This report examines regulation of the Australian resources sector, identifying issues and leading practice approaches to addressing them. The main focus is on how regulation is designed, administered and enforced. The key message is that there is room for significant improvement.

This discussion paper asserts that the Morrison Government’s 'gas-fired recovery' will not assist Australia’s manufacturing industry, arguing that increasing gas production is likely to benefit gas exporters, not the manufacturing industry.

Far from fuelling the recovery from the COVID recession, natural gas will inevitably decline as an energy source for industry and homes in Australia. This report shows that a combination of economics and environmental imperatives imperil the industry.

This issues paper outlines a range of issues on which it seeks information and feedback. The paper provides a short factual overview of Australia’s gas markets and regulatory interventions to date and briefly summarises the issues created by prospective gas reservation.

The two main threats to natural resource management caused by COVID-19 are the negative impact on ecosystems (and thereby resources) of increased human interaction with the environment, and the increased disregard for international environmental laws, norms and regulations, by both individuals and nations. This paper looks at some of the issues facing Indo-Pacific nations.