“We want energy security for First Nations backed up by government funding commitments – grants, loans, guarantees. We want capacity for our Traditional Owner entities, to keep up with the job demand so we can fill those jobs."

The two-day Victoria roundtable feeding into the co-design of the Federal government's First Nations Clean Energy Strategy finished yesterday.

Around 100 people attended, including First Nations, industry, research and government representatives.

Participants described the need for consultation and engagement processes to be done right – not like the offshore wind consultations which were rushed and not all groups had time.

"We want Government to walk the talk."

"We want UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples) and Free Prior and Informed Consent legislated and First Nations engagement guidelines across all agencies."

The First Nations Clean Energy Network is assisting the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water in the roundtables. Other assistance is coming from the First Nations Clean Energy and Emission Reduction Advisory Committee and the National Indigenous Australians Agency.

Learn more about the Strategy and register for an upcoming roundtable. 

Read about the key learnings we heard from other roundtables here.

And have your say on the Department's Strategy development here.