The Ministry of Engagement

The practical test

Would the people living beside the project consider the process fair?

Infrastructure can benefit the wider system while the host community carries the disruption, risk and permanent change. Explore five questions that put that imbalance on the table, and leave with a practical next step for your project.

Start the test

Five questions. Around five minutes. No registration.

  1. 01 The case for place
  2. 02 The burden carried
  3. 03 Meaningful influence
  4. 04 Protection and remedy
  5. 05 A fair local outcome

The practical test

Answer for the project you have. Not the one in the presentation.

Designed for infrastructure such as transmission lines, substations and data centres, where broader benefits may be significant but impacts are concentrated in the host community. Think about one project and its current stage. Choose what you can substantiate today, not what is planned. If you cannot verify an answer, say so.

This is a structured reflection, not a validated risk rating, certification, regulatory approval or a measure of community consent. Your answers stay in this page and are not submitted to us. Refreshing clears them.

01 Why should this community carry the infrastructure?

Can you explain why the project is needed, why it must be located here, what alternatives were considered and why the local impacts cannot reasonably be avoided?

02 Do you understand what the community is being asked to carry?

Has the project examined how construction and operation may affect homes, land, livelihoods, amenity, culture, health, local services and confidence in the area’s future?

03 Can affected people influence anything that matters?

Are people involved early enough to shape the decisions that affect their property, neighbourhood and daily life?

04 Will people be protected from avoidable impacts?

Can affected people understand what they will experience, what standards will apply and what the project will do when impacts are greater than expected?

05 Is the local outcome fair?

Where benefits flow mainly to people elsewhere, has the project defined what a fair outcome looks like for the community carrying the impacts?

The Ministry of Engagement

Manage the imbalance honestly and fairly.

The useful question is not just “Did we engage?” It is “What did engagement change for the people carrying the impacts?” Start there, and make the next decision better.

Test your project with us