REGISTERED OFFICER

Dr. Michael Mansfield

Michael Mansfield was born Cairns in 1948.  Educated locally and in Brisbane he  earned his medical degree in 1971 and an orthopaedic degree in 1980. He is also currently a member of several groups some of which include the Australian Orthopaedic Association and  the Australian Hand Surgery Society. He is very active within his profession attending numerous Australian and overseas meetings and maintaining an involvement at the local medical level.

Over the years he has had a vast interaction with the local environment both land and sea. From family holidays every year to Green Island spanning 15 years, owning a number of boats while fishing all the ecosystems of North Queensland to working as a deckhand and operating his own game boat on a commercial basis having had a limited Class V commercial licence. To this day he continues to fish and dive the reef often and retains his intimate relationship and knowledge of all the marine ecosystems and the Great Barrier Reef.

On the land based side of things he has also had first-hand experience of the bush of North Queensland, spending a lot of time on Minnamoolka Station near Mount Garnet as a young person, and on numerous hunting and camping trips since, with no fewer than seven trips across to the Nasser River on the west side of Cape York.

On an environmental level he has a keen understanding of protection and sustainability while at the same time representing a responsible usage action plan. Having always had a keen interest in the environment, together with Les Faithfull, he co-founded the Trinity Bay and Inlet society and successfully mobilised community opinion in Cairns to significantly affect local government elections. This eventually achieved the aims of conserving the 55sq kms of the Trinity Bay and Inlet wetlands in marine protective zonings, which allowed for both conservation of the ecosystem and continued human use and enjoyment. The society also staged a blockade of bulldozers, the first ever for the conservation of a mangrove ecosystem, and also rallied 10,000 people on the foreshores of Trinity Bay to make our cause known both locally and further south, culminating in the successful achievement of our aims.  It is very important to note that this movement always was for the conservation of the ecosystem, and not for the exclusion of human beings from enjoyment and use of that ecosystem in a sustainable manner. 

My political history is that I have had a keen interest in politics throughout my adult life.  During the days of the Trinity Bay and Inlet Society we were intimately involved in local government politics, and it was the issues raised by the Trinity Bay and Inlet Society which determined the outcome of the local government elections, and also had a significant impact on state elections during that period as well.  In 2007 I stood as a representative of the Fishing Party Queensland at the state elections, and gained 10% of the vote, outpolling the Green candidate on that occasion, and I now I have nominated as one of two senate candidates for the Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party for the forthcoming federal elections.

The Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party will endeavour to commission independent scientific opinion on issues of importance in our ecosystems, particularly the marine one which is our prime focus, and we will publicise these to allow public education and debate on these issues of such importance to our community and to our national interest. 

Whilst the primary focus of the Australian Fishing and Lifestyle Party is the marine ecosystems of our country, we will as a national political party develop policies on all major issues leading up to the next elections, aiming to make this party a viable national political alternative, bringing common sense, and transparent and honest critique, and generating community understanding and debate on the many important issues facing us.  The party will always attempt to be honest and transparent.  We will be open to opinions from the community at large, and will attempt to influence the future of our magnificent country to the benefit of all Australians.