A Q&A with Audrey Penney, Team Lead – ESD, Strategy and Sustainability Innovation

How long have you worked in sustainability, and why sustainability?

I grew up in a small coastal town in Scotland in the ‘70s, where US nuclear submarines found a home in Scottish waters at the height of the Cold War. As a young child, I absorbed how the relocation of these nuclear submarines had social, demographic, environmental and economic impacts across my small town and our community. The ecological impact on water and sea life, disruption in our food chain and the economic devastation for the local tourism industry and fisheries, were some of the impacts that resonated for some time after their departure in the early 1990’s. The experience taught me how all these systems correlated and ignited a passion for defending the environment that was my world and playground.

For the past 25 years, I have worked in sustainability in different sectors, including at the National Centre for Sustainability (Swinburne), a large regional TAFE, and the Community Development sector as a consultant and project coordinator. With education as the catalyst in multiple positions (sustainability coordinator, Industry, and Community Engagement Manager), I strive to change the perception of sustainability from an ‘add on’ or a side point to weaving and contextualising it into an existing framework that results in it being a value-add proposition.

And career highlights?

I loved working with Indigenous Elder Dougie Ryder and his dog ‘No’ in Western Australia (Kalbarri). When Dougie wasn’t working in the mines, he travelled around schools educating young people about his people’s (Nanda) stories. I worked as his assistant, and the experience gave me a heightened understanding and respect for the Indigenous people of this land and deep humility of how much we need to learn to develop a sense of stewardship.

Another career highlight was helping a large regional TAFE establish their Corporate Social Sustainability Strategy with projects such as The Northern Bay Guarantee, which delivered strong educational pathways to reduce intergenerational poverty in targeted disadvantaged communities. The project produced exceptional results and was very impactful for some participants.

Have you experienced any significant hurdles over your career?

Many. The most obvious is that sustainability has had a challenging journey over the past few decades. It has morphed and weaved itself to be redefined for altruism and greenwashing. As an educator and facilitator meeting a diverse group of audiences, you never know what angle people will take with it, so the challenge is to remain non-judgemental, resilient and agile as you pivot to meet people where they are at, at that point. It is essential to find a common language of understanding to move forward to understand better the broader aspects of what sustainability is, relative to their particular objectives.

Finally, sustainability has, most assuredly, got a seat at the economic, political, and corporate table, so the challenge now is to accelerate that deeper understanding of sustainability to the broader community– and quickly!

Australia has a real opportunity to redefine and reimagine our manufacturing sector and pivot away from trying to compete on price.

How is sustainability in Australia fairing compared to the rest of the world? What changes would you like to see happening?

I think there is room for Australia to do better. Coming from Europe, I am interested in keeping abreast of what they are doing. For example, the Dutch and the Netherlands are forging a robust economic circular pathway with government strategy and funding support. This initiative has assisted with the amount of innovation and entrepreneurialism coming out of that region.

What changes would I like to see? Australia has a real opportunity to redefine and reimagine our manufacturing sector and pivot away from trying to compete on price (which we will never be able to do and nor should we). Instead, we should entertain the idea of developing bespoke, nuanced manufacturing with emerging serviceability supply chains, using waste as a valued component material and exploring opportunities in bio-utilisation in the engineering, building and construction industries.

Besides sustainability and family, what are your other great passions?

I love growing my own food. I used to have an organic farm in Southwest Victoria and developed a passion for soil health. I am passionate about our farming community and the sustainable innovation happening in that space.

I also love arguing with my kids. We have very robust dinner time conversations, and I enjoy being challenged by them and witnessing them develop their unique perspective of this beautiful world we live in.