Stakeholder Engagement Review of Australia's National Food Plan

This report is a review of stakeholder engagement of Australia's national food plan which was developed in 2010 to provide the country with a vision and serve as a future roadmap in the food industry. The report analyses how the stakeholders were engaged in the formulation of this plan and the impact of this engagement in determining the success of the project.

Running head: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT REVIEW OF AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL
FOOD PLAN 1
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT REVIEW OF AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL FOOD PLAN
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Context........................................................................................................................................................4
Objectives....................................................................................................................................................5
Theories Used..............................................................................................................................................5
Method........................................................................................................................................................7
Results.........................................................................................................................................................7
Discussion.................................................................................................................................................10
The Role of Documents in the National Food Plan Formulation...........................................................10
Stakeholder Consultation and Categorization........................................................................................11
Influence of Consultation......................................................................................................................12
Strengths and Limitations......................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................15
References.................................................................................................................................................16

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Stakeholder Engagement Review of Australia's National Food Plan
Introduction
Stakeholder engagement has been a topic of discussion among scholars and professionals
in various fields, especially in the policy-making sector. In the modern world, there are so many
projects and initiatives formulated and in one way or another impact individuals or groups. The
term stakeholder is being used frequently in the contemporary world and its definition has been a
contested among scholars. Generally, a stakeholder is an individual or a group having an interest
in a programme, project or portfolio because they are affected by its outcomes or they are
involved in the work. The process of influencing and interacting with the project stakeholders for
the general advantage of a project and its advocates is known as stakeholder engagement,
(Timotijevic, Barnett and Raats, 2011). Stakeholder engagement is very crucial in determining
the success or failure of a project. The stakeholders' views on a project highly determine the
successful completion of the project.
Stakeholder engagement is very important in any project because it has so many
numerous benefits. Stakeholder engagement should be done throughout the project lifecycle but
it is more essential at the initial stages to get a wider scope of a project. The benefits of
stakeholder engagement include increased certainty and stride of progress, robust risk
management, increased confidence and trust among stakeholders, understanding of challenges as
well as increased awareness of organizational circumstances. There are also several risks
associated with not doing proper stakeholder engagement such as emotional ineptness, the
uncertainty of the project results, diversion and misuse of resources, high probability of reactive
planning, divisions among individuals and groups and unethical and unprofessional behaviours.

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Based on the benefits of stakeholder engagement and the risks associated with ignoring, the
importance of this practice is not overemphasized.
This report is a review of stakeholder engagement of Australia's national food plan which
was developed in 2010 to provide the country with a vision and serve as a future roadmap in the
food industry, AIHW (2012). The food sector is very large including the Australians who
provide the workforce, the governments, the employers as well as the community. This report
analyses how the stakeholders were engaged in the formulation of this plan and the impact of this
engagement in determining the success of the project. The formulation and implementation of
The National Food Plan are going to affect and influence various stakeholders such as the
government, the community and the food industry at large. Therefore, the plan should have
involved all these stakeholders and in this report, I am analyzing the level of stakeholder
engagement in the plan.
Context
I have learnt about the principles of stakeholder involvement in class and I will definitely
have to muster these principles for future purposes in my career. I learnt that development
project normally undergoes an arduous design phase to determine all details before they are fully
implemented. Stakeholder engagement is one of the design processes involved and the process
can vary according to various factors such as resource and time allocation, the sector in which
the project falls into, the importance placed on stakeholder engagement as well as the experience
of the project design team.
The nature of the design involvement will definitely affect the design and implementation
of the project. This project of analyzing the stakeholder engagement in The National Food Plan
will help me apply the theoretically learnt principles in a real-world situation. This will help me

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comprehensively the role of stakeholder engagement in the formulation and implementation of
projects as well as the impacts of various levels of stakeholder engagement on the design process
and the outcomes of the project. The project will also serve as a proof that the theoretical
principles are truly applied in the contemporary world.
Objectives
There are several objectives I aim to achieve specifically through this stakeholder
engagement learning project and they includes to:
1. Comprehensively understand the role of stakeholder engagement practice in developing
projects.
2. Clearly demonstrate to my tutor that I understood the principles I learnt in class on
stakeholder engagement.
3. Provide appropriate recommendations on the appropriate stakeholder engagement for a
project.
4. Help me gain confidence in formulating future stakeholder engagement plans during my
future career.
Theories Used
There are several scholars who have talked about the qualitative and quantitative
implication of stakeholder engagement in project design and implementation. Some scholars
such as Reed (2008) analyze stakeholder engagement based on the degree of participation on a
continuum. Others do it based on the communication flows, the objectives of targeted by the
stakeholder engagement as well as the nature of engagement, that is, normative or pragmatic.
Those following the normative line of thought try to explain the importance of stakeholder
engagement and the risks of ignoring the practice. Pragmatic stakeholder engagement involves

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considering the realistic and sensible factors that will be involved during the project and possibly
affect the implementation.
According to Lawrence 2006, stakeholder engagement occurs on a continuum, that is,
with the participation degrees being transformative, collaborative, functional and consultative. I
will personally use this conceptualization outlined by Lawrence (2006) in this report. In this
conceptualization, Lawrence is on familiar terms with the fact that stakeholder involvement is
not necessarily linear. He acknowledges the irreconcilable difference of participation being either
a means to an end or an end in itself since participation can achieve both, (Heusen, 2008). This
theory shows that stakeholder engagement is a complex process that involves several interrelated
factors.
Towards Whole of Community Engagement; a practical toolkit by Brown and Aslin
(2004) gives an insight on a good stakeholder engagement. A good stakeholder engagement in a
project should meet some basic thresholds. A good stakeholder engagement should have the right
intent, engage the right stakeholders, discuss the right issues, have the right spirit and use the
right process in the participation. Aslin and Brown describe several techniques and tools that
should be used to ensure good stakeholder engagement. They acclaim that the choice of what
technique to use should entirely be based on the aim and principles of stakeholder engagement.
It is entirely impossible to rule out effective communication when whenever we talk about
stakeholder engagement. Effective communication determines the success or failure of the
stakeholder participation process. Santucci 2005 gave some strategic communication
recommendations that give insight on how the quality of stakeholder engagement impact
formulation, implementation and results of a project. He recommends that any project design
procedure should include effective communication as an integral element of the process. A

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specific communication budget and the communication strategy should be formulated by
communication experts to facilitate proper stakeholder participation.
Method
This report was a research-based report that involved a thorough analysis of Australia's
The National Food Plan and how the various stakeholders were included in the formulation and
implementation of the plan. I used the internet as a platform to research on the formulation of the
National Food Plan and how the different stakeholders were involved in the design process. I
identified how the plan incorporates the principles of good stakeholder engagement and the
impact of the process on the success and results of the plan. Then I compared the theoretical
principles with the process of stakeholder engagement process during the formulation of The
National Food Plan to come up with appropriate recommendations on how the practice could
have been improved.
Results
Through my internet research, I was able to find details of the design process of the
National Food Plan in Australia from 2009 to 2015 including how the various stakeholders were
engaged through events, meetings, documents as well as the external influences. The idea of
national food policy reappeared in the country's political agenda in 2009. The efforts and
coordination of stakeholders in the food industry and public health spearheaded the agenda into
the formulation of the National Food Plan. The active organizations involved in the process were
the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC),
Dairy Australia, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), and the Public Health Association of
Australia (PHAA). There are numerous meetings that were held between the stakeholders in the
food industry and public health which resulted in the formulation of several documents. The

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documents highlighted the guiding principles for implementation of the National Food Plan as
well as the impact of food production on environmental sustainability from a public health point
of view, (Pelletier, Porter and Neufeld, 2013). The table and figure below show the stakeholder
engagement involved during the design process of the Australian National Food Plan.
Table 1
Number and frequency of written submissions per category and sub-category
Issues
Paper
%
Total
subs.
Green
Paper
%
Total
subs.
Sub-
category
Issues
Paper
%
Total
subs.
Green
Paper
%
Total
subs.
Government 13 6.8 40 11 International
Federal
State
Local
0
2
5
6
0
1
2.6
3.1
1
2
7
30
0.3
0.6
1.9
8.3
Non-
government
organizations
64 33.3 129 35.5 Business
interest
Health
Community
and
consumer
Environment
11
8
26
20
5.7
4.2
13.5
10.4
23
17
45
44
6.3
4.7
12.4
12.1
Food supply
chain actors
54 28.1 79 21.8 Production
Processing
Distribution
40
10
3
20.8
5.2
1.6
58
19
1
16
5.2

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Retail and
marketing
0 0 1

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Discussion
The Role of Documents in the National Food Plan Formulation
The inclusion of a national food plan on the 2010 federal election agenda was
successfully advocated for by stakeholders from various sectors. After the election, the federal
government announced the development of the National Food Plan. The "Australia and food
security in a changing world" published in October 2010 served as a landmark document that
authenticated the food security and environmental challenges in Australia. The National Food
Policy Working group was established and is comprised of a consumer advocate, 12 leaders from
the food industry as well as a nutrition representative. Roundtable discussions of the Global
Foundation and the minister of Agriculture, fisheries and forestry were conducted. The Global
Foundation was headed by CEOs of key player companies in the food industry such as
Woolworths, Visy and SunRise Australia.
The National Food Policy Working group coordinated several government portfolios to
formulate and release of the Issue Paper in 2011. National Food and Nutrition Leaders' Science
Forum under the leadership of CSIRO created a dialogue between nutrition and food
stakeholders. The main aim of the forum was to build a common vision for development and
research throughout the entire food system in Australia. The Green Paper issued in 2012
delineated how the government will approach food policies and associated changes to the
governance arrangement. The "People's Food Plan Working Paper" was produced in July the
same year by the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA). This paper challenged the
production-based treatise that was dominant at that time by delivering a national food plan that is
driven by food sovereignty principles, FAO (2012). As shown in figure 1, October-November
2012 is the point of divergence where the National Food Plan ceased to be an integrated food and

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nutrition policy, Commonwealth of Australia (2015). The Green Paper sidelined the nutrition
part, as well as the government, responded to "Labeling Logic" recommendations through the
establishment of a separate national nutrition policy.
Stakeholder Consultation and Categorization
Written Submissions responding to the Green paper and the National Food Plans are
used to represent the formal inputs of different stakeholders during the making of the National
Food Plan in Australia. A total of 680 written submissions were involved in the process and were
publicly available for anyone to collect and analyze. The analysis of these papers was used to
classify them into categories and sub-categories as shown in Table 1. The non-government
contributed the most in the Issues Paper and the Green Paper with their contribution accounting
to 34.8% of the total submissions. The lowest stakeholders in the Issue Paper based on the
submissions were the government stakeholders who contributed only 12 submissions which
account to 6.8 %, the Department of Agriculture (2014). Academic and Research Agencies
provided the lowest response of 7.8% and 7.4% correspondingly. In the sub-category, production
sub-category and the layperson sub-category provided the highest submission frequencies in the
Issue Paper and the Green Paper respectively.
Categorization of stakeholders helped with the identification of concealed parties in the
policy. These stakeholders initially seemed to be sidelined in the food and nutrition debate and
policy-making such as the Rabobank and the Global Foundation from the business interest non-
governmental organization (NGO) category. The Global Foundation, for instance, contributed to
introducing the business approach in the formulation of the National Food Plan.

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Influence of Consultation
Public participation and consultation is an important part of the policy formulation
process and it gives stakeholders a voice in the project as well as allow a debate and testing of
policy options, (Smith-Merry, 2012). The main aim of public participation in policy formulation
is to ensure the decision-making process is mutually beneficial and shared among stakeholders
through decentralizing the influence and power of elite groups, (Carson, 2001). Public
participation in policy making is very crucial since it improves efficiency, transparency and
effectiveness of the policy. In any democratic society all over the world, transparency is among
shared core values that enhance public trust by holding governments accountable and scrutinize
government policies and governance.
Consultation has a greater influence on the formulation and implementation of any
policy. In order for experts formulating to get a deeper understanding of the conditions
surrounding the policy they have to consult with the relevant stakeholders and comprehend their
perspectives. Stakeholder consultation helps in identifying the unforeseen challenges in the
policy and help gauge the community reaction on the policy, (Productivity Commission Annual
Report, 2010). In the formulation of the National Food Plan, there are several stakeholders who
were given the opportunity to respond to raised issues so that their perspectives could be
included in the documentation of the final plan. Consultation led to the National Food Plan
cease to be an integrated food and nutrition policy. Stakeholder consultation challenged the
production-based treatise that was dominant at the initial design stages by suggesting a plan that
includes national food sovereignty principles.
Public participation and engagement determine the success or failure of any public policy
thus it has become a crucial part of the policy-making process, (Goodin, Moran and Rein, 2006).

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In order to gain public support for complex policy issues public experience and balanced public
involvement in the process of formulating policies is necessary. Therefore, it is important for any
government to engage all the relevant stakeholders during the policy-making process to gain
public support.
The National Food Plan development provided several consultation methods where
stakeholders could participate in the process. One of the methods was the submissions based on
the Green Paper and the Issue Paper. The high number of submissions received from different
stakeholders provided a wide range of interest involved in the policy as well as the high level of
public interest in the plan, (Garnett, 2014). As time passed during the development process the
engagement in consultation process increased. The government facilitated and coordinated
engagement from various stakeholders and including the lay people.
Although the stakeholder engagement in the formulation of the National Food Plan was
diverse, the interests of the food industry were overrepresented compared to other stakeholders.
This is evident by considering the submissions that were submitted which most of them came
from food industry stakeholders. Also, the National Food Policy working group was greatly
involved in determining the direction of the policy formulation, (Sedlack and Scholl, 2013). All
the production sub-category was more represented compared to retail, marketing distribution and
processing. This is contrary to the fact that 80% of the food chain value is contributed by
marketing, retail, distribution and processing combined. The overemphasis on production is more
likely to have been caused by the bias in the consultation papers produce during the policy
development process.

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Strengths and Limitations
It is not easy to formulate and implement a public policy in any country. Stakeholder
engagement also is a rigorous practice that consumes a lot of time and resources. The National
Food Plan in Australia formulation and implementation provided me with an avenue to analyze
the process and impact of stakeholder involvement. The National Food Plan has demonstrated
very high stakeholder engagement where the community the industry and government were
collectively involved in the policy-making process, (Carey, Caraher, Friel, 2015). The NFP also
established the Australian Council on Food to ensure that all the interests in the food company
are involved. Also, the NFP aims to monitor the progress of the policy by publishing a State of
the Food System Report after every five years. Stakeholder engagement is a process that should
take place throughout all the stages of a policy thus the report will ensure continued public
participation.
Even though I consider the National Food Plan to have achieved high levels of
stakeholder engagement, there are some shortcomings that can be observed. I realized that the
plan over emphasized food production and paid little attention to marketing, retail and processing
which contribute a lot to food security in the country. A research by a food charity organization
FoodBank shows that 8% of the Australian population use relief food annually. The federal
government in the plan assumed that this group of people who cannot produce food, (Lang and
Barling, 2012). The NFP failed to recognize that unfair distribution of commonwealth and
poverty prevalence highly contribute to food insecurity in the country.
The 10th goal of the NFP state that Australia will have built on its high level of food
security by continuing to improve access to safe and nutritious food for those living in remote
communities or struggling with a disadvantage. This will require a lot of community funding and

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a lot of time to be realized. Community representatives were not fully involved to present how
several areas of the plan should be approached by the federal level, (Mintz and McManus P015).
The NFP should have used the community representative to expand on how they are state and
local government is going to meet the set objectives.
Conclusion
In summary, a stakeholder is an individual or a group having an interest in a programme,
project or portfolio because they are affected by its outcomes or they are involved in the work.
Stakeholder engagement is the process of influencing and interacting with the project
stakeholders for the general advantage of a project and its advocates.
Stakeholder engagement is very crucial in determining the success or failure of a project.
Stakeholder engagement is very crucial in determining the success or failure of a project. The
benefits of stakeholder engagement include increased certainty and stride of progress, robust risk
management, increased confidence and trust among stakeholders, understanding of challenges as
well as increased awareness of organizational circumstances.
This report enabled me to expansively understand the role of stakeholder engagement
practice in developing projects and clearly demonstrate to my tutor that I understood the
principles I learnt in class on stakeholder engagement. The report analyzed the impact and
influence of stakeholder engagement in the formulation and implementation of the Australian
National Food Plan. The NFP has demonstrated high levels of stakeholder engagement but they
are some weakness associated with its consultation such as overrepresentation of some interests.
A proper stakeholder is very important in order to increase the chances of success of any policy.

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