The Department of Mines and Petroleum's stakeholder engagement approach to their MP reform

Hello fellow interns!

Sadly, I’ll be writing my last blog post today! As I have officially completed my 20 day placement at the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP). In this post I’d like to talk a bit about the stakeholder engagement strategy/plan I have been working on throughout my placement. Based on this, I will be outlining DMP’s stakeholder engagement approach to their Mining Proposal (MP) reform. I will then conclude by providing an account of the small amount of feedback received so far from attendees of the Reforming Environmental Regulation Industry Briefing Session.

I used DMP’s Stakeholder Mapping Tool to determine the level of engagement required for each stakeholder. This mapping tool categorises stakeholders based on both their relative power and interest. The following table summarises the appropriate level of engagement based on these two varying factors:

High power, high interest	Collaborate to empower
High interest, low power	Consult to involve
High power, low interest	Involve to collaborate
Low interest, low power	Inform to consult

Once each stakeholder’s required level of engagement was determined. I then used the IAP2’s Public Participation Spectrum to determine appropriate engagement activities. Please take a look at IAP2’s Spectrum via the following link: http://www.iap2.org.au/documents/item/84.

I will now give you a brief overview of the stakeholder engagement strategy I formulated for the MP reform. One of the most important stakeholders regarding this reform is industry. This includes both “industry” in general e.g. mining companies such as BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group, and peak industry representative bodies e.g. the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia. This is because industry is essentially the end user of the reformed MP. Therefore it will change the way they do business also. The peak industry bodies already have a seat on the Reforming Environmental Regulation Advisory Panel, and are soon to have a seat on the MP Reform Industry Reference Group. They have both high power and influence, and therefore DMP needs to collaborate to empower with them. As you can see, DMP has used engagement activities wisely. They fit well with those recommended by the Spectrum. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but that’s just an example of the approach I took to my stakeholder engagement plan. I also thought it was pertinent that I highlight and identify who DMP’s important stakeholders are regarding this reform.

As promised, I will let you in on the feedback we have received so far regarding the RER Industry Briefing Session. All feedback has been extremely positive to date. Attendees have said they obtained a lot of helpful information and that the event was really well organised. Life as a public relations (PR) professional is extremely rewarding, and I think this work experience at the DMP has definitely allowed me to have this realisation!

Thank you all so much to those of you who followed my blog posts throughout my experience! I really appreciate your interest, and I hope to see you all working as qualified PR professionals soon!

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Koch