Pilbara Dialogue

PILBARA DIALOGUE

BACKGROUND

In 2005, the Commission established the Pilbara Taskforce to support a coordinated approach to address key issues impacting the region. The Taskforce was chaired by the Commission and comprised of senior representatives from the resource sector, State and Federal Government agencies, Local Government and other relevant stakeholders.

The Commission has refocused the Pilbara Taskforce through the establishment of the Pilbara Dialogue – a high level round table for the development of coordinated strategies and actions between stakeholders involved in the development of the region. Critical issues identified by the stakeholder group will be directed to the Commission’s Board, the Minister for the Pilbara, the Cabinet Standing Committee on Regional Policy and to appropriate government agencies and organisations.

Outcomes from the Dialogue will also be used to inform the Pilbara Industry Community Council (PICC). As a permanent member of the Steering Group, the Commission will ensure issues raised through Pilbara Dialogue are addressed.

CURRENT STATUS

The Pilbara Dialogue commenced with a “Growth Forum” held in South Hedland on the 16^th April 2008. It included three sessions facilitated by Mr Don Burnside, Principal Natural Resource Scientist from URS consultancy.

The first and second sessions comprised of presentations by Industry and Government on planned expansions and their effects on core services, followed by a facilitated session to set the ongoing Agenda for the Dialogue.

As a result of the final session it was agreed that the Commission would commence the process to develop a regional vision/strategic plan around the following key issues:

1. The need to define and document a regional vision for a ‘sustainable Pilbara’

2. The need to develop a ‘Pilbara Model’ for providing core services including land, housing, education, health, infrastructure, childcare, justice, attraction and retention of staff, district allowance, other small to medium enterprises and industries other than mining

3. Achieving full Indigenous participation in the region’s success – a collaborative approach to Indigenous training/employment/enterprise opportunities by Industry, NGO’s and Government. Working together to provide consistent training but also realising that one model will not fit all Indigenous groups.

It was also agreed that there are already numerous documents and studies on the Pilbara undertaken by industry and government, and most lga’s have or are in the process of developing plans for their local government areas. As such, the first stage of developing the regional vision and strategy has been the engagement of URS to undertake a desk top audit/map and gap to identify what is already in existence and what additional work needs to be undertaken to develop the Pilbara plan.

At the second meeting of the Pilbara Dialogue, held on the 25^th July 2008, URS presented the finding which comprised a matrix document identifying critical themes from a range of existing documents including:

Undertaking, partnering and delivery of better outcomes for the region
Growing a diversified economy
Educated, healthy, safe and supportive communities
Valuing and protecting the environment

Each theme was broken down further showing current and previous plans and programs that were in place to deal with each issue with an assessment on its success using the following questions:

Is this a long standing issue?
Is there are recent (3-5yrs) overarching Pilbara plan that deals with this issue?
Is this a cross-sectoral/cross-portfolio issue?
Is there adequate co-ordination?
Is timely progress being made?
Is this a priority issue for the Pilbara Dialogue and seen to be a critical issue in the Pilbara’s vision/strategic plan?

These critical issues were then put to the Pilbara Dialogue representatives to determine whether they thought we were doing enough and if not what more could we be doing.

The last session of the day allowed people to talk about what they saw in the Pilbara’s future and what they hoped the Pilbara would look like in 2020. The following points were agreed on by all Pilbara Dialogue representatives:

Population grows naturally through attraction to the Pilbara (main centres 25-30k)
Small industry growth
Quality services at a level to enable choice between residential or FIFO (achieved through partnership investment and redistribution of wealth)
Pilbara is seen as a viable place to live
Private housing market
Intra-regional migration
A well maintained environment
Housing is environmentally suitable and attractive
Entertainment and lifestyle choices are available

As a result of the second meeting of Pilbara Dialogue it was agreed that the Commission would commence work on a draft document leading into the development of the regional vision/strategic plan.