SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
SDG Goals Monash Sustainable Development Institute Chair says work towards goals ‘not enough’
but we haven’t updated the data since then. We are planning to update the data later this year. Then we’ll be in a position to assess any major changes.” The report is a good “snapshot” of how Australia is performing and was well received by the community. Looking at the changes over the 15-year period (from 2000-2015), Professor Thwaites says, “I don’t feel there’s enough of an awareness in the national government regarding the SDGs and targets. There are areas of the government, particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade where there is good knowledge of the goals but we have seen little indication that federal government departments are working towards the goals. At the state level we have different states working towards the goals, for example the Victorian government has built in the goals into Plan Melbourne... but unfortunately there is very little utilisation of the goals by the national government.”
Professor John Thwaites.
As Chairperson of the Monash Sustainable Development Institute and ClimateWorks Australia, Professor John Thwaites knows firsthand the difficulties Australia has to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
Professor Thwaites says the SDGs are a good framework for a post COVID-19 future. “I think the SDGs are a really good framework for government and businesses to use, because they cover all the key areas needed post-COVID-19 such as a healthy environment, successful economy and fair society. One of the risks that we face in our recovery from COVID-19 is that we might be too narrow in our focus and not focus on our long-term challenges. Yes we do have to focus on getting jobs going again but we also need to focus on the long term challenges of climate change, inequality, Indigenous imprisonment rates and our declining biodiversity. And the goals give us a framework to make better and smarter policies to meet those challenges.”
Professor Thwaites is the Chair of the National Sustainable Development Council, the author group of the Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report 2018, one of the few independently compiled reports to track Australia’s advancement towards the goals. Our Newsletter previewed the report and its mixed results in our July issue, noting two SDGs – SDG 10: Reduced Inequality and SDG13: Climate Action – were not ‘on track’ to meet the goals by 2030. Professor Thwaites says little has changed since the release of the report. “I don’t have any reason to believe there’s been much change www.graduatehouse.com.au
Australia, like all countries, has its own key obstacles in achieving the 17 goals, he says. “It is partly will and partly capacity. The 26
