Queensland’s coastal planning regime: the extent of participation in coastal governance

This paper focuses on scope of public participation and stakeholder engagement in the coastal planning process in Queensland, Australia. The aim is to understand how conflicts among different resource users and associated political issues influence decisions surrounding coastal zone planning. Effectiveness of participation is assessed against relevant Integrated Coastal Zone Management governance criteria, using document analysis and semi-structured interviews of key stakeholders. Queensland's coastal planning framework has used participation approaches just to meet the legal requirement or circumvent stakeholders' dissent, rather than to foster a legitimate, transparent and active participation process for bringing the stakeholders into an authentic dialogue over complex coastal issues