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Article History

Received: 23 April 2025

Accepted: 14 January 2026

First Online: 28 January 2026

Competing interests

: Associate Professor Madeline Taylor holds interests as a Board Member of ReAlliance, Fellow of the Climate Council, and Australian Research Council Industry Fellow Partnerships with the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Spark Renewables. Associate Professor Madeline Taylor is a Guest Editor for the Special Issue this manuscript is submitted to for consideration (SI: Climate action with justice: aligning climate and energy transition policies with energy equity). Chris Sounness serves as a Board Member of the Regional Leadership Collective and the Wimmera Southern Mallee Local Learning Network. He is also a member of the Soils Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Research and Development Committee and a State Government-appointed member of the Wimmera Southern Mallee Regional Partnership. Additionally, Wimmera Southern Mallee Development (WSM Development) has a Memorandum of Understanding with The Energy Charter, through which both organizations collaborate to enhance regional outcomes.

: Ethics approval was obtained by the Macquarie University Research Ethics Subcommittee on 19/08/2024, Reference No: 520241807258842 and Project ID: 18072. All research was performed in accordance with relevant guidelines/regulations applicable when human participants are involved pursuant to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2023. All participants consented to participate in the research study by undertaking interviews, and participants received basic project information about this research via the Human Research Ethics Application (HREA) Project Description form, and Participant Information and Consent Form (PCIFC) were reviewed and signed by all participants.

: Informed written consent to participate in interviews was obtained between 4/08/2024 and 29/08/2024 before the commencement of each interview pursuant to the Macquarie University Research Ethics Subcommittee requirements and the Participant Information and Consent Form (PCIF). All participants were made aware of the scope of the research project within both the Human Research Ethics Application (HREA) Project Description form and the Informed Participation and Consent Form. Participation was explicitly stated as being voluntary and provided the option for participants to withdraw at any time without giving a reason. All raw data is anonymised due to any sensitive economic or political opinions and will remain confidential.