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SDG Goals

Monash Sustainable Development Institute Chair says work towards goals ‘not enough’

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 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 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 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.” Australia, like all countries, has its own key obstacles in achieving the 17 goals, he says. “It is partly will and partly capacity. The

biggest challenge in Australia is that there are significant vested interests that are opposing strong action on climate change. We are the world’s biggest coal exporter, we have a very big fossil fuel industry and they have been pretty powerful in influencing the national government to weaken its response on climate action. I think that is our single biggest challenge. “If we look at the public’s attitude we see very strong support for climate action. In the last four to five years, we see more and more people believe there should be strong moves on climate action. That hasn’t been taken up by the national government and I think that’s because the fossil fuel industry has been very effective in lobbying government. Also, within the national government there has been a rump of climate deniers who seem to wield disproportionate power. “In terms of other goals – social goals – there seems to be much more willingness to achieve the targets but a lot of the problems are entrenched. The biggest equity challenge is around Indigenous inequality, where we have a very big difference in health and educational outcomes, employment outcomes, Indigenous imprisonment and deaths in custody. This problem has been seemingly unresolvable for many years. And it seems we are going to have to work a lot harder, and try new things from those we have tried in the past. “The real issue is to secure agreement across Australia about the big issues and potential solutions to them. While we do have a good bipartisan approach to COVID-19, we don’t have that towards climate change or some of the other issues. And it’s the lack of national agreement and level of conflict about some of these that makes it very difficult to solve them.” Professor Thwaites says there is no one silver bullet or single breakthrough to progress the SDGs. “There are going to be many factors for different goals. For climate change we know that there needs to be a greater level of bipartisanship and a need for business to put pressure back on the government for stronger action. But in other areas, we don’t have the solutions and the problems are harder and more deep-seated, like those of Indigenous inequality. I think we have to partner closely with the Indigenous community and work with them to devise solutions to change this dreadful inequality that we see in Australia.” Looking to the future, Professor Thwaites says the broader community can do much to extend the work of the SDGs. “We at Monash are working on a project localising the goals, and when you run the goals and targets past the community, they are really attracted to them. Local community members are able to translate the goals to their local situation. And we are seeing people using the goals to plan a future for their local community. I think that’s a really positive opportunity because the SDGs are a set of goals and targets which people around the world have agreed represent a vision for a world we all want.” Find out more about the Monash Sustainable Development Institute: https://www.monash. edu/sustainable-development/sustainabledevelopment