Engagement processes should make it easy for people to be involved, value fairness and equity, and encourage people from diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to participate.112
As well as consulting direct users of new infrastructure, the views of the whole community must be considered, with the process accounting for the changing nature of these cohorts. Participants should reflect the make-up of the whole community, not just now but over the future life of the infrastructure asset.
Groups that are isolated or historically excluded could require bespoke approaches so they can participate. This will ensure infrastructure meets all its objectives and addresses the needs of the broader population.
To be meaningful, engagement policies, frameworks and toolkits should be:
• adopted by strategic infrastructure planning agencies and project proponents
• transparent to when and how organisations will engage and mobilise resources, which will build legitimacy and ensure their accountability to communities and users
• move away from traditional town hall meetings and calls for submissions towards using user-centred design that prioritises accessibility (of language, activities, facilitators and engagement spaces)
• tailored to the type of decisions required, which will depend on the size of the project, the complexity of the problem it solves, the solutions identified and how much the community can influence outcomes113
• aware and sensitive to stakeholder and community engagement fatigue
• transparent around where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals, can have influence and access
• designed to genuinely reflect a cross-section of community views over time, including before the project was announced.