A focus group meeting hosted by the Marine Parks Authority at Pacific Palms recently saw a mere five stakeholders attend.

Those who did attend said the meeting covered old ground and was far from fruitful.

"Nothing has changed, it was the same presentation on the draft zoning plan that we have all sat through previously," said one attendee who wished to remain anonymous.

"Instead of discussing how the draft zoning plan has evolved in response to our submissions and feedback at prior focus groups we got exactly the same spiel.

"That is probably why hardly anybody bothered to turn up as they know from past experience that the Marine Parks Authority is not listening.

"The focus group meetings have really just become a case of the authority ticking off the boxes next to community consultation."

A spokesperson for the Marine Parks Authority said the focus group meeting, the fourth such meeting held, was an opportunity for commercial operators and tourism related businesses and the general public to discuss the draft zoning plan.

"We discussed the submissions that have come in and the people put forward their ideal zonings," the spokesperson said.

"There have been 1500 submissions to date and there are four weeks to go until the end of the submission period."

The spokesperson refuted claims that stakeholders' feedback was not being considered in the zoning process.

"The Advisory Committee meets once a month to discuss the submissions and they are looking at the zonings.

"It is still a draft zoning plan and the map may or may not change in the future. No definite decisions on the zoning plan will be made until the submission process has concluded."

Submissions on the draft zoning plan for the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park close on September 23.

Copies of the draft zoning plan may be obtained from the council chambers, visitor information centres and from the website www.mpa.nsw.gov.au.