In both
these ways, SIA is a precautionary process. Many people treat SIA as if it
mainly deals with the second item on this list with a few compensations for the
first. This approach seriously underestimates its usefulness.
In many
ways SIA is as you might expect it to be – making sure unnecessary or
unacceptable bad outcomes don’t happen and getting the best possible results.
That is, doing the planning work well. Another way of saying all this is that SIA
is an “anticipatory, precautionary and a due diligence process. And, it’s an
assessment not a proof. After all, the event hasn’t happened yet.
SIA raises
a number of difficult issues in practice. A large proposal (for example,
renewal of the Ashmore Estate), might result in a huge list of foreseeable
social outcomes. Tracking all these could mire an impact assessment in
interminable and complex considerations. So most guidebooks recommend that an
SIA deal with “likely issues that matter.” Thisraises the
question as to what might matter, and to whom.
For any
proposal there are usually numerous groups of people with interests in likely
outcomes. Often these groups (for example, local residents, businesses,
traditional owners, the local council) have specific interests to support or
protect. Often members of some groups are very vocal in their support or
opposition, while other groups don’t seem to have much to say.
A good SIA
process makes strenuous efforts to canvas the interests of all affected groups,
including the interests of groups inadequately represented in submissions or
consultations. This is not just a case of offering different ways for people to
take part. It also means that the assessor should be on the lookout for groups
who are being left out. This might be because they are not in a good position
to speak up (are disempowered for some reason, too young/not born yet, too
busy, not well, not invited, have been misinformed, have been shouted down,
bullied, etc.).
Social
impact assessment is not just concerned with assessing the competing wants and
concerns of different groups. Many social issues are matters of public
interest, that is, they affect us all. For example, a widening gap between rich
and poor has negative public health impacts (eg, on rates of heart disease)
that affect the city as a whole. Public health is a well established matter of
public interest.
Because SIA
deals with matters that are in the public interest, it should always be a
public document. Sometimes a group can only see its own interests and
sometimes individuals confuse their personal interests with the public
interest. Because conflicts of interest are often present in discussions about
development proposals, best practice includes the following: The social impact
assessment is prepared by an independent person and conflicts of interest are
declared e.g. in the case of the SIA preparer, the number of recent jobs for
this client; The principle of precaution is applied, that is, lack of
definitive proof about likely negative outcomes is not used as a reason to
disregard them; And the distributional equity of impacts is identified – that
is who will gain and who will lose out if the proposal goes ahead, and the
effect of these outcomes on social equity and other matters of public interest.
An SIA may
include recommendations, including that a project not go ahead, or not
go ahead in its current form, because of the adverse social impacts likely to
result. There are particular difficulties in applying SIA to long-term,
multi-stage developments. These developments go through many changes and the
original social impact assessment needs regular revision. Keeping the SIA
current and relevant can seem unnecessary to the people doing the development
and tedious for interest groups faced with yet more revisions to review.
When these
feelings (“it’s not necessary” or “it’s so tedious”) arise, it is important to
remember that the public interest in health and wellbeing is at stake.
Alison
Ziller is a Director of Australia Street Company.
Source: South Sydney Herald March 2012 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au