Recent advances in science and technology and today's more diversified water sources are presenting new challenges to water quality regulation and management. According to this report, some decisions are being made without a full appreciation of the longer-term risks and costs. In other instances, existing regulation is stifling innovation. This report outines three reform options...

This consultation paper aims to engage industry and the community on identifying a sustainable path for the mining industry in Australia and how it can be achieved. Australia’s economy is now riding on the trucks, trains and ships that carry our minerals to the international market. But the resources boom we’re now experiencing will not...

This paper investigates the value society attaches to changes in ecosystem resilience. The concept of ecosystem resilience is being increasingly discussed as a driver of biodiversity values. It implies that marginal deteriorations in ecosystem conditions can abruptly result in non-marginal and irreversible changes in ecosystem functioning and the economic values that the ecosystem generates. This...

The National Water Commission's 2007 and 2009 biennial assessments of progress in the implementation of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the National Water Initiative raised concerns about the performance of the urban water sector and declared that the National Water Initiative did not give sufficiently clear guidance on the required direction for urban water reform. To...

In the 2010 federal elections, the debate over Australia's population surfaced once again. Groups concerned with the impacts of a growing population have focused on the life source of any settlement: water. However, despite the myths and reignited fears, Australia has the water resources and technologies to support the population growth that is forecasted. Rebecca...