SUPPORTING isolated families, access to medical services and protecting public bee hives are three issues which will be on Queensland Country Women's Association's (QCWA) agenda over the next 12 months.
A total of 300 members from all over the state attended QCWA's annual conference, which was held from October 22-24 in Maryborough.
QCWA president Christine King said members resolved to lobby for speech therapy services in remote and rural communities and for the reopening of midwifery services which have been closed down.
"Speech therapy services are not available for rural children. They are very disadvantaged if they don't live near a major city," she said.
Members also resolved to lobby for government support for the Isolated Children's Parents Association and for dental care to be subsidised under Medicare.
From an environmental and agricultural point of view, members resolved to push for the re-introduction of the Bradfield scheme - which would see flood waters from the north transported south to provide drought relief.
The association also agreed to push for more land clearing in an attempt to mitigate bushfire risk.
Another resolution was to contest government moves to remove beehives from public land.
"They are taking them out of national parks and all sorts of public places. It's getting harder and harder with the drought and we are going to lose our bees."
"According to research, 18 per cent of our honey is coming from public land."
Members also heard a number of speeches - including a talk about Japan, which will be the QCWA's country of study for 2020.
Nutritionist Tara Leong spoke about the Country Kitchens program and the ladies also listened to a presentation by Foodbank.
The conference also featured an expo with stalls from a large number of traders.
Entries for a number of competitions including state cooking, hand craft, dress making, floral art, patchwork and photography were displayed and winners announced.
For more information on QCWA, call (07) 3026-1220 or click here.