TRANSCRIPT: Advocating for country, community with Patrice Brown

TRANSCRIPT of Advocating for country, community with Patrice Brown, released Monday 6 March 2023: 

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PATRICE BROWN, CQU ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR FOR INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE:

And I thought, well I could do this on my own.

And it was probably a bit of a crazy thing to do at that time, but I’ll just give it a crack, and all that study and effort, if it iI’ll just go back and do something else.

And it was really about wanting to do something where I could employ people I want to, and also help shape opportunities for people in regional areas, and stop the need for companies to fly consultants into central Queensland and north Queensland and the like.

We were sitting there on the log Trevor and I, and we’re sitting around waiting waiting waiting, and I said to Trevor this is really frustrating, we could have done this, and Trevor said to me, how do you think we feel? And that was a lightbulb moment for both of us. Because I’m thinking, yeah mate, you guys have been around here for 60 thousand years, why aren’t your people doing the sampling, why aren’t your people looking after the country?

MARY BOLLING, HOST:

How often have you heard – you’ve got to leave regional Australia to grow your career? 

What if, staying in the regions meant making more opportunities… for you, and for your community?

But, making it work can mean shaking up expectations… and a lot of hard yakka.

I’m Mary Bolling and this is CQUniversity’s How to Change a Life. 

And today, we’re hearing from a Central Queensland scientist, businesswoman, and founder… who’s passion for where she lives has helped her achieve huge things in communities big and small.  

In the spirit of reconciliation, CQUniversity recognises this episode was recorded and produced on the Traditional Lands of the   Darumbal People in Rockhampton, and the Wurrundjeri people of the Kulin nation in Melbourne.

We pay respects to elders past and present, and their life-changing connection to country and culture. 

PB: So my name’s Patrice Brown, I’m the founder and company director of CQG Consulting, which is an environmental planning and consultancy business. 

We have five offices in Queensland, with our staff, wonderful team of people, scientists, GIS people, engineers, we’ve all got the core that we all love where we live. Have a simple life, we can get to work quickly, drink the water, go camping and fishing on the weekend.

But we also see the challenges that are happening, the weeds, the feral animals, as if it was our own patch of dirt, how should we look after that bit of country. So a big part of what we do is working with traditional owners, looked after this country for 60,000 years, and they did a fantastic job. 

MB: 

Patrice is proud to be born in Rockhampton, on Darumbal Country, and she grows up on a cattle station in Central Queensland, on Barada Barna Country. 
 
And it’s the natural environment – and how humans interact with it – that first inspires her passion for science. 

PB: It begins with curiosity as a child, and influences others have, and the bigger questions about how things work. I grew up on the land and had a lot of curiosity about land and water and animals, and strangely enough with a large pipeline that used to bring water to North Rockhampton, it used to amaze me that water could be pumped that far! It’s that curiosity that gets us going, wanting to learn more. 

MB: She finishes school at 17, then learning more for Patrice begins with Australian sugar… as she completes her Cert IV in Sugar Chemistry in Mackay, as part of her full-time job in the industry. 

By her mid-20s, she’s the first woman in the Australian sugar industry to be appointed a shift supervisor… and in her spare time she’s tackling a Bachelor of Industrial Chemistry with CQUniversity. 

Patrice is doing the degree through correspondence… this is the late 80s, before online study is even an option. 

But when she does get onto campus… it’s the practical experience built into her degree that inspires the next step of her career. 
 
PB: My time at CQUniversity was really really valuable. Through correspondence, and I’d come along to attend block sessions in Rockhampton, and the great thing that we did in those days – I say we! We took students out on industrial sites, in the 80s, seeing industry and opportunities in our own backyard, was a real eye-opener for me, it really gave me an idea of what else was out there and the absolute need for more scientists and engineers. 
  
MB: Moving into management roles in the environment sector, Patrice is now juggling work alongside life as a mum to three young children, and study for her Masters of Civil Engineering at UNSW. 

And yep, I know what you’re thinking … if she can do all that, she can probably do anything! 

And her “anything” comes along… when after 24 years across the sugar, timber, and construction sectors, Patrice decides it’s time for a change.  
 
PB: I was offered a position down in Gladstone, as Aldoga Aluminium Environmental Manager, and did for about 12 months, then the company was sold and changed its structure and there were all sorts of changes. And it was that time I had a lot of enquiries from stakeholders, and from Stanwell Corporation, very important part of our economy, other companies I’d worked with.

And that was the moment, I could do this on my own! I could employ people I wanted to employ, work with companies I wanted to work with, and also shape opportunities in regional areas, to be involved in these projects, and stop the need for companies having to fly people up. So that was when it twigged.. would I make the same decision again? Probably yes, but it’s not an easy road having your own business! 
  
MB: So Patrice steps onto that not-so-easy road in 2003… 

Now in 2003, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show less than 9000 women working in the resources sector – right across Australia. 

That’s just one in ten of all mining industry workers. 

(Slightly better news: in 2022 the number is up to 45,000 women…. so closer to 2 in 10 workers!) 

Luckily, Patrice’s career has given her plenty of experience… standing up in a crowd of men, and standing her ground.
 
PATRICE BROWN, TELSTRA WOMEN’S AWARDS AUDIO: I’m the young woman pulling my jeans on to go to an interview where I was told to wear a short skirt… I’m a woman with a hard hat, working long hours, weekends, in tough conditions, to prove that a woman can do a man’s job. 

(APPLAUSE)
   
MB: That’s Patrice in 2016, on stage in Brisbane just after she’s announced as the Queensland Entrepreneur winner… in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards. 

She’s receiving that award 13 years after she ditches her job in big industry, and founds CQG Consulting. 

In 2017, she also picks up the Owner/ Entrepreneur Award with the Institute of Managers and Leaders Queensland… and in 2021 the Economic Development Australia's National Community Champion Award!

And as Patrice says on stage, the trailblazing business is about proving herself… but also about proving the skills and capacity of her fellow Central Queenslanders. 

PB: If you’re working in a regional area, doesn’t matter if you’re a hairdresser or a consultant, if you do a dodgy job, if you rip someone off, if you’re not providing service you said provide, if slow in response. Word will get around pretty quickly. And I say this to my staff, people don’t just remember that for one week or one month, they remember it for two generations! 

We go in and help councils after cyclones. And that sort of came about out of seeing, again, people coming in from out of town and charging an absolute fortune. So we set up with Rockhampton Regional Council, just before Cyclone Marcia, if we coordinate it, let’s have a crack at doing this locally. After Marcia, after Debbie, after the flood in Rockhampton, in Mackay, in Brisbane, called up to do work in Brisbane, to coordinate and collect a lot of the waste data. 

Great Keppel Island, a controversial one for our region, we worked after that project was initially rejected, by Minister Garrett at the time, worked with the proponent to improve the design. Approved by three levels of government, would love to see a design on that island that allows sustainable development on that island. 
  
MB: Over two decades, CQG grows… as industry and development across regional Queensland face new standards for green and sustainable practice. 

But Patrice isn’t content to seize local opportunities  – she’s determined to grow them.

And growing opportunity means tapping into her values, acknowledging the barriers she sees in her community… and again, pushing back against the status quo.
    
PB: One of their Darumbal elders and I were working on a project out at Stanwell Corporation, and we were held up in our job because a consultant from Brisbane had got lost, between Rockhampton and Stanwell. 

I said to Trevor, this is really frustrating, we could have done this, and Trevor said to me, how do you think we feel? And that was a lightbulb moment, let’s look for an opportunity in the future to get Darumbal people working on these projects, doing the monitoring, caring for country. 

So we started Tunaba in 2019… and it’s going great guns, three permanent staff and five or six casuals, and really made a name for itself, it’s been a great team weed-spraying, fencing, installing signs, fauna spotting and catching work – we’re proud of Tunaba. 

MB: As CQG approaches its 20th anniversary in April this year, Patrice isn’t slowing down. 

CQG and Tunaba continue to work with young people as the embark on their careers in the environment sector, and Patrice has good advice for starting out, and diving in.  
 
PB: It’s following and chasing your dreams, but also managing your expectations and knowing you have to put the hard yards in. Don’t underestimate the value of having that CQU brand on your qualification, because it is sought-after, come out with a really good attitude, good foundation, practical experience. Some people say degree, you never get to use it, but it’s more than your degree, it’s your contacts, its your experience. Don’t let that be the end of your education though, every day you make mistakes and every day you should be learning something new! 
  
MB: Patrice Brown there… and a great reminder to never stop learning. 

Patrice is the founder and company director of CQG Consulting… and a co-founder of Tunuba, a Central Queensland Indigenous business that provides employment, training and business development opportunities for Darumbal People.  

And for everything she’s achieved for regional business and sustainable development, Patrice is CQUniversity’s 2023 Alumnus of the Year for Industry Excellence.

CQUniversity’s practical and flexible courses can grow your science, environment and sustainability knowledge and experience… no matter where you are in your career.  

Head to cqu.edu.au/science to learn more.

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You’ve been listening to How to Change a Life by CQUniversity Podcasts. Theme music is WINGS by CQUniversity alumnus Tristan Barton.

If How to Change a Life has got you thinking about where you’re headed, we’d love to hear. 

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Next episode… 

 

BEVAN SLATTERY, OUTSTANDING ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR:

I rolled out those businesses, had a fair bit of success… I’m dealing with investors, auditors, bankers, capital raises probably close to half a billion past 10, 15 years, easy, the financial knowledge that I have was exactly what I learned at CQU.

MB: Til then, stay safe and have a life-changing day!