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Announcement of Formation


  
Australian Garden Council
March 1, 2016

Press Release

  

Graham Ross launches the Australian Garden Council

 

Today gardening in Australia grew new leaves in Parliament House, Canberra with the launch of the first nationally recognised body for gardening - the Australian Garden Council.

The council is designed to reinstate gardening onto the national agenda by incorporating and promoting gardening, gardening tourism and gardening education into one not-for-profit charity.

The Prime Minister was joined by the Federal Minister for Tourism Hon. Richard Colbek, the Federal Member for Macquarie, Hon. Louise Markus, and their Senior Advisors, alongside a dedicated group of nationally acclaimed gardeners and horticulturists, for the inaugural meeting of the Council.

The council was founded by Graham Ross, Australia's most respected and recognised gardener. At today’s launch he detailed how the Australian Garden Council will further domestic gardening, focus on professional horticultural recognition, improve secondary and tertiary gardening educational opportunities and attract inbound tourists through international garden tourism events.

"For too long gardeners and horticulturists, the essence of a multi-billion dollar domestic industry, have been ignored, taken for granted and undervalued in Australian business, government, educational and community circles", Graham told ministers gathered in Parliament House.

“With Australia’s changing residential landscape, and the new digital age, our children are growing up without the opportunity of getting dirt under their fingernails, and we want the AGC to change that.”

The fact that students leave the beneficial and inspiring garden related atmosphere of primary school then arrive into a high school horticultural desert was another concern of several AGC members.

Internationally garden tourism was shown in a recent global report to attract over 300 million garden tourists of which Australia receives very little.

Australia has an extensive plant community, gardening history and horticultural expertise to celebrate and develop. We have a proud gardening history that began three days after the First Fleet arrived in 1788 and has included the cultivation of native and exotic ornamental plants for beautification and vegetable gardens for sustenance ever since. We’ve exhibited gardens since 1879 and our national botanic gardens, nurseries and landscapers are of an international standard. There is considerable potential underutilised that could generate employment, income, national health benefits and improvement to the urban environment.

The new century has not respected gardening's true status in society as the second most popular hobby with over 6 million devotees spending billions of dollars annually on their hobby.

Horticultural education has dropped to its lowest apprentice numbers in history while ironically the demand for skilled gardeners and suitably qualified landscapers and nursery staff has never been higher. "Comprehensive training standards, remuneration and integrated career planning all needs rethinking", Graham added. “Furthermore we no longer train Asia’s horticulturists as we did for decades’ last century.”

It was also observed that a lack of coordination in existing amateur and professional groups saw opportunities lost that should and could easily be remedied with increased consultation and support.

 

The Australian Garden Council

www.gardencouncil.org


info@gardencouncil.org

For media enquiries, please contact Kent Ross on (02) 9479 9806 (02) 9479 9806

Australian Garden Council Board Members 2015

 

Graham Ross VMM

Jim Mitchell  

Mick Conway                                                                                                                                  

John Robb

Robert Reynolds                                                                                                                              

Kent Ross                                                                                                                                       

Professor Tim Entwisle                                                                                                                    

Penny Fowler

David Glenn                                                                                                                                           

John Mason

Lawrence Smith AM

Colin Barlow                                           

Trevor Nottle                                                                                                                   

Anthony Vander Staay                                                                                     

 




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