2004, BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance
BMA is committed to ensuring that the communities continue to share our success. To this end, we are working with governments, community groups and other organisations to ensure resources are directed toward building long term benefits. To reinforce this commitment, BMA launched the BMA Community Partnerships Program (CPP) in September 2002. The Program provides support through a range of initiatives and activities which promote partnerships with local and State government, training and welfare organisations and, most importantly, the communities themselves, with the aim of leaving a lasting and positive legacy for the Central Queensland region.
The CPP represents a coordinated approach to community relations for BMA’s mines and Hay Point coal terminal. Since its inception, the Program has provided funding to address areas of greatest need in the Central Queensland towns where BMA’s employees and their families are located. The program extends across most of the Bowen Basin, as well as the port of Hay Point. The BMA CPP provides support within six broad categories, namely, youth support, business and kills training, community welfare, sport and recreation, arts and entertainment, and the environment.
In May 2004, BMA launched Stage 2 of this program, announcing a new range of activities to support primarily self-help initiatives. Thirteen local community organisations were the beneficiaries of the most recent round of funding. Stage 2 support covers a diverse range of initiatives from an engineering and robotics centre, to networking opportunities for youth workers, and water safety for young children. BMA also contributed more than $60,000 to a feasibility study of a proposed ‘Miners Park’ coal interpretive and community centre in Blackwater. The latest initiatives, valued at $275,000, have been added to a range of ongoing activities and will take BMA’s investment in the Community Partnerships Program to around $2 million annually.
