Full Name
Tom Everitt
Job title
Director
Organisation
TDC Services
Speaker bio
Tom is an experienced land access practitioner who has led and delivered complex landholder and community engagement programs on major infrastructure projects.
With an open and honest approach to landowners and broader stakeholders, Tom has skillfully negotiated hundreds of land access agreements for clients.
Tom is the Director of TDC Services and in 2024 established the first and only nationally accredited landholder engagement training for Australia.
With an open and honest approach to landowners and broader stakeholders, Tom has skillfully negotiated hundreds of land access agreements for clients.
Tom is the Director of TDC Services and in 2024 established the first and only nationally accredited landholder engagement training for Australia.
Speaking At
Presentation title
Securing Land, Securing Trust: The Case for Best Practice Landholder Engagement
Presentation summary
This presentation will explore the critical need for a consistent and qualified approach to landholder engagement. Drawing from over 15 years of experience, Tom highlights how untrained and inexperienced individuals—often tasked with initiating land access negotiations and upholding a mammoth project and/or client reputation—face landholders who are more informed, networked, and ready to resist than ever before.
The presentation will address emerging legislative oversight, the rise of new codes of practice and conduct, and the growing expectations from regulators and landholders alike. Via some deidentified real-world industry examples, it will distinguish some sobering scenarios coming from poor engagement and disregard to social license, and look at the unique challenges and rights of individual landholders from broader community engagement, emphasising why they must be treated as separate stakeholder groups.
With comparisons to highly developed international models like Canada’s licensed Land Agents and California’s Right of Way framework, Tom will make the case for why Australia can no longer afford to leave landholder engagement to chance. This session talks through emerging items that are legitimising this important role but what else needs to occur to improve outcomes for all stakeholders, and pave the way for a smoother, fairer, and more successful energy transition.
The presentation will address emerging legislative oversight, the rise of new codes of practice and conduct, and the growing expectations from regulators and landholders alike. Via some deidentified real-world industry examples, it will distinguish some sobering scenarios coming from poor engagement and disregard to social license, and look at the unique challenges and rights of individual landholders from broader community engagement, emphasising why they must be treated as separate stakeholder groups.
With comparisons to highly developed international models like Canada’s licensed Land Agents and California’s Right of Way framework, Tom will make the case for why Australia can no longer afford to leave landholder engagement to chance. This session talks through emerging items that are legitimising this important role but what else needs to occur to improve outcomes for all stakeholders, and pave the way for a smoother, fairer, and more successful energy transition.
