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La'o Hamutuk has just published
<a href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Sunrise/2011/WhyteCSRMay2011.pdf">
Cowboys, Ogres and Donors: A Decade of Corporate Social Responsibility in
Practice</a> by Mandy White, who represented Woodside in Timor-Leste in
2007-2008. The paper sharply criticizes Woodside's "ogres at the
helm" and "sycophantic senior staff" for taking a Public
Relations approach to Social Responsibility, "not making even
tokenistic efforts" to develop Timor-Leste. Whyte characterizes the
company's "blundering arrogance" in the negotiations over the
Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields: "Woodside
steadfastly refused to regard the Timor-Leste Government as a partner in
the development of the Sunrise fields, seemingly characterising them not
only as a 'thorn in the side,' but also as devious and untrustworthy.
... [D]riving forward to a final investment decision without the
Timor-Leste Government demonstrates an arrogant lack of regard for the
relationship." <br><br>
More information about the debate over Greater Sunrise is available at
<a href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Sunrise/10Sunrise.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Sunrise/10Sunrise.htm</a> .<br><br>
=====================================<br>
<b>Cowboys, Ogres and Donors<br>
A Decade of CSR in Practice – NZ, Australia, Timor-Leste and
Indonesia<br>
<i>By Mandy Whyte, May 2011<br><br>
</i></b>Web-published by La'o Hamutuk at
<a href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Sunrise/2011/WhyteCSRMay2011.pdf" eudora="autourl">
http://www.laohamutuk.org/Oil/Sunrise/2011/WhyteCSRMay2011.pdf<br><br>
</a><b>Abstract<br><br>
</b>This paper looks at examples of the community relations practices by
international mining companies within the framework of two traditional
approaches: public relations and community development (or Corporate
Social Responsibility). It argues that the second is a more effective
means to gain mutually beneficial outcomes for the companies and the
communities with whom and within they operate, particularly in the
developing world where power differentials are greater.<br><br>
It explores why, in the era of CSR, Woodside Energy Ltd has been
ineffective in working with the Government of Timor-Leste and how it has
created an impasse that has stalled the development of the Greater
Sunrise gas field. <br><br>
A third approach to community relations is put forward, ‘Us and Them’,
which suggests CSR doesn't work for some companies - not because it is
not understood - but because these companies do not have the will to
apply it. While there are many tools available for CSR, some companies
have not yet worked out why they should use them. <br><br>
It concludes that forced legal compliance, being taken for example by
Indonesia, may be necessary to curb unprofessional and ‘ogreist’
practices of companies working in developing countries.<br>
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***********************************************************<br>
Charles Scheiner<br>
La'o Hamutuk (The Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and
Analysis)<br>
P.O. Box 340, Dili, Timor-Leste (East Timor)<br>
Telephone: +670-3321040 or +670-734-0965 mobile<br>
email: cscheiner@igc.org website:
<a href="http://www.laohamutuk.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.laohamutuk.org</a> blog:
<a href="http://laohamutuk.blogspot.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://laohamutuk.blogspot.com/</a> skype: cscheiner<br><br>
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