Following the Australian elections on 6th May 2025, the second Australian Government under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has appointed Senator the Honourable Murray Watt as the new Minister for Environment and Water. In the Government of Australia, the Minister is responsible for the protection and conservation of the environment; to ensure that Australia benefits from meteorological and related sciences and services; and to see that Australia’s interests in Antarctica are advanced.
The following week after his new appointment, Senator Watt returned to Binna Burra in his new role. He was educated at Brisbane State High School (where he was School Captain in 1989) – one of the many high schools in south-east Queensland that have conducted school field trips to Binna Burra over many decades. In 1996, he graduated from the University of Queensland with the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws. Since the beginnings of Binna Burra in the early 1930s, there have always been students and researchers from UQ attending field programs at Binna Burra.
The Senator is no stranger to Binna Burra, having officially opened new buildings on the Binna Burra Cultural Landscape that received post 2019 bushfires disaster recovery funding from the Australian Government (The extension to the Tea House, the Welcome Building and the new Housekeeping and Maintenance buildings).
Amongst the responsibilities of his new Ministry, Senator Watt will overview matters that affect Binna Burra Lodge, including:
- World Heritage Areas
- Environment protection and conservation of biodiversity
- Natural, built and cultural heritage
- Environmental information and research
- Development and co-ordination of domestic, community and household climate action
- Climate change adaptation strategy and co-ordination
- Co-ordination of climate change science activities
- Development and co-ordination of international climate change policy
- International climate change negotiations
- Greenhouse emissions and energy consumption reporting
