Australia’s transition to cleaner, more affordable energy starts in our homes and neighbourhoods —and success relies on councils and communities working together. This new speaker series, hosted by Rewiring Australia, Merribek City Council and RACE’s Energy Upgrades for Australian Homes (EUAH) project, explores how local partnerships can deliver more effective home energy upgrade projects across the country.

What: Hear from Noosa and Newcastle as they share their insights about how their local council and community groups have joined forces to scale energy upgrades. This event will explore the models used in these collaborations, the wins they’ve achieved, challenges faced and policy implications.

Why: Scaling home energy upgrades depends on strong council–community partnerships. This session is a chance to learn practical strategies, proven models, and lessons from Newcastle and Noosa that you can adapt to accelerate impact in your own area.

How: Complete Humanitix registration to receive a calendar invite from EUAH

Who: This speaker series is designed for local government staff working on sustainability, housing and community initiatives, as well as organisers from local community groups.

Meet the speakers:

Lexi Crouch - City of Newcastle

Lexi Crouch is the Climate Change and Sustainability Program Lead at City of Newcastle, where she delivers research-informed, behaviour-led community electrification programs to achieve a net zero Newcastle by 2040. With a background in environmental science, marketing and behaviour change, she has led landmark projects including a renewable energy Power Purchasing Agreement for 13 NSW councils cutting 185,000 tCO₂-e and saving $5.3 million.

Colin Lambie - Treasurer (ZEN EXPO Chair)

Colin brings with him a wealth of experience. As co-founder of the Bendigo Sustainability Group in 2007, Colin has been involved in bulk buys of solar hot water systems & solar PV systems, establishing solar on community and I&C roofs, and fundraising to install solar PV on social housing & low-income homes.

Sion Zivetz - Sustainability and Climate Change Officer (Noosa Council)

Sion is a sustainability and climate change project officer at Noosa Council. His role is focussed on embedding sustainability and climate risk across the organisation, which is unfolding through the development of a sustainability framework, sustainability policy and the delivery of training. Sion also coordinates strategic partnerships between Noosa Council and community organisations that work on issues related to climate change and sustainability. Sion’s background is in sustainability education.

Contact the host of Connecting Community and Councils: Scaling Home energy upgrade programs