PROJECT LEAD
BEN LAIDLAW
Ben Laidlaw has over 20 years’ experience in technical and senior leadership roles across not-for-profit, government and the private sector organisations including leading large communities & social performance practitioner team on large infrastructure and mining projects.
Since the establishment of Beneath the Surface Consulting, Ben has been highly sought as a Specialist Consultant, supporting a wide variety of organisations that include global mining companies, Government agencies at all levels and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations. This includes the successful delivery of a large number of projects in rural and remote locations of Northern Australia.
Recent projects have included the facilitation and development of:
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Complex community and stakeholder engagement programs for rural and remote infrastructure projects, often delivered in cross-cultural environments, where English is not the first language used in the community;
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Strategic and business planning activities;
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Organisational reviews, audits and change management support;
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Indigenous agreement-making negotiations, agreement implementation and agreement review processes for Industry, Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations;
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Social impact management plans, social risk assessment and analysis, social and economic baseline studies;
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Development of local and Indigenous workforce development and participation, business development and contracting and cultural heritage and environmental management strategies to support current and future proposed large-scale and long-life mining and infrastructure projects.
