Landowner support and advocacy

Office of the Landowner and Community Advocate

The Office of the Landowner and Community Advocate has been established within Transgrid to help us implement the best possible landowner and community engagement practices across all of our major transmission projects.

The function is led by former NSW Commissioner for Fair Trading Rod Stowe who is highly regarded by the community and has extensive experience protecting consumers.

The office works to balance the interests of landowners and communities with our critical role to deliver an energy system for the future.

Former NSW Commissioner for Fair Trading Rod Stowe, who is highly regarded by the community and has extensive experience protecting consumers, is head of this office. 

Mr Stowe’s knowledge and experience will be key as increased demand for electricity and the transition to new energy sources drive our need to build major new transmission lines to transport energy across many areas of regional NSW. He will be the pre-eminent source of advice to the Transgrid Chair, CEO, board and executive on all aspects of community engagement and stakeholder consultation.

With the progression of engagement programs, the Landowner and Community Advocate’s attention has moved from a necessary pre-occupation with resourcing, practices and capability to an emphasis on Transgrid’s transmission projects and aligned community engagement execution, impact and accountability. This will be the clear focus of the Advocate’s work over the next 12 months.

Read the Office of the Landowner and Community Advocate Charter

Support services for landowners

We recognise that our transmission projects may have increased the level of stress and anxiety experienced by landowners, and have engaged an external service provider – Assure Programs – to provide landowners with short-term support and counselling.

If you are a landowner, and would like confidential support and counselling, we encourage you to access the services Assure Programs provides.

Assure Programs

Assure Programs' psychologists are professionally qualified with a minimum of five years’ post-registration experience. Like doctors, the psychologists are bound by a professional Code of Ethics preventing the disclosure of personal information without written consent.

The service is confidential and anonymous. Transgrid does not receive any information about who uses these services.

Sessions generally last one hour and most issues can be resolved within a few sessions. When long-term advice or counselling is required, the counsellor will consider the most appropriate referral option and make a recommendation.

There is no cost to landowners in accessing this service.

How to make an appointment

You can book an appointment by calling Assure on 1800 808 374, or you can request an appointment online.

When you call Assure, please let the team know that you are from Transgrid and the business unit is “Landowners”. This will ensure you are able to get the support you need. You are not expected to provide the reason – this is a conversation saved for your session with the psychologist.

In addition, the NSW Centre for Property Acquisition has free support and counselling services available to any landowners affected by an acquisition. For more information, call 1300 029 146 or visit their website.

Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner (AEIC)

As stated on the AEIC website: ‘The Commissioner is an independent role appointed by the Australian Government, reporting to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. The Commissioner’s role is to receive and refer complaints from concerned community residents about wind farms, large-scale solar, energy storage facilities and new major transmission projects as well as promote best practices for industry and government to adopt in regard to the planning and operation of these projects.’

While it is both our and the Commissioner’s preference for residents to resolve issues directly with us, concerned community members may wish to lodge a complaint to the Commissioner about a proposed major transmission project via the following process.

For further information visit www.aeic.gov.au