Meeting the policy challenges of rural and peri-urban land use in Australia: Government, governance and public policy
6. Aligning government, governance and public policy
The previous discussion highlights a complex matrix of community values associated with land use, the drivers and pressures of land use change, and the range of public policy tools available to manage tradeoffs needed to maximise the total value to the community from the use of our land resources. Victoria – a small, densely populated state that supports a range of land uses – faces the pressures of managing land use resources more acutely than other states in Australia.
When government chooses a particular policy tool to manage resources, choices are also being made about governance. The level and nature of participation in the process of policy development, choices about funding, administration, implementation and the enforcement of non-compliance all shape the allocation of authority, responsibility and resources. For example, different policy tools afford agents different levels of flexibility and autonomy in how they meet policy objectives. A market based approach to enhancing biodiversity, such as BushTender, provides landholders a choice to participate in a program to change their land use in return for a cash payment. Depending on its design, a regulatory approach to enhancing biodiversity may apply to all landholders and those not complying with the regulation may be liable for a penalty.
It is also important that the governance arrangements facilitate land use decisions at an appropriate spatial scale to meet objectives of public policy. While local councils have powers to approve particular uses within their jurisdiction, some of these uses span more than one local council boundary such as ecological landscapes and would deliver greater benefits if coordinated at larger scale. In contrast, the State government has powers to determine planning at this broader scale, but does not have access to information to make decisions that reflect values and objectives of communities. Regionalisation of land use planning is an approach that devolves the identification of challenges, opportunities and priorities from the State while maintaining legislative and regulatory roles of local councils and state government agencies.
A new framework developed in Victoria uses this regional approach. ‘Ready for Tomorrow – A Blueprint for Regional and Rural Victoria’ is a long-term plan for strategic regional planning to manage the challenges and opportunities presented in section 2. This is a shift away from the 79 individual councils in Victoria focusing on their jurisdictions when considering their planning schemes to a broader focus at the regional level. This broader level of planning enables the five regions25 identified under the Blueprint to consider issues such as infrastructure and economic development at an appropriate scale.
The Blueprint is based on the principle that “regional communities are best placed to identify and plan for their priorities, future challenges and opportunities. It is designed to give regions maximum flexibility in developing processes that suit their circumstances.” (Regional Development Victoria 2010). This is a move away from each level of government only considering issues in which they have the power to influence. The Blueprint enables regions to implement plans that reflect values in the community. Regional strategic plans are developed by Regional Strategic Planning Committees made up of a number of local groups including local councils, industry groups, community groups and incorporated regional organisations. Endorsed plans are then submitted to the Ministerial Committee overseeing the implementation of the Blueprint for consideration and advice to the Victorian Government on its implementation. Agreed initiatives will be implemented in partnership with the relevant State Government departments and the relevant regional body (Regional Development Victoria 2010).
25Five regions have been defined in the Blueprint. Two of the regions are split into sub-regions so there will be seven strategic plans in total
