No One Left Behind: Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals in Australia

Abstract

Australia was one of 193 countries that came together at the high-level United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September 2015 to commit to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a universal agenda, and their implementation is the shared responsibility of all countries at all stages of development, including OECD nations like Australia. Following a 2018 parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s SDG implementation, the Morrison Government and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMAC) will require up-to-date knowledge on international best practice in governance, policy and planning for SDG implementation to inform its response to the 18 recommendations issued by the Australian Senate’s Foreign Affairs and Trade References Committee in February 2019. It is critical that the Australian government takes leadership in the implementation of the SDGs in part because of the political and constitutional peculiarities of Australia’s federal system of government. Only the Commonwealth has the capacity and authority to coordinate the various State and Territory jurisdictions and Local Government bodies. To date implementation of the SDG agenda has lacked leadership, prioritisation and coordination in Australia. Despite submitting its first Voluntary National Report under the SDGs in 2019, the Australian Government is yet to release a national SDG plan of action. The lack of planning and accountability mechanisms and lack of linked financing in the national budget are symptomatic of a deeper problem. In short an apparent lack of political will has meant that the SMART goal logic that many government agencies use for operationalising policy in an array of contexts is simply not present when it comes to the advancement of SDG implementation in Australia