The community's concerns

One of the most visible roles of community groups in Australian coastal management is in drawing attention to issues of concern. A great deal of activity in coastal management in Australia (probably far too much) is driven by attention to the issue of the moment – issues as perceived by governments, bureaucracies, industry, small business, scientists, community groups, and individuals. These issues may be self-evident and persistent, such as the quality of bathing waters at certain Sydney beaches, or the erosion of parts of the urban foreshore of Port Phillip Bay. The issues may be insidious and cumulative, such as the loss of wetlands in south-eastern Australia; and an issue may be apparent only to certain groups, such as seagrass loss in particular areas. Coastal issues are diffuse and varied and the management systems that address them are complex and multilayered, and in this situation a key question is: what keeps a particular issue on the agenda, or as a priority on this year's budget? While even the asking of such a question might be interpreted as a criticism of a lack of a strategic approach in coastal management, it remains true that the profile, the definition and the understanding of issues maintains, or dissipates, the commitment of institutions, groups, and individuals to action in coastal management. Within this context the role of community groups in raising and maintaining awareness becomes a significant one in coastal management in Australia.

However, in spite of the high level of use, coastal issues in Australia have never maintained the level of interest accorded to rainforests, endangered species or large macropods. Part of the explanation for this can be found in the history of the conservation movement in Australia, which has been dominated by concern for wilderness. Doyle and Kellow (1995, p. 15) noted that 'the nature of the green movement in Australia must be appreciated. Of most importance here is its domination by concerns of wilderness preservation at the cost of urban issues or rural issues, such as land degradation ... ' This comment applies well to the coast, where threats to pristine areas such as Daintree and Fraser Island rightly attract a great deal of concern, but widespread coastal issues such as loss of seagrass or loss of estuarine habitat draw little attention.

For many years there has been an awareness of the loss of pristine coastal environments: and there is no doubt that, for example, Nancy Cato's voice has resonated more widely than over the despoliation of Noosa alone. These feelings, relating to loss, despoliation and overdevelopment, obtained some focus during the two Commonwealth inquiries of the early 1990s (HORSCERA 1991, RAC 1993a) and were demonstrated graphically by the coastal walk around south-eastern Australia organised by the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1993-94 (McLaren 1994). Nevertheless, in spite of a rise in profile during the 1990s, coastal and marine issues have not been core business for Australia's main green groups; however, they have been a particular focus for a multiplicity of resident local user groups around the continent, and in the Northern Territory for Aboriginal Australians.

While coastal issues have not been as glamorous as rainforests in national debate, over the last 30 years there has been a widespread groundswell of concern over nearshore marine and estuarine pollution. On occasions, particular coastal places have been the focus of national attention: it could be said that the Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island have attained icon status within the national treasury of natural heritage places and have frequently been the subject of concern.

Table 4.3 Two scales of citizen control over planning and management