DUNPHY AWARD - For outstanding commitment and success in conservation (individual).
Sue Higginson
Sue Higginson has dedicated 11 years to championing the conservation of nature through the Environmental Defender’s Office of NSW (EDO NSW).
Sue has recently stepped down as CEO of this esteemed organisation after having run many significant legal cases for hundreds of community clients all across NSW.
Sue pioneered the first branch office of EDO NSW in the Northern Rivers, providing expert environmental legal services to rural, regional and remote communities where it is often lacking.
Notable cases that she has won include challenging Chinese coal company Yancoal’s bid to expand operations in the Hunter Valley town of Camberwell.
She’s been involved in cases as diverse as Japanese whaling, challenging the Adani corporation and its massive Carmichael coal project in Queensland, and the ongoing destruction of native forests in NSW.
Sue is a guest lecturer at several universities and a mentor to many around her.
Phil Spark
Phil Spark started out a farmer, trained as an ecologist, and ended up one of the state’s leading environmentalists.
He has been in the front line in the battle to save forests and woodlands against the ravages of the coal and gas industries in NSW, especially in his native northwest of the state where he has campaigned for years to save Leard state forest and the Pilliga from coal mines and coal seam gas developments.
Phil was a founding member of the Northern Inland Council for the Environment (NICE), which has been a potent force for environmental advocacy and protection in the region for more than a decade.
NICE led the charge against two coal mines in the Leard State Forest near Boggabri in north-western NSW, taking legal action to challenge Commonwealth approvals in 2013.
He has frequently used his expertise as an ecologist, serving as an expert witness during the assessment that led to the protection of the Brigalow Belt South and Nandewar forests, as well as composing thorough submissions to government processes in the hope of strengthening environmental protections for wildlife.
A tireless and fearless warrior in the campaign to protect nature, he has been blowing the whistle on illegal land clearers and collecting evidence to aid prosecutions for many years, often at considerable personal risk.
Phil has also been a skilled advocate through the media and is a passionate educator opening the eyes of the wider public to beauty and wonder of the bushland and wildlife that are rapidly vanishing from our landscape.
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