Presented at the 2018 People.Horses.Culture Conference, Adelaide, South Australia by Julie Fiedler Masters of Communication (by research) with Central Queensland University.

1. Who?
What?
When?
How?
Why?
Social Licence
to Operate
People.Horses.Culture Conference
Adelaide, 2018
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2. Whois talking about it?
http://www.afr.com/brand/business-summit/qantas-chief-will-stick-to-his-knitting-when-politicians-remember-how-to-knit-20180307-h0x5d8
https://www.greyhoundracinginquiry.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Report-SCI-Greyhound-Racing-Industry-NSW-Volume-1.pdf
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nsw-premier-mike-baird-announces-ban-on-greyhound-racing-after-special-commission-of-inquiry-20160707-gq0fw3.html
"Profitability and sustainability go hand in hand ... social
licence disappears if you are not part of the community and
doing the right things by stakeholders“ Alan Joyce, CEO
Qantas.
1.113….. the Commission is of the view that the industry has
lost the integrity-based trust of the community and other
stakeholders. (Special Commission of Inquiry into the Greyhound Racing Industry in New
South Wales pg.13)
NSW Premier Mike Baird announces ban on greyhound
racing after Special Commission of Inquiry 7 July,2016
Image: Australian Financial Review
Image: The Australian

3. Whois talking about it?
Dr Roly Owers, CEO of World Horse Welfare in a presentation ‘Equestrian sport and the concept of
a social license’ at the 2017 Federation Equestre International (FEI) General Assembly. The FEI has
133 national equestrian bodies as members world-wide, including Equestrian Australia.
And in a recent letter to Horse & Hound, also quoted in a Horse-Canada blog (23 Feb 2018):
“……Endurance is one sport with only one reputation, and if it is seen to tolerate horse abuse and
exploitation, it will lose its social licence to exist. What hurts the horse hurts the sport and the
sooner we all realise this the better.”
https://inside.fei.org/system/files/GA17_World_Horse_Welfare_PPT.pdf
https://inside.fei.org/fei/about-fei/structure/national-federations-
https://horse-canada.com/horse-news/tenth-endurance-horse-listed-dead-uae-winter-season/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0BQc9eBHjc&feature=youtu.be&t=7346 (NEF 2018 Nick Rust at 2 hr 2 min mark)
“… and how much importance we do have to, want to, need to, and
wholeheartedly give to the importance of equine welfare in our sport,
because without it, we will have no sport and no social licence to be
able to continue to operate.” Nick Rust, CEO British Horse Racing at the
2018 UK National Equine Forum (8 March 2018)
Image: World Horse Welfare

4. Whois talking about it?
“Over the past decade or more, our own industry and certainly the community outside our
industry, has become increasingly sensitive and demanding in its expectations of good
animal welfare practice. The signals are all around us. All industries that have animals in
common are responding and adapting to these expectations”. (19 April 2017)
“No one country is immune to global community expectations and we must continue to
explore means of securing sustainability of our industry” (14 Sept 2017)
Geoff Want, Immediate past Chair, Australian Harness Racing.
https://www.harness.org.au/media-room/news-article/?news_id=33299
https://www.harness.org.au/media-room/news-article/?news_id=34779
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/racing/when-tragedy-upsets-the-science-of-horse-racing-20131108-2x72g.html
http://www.agrifutures.com.au/publications/interim-thoroughbred-five-year-rdande-plan-2017-2022/
“We operate under a social licence and if the community lose confidence in our
ability to care for horses and regulate ourselves, then governments will step in.”
Peter McGauran, Immediate past CEO, Racing Australia. (9 Nov 2013)
AgriFutures Thoroughbred Horses RD &E Plan 2017-2011 Pillar 7: Social licence
Image: Financial Review
Image: harness.org.au

5. Whatare they talking about?
The public (social) acceptance (licence) of the organisation to undertake
its activity (operate).
Perceived threats to animal welfare is a trigger for public outrage, directly
impacting on organisations who have positioned animals within their
business model, including the sports playing field.
The public question if the sport should even be happening in today’s
society (legitimacy), if has enough public support ‘licence’ for the
continued operation (consent), and if the sport is to continue, will the
organisation really meet the welfare requirements of horses?(trust).
Legitimacy, consent and trust are the pre-requisites of an effective ‘social
licence to operate’(Morrison, 2014).
Morrison, J. (2014b). The Social License: How to Keep Your Organization Legitimate. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK: London.

6. Social licence itself is evolving.
Whatare they talking about?
JulieFiedler
Conceptualising the role of dialogue in social licence to operate
Mercer-Mapstone, Lucy, Rifkin, Will, Moffat, Kieren and Louis, Winnifred (2017) Conceptualising the role of dialogue in social
licence to operate. Resources Policy, 54 137-146. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.09.007
SLO started off as one of risk management- with stakeholders
seen as a risk that needed to be managed, regardless of the
social or cultural context. It was transactional based and took
a defensive style approach.
This is now moving towards a collaborative, meaningful
dialogue process with stakeholders, in order to build a longer-
term relationship.
That is, ‘to ‘do with’ rather than ‘do to’ stakeholders’ (excerpt pg. 139)

7. Whendid this happen?
With the rise in disruptive technologies……..
Trust is now devolved. Once held
mainly by institutions, trust is now
transferred through the leveller of
the Internet and held by everyday
citizens.
Anyone online can crowdsource
information to ascertain legitimacy
before selecting to use, or give
consent, to a service, product or
cause.
The role of a horse as a servant,
comrade-in-arms or a worker is
still present – however….
Society is starting to ‘re-imagine’
the horse as a non-human sporting
athlete, recognising sentience.
Horses socially constructed as ‘non-human athletes’: Consequences for anti-
doping and other sports regulatory matters
https://www.dora.dmu.ac.uk/handle/2086/13002
Animal welfare science, law etc. is
rapidly evolving e.g. ‘5 Domains’
model instead of ‘5 Freedoms’
Mellor, D. J. (2012). Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of positive
welfare states. Animal emotions, behaviour and the promotion of positive
welfare states, 60(1), 1-8.
“The horse is the chief
stakeholder in the social
license to operate”
Dr Roly Owers
(+voices for the horse)
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PamBrookmanJulieFiedler

8. Howdoes SLO affect horse sport organisations?
Social licence to operate (SLO) is a complex, contested, multi-
layered dialogue operating along a continuum, and at multiple
levels, with many valid smaller SLOs at given points.
Organisations need to find a way to use a combination of
leadership and the leveraging the of institutionalised
administration structures to broker a way forward for horse
welfare and greater long-term public acceptance of the sport.
However, the responsibility for SLO rests with
all people who care for horses, not just the
overarching administration structure.
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9. Whythe interest?
When the profile of horse welfare is raised in wider
society, the contest of ideas can lead to alienation
and disparity amongst sporting participants, fans
and advocates – and they may walk, as
meaningfulness is lost.
Therefore horse sport organisations may seek to
safeguard its practices amongst diverse
stakeholders, resulting in long-term cost savings
and reduced risk to ongoing operations.
And the horse is the winner! iStock

10. Horse SA has listed SLO education in the organisations strategic plan. A webpage has been established
https://www.horsesa.asn.au/social-licence-to-operate
Follow this project: Sport horse welfare and social licence to operate: Informing communication strategies
https://www.researchgate.net/project/Sport-Horse-Welfare-and-Social-Licence-to-Operate-Informing-
Communication-Strategies
Sport Horse Welfare & Social Licence to Operate
Julie Fiedler
Supervisors: Assoc. Professor Kate Ames
Assoc. Professor Matthew Thomas
Masters in Communication (by Research)
Central Queensland University, Australia.
With acknowledgement to support
received from Horse SA www.horsesa.asn.au