Property rights and land use planning on the Australian coast

Abstract

There is unlikely to be a more contested space than that of developed coastlines around the world. Discourses associated with private property rights have created barriers to climate change adaptation, a phenomenon relevant to multiple jurisdictions but particularly prevalent on the Australian coastline. Traditional coastal management options continue to challenge ideas associated with private property rights. Despite this, some local municipalities in coastal Australian localities have had successes in embedding climate change adaptation into land use planning strategies, even where these may infringe on private property rights. Examples of these successes are discussed in this chapter as they highlight key policy strategies. These examples also illustrate community consultation as an important feature of coastal land use planning policies. This is especially so where these policies are embedding and enabling climate change adaptation.