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Meeting with stakeholders
Michael Bidwell spends much of his work time in the great outdoors.
As Land Management Officer, he is responsible for managing issues associated with both the development and use of Hydro Tasmania’s land, including access by recreational users such as local and visiting anglers.
This involves working closely with a variety of stakeholders on a regular basis to resolve issues, listening to and understanding their concerns and ensuring they are kept informed of our activities.
“We are getting better at developing close relationships with our stakeholders but we have to be far more proactive in understanding what they are interested in and not just what we want to talk about.”
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At Hydro Tasmania we aim to improve our ability to identify and understand stakeholders and their issues as a foundation for improved engagement and responsiveness.
This year we engaged the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR) to assist us in identifying the issues that matter most to our stakeholders. ACCSR approached 61 stakeholders and 45 participated. This research found that stakeholders frequently raised communication and engagement among the issues. Other frequently raised issues were the environment, water management, the perception of Hydro Tasmania, energy and ecologically sustainable practices, see figure 18. We aim to engage with those stakeholders in the findings of the research and discuss how we can respond to the issues they raised.
This year we received positive feedback about our collaboration and focus on solutions during several projects, including the Lake Margaret redevelopment, the Lake River and Macquarie consortium pipeline project and planning the Poatina penstock painting project.
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CEO Vince Hawksworth, left, with Bron Bell,
Red Cross Tasmania’s Ian Burke, and Brett Spinks
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Our approach to engaging stakeholders about operational issues has not been consistent and handling stakeholder issues has not always met expectations, such as this year’s announcement to lower Lake Meadowbank for a major maintenance project. We recognised the legitimacy of stakeholder concerns, delayed the project and applied a more constructive approach.
We are taking steps to be consistent and more proactive in dealing with our operational impact on communities and engaging with stakeholders. We aim to develop a business-wide model, and during 2008/09 we made substantial progress in identifying a model for collaborative, relationship-based engagement.
However, the progress on identifying and implementing this has been slower than we anticipated. We will develop and implement the model during 2009/10.
The annual community survey, undertaken by an external service provider, gauges overall public opinion of Hydro Tasmania. It showed us that the community thinks our reputation is good and that it trusts us. However, it also showed that we can improve in listening to the community.
Sponsorship
Hydro Tasmania and our staff supported a variety of initiatives, events and organisations through the year. Sponsorships and donations for 2008/09 totalled $428 775.
Our staff responded to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire appeal, raising $26 342. The business donated an additional $36 342, making a total contribution from Hydro Tasmania of $62 684.
We continued to support charity events such as the Cancer Council Relay for Life and the Leukaemia Foundation’s Great Shave and Movember, the men’s health event. Our support includes iconic Tasmanian events and organisations such as the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the Ten Days on the Island Festival and the annual Three Peaks Race – a four day short-handed sailing and endurance mountain running race.
We also support our staff in events such as fun runs and health-focused initiatives such as the Global Corporate Challenge.
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