Social licence or social science? Perspectives on social impact assessment

摘要

Established frameworks for social impact assessment (SIA), both internationally and in Australia, emphasise the fundamental need for rigorous social-science methods, alongside complementary principles such as impartiality, a life-cycle approach, and transparency. For example, the New South Wales (NSW) SIA guideline for resource projects (NSW DPE, 2017) notes that SIA should use “appropriate, accepted social-science methods and robust evidence from authoritative sources,” and that SIA should be “undertaken in a fair, unbiased manner.” The rationale for these principles is that decision-makers, and people potentially affected by major projects, should be able to rely on the findings and conclusions in forming a balanced view of their merits. On this basis, rigorously investigating the community's views, and level of approval - or 'social licence' - for a proposal becomes one of the critically important parts in the SIA process. After all, canvassing the views of potentially-affected people is one of the key ways to understand how they expect the project to affect them.