RECONCILING THE IRRECONCILABLE? THE RESOURCE ASSESSMENT COMMISSION,RESOURCES POLICY AND THE ENVIRONMENT*

Abstract: This paper investigates the place of the Resource Assessment Commission (RAC) in the reform of resource policy-making undertaken by the Hawke government in the aftermath of its experience of the Wesley Vale pulp-mill dispute. The paper argues that the RAC was seen as a foundation upon which the reformed process would rest. The RAC's role would conform to the essence of “accordism”—that is, it would seek to depoliticise information and scientific data by filtering the wide range of inputs at the evaluative stage whilst attempting to reconcile hitherto irreconcilable interest groups from the development and environment sides of the land-use debate. The paper begins by exploring the origins of the RAC. It then reviews the RAC in action and concludes by analyzing the role of the commission within the broader context of the Hawke government's pursuit of “consensus politics”.