Ms Therese Apolonio

In February 2023, Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) in the Far West Zone met to learn more about climate change policy, renewable energy and how LALCs can benefit from the energy transition.

Ross Hampton (Deputy Chairperson and Councillor for the Western Region, NSWALC) gives an opening address. Jenny Moore (Dareton Local Aboriginal Land Council) does a Welcome to Country. Cr Ross Hampton, Heidi Norman, Jonathan Kneebone, outline the aims objectives of the workshop.

In the first panel, Chris Briggs (Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS), Tim Buckley (Climate Energy Finance), Heidi Norman (Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, UTS), and Jonathan Kneebone (First Nations Clean Energy Network) discuss how is energy changing in Australia. They ask: How is Federal and State government policy changing? What are the economic drivers for energy transition? What will energy transition will look like over the next 50 years as Australia aims to meet carbon emission targets set for 2030 and 2050?

This workshop is a collaboration of the NSWALC Far West Zone, the University of Technology’s Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, and the First Nations Clean Energy Network. We will hear from experts about energy transition policy, community approaches to renewable energy, renewable energy options and scale, jobs and skills and lessons and challenges.

In February 2023, Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) in the Far West Zone met to learn more about climate change policy, renewable energy and how LALCs can benefit from the energy transition.

In this panel, Michael Frangos (Indigenous Energy Australia) and Jonathan Kneebone (First Nations Clean Energy Network) share examples of First Nations led projects in Australia and globally.

This workshop is a collaboration of the NSWALC Far West Zone, the University of Technology’s Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, and the First Nations Clean Energy Network. We will hear from experts about energy transition policy, community approaches to renewable energy, renewable energy options and scale, jobs and skills and lessons and challenges.

In February 2023, Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) in the Far West Zone met to learn more about climate change policy, renewable energy and how LALCs can benefit from the energy transition.

In this panel, Amanda Cahill (Next Economy), Jarra Hicks (Community Power Agency), and Shaurntae Lyons (Beon Energy) discuss the potential benefits of engaging with renewable energy including the revitalisation of regional economies, improved energy security and employment and other career opportunities for Aboriginal community.

This workshop is a collaboration of the NSWALC Far West Zone, the University of Technology’s Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, and the First Nations Clean Energy Network. We will hear from experts about energy transition policy, community approaches to renewable energy, renewable energy options and scale, jobs and skills and lessons and challenges.

In this panel, Amanda Cahill (Next Economy), Jarra Hicks (Community Power Agency), and Shaurntae Lyons (Beon Energy) discuss the potential benefits of engaging with renewable energy including the revitalisation of regional economies, improved energy security and employment and other career opportunities for Aboriginal community.

This workshop is a collaboration of the NSWALC Far West Zone, the University of Technology’s Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, and the First Nations Clean Energy Network. We will hear from experts about energy transition policy, community approaches to renewable energy, renewable energy options and scale, jobs and skills and lessons and challenges.

In February 2023, Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) in the Far West Zone met to learn more about climate change policy, renewable energy and how LALCs can benefit from the energy transition.

There are several options available if you want to establish renewable energy in your community. In this panel, Sarah Niklas (Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS), Jonathan Kneebone, (First Nations Clean Energy Network) and Jonathan Prenderghast, (Komo Energy 0:48:40) discuss the different scales from microgrids to utility scale projects and some key considerations. Ross Hampton (Deputy Chairperson and Councillor for the Western Region, NSWALC) gives a closing address.

This workshop is a collaboration of the NSWALC Far West Zone, the University of Technology’s Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, and the First Nations Clean Energy Network. We will hear from experts about energy transition policy, community approaches to renewable energy, renewable energy options and scale, jobs and skills and lessons and challenges.

This webinar was held on Friday 18 September and hosted by the Indigenous Land and Justice Research Hub, the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UTS.

This year, in the lead up to Reconciliation week, Rio Tinto detonated explosives and destroyed 46,000 year old caves at the Juunkan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The destruction of these important Aboriginal sites unleashed waves of shock, grief and anger across the country. A Joint Standing Committee has been appointed to investigate whether Australian heritage laws protect Indigenous cultural heritage and pressure is mounting on governments to ensure that heritage laws are fit for purpose.

In NSW, 32 mining projects are in the pipeline. Government departments argue that these projects are vital to the state’s economic recovery. Three of these mining projects are located on Gomeroi country – in the North West plains region of NSW.

This seminar focuses on Gomeroi peoples’ ongoing campaign to stop the Shenhua Watermark mine in Gunnedah. In 2015, Aunty Dolly Talbott filed an application on behalf of Gomeroi people to protect and declare Significant Areas of country that are at risk of obliteration if Shenhua mine goes ahead. The Federal Minister for Environment acknowledged the ‘immeasurable cultural values’ of the Gomeroi sites but ultimately declined to protect them, finding that the mine’s potential economic and social benefits outweighed their heritage value. In 2020, Aunty Dolly took legal action against the Minister but the appeal failed in the Federal Court.


Irreplaceable Gomeroi sites will be lost forever if the Shenhua Watermark mine is opened. As Aunty Dolly explains:


It remains vitally important to us to protect our sacred places, songline and burials of our ancestors, which is a sacred place to us, a place which holds our ancestors' footprints, their legacy to us.


This webinar asks, how can short-term economic outcomes from mining outweigh the protection of culturally important sites? What cultural heritage reforms are needed to better protect ancient sites of immeasurable value? What are the alternatives to coal mining on Gomeroi country?

The Panel


Veronica 'Dolly' Talbott is a Gomeroi woman born and raised in Gunnedah. Her ancestors have lived on Gomeroi country for at least 10 generations. She is among the many Gomeroi traditional owners who have been campaigning against extractive projects on country. These projects include White Haven’s Vickery Mine extension and Santos' Coal Seam Gas Project.




Nadja Zimmermann is a solicitor at the Environmental Defenders Office. She advises and represents clients in a broad range of State and Federal public interest environmental and planning law matters. Nadja has a particular interest in climate litigation and Aboriginal cultural heritage protection.


Tony McAvoy SC is Australia's first Indigenous Senior Counsel. He is Wirdi man who is Co-Chair of the Indigenous Legal Issues Committee of the Law Council of Australia. Tony has a strong native title practice and has significant experience in the areas of environmental, administrative, criminal law and discrimination law.


Tim Buckley is the Director of Energy Finance Studies, Australia/South Asia, at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. He has 25 years of financial markets experience, specialising in equity valuation, including as a top-rated analyst and as co-founder and managing director of Arkx Investment Management.


Chair: Professor Heidi Norman is the convenor of the Indigenous Land and Justice Research Hub at UTS. She is of settler and Aboriginal descent. Her matrilineal Ruttley family have lived for thousands of generations on Gomeroi country in north-western New South Wales. Since 2018, she has been working on an ARC study on the social, economic and cultural benefits of Aboriginal land repossession in NSW.

The NSW Government has advanced the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap (EIR), a plan to convert the state's power stations to renewable energy within the next two decades. The NSW Government has flagged greater support for clean energy projects and 'Renewable Energy Zones' (REZs) have been identified in the Western-Orana (pilot site), North England, South-West, Hunter-Central Coast, and Illawarra where infrastructure will be built increase to capacity for energy generation, transmission, and storage across the state. This seminar explores what Aboriginal land holders may seek to gain from engagement with the renewable energy sector. We ask, how have Aboriginal land holders been engaged, how they might be engaged, what options for involvement are possible and how do these options align with Aboriginal aspirations of land and community? We will also consider what models have worked for Indigenous communities elsewhere, and what policies and alliances are necessary.This panel was recorded on 18 August 2021. We hear from Professor Heidi Norman (Indigenous Land and Justice Research Hub and Climate Justice Research Centre, UTS), Justin Coburn (Beon Energy Solutions), Alana West (RE-Alliance), Graham Davis-King and Stephen Wright (Deerubbin Local Aboriginal Land Council), Elizabeth McDonald (Chalk & Behrendt), and Dr. Lily O'Neill (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU).

This seminar was hosted by the Indigenous Land and Justice Research Hub as part of the Climate Justice Research Centre (FASS, UTS) Spring 2021 seminar series on the theme Emerging frontiers and issues in climate and environmental justice.