ABSTRACT
This chapter examines an innovative exercise in policy-making in Tasmania, called Tasmania Together, which pursued the policy goal of sustainability through widespread participation of those outside government, including both private organisations and individual members of the community. The Tasmania Together exercise presents an excellent case study, it is argued here, of successful policy integration, participation and knowledge management, in the interests of achieving the community’s long-term social, environmental and economic goals. Sustainable development has now become a widely accepted policy theme: issues of environmental sustainability are no longer marginal, but a mainstream concern. The policy concern for sustainability has been recognised in some states by organisational change. Western Australia established a Sustainability Policy Unit within the Department of Premier and Cabinet, a Sustainability Roundtable to advise the premier, and adopted Australia’s first State Sustainability Strategy. A major problem in converting the policy sentiment in favour of sustainability into effective policies is the organisational structures and practices of government.
