• water management
  
  • Water overview
  • Legislation and policies
  • Water data online
  • Water access and trade
  • Water sharing plans
  • Water for the environment
  • Water quality
  • Water Compliance
  • Across the State
• vegetation
  
  
  • Vegetation overview
  • Native vegetation in NSW
  • Plantations
  • Private Native Forestry
  • Vegetation Compliance
• soils
  
  
  • Soils overview
  • Soils in NSW
  • Soils data online
  • Soil survey
  • Maps for land managers
  • Soil Conservation Schemes
  • Acid sulfate soil
  • Salinity
• wetlands, coast and floodplains
  
  • Coast and floodplains overview
  • The coast
  • Estuaries
  • Floodplains
  • Wetlands

• Corporate publications
• Contact us

• Site search:

Home > About us > Minister

About Us

Minister

NSW Natural Resources Minister Ian Macdonald brings to the portfolios a strong background in regional and rural affairs.

Elected a Member of the Legislative Council in 1988, he was a member of the State Development Committee for 11 years.

Mr Macdonald established the South West Slopes Mayoral Round Table involving 17 councils, including Cowra, Young and Cootamundra.

Since 1995, this group has met regularly with the Premier and Ministers on regional issues, and its input is highly valued by the Carr Government.

A founding member of Country Labor, Mr Macdonald has been a strong advocate of rural and regional issues in the Parliament. He has served as member or chair on numerous Parliamentary Committees dealing with issues ranging from pesticides and genetically modified organisms to coastal development.

He was appointed Minister for Primary Industries in 2003, adding Natural Resources and Mineral Resources to his portfolio in August 2005.

Mr Macdonald has links with the land going back to his childhood days when family members dairy farmed at Gippsland in Victoria.

Before moving to Carcoar, in the Central West, he had a mixed farm at Young, running 400 cattle and growing 400 acres of grain crops, including wheat, canola, triticale and oats.

He continues to be involved in a joint venture at Errowanbang, Carcoar, where he and some partners are further developing a Murray Grey cattle stud.

Mr Macdonald has been successfully showing cattle at Sydney and regional shows since 1992. As recently as last September one of his bulls took out the Reserve Champion Senior Bull at Melbourne Royal Show.

He is also a member of the NSW Farmers Association, the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society and the Australian Highland Society.