Stakeholder involvement in the public planning process - the case of the proposed Twelve Apostles Visitor Centre

A range of stakeholders should inform planning processes if these processes are to be consistent with best practice principles. This article examines the case of the Twelve Apostles Visitor Centre, a tourism development proposed to be located in a National Park in Victoria, Australia. Limited opportunities were provided for meaningful stakeholder input during the planning phase. Despite the prevailing view among all major parties that some development of facilities would be appropriate, an absence of genuine consultation was experienced prompting a substantial redesign of the development concept as originally conceived (in 1996) and project delays which postponed the commencement of the development into 2000 by which time a new state government was in place