By Special Guest Contributor Kee Li, Community Engagement Manager, Regional Programs – Government, Stakeholder and Community Engagement, Sydney Water, I2S IEE Standards Partner*
This year’s #iap2conference2023 was another success. Many insights and constructive discussions were shared in the past three days. Here are some of my highlights:
-The sector must improve our reach to First Nations people and the CALD communities. There is a general sense that the marginalised population is also the most disengaged in public decision-making. If we don’t hear from them, it’s most likely that the engagement has not been designed for them – David Bartlett CF, CEO of The LOTE Agency, has great insights and experiences to share on their work in this space.
– Face-to-face engagement is coming back. Communities and stakeholders value personal connections, respect and active listening, in addition to other accessible channels. GenAI will make a big difference but community trust is built on in-person interaction – this might be even more prominent for regional/remote communities.
– Engagement fatigue/cumulative impact is real. Dr Sara Bice and The Institute for Infrastructure in Society (I2S) at The Australian National University have valuable data from the past six years through Australia’s largest infrastructure and engagement surveys. It shows the correlation between community resilience and the volume of infrastructure projects, their impacts, and other environmental and social risks.
– What’s in it for me (WIIFM)? Lucy Holder, Customer Engagement Manager of AusNet, and Dr Michaela Jackson, Engagement Specialist and Honorary Principal Research Fellow of RMIT, shared the synergistic engagement approach to AusNet’s regulatory pricing reset. I asked them whether there was merit in expanding the pricing cycle from every five to ten years to ease investment risks. Lucy said that with all the rapid changes in the energy transition, customers are asking to be engaged within an even smaller regulatory window so they can keep up with all the changes. It’ll be an invaluable experience for any organisation to get Lucy and Dr Jackson’s insights into the AusNet engagement case study.
– ‘Meet them where they are, and land them.’ – this was the quote I wrote down at MITCH WALLIS‘ keynote about mental health, resilience and emotional wellbeing. As an entrepreneur and a leader in wellbeing, he’s now most known as the founder of Heart On My Sleeve. Go listen to his podcast and share it with your friends, family and colleagues because ‘Learning how to say “I’m not OK” can save your life’.
Overall, it was an action-packed event and an important opportunity to build best practices and resilience within our industry. Congratulations to Marion Short and the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Australasia. I can’t wait for next year in Sydney.
*Are you working with an I2S Partner? Got something to say about engagement, social licence, social risk or related? Get in touch and be a guest contributor to I2S Research News and Updates, our regular newsletter reaching over 1,000 of your infrastructure sector colleagues.