Voconiq is a data science, research and community engagement company that bridges the gap between communities and the companies, industries and governments that work within and alongside them. Voconiq was established in 2019 to accelerate more than a decade of research on the nature of relationships between communities and those that work alongside them.

Voconiq delivers a community survey and engagement approach that helps companies, industries, and governments to understand what matters most to community members and how to develop stronger relationships with communities. Community attitude data is collected over time, analysed, and provided back to our customers and community members in a format that is accessible and useful. The process provides an avenue for our customers to actively address issues that are important to communities.

Organisations want to better understand the communities they work with, to improve relationships and build trust, based on a mutual understanding of the impacts and benefits of the industrial activities they undertake.

Powerlink Queensland is a Government Owned Corporation that owns, develops, operates and maintains the electricity transmission network in Queensland. Its network runs approximately 1,700km from Cairns down to New South Wales.

Powerlink’s transmission network provides supply to almost five million Queenslanders and more than 236,000 businesses.

Powerlink also transports electricity to large industrial customers such as rail companies, mines and refineries who are connected directly to the transmission network.  Powerlink is also connected to the National Electricity Market via the Queensland/NSW Interconnector transmission line.

The transmission network carries bulk electricity at high voltages from where it is generated, such as power stations and renewable energy generators, to substations.  At the substation it is ‘stepped down’ to a lower voltage then delivered to homes and businesses via electricity distribution networks ie the ‘poles and wires’ in the street.  In Queensland these distribution network operators are Ergon Energy (regional Queensland) and Energex (south-east Queensland).

Powerlink continually undertakes operational and maintenance activities across the network, and a focus of work will occur in these selected communities commencing in 2021 through to 2023 with additional work through to 2025. At a glance, we currently have a large operational workforce present in the area which will continue to grow as we continue to deliver safe and reliable electricity transmission services.

Undertaking this research will assist in supporting Powerlink’s day-to-day business operations and help us to plan for the future, particularly in relation to renewable energy development in regional Queensland.  We want to better understand:

•  What is important to our communities and landholders
• Powerlink’s reputation and standing among communities, particularly those with existing transmission infrastructure
• Key community concerns or ‘hot button’ issues
• Community value propositions to help inform future community partnership programs and investment.
• Sentiment towards renewable energy development generally in Queensland
• Sentiment towards the development of wind and solar farms in their geographic area
• Sentiment associated with potential transmission infrastructure development as part of a Renewable Energy Zone (REZ)

Powerlink understands that building trust with our stakeholders can only be delivered by sound social, environmental and economic decision-making, coupled with strong relationships that ensure shared value and benefit.  Trust is fundamental to maintaining a positive social license to operate in the communities we work in. This research is an important step in that process – it is focused on engaging early, and asking often.

This is not part of a regulatory process however, it is part of the Queensland Government’s commitment to establish three renewable energy zones in northern, central, and southern Queensland.

Powerlink has operational and maintenance activities occurring in the region already, and continuing through to 2023, and additional work through to 2025.  Powerlink recognises that its operations and maintenance activities impact on these communities, with infrastructure spanning a life cycle across 40-50 years.  It wants to understand and know what’s important to people in these communities in relation to its ongoing operational activities, as well as potential new development in the area.

Powerlink is conducting this research to be more cohesive with its ‘host’ communities and understand local sentiment, values, concerns, and where there are opportunities for shared benefits.

Community members from across the Toowoomba, Maranoa, South Burnett, and Western Downs regions are invited and encouraged to participate. We aim to reach as many community members as possible within these areas. The aim is to ensure that a diverse sample of community members participate.

Queensland is rich in a diverse range of renewable resources – solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydro. This makes Queensland an attractive location for large-scale renewable energy generation projects. During 2019/20, 1,498MW of new renewable generation capacity was committed in Queensland. The map below shows the renewable energy connections completed by Powerlink since 2016/17.

The frequency of surveys varies depending on the company. A detailed 'anchor' survey takes place at the start of the process. 'Pulse' surveys then take place at regular intervals, typically either monthly, quarterly, or biannually.

Following a brief registration process, the Pulse Surveys should take just 5 minutes to complete. The Anchor Survey is a more detailed survey, taking approximately 20 minutes to complete. The results of the Anchor Survey determine the items included in the Pulse Surveys.

Yes, the surveys can be completed on any device able to access the online survey platform. The survey is rendered according to the screen size of mobile device. Most modern mobile browsers will be compatible with our mobile surveys, which includes: iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Windows phones, BlackBerry and more.

Yes, before a program of work is started the most appropriate way to conduct surveys is assessed and the approach adjusted accordingly. Please contact Voconiq to discuss your needs further.

The survey can be completed on the same device more than once, by design. Our systems are designed to allow multiple entries into the survey from the same computer or device so that multiple people can complete the survey from the same public machines (for example, from the library or other public computers). This is critical to ensure equitable and inclusive access to community members who may not have their own computer or internet (or struggle using such things at home).

However, the issue of multiple survey entries from a single individual potentially skewing the data is something that we take seriously. Our data processing is sophisticated and flags every instance of an additional entry from the same device, as well as flagging similar results from multiple different devices (where, for example, the same individual has completed the survey from multiple different devices). The system alerts us to perform additional checks on these responses (which include both an inspection by a data scientist and via advanced statistical processing). Where multiple responses are deemed to be from the same individual, surplus responses are disregarded and removed from inclusion in the survey results.

In addition, we design our surveys to enable us to provide a deeper insight or understanding of complex issues – the weight of responding or proportion of responses that are supportive of an issue is only one part of the results delivered to the industry(s) that contract us. Of greater interest will often be the average ratings within different groups and how they differ.

Voconiq has a strict ethics framework that protects the rights of participants. All data are maintained securely, and no personal information or information that would enable identification of individuals is made available to the organisation or any other party. Participant confidentiality is assured. All Voconiq processes comply with or exceed the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988.

Within Voconiq, participant personal information and their survey response data are kept physically separate and only accessible by a small number of senior project members. All other parties, including the commissioning organisation, receive an aggregated summary of responses by the community, not the raw data.

Voconiq will analyse the survey data collected and provide the information back to the communities and to the company in a format that is accessible and useful. The company receives the summary of data collected in each local region so they can track how well the operation engages with communities neighbouring their operations.
The aggregated data may be used for the following:
• to identify and understand drivers of trust and acceptance of the organisation in community engagement activities, and in various company communication materials and reports
• to inform future decisions and activities of industry and policy makers
• to produce reports and scientific papers
• in a broader program of Voconiq research that aims to understand the relationships between mining and communities at different levels over time.

Powerlink is conducting this research to ensure they have an understanding of what’s important to these communities and focus on ensuring its decision-making and planning are aligned to community views.  Powerlink recognises that all communities are different – no one size fits all so this process is to ensure we engage early and have a flexible approach to any activities it is undertaking.

The information gathered will be an important input into the approach to current operations and maintenance work in the areas, and it will also guide future planning, particularly around new renewable energy developments. Powerlink will ensure the information on how this research was incorporated into planning is fed back into the communities and to community members who assisted.  Powerlink is committed to listening to feedback and insights, and showing these communities how this information influenced their decisions.

Organisations commit to use this data to achieve outcomes that matter to their communities. The survey data will also inform the company’s community engagement approach, and development within the local region.

When participants complete a survey, they receive 'tokens' which they can allocate to one or more eligible not-for-profit community groups that have registered with Voconiq. Following each Pulse Survey, Voconiq will send an update to all community groups telling them how many tokens they have accrued and their donation value.

Participation is completely voluntary, and participants can stop at any time without any consequence. While retracting data is not possible once results are published, participation can be withdrawn at any time, without prejudice, penalty or having to provide a reason for the withdrawal.

This is ok, community members can join Local Voices at any time. Voconiq will send a link to the Pulse survey that is underway at that time and will continue to send invitations when each Pulse survey is available for completion until you tell us otherwise.