Social license, like CSR, assumes the gas company must bare the burden of the research, investigation, engagement and resolution of negative issues for the purposes of keeping communities content.
The conflict that has been manufactured by activists (including politicians and political parties) opposed to CSG assumes all costs associated with the issue will be born by those seeking to profit from its extraction.
This is a burden that is not measurable in financial or social terms.
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There are too many questions associated with the idea of social license and not an equivalent number of answers.
It may be that Mr Jones can make the pronouncement that gas companies do not have a social license to extract CSG but it is equally relevant that they do not know how to go about getting one because they don't exist.
The governments that provided the legislative licenses do not know how to nor are they qualified to create and issue social licenses.
Activists like to argue that large projects and infrastructure must be vetted and accepted by communities but this was the reason for the invention of land and environment courts as important additional components of the separation of powers.
Gas companies will never get social licenses to operate coal seam gas wells because they are a metaphorical barrier invented by activists to stop such projects.
The 'independent' report from the NSW chief scientist Mary O'Kane investigating coal seam gas offers nothing on social license to operate.
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It lectures the state government on the need to build trust in its capacity to oversee safe CSG extraction.
Indeed there are a number of critical issues surrounding CSG that need immediate resolutions including water, health and land access but these are practical matters – they can be legislated.
The NSW and Queensland governments are showing leadership on these issues but on the matter of social license to operate they're uninformed and incapable.
The activists opposed to CSG are about to lock the window as well as the gate and gas companies and governments have no clue about how to get it open again.
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