Mongrel management, public interest and protected area management in the Victorian Alps, Australia

Public interest is fundamental to representative democratic government. This paper argues that due to recent shifts towards the use of statutory agencies, public–private partnerships and governance arrangements, and the empowerment of specific interests in tourism policymaking, explicit consideration of public interest has diminished. But it cannot be ignored. Sensible interpretation of public interest provides the key to making appropriate tourism public policy decisions. The aim of this paper is to explore interpretations of public interest in alpine tourism management and whether different interpretations impact upon interagency collaboration. Using a case study of alpine tourism in Victoria, Australia, this paper finds that interpretations of public interest are distant from traditional notions of just, moral and virtuous public interest, and are more likely to be market-driven, issue-specific and organisational-centric. Moreover, the difficulty of identifying public interest is exacerbated by the fragmentation of agencies involved in tourism management. Implications for reinvigorating public interest are discussed.