ABSTRACT
Traditionally, the power to make decisions for natural resource use planning and management in Australia has been vested with regulatory authorities. However, sustainable resource use and participative democracy have emerged as increasingly influential paradigms since the 1950s. More recently, significant changes have occurred to involve the community in the decision-making process (e.g. McKenna 1995) that have challenged assumptions about requirements for sustainable resource use and, in particular, about the role of technocrats, resource users, and the broader community.
