Business
4 June, 2025
AEIC calls for proponents to engage with community
Proponents must be transparent and collaborative with impacted communities.
Energy project proponents need to lift their game when it comes to consulting with impacted communities, says Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Tony Mahar.
Mr Mahar made the comments at the Community Renewables Forum in Hughenden, which currently has four major wind farm projects slated for the region as well as the CopperString rollout.
His remarks also come on the heels of new laws passed by state parliament earlier this year that enforces a community benefit clause to be addressed by any new renewable projects.
Mr Mahar said the re-election of the Albanese government would likely lead to an acceleration of renewable project development across the nation.
However, he said proponents needed to be transparent and collaborative in their consultation with impacted communities.
“These projects clearly cause disruptions, and these businesses and all levels of government need to be really cognisant of the cumulative impact of wind and solar projects, especially when there is an accumulation of projects in a single region,” he told the gathering.
“The previous commissioner did a community engagement review that was released last year, and it said that community engagement is not going well.
“A lot of communities think they are not being heard, their concerns aren’t being addressed and the value to the community isn’t being shared widely enough.
“We have to recognise that this it is an uneven playing field – you have big corporations with time and money in communities where people’s main job is not energy infrastructure, and that power imbalance is something we have to be cognisant of.”