Communicators need to work better with lawyers, proven by Rio Tinto’s handling of the Juukan Gorge destruction
The Rio Tinto Juukan Gorge disaster taught us that communicators still aren’t as good as they need to be at working with lawyers, argues Tony Jaques.
Recent research shows some communicators and lawyers still don’t trust each other, especially in the pressure-cooker environment of a crisis. The result can be conflicting advice to management, leading to poor decisions and reputational damage.
The conflict between what’s legally permissible and what society thinks is right was starkly on display when mining giant Rio Tinto decided to exercise its legal authority to blow up a 46,000-year-old Aboriginal heritage site to expand the iron ore mine in Western Australia’s Pilbara.
Just two weeks ago, CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques told a Senate inquiry into the Juukan Gorge debacle the destruction of the historic rock shelters “should not have happened” and the company “are really sorry”.
