The Renegades

Foundational Initiatives · 2026

Two starting moves for the working group.

The working group has prioritised two initiatives to begin work on immediately. The first addresses the industry's most persistent leak: the gap between purchasing a caravan and becoming a lifelong caravanner. The second invests in the people who will lead the industry through the next decade of change.

Pillar I · The Total RV Customer Experience

The customer journey, end to end

From first enquiry to repeat customer.

Too many Australians buy a caravan, receive a poor hand-over, have a difficult first trip, and never come back. The industry loses these customers, and their friends, for good. We can stop that.

The Problem: Inconsistent hand-overs, opaque after-sales support, and variable park experiences silently erode lifetime customer value across the industry.
The Outcome: A consumer-facing website, backed by an industry-wide standard, that sets expectations and informs rights at every step of the journey.
The Why: Repeat customers are the engine of the industry. A confident, well-informed buyer becomes an advocate; a confused one becomes a cautionary tale.
The Scope: Seven stages, from raw materials through to the second purchase. Every stage has a custodian, every touchpoint has a standard.

The Seven-Stage Journey

Each stage carries its own touchpoints, custodians and consumer rights.

Stage 01

Supply Chain

Raw materials, chassis components, electrical systems and fit-out hardware.

Quality and provenance start here.

Stage 02

Suppliers

Component suppliers, accessory makers, technology and power infrastructure partners.

Set the technical standard.

Stage 03

Manufacturers

Build quality, compliance, warranty terms and the promise of the brand.

Promises that must be kept.

Stage 04

Sales

Dealership experience, finance, insurance, the hand-over, the make-or-break moment.

The biggest leak in the bucket.

Stage 05

After-Sales

Servicing, repairs, parts, warranty claims, ongoing technical support.

Trust is earned or lost here.

Stage 06

Park Experience

Site setup, power, amenities, hospitality. The holiday itself.

Where the promise meets reality.

Stage 07

Repeat Business

Upgrades, advocacy, referrals, the long arc of a caravanning life.

The compounding measure of success.

Workstreams

Eight workstreams to take the initiative from blank page to public launch, from understanding the customer journey through to launching the consumer-facing website and embedding the framework into ongoing industry governance.

1.1

Journey Mapping & Discovery

Run customer interviews across first-time buyers, repeat owners, and lapsed caravanners.
Build a complete journey map covering all seven stages, with emotional highs and lows.
Identify the top five leakage points where customers disengage or never return.
Quantify the commercial cost of poor hand-overs and bad first trips.

1.2

Manufacturing & Product Standards

Codify what 'good' looks like at the factory gate: build quality, compliance, documentation.
Map the supplier and supply-chain dependencies that drive end-customer outcomes.
Align with existing CIAA technical standards and identify any gaps.
Set a minimum documentation pack to ship with every new caravan.

1.3

Sales & Hand-Over Excellence

Define a national hand-over standard: pre-delivery inspection, customer walkthrough, follow-up cadence.
Build a hand-over checklist and a 'first-trip readiness' kit dealers can adopt.
Pilot the standard with two to three dealers and measure customer NPS uplift.
Develop a dealer accreditation pathway tied to the standard.

1.4

After-Sales, Service & Repair

Map the after-sales experience: service intervals, warranty claims, parts availability, repair turnaround.
Set transparent expectations around what consumers can expect at each service touchpoint.
Address the technician supply problem and surface the industry's skills pipeline needs.
Define a 'fair-go' standard for warranty handling that protects both consumer and manufacturer.

1.5

Park & On-Site Experience

Define the minimum park experience standard: arrival, site setup, power, amenities, departure.
Bring park operators into the framework and align with VicParks / state park associations.
Address EV and e-bike charging readiness as the fleet electrifies.
Build a shared 'park promise' that travels with consumers across the network.

1.6

Protection & Consumer Rights

Document consumer rights at each of the seven stages in plain English.
Cover insurance, warranty, ACL protections, finance disclosure, and dispute pathways.
Build a 'what to do if it goes wrong' guide that consumers actually use.
Identify gaps where the industry should self-regulate before government intervenes.

1.7

Content, Brand & Website Build

Define the consumer-facing brand, tone of voice, and information architecture for the website.
Commission plain-English guides for each stage of the journey, with practical checklists.
Design and build the website, aiming for an MVP launch within twelve months.
Plan an evergreen content programme so the site remains the trusted source over time.

1.8

Measurement & Governance

Define the small set of metrics that prove the initiative is working: NPS, repeat-purchase rate, complaint volume.
Establish quarterly reporting back to the national board.
Build the governance model for ongoing maintenance of the standard and the website.
Plan year-two evolution: what graduates from MVP, what gets added next.

Pillar III · Industry Leadership

The Leadership Retreat

Two days off the road, building the road ahead.

A peer retreat for the industry's emerging and established leaders, designed to strengthen relationships, sharpen thinking, and seed the future leadership pipeline for the sector.

The Purpose: A high-trust setting where the industry's leaders work on the industry, not in it, across two intensive days.
The Audience: Existing senior leaders plus selected emerging leaders nominated by their companies and state associations.
The Format: A mix of structured workshops, peer round-tables, external speakers, and unstructured time for the conversations that matter.
The Outcome: Concrete commitments, a stronger leadership network, and a clear blueprint for an ongoing leadership development programme.

Workstreams

Six workstreams to deliver a retreat that is genuinely memorable and produces follow-through, not just a nice weekend away.

2.1

Objectives & Outcomes

Agree the three to five outcomes the retreat must deliver. Be specific, not aspirational.
Define the success criteria so we can measure whether the retreat worked.
Confirm the retreat's relationship to the broader leadership-development strategy.
Commit to a follow-up structure before the retreat is designed. Outcomes drive format.

2.2

Date, Location & Logistics

Lock the date, ideally outside peak trading periods and away from major industry events.
Select a venue that reflects the industry: a destination park or regional retreat over a city hotel.
Coordinate travel, accommodation, dietary requirements and accessibility for all attendees.
Manage the budget, sponsorship opportunities and cost-recovery model.

2.3

Attendee List & Engagement

Define the criteria for attendance: a balance of established leaders and emerging leaders.
Nominate and confirm the attendee list with state associations and major employers.
Run pre-retreat one-on-ones to understand each attendee's priorities and expectations.
Issue a short pre-read so the retreat starts at altitude rather than at the runway.

2.4

Agenda & Content Design

Design a two-day flow that balances structured content, peer dialogue and unstructured time.
Curate sessions on the three CIAA pillars: leadership, customer experience, innovation.
Commission external content where the industry lacks the lens: adjacent industries, futurists, regulators.
Build in protected time for relationship-building, the retreat's quiet engine.

2.5

Facilitators & Speakers

Engage a senior independent facilitator to hold the room across both days.
Brief and contract three to four guest speakers aligned to the retreat's outcomes.
Plan one 'fireside' session with a respected industry elder to ground the next generation.
Brief facilitators thoroughly. A great speaker badly briefed is a wasted slot.

2.6

Follow-Through & Pipeline

Capture the commitments made at the retreat: by whom, by when, with what support.
Run quarterly check-ins through the year following the retreat to keep momentum.
Use the retreat as the launchpad for an ongoing leadership development programme.
Feed the strongest emerging leaders into national board succession and CIAA committee roles.