Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

(c)(d)conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity; andappropriate valuation and pricing of environmental resources.the inter-generational equity principle means that the present generation shouldensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained orenhanced for the benefit of future generations.the precautionary principle means that, if there is a threat of serious or irreversibleenvironmental damage, a lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as areason for postponing measures to prevent environmental degradation.The triple bottom line focus of the Government’s approach to sustainability is evident inPeople, Place, Prosperity, as well as in these legislative provisions.What is not transparent, however, are the difficult trade-offs that are often involved inpursuing policy directions and priorities in which balances must inevitably be struck. Insupporting the Cabinet’s decision making in these circumstances, it is critical that thenecessary cross cutting whole of government advice from the ACTPS is robust andcomprehensive, and takes account not just of the three limbs of sustainability, but also thealignment of proposed interventions with the Government’s priorities.The ACTPS needs to provide the Government with the perspective that allows it to reach adecision conscious not just of the social, environmental and economic impacts of a particularproposal, but also how the consequences of a decision that might properly, on balance favourone of those limbs, or affect the achievement of other priorities.While it is helpful to establish a common understanding of the meaning of sustainability, it isperhaps more important to appreciate the context in which the term is used. In particular,sustainability does not mean no development, no growth or no change. The Review hasconsciously recommended the new Directorate responsible for this aspect of the work becalled Sustainable Development for this reason.This is particularly relevant when considering the triple bottom line concept of sustainability‘environment’, ‘society’ and ‘economy’. There are, broadly, two models for representingthese elements of sustainability. The ‘concentric circles’ model portrays the ‘social’ and‘economic’ spheres as dependent on - or even constrained by - the environment sphere.Figure 24 - Sustainability Represented as Concentric CirclesEnvironmentSocietyEconomySustainability, Housing Affordability and Transport: 297