Social and economic issues associated with the Bowen Basin coal industry : community engagement to reduce conflict over mine operations

A major project is being undertaken in the Bowen Basin coal mining region of Queensland, Australia, to assess how economic and social impacts of mining should be assessed and negotiated with regional communities. Coal mining has a major impact on regional communities in generating regional incomes and employment. At the same time, the industry is reliant on communities for the supply of labour and business services. While the mining industry and communities have common interests, often it is difficult for them to work together. The focus of this paper is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of traditional social and economic impact assessment tools, to identify a range of other mechanisms that are appropriate for engagement purposes; and to outline the potential use of some of these approaches. These include predictive mechanisms such as input-output analysis, assessment mechanisms such as choice modelling and experimental workshops, and engagement mechanisms such as extended stakeholder analysis.