Source: Mr Joe Italiano, House of Representatives.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Parliament of Australia, 14 February 2019
Following are the key recommendations. See the link at the end of the Recommendations for the full report.
Recommendation 1
7.12 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee, publish a national Sustainable Development Goals implementation plan that includes national priorities and regular reports of Australia’s performance agains the goals.
Recommendation 2
7.16 The committee recommends that the Australian Government provide an indicator-based assessment to parliament at least every two years that tracks Australia’s performance against the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recommendation 3
7.19 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee, establish an approach to preparing future voluntary national review/s that ensures data on Australia’s performance against the goals is included.
Recommendation 4
7.22 The committee recommends that the Australian Government establish a national Sustainable Development Goals secretariat to provide ongoing support to the interdepartmental committee, develop a national implementation plan and provide effective coordination of Australia’s actions to implement and report on the SDG agenda. The location of the secretariat should be determined by government to ensure the best use of resources.
Recommendation 5
7.25 The committee recommends that Australian Government agencies integrate the Sustainable Development Goals across all internal and external websites, strategies and policies as they are updated.
Recommendation 6
7.27 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee and Department of Finance, develop a framework to ensure that agencies include the Sustainable Development Goals in their annual reporting by 2020–21.
Recommendation 7
7.30 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee, regularly share resources on international best practice across government to improve Australia’s performance against the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recommendation 8
7.34 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee, undertakes a literature review relating to the Sustainable Development Goals and updates the links to the information resources on the Australian website at least annually. Where gaps are identified, the committee recommends that the interdepartmental committee partners with stakeholders to develop and disseminate Australian information resources.
Recommendation 9
7.37 The committee recommends that the interdepartmental committee develop a Sustainable Development Goals communication strategy for the Australian Government after assessing the merits of a national awareness campaign compared to targeted communication campaigns for specific stakeholder groups.
Recommendation 10
7.40 The committee recommends that the Australian Government work with state and territory governments to add the Sustainable Development Goals to Council of Australian Governments council agendas for regular discussion.
Recommendation 11
7.42 The committee recommends that the Australian Government seek, through the Council of Australian Governments process, to assess opportunities to include data from state, territory and local government levels on its reporting platform on the Sustainable Deelopment Goal indicators.
Recommendation 12
7.44 The committee recommends that the Australian Government provide information resources alongside the national implementation plan to support state, territory and local governments to create their own plans supporting the implementation of the SDGs in their jurisdictions.
Recommendation 13
7.48 The committee recommends that the Australian Government establish a representative, multi-sectoral reference group to advise the interdepartmental committee on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals until 2030.
Recommendation 14
7.50 The committee recommends that the Australian Government continue to support civil society engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals, including by supporting events, summits and the development and dissemination of information resources.
Recommendation 15
7.54 The committee recommends that the Australian Government partners with private and tertiary sector stakeholders to develop and disseminate Australian guidance on reporting against the Sustainable Development Goals in order to ensure consistent and transparent reporting and minimise the reporting burden for businesses.
Recommendation 16
7.56 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee, identify opportunities to assist small and medium enterprises to build capacity to access sustainable procurement and reporting systems.
Recommendation 17
7.58 The committee recommends that the Australian Government, through the interdepartmental committee, assesses opportunities to encourage sustainable public procurement, impact investment and business practices that support the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recommendation 18
7.61 The committee recommends that the Australian Government continue to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals throughout the international development program and prioritise the commitment to leave no one behind.
