Social impact assessments are generally undertaken for three main reasons. The first reason is in order to achieve better decisions, particularly in matters of public policy and public good. The role of the social impact assessment is to ensure that information about the likely social outcomes of particular courses of action are taken into account before a decision is finalised and/or during the implementation of change processes. Information about social impacts typically complements information about economic and environmental impacts. One of the functions of a social impact assessment is to make sure that the issues and outcomes of social process and social structure are not overlooked.
The second reason is in order to provide the communities in which the social impacts will be felt with the opportunity to contribute to, and participate in, and/or make decisions about the changes that are proposed or imposed. Thus social impact assessment processes are often about empowering these communities. In practice, the extent of empowerment is very varied, however, and the definition of 'community' often quite limited.
The third reason for social impact assessment is to assist the development and delivery of appropriate mitigation strategies.
The NSW Government's Forestry Structural Adjustment Package is an integral part of the Government's Forestry Policy and involves a commitment of up to $120 million over five years to provide assistance in relation to timber industry restructuring, including training and relocation of individual workers and industry development. The Commonwealth Government has agreed to match the NSW Government's contribution.
In addition, the NSW Government has also given a commitment to provide $47 million to accelerate the establishment of hardwood plantations in this State.
The NSW Government's Forestry Policy aims to provide the timber industry with the impetus for innovative structural change, and to also provide for increasing support for the forest industry workforce involved in this change process.
A key thrust to assist industry development is the Government's intent to convert a proportion of current annual sawlog quota to five year term agreements with extensions based on assessment against value adding criteria.