Abstract
It is wonderful to be welcoming the first International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy with this chapter, which looks at soils governance from the perspective of the people who live in Australia. In this chapter I highlight some aspects of the public policy challenge of soils governance in our country, with an emphasis on systemic issues.
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Notes
- 1.
State of the Environment Committee, State of the Environment Report 2011 (Independent report to the Australian Government Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, DSEWPaC, 2011), p. 270.
- 2.
ABARES, ‘Towards national reporting on agricultural land use change in Australia’ (2013).
- 3.
This is illustrated by the fact that despite working long hours ‘the average weekly disposable income of farmers in 2009–2010 ($568) was considerably lower than that of people working in other occupations ($921)’ (ABS 2012a). Low income does not mean a lack of wealth. Farming is capital intensive, though the income returns on invested capital are low. The average wealth of farming households in 2009–2010 was $1.3 million, roughly three times the average of all households. Poverty as a characteristic of farming is not unique to Australia. Rural residents are around 55 % of the total population in developing countries. More than 70 % were living in extreme poverty in 2011, compared to 55 % of the total population.
- 4.
“The Divine Afflatus,” A Mencken Chrestomathy, chapter 25, p. 443 (1949).
References
ABS (2014) Feature article: capital cities: past present and future. http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3218.0Feature%20Article22012-13?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=3218.0&issue=2012-13&num=&view=. Accessed 31 Mar 2015
World Bank (2015) Databank Australia, Population; http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL
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Martin, P. (2017). Soils Governance, an Australian Perspective. In: Ginzky, H., Heuser, I., Qin, T., Ruppel, O., Wegerdt, P. (eds) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_5
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