“The journey is as important as the outcome”
During August 2025, we heard from 150+ diverse community voices including mayors, councillors, academics, industry, unions, health, tourism, agriculture, small businesses and First Nations representatives at Roundtables in:
- Gippsland, led by Karen Cain, former CEO Latrobe Valley Authority (Morwell, 4 August)
- North-East Victoria, led by Matthew Charles-Jones, Chair Totally Renewable Yackandandah and Cathy McGowan AO, former Federal Indi MP (Yackandandah, 6-7 August)
- Wimmera Southern Mallee, led by Chris Sounness, CEO Wimmera Southern Mallee Development and attended by Tony Mahar, Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner (Horsham, 20–21 August).
What we’ve heard so far…
The conversations have been diverse—but some consistent themes emerged. Here’s what we’ve heard so far:
- Trust first, then investment: “Return on trust comes before return on investment.” “Commitments without delivery are just noise.” “Trust is not a soft value – it is the hard currency of change.”
- Fairness must be visible and shared: “Areas hosting the energy… must be better off.”
- Tell the shared ‘why’: “No one has told the overall story or the why.”
- Hyper-local participation: “Renewable projects need to put locals first.”
- From division to dialogue: “Respectful difference means I can disagree… without it being disrespectful.”
- Above politics, built to last: “Framework with bipartisan support… with overarching principles.”
- Led by regional communities and leaders: An invitation for energy businesses and government to participate.
The emerging opportunities
There are some exciting emerging opportunities through the Regional Energy Accord discussions, including the need for:
Community-led Regional Energy Accord: invitation from regional communities to the energy sector and government to partner.
National architecture: links regional communities, energy companies and government nationally to share their insights, inspiration and practical know-how across the country.
Place-based collaboration agreements: inspires locally agreed pacts between regional communities and energy businesses to collaborate, with benefits tracked transparently at both the project and collective levels via a public register e.g. through a Regional Energy Collaboration Framework agreement.
Next stop: NSW
The Regional Energy Accord journey continues across Australia! We’re planning a series of Roundtables in regional New South Wales throughout October and November 2025.
Insights from both Victoria and New South Wales will help inform a draft Regional Energy Accord and a proposed national architecture to be shared in early 2026.
Thank you again for your enthusiasm, support and collaboration.
#BetterTogether, we’re hoping to build a transformative partnership opportunity between regional communities, the energy sector and government that empowers regional voices to lead Australia’s renewable energy future