NSWMC EC Conference 2011 Opening Speech NBW[1]

8/3/2019 NSWMC EC Conference 2011 Opening Speech NBW[1]

1/8

1

Dr Nikki Williams, Chief Executive, NSW Minerals CouncilOpening Plenary, NSWMC Environment & Community Conference

Changing Times: Take the LeadWollongong, October 24, 2011

The Hon Robyn Parker, Minister for the Environment and Minister for

Heritage, Greg Sullivan, Deputy CEO, OEH, Brad Mullard Executive Director

DTI, Mick Buffier Chairman of the Executive Committee, Distinguished

Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen - Good morning and welcome to our 2011

Environment and Community Conference.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it

was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of

incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was

the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us,

we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all

going direct the other way

So begins the famous book, A Tale of Two Cities. It might just as easily

describe the great contradictions that currently characterize how Australia

feels about its mining industry.

Were the darlings of the business pages, yet were painted as demons in the

early general news. We help Treasurers keep budgets healthy and give

Australia the strength to stave off the threat of recession, yet our industry is a

lightning rod for the most adversarial of political debates.

Were in the midst of one of the longest and strongest mining booms in our

nations history. Yet we face multiple policy, regulatory and legislative

challenges that might collectively render our sector a less attractive

destination for international investment than countries such as Indonesia,

Colombia or even Mongolia.

We find ourselves central to the most divisive political debates in our nationshistory. Whether its the carbon tax, the mining tax, the so called two-speed


2/8

2

economy, future budget surpluses, land access, competing land use,

cumulative impacts, or crumbling infrastructure in some of our key regional

centres, the mining industry has skin in the game in most of the debates that

are contributing right now to the future direction of this country and our state.

For an industry that has historically preferred to keep its head down and get

on with business, its an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position to be in. But it

does present us with a unique opportunity to take the lead and to leave a real

legacy that reaches beyond the mine gate, even beyond our local mining

communities, and into the future of Australia. We need to leverage our

position in the economy into one that allows us to make a real and lasting

contribution which is valued by Australians. This is not a nice to have. This is

a must do.

At the state level we have a new government, and a new opportunity. Gone is

the paralysis that emerged two years out from an election whose result was a

foregone conclusion.

Yet we have a set of circumstances that could lead to a new kind of paralysis:

bitter debates over the emerging coal seam gas sector, issues of competing

land use disingenuously framed as a choice between the right to mine and

the right to eat; governments struggling to integrate the industry into the

future of nation and state.

It was for this reason that the NSW Governments recent submission to the

Legislative Council Inquiry into coal seam gas made for encouraging reading.

It demonstrates the type of clear thinking and plain speaking on competing

land use and coexistence that is so desperately needed.

Part of the submission states that: The NSW Government believes that

balanced co-existence of mining (including CSG) and agriculture is not only

possible, it is essential. The Government recognises that such co-existence

necessitates appropriate management and assessment requirements on CSG

and mining activities. The NSW Government has a clear vision of the


3/8

3

economic future of this State that involves growing both agricultural and

resources output while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In order to

restore strength and resilience in the NSW economy, co-existence is in the

communitys overall best interests, both at local levels and from a state wide

perspective.

That stands out as a rare moment of clarity. Overlaid on the challenging

issues we face, is a new reality in activism. There is disillusionment with the

partisan and increasingly strident nature of political debate. There is a sense

of frustration at the lack of certainty and poor progress on key issues.

Australia is a paradox of those who dont care and are disengaged, and those

who are so engaged and so hardened in their views that theyre prepared to

take matters into their own hands. Theyve written government off as

incompetent or unable to deliver the changes they believe are needed. This is

a new era. The industrialisation of activism.

The adversarial, partisan construct of modern Australian politics, whether at

state or federal level, has contributed to an obligatory face-off over almost

every issue you could think of.

The 24-hour news cycle has turned up the heat on our politicians. It leads to a

new paralysis, because its created an environment where the voices of 10%

of people opposed to an idea can be amplified to a deafening roar. This roar

apparently feels so overwhelming that it often means governments dont act

on their convictions, or refuse to engage on the detail of policy and its

implications, leading to political stalemate and a virtual policy vacuum.

I am not seeking to de-legitimise activism. Its an important part of our

freedom of speech. Indeed, we must reserve the right for activism to effect

change. But government processes dont seem able to deal with it. Individual

industries cant deal with it; and the reality is, that everything is grinding to a

halt.


4/8

4

Our media industry has an active role. Commentators bemoan partisan

politics and the voices of vested interests in public policy debate, yet it is

these very characteristics that fit the construct of conflict that the news cycle

thrives on.

The recent edition of Four Corners, which examined the carbon tax debate, is

a perfect illustration of the point that I make. Over 45 minutes, the program

presented a picture of The Carbon War, as it was called, between the hard

right conservatives and the visionary left.

Where the carbon debate is playing out on the extremes, in truth theres a

vast middle ground that doesnt quite know what to think: torn between a

desire to do something on climate change, and little to no understanding as to

why Australia should consider self-imposed economic disadvantage for no

discernible environmental gain.

This limbo land is where the minerals industry resides. In terms of the

carbon tax, it has been unilaterally excluded from assistance available to

emissions intensive, trade exposed industries, despite meeting the

governments own criteria. It does have access to an assistance package, but

it is one that will merely delay the premature closure of a four mines by a

single year.

The government hopes that the residual growth, to be reduced by the tax, will

compensate for the loss of jobs in mines that close. But this is flawed thinking,

for there is a human face to job losses. The 55-year old NSW coalminer might

not want to move his family to another region or interstate in order to stay

employed for the last 10 years of his career. And why should he have to?

Nor can he just walk into a job in the clean energy sector, as politicians such

as Christine Milne like to suggest: to begin with, there arent many of them;

secondly, where they exist they are more akin to semi-skilled manufacturing

work; and thirdly, they are not highly paid. There are very practical questions

about relocation of families and dislocation of regional communities that need


5/8

5

to be addressed. Why is it a good idea to send more than 4,000 miners into

early retirement when we're already struggling to get our heads around the

economic implications of an ageing population?

The real narrative is a federal government being willingly bullied into a rushed

carbon tax model for the sake of one vote. All of which makes me think that

Senator Bob Brown must be either the luckiest or the smartest politician in

Australia.

The federal government needs to admit that closing down mines is actually a

mark of success for its scheme. Closing coal mines is, after all, the schemes

intention; the very purpose of a carbon tax structured in this way and

introduced at this time. The Greens Party knows it. Indeed, they celebrate it.

But the federal government wants to pretend it isn't happening. I heard

Senator Wong say recently that there is never a perfect time to introduce

changes of this magnitude. I agree that there probably never is a perfect time

but given all that we hear about global recession, collapsing European and

North American economies, banks with debt liabilities 140 times greater than

their market capitalization, I cant think of a worse time to slay the growth

driver of the Australian economy.

But, this is the grim world we face. So how do

we take the lead as one

industry sector within the NSW context? These are questions we have been

working on intensely for the past 12 months. They also provide the theme for

this years NSWMC Environment and Community Conference.

One of the potential opportunities is through collaboration on Social

contribution and engagement. For more than a decade, we have looked upon

CSR activities as an exercise in individual brand and reputation. There have

been some fantastic and moving examples of NSW mining companies making

a real difference in their communities through partnership and targeted

investment.


6/8

6

Yet even as NSW Minerals Council members contribute more financially to

their communities than ever before, it is viewed by some as a mere patchwork

of tokenism that doesnt add up to much. Or worse, it is framed by some

opponents to mining as simply an effort to buy favour, or silence.

I would challenge the critics of the mining industrys CSR programmes to tell

the people involved in them - such as Life Education, Community Links

Wollondilly or the Wollongong School Success Program - that the

contributions they receive are worthless window dressing. Life Education

teaches students vital skills to help make the best life choices and how to say

no to drugs and alcohol. Community Links Wollondilly provides crisis support

to people in need, and the School Success Program supplies educational

resources to help kids who could go off the rails to get back on track in the

classroom.

Undoubtedly, we must be better at telling our story. We should be proud of the

things we do well, and talk about them. People need to know what we do, why

we do it, and the difference it makes. We equally need to be upfront about

what we need to improve and lay out a plan for that improvement.

The second opportunity is for greater power sharing with the community. That

is, actually ceding a proportion of the say on how we do things, to the

community. This is the central idea in the Upper Hunter Mining Dialogue, the

program that we launched at this conference last year and which we have

piloted in the Upper Hunter over the past 12 months.

Undoubtedly, we must always strive to be better at talking with

our

communities. We should not be ashamed of the need to improve, and talk

about it. People need to know what we are doing, why we are doing it, and

what difference it can make. A genuine dialogue invites our communities to

contribute, which can only lead to better outcomes for all involved.

It is challenging. It is innovative. It is bold. Most of all, it is uncertain. But

without this type of partnership with our communities, we are perhaps


7/8

7

condemned to being picked off by the industrialization of activism that I spoke

of earlier, where every new project or project extension is met by obligatory

opposition that makes governments baulk and puts long term investment at

risk.

That the industry has faced a number of defining challenges at the same time

as it experiences one of the greatest periods of success in its history, proves

that growth is never easy or smooth.

Twenty years or so ago, the NSW mining industry was undergoing some

significant changes in the way that it thought about and approached safety.

Today, ours is the safest mining industry in the world.

I believe we are on a similar path in the sphere of environmental management

and community engagement. And I firmly believe that we will achieve the

same success.

This years Environment & Community Conference is my last as Chief

Executive of the NSW Minerals Council. In November I will take up the post

as Chief Executive of the Australian Coal Association.

It has been a privilege to spend the last seven years representing the

membership and the mining industry in NSW. I have worked with so many

intelligent, inspiring and innovative men and women, inside and outside the

industry across the State.

Thank you to the each of the three Chairman that Ive had the pleasure to

work with: Bob Cameron, Colin Bloomfield and Mick Buffier; and to all the

members of the Executive Committee and our other committees past and

present. I am forever grateful for the support, energy and passion you have

demonstrated for the NSWMC, the mining industry, and for me.

I am very proud to leave behind a team at NSWMC that reflects the best of

what the industry has to offer. Over the last seven years, NSWMC is a place


8/8

8

that I am happy to say has been turned inside out: from an inward looking,

technocratic organisation, into an outward focused advocacy group engaged

in the public policy debate on your behalf. What is an advocacy body if it is not

out there, telling your story?

I would now like to introduce The Hon Robyn Parker MP, Minister for the

Environment and Minister for Heritage. Minister Parkers portfolios are of great

importance to our industry as we work closely with the NSW Government to

manage and minimise the impacts of mining in this State.

After almost a decade in the NSW Upper House, Robyn made the move to

the Lower House only this year. Upon election as the member for Maitland

she was immediately appointed to Cabinet: an impressive achievement and a

fantastic example to women everywhere.

Minister can I now invite you to officially open our 2011 Conference:

Changing Times: Take the Lead.

Documents

NSWMC EC Conference 2011 Opening Speech NBW[1]