National Landholder + Community Engagement Training
Australia is embarking on renewable energy projects the scale of which have not been seen in most people’s lifetimes. With this, a growing number of landholders are being approached to host renewable energy infrastructure on their land. These renewable energy developments, as well as the maintenance of existing infrastructure, can impact the operations, lives and livelihoods of landholders, neighbours, Traditional Owners and First Nations communities, Local Governments and their communities.
Together, we all have a responsibility to recognise and minimise these impacts and work towards shared value outcomes for everyone.
Landholder + Community Engagement Training March 2025
Our fourth National Landholder + Community Engagement training took place in Traralgon, Victoria—in the Gippsland Region at the heart of Australia’s energy transition. This unique, immersive training saw participants hear from landholders, community engagement experts and community organisations about how to build trust during project development.
Topics covered
- Direct insights from Landholders + Community about what’s working, what builds trust, and opportunities to improve
- Building your Toolkit for Trust: practical tools and strategies to foster collaboration and trust
- Gathering actionable strategies for route and site selection, empowering you to more effectively collaborate with landholders and communities
- Learning from Leaders: lessons learned from experienced land agents and community engagement leaders and discover how to elevate landholder + community voices to decision-makers
- Explore Gippsland: A full-day field trip showcasing the real energy transition in action, set against the stunning backdrop of Gippsland’s landscape.
National Landholder + Community Engagement Training Sept 2024
Our 3rd round of National Landholder + Community Engagement Training on 2, 3 and 4 September 2024 was held at the Transgrid Discovery Hub in Wagga Wagga. We aimed to support those engaging with landholders and communities on renewable energy developments to do their job well and support better shared value outcomes.
We heard directly from landholders on what’s going well and where we can improve as well as a full day on understanding community concerns and better practice communications and engagement. We also heard insights from land agents and community engagement leaders about things they have learnt on the ground and explore how to support each other.
Topics covered
- The social licence context
- Setting the scene: Renewable energy development and why we need to get it right
- Landholder Insights Panel: Chat with landholders on what’s going well and our opportunities to improve
- Communicating controversial projects with Kelly Parkinson: Full day training on understanding and responding meaningfully to community concern
- Land Agent Insights Panel: Chat with land agents and community engagement leaders to share experiences
- Full day bus excursion:
- Site visit 1: Tetris Battery Storage Facility + Solar Farm, meet with host landholder to hear how this project is progressing
- Area of interest 1: Gregadoo substation works – existing Wagga 330kV Substation
- Site visit 2: Transgrid tower construction/erection – 3 x adjoining holdings hosting Project EnergyConnect
- Area of interest 2: Lockhart Camp – temporary construction camp and laydown area
- Area of interest 3: Tower construction – towers at various stages of construction
- Site visit 3: Bomen Solar Farm, meet with host landholder and hear about this fully operational solar farm
Communicating controversial projects: Risk Communication Specialist, Kelly Parkinson
We were thrilled to have Kelly Parkinson, Risk Communication Specialist, running targeted training at our National Landholder Engagement Training. Kelly’s rich experience includes working internationally with the community on their concerns about a range of projects, including:
- The placement of mobile phone base stations/towers in suburban and rural communities
- Major controversial infrastructure projects such as coal and lithium mines and LNG gas facilities
- Health controversies for the dairy industry and sugar industry
- Transmission and renewable energy projects.
He also developed a global social licence research program to assess all of Rio Tinto’s mining site’s social license scores and a risk communication and community engagement strategy to address community concerns about radiation levels in water at mines in Madagascar.
National Landholder + Community Engagement Training Feb 2024
Our 2nd round of Landholder + Community Engagement Training on 27, 28 and 29 February 2024 supported those engaging with landholders and communities on renewable energy and transmission developments to do job their job well, while keeping everyone physically and emotionally safe. We heard directly from landholders on what’s going well and where we can improve, as well as how innovative partnerships are creating shared benefit. A huge thank you to Powerlink Queensland for hosting this training!
Topics covered
- The social licence context
- Setting the scene: Renewable energy development in Queensland and why we need to get it right
- Landholder insights panel: Chat with landholders on what’s going well and opportunities to improve
- Shared value: An essential building block for social licence
- Site visit: Partnering to support endangered wildlife
- Site visit: Partnering for bushfire management
- Site visit: Partnering to manage invasive plants
- Biosecurity: Washdown, obligations and new threats
- Compassion in conflict: Positive communication and de-escalation strategies
- Creating psychologically safe spaces: Safe ways of working with impacted landholders facing cumulative stressors, including as a result of energy development
- Look after yourself: Practical tips to support your own mental wellbeing
Landholder Insights Panel
We heard from a Landholder Insights Panel chaired by Queensland Farmers Federation who shared their stories on hosting renewable energy infrastructure.
Their wrap on what good engagement looks like:
- From James L Walker, “Look for opportunities to bring community in and get buy in.”
- From Ashleigh Duncan, “Transparency will build you trust.”
- From Susan Findlay Tickner, “Don’t ever promise anything you can’t deliver.”
- From Brent Finlay, “Listen to what landholders say. Let them go at their own speed. Listen to what they say about how they want to communicate with them.”
- From our moderator, Jo Sheppard GAICD, CEO Queensland Farmers’ Federation, “The people are important, but the governance and frameworks that sit around those people are just as important.”
In this wide ranging discussion, we covered everything from biosecurity, neighbour relationships, community benefits, the importance of soil, succession planning and opportunities to support on farm safety.
National Landholder + Community Engagement Training Oct 2023
The first National Landholder + Community Engagement Training was held on 3 and 4 October 2023 in Victoria, with the purpose of supporting those responsible for working directly with impacted landholders and communities. Hosted by AusNet Services, the training brought Land Agents and Community Engagement teams from Transgrid, Powerlink Queensland, Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and VicGrid together, building on the work led by TasNetworks and Andrew Dyer, Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner earlier in the year.
National Landholder + Community Engagement Training outcomes
Over the two-day training course, participants shared insights with peers as well as heard from a range of subject matter experts and landholders with a focus on four key areas including:
- WHO: Understanding landholders and regional communities
- WHY: Building and maintaining social licence
- WHAT: The role and opportunities for better practice
- HOW: Communication, empathy and psychological safety
Topics covered
- Landholder insights – Breakfast fireside chat
- Farmers + engagement
- What’s better practice social licence
- Walking in the landholder shoes and thriving through the journey
- Panel Q&A – Environment, planning and heritage approvals
- Access agreement “Choose Your Own Adventure” role play
- Land and easement valuations for transmission projects
- Understanding the legal process through the eyes the landowner
- Construction – Understanding and identifying key impacts
- What can we do better workshop?
- Creating psychological safety for teams
- Empathy in practice
- Creating a peer support Action Plan
