An analysis of the environmental assessment and approval (EAA) process under the five-year old EPBC Act and whether it is fulfilling its environmental objectives. Chris McGrath Letter in response to discussion paper 81: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act: A Five Year Assessment A Macintosh and D Wilkinson Reply to the letter from Chris McGrath

This report estimates that Australians spend more than $10.5 billion each year on goods and services from which they derive no benefit. The paper examines the phenomenon of wasteful consumption and explores its implications.

The tsunamis in the Indian Ocean reflect the issues States are going to face as sea levels rise. 80% of the Maldives are less than one meter above sea level, and if the sea rises 1.5 meters in Bangladesh 17 million people will be affected. The tsunamis that hit these places offer an opportunity’ for

This paper examines the claim that farmers require a statutory compensation scheme to protect them from legislation designed to improve environmental outcomes.

Australia has always enjoyed rigorous national food standards that were applied equally to both domestically produced and imported food. The capacity to maintain and apply these standards, however, is now being undermined by international trade agreements and procedures for settling trade disputes with a result that challenges to public health are being significantly increased.

WWF Australia describes itself as an independent, supporter-based and non-party political conservation organisation. This paper provides an analysis of this statement.

Deferred Happiness Syndrome affects 30% of Australians and occurs when employees are not satisfied with work but do it to achieve happiness later on, often through money and material interests. This often results in downshifters that voluntarily reduce working hours to ensure better lifestyles.

Explores in detail the life changes and attitudes of 20 downshifters to answer the questions prompted by the first study on downshifting completed in January 2003. The in-depth interviews were augmented by four focus groups held across the country and aimed to explain why people downshift, how they change, how others react, what are their

This study parallels Discussion Paper 50 and shows that 25 per cent of British adults aged between 30 and 59 have downshifted over the last ten years.

A companion study to Discussion Paper 49 with remarkably similar findings. In one of the world’s richest countries, the United Kingdom, a high proportion of citizens feel that their incomes are inadequate to buy everything they really need.

The preoccupation with money and consumption comes at an increasing cost. Many Australians consider that money-hunger conflicts with their deeper values and preferences and results in a society that is too materialistic. There is evidence that many people are deciding to accept lower incomes and consumption levels in order to have more balance in their

A recent Newspoll survey, commissioned by the Institute, reveals that 62 per cent of Australians believe that they cannot afford to buy everything they really need. Taking into consideration the fact that Australia is one of the richest countries in the world and that Australians today have income three times higher than in 1950, it

The structure of the tax system can play an important role in either protecting or causing harm to the natural environment. This report examines existing taxes, charges and related incentives that encourage either environmental protection or degradation in each of the areas of transport, stationary energy, land, water, forests and waste. The study also considers

Against the approximately $1.1 billion contribution koalas make to Australia’s tourism industry, this article proposes leveraging enduring international interest in koalas with proposed conservation efforts and koala culls on Kangaroo Island to create a koala hunting industry that would contribute further to the inbound tourism sector.

This article explains some of the ways in which regional communities benefit and could continue to benefit from a shift from non-renewable to renewable energy generation, based on the assumption that the decline of non-renewables is inevitable and therefore we should be proactive. Examples show how sustainable energy projects create long term job opportunities and

Climate change is expected to have severe adverse impacts on the majority of Commonwealth countries, especially developing country members. Australia has displayed a callous disregard for the future well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable members of the Commonwealth.

This paper looks back at the achievements and failures of Landcare after ten years. The authors put forward a set of proposals for the future that goes much further than anything previously suggested.

Submission No. 4 to the Senate Environment References Committee Inquiry into Australia’s Response to Global Warming

A submission to the Senate Environment References Committee Inquiry into Australia’s Response to Global Warming

Address to the Horizons of Science Forum, UTS

It has long been recognised that GDP growth does not correlate well with changes in social welfare, i.e. national well-being. The GPI adjusts GDP by 23 factors that reflect some of the social and environmental costs of economic growth to give a better measures of changes in national prosperity. This paper explores these issues in

Australia’s unique wildlife is a vital factor in attracting foreign tourists and the future of the tourism industry depends heavily on the protection of our natural environment. This study evaluates the economic contribution of the koala to the Australian tourism industry.

While there is firm public support for stronger environmental protection, action on these issues in the past has been seriously constrained by the belief by governments that protecting the environment will have large economic costs. Ecological tax reform shows this need not be the case by arguing that carefully devised measures can both protect the

This paper considers the implications for the proposed uranium mine at Jabiluka of the Resource Assessment Commission’s inquiry into mining at Coronation Hill, also within the boundaries of Kakadu National Park. There are some important parallels in the issues and the way they have been treated.