GoodEnvironmentalGovernance-Gale.pdf (120.69 kB)
Tasmania's Tamar Valley pulp mill: a comparison of planning processes using a good environmental governance framework
Version 2 2023-06-23, 11:07
Version 1 2023-05-26, 16:01
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-23, 11:07 authored by Frederick GaleFrederick GaleIn November 2004, the Tasmanian government requested the state's planning body, the Resource Planning and Development Commission (RPDC), to undertake an evaluation of a proposal to establish a pulp mill at Long Reach near Bell Bay on Tasmania's Tamar Estuary. In early 2007, Gunns Limited, the project's proponent, pulled out of the RPDC process and the government established an alternative, 'fast-track' process under the Pulp Mill Assessment Act (PMAA). This article evaluates the RPDC and the PMAA assessment processes using a 'good environmental governance' framework composed of eight criteria - transparency, accountability, openness, balance, deliberation, efficiency, science and risk. The comparison reveals that although the RPDC process fell short of the ideal, it was markedly superior to the PMAA process that replaced it. The case highlights how political economic power can be used to the detriment of public planning and the communities and environment that rely on it.
History
Publication title
Australian Journal of Public AdministrationVolume
67Issue
3Article number
3Number
3Pagination
261-282ISSN
0313-6647Department/School
School of Social SciencesPublisher
Wiley-Blackwell PublishingPublication status
- Published
Rights statement
Copyright 2008 The Author Journal compilation Copyright 2008 National Council of the Institute of Public Administration AustraliaRepository Status
- Open