Muswellbrook households are being encouraged to take part in a new survey examining how residents feel about energy infrastructure and community change in their area.
The Energy Infrastructure and Community Perspective Study is being led by Bec Colvin, a social scientist from the Resources, Environment and Development Group at the ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy. Colvin said the research aimed to understand what people think is happening in their community when change occurs, beyond simple measures of support or opposition to a project.
“We often hear outside of opinions or support or acceptance or opposition is a feeling of discomfort about being able to talk about these in our communities, because of a feeling that it might be socially unacceptable or that a whole lot of other people think about these things in a way that’s different to us,” Dr Colvin said.
She said the study also looked at how people believed change imposed on them, rather than developed with them, affected their sense of control.
“The thing that’s being done often becomes really coloured by the idea that we’re not in control or we don’t have a choice,” she said, adding that many residents felt able to influence only minor details of a project rather than whether it goes ahead at all.
Dr Colvin said Muswellbrook was chosen for the study partly because of earlier in-person research she had conducted in the town, which found a widespread view among locals that others held stronger opinions and would be unwilling to listen to different perspectives.
To encourage participation, respondents can include a separate, detachable sheet with their personal details, which is removed from the survey response and never combined with it. All surveys returned by 31 August will go into a draw for one of ten 100-dollar Visa gift cards, with winners drawn on 4 September.
