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Committee of Management

At Friends of the Earth Melbourne our committee of management is called the Policy and Advisory Committee (PAC) and like all collectives within Friends of the Earth Melbourne, the Policy and Advisory Committee is participatory, voluntary, anti-hierarchical and consensus based, in line with our values, philosophy, constitution and internal policies.

On a day to day basis the operations of Friends of The Earth Melbourne are managed through the Strategy collective, the Food Co-operative and the Operations collectives.

The role of the Policy and Advisory Committee is to ensure organisational financial and governance oversight for the organisation and ensure we are compliant with State and Federal regulations relating to charitable organisations. A separate committee is responsible for managing the Friends of the Earth Melbourne Fund, which receives funds which attract tax deductibility.

The Committee also plays an important role in assisting the long term development of Friends of the Earth and in supporting the staff and volunteers working on various campaign issues.

We strongly encourage our members to get involved in our campaign collectives and to actively engage in governance roles like the Policy and Advisory Committee. If you are a full financial member of Friends of The Earth Melbourne, who is actively engaged in a collective or project then you are eligible to nominate for the Policy and Advisory Committee prior to our Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Contact [email protected] for more information.

Committee of Management

David Robertson
David Robertson
David Robertson is the current FoE Melbourne Chair of the Policy and Advisory Committee and a member of several campaign collectives of FoE Melbourne
Beth Cameron
Beth Cameron
Beth Cameron has been a Friends of the Earth Food Co-op co-ordinator for over 30 years. Starting as a volunteer with an interest in community, reducing waste, food productions and justice, she became a member of the collective. Active in The City of Yarra since the 1980’s, she has been involved in many projects helping deliver affordable, organic meals and food to the community. A clear focus of Beth’s is the building of strong relationships with producers that seek to ensure ethical environmental and social justice practices. She has a passion for working with volunteers, school groups and community programs that bring people together to share stories and skills.
Sam Castro
Sam Castro
Sam Castro is the current Secretary of Friends of The Earth Melbourne. Sam comes from a back ground in media and communication and previously worked in the aid and development sector before coming to work at FoE. Sam has over 20 years experience as an activist and organiser and joined Friends of The Earth Melbourne in 2011. She is the current Operations Coordinator and also works for the Secretariat of Friends of the Earth Australia. Sam is a national spokesperson for FoE Australia's Defence of Earth Project which works on issues relating to the environment and militarism. She is an FoE Asia Pacific representative on Friends of the Earth International's - Gender Justice Dismantling Patriarchy Working Group. 
Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson
Phil is a committed campaigner for environmental justice and nurturing our ecosystems. Phil believes through collective action we build our strength and solidarity. Phil works in community housing, and has a background community campaigning. Past professional roles have been in supply chain planning and IT system implementation.
Naomi Pullen
Naomi Pullen
Naomi has been a social worker for the last 10 years and this role has developed her understanding of community and professional accountability. She has also been an educator and recently completed a Bachelor of Laws degree. Naomi currently works at the City of Yarra as a Family Services Case Manager while completing her legal training. Naomi has been engaged for many years in the climate movement and brings her professional skills and community engagement and understanding to her role on PAC. 
Lee Tan
Lee Tan
Lee is a statistician and a social researcher with decades of health, environmental and social justice campaigning experiences, ranging from grassroot activism to policy advocacy at the multilateral institutional level.  Her work spans several countries in the Asia-Pacific region and in different parts of Australia.
Mara Bonacci
Mara Bonacci
Mara is an environmental and social scientist with 25+ years of experience advocating for gender, environmental and social justice. She has been involved with FoE since the early nineties as a volunteer, campaigner and employee. Her work is centred in working for solidarity and justice with Indigenous Peoples and marginalised communities.
Rodney Vlais
Rodney Vlais
Rodney is a gender-based violence activist who has worked for almost twenty years focusing on men's use of family and domestic violence. They have been part of FoE communities since 2004 contributing in various unpaid capacities, and have been a member of PAC since 2013. Rodney's social justice and environmental activism stems back to the mid 1990's, where they've learnt about autonomous, non-hierarchical organising through amazing ecofeminist and anarchist-influenced mentors and collectives.
Cam Walker
Cam Walker
Cam has been the campaigns co-ordinator with Friends of the Earth Melbourne for several decades. He helps coordinate the local campaigns, with a current focus on extractive industries, climate and forests. He previously represented Friends of the Earth in national campaigns and lobbying, and spent several years working with Friends of the Earth groups around the world on a range of environmental and social justice issues.