Coastal communities are at the forefront of Australia’s transition to offshore wind. Change of this scale needs more than just policy frameworks and investment – it requires trust, transparency, and genuine engagement with the communities who will be most affected.
The Gippsland Climate Change Network partnered with DemocracyCo to support and host a citizen’s assembly to deliberate on how the communities of Gippsland envision offshore wind delivering genuine benefits to their communities.
The aim being to demonstrate how deliberative processes can support change by creating a positive and constructive environment for conversations between industry, government and the community.
We polled participants before and after the process to explore the extent to which the process helped to build social license for change, supported social cohesion and assisted in building participants democratic skills.
The Approach
A representative sample of 50 randomly selected members of the Gippsland community came together through a five-stage process to deliberate on “How Gippsland Coastal Communities envision offshore wind delivering genuine benefits to their families, communities and coastal environment”.
The Assembly met online for two sessions and in Port Albert for two days. They completed their work on the 29th June 2025.
They experienced a facilitated deliberation which enabled them to:
- Consider the people, places and aspects of the economy which should be prioritized for benefit
- Understand the positive and negative impacts for those who would be directly impacted, indirectly impacted and those who would feel ripple effects
- Provide collective advice on how they think the community should be engaged going forward.
The Assembly was given a range of information to help them determine what community benefits were most important. This included information from a variety of experts, who were asked to help the Assembly more deeply understand their region now, and into the future.
The process was supported by government stakeholders, industry and community groups from across the Gippsland region.
DemocracyCo worked exceptionally well with our coastal communities, taking the time to listen and genuinely incorporate local views. Their collaborative approach created a report that will transform the way community, industry, and government work together on offshore wind development.
They approached a highly divisive issue with respect and care, creating space for people to be heard. By enabling and empowering local voices, they helped bring our communities together to address a complex challenge and find ways to accommodate differing perspectives.
The process not only built trust but also demonstrated how constructive engagement can lead to practical solutions for even the most difficult issues.
This showed us what democracy can look like: people coming together to shape their future with respect, care, and conviction.
The Reports
The Assembly wrote their own report which reflects their agreed priorities for community involvement and the important benefits they wanted to see realised for their communities.
In addition, we have compiled an Impact Report detailing the pre and post polling results.
The Impact
The process had significant impacts on the participants involved. We saw strong results in all three areas we were measuring. In particular, the process
- Increased participants knowledge of offshore wind,
- Increased support for offshore wind in Gippsland,
- Built trust in institutions,
- Enabled civil and respectful conversations on a divisive issue,
- Increased empathy,
- Built advocates for change
Just to name a few! You can read more about the impact of the process on the individuals involved in the Impact Report.
Conveners of the process committed to act as follows:
- GCCN – committed to receive, respond and advocate for Assembly recommendations
- Gippsland Offshore Wind Association (GOWA – the proponents) is committed to receive and respond to the Assembly’s recommendations
- DemocracyCo is committed to promote the process and the opportunities it provides offshore wind processes, both in Australia and overseas.
VicGrid, Offshore Wind Victoria will also receive the Assembly recommendations.
I feel more empowered to be involved with community representation, initiatives and advocacy