CQUniversity is helping to gauge community perception of Gladstone industry, releasing a report prepared for the Gladstone Industry Leadership Group.

The report was prepared by our Centre for Environmental Management, with contributions by Lindsay Greer, Dr Delwar Akbar, Professor John Rolfe and Julie Mann.

This independent study is designed to be an on-going and accurate measure capable of providing a benchmark of the performance of existing Gladstone industries.

GILG represents Boyne Smelters Limited, Cement Australia, NRG Gladstone Operating Services, Queensland Alumina Limited, and Rio Tinto Alcan - Yarwun. The primary data was collected by a market research and data collection agency, National Field Services Australia.

This study found the highest level of concern by Gladstone residents was dust, followed by air quality. Many of the air quality concerns were associated with the QAL facility (odour, caustic vapour) and the prevalence of coal dust from the rail and port facilities within close proximity to the Gladstone CBD area.

The study concludes that the performance of Gladstone industry and the high level of acceptance within the Gladstone community indicates that Gladstone industry is performing satisfactorily in the task of maintaining a ‘social licence to operate' in the region.

"The challenge is for industry to not only maintain its satisfactory performance but to maximise its efforts through positive action to increase the support throughout the community by continuous identification of potential flashpoints for community concern," the report notes.

"As the industry presence grows in the Gladstone region so does the risk that community sentiments will shift in a negative way if care is not taken."

The report recommends that the benchmark measurement of corporate citizenship be expanded to incorporate sustainability concepts measured across five key areas of cultural, economic, environmental, human and social performance.

"The indicators can be improved and serve the Gladstone community by providing a clearer measurement of Gladstone industry performance."