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Community Views and Energy Transition in Gippsland
Key highlights
The Client
Need
After conducting a review of the Latrobe Valley Gippsland 2035 Transition Plan, the Latrobe Valley Authority engaged Community Views to bring a representative resident view of the various aspects of quality of life in relation to the Plan’s outcomes.
Approach
We surveyed over 1,800 residents across Gippsland, exploring a diverse range of topics including community values, experiences, future needs, health, financial wellbeing, local area concerns and attitudes to energy transition in the region. The data was published on the views.id reporting and exploratory platform and was accompanied by a detailed report and workshops.
Key Insights
Overall, the data indicated both optimism and caution within the Gippsland community in regards to the energy transition. While there was an appreciation for potential environmental and economic benefits, these were tempered by concerns over economic costs, job security, and the environmental side effects associated with renewable energy infrastructure. Importantly, these tensions reflected the community’s core values (‘access to the natural environment’) and priorities to advance quality of life (‘good job prospects’).
Applications
Gippsland's Views will help the State Government make decisions in the region's best interests that will, as a result, contribute to building a stronger, prosperous and liveable Gippsland over the longer term - aligned with the vision for Eastern Victoria. The insights and information has also been made available to the Region's 6 x LGAs to support their local area planning and advocacy.
In 2024, our consultants conducted the Community Views survey with residents across Gippsland.
The insights and data from Gippsland's Views will form a set of baseline metrics against each of the stated outcomes for the Latrobe Valley Authority’s Gippsland 2035 Transition Plan. It will also help inform, monitor and evaluate a diverse portfolio of planning and advocacy initiatives across the region.
What Gippsland learned:
- While Gippsland’s Overall local area liveability may have been slightly lower than contemporary benchmarks for Australia and Victoria, the community had a clear set of priorities around what needs to happen to advance quality of life. The community placed considerable stock on ‘feeling safe’, ‘high quality health services’ and ‘good job prospects’. However, their collective experiences of those items where they live was relatively poor, with residents rating their local area significantly lower on each in comparison to Australian benchmarks.
- Community values, experiences, local area liveability and future needs differed across Gippsland’s six local government areas. While there were many common themes across the Gippsland region, each local government area also had a distinctly unique set of values, experiences and priorities regarding what needs to change to advance quality of life.
- Investing in social infrastructure will advance quality of life across Gippsland, especially improving the provision of ‘high quality health services’ and ‘high quality education opportunities’. Education promotes lifelong learning, skill development, and economic opportunities. Access to health services ensures people live healthier, more fulfilling lives. Both are critical to every stage of life and significantly contribute to local economies, both directly and indirectly.
- The community’s views on climate change and energy transition were diverse, and influenced by place, life stage and demography. In general, many residents acknowledged potential benefits like cleaner air, healthier ecosystems, and reduced pollution. However, there was also significant concern about the impacts of renewable infrastructure on wildlife and the visual landscape.
This work ensures that all levels of government and industry have a shared understanding as to the benefits local communities are looking for through Gippsland’s long runway of energy transition projects.
Want to learn more?
The results of the Gippsland’s Views survey can be accessed on their views.id site.
Community Views is an independent, robust and repeatable community survey that helps local councils and other organisations to credibly, comprehensively and efficiently represent their community’s views and needs in policy and advocacy. Book an introduction here.