Board

Tourism Queensland's board of directors was established under the Tourism Queensland Act 1979. The board of directors is a statutory body under the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982 and the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977.

The board of directors is comprised of nine industry representatives from around the State. The Chairman and board members are appointed by, and responsible to, the Minister for Tourism and Fair Trading, the Honourable Peter Lawlor MP.


About Our Board Members

Tourism Queensland's board members come from a range of backgrounds, equipping them to provide expert guidance to Queensland's tourism industry.

Mr Don Morris AO
Chairman

Don has spent his 40-year career in advertising, brand building and public company directorships, specialising in communications. From his early career at Grey Advertising, J Walter Thompson and CEO of D’Arcy MacManus & Masius Sydney, Don joined Alan Morris and Allan Johnston (Mo and Jo) as a founding principal of the Mojo Australia advertising agency in 1979. Don was the founding Deputy Chairman of the tourism industry’s peak advocacy group, The Tourism Taskforce (now known as the Tourism and Transport Forum) and is a life member of its board of governors. In 1993 Don was appointed to the board of the Australian Tourist Commission and served two terms as Chairman. Don was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 2002 for services to tourism and holds a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University.

 Don Morris

Ms Julie McGlone
Deputy Chairman

Julie has been involved in tourism marketing since the mid '80s when she joined the Australian Tourist Commission as Manager of International Publications and Films. Her work won several PATA awards. Julie has worked as travel editor for the Australian Women's Weekly and as editor of the Rural Press lifestyle title, Friday Magazine. She is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Society of Travel Writers and winner of the Peregrine Responsible Tourism Travel Writing Award. Julie currently runs her own media and marketing communications consultancy.

Julie McGlone

Mr Shane O'Reilly

Shane is the Managing Director of National Park Pty Ltd the company that owns and operates O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, Mountain Villas and Lost World Spa as well as Canungra Valley Vineyards. He has extensively studied the theory and principles behind successful multi-generational family-owned businesses and over the past decade has led O'Reilly's through significant change and growth. Shane’s formal tertiary studies have been in business, human resource management and company directorship and he has worked in the hospitality industry in management in both Australia and South Africa. Shane is involved in a number of local tourism bodies within the Scenic Rim as well as being the Queensland Tourism Director on the federally appointed Gondwana World Heritage Committee that oversees the World Heritage Parks between Barrington Tops and Lamington.

Shane O'Reilly

Mr Grant Cassidy

Grant is a leading tourism and hospitality owner/operator in Central Queensland specialising in accommodation and food and beverage. Grant has a strong media and marketing background having had a 15 year commercial radio career, working in Brisbane, Central Queensland, Mackay, the Whitsundays and Cairns. Grant is Chairman of Capricorn Tourism, Deputy Chairman of Rockhampton Girls Grammar School and is a member of the Council of Central Queensland University.

Grant Cassidy

Ms Pamela Hardgrave

Pamela lives and works on Lillydale Farmstay, a family run business that is a member of Ecotourism Australia's accreditation scheme and currently holds Advanced Ecotourism status. She is co-owner of a beef cattle property and a director Lillydale, one Queensland's elite 'Hall of Fame' tourism award winners. Pam is a well-known tourism identity and active member of the tourism industry and local Scenic Rim community in south-east Queensland. A Telstra Business Women's Award winner, she was recently recognised for leadership in the Aussie Host Program, the first business in Queensland to attain this milestone.

Pam Hardgrave

Mr Tony Baker

Tony is Quicksilver Managing Director, a pioneering reef tourism operator, which is Australia's leading Great Barrier Reef cruise company and one of North Queensland's largest private employers. Tony was formerly the Group's General Manager of Corporate Services and is currently a Chair for the Australian Marine Park Tourism Operators (AMPTO), and a board member for the Alliance of Sustainable Tourism and GBRMPA's Tourism Reef Recreation Advisory Committee. Tony has an extensive background in tourism, specifically tour and attraction based products in Queensland.


Tony Baker

Mr Peter Savoff

Peter’s knowledge and involvement in the tourism accommodation sector is extensive, having worked in this industry for almost 20 years. Currently Peter is in the role of General Manager - Hotels at the Anthony John Group, an award-winning Queensland based property developer. The Group’s new Hotels Division was launched in 2006 to build a collection of high-end, boutique hotels. The Emporium Hotel in Brisbane, which opened in June 2007 being the first, has already won six industry awards, including Best Small Luxury Hotel, Gourmet Traveller Travel Awards Australia 2009. Peter has a Master of Commercial Law and a Master of Business Administration.

Peter Savoff

Dr Peter Lynch

Peter is principal of dci lyncon, a Brisbane-based professional services consultancy, and also acts as an independent company director. He has hands-on marketing experience at the researcher, Product Manager, and Marketing Director levels including exposure to product categories including food, financial services, accounting, legal, project homes, transport and resort islands.

 Peter Lynch

Mr Ian Fletcher

Director-General of the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, Ian Fletcher served in a number of high-level public sector roles during his 27-year career.  Ian joined the United Kingdom civil service in 1989 after an earlier career in the New Zealand diplomatic service, his most recent position being Chief Executive and Comptroller-General of the Intellectual Property Office.  Before that he worked in the UK's trade and investment (UKTI) promotion organisation. Ian has already established a substantial understanding of the department's business and the key economic drivers and challenges facing Queensland's economy.

 Ian Fletcher

Mr Bruce Turner

Bruce is currently the Group Executive, Agriculture, Food and Tourism.  Bruce is responsible for overseeing the development of policies and programs aimed at facilitating and supporting the growth of the agriculture, food and tourism sectors within Queensland.He has worked for a number of Queensland government departments including the Department of Primary Industries, Natural Resources and Mines, and the Premier and Cabinet, drawing on more than 25 years of experience in public policy development and analysis with an industry development focus.

 Bruce Turner

Board Responsibilities

Working with senior management, the board of directors is responsible for Tourism Queensland's overall performance. It approves goals and directions, strategic plans and performance targets. The board of directors ensures appropriate policies, procedures and systems are in place to optimise performance, maintain high standards of ethical behaviour and provide leadership to Queensland's tourism industry.

 

Board Performance

As part of its ongoing commitment to achieving best practice corporate governance, Tourism Queensland is developing a formal and transparent process for assessing and evaluating the performance of Tourism Queensland's board of directors, including individual directors.

Between board meetings, there is continuing contact between the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer to discuss major policy and operational matters, especially when such matters are the subject of board interest, or are likely to become so. The Chairman also meets with senior management to discuss strategy and operational issues.

Regular board papers inform board members of current and forthcoming strategic issues relevant to Tourism Queensland's operations and performance. These papers contain the year-to-date financial performance of all departments and include updates and/or strategic issues relevant to all divisions of the organisation.

 

Audit Committee

The primary role of the Audit Committee is to provide assistance to the board of directors in fulfilling its corporate governance and oversight responsibilities in relation to Tourism Queensland's financial reporting, internal control structure, risk management systems and the internal and external audit functions. The Committee regularly reports to the board of directors on its activities and recommendations. Its key responsibilities include to:

  • Maintain free and open communication between the Committee, external auditors, internal auditors and management of Tourism Queensland.
  • Understand the organisation's structure, controls and types of transactions in order to adequately assess the significant risks it faces.
  • Oversee the financial reporting process on behalf of the board of directors.
  • Assess the adequacy and effectiveness of the accounting and financial controls, including the policies and procedures to assess, monitor and manage business risk and legal and ethical compliance programs.
  • Make recommendations to the board of directors on the appointment, reappointment or replacement, remuneration, monitoring of the effectiveness and independence of the internal auditors.
  • Consult with the external and internal auditors regarding the scope of plans of audit.
  • Review the auditors' recommendations and monitor their implementation.

Two board members are appointed to the Audit Committee by the Board. The non-board member on the Audit Committee is Mr Laurie Longland, Executive Director Tourism, Food and Wine Industry Development, Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation. Management representatives attend by invitation of the committee and include the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director Business Performance and Planning and the Director Finance.

The organisation's internal auditors, Ernst & Young and the Queensland Audit Office, are also represented at the meetings. The Committee holds four meetings each year with full minutes being kept and full reports made to the board of directors. Ernst and Young are the internal auditors and WHK Horwarth are the Queensland Audit Office outsourced external auditor.