Sustainability reporting is becoming one of the basic criteria for judging the social responsibility of organisations. Business leaders are starting to realise that comprehensive reporting helps support company strategy and shows commitment to sustainable development. This is the third annual report in a series covering sustainability reporting by Australia’s largest companies. The Centre for Australian...

Theorists have also suggested that the natural environment will be a likely beneficiary of deliberative democarcy, given the inherent rationality in supporting interests that will lead to the long-term survival of the planet. Ivan Zwart addresses the question of general environmental interests through two case studies in Australian local government and argues there are at...

Improved regional water planning is the foundation of the National Water Initiative (NWI), which states 'water planning is an important mechanism to assist governments and the community to determine water management and allocation decisions to meet productive, environmental and social objectives'. With increasing water scarcity, effective water planning is the mechanism by which communities determine...

Australian Water Resources 2005 is the National Water Commission's baseline assessment of Australia's water resources in 2004-05, the first year of the National Water Initiative. This assessment synthesises information at the national scale to increase the understanding of Australia's water resources, and identify knowledge gaps that reduce Australia's ability to manage water resources effectively and...

The Australian rangelands occupy approximately three-quarters of the continent. They support diverse communities and businesses and make an important contribution to Australian society. The rangelands are landscapes where land use is dominated by pastoralism - extensive sheep and cattle grazing on native pastures. Rainfall is generally too low or too variable for dryland cropping or...