Calling for a national dialogue on implementing the SDGs in Australia

A major workshop organised by SDSN Australia/Pacific and the Monash Sustainability Institute has called on the Australian Government to recognise the relevance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to Australia and initiate a cross-sectoral dialogue to develop a national SDGs implementation plan.

The National workshop on implementing the SDGs in Australia took place on 6–7 May 2015 in Melbourne and was supported by the Harold Mitchell Foundation and the National Australia Bank.

In this highly interactive workshop, leaders and experts from federal, state and local governments, academia, business and civil society discussed the relevance of the SDGs for Australia and how they could be communicated broadly, opportunities for Australia from implementing the SDGs, the roles and responsibilities of different sectors in implementation, and what concrete next steps Australia needs to take. Participans also heard from many leading national and international thinkers.

In a Statement summarising the discussions at the workshop, the workshop recognised the relevance of the SDGs to the development challenges facing Australia and in particular to its Indigenous communities. It called on all sectors of Australian society to embrace the principles of sustainable development and support the implementation of the SDGs both nationally and internationally. It also specifically calls on the Australian Government to initiate a national non-partisan dialogue, involving leaders from all sectors of Australian society, to develop an SDGs implementation plan for Australia.

A short video on the discussions at the workshop can be viewed below.

The Workshop Statement, program, and other information can be accessed through the workshop website. The workshop took place as part of a three-year SDGs initiative by SDSN Australia/Pacific and the Monash Sustainability Institute at Monash University, with principal support from the Harold Mitchell Foundation. It follows a workshop on the Business of Sustainable Development, which SDSN Australia/Pacific organised jointly with the UN Global Compact Network Australia in February 2015.