Resource Curse or Cure ?: On the Sustainability of Development in Western Australia

309 Pages·2014·2.906 MB·English

by  Martin Brueckner, Angela Durey, Robyn Mayes, Christof Pforr (eds.)

CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance
Series Editors: Samuel O. Idowu · René Schmidpeter
Martin Brueckner
Angela Durey
Robyn Mayes
Christof Pforr E ditors
Resource
Curse or
Cure ?
On the Sustainability of Development in
Western Australia
CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance
Series Editors
Samuel O. Idowu, London Metropolitan University,
Calcutta House, London, United Kingdom
Rene´ Schmidpeter, Ingolstadt, Germany
For furthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/11565
ThiSisaFMBlankPage
Martin Brueckner (cid:129) Angela Durey (cid:129)
Robyn Mayes (cid:129) Christof Pforr
Editors
Resource Curse or Cure ?
On the Sustainability of Development in
Western Australia
Editors
MartinBrueckner AngelaDurey
InstituteforSocialSustainability FacultyofHealthSciences
MurdochUniversity CurtinUniversity
Perth,WesternAustralia Perth,WesternAustralia
RobynMayes ChristofPforr
JohnCurtinInstituteofPublicPolicy CurtinBusinessSchool
CurtinUniversity CurtinUniversity
Perth,WesternAustralia Perth,WesternAustralia
ISSN2196-7075 ISSN2196-7083(electronic)
ISBN978-3-642-53872-8 ISBN978-3-642-53873-5(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-53873-5
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014935247
©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2014
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Foreword
Peopledonotsimplylookoutoveralandscapeandsay‘thisbelongstome’.Theysay,‘I
belongtothis’.Concernforfamiliartopography,fortheplacesoneknows,isnotaboutthe
lossofacommodity,butaboutthelossofidentity.Peoplebelongintheworld:itgivesthem
ahome.
(Jacobs1995:109,originalemphasis)
This comprehensive collection of essays on the social and economic impacts of
contemporary resource exploitation in Australia is a welcome contribution to a
much-neededpublicdebate.Iwillleavetoothersthetaskofassessingtheprobable
ratioofcursetocure;myfocusisonthecontinuedneglectinourpoliticaldiscourse
ofthelong-termimpactofminingonourplace,ourheritage,generallyunderstood,
andparticularlyonourIndigenousheritage.
InmyhomestateofWesternAustralia,governmentandcommercealikearestill
built on the expectation that minerals and fossil fuels are infinitely available and
theirdevelopmentuniversallybeneficial.Todemurfromthisnarrative,topointout
cumulativeharmsortosuggesttheneedforamorediversifiedeconomicbaseless
reliantontheunpredictabletrajectoryofresourcepricesistoinviteseverecensure
and accusations of unrealistic thinking. Despite the history of regular (and often
destructive) booms and busts, the official line still gives priority to resource
exploitationoverothervalueswhichareimportanttothecommunity—theconver-
sation, as this volume confirms, is almost always cast in terms of the need for
continuedeconomicgrowthandtheeconomiclosseswhichwillbeincurredifwe
acttoprotectourculturalandenvironmentalheritage;economicimperativesalmost
invariablyprevailwhencontestsaboutlanduseemerge.
Perhaps part of the explanation for this fixation lies in the rich spoils from the
first mining boom in WA’s Goldfields. In his Australian dictionary of biography
entry, Cowley observes that “The Forrest government was extraordinarily lucky.
While the eastern colonies were suffering from droughts, depression, unemploy-
ment, financial crises and bank crashes, one new goldfield after another was
discovered in Western Australia, especially after the discovery of Coolgardie
(1892)andKalgoorlie(1893).Hundredsofcompanieswereformedintheeastern
v
vi Foreword
coloniesandinLondontoexploitthegolddepositsandmuchcapitalflowedinfor
investmentinmines,businessandproperty”.
This is a familiar Western Australian story and one which successive govern-
ments have sought to replicate—including in grabbing the glory. But these are
differenttimesasthisvolumeattests.Whatourforebearssawwasalandofpromise
and plenty with no apparent limit to what the feats of human ingenuity could
achieveinpursuitofeconomicgrowth.Whatwehaveinherited,alongsidematerial
prosperity, are serious problems such as resource insecurity, income inequality as
wideasthatinPortugal,arisingcostoflivingburdenontheleastwelloff,pressures
onfamiliesimposedbyafly-in/fly-outlifestyle,environmentaldegradationandthe
destructionofIndigenousheritage:thereisadownsidetomining.Inthistimelyand
wide-rangingcollection,thesedownsidesaregiventhoughtfulattention.
Some of the most difficult conversations to have in Australia are those which
seektoexploretheheritagevalueofourplacesandlandscapes.Itappearsthatour
governments generally underestimate the importance of place to our well-being.
Theyappeartoignoretherealitythatoursharedsenseofbelongingisrootedinthe
heritage places and landscapes to which we attach meaning and significance; the
destructionandneglectofimportantplacesscarsusdeeply.Wedonotsimplyexist
in an environment; we also derive meaning and succour from it. And these
meaningsarenotjustindividualonesbutarepartofthesharedfabricofthebroader
cultureandsocialstructurewithinwhichwelive.
Agrowingresearchliteratureinthesocialsciencesunderlinestheimportanceof
asenseofplaceandfeelingsofattachmenttoaplaceorneighbourhoodinshaping
ouridentity,oursenseofbelongingandourwell-being. Conversely,itshowsthat
rootlessness and alienation result when cherished places, spaces and settings are
destroyedorirrevocablychangedbeyondourcontrol;mostofusexperienceasense
oflossandgrief.Mostpeoplehaverobustemotionalbondstotheirplacesandthe
communities in them, although these links may be eroding as people become
increasingly mobile. This is a particular problem for us in the fly-in/fly-out
state—people simply don’t know enough to see the changes, the degradation and
theloss.
ThishasprofoundimplicationsforIndigenousheritage,whichisoftendamaged
by resource development. Part of the problem is that the nature and extent of
Indigenousculturalheritageisunknowntomuchofthecommunity,withtheresult
thatwedonotreallyknowwhatisbeingdestroyed.Infact,surveysandassessments
of Indigenous heritage are often funded and undertaken in response to specific
threatsfromdevelopmentprojects.Record—thendestroy.
We know that Australia’s Indigenous people view their world as an
interconnectedwhole:theymakenointrinsicdistinctionbetweenthelands,waters,
theplantsandanimalsandtheculturallysignificantsitesandobjectslinkedtothe
traditional knowledge, which lie at the heart of Indigenous culture and identity
handeddownthroughthegenerations.Suchtraditionalknowledgecanonlybekept
alivethroughuseandapplicationinthecountrytowhichitistied.Protectingland
and places and promoting cultural practices (especially languages and creative
expression) are both crucial for the maintenance of traditional knowledge. Where
Foreword vii
suchuseandapplicationaredisrupted,asisoftenthecasewithresourceextractive
industries,culturalheritageinthebroadestsenseisunderthreat.Activitiescarried
out by the mining and gas industries may result in the removal or degradation of
features which form an important part of Indigenous heritage and of our heritage
more generally—landscapes, habitats, rock art, ancient story lines and geological
formations. In the rush to feed and fire, the steel mills of China we barely stop to
considerthelossthatthisrepresents.
Anyone who’s been paying attention to Australian public debate over the last
few years can’t have failed to notice that there’s been a lot of talk about values.
Heritage, of course, is about values—or more precisely, what we value from our
past, what we are prepared to protect and conserve and to pass on to future
generations.Thechaptersinthisvolumetracethewaysthatcomplexenvironmen-
tal, social and community heritages and values are being trampled by the rush to
feed the resource boom. The sites, landscapes and places which we can be
galvanised to protect are, in some ways, an indication of what matters to us and
whatwethinkofourselves.Ouractionsspeaklouderthanwords.
Perth,Australia CarmenLawrence
2October2013
Reference
JacobsM(1995)Sustainabilityandcommunity:Environment,economicrationalismandthesense
ofplace.AustralianPlanner32(2):109–115
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Foreword
Morethanthreedecadesago,attheendofthepremiershipofSirCharlesCourt,a
groupofsocialscientistsinPerthconductedawide-rangingandcriticalassessment
of the rapid mineral resource development that was transforming the economic,
socialandenvironmentalfabricofWesternAustralia.Thecollectedessays(State,
Capital and Resources in the North and West of Australia, eds E. Harman and
B.W.Head,1982)demonstratedthegrowingstrengthofadevelopmentalistideol-
ogyinWesternAustralia linked tomineralwealthextraction,close linksbetween
state ministers and large foreign corporations, use of special legislation to give
statutory force to major project agreements, displacement of Indigenous stake-
holders and little concern for environmental values. Similar processes were also
occurring in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and the resources boom
clearlyhadnationalconsequences.Federal/statetensionswereincreasinglyevident
in terms of disputes about export controls and the distribution of benefits from
mineralrevenues.Therewerealsoconflictsemergingbetweenmininginterestsand
thoseoffarming,tourismandmanufacturing.Inthewakeofanearlierexportboom,
the‘Gregorythesis’hadalreadydrawnattentiontotrade-relateddistortionsarising
from a higher dollar, with negative impacts on import-competing manufacturing
and services. Finally, a handful of voices were calling for the establishment of a
publicfund(asinAlbertaorNorway)tohelpmoderatetheeffectsoftheboom-and-
bust cycle and to protect the interests of future generations as natural resources
inevitablybecamedepleted.
More than 30 years later, the publication Resource curse or cure? On the
sustainability of development in Western Australia, edited by Martin Brueckner,
AngelaDurey,RobynMayesandChristofPforr,hascomeataverytimelymoment.
This excellent new collection of essays provides a detailed and comprehensive
analysisoftheunevendevelopmentassociated withrecentstagesoftheresources
boominWesternAustralia.Resourcedevelopment—asanideologyandasasetof
developmental practices—has continued to be supported by all major political
parties, because mining investment has generated wealth for investors, revenues
forgovernmentandincomesformanyworkersandsupplierslinkedtotheminerals
industry. Some factors, as is evident from the contributions to this volume, have
ix