The survey invites local residents to share their views on the impacts, benefits and opportunities of Port Waratah’s operations and its contributions to the Newcastle community.

The quick ‘Pulse’ survey takes only five minutes to complete. It’s a check-in with the community on topics that are important to local people including employment, environmental management and economic contributions by Port Waratah. In this survey there is a focus on understanding if the community feels they are receiving a fair share of the benefits of Port Waratah’s operations.

Feedback from the community helps Port Waratah to improve the way it operates and to develop informed communications and strategic plans to address the needs of stakeholders and the local community.

Local Voices has been part of Port Waratah’s community engagement programme since 2018, strengthening relationships and providing meaningful two-way communication between Port Waratah and local people, especially residents in portside suburbs.

Port Waratah values community views on complex issues and in return is open and transparent with communications and results, including the most recent survey on attitudes towards coal export.

Dr Kieren Moffat says that the Newcastle community presents a sophisticated understanding of the coal industry and the progress of energy transition.

“The Newcastle community showed they can hold the current global market needs, economic contributions, new energy options and time needed for transition, in balance,” Dr Moffat said.

“Almost 60 per cent of participants thought that there are viable alternatives that could replace coal however, only 23 per cent thought that Australia should stop exporting coal immediately to address climate change. The majority of participants, 85 per cent, thought the transition away from coal will take time and needs a balanced approach.”

As part of Port Waratah’s commitment to transparency of the Local Voices results, more than 60 past participants, members of the Community Working Group, community partners and industry stakeholders came together at an event last month to share the latest results and discuss notable data trends that have emerged over the last six years.

John Thacker, resident of Newcastle West and Community Working Group Member, says one of the takeaways from the Local Voices event was the value of community feedback to Port Waratah.

“I was aware of this research and had previously completed a number of surveys, I learned that Local Voices is more than simply percentages and statistics,” said Mr Thacker.

“One of the most interesting aspects about the information shared is firstly the breadth of topics surveyed and the depth of the analysis performed. The constant, often subtle, fluctuations are engaging.

“Among the key takeaways from the event were the obvious competence of the organisation conducting this research and the extraordinary detail they are able to produce. But more importantly, it's the fact that Port Waratah seems to always be prepared to study and act when community thoughts and opinions are presented to them.”

The significant value of the community feedback is shared by Port Waratah CEO, Hennie du Plooy.

“Since we began in 2018, more than 4,670 surveys have been completed. This is an incredible commitment to our organisation from local residents and stakeholders and we appreciate their time and participation to provide feedback and help us improve.

“We believe in being an active member of the Newcastle community. Local Voices give us the opportunity to hear from local people on what is working well and where to concentrate our efforts to enable us to meet stakeholder expectations over time.”

Local Voices is a unique community engagement programme developed within Australia's national science agency, CSIRO. The independent and confidential survey is delivered by Voconiq and provides Port Waratah with data every six months, highlighting perceptions at an immediate point in time but also contributing to longer-term trends and a greater understanding of our local community.

Take the survey at voconiqlocalvoices.com/en/portwaratah.

Media Contact: Paul Chamberlin on 0419 233 989 or pchamberlin@tgpublic.com.au