Golden Internship Opportunities

In 2010 the Barnett government was looking at increasing the royalties that they received from Western Australia's gold producers. In response to this an action group was formed to represent the gold industry's interests. The Gold Royalties Response Group (GRRG) succeeded in 2010 in preventing the government from raising gold royalties but the premier mentioned that the issue might be revisited in the future.

As predicted, the government is, now in 2013, again looking to increase the gold royalties from 2.5% to a proposed 5% tax and the GRRG has been reconvened. The communications consultancy I am interning with, Cannings Purple, are once again a significant member of the movement representing the gold industry. This has made for a very interesting time for me to be a part of the company. Cannings Purple is involved in handling the media for the GRRG, here are a few examples of outlets where media coverage has been generated:

Cannings Purple

The Australian

ABC

Yahoo News

Mining Australia

I have personally been involved in many aspects of the campaign. Putting together contact lists for mail-outs, writing potential radio scripts, drafting up letters to gold industry stakeholders and contributing to the campaign's facebook page are some examples of the tasks that I have been given.

Link to the 'Give Gold A Fair Go' facebook page:
Facebook - Give Gold a Fair Go
(we're trying to get likes at the moment so feel free to get on board!)

This campaign is moving very quickly and it's a rewarding process to see the results of your input have an impact so swiftly. I have certainly had the opportunity to utilise some theoretical skills from class in this campaign. For example I've had to write draft letters to employees within the gold sector and also to the shire councils which operate within the same regions as the gold mines. The goal of these letters is to inform and also be a call to action, make the campaign relevant to the receiver and make them feel invested.

These two letters obviously require quite different tones and levels of formality so the lessons we've had in writing are really coming into effect. It feels like not long ago we were all in PR Techniques learning the basics and now after a bit of refinement it's paying off. As current graduates we have an advantage when it comes to social media as it comes naturally to us. This has definitely helped me in contributing to the social media aspect of the campaign, as a user myself it's easy to put myself in the shoes of someone on the receiving end of these messages and the best way to get them involved. Social media is quite an apathetic medium so our focus has been on a strong call to action that connects on a personal level.

Previously I knew very little about the gold sector so an unexpected payoff has been gaining a bit more of an understanding of this industry. When everyone is so focused on iron ore in WA gold has probably been forgotten somewhat so it's good to have some knowledge that I didn't before.

Hopefully plenty more to come with this campaign and watch this space!
Submissions to the government have to be in by 31st October so after I leave here I'll be watching the news eagerly to see the result of the work we are doing now.