Many attempts at regional planning have failed because people don't pay attention to the system of planning. Since it began in mid 1997, the project has attracted overwhelming support from such disparate groups as the pastoral, grains and mining industries, Aboriginal communities, the conservation and human services sectors, catchment and landcare groups, and state and local governments. Collectively, these groups have formed a regional coordination committee to explore solutions to issues where there is substantial agreement between stakeholders. Bell says the local government sector is now looking at regional cooperation and sharing regional assets as a way of making management more efficient and effective. For example, the five shires involved in the project have developed a regional pest management plan, enabling the problem to be tackled in a strategic way.
Any interest group can participate.
The other day we had 50 people at a meeting talking about community input to national parks. Despite the short time the project has been operation, it has already been a catalyst for major investments into the region in internet access, regional information, vegetation incentives, pest management and environmental monitoring. The whole idea is to do ourselves out of a job. We feel pretty confident that by the end of the project the sectors will be committed to continuing the collaborative planning work they have commenced,' he says. This site is optimised for Netscape 2.01 or Internet Explorer 2.0. or higher.