Australian coastal policy, 1995
Although there had been various coastal inquiries over a 15-20 year period, it was the RAC inquiry that finally provided the trigger for action on developing a national coastal policy. A Commonwealth coastal policy, entitled Living on the Coast, was finally produced (Commonwealth of Australia 1995). This policy built upon the RAC inquiry, which had the concept of ESD as one of its key aims. In addition to an aim of promoting the ecologically sustainable use of Australia's coastal zone, the policy also has specific objectives and principles, such as sustainable resource use, integrated assessment, the precautionary principle, resource allocation, the user-pays principle, resource conservation, public participation, and knowledge and understanding.
An important aspect of the Commonwealth coastal policy is that it endorsed the RAC inquiry's recommendation that there was a need for action. The policy set out a definable program of action in order to improve community involvement in coastal management, address issues such as coastal development and pollution, increase education and awareness of coastal issues, and promote coastal management expertise in neighbouring regions. The action program included a number of components:
• Coastcare program
• Commonwealth coastal strategic planning
• local water quality management plans
• Ocean Rescue 2000 program
• capacity building
• CoastNet and Coastal Atlas.
• National Coastal Advisory Committee and Indigenous Reference Group The Australian coastal policy is realistic in acknowledging that halting development and use of the coastal zone is not an option, although it notes that 86% of Australians live near the coast. The objectives and principles of the policy received general agreement because the states had been involved when it was being developed. A significant outcome of the policy and its coastal action plan is the Coastcare program, which is integrative in nature and involves extensive public participation (see Harvey et al. 2001a). However, the policy was a Commonwealth rather than a national policy, and its implementation was achieved through the negotiation of a memorandum of understanding with individual states in 1995-96.
The action plan was extended in 1997 through the Commonwealth government's $125 million Coast and Clean Seas program over a four-year period. This program, which requires cooperation between community, local government and state government, provides for a number of new activities (taking 65% of the funding) – Clean Seas, Coastal and Marine Planning, Marine Species Protection, Fisheries Action, Introduced Marine Pests, Coastal Resource Atlas, and Oceans Policy. These were in addition to the original activities – Coastcare, Marine Protected Areas, Capacity Building, and Coastal Monitoring and Vulnerability.
Thus, in 1995, the Commonwealth created its own coastal policy which encouraged sustainable resource use and integrated coastal management. The action plan associated with this policy earmarks specific funding for integrated coastal management through programs such as Coastcare (Tailby & Lenfer 1996, Harvey et al. 2001a), improved management tools with the Coastal Resource Atlas and the Coastal Monitoring and Vulnerability programs, and increased knowledge base and coastal management expertise through the Capacity Building program (Morvell 1996).
At the same time, the states and local government – driven by both Commonwealth encouragement and community demands – continued the reform of coastal management through the late 1990s; this is detailed in chapters 4 and 5.
