Governing the impacts of mining and the impacts of mining governance: Challenges for rural and regional local governments in Australia

Abstract

While the economic benefits of the resources boom in Australia have been considerable so, too, have the impacts upon host communities. These are particularly profound in settled regions where intensive mining presents amenity problems, housing shortages, increasing demands on infrastructure, environmental degradation and conflicts with other industries such as agriculture. Attempts to manage these challenges commonly occur through a ‘governance’ approach involving partnership and hybrid arrangements between a whole host of stakeholders from the corporate, state and community sectors. As the closest tier of government to the local level, local government has found itself playing a central role in mining governance, particularly in responding to and managing community concerns. This paper examines the role of, and challenges facing, local government in managing the impacts of mining – both alone and in collaboration with other governmental actors. It documents these issues as they relate to the resource needs, planning strategies, human capital impacts, service provision and institutional capacity of local governments in some of the most mining-intensive regions in Australia.