In 2025 RRR Women Partnered with Environmental Leadership Australia to deliver the inaugural Future Queensland: Rural Women’s Leadership Program.
The 10 week program was for community leaders across rural, regional and remote Queensland who wanted to help shape the state’s future energy mix and helped build our members’ capacity and influence on this important issue.
The program was in direct response to our members’ feedback, who told us leadership opportunities were a key membership value.
Through a mix of in-person retreats, site visits and online workshops, participants learnt from experts in leadership, climate science, energy, community engagement and advocacy. The program included a three day opening retreat in March, online workshops and a closing event in Rockhampton in June.
Key program participant outcomes:
- Deepen understanding and gain tools to unite communities and harness the opportunities renewable energy can offer
- Learn from academics, industry experts and thought leaders
- Develop adaptive leadership skills
- Grow networks and form new friendships
- Hear firsthand from community leaders, host-landholders, and councillors about their experiences with renewable energy
- Visit to a large-scale renewable energy projects
- Shape the future of their community, region and local economy
The program was well subscribed and highly competitive. 30 members were selected who lived or worked in Queensland’s Renewable Energy Zones and were:
- Eager to learn and step outside their comfort zone
- Curious about renewable energy and wanted learn more about it
- Wanted to understand more about climate change, and what the impacts and solutions look like for Queensland
- Believed communities know what works best for them, and wanted to play an active role in supporting their community to shape its future for the better
- Wanted to connect with like-minded women from across rural, regional and remote Queensland
- Were interested in developing advocacy skills
The program wasn’t in isolation and was complemented with direct advocacy activities from RRR Women in response to political developments, sentiment research and data collection about affordable and accessible energy and other events. This included an information and site visit day in the Barcaldine region, for our members and wider local community networks.
Why is this program important?
A transition of our energy mix is underway across the country. More than 40 per cent of all our energy needs already come from renewable energy sources and Queensland in particular is leading the way in putting solar panels on over one million rooftops.
Queensland is also already benefiting from new jobs and economic incentives as large scale projects are rolled out to help meet our future energy needs and reduce carbon emission.
Sustainable energy projects are expected to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in direct payments to landholders and in contributions to regional communities and councils in Queensland by 2030.
However, the shift to renewables has not been without its challenges. Many communities in regional and rural Queensland feel like they’ve been left out of the conversation and want to understand exactly what it means for them.
As climate change intensifies, scientists predict the extreme weather events in Queensland will become even more frequent and severe over the coming decades. Such events are also worrying community leaders, stretching every resource to maximum capacity, and costing millions in repairs to infrastructure and services.
Now is the time for leadership from our communities so we can avoid what we can’t manage and can manage what we can’t avoid. And, in the best case, recognise and seize the opportunities that solutions like renewable energy bring.
In partnership with Environmental Leadership Australia (ELA)
Founded in 2019, ELA is a nonprofit set up in partnership with the Myer Foundation that helps Australia make progress on climate change solutions by galvanising community, business and political leadership.
A note from our President, Emma Clarke
“The transition to renewable energy is underway and the impacts, of all kinds, are already being felt in communities right across Queensland. We can either choose to let this happen to us, or with us. Organisations like ours should play an active part in that conversation, ensuring our communities’ concerns are heard and needs are met. Only by having a seat at the table can we ensure we benefit from the ongoing roll out of renewable energy across Queensland benefit from the opportunities it brings, and meet the challenges it sets.
