW.

Lloyd Hick represents AgForce Qld and Cattle Australia. He is a member of the Cattle Australia Regional Consultative Committee and has extensive experience with cattle industry organisations including Cattle Council Australia and AgForce.

The Hicks own Bezuma Pastoral Co and Lloyd has lived his entire life in northwest Queensland, growing up on his family’s sheep and cattle property near Julia Creek and then later moving to his Thorntonia property northeast of Camooweal. He is very involved in the local community as well as the wider northwest Queensland area and has also been involved in beef industry groups for many years.  With properties in a number of areas of northwest Queensland, Lloyd supports local events and activities in those areas whenever possible.

Peter is a Senior Principle Research Scientist and Research Leader, Predator and Prey Management with NSW DPIRD’s Vertebrate Pest Research Unit, Orange. He has researched the management of “wicked problem” animals, including wild dogs and foxes, for agricultural, environmental and social benefit. Peter engages stakeholders to improve management efficacy, effectiveness and cost-efficiency and was instrumental in setting up the National Wild Dog Facilitator position in the first Invasive Animals CRC. The nil-tenure approach to invasive animal management was formulated in his collaborative National Heritage Trust south east NSW and ACT wild dog management project. Peter was an inaugural member of National Wild Dog Management Advisory Group and contributed to writing and review of the National Wild Dog Action Plan.

Brad Page is the Principal Biosecurity Officer – Pest Animals, Biosecurity Division with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions in South Australia and is the National Environment and Invasives Committee representative on the NWDAP Coordination Committee.

Karen Moloney is the Director of the Invasive Species National Coordination and Programs team in the Environmental Biosecurity Office at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

In her role Karen is involved in biosecurity policy and programs with a focus on post border biosecurity working with stakeholders to reduce the impact of exotic pests, weeds and disease that negatively impact our agricultural production and environment. Karen represents the Australian Government on the NWDAP Coordination Committee.

John is Director of Research, Development and Engagement at the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS). John’s career was predominantly in the South Australian Government, where he led the Invasive Species and Strategy and Policy units in the Department of Primary Industries and Region (PIRSA). In this role he had oversight of SA’s Dog Fence Board operations, was a PIRSA representative on the SA Arid Lands NRM Board and instigated the state’s first wild dog plan. John became a national biosecurity consultant in 2021 before joining CISS in late 2025.

Rob Barwell is Head of Program – Biosecurity at Animal Health Australia. In this role, Rob manages livestock biosecurity and animal health projects with a focus on endemic diseases.

Rob Barwell is a veterinarian who has worked in mixed and small animal practice in Australia, England and Hong Kong and as a government veterinarian in NSW before joining Animal Health Australia in 2012. He is passionate about making positive changes in animal health and welfare on farm which will benefit Australia’s livestock industries.

Ben has been involved with wildlife management and research since he was a child. Since 2005 he has been employed in private, public and university sector wildlife ecology, threatened species conservation, and invasive species management roles, specialising in predation management and human-wildlife conflict. He is an Associate Professor (Wildlife Management) at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in Australia, a Research Associate with Nelson Mandela University (NMU) in South Africa, and the co-chair of the IUCN Canid Specialist Group’s Dingo Working Group. He develops practical solutions to a variety of complex wildlife management problems around Australia and internationally, typically in agricultural zones, natural systems, and peri-urban areas.

Richard is the Managing Director of Kiri-ganai Research, an Australian environmental research company. He is also currently an Associate Professor at the Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University. Previously Richard was the Portfolio Director (Research) at the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, Professorial Research Director of the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Terrestrial Brach Manager (SES) at Land & Water Australia, and Rural Research Director with the federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy where he helped pen the PIERD&E Act that established 15 R&D Corporations.  In collaboration with the University of Tasmania Richard won a Banksia Award in 2008 co-leading the largest citizen science project (up to its time in Australia) conducted on farms across all six states to conserve biodiversity. He has been a finalist for two Eureka Science Awards.