PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA 2 DECEMBER 1991
The final sectoral reports of the Ecologically Sustainable
Development ( ESD) Working Groups were tabled in Parliament
today. The reports, covering nine major industry sectors, mark the
culmination of a cooperative process initiated by the
Government in August 1990, involving representatives from
a industry, union, conservation, consumer and welfare
organisations, Commonwealth, State and Territory
Governments. The Working Groups have sought to provide recommendations to
Government on ways of moving key industry sectors onto an
ecologically and economically sustainable pathway for the
long term.
Achieving ecologically sustainable development is critical
if governments are to ensure that not only present, but
future, generations of Australians benefit from sustained
improvements in their quality of life in both material and
non-material terms.
Australia's environmental problems will not be immediately
solved by these reports rather, they mark the beginning of
a long term process of transition. They provide an outline
of the current position of our industries, and recommend a
number of actions which can be pursued, in order to make
those industries more sustainable.
The reports will provide a valuable resource for all levels
of Government to draw on in developing strategies to
facilitate the transition to ESD.
It is my hope that by the middle of next year, we will be
well down the track of having developed an initial national
strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development.
I thank the Chairs of the ESD process, Professor Stuart
Harris, Professor David Throsby and Dr Roy Green, for their
work and guidance of the nine groups charged with drafting
the reports. I also extend my thanks to the individual
working group participants, and to the organisations they
represented, who devoted substantial resources and expertise
to this process.
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ie Government is considering ways of harnessing the
, operation shown within groups and maintaining the
ivolvement of key interest groups in the process.
he continued cooperation of State, Territory and local
overnments, will be very important in carrying the process
f ESD forward. I am pleased that Premiers and Chief
inisters have agreed to participate in the
ntergovernmental Ecologically Sustainable Development
lorking Group which the Commonwealth proposed to consider
: he outcomes of the ESD process.
Round Table with key interest groups is planned in the
iear future. The meeting will be chaired by a senior
officer of my Department, and will discuss their further
involvement in the ESD process, and wider public
consultation requirements, during the next phase of strategy
development and implementation.
The nine sectoral Working Group reports cover Agriculture,
Energy Production and Distribu': ion, Energy Use, Fisheries,
Forest Use, Manufacturing, Mining, Tourism and Transport.
Two further reports will also be shortly released. They are
the ESD Intersectoral Report prepared by the ESD Chairs,
covering issues common to the key industry sectors ( such as
public health, employment, equity, research and development,
and biodiversity), and a separate report on greenhouse
which, together with the Working Group reports, examines
options to achieve the Government's interim planning targets
for emissions of greenhouse gases, and the most
cost-effective combination of measures needed to achieve
these targets. 3453