Published July 2025
Paediatrician and philanthropist Dr Michael Williams from New Farm has been honoured with Environmental Philanthropist of the Year at the 2025 Queensland Philanthropy Awards.
In his acceptance speech, Dr Williams said the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity has driven him to give and advocate for the environment for many years.
“It is an honour to receive this award – which I gratefully accept hoping it will encourage others like us to give for nature,” he said.
“My wife Margaret and I give to support groups to create areas that protect nature and those that advocate for nature and our climate.
“I’ve loved the bush – and we want to do all we can to ensure we leave our grandchildren and all grandchildren, a nature with a climate, they can enjoy, that we’ve been so privileged to experience.”
Dr Williams is a life member of the Mackay Conservation Group in Central Queensland, having joined when it was founded in 1984 and serving as President for 28 years.
Their advocacy work included campaigns against the logging of rainforests, pesticide and herbicide run-off to the reef, the dredging of harbours and many more issues.
Nina Davis, Senior Philanthropy Executive at the Australian Conservation Foundation, said:
“I nominated Michael because he is an extremely passionate and well-rounded philanthropist that gives across the environment sector, along with his wife Margaret, and he has never been acknowledged before.”
“The fact that he works in the health sector and really understands the impact of the climate on health, and the importance of a healthy climate, is a huge aspect that not a lot of people talk about either.”
Ms Davis hopes the event can raise awareness of the role philanthropy plays in environmental advocacy, with Australia philanthropic giving quite low compared to that of the US and UK.
“The idea of the event is to bring to the forefront the fact that all these charities can’t function without philanthropy; it’s a vital resource for us,” she said.
“It’s about trying to normalise philanthropy – if you have wealth, you should be contributing to charitable causes.”
