Abstract:
In December 1992, all Australian governments endorsed the National Strategy for
Ecologically Sustainable Development. As no indicators were set in the National
Strategy, Australia’s progress towards Ecologically Sustainable Development has
been difficult to measure.
This paper addresses the questions:
• Assessed against the quality standards set in Bellagio Principles, are National
Headline Sustainability Indicators a good set of Sustainability Indicators?
• On the basis, primarily, of the National Headline Sustainability Indicators, is
Australia progressing towards Ecologically Sustainable Development?
Major weaknesses in the National Headline Sustainability Indicators versus quality
standards for sustainability indicators are identified.
The paper then assesses the indicators chosen against the objectives in the National
Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development. It concludes that the version of
Ecologically Sustainable Development reflected in the National Headline
Sustainability Indicators is a weak version of sustainability.
Based on the National Headline Sustainability Indicators, all of the economic
indicators and some of the social indicators show some progress since 1992. Most of
the key National Headline environmental indicators have no trend data. Those with
trend data, however, show an adverse trend.
The major conclusion is that Australian society will require a new environmental
paradigm to make significant progress towards Ecologically Sustainable
Development.
