Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

Enhanced community partnerships

October 2004 – February 2005

The brief:
The rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park incorporating an increase from 4.6% to 33% ‘No Take’ areas is Australia’s largest public consultation process. Although the processes and efforts employed by the Authority were generally successful in building broad community understanding and support following the rezoning, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) was faced with segments of outraged and vocal fishing interests.  The organisation hired Futureye to review their consultation process, community engagement capability and provide advice to the Authority on how it might improve.

Our solution:
Futureye used its EyesisTM Delivery Measure to assess community expectations and GBRMPA’s cultural capacity to respond. We undertook a qualitative and quantitative assessment of GBRMPA’s stakeholder engagement mechanisms, engaged more than 600 internal and external stakeholders through one-on-one interviews, forums and on-line surveys. The results were segmented to understand how critics, supporters and employees describe their expectations and perceive the organisation’s capability. The results of the analysis formed the basis of a series of recommendations to enhance GBRMPA’s effectiveness.

The result:
Our recommendations were endorsed by the Federal Minister for the Environment and the Authority Board and the report made available to the general public. The Authority has now taken great steps towards implementing many of the recommendations contained in our report, including making changes to the roles of office holders, Authority functions, accountability frameworks and consultation mechanisms so it can respond more effectively to community concerns and criticisms.

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