Rendezvous, Rhetoric and Reality: Industry – Government Engagement in Queensland’s Western Cape Communities

Ivanitz-Fulcher M¹*, Fernandez A²*

1. Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2. Comalco Aluminium Limited, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a coalition of 175 international companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via economic growth, economic balance and social progress. The WBCSD mission is to provide business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable development. To be effective, however, this move toward sustainable development necessarily involves industry’s move away from total philanthropy and paternalistic engagement with communities via the ‘benefactor’ role to the development of appropriate and sustainable partnerships that empower communities to determine their own future.

Communities do not necessarily welcome this shift nor do governments. More and more communities and governments are looking to industry to solve issues that may more appropriately be addressed by government. How do companies engage communities and government to ensure appropriate accountabilities for all parties? How do companies specifically engage governments to ensure that both parties are responsibly engaged? Comalco Aluminium, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto is currently engaged with the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy on appropriate accountabilities in the Cape York region. This paper examines these issues using this engagement as a case study.