Our answer to this question will shape many other considerations.

Australia has strong ties with the global economy.  At the moment neither Australia nor the global economy are ecologically sustainable.  Global warming is a key indicator; there are others.

To a significant extent economic increase drives environmental deterioration - at least in the affluent parts of the world.  This is because economic increase is based on increasing the production and consumption of material goods, which currently involves increasing CO2 emissions and industrial toxins.

Thus it would appear that in our present industrial civilisation economic increase and environmental sustainability are incompatible.  This might be called The Great Contradiction.

Below I will show some graphs from Prof Will Steffen (ANU) showing the correlation between economic increase, population growth and increase in global economic activity...