The traditional government sanctioned approach to stakeholder consultation and engagement often falls short of delivering on the original intent.
Obviously, there are many reasons to consult and engage stakeholders in the process of policy delivery, the particular challenges is engaging with high influence but low interest stakeholders that are required to make changes to enable the objectives of the policy to be delivered.
A classic example of this challenge is addressing Great Barrier Reef (the Reef) water quality. For the last 30 years concerns have been raised about the quality of the water entering the Reef and the subsequent impact on the inshore receiving waters. Partitioning research identified that grazing activity in the upper catchment and agriculture activity on the coastal plan were the primary contributors of sediment, nutrient and pesticides to the Reef.
Australian Government support funding through the Sugar Infrastructure Packages saw hundreds of thousands of hectares of coastal wetlands drained and developed for sugar production. Both the Australian and Queensland Governments responded to the treatment of our iconic natural wonder by developing a series of programs focussed on engendering behaviour change of agriculture producers through reduced fertilizer and pesticide inputs and improved upland pasture coverage.
With well over $1B spent, a controversial Reef Regulation and a moribund and defensive agricultural sector, the overall improvement in water quality flowing to the Reef has been very modest.
Are there other ways of engaging and how can leaps in technology and computing actually help?