The current management of Australia’s natural resources is multi-jurisdictional involving cooperative arrangements of the three spheres of government – national, state/territory and local (e.g. Bates 2003; WalterTurnbull 2006). Under the Australian Constitution, responsibility for the legislative and administrative framework within which natural resources are managed lies with the State and Territory governments, who in turn have traditionally devolved some responsibilities particularly relating to land use and development planning to local governments. The Australian Government’s involvement in NRM focuses dominantly on matters of national environmental significance and fulfilling Australia’s international obligations. The laws that are made for NRM matters by the federal government draw their validity from other heads of power in the Constitution, such as taxation power, trade and commerce or external affairs power (HRSCEH 2000). But as Bates (2003) points out:

The shared responsibility between the Commonwealth and the States referred to as ‘cooperative federalism’ is reflected, for example, in the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment which was signed by the Commonwealth and all States and Territories in 1992. The purpose of this agreement was to achieve sound environmental management through a system of parallel and complementary legislation. Under this agreement, consultation between the Australian, State and Territory governments in practice is formalised through ministerial councils, standing committees and a range of consultative committees that also include key industry, scientific and local government representatives. Since the late 1980s, however, a fourth regional tier of responsibility for NRM has been introduced by state and territory governments through a broad range of different statutory and non-statutory arrangements within each jurisdiction (e.g. Bellamy et al 2002, 2003; Dovers and Wild River 2003). Although particular responsibilities can vary according to the legislative environment and the administrative arrangements within a particular jurisdiction, the traditional division of responsibilities between the levels of government, regional authorities and individual land owners in Australia for natural resource management are summarised in Table 7.1.

Levels of responsibility
- Not relevant
* Low
** Medium
*** High

Source: HRSCEH 2000, p. 27

Although in practice all three spheres of government in Australia (local, state and federal) have demonstrated a significant involvement in NRM policy initiatives, such initiatives have generally developed independently of each other in an ad hoc way (Bellamy et al 2002; Connor and Dovers 2004). This has led to a diversity of NRM institutional arrangements existing across Australia and within any state/territory or region (see Bellamy et al 2002; The Senate Committee 2004; Keogh et al 2006; WalterTurnbull 2006). Not only does each level of government typically adopt its own NRM governance approach but state and federal governments often continue to develop policy as well as design and implement program-specific arrangements that differ in scale, style, resourcing and accountability standards within themselves. These fragmented institutional arrangements may well involve competing objectives and interests.

NRM governance within Australia’s federal system, therefore, involves a complex system of multiple ‘nested’ or polycentric decision-making arrangements (versus neatly hierarchical) being carried out concurrently across a range of political decision-making levels (e.g. national, state, region, local) and horizontally across a fragmented array of territorial and sectoral areas. It is presented diagrammatically in Figure 7.2. This system is continually evolving at all political and sectoral levels. For example, each state or region is evolving in different ways, for different reasons, in varying contexts and at different rates. At each level of this complex multi-layered and polycentric system, there are different emergent properties and problems to be addressed. Moreover, the different levels may be coupled by a diverse range of relationships that involve an iterative process of devolution and feedback of functions and outcomes within and between different decision-making levels (e.g. federal to local and vice versa).

Source: Bellamy and McDonald (2005)

As a consequence of this ad hoc, polycentric and multi-layered development, constitutional constraints and fragmented institutional arrangements have obstructed an integrated and systemic national approach to managing Australia’s natural resources. The result is a national agenda for NRM operating through a mix of parallel arrangements (i.e. cooperative federalism) that involve (Maher et al 2001, p.25):

This national agenda is increasingly emphasising a regional focus for NRM, which in practice is fundamentally dependent on a cooperative approach involving all three spheres of government, as well as relevant industry and other private actors.

Over the last two decades, Australian governments and regional communities have make considerable investments in NRM governance experiments at the regional scale grounded in the underlying assumptions of an emerging sustainability paradigm of change, adaptation and learning (e.g. AFFA 2002; Bellamy et al 2002, 2003; Head and Ryan 2004). These new regional governance approaches focus on wicked natural resource problems and emphasise broad participation and deliberation through the development of partnerships, strategic alliances and broader consultation between those with policy authority and those with significant stakes in decisions.

Significantly, a major shift in the framework of the federal NRM program delivery in Australia has occurred since 2000 with critical implications for adaptive NRM governance. This shift involved the introduction of a succession of Australian Government NRM policy initiatives emphasising joint regional delivery arrangements for the second phase of the National Heritage Trust (NHT) and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality (NAP). These new regional delivery arrangements are an example of cooperative federalism involving attempts by the Australian Government to devolve the management of natural resources to a more integrated and cohesive NRM approach through the creation of mechanisms for community-based NRM based on the establishment of accredited regional NRM bodies (see AFFA 2000, 2002; WalterTurnbull 2006).

Through the new regional delivery arrangements, 56 NRM regions are defined across Australia by spatial boundaries relating largely to natural biophysical characteristics (e.g. catchments and bioregions) and their intersection with state and territory boundaries. The primary purposes of the regional bodies are to guide NRM planning strategy and investment priorities within their respective regions, and to provide the mechanism for greater community-based NRM. The core elements of the institutional arrangements supporting regional NRM delivery include (e.g. WalterTurnbull 2006; Bellamy et al 2005):

As Head and Ryan (2004) argue, this new form of regional governance ‘changes the role of government to framework-setter, co-funder and facilitator, representing an adaptive form of public management. Governance is managed through a strategic framework of cooperation rather than primarily through regulatory and legal mandate’ (p. 377). The role of federal and state governments however remains critical in establishing program direction, boundaries and resourcing.

Importantly, the regional delivery model is a new governance approach that operates within, and does not replace, an overarching framework of legislation, policy, and defined stakeholder responsibilities implemented by multiple, overlapping (and often competing) formal and informal NRM arrangements. Rather, the new regional NRM delivery approach operates concurrently with the existing polycentric system of nested arrangements, both ‘horizontal’ and ‘vertical’, between different actors (e.g. business/industry groups, community organisations, government agencies and politicians) and between different spheres and functional areas of government. The outcome is a unique regional NRM governance system for each State and Territory each operating through a different set of institutional arrangements. For example, there is considerably variation across the States and Territories in terms of the statutory status (and powers) of regional NRM bodies themselves, the membership and resourcing arrangements of these bodies and the role and powers of local government in relation to NRM and their linkages to regional NRM bodies and delivery processes. Importantly, overall these systems require cooperation of all three spheres of government, industry and other private actors and, in practice to-date, they largely involve more representative democratic structures rather than truly embracing participative democracy.

Not surprisingly, the implementation of the new regional NRM governance is proving a difficult challenge for the individuals, the institutions and the communities concerned and as a consequence, actual impact is often perceived to fall short of expectation (e.g. Bellamy and Johnson 2000; Lane et al 2004; Lane and McDonald 2005; Farrelly 2005; Moore 2005; Moore and Rockloff 2006). There are numerous and often conflicting social and institutional challenges imposed by the complex and fragmented polycentric character of Australia’s federal system for NRM. Many of these challenges reflect on the capacity for more adaptive regional governance for NRM within the Australian federal system. Key challenges include:

These challenges provoke a vital question about where the implementation of regional NRM within the Australian federal system is heading in terms of institutional arrangements, adaptive capacities and technical performance.