Through direct communications and interactions with the Indigenous stakeholders, it is important that any new approach is discussed and supported by Indigenous stakeholders. For example, during our consultation process we were able to obtain an initial Indigenous response. The overall positive and welcoming reaction was also supported by words of advice and wisdom which are summarised below:
• Consult early with representative and government organisations to identify Heritage and Native Title considerations;
• Avoid raising false expectations within communities by only initiating the approach when there is sufficient demand for a SIA:
- Community Elders’ time is limited;
- Consultation fatigue can result if the SIA takes too long to begin delivering benefits.
Sustainability of Indigenous Communities in Australia 12 Minerals and Industry
Sustainability of Indigenous Communities in Australia 12 Minerals and Industry
Box 1 - Suggested Sustainability Assurance Plan Considerations
• Proposed SIA scale design, and industry mix • Infrastructure needs, impacts and opportunities
- Port, transportation, pipelines, urban facilities, light industry, service industry, water provision, water management, waste management, power and communications • Employment and training needs, impacts and opportunities
- Regional Indigenous and non-Indigenous • Tourism needs, impacts and opportunities
• Other economic needs, impacts and opportunities - Regional and State
• Local government administrative needs, impacts and opportunities
- Revenue/service improvement opportunities and resource/capacity demands; • Commonwealth government needs, impacts and opportunities
- Statutory and other
• Other strategic needs, impacts and opportunities • Ecological needs, impacts and opportunities
- Flora, fauna, soil, air, surface/ground water, coastal, cumulative impacts, indirect impacts on health and the ecosystem
• Statutory and community-driven
• Statutory Native Title needs, impacts and opportunities • Aboriginal Heritage needs, impacts and opportunities • Health considerations needs, impacts and opportunities
- Public health infrastructure - Health services
• Education facilities needs, impacts and opportunities - Primary, secondary, tertiary
• Community services needs, impacts and opportunities • Housing needs, impacts and opportunities
• Sport and Recreational needs, impacts and opportunities • Other social and cultural needs, impacts and opportunities
- Indigenous - Non-indigenous
• SIA Governance Plan – sets out how Sustainability Assurance Plan needs to be met by projects
Although the scope of the establishment of strategic industrial areas through sustainability assessment is relatively narrow and relating only to heavy strategic industrial developments, if the anticipated benefits for Indigenous people prove to be correct then there is the potential for this approach to become a clear strategy for the State Government to guide development towards sustainability at an accelerated pace. This will require resolution of Native Title throughout the State and a multicultural context with robust Indigenous involvement in all aspects of development.
On a site specific level, such a new approach should also offer a way to reduce the volume of consultation, while increasing the value of the consultation sought. It should reduce the burden upon local Community Elders, while ensuring that they have every opportunity to guide the development of a SIA and contribute their vision for the region.
Industrial zones tend to be longer lived than individual industries located in them. Any new proposed approach should incorporate structures that will allow the benefits to be equally long-lived, thus allowing Indigenous communities involved to plan for the long- term. The most significant outcome could be a more proactive involvement of Indigenous people with industry in their areas with potential to create long term economic benefit for Indigenous communities.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to acknowledge the opportunity presented to them to work on this project and funding by the Western Australian Department of Industry and Resources, and particularly the contribution of Ben Peden and Lis Sturrock. They are also very grateful to all participants in the numerous workshops carried out throughout the project as well as to all those who contributed their insights individually and through other means. Special thanks go to Indigenous stakeholder representatives.
Sustainability of Indigenous Communities in Australia 12 Minerals and Industry
• Declare the types of industry planned for the SIA in order to make it possible for Heritage surveys to proceed:
- Heritage sites are vulnerable to environmental impacts on an entire catchment, thus requiring the Environmental Protection Act to be applied to an anticipated mix and volume of pollutants. This necessitates the declaring of the types of industry expected. • Native Title can be accommodated on an interim basis through a Memorandum of
Understanding with local Indigenous groups, which can then be formalised through an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) as Native Title is legally determined:
- Where Native Title is already legally determined an ILUA can be negotiated directly. • Indigenous representative bodies and/or local Indigenous groups should be funded to participate on a SIA sustainability oversight or management board to ensure that new issues can be addressed as they arise;
• A robust Indigenous employment, employment skills and life skills programs should be developed as part of the SIA Sustainability Assurance Plan under the guidance of local Indigenous leaders;
• Other social, economic and environmental returns on the project should be developed (i.e. net regional benefits).
This final issue in particular involved considerable discussion and is expected to enable the Indigenous representatives to be more proactive in how they deal with industry. Thus Indigenous groups can get involved at an early stage with projects and with siting SIAs in their area. This should enable them to be involved in their on-going management, creating long term jobs and economic benefit to their communities. Reacting to industry alone will never produce this outcome. Such an outcome has been found in other places such as in Canada where Indigenous groups have formed economic development partnerships in their region and realised significant long-term benefit (see Gibson, 2005). The ultimate goal of this strategy is for Indigenous Native Title holders to become proponents in partnership with a corporation to develop commercial extraction, processing or manufacturing industry on their lands in a way that deliver net regional Indigenous sustainable benefits, as well as delivering similar benefits for the wider region as a whole.
Conclusions
There are three important aspects in the desire to change and make more effective the process of the establishment of Strategic Industrial Areas in Western Australia, namely: (1) The approach should provide a more efficient and effective use of the land, including
the State Government encouraging development where there are fewer constraints and where synergies (including costs to the State) are optimised;
(2) Communities, including Indigenous communities, can see that developments are better designed to leave a positive long term legacy of social, environmental and economic benefit to the region and the State; and
(3) Industry proponents should be able to proceed more quickly and with greater assurance about the future of their projects.
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