Centre for Policy Development's Blog, page 104

GreenTimes | Environmental News You Shouldn't Miss

Independent media outlet GreenTimes helps raise awareness for our recent report, Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy (available for Download here).  

GreenTimes – What price nature? When it comes to adding up the ecological benefits to Australia of its huge marine domain, the first serious stab at a value is $25 billion.

Building on UN Environment Program biodiversity assessments, the Sydney Centre for Policy Development has counted up the worth of nature hidden beneath the sea's surface. The greatest single value lay in the ocean's use as a carbon sink. Using the Gillard government's proposed $23 per tonne carbon price, the centre estimated Australia's marine domain to be worth $15.8 billion. 

Access the full article here. 

AllVoices | Marine Survey Uncovers a Deep Sea Treasure Trove

Independent online media outlet AllVoices covers the release of our latest report on the economic value of Australia's marine estate.  The report entitled; Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy (available for download here). Our report offers a new perspective toward marine sustainability, revealing the ample monetary incentives associated with sustainable practices in Australian waters.

'The greatest single value lay in the ocean's use as a carbon sink. Using the Gillard government's proposed $23 per tonne carbon price, the centre estimated Australia's marine domain to be worth $15.8 billion.' 

Read the full article here. 

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Climate Spectator | $25bn of Australia's 'ocean economy' unaccounted for, at risk

Online media outlet ClimateSpectator covers the release of our new article; Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy (available for Download here).  The article focuses on the key features of the report, reinforcing the economic evaluations associated with Australia's oceans – praising the report as an innovative method of offering a new perspective on a preexisting issue.

'CPD says the report, which is due to be formally released in Canberra on Tuesday, is groundbreaking, in that it fills a gap between the scientific knowledge of our oceans and the poor understanding of the economic and social value they provide

"Many, many decisions in business and government are made on the basis of cost and benefit," says Eadie.

"Describing some of those most invaluable aspects of nature …in dollar terms can actually make them more real to decision makers… and mean that they're not overlooked." 

Read the complete article here. 

READ the key findings & recommendations in Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy here.

DOWNLOAD the report here

Sydney Morning Herald | Marine Survey Uncovers a Deep Sea Treasure Trove

SMH columnist Andrew Darby Hobart covers the release of our new report; Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy (available to Download here).  The article highlights the key features of the report, drawing attention to the innovative application of economic methodologies to Australian oceans in order to highlight the multidimensional value of our marine estate.

"Building on UN Environment Program biodiversity assessments, the CPD counted up the worth of nature hidden beneath the sea's surface. The greatest single value lay in the ocean's use as a carbon sink. Using the Gillard government's proposed $23 per tonne carbon price, the centre estimated Australia's marine domain to be worth $15.8 billion."

Read the complete article here.

Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy is the first in a series of reports that will look at how different sectors of Australia's economy can benefit from policies to preserve the environment and resources that sustain them.

Public Service in the News

America's inhumane approach to labour problems will finish Obama > The US remedy for their plight is similar to the idea behind Britain's "big society": leave it to churches, voluntary associations and "the community" to sort out the personal and family consequences of long-term unemployment. In practice, that means individuals are thrown back on themselves, since one real effect of the recession has been to beggar many of these civil-society institutions. Familiar as this issue is to Britons, it's only beginning to dawn on US officials that civil society is not rich.

Work Programme leaves charities fearful for their future > Voluntary groups in the employment sector that have not won contracts – and some that have – are increasingly afraid of being squeezed. Crisis, the homelessness charity, spent hundreds of hours preparing pitches to send to potential contractors, but found just one that was viable to work with; and that contractor subsequently failed to win a deal from the government.

Open Public Services: what about the workers? > If the government is to modernise public services, it must first modernise the outdated employment culture within them.

UK union leader Brendan Barber will urge unions to build new 'green' economy >While critics of the trade union movement and the Labour party say the organisations have no tangible alternative to the coalition government's defict-reduction programme, Barber will say that the TUC and the 55 unions it represents have to "win the intellectual debates as well as the industrial battles … We've got to build a mass movement for change." Barber will argue: "It's marketisation and privatisation on a huge scale – warmer words when they are wrapped up as localism and the big society – but the same old hard-right ideology."

Alan Dee: Parent power puts free schools in freefall > BACK to school time is upon us, and this term we're expected to get our heads around yet another pie in the sky educational initiative dreamed up by politicians with little experience with the sharp end of state education. Every supposed step forward of recent years has been foisted on us for the most part by millionaire men in suits. The idea of local people setting up schools scores a big tick with the government's Big Society agenda.The big idea here is 'free schools' – but the catch is that they're more expensive as far as the taxpayer is concerned because of the carrots that have to be dangled in order to get people to take the plunge.

Keep the mail going, Congress > The fact is, delivering the mail the way Americans have grown accustomed to having it delivered — anywhere, six days a week, for a price that would hardly cover a couple of miles worth of gas — hardly sounds like a business model. And yet we expect the to operate like a business, even as we demand that it provide services like, well, a public service.

Think. Talk. Drink. A national innovation agenda for Australia

A very innovative Talk, Think, Drink

It seems everyone knows about Australia's 'two-speed economy', our national reliance on commodity exports, and the problems in manufacturing and tourism arising from the strong Aussie dollar.

But is our economic future limited to being China's quarry?  Or is there another, smarter alternative?

Does Australia need a national innovation agenda to drive prosperity in other areas of the national economy? Where are the new opportunities, and what role will 21st century infrastructure such as the National Broadband Network (NBN) play in generating our future wealth?

Former Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett will address these questions in a special Talk, Think, Drink event at Trades Hall, Sydney, on Tuesday 25 October.

David Bartlett came to national attention as Australia's first 'Generation X' Premier, and the first Premier with a background in IT and innovation policy.  Under his leadership, Tasmania embraced innovation and technology as the key to its economic future, and commenced the politically difficult transition away from its reliance on traditional industries such as mining and forestry. Tasmania embraced the concept of the NBN – becoming the first jurisdiction to roll-out NBN infrastructure and to trial the new network.

What:   A national innovation agenda for Australia

Who:    David Bartlett – former Premier of Tasmania

Where:  Trades Hall, 377 Sussex Street, Sydney

When:    6pm for 6.30 – until 8pm, Tuesday 25 October 2011

Entrance is free, and drinks and nibbles will be provided on the night.

RSVP here to secure your spot at this special one-off event. 

The Talk, Think, Drink event series is hosted by the Centre for Policy Development and Essential Media Communications.

NEW REPORT | Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy

Introducing CPD's first Sustainable Economy Report

Our oceans are often out of sight, but that doesn't mean they should be out of mind. Australia is surrounded by a vast wealth of oceans. We have the world's third largest marine estate. We have the highest marine biodiversity in the world. Our marine economy supports thousands of regional jobs through commercial fishing, marine tourism and recreational fishing. Yet official accounts record only a fraction of the real, long-term value of our oceans.

DOWNLOAD the full report here.

In a ground-breaking new report, CPD's Sustainable Economy program reveals a shortfall in our official accounts of $25 billion per year. Our oceans contribute at least this much to the national economy in ecosystem services – such as carbon storage, fish nursery services and recreational fishing – free of charge.

 Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy is the first in a series of reports that will look at how different sectors of Australia's economy can benefit from policies to preserve the environment and resources that sustain them.

KEY FINDINGS

In a national first, Stocking Up assesses the economic value of Australia's oceans and finds:

Our oceans provide an unrecognised $25 billion in value every year to our national economy – billions of dollars that are currently unaccounted for in official statistics.  
The value of sustainably managed Australian fisheries could increase by 42% over 20 years if global fish stocks collapse.

Stocking Up fills a gap between the scientific knowledge of our oceans and the poor understanding of the economic and social value they provide, showing how we can secure marine jobs today and in the future by maintaining the value of the assets that these jobs rely on.

The report measures essential ecosystems services provided 'free of charge' by our oceans, such as:

$15.8 billion a year in carbon storage. Seagrasses store 10 to 40 times as much carbon per hectare as forests. Australia's seagrass meadows are the largest in the world.
$6.2 billion a year in fish nursery services, pest and disease control. These services are crucial for our commercial fishing industry.
$1.85 billion per year in fish and recreation enjoyed by the 1 in 5 Australians who go fishing at least once a year

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

Stocking Up recommends five simple measures to secure our marine resources for all Australians; support long-term jobs in commercial fishing and marine tourism; and provide better catches for recreational fishers:

Protect the assets that underpin our marine estate – We must treat our marine estate as a portfolio of valuable ecological assets. We need to balance our investment portfolio across a well-managed commercial fishing estate; marine protected areas and highly protected areas.
Rebuild fish stocks – We need to take better care of fish stocks to reduce the risk of collapse. While management measures for our Commonwealth fisheries provide a strong foundation for reducing over-fishing, 42 per cent of our fisheries remain in an over-fished or unknown state.
Ensure all commercial fisheries are sustainably managed - We need to adjust economic incentives to avoid poverty traps for commercial fishers and loss of resources for tourism and recreation. Around half of Commonwealth fisheries are currently struggling to cope with economic pressure from rising fuel prices, a high Australian dollar and increased competition.
Establish baseline data for recreational catch and biomass in undisturbed ecosystems - We need better information to avoid sudden collapse of ecosystems. While our knowledge of many commercial fisheries has improved, we don't have enough information on recreational catch and on how marine ecosystems function to manage multiple pressures well.
Support local communities through marketing and business innovation – We need innovations in marketing and business models to help local economies find opportunities from changing market demand and resource availability

As global fish stocks decline and the risk of ecosystem collapse grows worldwide, Australia can still take action to secure the third largest and most diverse marine estate in the world. This would support long-term jobs for commercial fishers, secure marine resources for tourism development, and provide better catches for recreational fishers.

In Stocking Up we've brought common-sense thinking to the question of how we can develop a thriving marine economy over the long term. It's not a trivial question.

As the world heads into challenging times, Australia must make smart and informed decisions about how to navigate the waters ahead. These decisions need to be driven by the value of our oceans and the people who rely on them, not by politics.

 

MEDIA

For media inquires you can contact our Communications Director, Antoinette Abboud (Antoinette.Abboud(at)cpd.org.au   or 0414 920 801) or the lead author of Stocking Up, Laura Eadie (Laura.Eadie(at)cpd.org.au  or 0408 885 079).

You can download a media release here.

Radio Adelaide Breakfast | The Dollar Value of Our Oceans

Radio Adelaide Breakfast, hosted by Tim Brunero, interviews Laura Eadie our Sustainable Economy Research Director. Tim chats to her about an forward looking research project aimed at economically quantifying Australia's marine estate.

To hear the full interview click here.

They're doing something really interesting over at the Center for Policy Development.

You know how Australia has the world's 3rd largest marine estate? Well they're trying to quantify its economic value.

Effectively putting environmentalism into the language of business. Sounds exciting but also very daunting.

The full report, Stocking Up: Securing Our Marine Economy, will be released on Monday 12 September.

 

Chris Bonnor | Radical change needed to make school system fair for all

Fellow of the Center for Policy Development, Chris Bonnor offers an insight into the revelations of the recent Gonski report into school funding in his opinion piece in The Age.

The evidence unequivocally displays the growing academic disparity between the private and public school sectors; trends developing in tandem with socio-economic divides in Australian society.  Bonnor advocates the necessity for restructuring the present funding model but concedes that the aversion shown by major parties on this issue makes this a significant challenge.

The problems we must deal with were created decades ago when we somehow ended up with a public system open to all – and a subsidised private system open to some, if they could pay. It's hard to think of a better way to create a social and academic apartheid framework of schools.

The schools that are partly resourced by fees inevitably harvest an advantaged enrollment; the schools that are free and open to all become socially and academically residualised. What we've always guessed but now know is that this system, almost regardless of teacher quality, makes it much harder to lift the achievement of kids at the bottom of the school league.

Read Chris Bonnor's article in The Age here.

Public Service in the News

We are pledged to real reform > Tony Abbot reveals a very 'Big Society' like vision for Australia. "To the Coalition, productivity enhancement mostly comes from liberating individuals and institutions from the stifling grip of unnecessary rules or second-guessing bureaucracies. Working with the states to establish community-controlled public hospitals and independent public schools should enhance productivity because more autonomous management should be able to get more value from each taxpayer dollar. Our commitment to reduce the compliance cost of government red tape will boost productivity as enterprises spend more time doing their job and less time form-filling.

Strengthening the economy by reducing regulation, rather than by spending money, should be the Coalition's policy speciality. Modelled on a scheme that's worked in Victoria, the Coalition will reduce the cost of red tape by at least $1 billion every year. Departments will be required to calculate how many hours business spends on paperwork, how much that costs and to publish the red tape reductions that have been put in place. This will be verified by the Productivity Commission and be a key performance indicator for the Public Service."

'Free' healthcare? That has to be the greatest oxymoron of our age > Our leaders tell us to both rely on and provide ourselves with a big society. Which is to say, we elect them and pay their wages, but we shouldn't expect them to do anything for us.

Gove's school plans really are an class apart > Where's the Big Society in doing your own thing and leaving those who are struggling behind? Just allowing anyone with a personal agenda to create their fantasy school from scratch won't help the education system as a whole. Far better to invest in and improve existing comprehensive and community schools.

Gay community calls for better mental health support > Homophobic hate crime victims have called for better support from mental health providers in helping them deal with emotional harm. A clarification of the action required from the state to address the unique needs of marginalised groups in our communities.

'The little community that could' > "It started out as child care and recreation as the main focuses, and today we have family support, we have a youth centre, a family centre and we do special events." Also offered is a "family self-sufficiency" program that provides basic financial education, and a program that helps with parenting skills and other needs for families with children at-risk of going into government care.