Camille Oliver

“My degree has allowed me to travel throughout Australia.”

Why did you study environmental management?

There were six aspects that attracted me to the program:

1. The opportunity to regularly work outdoors – I hate sitting at a desk all day!
2. The ability to work as an individual and as part of a team.
3. Protecting environmental values.
4. Understanding natural systems and processes.
5. Developing solutions to complex problems – being challenged every day.
6. Good career prospects and wages.

What was the best part of your studies?

I loved having the opportunity to be taught by passionate lecturers, who were well known within their field and who have real industry experiences.

The fieldtrip to Cairns in my third year of the environmental management degree was a standout. We went kayaking on a clear, cool night up in the Atherton Tableland and I saw a Lumholtz tree-kangaroo for the first time – that was pretty magical.

Another wonderful experience on that trip was meeting Aboriginal elders and discussing environmental management techniques. The Indigenous people have such a wealth of knowledge and different perspectives on the care of the environment.

What kind of work do you do as part of your job?

My core responsibilities in my current role as environmental officer include:

• Plan and undertake preventative and targeted compliance activities for Environmentally Relevant Activities (ERAs) including quarries, sewage treatment facilities, landfills and coal mines.
• Assess condition applications for environmental approvals.
• Advise, liaise, consult and negotiate with all levels of government agencies, industry and community groups on environmental issues and implementation of policy.
• Provide an after-hours on-call environmental incident response service.
• Prepare ministerial and other correspondence, briefing notes and information documents.

What advice would you give to anyone starting their career?

Work hard and you will reap the rewards when studying at UQ and following graduation! Many of the skills I developed in courses and assignments I now use in every day work life.

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