Antinuclear

Big mining companies losing the public opinion battle

Big miners need to win hearts and minds in fight against environmental activism, Australian Financial Review, Jennifer Hewett, 3 June 15 The mining industry may have seen off the mining tax it despised but industry executives seem less certain about how to deal with a much more generic threat.

Environmental activism against the mining industry – particularly the coal and coal seam gas industries – is becoming more powerful, sophisticated and effective.

It ranges from protesters chaining themselves to gates or trees on mining sites to the divestment movement, which has seen groups ranging from the massive Norwegian sovereign wealth fund to Australian universities to French banks get out of fossil fuel investments or financing…….

the potential impact and risk of reputational damage from the level of environmental opposition is growing – making discussion about it a natural feature of the annual conference of the Minerals Council of Australia in Canberra on Wednesday.

LOSING THE PR BATTLE

A lot of frustrated companies belatedly realise they are losing the public relations battle and the support of large sections of the community, ………

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says it has become a “war of ideology” and the industry must not stop pushing back against this sort of attack.

But how best to do so is not so clear to the industry players…. Vanessa Guthrie, chief executive of uranium company Toro Energy, said her 30 years in the nuclear industry had convinced her it was necessary to fight with the heart as well as the head…….

The ability to be more persuasive becomes even more important given the momentum of the global movement to combat climate change by limiting or even closing down the coal industry. That means the protesters’ targets have changed.

Although Guthrie is sure environmental activism will return to her industry, she said uranium was going through a “quiescent” period while coal and coal seam took the heat. For the first time, there were no protesters outside last year’s annual uranium conference……

Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine, who formerly worked with Forrest and now runs his own
consultancy, said it was vital to engage with the community and use the right language as part of a “soft war”.

The companies are now slowly becoming more attuned to the need for this and using social media themselves. But so far there seems little enthusiasm for the sort of people-focused, soft big advertising campaign that helped put the industry’s case against the mining tax. …..

June 4, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, opposition to nuclear