The Australian Journal of Public Administration, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 303–318 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8500.2009.00641.x RESEARCH AND EVALUATION Australia’s Indicator-Based Sustainability Assessments and Public Policy Adnan A. Hezri Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Stephen R. Dovers The Australian National University Operationalising sustainability has proven difficult because the concept is ambiguous and fraught with contradictions. In response, sustainability indicator systems to characterise and measure sustainable development have been developed globally. The focus of this article is on how indicators function as an instrument of policy to enhance achievement of environmental and sustainability policy in Australia at national scale. In theory, by integrating information from the environmental, social and economic domains and then feeding knowledge to a wide range of policy sectors, sustainability indicator systems may facilitate cross-agency and -portfolio connectivity. Key characteristics of the various sustainability indicator systems developed to inform policy at the national level are described, noting the diverse approaches to indicator development in Australia. The structural relevance of indicator systems to the mechanisms of policy and institutions in Australia is discussed, and corresponding issues of institutional fit are analysed. Key words: sustainable development, indicators, evidence-based policy, whole-of-government Recent years have seen an escalation in pub- lic, scientific and policy concern over issues of environment and sustainability, recently in- tensified by the emerging issue of climate change (Lubchenco 1998; Steffen et al. 2004; ASEC 2006). The magnitude of human dis- turbance of ecosystems, the earth system and resource stocks has reached the stage where a new geological era – the Anthropocene – has been proposed, where the dominant driver of the global biophysical system is human in- fluence (Crutzen 2002). Globally and in Aus- tralia, environmental issues have since the late 1980s been integrated into a broader and more complex agenda termed sustainable develop- ment, sustainability or, in Australia, Ecologi- cally Sustainable Development (ESD) (WCED 1987; CoA 1992; United Nations 1992; Dovers 2002). (The Australia term ESD will be used here.) This intellectual and policy agenda is ex- pressed in national policy of most countries and in a suite of major international agreements, and seeks to integrate environmental with so- cial and economic policy. This recognises the indivisibility of resource use and environmen- tal quality from economic policy, human be- haviour, social aspirations, institutions of gov- ernance, and human development. Operationalising ESD has proven to be dif- ficult for a number of reasons. First, the idea and even the statements of guiding principles (for example in over 120 Australian statutes, Stein 2000) remain contested, generalised and vague, lacking in clear instruction for decision- makers. 1 Second, mature policy processes and institutional arrangements to support policy de- bate and decision-making have been slow to develop (Connor and Dovers 2004). Third, as a C  2009 The Authors Journal compilation C  2009 National Council of the Institute of Public Administration Australia