Building long-term community partnerships in sensitive remote environments

Abstract

Local communities can challenge the successful development of onshore oil and gas operations; for this reason, it is important to develop meaningful relationships with communities, where possible. As oil and gas companies establish more onshore operations it is necessary to find ways to build and sustain effective community relations. Rio Tinto-Alcan (RTA) Weipa and Energy Resources Australia (ERA) are two significant resources operations in Australia that operate in sensitive remote environments. Positive, enduring and collaborative community relations are essential for the success of both operations. A partnership between each company and the schools within their respective local operating environment has created positive student outcomes and increased workforce stability, resulting in overall success for education and industry in the region. This paper describes the long-term community partnership strategy that has been implemented to achieve mutually beneficial arrangements. It identifies how this experience can be used as a model to guide the oil and gas industry to establish sustained community relationships with its onshore operations, including CSG activities, in the future. RTA and ERA have worked with Nous to create partnerships between the operations and their respective local schools. RTA and Western Cape College have partnered since 2005, and ERA has partnered with West Arnhem College since 2009. The starting point was identification of the school education and workforce needs of each partner, then aligning them through a partnership based around achieving mutual goals. Nous found RTA and ERA’s needs were to: attract and retain staff;recruit local staff;improve Indigenous education and employment; and,support communities for a bright future and healthy young people. The schools needed to ensure: graduates have life choices and the capability to make decisions themselves;post-school pathways exist for students;students have diversified learning opportunities (both in the classroom and on the job); and,strong Indigenous communities are maintained, supported by leaders and young people. Quality local school education is important to achieve these goals. The partnerships have established a broad program of activities to encourage young people to complete their schooling and forge pathways post-school. The development and maintenance of collaborative arrangements requires planning, action, leadership, coordination, and sustained commitment to achieve successful outcomes. This paper describes the approach, program initiatives and outcomes achieved, and how the approach can be adapted for onshore oil and gas operations.