Lynne Bradshaw is the President of RSPCA Australia (since October 2006) and also the President of RSPCA WA.

The role of RSPCA Australia President is an elected position and is completely voluntary – the President does not receive any payment for their work, though they may be reimbursed for expenses they incur in carrying out their duties.

Though she has always taken a strong interest in animal welfare and environmental issues, Lynne was motivated to take action and subsequently to become involved with the RSPCA in Western Australia after seeing a particularly horrific animal cruelty case on television.

Initially joining as a regular member and working with the auxiliary, she was elected to the RSPCA WA state council in 1998 and following two years service as Vice-President, was elected to the position of President in 2004. 

In performing this role, Lynne divides her time between managing council business as well as acting as representative and spokesperson in dealings with stakeholders such as government, industry and the media.

Describing herself as a dynamic leader, Lynne’s strengths include a proven track record, strong negotiation and leadership abilities, excellent vision, superior management and team building expertise as well as a good understanding of how to communicate effectively with target audiences.

In addition, she has had an ongoing business relationship with medical and veterinary professionals for more than 20 years.
Lynne is well travelled and is comfortable in dealing with business leaders both locally and internationally.

Her career began as a management trainee in the public service before making the move into private industry where she began to develop a solid grounding in sales, marketing and business development in the healthcare industry.

Having worked in a number of management and subsequently senior management roles, as well as being the proprietor of her own business within the healthcare sector for several years, Lynne has developed a range of skills that can be applied to her new role as President of RSPCA Australia. 

Lynne believes this skill base will add value to the organisation and enable her to facilitate progress of the national strategy.

In her role as President of RSPCA Australia, Lynne aims to facilitate the continued development of the National Office, so that the National Council can focus more on the strategic direction of the organisation and become more proactive on key issues. 

“I’m well aware resources are always stretched to the limit,” she said.

“So it is imperative that we both educate the general public and our stakeholders about the challenges we face everyday,”

“In addition, we must work even more efficiently with the resources we have, so we’re well placed to seize opportunities as they arise,” said Lynne.

As an experienced strategic leader and facilitator, Lynne looks forward to working with the many specialised professionals across the organisation to ensure full ownership and involvement with identified overarching goals. 

“For example, recent national campaigns such as Fair Go for Farm Animals and Choose Wisely have firmly established the RSPCA as an interest group in farm animal welfare,” she said.

“But we continue to face strong challenges from industry groups, government and animal rights organisations, which mean we need to be that much more certain that our position and communications are clear, accurate and consistent,” said Lynne.

 “I have a strong belief that it takes no more time or incurs no greater cost to treat animals humanely,”

“It is the desire and commitment to make improvements that are important,” she said.

Born in Leeds, England in 1955, Lynne has lived in Perth with her husband Richard since 1985.

Lynne has been married to Richard for 28 years and they also have two dogs named Billi and Harri.

www.rspca.org.au