Abstract
Public relations has the opportunity to engender social change through community relations projects with Indigenous Australians. Significant contributions at the societal level of strategy and action can support community initiatives, facilitate resolution of community issues and support community development for future sustainability. This represents an organisational position as a true ‘citizen’ of the community and as an agent for social change. In remote Australia, mining companies undertake community relations to deliver the social license to operate. This paper examines how Newcrest Mining uses a ‘walking together’ model to identify and implement projects for social change in the Western Desert of Western Australia.
Keywords: Public Relations, Social Change, Community Relations, Indigenous Communities
Introduction
The rationale for Community Relations activity for mining companies is based on four premises: that for mining companies to maintain their social license to operate, productive relationships both with communities close to mining operations and with a wider set of stakeholders are essential; that strong communities with strong economic and social capital provide a more sustainable environment within which to operate; that organisations who succeed in free markets have an obligation as citizens to give back to the community through individual and corporate philanthropy; and that communities expect companies to act sustainably, which leads companies to act in ways that meet community expectations. This in turn gives companies their ‘social license to operate’. Community relations requires a commitment to effective engagement with many sectors.
The Australian context – Closing The Gap
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) identifies seven building blocks to improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: early childhood, schooling, health, economic participation, healthy homes, safe communities, and governance and leadership (Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet, n.d.). All building blocks are underpinned by the importance of promoting strong indigenous cultures, heritage and language which support strong cultural identity.
The National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health 2003 – 2013 (NSFATSIH) was signed in 2003. At that time, the 17 year disparity in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was the most obvious indicator of overall Indigenous disadvantage. A priority of the NSFATSIH is to address the predeterminants of chronic disease with a particular focus on nutrition and physical activity (Department of Health & Ageing, 2010:118). The National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in indigenous Health Outcomes also identifies preventative health as a key priority area (COAG, 2008).
A sample of baseline health status and outcomes shows the following issues:
• Indigenous Australians suffer the worst health of any population group in Australia, with disease rates two and a half times that of the total Australian population. This is reflected in a worse life expectancy for Indigenous Australians – 12 and 10 years less for males and females respectively (Closing The Gap Clearing House, 2012:2).
• Chronic disease contributes to two-thirds of the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Department of Health & Ageing, 2010). In the age group 35 – 74 this contribution rises to 80% of the mortality gap between Indigenous and other Australians.
• There are complex causal relationships between cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. They are likely to occur together and have shared risk factors. In 2007-08, indigenous Australians were 12 times as likely as other Australians to be hospitalised with all three diseases and, over the period 2003-07, were 13 times more likely to die than non- Indigenous Australians (Closing The Gap Clearing House, 2012:2).
• Socioeconomic disadvantage with its links to poor living conditions and inequitable distribution of power, money and resources is also associated with an unhealthier lifestyle, higher chronic disease risk status and poorer health outcomes (Closing The Gap Clearing House, 2012:3).
• Issues around mental health are responsible for as high as 90% of all suicides (Department of Health & Ageing, 2010).
• Almost one in three (31%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians aged 15 years and over reported high / very high levels of psychological distress (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). There is a growing body of research on the importance of cultural continuity and connection to culture (Chandler & Lalonde, 2003) supporting the community view that positive outcomes stem from keeping culture strong (Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet, n.d.). As people begin to feel more empowered and connected, this builds their self-esteem and leads them to make better choices. The indicator is increased level of social participation.
The value of lifestyle programs depends on how successfully they lead to sustained improvements in targeted behaviours, and the extent to which they positively influence longer-term chronic disease outcomes. All of the community-based projects found by Closing The Gap to be effective have been initiated and managed by the community, with technical (and sometimes financial) support being provided by external organisations. This means that the health needs and behaviours of individuals cannot be considered separately from the community contexts in which they live (Closing The Gap Clearing House, 2012:4).
Focussing the community relations effort
Clearly, the seven building blocks identified by COAG are all important, and multi-level actions are required at community level. For the community relations practitioner, a key question is where to start.
Community relations is part of the broader concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Seitel (2011:254) uses the term Community Social Responsibility to describe the responsibility organisations increasingly acknowledge to their communities: ‘helping to maintain clean air and water, providing jobs for minorities, enforcing policies in the interests of all employees and, in general, enhancing everyone’s quality of life’.
Peach (in Tench & Yeomans, 2009:99-100) identifies three possible levels of interaction with the community:
• Basic -- where the organisation adheres to society’s rules and regulations such as paying taxes and observing the law;
• Organisational -- where the organisation takes steps to avoid or minimise negative effects on the community as a result of its operations, such as monitoring and mitigation strategies to minimise environmental impacts; and
• Societal -- where the organisation makes significant contributions towards improving the society in which it operates, such as funding community initiatives, and helping to resolve community problems.
This third level represents an organisational position as a true ‘citizen’ of the community and as an agent for social change (Seitel, 2011:256).
Common fundamentals in Indigenous relations comprise:
• Honouring Aboriginal cultures as the first stewards of the land;
• Adopting a partnership approach;
• Finding a way of having meaningful engagement, based on respect and trust;
• Being explicit about the intent for Indigenous people to share in the economic benefits of the development near their communities;
• Assisting Indigenous communities to manage issues, challenges and impacts that arise as a result of the company’s operations;
• Actions are consistent with the organisation’s Aboriginal Affairs Policy and/or with negotiated agreements, frameworks or strategy.
An Indigenous Relations Policy normally comprises statements about education, training and employment; community projects and development; business development; cultural awareness training; and protection of cultural heritage (Chamber of Minerals & Energy of Western Australia, 2007:3).
How this translates into practice
Newcrest’s Telfer gold mine is in the Western Desert area in the Pilbara. There are eight remote communities in closest proximity to the mine. Largely on Martu land, these communities range in size from 550 at Jigalong to 50 at Warralong. Their isolation from each other and from larger regional centres means that issues of viability and sustainability are constant.
As the closest mining company to these communities, Newcrest is committed to helping the communities develop and build capacity so they benefit also from the company being in the region – short-term through training and employment, and long-term through improved capacity. The Martu communities are seeking economic independence and a shift from their current welfare dependency.
Three agreements were negotiated with Indigenous groups as part of the Telfer project approval process including Infrastructure and Community Benefits Agreements, and a Memorandum of Understanding. The benefits of these agreements include training programs, job opportunities, cultural heritage monitoring, cultural awareness training and financial payments and sponsorship including sports, school camps, healthy lifestyles, and emergency support for community members. More recently Newcrest has assisted with business and infrastructure development.
Like all mining companies, Newcrest is keen to attract more Indigenous employees, to meet employment commitments; ensure the economic benefits of the operation are shared; and to ensure continued access to the land for mining to secure operational stability for the company.
For employment targets to be achieved however, a number of other actions are needed first or concurrently to lay the foundations and help the people to become employable.
Over the past ten years, through its Community Relations team, Newcrest has worked with its eight communities to identify projects of relevance, and to help the communities to achieve those things that are important to the communities themselves. The key conclusion is that the approach doesn’t start with jobs. The critical elements of nutrition and healthy lifestyle are basic foundations for improved outcomes in education,
levels of physical activity, management of chronic disease, cultural identity, and employment.
Further, Closing The Gap research highlights factors which reduce effectiveness of lifestyle programs (2012:2):
• A low level of community ownership and support;
• Operating in isolation from, or not addressing, broader structural issues such as poverty and lack of access to a healthy food supply.
This makes it very clear where the effort needs to go to achieve change. A “business as usual” approach, or doing it the same in the bush as in regional or metropolitan centres, won’t work in these communities.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2010) 4704.0 - The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Peoples. Retrieved on May 12 2012 from
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/lookup/4704.0Chapter100Oct+2010
Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA (2007) Indigenous Participation in Western Australia’s Resources Sector. Retrieved on June 26 2012 from http://www.cmewa.com/UserDir/CMEResources/091112- MPR-CME575-INDIG%20PARTNER%20BOOKLET-v118.pdf
Chandler, M.J. & Lalonde, C.E. (2003) “Cultural Continuity as a Moderator of Suicide Risk Among Canada’s First Nation”, to appear in: Kirmayer, L. & Valaskakis, G. (Eds.). The Mental Health of Canadian Aboriginal, Vancouver: UBC Press.
Closing The Gap Clearing House (2012) Healthy Lifestyle Programs for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Resource Sheet # 9, January 2012.
COAG (2008) National Partnership Agreement on Closing The Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes. Retrieved on May 12 2012 from http://www.coag.gov.au
Department of Health and Ageing (2007), National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health 2003-2013: Australian Government Implementation Plan 2007-2013. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Department of Health and Ageing (2009), Reporting Suicide and Mental Illness: A Mindframe Resource for Media Professionals, Australian Indigenous Health InfoNet. Retrieved on May 12 2012 from http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/promotion-resources?lid=14642, and associated website at www.mindframe-media.info
Department of Health and Ageing (2010) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework: 2010 Report. Australian Government, Canberra.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (unknown), Culture and Closing The Gap, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved on May 12 2012 from http://www.arts.gov.au/indigenous
Seitel, F 2011, The Practice of Public Relations, 11th edn. Prentice Hall/Pearson, Upper Saddle River, N.J. Tench, R & Yeomans, L (eds) 2009, Exploring Public Relations, FT/Prentice Hall, Harlow.