Justice in the governance and management of tourism and recreation in Tasmania’s protected areas

This research investigates justice in the governance and management of tourism and recreation in the public protected areas (PAs) of the Australian island State of Tasmania, using a multidimensional, multispecies conception of justice.The international reliance on PAs to achieve conservation aims has resulted in a significant increase in the number and spatial extent of PAs in recent decades. There is increasing conflict over the control and use of these places. In many public PAs, even as some local and Indigenous communities are excluded under the rationale of environmental conservation, other actors, such as the tourism industry, are invited in by governments. ‘Just conservation’ research explores the ethical implications of conservation regimes and aims to improve outcomes for those unfairly disempowered in these systems. There is limited empirical research, however, that evaluates PA governance regimes using multidimensional, multispecies approaches to justice.The Tasmanian Government’s encouragement of commercial tourism development in PAs over the past decade has resulted in widespread opposition and controversy. Diverse stakeholders have voiced objections over the negative impact of tourist development on natural and cultural values, the use of public funding to subsidise development, privatisation of public lands, and a lack of transparency about, and public input into, governmental policies and processes. In that context, I analyse how well the State Government’s governance and management of tourism and recreation in PAs provides justice to affected resident beings.My approach reflects contemporary ideas of justice that are inclusive of all beings, pertain to both individuals and collectives, and which recognise the moral rights of Country and the importance of decolonising academic practice. I position my research as a normative exercise in empirical ethics, concerned with the particularities of context, and which attends to and seeks answers appropriate for this place.Theorising that justice is linked to social power relations, I begin with an overview of influential discourses about Tasmanian Aboriginal People, tourism, wilderness and conservation, as representations of the power dynamics that have shaped and been shaped by Tasmania and its PA estate. I then outline and adopt a multidimensional conception of justice to interrogate these power relations, using discourses of distributional, recognition, restorative, capabilities, and procedural justice. I juxtapose the Western liberal perspectives that dominate these philosophies with Australian Aboriginal, other Indigenous and eco-centric perspectives. Under each discourse of justice I explore ways in which injustice manifests in Tasmania’s PA governance and management system with respect to tourism and recreation. I use a qualitative methodology that incorporates a critical discourse analysis of regulatory texts, interwoven with a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with First Persons and other human residents – providing space for participants to ‘talk back’ to the dominant powers within the system.The State Government’s focus on tourism and the commodification of PAs to encourage economic growth over the past decade has resulted in the neglect of the needs of Aboriginal People, people living on a low income, people with disabilities, those wishing to have input into policies on these matters and the myriad other beings that rely on PAs for habitat. The findings question the legitimacy of the State Government’s control of these places and its approach to governance and management. I conclude the thesis with possible implications for actions that could improve justice in Tasmania’s state-owned PAs. The analysis confirms the importance of adopting a multidimensional and multispecies approach to justice to allow us to understand the multivalent ways in which governments can either uphold or prevent justice in public institutions.