THREATS TO ENVIRONMENTAL

Recent decades have seen the accelerated use of market-based instruments for environmental management in Australia. Not all instruments, however, have been well directed, appropriately designed or effectively implemented, leading on occasion to limited environmental gains and high regulatory costs. In this paper the use of market-based instruments for environmental management in Australia is canvassed ahead of a discussion on the emergence of a ‘sustainable consumption ’ ideology which is gaining prominence in policy circles to the detriment of effective reforms. Recent decades have seen accelerated reforms in environmental policy, associated with increased resource scarcity, increased pressures on the environment and heightened community demands for environmental services and amenity. In many instances, policy reforms have benefited from the establishment of clea