Offshore Petroleum in Australia - Cooperative Governance in a Sea of Federalism

Since 1980 when jurisdiction over the offshore was finally settled, divisive jurisdictional posturing between the state and federal governments has been reduced. Since then, efforts have concentrated on improving the administration and policy affecting offshore sectors, especially with respect to petroleum resources. In this context, the inclusion of environmental drivers represents a natural progression. Building upon this enhanced responsibility integration with other maritime sectors would seem to be the next objective for the petroleum sector to pursue. Although now mandated by government policy, integration as a concept challenges sectoral decision-making so fundamentally that the delivery of integrated ocean policy approaches may be frustrated.