1. Activities relevant to MFA in Australia
Jenny Boshier
Australian Government
Department of the Environment and Heritage
June 2004

2. Information on Material Flows
Material accounts produced
Water (new account released May 2004)
Minerals
Forests
Fish
Energy and Greenhouse

3. Used in national SoE report
Trends in direct material use
Direct domestic consumption of materials
Material flows over time, including hidden flows - 70% of Australia flows are hidden
Australia is a major producer of both finished materials and intermediate material feed stocks and ores to the world markets
We supply coal and non-ferrous metal ores and finished material.
The impacts from this production occur in and are attributed to Australia event heough the uses and demands for these materials occur in overseas markets.

4. Components of total material flow in Australia
Foran and Poldy (2000)
Components of total material flow per person exports and domestic consumption, each disaggregated into direct material input and hidden flow

5. Trends in direct material use in Australia
Foran and Poldy (2000)
Link to population growth over time

6. Key materials for Australia
Water
Irregular supply – only 20% of Australia’s total runoff can be sustainably diverted
Limited supply in major agricultural and urban areas
Agriculture a major user of water – now 67%

7. Innovation to improve resource use efficiency
Pricing signals to encourage efficient water use and allocation
Pricing signals to discourage waste generation and to encourage reuse of materials
CRC Resource Processing – partnership approach
CSIRO Australian Stocks and Flows Framework

8. Data issues Reasonable disaggregated data in priority areas
Effort focussed on collection of data that can address important policy questions
Some important gaps (eg waste, some water use)

9. Summary
Work focussed on resource and material level – our priority areas of environmental concern
Lack of data is an issue in some priority areas
Nature of Australian export economy distorts what the material flows show and generates challenges in how we address the hidden flows
Focus on innovations and practical outcomes