Social licence: what is really going on out there?
Sarah Browne A C and John Scales BA APPEA Limited, Melbourne, Australia.
B JWS Research, Malvern, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: sbrowne@appea.com.au
The APPEA Journal 61(2) 371-374 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21004
Accepted: 14 April 2021 Published: 2 July 2021
Abstract
This extended abstract will explore the real community landscape facing the gas industry and how assessment of independent metrics can better help design strategy, guide investment and provide insight and support to decision makers. It draws on independent polling from JWS Research, comprehensive digital analysis and learnings from 3 years of APPEA’s community engagement program, Brighter. It will provide a comprehensive and up to date industry wide analysis of current community sentiment, influencing factors and effective ways of communicating. It also provides a practical assessment of the application of this information, measures of success and real-life examples. Finally, it identifies emerging themes among the community, stakeholders and media that impact the industry’s social licence and outline APPEA’s approach to the changing public affairs landscape.
Keywords: social licence, community research, communications, public affairs, activism.
As Director – Public Affairs, Sarah Browne has led the Brighter program since its inception in 2018. Brighter is APPEA’s broader community and stakeholder engagement program and is designed to improve awareness among Australians of the role of natural gas in their everyday lives, in support of APPEA’s policy agenda. Sarah was previously a senior advisor to a number of Premiers and Ministers in both Western Australia and Victoria, including significant work in strategic policy development and integrated communications planning. Most recently, Sarah was Managing Director of the Strategic Communications group of FTI Consulting, a global consultancy specialising in public affairs campaigns. |
The founder of JWS Research, John Scales is a senior researcher with more than 30 years of experience. He has extensive commercial and public affairs research expertise and is quoted regularly and extensively in the media as a leading source on public opinion. John has worked for most of Australia’s top 50 ASX listed companies and many of the industry associations that represent them, as well as conducting local, state and federal government research and research for numerous high-profile communications and advertising campaigns. John is a career researcher, specialising in research on contemporary social and political issues and maintaining a focus on delivering clear and actionable results. John’s research dissects what people are thinking and why, providing the insights needed to drive campaigns and to achieve outcomes. |
