Welcome Denise Spinks

Denise Spinks started recently at eastAUSmilk to replace Mike Smith as government relations manager. Denise has big shoes to fill, but I’m sure with her background, skills and enthusiasm she will fit in fine. Denise is originally from Roma in Queensland and has an affinity with farming and regional areas.

Denise has a long history focused mostly on either working in senior government positions or lobbying government. This is a similar history to Mike and the skills that we are seeking in our government relations manager.

Denise was deputy chief of staff for former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. In addition, she has worked for lobbying companies to lobby many governments including Queensland, NSW and the commonwealth.

Building on relationships with these 3 governments is extremely important for eastAUSmilk.

Denise is very focussed on clearly identifying what is of most importance to dairy farmers and ensuring she is successful in gaining traction with governments in these key areas. Some key areas for Denise will include gaining support and funding from the Queensland government for the Queensland dairy plan and funding for existing eastAUSmilk projects which are key to moving dairy farmers forward with technology adoption and preparing for extreme weather events.

It is important for eastAUSmilk to further build relationships with the NSW government to ensure that we are listened to and our advice to move the industry forward in NSW are supported. Gaining outcomes from the NSW, Queensland and Commonwealth governments for disaster events will always be an important area for dairy farmers. The review of the dairy code and the implementation of the retail code will also be key issues with the commonwealth government.

I wish Denise all the best with her role. Please all dairy farmers welcome her to the team and assist in her role to help you.

Eric Danzi, CEO eastAUSmilk