Welcome to Country, Vision, Barriers, Solutions, Synthesis. Five recordings captured by Plaud across the day, woven into one strategic story for Nicole and the BIOM team.
Eight threads, convergent strategy.
The expertise, the projects, the capital and the policy precedents all exist. What is missing is a central coordinating mechanism. Biome's role is being defined right now as the "systems transition broker", the neutral convener that builds the $100M pipeline for COP31, holds the rules of engagement, and unlocks existing levers (Sustainable Bonds Framework, government underwriting precedents) so this finally lands.
These appeared and re-appeared across all five sessions. Read these first. They are the through-lines that turn the day's many strands into one strategic story.
From Oral McGuire's Welcome through to Heidi's profit-for-purpose model, the day grounded restoration as a cultural, spiritual and economic act. Glenn Kelly framed it pragmatically: for First Nations peoples, restoration of country IS the driver. Economic mechanisms are simply what makes the work pay for itself now.
Institutional investors (Perpetual named) want large-scale diversified opportunities. Single $10 to $20M projects cannot reach the bar. The strategy: aggregate WA projects to $100M, diversified by type, methodology, geography. Biome convenes, Earthly assesses, WABSI measures. Deadline: ready for COP31.
Three repeated asks. One, government underwrite the nature market (UK biodiversity or AccuScheme precedent). Two, reform the "Your Future, Your Super" test blocking super funds. Three, insurance fix. Projects cannot get cover without government partnership. Canadian pension funds named as the comparison where this works.
A breakout new insight from Session 5. The WA Treasury Corporation's existing Sustainable Bonds Framework has an "enhancing and protecting natural capital" pillar that could be expanded to back large-scale restoration. Proven mechanism already in place. Less work than building something new.
Glenn Kelly named it. Everyone agreed. Capable organisations and CEOs currently moving in parallel rather than together. The naming of "rules of engagement" (minimum protocol: don't undermine each other) and the explicit ask for CEOs to "put egos aside" is the cultural shift required.
The proof: $65M sitting unspent in the Pilbara Environmental Offsets Fund blocked by tenure. 320,000 hectares returned via the Southwest Native Title Settlement, as Crown land rather than freehold. Pastoral leases of 20 years vs program terms of 25. Mining tenure routinely overrides other land tenures.
Better valuation methods came up at every Vision table. Capitals Coalition, Westport environmental economic accounting, Vale Brazil land banking. Explicit acknowledgement this transition could take 30 to 40 years. The phrase that stuck: "planting trees you'll never sit under."
Neither government nor philanthropy reliably pay for the "tea and Tim Tams" phase that builds trust and enables authentic co-design. Yet ranger programs deliver $3.50 to $4.00 in reduced public costs per $1 invested. Devastating proof point, under-communicated. Elders' knowledge to be remunerated at professional rates, not token stipends.
Biome steps into a defined role as neutral convener of the WA nature investment ecosystem, holding rules of engagement, brokering trust between proponents. The $100M aggregated pipeline is the strategic product. Diversified across type, methodology and geography, independently assessed by Earthly, measured by WABSI, ready for COP31. The unlocks Biome advocates for in parallel: expand the WA Sustainable Bonds Framework's natural capital pillar (existing lever), government underwriting modelled on UK biodiversity or AccuScheme (proven precedent), reform of the YFYS performance test (clear specific blocker), and an insurance solution (technical fix). The cultural ask: proponent CEOs put egos aside, accept the minimum protocol of not undermining each other, and front investors as a unified collective.
Each piece reinforces the others. Each is achievable in its own right. Together they are the strategic answer to the fragmentation problem the day kept naming.
Setting the spiritual, institutional and on-ground context for the day
Oral opened by clarifying the gathering's location on Bilia Wudja, historically a wetlands system, a men's law place known as Bujirrap. He framed Indigenous First Nations representatives as "First Law holders," referencing the First Law as nature's law, created for nature by the Creator. He emphasised humanity's need to reconnect to this greater authority. He noted that the site's senior law men had not practiced or passed on secret law there for over 100 years, leaving places spiritually unwell.
His projects have restarted "singing to country," which prompted country to reveal six sacred sites and invite law holders back. He named modern disconnection as the erosion of relational capability with nature, replaced with attempts at power and control that he argued are ultimately subordinate to the Creator's law.
800,000 annual visitors connecting with around 1,300 animals. Breed-for-release programs include the Western Ground Parrot (fewer than 150 remain globally, first surviving hatchling four months old), the world-leading Numbat program (seven pouch young), Western Swamp Tortoises and frog species. Research underway on ghost bat roosting furniture and fairy penguin audiology.
Ollie Bolton recounted founding Earthly with Lorenzo six years ago, having screened over 1,000 nature-based projects worldwide. Through Founders Factory's nature tech program he came to Perth and was struck by Australia's uniqueness and the 60,000 year Indigenous heritage of WA. His framing for the room: the expertise exists; the challenge is convening the right collaborations.
Nicole shared the lifelong environmental thread sparked at age ten by an ozone-layer project, channelled through infrastructure as a Trojan horse for environmental outcomes. After helping bring Founders Factory to WA and establishing the nature tech stream, she aligned with Bolton's vision. The conjunction that shifted it from a global fund to a WA focus: degraded land, abundant capital, and deep First Nations knowledge. She named Glenn Kelly's ability to forge authentic connections as essential.
Glenn Kelly introduced himself. Native title practitioner for 25 years, environmental science roots, upbringing on country near Pemberton. He affirmed that restoration of country IS the primary driver for Noongar people. Economic mechanisms have only recently emerged to make this work pay for itself. He named the four common barriers: capacity, market access, investment, and bridging resources.
Heidi on the Swan Coastal Plain. Cultivating Noongar food and medicine plants for restoration. Salvaged 350 to 400 velvet plants from planned bulldozing. The big milestone: purchase of their own 115-hectare property settling this week, enabling 500 yaks planted this month and a trust structure for permanence. Connecting personal and cultural continuity (burying her granddaughter's umbilical cord on Ngangam country) with social role: safe place for first-time visits, reintegration after prison, recovery from addiction. Profit-for-purpose model, building generational wealth and confronting intergenerational trauma.
Oral McGuire's 18-year journey on Ballardong Nyungar country. From early 2000s Aboriginal engagement structures, to authoring "Here to Country Here People" to document elders' histories, to acquiring land through ILC. Now: over one million plants established, all endemic, all sourced from Ballardong. Wildlife returning. Birds, owleys, echidnas, emus, hundreds to thousands of kangaroos. Daughter Stephanie aspires to reintroduce dingoes.
Recent partnerships: University of Newcastle hydro harvester via the Future Drought Fund (1,000 litres per day from air using reverse osmosis). Malloon Institute commencing a five-year creek rehydration effort. Native seed enterprise, with trees producing around 100 tonnes annually. Engagement with Mark Reisley on soil health innovation. Cultural burning reintroduced. Chemicals ceased. Two-thirds of the property previously leased to farmers now rests. Second season without cropping after 170 years.
Justin Story's morning session. Six tables, six vision statements, the optimistic case for the day.
Justin opened by setting the day's structure as three parts: Vision (now), Barriers (after lunch), Unlocks (solutions). The instruction for Vision was strict. Focus on possibilities and optimism, resist drift into barriers. Each table to produce a concise vision statement plus answer four questions: what's going well, what made the difference, what does success look like, what gives you optimism.
Universal emphasis on valuing nature. People and nature connectivity including spiritual ties. Intergenerational equity anchored in response to Country and place. WA-specific strengths: exceptional people, scalable projects and tailored tools, emerging structured investment pathways. Long-termism beyond electoral cycles resonated at every table.
The candid afternoon diagnosis. What is actually stopping this and what would have to change.
Agriculture surfaced as a microcosm of the market failure. Farms operate on 1 to 2% margins and depend on rainfall, making 10 to 15 year investments hard to sell without near-term economic returns. A technologist claimed capture of up to 10 tonnes of carbon per hectare. WA's 8 million hectares of broadacre land are a real opportunity, but change agents encounter resistance and perceived attack. Framing must centre combined business and environmental impact.
Capital dynamics mirror this. Investors anchor on 3 to 7 year horizons, discount value beyond 10 years, expect simplicity, scale ($100M+ minimum), fast payback. All misaligned with biological growth cycles where trees need 10 to 15 years. The reef "probiotic" example surfaced the deeper structural problem: nobody "owns" the reef, so monetising environmental goods without a clear asset holder is impossible.
The "valley of death" was named directly. Many projects are too large for philanthropy but too small for institutional capital. Funders demand rigour, complex MRV protocols, extensive design, evidence of impact. Yet the transaction and readiness costs exceed proponents' capacity. Only one nature repair project has reached the market, undermining investor confidence.
Trusted relationships are indispensable and time-intensive. And chronically underfunded. Neither government programs nor philanthropy reliably pay for the "tea and Tim Tams" phase. Elders' knowledge should be recognised in publications and remunerated at professional rates. Token travel stipends are inappropriate.
Aboriginal Lands Trusts in SA (aided by perpetuity obligations) suggest tenure can align with long-term stewardship, though WA's divestment dynamics differ.
Public sphere saturated with cost of living, housing, climate fatigue driven by abstract negative messaging. In the 1980s and 1990s, recycling provided a tangible behaviour. Comparable calls-to-action are scarce today. "Plant a tree" resonates selectively and risks maladaptation. The room urged a pivot from doom to value. Communicating co-benefits with personal relevance. Warning that accusations of greenwashing chill corporate risk-taking.
The core strategic conversation. Naming the barriers and proposing the $100M aggregated pipeline.
Aggregate WA projects into a $100M pipeline to address scale. Institutional investors like Perpetual have expressed interest but require large-scale opportunities individual projects ($10M to $20M) cannot provide. Bundle them. Present a diversified high-value proposition.
The collaborative model:
Diversification baked in. Different project types, methodologies (carbon, biodiversity, fire management), geographic locations. Deadline named: ready for investor presentation by COP31.
Biome convenes but does not lead the investment pitch. Project proponents, specifically CEOs, must "put egos aside" and stand together. The unified voice is also a powerful advocacy tool to government.
Embedded in the pipeline: "enabler" projects like native species breeding programs that are critical but struggle to attract funding alone. Possible brokers and supporters named: Climate Investor Forum (Peter Costellas), Carbon Market Institute (CMI).
The convergent diagnosis, and the call for Biome to step into the systems transition broker role.
The participants converged on a precise framing. Multiple viable parallel strategies exist: the $100M aggregated fund, the reverse shark tank model, leveraging sustainable bonds. All converge on the same dependencies: market certainty, coherent planning regulations, and a unified voice to drive government action.
Without a "systems transition broker" to connect these efforts, individual initiatives risk remaining isolated and sub-scale.
Consolidated from all five sessions and grouped by who owns the next move.
The strategic questions worth keeping warm as the next few weeks unfold.
Named participants. Speakers, facilitators, and people referenced as the next conversations to have.