Governance

The principal issue relating to governance is the lack of a consistent policy among the various agencies involved. A classical illustration of this lack of coordination occurred a couple of years ago when Gold Coast City Council was reviewing the Springbrook Local Area Plan. While one Queensland Government agency was purchasing cleared land at Springbrook for restoration and future conservation, another agency was advising Gold Coast Council to ensure that all cleared land remained cleared.

All agencies, both State and Local, need to be “singing from the same songsheet”. All need to embrace the same vision for Springbrook.

A significant step forward was the review of the South East Queensland Regional Plan. The new Plan (South East Queensland Regional Plan 2009–2031) includes a vision for Springbrook:

The vision for Springbrook is of a vibrant community of residents and visitors sustaining and sustained by World Heritage values, and a mostly natural landscape that inspires and revives the human spirit.

The challenge now is to turn the vision into policy and put it in a planning framework. This will require close cooperation between the State Government and the Council. Fundamentally, World Heritage must underpin policy and planning.

Article 5 of the World Heritage Convention requires signatories “to adopt a general policy which aims to give the cultural and natural heritage a function in the life of the community and to integrate the protection of that heritage into comprehensive planning programmes;”