Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives in Australia’s Mining Industry: An Applied Stakeholder Approach

In Australia, as elsewhere, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a set of strategies undertaken by governments, public and private companies and organisations to align their operations with an ability to respond to relevant social needs. The motivation for many Australian businesses and organisations to develop CSR initiatives and to report on their social benefits varies considerably. In its most sophisticated expression, this involves taking responsibility for any adverse social impacts where this is understood as being good for business and for ensuring a ‘community licence to operate’. This requires an awareness of and willingness to work constructively with a range of non-traditional stakeholder groups, going beyond the shareholders, suppliers and customers, to consider those who might be adversarial towards corporate entities. In the mining sector the stakeholder pressure on businesses to undertake CSR initiatives has occurred in the context of some very troubling adverse impacts on people, communities and ecosystems. There are limited government regulations requiring CSR despite these historical and contemporary socio-environmental costs and issues. In this arguably problematic context it is interesting to explore what CSR initiatives are being pursued, what has influenced these developments and how successful they have been.