Portfolio boards include committees, panels, councils and other bodies. We maintain a list of people who have expressed an interest in being a part-time portfolio board member. This list is the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Portfolio Boards Register (PBR).
The PBR allows people with diverse skills and backgrounds to be:
- informed of board member opportunities being advertised
- considered for board and committee positions relating to their interests, experience and skills.
Joining the register does not guarantee appointment to a board.
When you join, you can select the areas where you have an interest, experience and skills. We will consider this when searching for suitable candidates for possible appointment to a particular board.
See our current Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio boards.
The Australian Government is committed to diversity and inclusion on government boards.
We want diversity on our portfolio boards. Diversity helps assure more meaningful decisions for our communities.
We encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, women, people with multicultural and non-English speaking backgrounds, young people and people with a disability to join the register.
The roles of part-time board members varies. Each member brings a unique set of skills, qualities and experience to support a particular board’s work.
The work of the board can include:
- Setting the entity’s strategic direction
- Overseeing performance targets, risk and compliance activities
- Managing budget appropriations
- Managing stakeholder relationships
- Representing the views and work of the organisation to ministers, parliament stakeholders and the public
- Ensuring corporate compliance and management accountability
- Endorsing strategic plans
- Coordinating policies, plans or projects within or across portfolios
- Advising and making recommendations on policies, plans and practices.
Our events provide a platform for conversation to support more diversity in leadership positions on government boards.
Previous events and conferences
2024 Women on Agricultural Boards event
On Tuesday 17 September 2024 the department hosted the inaugural ‘Women on Agricultural Boards’ event at Australian Parliament House.
Supported by 3 Deputy Secretaries, the event provided a platform for the female panellists to empower more women to seek positions on government boards.
Thank you to our speakers for generously sharing their time, expertise and experience. We were grateful to all who attended the event and asked considered questions of our panellists during a Q and A.
Following the event, panellists and stakeholders enjoyed a networking morning tea. During the refreshments, attendees provided insights on the panel discussion in vox pop interviews.
Feedback from the event indicates the connections made on the day are serving to continue the conversation. If you missed attending the event in person, it was recorded and can be viewed below along with video messages provided by:
- Her Excellency Sam Mostyn AO, Governor-General of Australia, and
- The Honourable Julie Collins MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Highlights video
Watch the highlights package from the event:
Full recording
Watch the full event:
Video messages
A message from her Excellency, the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia:
A message from the Honourable Julie Collins MP, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Join the PBR
We encourage you to register your interest in serving on an Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio board. Please complete the registration form, providing your current Curriculum Vitae in Word format.
Once you have registered, we will email you each time a portfolio board position is advertised. You can then consider whether you wish to apply.
We may also shortlist and contact you about a particular board vacancy in your area of interest or expertise.
The PBR is not a public register. Your personal information will be used and stored in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles.