Associate Professor Michelle Voyer1
1Ancors, University of Wollongong, Australia
Biography:
Michelle Voyer is an Associate Professor with the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong. She has worked in marine conservation research and management for over 25 years. She investigates the governance challenges associated with the ‘Blue Economy’, with a particular focus on exploring opportunities for community and Indigenous input, engagement and codesign in emerging and established maritime industries.
Abstract:
The offshore wind industry in Australia has been identified a key contributor to Australia’s commitments to current and future emission reduction targets. Offshore wind has the capacity to significantly support the decarbonisation of heavy industry, manufacturing and other hard to abate sectors given its ability to generate large amounts of reliable power, close to areas of high energy need. In response to this, Australia’s policy and legislative landscape has had to rapidly evolve to create the governance framework to both enable and regulate this new industry. The pace by which legislative, regulatory and policy change has occurred has meant that potential opportunities to maximise positive social, economic and environmental outcomes may be missed. In addition, it has resulted in a failure to convince some sections of the population that the governance settings are robust enough to adequately protect environmental, social and cultural values.
This paper aims to address two key objectives. First, it critically examines the development of offshore wind governance in Australia, highlighting challenges and opportunities to position sustainability and equity at the core of this emerging industry. Second, it explores how local communities can be empowered to share in the governance process by addressing gaps in areas such as community benefits, energy and ocean literacy, and impact monitoring and assessment. This dual focus emphasizes the importance of distributing roles and responsibilities across industry, government, and society to enable the scale and speed of action required to meet climate change imperatives.