A Sunshine Coast conservationist who won a major Queensland award plans to make the most of her elevated standing.
Claire Smith was named the 2025 Local Hero for Queensland, as part of the Australian of the Year Awards.
The 59-year-old is the founder of Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast, the first volunteer-run 24-hour wildlife rescue service in the state. The group is focused on education, rescue and rehabilitation.
Ms Smith has taught people about wildlife management, advised government on policy decisions and has raised more than $600,000 to help care for injured animals after the 2019 bushfires.
She also raised funds to establish the state’s first dedicated kangaroo hospital and to purchase two wildlife ambulances to facilitate more animal rescues, and she is fiercely protective of wildlife, including contentious ‘Fluffy’ the emu.
She was delighted to receive the award. “It’s very humbling and it’s taking a while to sink in,” she said.
Ms Smith told Sunshine Coast News she would leverage her ‘hero’ recognition to drive critical changes in wildlife protection and habitat preservation.
“This award is giving me a bit of a leg-up into circles that I probably wouldn’t have had access to before,” she said.
“These awards are taken so seriously by the government and other bodies, so this is an amazing, amazing opportunity.
“Being the Queensland Hero of the Year, people will say: ‘you need to listen to her and take note of what she says’.
“People are already congratulating me and asking me what they can do to support me.
“It really does open doors. I can use this newfound status to raise further awareness (about conservation) and to work on even bigger projects.”
Ms Smith elaborated.
“What we do is not just about going out and picking up wildlife, treating them and then hopefully returning to the wild,” she said.
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“It’s much bigger than that because the problem is much bigger than that.
“We can keep putting band-aids on koalas and kangaroos and sending them back out to the wild, but if they’ve got no habitat to go back to then they’re going to get more injuries and more of them will die.
“So, my next plan is to look much bigger and look at how I can influence change as far as habitat goes.
“I want to get the preservation of habitat on the Australian agenda in 2025.
“And that’s going to come from making real, heartfelt relationships with people in various departments that I wouldn’t have had access to before.”
Ms Smith said she will push for more protection and conservation.
“There are federally protected areas of koala habitat, which sounds great on the surface, but there are workarounds so people can develop in areas that are federally protected,” she said.
“There are get out clauses and I want to stop that. I want to close that down.
“So, when land is federally protected or an endangered species is protected, it remains federally protected. There is no reason, other than to cut fire breaks, to disturb that habitat.
“My projects are going to be big projects in Queensland.
“It’s not Sunshine Coast hero of the year, it’s Queensland hero of the year.”
Ms Smith’s profile could be enhanced if she wins an Australia Day Award, which she is now in the running for.
“If I was fortunate enough to become the Australian hero, then watch this space because I plan to use every bit of my opportunities to benefit our wildlife and their habitat,” she said.
