February 27, 2017
Durong grazier – and former Q&A panellist – Georgie Somerset has been appointed to the Board of the ABC.
Mrs Somerset is AgForce’s South East Queensland Regional Director as well as a Director of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Qld), Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service, QRAA and the Outback Sunrise motel group.
She is also chair of the South Burnett Red Earth Community Foundation, an organiser of the South Burnett Community Leadership Program, and a member of the Wide Bay Burnett Regional Development Australia committee.
She has also been involved in the organisation of the Burrandowan Races for many years,
Mrs Somerset was a State finalist in the 2008 RIRDC Rural Women’s Award, named one of Westpac AFR’s 100 Women of Influence in 2014, and was overall winner in the inaugural Women in Australian Agribusiness Top 100 in 2014.
Mrs Somerset, who joined the Board this month, has been appointed as a non-executive director for the next five years and is the only regional representative on the eight-member committee.
AgForce General President Grant Maudsley congratulated Mrs Somerset on her appointment and described it as a massive win for Queensland producers.
“Georgie has worked tirelessly over many years to advocate for rural and regional Queensland, all while running a family beef cattle farming business in Durong with her husband Robert,” he said.
“She is a longtime AgForce member who knows first-hand the issues affecting rural and regional Queensland because she lives and breathes it.
“As part of the AgForce Board Georgie is focused on telecommunications and ensuring that there is equitable access, service, affordability, data quality and quantity for all rural and remote users.
“Many will also know Georgie from being a founder and president of the Queensland Rural Regional and Remote Women’s Network which rightly earned her a spot in the Australia’s 100 Women of Influence in 2014.”
Mrs Somerset said she was honoured to be appointed as the voice of regional and rural Australia to the ABC Board.
“I believe that agriculture is a cornerstone for the Australian economy and ensuring that the agricultural community has a voice in important decision making and policy setting forums is essential,” she said.
