Big ambitions on the horizon, the “big spending board” is not looking at spending less, but making more. The consensus is Permaculture Australia needs to be seriously considering our identity, and our future. Who are we? What do we do? And how are we going to make the money we need to change the world, at every scale, sink or swim.
Call for bold action
From my heart, me, Sam, our youth are drowning in a hopeless future. A future run by AI and callous tech billionaires on a dystopic sinking ship. We need a revolution and we know that. But this revolution can’t be a quiet one peddling slowly in the background, maybe one day gearing up to do something. This revolution needs to be the central focus of those committed to it, and I am wholeheartedly of the belief that means it needs to support families, young people, career driven individuals, and the like.
The change we need
Currently permaculture Australia cannot support the incredible people that run it, which means they must either dig deep and become self-made business people to stay focused on permaculture (driving them away from being able to afford the time to volunteer), struggle financially, or do it part-time. The change we need is not a parttime gig, but a full time journey to a better future. There is a trillion dollar carbon off-setting industry, a 1.2 trillion dollar corporate social responsibility industry, a 7.3 trillion dollar education industry, and of course a lot more, all extremely relevant to our beautiful little organisation. Our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and all future generations need us to grab these potential opportunities by the horns. We need to hit hard or we won’t have a home to go to.
Permaculture Australia’s Full Potential
So with that, here’s the absolute excitement of what is happening: The event circle is charging forward with our biggest potential income for Permaculture Australia, and a culture of self-financing is being embraced in many circles. Different circles are talking about how money is going to come into their activities, and how key people are going to be taken care of. The culture of Permaculture Australia was born aiming for the stars, so we need to make sure we’re adequately resourced to get there.
Aligning for Collective Impact
Hopefully all of us here at Permaculture Australia are lining up together as the team necessary to further this, focused on how activities can bring in resources, namely money in the context of a charity, and I am personally very willing to work with anyone who is. Excitement is a natural disposition for me, considering the possible future we could live in and I am looking forward to what this future holds if we act.
Excuse my religiosity but I must wrap this up with a small excerpt from the Holy Quran as it is what steadies my heart in a cataclysmic sea of current and future events:
“Corruption has spread on land and sea as a result of what people’s hands have done, so that Allah may cause them to taste ‘the consequences of’ some of their deeds and perhaps they might return ‘to the right path’.”
May we all focus on the path ahead and find our guiding lights to keep our hearts buoyant and determined in increasingly dark times.
Thanks,
Sam Parker-Davies Treasurer & Board Youth Ambassador
Bangladesh is often described as one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Rising sea levels, flooding, salinity intrusion, soil degradation, and rapid urbanization pose growing challenges to food security and rural livelihoods. As the country searches for sustainable pathways into the future, permaculture offers valuable insights that deserve greater attention.
Permaculture emerged in the 1970s as a response to the ecological and social consequences of industrial agriculture. Rather than relying on monocultures, heavy chemical inputs, and extractive practices, permaculture seeks to design productive systems that work with nature. It combines ecological principles with practical solutions for food production, water management, soil regeneration, and community resilience.
Two examples illustrate this potential with particular clarity. In the Rohingya camps of Cox’s Bazar, where families are confined to small plots of degraded land, permaculture techniques have enabled refugees to grow vegetables and herbs that not only increase nutritional intake but noticeably improve the taste and variety of food — small gains that carry enormous dignity and meaning in conditions of displacement. In the coastal region of the Sundarbans, where salinity and tidal flooding make conventional farming increasingly unreliable, permaculture’s integrated approach — combining salt-tolerant species, raised bed cultivation, and water harvesting — is helping communities maintain food production in the face of accelerating climate stress.
What makes permaculture particularly interesting is that it is both a grassroots movement and an emerging academic field. Over the past decades, universities, researchers, and development practitioners have increasingly recognized its potential to address environmental and social challenges. Yet its greatest strength remains its practical application in the real world.
The legacy of Rosemary Morrow
Few people represent this spirit better than Rosemary Morrow. Throughout her life, she dedicated herself to bringing permaculture knowledge to communities facing hardship. Bangladesh has always been close to her heart — she invested significantly in teacher training and community work on the ground, building local capacity that continues to this day. Her work extended far beyond classrooms and conferences. Every program was delivered where it was needed most — in villages, fields, and communities, never in conference rooms or city hotels. She worked directly with farmers, refugees, women, and local communities in developing countries, helping them restore degraded land, improve food production, and build resilience with locally available resources.
Rosemary Morrow’s approach is especially relevant for Bangladesh — and many of its core principles are already embedded in traditional Bangladeshi agricultural practice. The baira system of floating gardens, practiced for centuries in the waterlogged haors of Barisal and Gopalganj, is a striking example. Farmers build rafts of decomposing water hyacinth and organic matter, creating fertile growing platforms that rise and fall with the floods rather than fighting them. In coastal areas such as the Sundarbans fringe, communities have long developed integrated homestead agroforestry systems — combining fruit trees, vegetables, medicinal plants, and small livestock within a single family compound. These multi-layered gardens mirror the stacking principle central to permaculture design, maximizing yield from minimal land while maintaining ecological balance.
A framework for regeneration
In coastal regions, permaculture principles can further support communities adapting to salinity and changing water conditions. In villages, regenerative agriculture can improve soil health while reducing dependence on costly external inputs. In rapidly growing cities such as Dhaka, rooftop farming has emerged as a quiet revolution — thousands of households have turned rooftops into productive gardens, advancing food security, community well-being, and urban cooling through the simple act of planting where they live. Across the country, permaculture can support biodiversity, local food systems, and climate adaptation.
Perhaps the most important lesson from Rosemary Morrow’s legacy is that sustainable development begins with people. Her work demonstrated that solutions are most effective when they are developed with communities rather than imposed upon them. Knowledge-sharing, local participation, and practical action are at the heart of her approach.
As Bangladesh continues its development journey, permaculture should not be viewed simply as an alternative farming method. It can be understood as a framework for regeneration — one that connects environmental restoration, food security, community empowerment, and long-term resilience. The country’s farmers and communities are already practicing many of its principles. What permaculture offers is a shared language and design framework that can strengthen, connect, and scale what people already know how to do.
The legacy of Rosemary Morrow reminds us that meaningful change often begins at the local level: in the floating gardens of Barisal, the homestead plots of the Sundarbans, a rooftop in Dhaka, or a community coming together to restore what the changing climate threatens to take. In Bangladesh, where the need for resilient and regenerative solutions has never been greater, her vision remains both relevant and inspiring. Working in her footsteps here is both a privilege and a responsibility.
In my work as the Chair of Permaculture International Ltd, active engagement in global and local change maker communities and experience as a professional transformational steward for the past 20 years across both “old” and “new” systems, I have the privilege of observing many patterns that relate to the conditions described above. Additionally, I have the opportunity to think deeply and discuss with peers, perspectives on the role of stewardship that the Permaculture International Ltd Board and the movement itself must embrace if it is to fulfil its potential.
I would like to take the opportunity to share these views as a starting point for a more formal discussion forum which we will be co-hosting soon for permaculture leaders around the world and a series of open forums we will be scheduling over the next 12 months.
Permaculture stewardship in a polarised world
The polarisation we see manifesting every day, from a systemic perspective, is an exponential acceleration of BOTH:
the most extreme elements of the incumbent extractive world order designed around principles of dominance of man and separation from nature, and
the proliferation of multiple scales of nested regenerative systems designed around the principles of interconnected earth care, people care and fair share that the Permaculture movement and many others based on the same principles have been quietly designing and implementing over the past 50 years on every continent in the world.
The Western World is not ready for this challenge, not because proven solutions to the problems don’t exist, they do, at every scale, but because the solutions to the problems do not serve the critical requirements for survival for the incumbent system.
The challenge we have as individuals, as citizens, as a community, as leaders and as a movement is to understand how to meet this moment.
“Meeting people where they are” – a framing dilemma
How do we “meet people where they are” when much of the world doesn’t know such solutions are real and are accessible in their own communities and the prevailing narrative prevents the message from being heard?
Some of the answer to this question can be found in sharing the stories of communities, cities and countries that have embraced permaculture design principles alongside their own unique cultures and contexts having either:
already experienced “collapse” through war or environmental exploitation (e.g. Vietnam, Timor Leste, India) or
proactively applied a fully informed context of systemic foresight to design and invest in the ecological, social and infrastructural systems alongside carbon emissions agendas to enable their populations access a liveable future (China, Singapore).
We will be starting to address this education gap this month as we kick off a new section of this newsletter detailing many of the large-scale permaculture design collaborations built on unique local foundations in every instance.
The more challenging aspect will be reclaiming the framing around what it means to create resilient, adaptive and regenerative conditions for life in our own communities in a way that resonates with audiences currently dominated by fear.
So, what’s “framing” got to do with it?
Let’s start by answering a question that we have all asked ourselves at some point as we witness the runaway success of “far right” political parties all over the world.
Q. “Why do the people who will be most harmed by the policies of these parties, so passionately support them?” A. Framing – the “far right” know how to tap into an audience’s deeply held worldviews, emotions, or cultural assumptions. This changes perception without altering the core facts.
Let’s expand this by using statements made above.
The sentence “the challenge we have as individuals, as citizens, as a community, as leaders and as a movement is to understand how to meet this moment” could be interpreted in two ways:
If you innately believe that you are a human being in a deeply interconnected world with a sense of personal responsibility that aligns with this worldview and values system, you will connect with this as a “call to collective action”. (This is the belief system of “progressives” in a political sense)
If you innately believe that it is the responsibility of every individual to fend for themselves in a hostile world and identify with the view that the pursuit of your own individual desires will lead a prosperous society through the “invisible hand”, then you will not feel the pull of the collective call to action. (This is the belief system of the “conservatives” in a political sense)
The concept of a “steward” is a prime example of the power of framing. Regardless of the fact that “stewardship” is and has always been defined in the dictionary and in law as “acting as a caretaker or guardian rather than the absolute owner, prioritising long-term sustainability, accountability, and the well-being of others”, the conservative moral frame is so embedded in our incumbent worldview that most board directors believe they are stewards of short term shareholder returns, political leaders are stewards of the right to hold power and citizens accept this as a truth.
Essentially, the “conservative” worldview is so embedded in our society, and the incumbent players are so skilled at framing the narrative, backed by 50 years of reinforcement through funding of education systems and institutional investment and daily repetition in news, social media and everyday conversation, that facts simply do not matter when used to counter language already hijacked by the moral framing of that worldview.
The belief that “facts will set us free” is simply not true in such a world. It’s why 50 years of “truth telling” and now irrefutable, data backed evidence about climate change, earth degradation, ocean acidification, extreme wealth gaps and poverty statistics etc have not worked to “wake people up”.
How is this relevant to the positioning of Permaculture in this moment of reaching a “tipping point” for the emergence of new systems?
Permaculture and all other related “nature systems centred” movements are led by people who have “progressive” worldviews. People with such worldviews have been busy doing a range of things over the past 30 years:
Focus
Outcomes
Relevance to Permaculture Positioning
REFORMING THE INCUMBENT SYSTEM
Fighting to reform the “old system” with facts, data and truth – believing that the truth will “wake people up”.
Only incremental change was achieved as adoption was only within the boundaries of the incumbent system’s tolerance and with no genuinely systematic lens on inter-related earth and human systems.
This has never been and is certainly not now our “work to do” as Permaculture International Limited. (NB PIL exists to promote the wise utilisation of the ecological, agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural, viticultural, aquacultural, social, residential and economic resources of Australia and elsewhere through education, information dissemination and consultation and through the theoretical and practical application of Permaculture design principles.) The “old system” cannot be reformed and effort spent here is effort not spent elsewhere. This is why we have never done traditional “advocacy” that attempts to “reform” policy.
Trying to convince those with conservative views “using their language” to “meet them where they are” without understanding the moral framing embedded within our culture.
Served to reinforce existing world views – it’s how cognition works (George Lakoff – Don’t Think of an Elephant). One of the key reasons why the most vulnerable are flocking to the far right – vulnerable people feeling abandoned and marginalised resonate with the “fight for yourself” narrative.
The Permaculture movement has tried to do this with the idea of “a revolution disguised as gardening”. Although this has been very successful in some respects, in general, the outcome of this is that most people believe that Permaculture IS gardening, even within the “nature-centric” movements of regeneration and bioregionalism. We need to change the narrative, bring the work of the movement at all scales into view and take our place alongside all other new systems movements.
DESIGNING NEW SYSTEMS – “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller
Western World Lens
Proliferation of permaculture and related work round ethical principles of interconnected earth, people and fair share, primarily as an “alternative” lifestyle choice – now reaching a “tipping point” with the acceleration of the bioregional lens as a context for minimal viable conditions.
The right work for the time for the Permaculture movement over the past 50 years since our birth at the time of the Oil Crisis and the first publishing of Limits to Growth – Donella Meadows. We need to revisit this framing with a fresh narrative at this next Oil Crisis moment having reached the Limits to Growth on our planet as predicted.
Majority World Lens
Significant examples of permaculturists working alongside collapsed communities and countries and proactive nations combining permaculture design principles with unique cultural contexts to rebuild self-sufficiency, and regenerate bioregional landscapes, economies, ecologies and identity.
Much of this work is invisible in the western world for what it is – genuine system change designed around interconnected earth and human systems that enable self-sustaining economies of sufficiency and dignity for all. We must find ways to reframe this work in the minds and hearts of a much broader audience and actively work with majority nations who have already implemented these systems to amplify the message.
REFORMING THE INCUMBENT SYSTEM
Focus
Fighting to reform the “old system” with facts, data and truth – believing that the truth will “wake people up”.
Outcomes
Only incremental change was achieved as adoption was only within the boundaries of the incumbent system’s tolerance and with no genuinely systematic lens on inter-related earth and human systems.
Relevance to Permaculture Positioning
This has never been and is certainly not now our “work to do” as Permaculture International Limited. (NB PIL exists to promote the wise utilisation of the ecological, agricultural, horticultural, silvicultural, viticultural, aquacultural, social, residential and economic resources of Australia and elsewhere through education, information dissemination and consultation and through the theoretical and practical application of Permaculture design principles.) The “old system” cannot be reformed and effort spent here is effort not spent elsewhere. This is why we have never done traditional “advocacy” that attempts to “reform” policy.
Focus
Trying to convince those with conservative views “using their language” to “meet them where they are” without understanding the moral framing embedded within our culture.
Outcomes
Served to reinforce existing world views – it’s how cognition works (George Lakoff – Don’t Think of an Elephant). One of the key reasons why the most vulnerable are flocking to the far right – vulnerable people feeling abandoned and marginalised resonate with the “fight for yourself” narrative.
Relevance to Permaculture Positioning
The Permaculture movement has tried to do this with the idea of “a revolution disguised as gardening”. Although this has been very successful in some respects, in general, the outcome of this is that most people believe that Permaculture IS gardening, even within the “nature-centric” movements of regeneration and bioregionalism. We need to change the narrative, bring the work of the movement at all scales into view and take our place alongside all other new systems movements.
DESIGNING NEW SYSTEMS
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller
Focus
Western World Lens – Proliferation of permaculture and related work round ethical principles of interconnected earth, people and fair share, primarily as an “alternative” lifestyle choice – now reaching a “tipping point” with the acceleration of the bioregional lens as a context for minimal viable conditions.
Relevance to Permaculture Positioning
The right work for the time for the Permaculture movement over the past 50 years since our birth at the time of the Oil Crisis and the first publishing of Limits to Growth – Donella Meadows. We need to revisit this framing with a fresh narrative at this next Oil Crisis moment having reached the Limits to Growth on our planet as predicted.
Focus
Majority World Lens – Significant examples of permaculturists working alongside collapsed communities and countries and proactive nations combining permaculture design principles with unique cultural contexts to rebuild self-sufficiency, and regenerate bioregional landscapes, economies, ecologies and identity.
Relevance to Permaculture Positioning
Much of this work is invisible in the western world for what it is – genuine system change designed around interconnected earth and human systems that enable self-sustaining economies of sufficiency and dignity for all. We must find ways to reframe this work in the minds and hearts of a much broader audience and actively work with majority nations who have already implemented these systems to amplify the message.
What will we do next?
We need to acknowledge many hard truths and design a new story that resonates with our audiences.
We are commencing a process of deep and broad research and gathering of the past 50 years of proven solutions on every continent to the problems of our time, to understand how we must tell our story in a way that resonates with audiences with all worldviews and most importantly with a context that is relevant to everyone in their own place.
We will be sharing this journey as we go and inviting participation at every stage.
For decades, a gap has existed between what students learn about sustainability in the classroom and the practical skills needed to care for land, grow food, restore ecosystems, and design resilient local systems.
Students may study ecology, food systems, climate pressure, and environmental change, yet the hands-on skills needed to respond to those realities have often remained outside the formal curriculum - in garden clubs, weekend workshops, community projects, or informal electives.
That gap is now beginning to close.
The Certificate II in Permaculture (AHC21722) is now "on scope" for delivery in Australian secondary schools through ReadCloud. This means students can complete a nationally recognised vocational qualification in permaculture while gaining credit toward their secondary schooling.
For the Australian permaculture movement, this is a significant step. Permaculture is moving from the margins of education into the mainstream structures of secondary schooling.
Why "On Scope" Matters
In the Vocational Education and Training sector, being "on scope" means that a Registered Training Organisation has been approved to deliver a particular qualification.
Permaculture qualifications have existed on the national training register for some time, thanks to the substantial work of Ross Mars and many others who helped establish and defend permaculture within the formal training system. However, getting a qualification into high schools is a different challenge.
VET delivered to secondary students sits at the intersection of two highly regulated systems: school education and vocational training. A course must be credible to schools, acceptable to regulators, deliverable by teachers, and assessable under national competency standards.
That required serious groundwork.
The Permaculture Australia VET Circle developed a comprehensive 270-page Training and Assessment Strategy specifically designed for the high school context. This strategy provided the structure needed for ReadCloud, a school-focused RTO, to bring the Certificate II in Permaculture onto scope.
Because ReadCloud already works with secondary schools, the qualification is now positioned for wider adoption in Australian school-based VET programs.
The Role of the Permaculture Australia VET Circle
The Permaculture Australia VET Circle has been the driving force behind this work.
The Circle brings together permaculture practitioners, educators, and vocational training specialists who understand both the ethics of permaculture and the requirements of formal education. Their work has not simply been to promote permaculture, but to make it administratively possible for schools to deliver it with integrity.
That matters.
Without the regulatory architecture, permaculture remains vulnerable to being treated as an optional extra. With it, schools can offer permaculture as a recognised vocational pathway.
"If you are attacking a problem that you can fix in your lifetime, then you are thinking too small..."
Bringing permaculture into schools is exactly that kind of long-term work. It is not only about next year's subject offerings. It is about building a generation of students who can participate responsibly in food, fibre, ecological, and designed systems.
A Four-Year Pathway from Tools to Systems Thinking
The Certificate II in Permaculture has been structured into four clusters, designed to scaffold student learning from Year 9 through to Year 12.
The pathway begins with practical outdoor work and gradually builds toward research, agricultural science, system design, production, and industry awareness.
Year 9: Working in Ecological Services
The first cluster is designed to give students early success through practical action.
Students focus on tool safety, workplace health and safety, weather observation, hand tool maintenance, and basic ecological restoration. The reading and writing demands are deliberately kept low so that students can first build confidence through hands-on work.
This is an important design choice. Many students who may not initially see themselves as academic learners can experience success through competent practical work. They begin by doing real tasks with real tools in real environments.
Year 10: Know Your Bioregion
The second cluster shifts toward research, mapping, observation, communication, and local ecological knowledge.
Students investigate their local bioregion, record information about Country, and develop workplace communication skills. This cluster gives practical purpose to literacy, numeracy, geography, and environmental understanding.
Rather than learning about ecology in abstract terms only, students are asked to understand the place where they actually live.
Year 11: Basics of Food Production
In the third cluster, the science deepens.
Students work with integrated plant and animal systems, crop production, propagation, soil health, and plant nutrition. They begin to read whole-site permaculture plans, conduct soil pH testing, propagate seedlings, and run small agricultural trials.
This is where the common misconception that permaculture is "just gardening" begins to fall apart.
Students are not merely planting seeds. They are learning to observe relationships, manage living systems, collect evidence, and make decisions based on site conditions.
Year 12: Obtain a Yield
The final cluster functions as a capstone production season.
Students manage crops from planting through to harvest, use low-volume irrigation, collect and store seed, record yields, and investigate employment pathways in the permaculture industry.
By the end of the course, students should not only have completed a qualification. They should also have experienced the discipline of bringing a living system through a full cycle of production.
That is a serious form of learning.
High-Level Science with Mud on the Boots
One of the strengths of the Certificate II pathway is that it does not force students to choose between practical work and intellectual rigour.
The course begins with tools, restoration, and work-readiness. It then moves into mapping, bioregional research, soil health, plant nutrition, irrigation, seed saving, production, and industry investigation.
This is science with mud on the boots.
Students learn through participation in real systems. They encounter water, soil, weather, plants, animals, tools, and human decisions as connected realities. That kind of learning helps students see that sustainability is not just a set of values or opinions. It is a practical discipline requiring knowledge, judgement, skill, and responsibility.
Career Pathways and Further Study
The Certificate II in Permaculture can lead directly into entry-level roles such as:
Urban food growing assistant
Permaculture farm worker
Community nursery worker
School garden assistant
But its value is broader than those direct employment outcomes.
The qualification builds transferable skills relevant to horticulture, agriculture, nursery operations, landscaping, conservation and ecosystem management, sports turf management, community food systems, and on-Country land management.
Students develop outdoor work-readiness, communication skills, workplace safety awareness, environmental observation, tool use, and practical responsibility.
For students who want to continue studying, the Certificate II can also provide a foundation for Certificate III or IV in Permaculture, the Permaculture Design Certificate, or further study in sustainability, environmental science, agriculture, education, or community development.
It is not a ceiling. It is a foundation.
What Schools Need to Do Now
The timing of this announcement matters.
Most high schools begin finalising subject offerings for the following year around Term 3. Schools interested in offering Certificate II in Permaculture in 2027 need to begin conversations now.
The pathway is straightforward:
A teacher or school leader identifies interest in offering the course.
The school's VET Coordinator contacts ReadCloud about adding Certificate II in Permaculture to the school's 2027 offerings.
If a school works with another RTO, that RTO can contact Permaculture Australia about licensing the Training and Assessment Strategy.
Permaculture Australia holds the copyright for the strategy and is willing to support interested teachers, schools, and RTOs who want to make the qualification available.
One school in Western Australia has already added the course to its 2027 offerings. The opportunity now is for more schools to follow.
A Mainstream Pathway for Ecological Responsibility
The move into high schools does not reduce permaculture to another school subject. At its best, it gives permaculture a more secure public form.
It allows students to encounter ecological design, food production, soil care, water management, local bioregional knowledge, and practical responsibility as part of their formal education.
That is the real significance of this moment.
Permaculture is not only about growing food. It is about learning to participate wisely in the systems that sustain life.
If Australian schools are serious about preparing students for the future, then students need more than abstract awareness of environmental problems. They need practical skills, vocational pathways, ecological literacy, and the capacity to design for resilience.
The Certificate II in Permaculture offers one credible way to begin.
For further information, teachers and VET Coordinators can view the course outline in ReadCloud's 2027 Course Guide or contact Permaculture Australia at hello@permacultureaustralia.org.au.
On May the 4th, 32 members of Permaculture Australia gathered in a Zoom call for the 2026 Annual General Meeting. The week prior, we also enjoyed a pre-AGM Online Soiree event that gave all the attendees a chance to meet the nominees to the board, which was a fun and interesting event to get together and look to the future of Permaculture.
The office bearers of Secretary and Treasurer were then peer-elected at the Mission Circle meeting on 25th May, and the members of the Mission Circle (following the Sociocratic Election Process to elect the Operational Lead of their sub-circle) elected the Chair of the Board at that meeting.
We are now very pleased to introduce you to our new Board of Directors, who will serve a term of 2 years from 2026 until the AGM in 2028.
NEW TO THE BOARD IN 2026:
KATIE REID
With over 20 years of experience advising boards, C-suite executives, regulators, and community organisations, Katie's career has spanned multiple sectors across Australia, including small not-for-profit organisations, government, and some of the world’s largest companies. Across these contexts, her focus has remained consistent: helping people across systems collectively understand and navigate complexity with integrity, inclusion and new models of collaboration and contribution.
Molly received the Yale Distinguished Alumna Award (2020) for her global work over more than 35 years to systematically re-design economic structures to ensure the protection of biodiversity, survival of humanity, and achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Sam has run for council, ran events, managed large aid and private projects and designed all over the world. He is a full time permaculture teacher, designer, farmer, project manager and landscaper, and actually hasn’t done anything else. He may not have been alive long, but he's certainly put the hours in.
Catherine has served for the past 12 months as the Chair of Permaculture Australia elected by her peers to steward the board of directors at a time of great transformation for Permaculture Australia and the Permaculture movement, demanded by the conditions of the world at large. Over the past year, the board has devoted much time to reaching out to listen and re-connect with the permaculture community and broader ecosystem, to align the organisation with the needs of our time.
Having served this past year has allowed John to witness a dramatic shift toward collective governance with the implementation of sociocracy as the model for collaboration and decision making.
He's been involved in Permaculture activism since completing his PDC in 1992 in many areas, but strategically in his local region of the Bega Valley, NSW receiving an APT Diploma in Permaculture Design through Recognised Prior Learning.
Having 20 years+ of professional experience in consulting and corporate in organisational and leadership development, Tim works internationally across numerous sectors, hundreds of organisations and his work directly impacts 1000s of people. This work includes many examples of strategic advisory work related to organisational design, development and culture generation for statutory boards including Charities and Peak bodies and Associations, as well as corporates, NGOs, government agencies and departments.
Bronwyn had had the honour of this role for the past year, and she feels that the work she has undertaken is only just beginning. Something that has deeply impressed her is the potential that she has seen within this organisation for making a real difference on a national scale. She has observed the obstacles we face, and also the opportunities. She has developed precious relationships with people right across the country that have so much to offer.
At this time, we wish to offer our sincere thanks to the 2025-2026 board members who will continue their Permaculture Australia journey in other areas of the organisation.
Departing Board Members:
Lauren O'Reilly (Left) stepped down from the board after helping the new board members transition into their current roles. She hopes to return in the near future to continue her contribution to the VET Circle
Fernando Moreno (Centre) continues on with Permaculture Australia filling a key role as our Operations Manager.
Felix Leibelt (Right) continues to be actively engaged in the Youth Circle as one of our Youth Ambassadors.
Congratulations to our new panel of Directors, and Thank You to all who have served in the past. We are excited to see the bright and promising future of this organisation and the broader permaculture movement unfold.
A Collabortive 12-month Project between Permaculture Australia and Savour Soil Permaculture.
WHAT IS IT? A year-long challenge to demonstrate what you can grow in your 90m2 space, documenting and sharing all along the way what you do, how you do it, and what you harvest.
WHO IS THIS FOR? Everyone who grows food! If you don't have 90m2 of garden in your own space, you can combine forces with neighbours, friends, your local community garden, and seek to find answers together. Get creative!
WHEN IS IT RUNNING? The challenge begins on International Permaculture Day - Sunday 3rd May 2026, and ends on International Permaculture Day - Sunday 2nd May 2027. Participants will submit monthly reports and check ins to share how the experience is going throughout the year, with results published regularly.
WHAT IS IT FOR? Gathering information about challenges, solutions, ideas and results. Being able to see how different climates, soil types, and other considerations affect the growing experience right across the country.
Across the country, people are growing food in wildly different ways. Different climates. Different soils. Different constraints. Different tools. And yet, we rarely get the chance to look at our systems side by side, with real numbers, real observations, and real honesty. This friendly 90 m2 challenge is an invitation to change that.
Rather than a competition focused on winning, this is a shared experiment in abundance, resilience, and good design. Each participant commits to observing and documenting up to 90 square metres of productive growing space over a 12-month period — including vertical spaces like trellises and fences, and sharing what they learn along the way.
The aim is simple but powerful: To grow as much good-quality food as possible, while also tracking diversity, pest and disease pressure, labour, and seasonal challenges. Weight alone doesn’t tell the whole story, so this challenge values polycultures, system health, and adaptability, not monocropped shortcuts.
Permaculture practitioners have access to an enormous toolkit, no-dig beds, food forests, biological inputs, ferments, wicking systems, living mulches, intensive annuals, perennial systems, and more. This challenge creates a space where all of those approaches are welcome, documented, and visible, so we can collectively see what works, where, and why.
By sharing methods and outcomes openly, we move beyond opinion and anecdote. We start building a body of lived evidence that helps all of us design better systems, systems that are productive, resilient, and appropriate to their place. This is not about proving who is “best.” It’s about learning together, improving together, and celebrating the many ways abundance shows up in different landscapes.
Throughout the year, participants will document their efforts, processes, and harvests. The results will be openly shared for all to see what works, and where, and how. A nation-wide collaboration of food growers everywhere to demonstrate how permaculture can impact your food growing efforts.
This project is a collaboration between Permaculture Australia and Savour Soil Permaculture.
Get in touch to register your expression of interest! You will be contacted with more information before the challenge begins on Sunday 3rd May 2026.
You must be logged in to post a comment.