– Tom Dixon, Queensland Community Engagement Manager, RE-Alliance.

Queensland’s renewable energy future has been thrown into question. Yesterday, at his first major speech on energy, David Janetski announced the Crisafulli Government would walk back on its emissions reduction targets, threatening to unravel the bipartisan progress made just last year.

Instead of backing clean energy and supporting regional communities already building a renewable future, the state government has opted to extend the life of the Callide B coal-fired power station by three more years, and opened the door to new gas projects. This move puts key projects like Borumba Pumped Hydro, CopperString and many others into doubt and creates uncertainty for investors, developers, councils and, most importantly, the communities at the forefront of the switch to renewables.

This decision isn’t just about emissions. It’s about certainty – or the lack of it. What we’ve heard time and again in forums, consultations and conversations across Queensland is that regional communities want to get on with the job of shifting to renewables. Farmers, business owners and households are ready – but they need stable policy settings, trusted partnerships, a voice in the process and a long-term plan from the government.

Regional Queenslanders are already leading

In Toowoomba last month, 120 people came together for Shaping Renewables on the Downs Forum. Participants from across the Darling, Western and Southern Downs discussed the future of renewable energy in our regions. Farmers, community groups, Traditional Owners, developers, energy agencies and local governments all came together to help shape a renewable future that works for regional Queensland.

And while this forum sparked real conversations about how we do energy better, the state-level political landscape shifted in the opposite direction. With the Crisafulli Government announcing a rollback of Queensland’s emissions reduction targets, regional communities are left asking: why are we being locked into a fossil-fuel past when we’ve already started building a renewable future?

We heard from fifth-generation landholders who told us that hosting wind turbines provides a steady income that helps weather tough seasons like droughts, and allows them to reinvest in their businesses. We also heard about developers establishing neighbour benefit programs, ensuring those who live near, but don’t host infrastructure, still see annual payments and benefits from projects that shape their landscape.

In towns across the Western Downs in Queensland and in places like Hay in South West NSW, communities are stepping up to design regional benefit-sharing programs – real-world examples of how the renewable shift can deliver long-term, broad-based gains when done with communities, not to them.

Community voices at the heart

The Downs forum was notable for its diversity: roughly one third of the audience were local landholders, with industry, environment groups and government also well represented. Key themes emerged from across the day:

• Transparency and early engagement are critical. People want honest conversations, and they want to be involved from the start – not after decisions are already made.
  
• Local economic benefits were front and centre. Communities want to see jobs, training and procurement opportunities flowing to local businesses – not just fly-in, fly-out contracts.
  
• Environmental stewardship matters too. From biodiversity protection to better waste management for renewable infrastructure, the message was clear: renewable energy needs to be sustainable in every sense.

Above all, what came through strongly was the need for regional-scale planning and coordination. Communities expressed frustration that multiple projects can be proposed in the same area without enough visibility or understanding of cumulative impacts. They want regional solutions, and forums like this one are helping build the relationships, support understanding and amplify regional voices.

Media noise vs. on-the-ground reality

One of the biggest frustrations voiced at the forum, and in many regional meetings across Queensland, is the role of media and social media misinformation. While some stories highlight tension or conflict between developers and landholders, they rarely show the full picture. From research in the field, we know that most rural Queenslanders support large-scale renewable energy – when it’s done right.

RE-Alliance knows first-hand that when communities are respected, when projects are negotiated in good faith and when benefits are shared fairly, support for renewable energy is strong. We've been hosting regional talks, forums and site visits where people can hear directly from their neighbours about what works – and what to watch out for. These stories don’t make clickbait headlines, but they’re the truth on the ground.

Getting it right: A just transition

Not everything has been done perfectly in the past, so it’s crucial we learn from these mistakes. Going forwards, the bigger question is: how do we do better from here?

That’s why the forum focused so much on lessons learned and collaborative planning. Participants called for:

• Clearer, more consistent communication from developers and governments
  
• Long-term planning that considers multiple projects and their regional impact
  
• Fair compensation models that recognise landowners, neighbours, and wider community impacts
  
• Investment in local training and workforce development
  
• Grid upgrades to ensure renewable energy can flow reliably to where it’s needed, in a respectful way.

In short: communities want to be partners, not bystanders. And they want the shift to renewable energy to lift everyone, not create new divides between "haves" and "have-nots".

The path forward: Hope and momentum

There’s a strong and growing momentum for renewable energy, done right, across Queensland’s regions. The Shaping Renewables on the Downs Forum showed what’s possible when government agencies, industry, communities and landholders sit down together.

Feedback from the forum was overwhelmingly positive: 88% of respondents found the day valuable, and 85% said they felt heard. People are ready to move forward. They just want to be part of shaping it.

Let’s be clear: Queensland’s regions aren’t afraid of the future. They’re already building it.

We have landholders powering their farms with solar, smelters in Gladstone wanting to run on renewable energy and local councils developing regional plans to manage renewable energy growth. The challenge isn’t whether to go renewable – it’s how to do it in a way that’s fair, strategic and community-led.

The last thing regional Queenslanders need is to be dragged backwards into outdated, polluting infrastructure that costs more and delivers less.

Now is the time for leadership. Not just from government, but from every sector with a stake in this shift. We know the direction. We’ve seen what works. And regional Queenslanders are ready to get on with it – if they’re given the tools, the trust, and the certainty to lead.