A balancing act: The role of benefits, impacts and confidence in governance in predicting acceptance of mining in Australia

Mining activities generate benefits but can also negatively impact human societies and the environment. The present research aims to examine how people evaluate the benefits and negative impacts of mining, and how this evaluation, in turn, affects the extent to which they support mining activities in Australia. Study 1 (N=210) found that when the key impacts and benefits were considered simultaneously, mining׳s environmental impact was the major factor leading to rejection of mining, followed by impacts on other sectors such as agriculture, with impacts on living cost had no significant bearing on people׳s attitude toward mining. On the benefit side, creating employment and promoting mining community development were the most important benefits leading to participants׳ acceptance of mining, followed by benefit in general wealth and regional infrastructure improvement. Further analysis indicated that participants were not prepared to compromise their concern over environmental impact when weighing benefits over costs. Study 2 largely replicated the findings of Study 1 with a larger and nationally representative sample (N=2590). Further analyses in Study 2 showed that confidence in governance institutions (i.e., perceived legislative and government regulative capacities in holding the mining industry accountable) played an important role in moderating the effect of environmental impact on acceptance of mining. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of managing development of the mining sector in Australia.