Insights from National Landholder Engagement Training
The City of Wagga Wagga in the Riverina region of New South Wales is an important agricultural hub of Australia and was the perfect place to hold The Energy Charter’s 3rd National Landholder Engagement Training recently.
Three members of the North West Transmission Developments project team travelled to Wagga Wagga to meet with other Transmission Network Service Providers, akin to TasNetworks, for a jam-packed agenda both in a classroom style setting as well as site visits to farms in the region and an operational solar grid. Throughout the sessions attendees gained valuable insights from landholders, land agents and community engagement leaders as they discussed community concerns and improvements in the practice of communication and engagement.
Sonya Booth, NWTD Regional Engagement Coordinator, said “Having the chance to connect with other Land Agents from Victoria, NSW and Queensland was incredibly valuable, as was participating in learnings that promoted the importance of respectful engagement with communities and impacted landholders.
“It was also very moving to meet with a fifth-generation farmer on his land on which transmission lines are being built and to hear him reflect about his journey with the project, including about how positive outcomes had been reached through a collaborative approach about the positioning of towers.
“By working together, the landholder said the impacts on his land uses and on his neighbour’s visual amenity had been improved.
“Getting to the construction phase had been a long journey for this landholder and he was clear about the need for infrastructure proponents to prioritise working well with landholders and to be fair and transparent in all dealings” Sonya explained.
TasNetworks created and hosted the inaugural land agent training course just over a year ago and we remain committed to improving our engagement and communication practices. Our team returned feeling inspired to continue supporting NWTD landholders with new skills and knowledge as we work together towards achieving shared value outcomes for everyone.
