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Over two centuries of economic growth have put undeniable pressure on the ecological systems that underpin human well-being. While it is agreed that these pressures are increasing, views divide on how they may be alleviated. Some suggest technological advances will automatically keep us from transgressing key environmental thresholds; others that policy reform can reconcile economic and ecological goals; while a third school argues that only a fundamental shift in societal values can keep human demands within the Earth's ecological limits. Here we use novel integrated analysis of the energy-water-food nexus, rural land use (including biodiversity), material flows and climate change to explore whether mounting ecological pressures in Australia can be reversed, while the population grows and living standards improve. We show that, in the right circumstances, economic and environmental outcomes can be decoupled. Although economic growth is strong across all scenarios, environmental performance varies widely: pressures are projected to more than double, stabilize or fall markedly by 2050. However, we find no evidence that decoupling will occur automatically. Nor do we find that a shift in societal values is required. Rather, extensions of current policies that mobilize technology and incentivize reduced pressure account for the majority of differences in environmental performance. Our results show that Australia can make great progress towards sustainable prosperity, if it chooses to do so.

Over the last decade, universities have paid increasing attention to stakeholder needs, which include the needs and expectations of students. To identify student needs and expectations, tertiary institutions have primarily employed the mechanism of evaluation surveys. In recent years, international research has shown falling survey response rates among students. Monash University, Australia, identified the issue of falling response rates as critical, particularly regarding the graduate destination survey and the course experience questionnaire distributed to Australian university graduates. To address the issue, Monash University adopted a strategy to increase student engagement. The strategy involved setting up a call centre for the purpose of contacting recent Monash University graduates who had not completed the graduate destination survey and course experience questionnaire surveys to explain the significance of the graduate feedback to the institution. This paper highlights the significance of enhancing the engagement of tertiary institutions with students and proposes enhancement of student engagement as one of the more effective and efficient ways of addressing declining student survey response rates.

Computable general equilibrium modelling in Australia is oriented towards providing inputs to the policy‐formation process, a process that requires detail. We explain how the necessary level of detail can be provided using analysis of the potential economic impacts of a carbon price on the Australian economy that operates as part of a global emissions trading scheme. The global scheme sets the price and allocation of permits across countries. We find that domestic abatement falls well short of targeted abatement, Australia's GDP is 1.1 per cent lower relative to the basecase, and some industries and regions are vulnerable to employment losses.

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