Joel Mackaway

Joel Mackaway says the Hunter is moving in the right direction.

Transcript

00:00Joel, so how long have you lived in the Upper Hunterville?

00:03All my life, so I'm 20, so 20 years.

00:06Yeah. Some big changes happening at the moment.

00:09What do you feel about the overall direction of the energy transition?

00:13I believe it's slow, but I can see that it's moving in a direction that's good,

00:19that's opening to a new economy.

00:21What do you mean by it's slow?

00:23There's a lot of reluctance with the people in the area,

00:28that sort of pushback, particularly the older people.

00:32But I suppose it's just not going as fast as it should be

00:39with the investment and new industries being brought in.

00:42Do you feel as though the wider community is supportive of the energy transition?

00:48I think if you sat down and talked to them about the need to, they would be.

00:53And I think more and more people are knowing that it will happen and it should happen.

00:58But there is definitely still an attachment to coal.

01:02What about your family and friends? What do they think?

01:06Yeah, my family, it's a bit difficult because my dad's employed in the sector.

01:12But he still obviously would recognise that it's moving away.

01:18And as I said, I think the opinions are changing over time.

01:23Have you got any peers that you went to school with who have left the region?

01:28Not really. A lot of the people that I went to school with,

01:32a lot of my friends still stay in the region.

01:34They all are mostly going into trades and staying in the town.

01:38And do you plan to stay?

01:40As far as I know, I like the region.

01:44But if I can find a job elsewhere, it depends on how I'm feeling after my unit's finished.

01:48What sort of a career would you like to pursue?

01:52I'm particularly interested in policy-making in the international sphere and anything like that.

01:59So I want to go into the public service.

02:01Are you optimistic about the future of the Upper Hunter?

02:04I am, yeah. I'm kind of just optimistic by nature and I like to think that things will be good,

02:09especially for a place like the Upper Hunter, which is my home and I like it.

02:13But I can see good investment going in and good opportunities,

02:17especially with the skilled workforce that we have.