The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water is seeking feedback on the exposure draft of the National Environmental Standard for Community Engagement.

This is a legally enforceable instrument under the reformed EPBC Act that sets requirements for how proponents must engage with the Australian public on proposals that have a significant impact on protected matters.

Climateworks Centre welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the exposure draft.

Meaningful community engagement can help build social acceptance and shared ownership of land use transitions, which are essential for the smooth delivery of renewable energy and transmission infrastructure as part of the national transition to net zero.

Climateworks recommends that the Community Engagement Standard require proponents to disclose the data underpinning proposals, so that affected communities can draw on a shared, high-quality evidence base and engagement can be appropriately informed.

More detail can be found in our submission [PDF 0.1mb].