Tracking the Boom in Queensland’s Gasfields

Main Article Content

Will Rifkin
Vikki Uhlmann
Jo-Anne Everingham
Kylie May

Abstract

During rapid resource development in a highly contested arena, effective processes for characterising cumulative, social and economic impacts are needed. In this article, we explain a strategy that uses an iterative process involving stakeholders to identify indicators of impacts of onshore natural gas development. The aim of the strategy is to arrive at a small set of indicators that those in the community, government and industry agree are salient and credible.

Four major joint ventures are investing more than A$60 billion to tap Queensland, Australia’s onshore natural gas resources. Thousands of wells are reaching into natural gas in seams of coal that lie below aquifers that residents refer to as essential for their heavily agricultural region. The magnitude of these developments has been depicted as threatening the traditional base of political power that has rested with farmers. Nearby coal mining has given some communities the experience of the boomtown cycle, but it is placing unfamiliar strains on municipal resources in other towns. Gas companies provide funds in attempts to mitigate impacts, satisfying requirements of their elaborate social impact management plans (SIMPs).

The research reported in this paper, though only mid-way to completion, suggests that an action-research approach to developing indicators of cumulative impacts on housing, business, employment, liveability and trust in government shows promise for enabling stakeholders to track the multi-faceted effects of a resource boom.  We hope that such work helps stakeholders to mitigate the ups and downs of the cycle of boom, bust and recovery that can be driven by resource development.

Article Details

Section
Articles (PEER REVIEWED)
Author Biographies

Vikki Uhlmann, The University of Queensland

Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining

Sustainable Minerals Institute

Jo-Anne Everingham, The University of Queensland

Centre for social Responsibilty in Mining

Sustainable Minerals Institute

Kylie May, The University of Queensland

Centre for social Responsibility in Mining
Sustainable Minerals Institute

References

D Franks et al, ‘Cumulative Impacts: A Good Practice Guide for the Australian Coal Mining Industry’ (Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining & Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, 2010).

N Goodwin, ‘Five Kinds of Capital: Useful Concepts for Sustainable Development’ (Global Development and Environment Institute, Working Paper No. 03-07, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, 2003) .

C Hayward, L Simpson and L Wood, ‘Still Left out in the Cold: Problematising Participatory Research and Development’ (2004) 44(1) Sociologia Ruralis 95.

G Bowker and S Star, Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences (MIT Press, 2000).

Queensland Government Statistician’s Office, Surat Basin Population Report, 2013 (Queensland Treasury and Trade, 2014) .

Queensland Water Commission, Surat Underground Water Impact Report (Queensland Government, Department of Natural Resources and Mines (2012) .

D Brereton et al, ‘Assessing the Cumulative Impacts of Mining on Regional Communities: An Exploratory Study of Coal Mining in the Muswellbrook Area of NSW’ (Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry, and The University of Queensland, 2008) 2.

E Goffman, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience (Harper Colophon Books, 1974).

S Kaufman, R Gardner and G Burgess, ‘Just the Facts, Please: Framing and Technical Information’ (2003) 5 Environmental Practice 223.

M Nisbet, ‘Framing Science: A New Paradigm in Public Engagement’ in L A Kahlor and P Stout, (eds), New Agendas in Science Communication (Taylor and Francis Publishers, 2009).

Entman 1993, 52, cited in O Renn, A Klinke and M van Asselt, ‘Coping with Complexity, Uncertainty and Ambiguity in Risk Governance: A Synthesis’ (2011) 40(2) Ambio 231.

S F Akkerman and A Bakker, ‘Boundary Crossing and Boundary Objects’ (2011) 81(2) Review of Educational Research 132.

J Meyer and R Land, ‘Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge: Linkages to Ways of Thinking and Practising’ in C Rust (ed), Improved Student Learning – Theory and Practice Ten Years On (Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, 2003) 412.

K Golden-Biddle and J Dutton (eds), Using a Positive Lens to Explore Social Change and Organizations: Building a Theoretical and Research Foundation (Routledge, 2012).

V Uhlmann et al, ‘Prioritising Indicators of Cumulative Socio-Economic Impacts to Characterise Rapid Development of Onshore Gas Resources’ (2014) (in press) Extractive Industries and Society 1, .

P Senge, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (Doubleday/Currency, 1990).

R Williams and A Walton, Community Expectations and Coal Seam Gas Development: A Milestone Report to GISERA (CSIRO, 2014) .