Tasmania Is Warming and Drying: Help Shape Local Resilience Planning

Connected Futures: Building Drought Resilience Through Local Stories

Climate change, warmer temperatures, and longer dry periods are already affecting communities across Tasmania.

But these impacts do not stop at the farm gate.

They flow through businesses, households, sporting clubs, local services, tourism, community wellbeing, and everyday life across the Northern Midlands.

Connected Futures is bringing community members together through a series of free community resilience focus groups designed to hear local stories, experiences, concerns, and ideas about how our region can prepare for a warming and drying future.

You don’t need to be a farmer.
You just need to care about the future our region.

Be Part of the Community Conversation

These free community resilience focus groups are practical, collaborative, and community-led conversations focused on preparation, connection, and future planning.

This is your opportunity to:
• Share your stories, observations, and lived experiences
• Hear how climate change and drying conditions are affecting different parts of the community
• Explore practical preparedness and resilience ideas
• Help shape future local resilience planning for the Northern Midlands

No prior knowledge or experience is needed.

Free events – limited places

Campbell Town Focus Group
Saturday 16 May 2026
10:30am–1:30pm
Campbell Town Guide Hall
20 King Street, Campbell Town

✔ Free event
✔ Light lunch included

(Takes 30 seconds)

Guest Contributors(Featured Speakers)

The focus groups will include guest contributors with expertise in climate resilience, community wellbeing, and regional preparedness:

Dr Tom Remenyi (Director, Acclimatised; Adjunct Associate Professor, UTAS) will translate the latest climate impacts evidence into clear, practical insights for local decision-making in a warming, drying Tasmania.

Rural Alive & Well (RAW) will bring the human side of resilience - free, confidential outreach support and early-intervention wellbeing programs that strengthen connection and reduce isolation during prolonged stress.

Katrina Graham (Program Manager, Northern Tasmanian Alliance for Resilient Councils - NTARC) will share how councils collaborate to understand climate risk and strengthen regional planning for safer, climate-ready communities.

Danielle Slade (Rural Business Australia) will share practical tools and local support to strengthen financial resilience - cashflow planning, risk management and confident decisions through extended dry periods.

Mary Knowles OAM (Mayor, Northern Midlands Council) will outline how councils can align planning, infrastructure and community involvement to deliver practical, on-the-ground resilience.

Anna Williams (RDA Tasmania) will share how regional development supports community resilience - connecting local priorities to investment, partnerships and practical projects that strengthen long-term capability.

Gordon Williams (CEO, Northern Midlands Business Association) will facilitate the workshops, bringing experience in science communication and future strategy, including work with CSIRO and other public and private organisations across the Asia–Pacific.

Why These Conversations Matter

Climate resilience is built before crisis hits, not during it.

Across Tasmania, communities are increasingly asking:
What does a warming and drying climate mean for our towns, businesses, services, and future?

These community focus groups are designed to help local people contribute to that conversation in a practical and meaningful way.

When people share stories, local knowledge, and lived experience, communities are better prepared to plan for the future together.

Recent Conversation Across Tasmania

Climate resilience, preparedness, and community planning are becoming increasingly important topics across Tasmania.

Recent ABC Radio discussion explored how climate change, bushfire risk, and preparedness are affecting Tasmanian communities:
Listen to the interview here

Watch the Connected Futures campaign video.

About This Connected Futures

Connected Futures: Building Drought Resilience Through Local Stories is a Northern Midlands community initiative focused on strengthening resilience, preparedness, and community connection in response to Tasmania’s changing climate.

The project is delivered by the Northern Midlands Business Association (NMBA) on behalf of Northern Midlands Council.