An ambitious plan to help guide a central Queensland region's transition from fossil fuels towards green hydrogen and renewable energy superpower has been unveiled.
The traditional industrial city of Gladstone — home to alumina smelters, LNG exports, and a coal-fired power station — is also home to dozens of investments in green hydrogen and other renewable energy projects.
About two years ago the Gladstone Regional Council (GRC) began working with research group The Next Economy, and the community, to draft a 10-year Economic Transition Roadmap.
What is the roadmap?
The roadmap's introductory pages describe it as a plan "to inform council on what is required to support the region to successfully adapt to a changing energy sector over the next decade, alongside other levels of government and industry".
The plan investigated six key areas that the council could play a part in, including energy, hydrogen, economic diversification, workforce development, community benefits and environmental protection.
Most of the recommendations centred around the council's advocacy role, as well its channels between industry, the community, and other levels of government.
"Advocacy is going to be the biggest part for us, but it's also about making sure that our community's voices are heard," GRC Mayor Matt Burnett said.
He said while that included advocating for new, sustainable investment, it also included lobbying for better services, so new industries were able to attract workers and the community as a whole benefited.
"It's housing, it's healthcare, it's aged care, childcare … those are very important," Cr Burnett said.
He said there were already issues in those spaces, including the fact women could not give birth at the city's hospital due to a lack of services, that the council was advocating on.
"Those things need to be addressed," Cr Burnett said.
The roadmap also called on the council to set internal emission reduction targets.
Why was the plan needed?
During the early to mid-2010s, the construction of three LNG export plants on Curtis Island brought 14,000 new jobs to the region, which led to skyrocketing rents and strains on services.
Many of those jobs all but disappeared a few years later when construction on the plants was completed.
Cr Burnett said the council knew what was going to "happen in our community" but was not listened to by state and federal governments during the LNG "boons".
"So we could have sat back and just waited and let other levels of government determine our future, let industry determine whether they're going to invest, but we didn't want to wait," he said.
Will other councils follow?
The Next Economy chief executive officer and roadmap lead author Amanda Cahill said she had been inundated with requests from councils across Australia for similar work.
She said places like Newcastle, the Latrobe Valley, Geelong and the Spencer Gulf were facing similar challenges to Gladstone.
"You know, Australia has turned a corner in the last six months and everyone's on the race to net zero," Dr Cahill said.
"We need to make sure that, as that pace of change accelerates, we really consider the impact on communities and the environment.
"We need to get to net zero as quickly as we can for climate reasons, but we need to make sure we do it in a way that no-one gets left behind."
How has the community reacted?
Rob Williamson is the chief operations officer at Alpha HPA, a new high-purity alumina processing facility in Gladstone powered by renewable energy.
"[The roadmap] gives us the opportunity to work more closely [with the council] in supporting renewable energy for the region," he said.
"Our customers and future customers will want to see how we are decarbonising and minimising our carbon emissions.
"The council introducing a pathway to make that happen, nice and easy, is music to my ears."
Local Goreng Goreng elder Richard Johnson said he took part in community consultations during the roadmap's drafting.
He said it was important that the council listened to the voices of all First Nations people in the region, not just the main native title holders, which is something the plan recommended.
"There are quite a number of First Nations groups here in Gladstone," Mr Johnson said.
"They have a right to have their say as well."
