Policy Influences and Policy Stakeholder Reflection - Essay Example

?‘Policy Influences Essay’ and ‘Policy Stakeholder Reflection’ Table of Contents A.Policy Influences Essay 3 Introduction 3 ‘Melbourne Ports-Our Future’: Mission or Purpose 3 Role of the Organisation 4 The Actual or Likely Partners or Collaborators 5 Conclusion 6 B.Policy Stakeholder Reflection 7 Achievements on Negotiation with Other Stakeholders 7 Supports and Challenges towards the Achievements 8 Illustrations 9 Reflection 10 References 12 A. Policy Influences Essay Introduction In the discussion henceforth, a solution would be provided with supportive arguments to the government acting as a representative of the stakeholder group in order to expand the capacity, especially of the Port of Melbourne. Various aspects which include the role of the stakeholder group along with the evaluation of actual or likely partners or collaborators, who would contribute towards the expansion of the capacity, will also be portrayed in the discussion. ‘Melbourne Ports-Our Future’: Mission or Purpose The mission of the organisation named 'Melbourne Ports - Our Future’, is to present an appropriate decision in relation to expanding the capacity of the Ports of Melbourne. The expansion of the ports’ capacity is quite necessary for the purpose of meeting with an ever rising trade demand and protecting the economic future of freight gateway (The Port of Melbourne Corporation, 2011). Hence, it can be stated that the main purpose of the organisation is to arrive a standpoint whether the dredging of the Port of Philip Bay or the expansion of the Port of Hastings would be the best suitable option to plan for increased shipping capacity of the Port of Melbourne. Role of the Organisation ‘Melbourne Ports - Our Future’ plays an imperative role towards the decision making, concerning the subject matter of expanding the capacity of the Port of Melbourne. This is due to the reason that this particular organisation is entitled to suggest an initiative for the expansion of the port to the government. With this concern, the expansion through dredging in the Port Philip Bay is likely to impose substantial impact upon the environment along with generating various difficulties in terms of technologies and manpower (EnviCom Working Group 100, n.d.). From a social point of view, the various benefits of dredging include the prevention of further degradation; developing the liveability of the river communities by improving parks along with greenways for the inhabitants and most importantly, helps to expand the shipping industry (EnviCom Working Group 100, n.d.). Alternatively, the most apparent impact of the facet of dredging upon the environment lay in the fact that it adversely affects the sea grass habitat, cultural heritage and most importantly tends to impose barriers to the augmentation of tourism sector causing disturbances to facilitate the various types of recreational activities including diving, boating and fishing (The Port of Melbourne Corporation, 2009). However, dredging could make greater economic benefit as the process tends to be less-time consuming along with requiring lesser amount of investment. Apart from the initiative of dredging in the Port Philip Bay with the purpose of expanding the capacity of the Port of Melbourne, another initiative is also taken into concern which includes the expansion of the Port of Hastings. However, the Port of Hastings is viewed as a chief container port which performs its operational functions in corresponding with the Port of Melbourne so as to increase the trade demand considerably. Moreover, in order to make suitable planning for future economic growth along with the expansion of the Port of Melbourne, the Victorian government largely supported the fact that the Port of Hastings can be regarded as the favoured location for a subsequent container port. The Actual or Likely Partners or Collaborators In order to extend the capacity of the Port of Melbourne by enlarging the Port of Hastings, there pertains the necessity to work with actual or probable partners or efficient collaborators. The most probable partners or collaborators contributing towards the extension of the Port of Hastings may include the Commonwealth Government as well as Infrastructure Australia. The Victorian Government also considers the advancement as well as the extension of the Port of Hastings as an utmost priority concerning its economic and social value in terms of an infrastructure project. With due consideration to the aspect, these two major partners, i.e. Commonwealth Government and Infrastructure Australia, would contribute in funding for setting transport corridor which is significantly needed for the construction of the initial phase of the development as well as the augmentation of the Port of Hastings. The initiative of transport corridor setting will support the enhanced efficiency for freight along with the commercial traffic movements which would augment the transport links connected to the Port of Hastings (State of Victoria, 2011). Conclusion With reference to the above discussion, it becomes apparent that concerning the two policy theory areas, i.e. the economic and social aspects, additional investments on the Ports of Hasting shall be a better option for the expansion of Port of Melbourne in comparison to the option to dredge and expand the operations of the Port Philip Bay. The negotiation with other members also proves that the further investment on Port of Hastings shall be more worthy in terms of its long-run benefits along with its meagre negative impact on the economic and social aspects of the community. B. Policy Stakeholder Reflection Achievements on Negotiation with Other Stakeholders The sole intention of negotiating with the stakeholders was to decide upon the issue of selecting an appropriate strategy for the expansion of Port of Melbourne to allow the growing need of the customers. It has been estimated that the expansion of the ports’ capacity is needed in future in order to attain different effective business objectives. In relation to expand the capacity of the Port of Melbourne, few important initiatives have been undertaken. One of the major initiatives has been particularly focused on dredging the Port Philip Bay which would facilitate for the larger ships to enter the Bay and navigate the various shipping channels to the Port. The other initiative has been to expand the Port of Hastings for increased shipping capacity. Hence, there lies a greater need of taking a precise decision about selecting the best initiative which has been mentioned above for expanding the capacity of the Ports of Melbourne. One of the major reasons of selecting the initiative of expanding the Port of Hastings can be identified as its quality feature of successfully satisfying the freight demands of the region. Moreover, by considering the fact of future growth projections along with realising the requirement for extra capacity of the Port of Melbourne, the initiative can be considered as comparatively favourable (Port of Hastings Corporation, 2009). Supports and Challenges towards the Achievements The Port of Melbourne is further anticipated to expand dramatically over the upcoming years in which there would be substantial demand of the containers and will ultimately raise the market competition by a large extent. Focusing upon the future expansion of the Port of Melbourne, it can be stated that there should lay the extension of the Port of Hastings which would in turn increase its shipping capacity from a long-term perspective. On the contrary, dredging in the Port Philip Bay would result in short-term benefit which can be regarded as less preferable owing to the long-term increase forecasted in terms of consumer demand (Port of Hastings Corporation, 2009). A few of the opinions strongly believe that the extension of the Port of Hastings is the best way to plan for increased shipping capacity of the Port of Melbourne. While others suggest that further dredging of the Port of Philip Bay can be a better solution for the increased capacity due to the presence of existing infrastructures and the success of the previously held dredging projects. In response, on the basis of the aforementioned grounds, it can be stated that the dredging concept can impose adverse impact upon the environment by affecting the sea grass habitat which in turn is quite likely to restrict tourism growth. In contrast, the Port of Hastings holds a resourceful feature of successfully complying with the freight demands of the region which might ultimately increase the productivity of the Port of Melbourne by a significant level. Thus, the initiative of expanding the Port of Hastings can be suggested as the best possible solution in order to expand the Port of Melbourne’s capacity. Moreover, the transport corridor will also pave the way for additional pathways that will eventually make smooth freight movements between the Port of Melbourne and other crucial freight terminals. In addition, the involvement of various freight associated projects belonging to Infrastructure Australia which include the Green Triangle Freight Transport Program and the Western Interstate Freight Terminal would also contribute towards the expansion of the Port of Hastings by delivering various road projects. This particular initiative can also be expected to support the mounting freight task of the region by a larger degree. The other projects belonging to both Commonwealth Government and Infrastructure Australia also focuses upon managing as well as organising the toll way network in a better way which would support an incorporated land use assessment along with planning for the expansion the Port of Hastings (State of Victoria, 2011). Thus, on the basis of the aforementioned grounds, it can be stated that both Commonwealth Government and Infrastructure Australia acting as actual partners or collaborators might play a vital role in the expansion of the Port of Hastings. Illustrations Concerning the economic area of the policy theory concerning the expansion of the Ports of Melbourne, it can be stated that a port can be described as a site or a position nearby seashore which comprises one or more than one harbour in which the ships can transfer people or cargo form one particular land to another. It also represents a compilation of physical facilities along with services which is normally designed for the purpose of serving as an exchange point between sea and land transportation means which in turn is likely to facilitate the social area of the policy theory (UNCTAD, 1975). It has been viewed in the previous years that planning and operational program have been executed in order to expand the capacity of various ports. This is due to the reason that the facilities as well as the services relating with the port businesses are considered to be the crucial tools for promoting the external trade along with accumulating significant capital investments of a particular nation. Hence, it can be stated that the ports, i.e. Port Philip Bay and Port of Hastings, are enormously regarded as precious assets for any national economies and thus any alterations associated with its services along with facilities must be taken into concern with utmost attention (UNCTAD, 1998). Reflection With due consideration to the fact that the expansion of the Port of Melbourne is required by the year 2020 owing to the forecasted increase in demand, a few initiatives have been undertaken to extend its capacity. The initiatives mainly include dredging in particularly the Port Philip Bay and the expansion of the Port of Hastings. After acquiring a brief idea about the importance of the two aforementioned initiatives, it can be stated that the extension of the Port of Hastings will be the best possible way to expand the Port of Melbourne’s capacity. With expansion of the Port of Hastings, the partners or the collaborators such as Commonwealth Government and Infrastructure Australia are expected to play major functions. This is due to the reason that both of these partners will contribute in funding various projects which are extremely required for the development as well as the expansion of the Port of Hastings. Thus, it can be stated the aforementioned partners will contribute towards the expansion of the Port of Hastings which in turn might extent the capacity of the Port of Melbourne by a considerable level. From a futuristic point of view, based on the above discussion, I would like to state that proper planning based on the forecasts must be considered while developing an expansion plan in relation to sea ports which are further learnt to have strong impacts over social and economic factors prevailing within the community. References EnviCom Working Group 100, No Date. Dredging Management Practices for the Environment - A Structured Selection Approach. PIANC. Port of Hastings Corporation, 2009. Port of Hastings Land Use & Transport Strategy. Files. [Online] Available at: http://portofhastings.vic.gov.au/files/YDAGRIH61M/Port_of_Hastings_Land_Use_Transport_Strategy_PLUTS.pdf [Accessed July 20, 2012]. State of Victoria, 2011. Victoria’s Submission to Infrastructure Australia. Documents. [Online] Available at: http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/images/stories/documents/mediareleases/2011/000_Victorian_Government_2011_IA_Submission.pdf [Accessed July 21, 2012]. The Port of Melbourne Corporation, 2009. Key Assets, Environmental Effects and Risks. Maintenance Dredging South Channel 2012 Environmental Management Plan. [Online] Available at: http://www.portofmelbourne.com/portoperations/~/media/Global/Docs/maintdredge/MD-SC-EMPRev0-1202.ashx [Accessed July 18, 2012]. The Port of Melbourne Corporation, 2011. Port Capacity Project. Project Development. [Online] Available at: http://www.portofmelbourne.com/portdev/portcapacity.aspx [Accessed July 20, 2012]. UNCTAD, 1975. Introduction. Port Pricing. [Online] Available at: http://r0.unctad.org/ttl/docs-un/td-b-c4-110-rev1/en/TD%20B%20C4%20110%20Rev1e.pdf [Accessed July 20, 2012]. UNCTAD, 1975. Introductory Remarks. Documents. [Online] Available at: http://unctad.org/en/docs/posdtetibd1.pdf [Accessed July 20, 2012]. Read More