The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, has released a report, Environmental reporting, research and investment – Do we know if we’re making a difference? The presence of a question mark in a headline usually indicates the answer is ‘’No’’.

We do not have a system of accountability capable of telling us what is happening at the level of the government as a whole. Neither do we have clarity and transparency about what we’re trying to achieve, and without that, there can be no accountability. Instead, there is a maze of strategies and agency-level initiatives, and virtually no systematic way to evaluate whether we’re making a difference, he says in the report.

Auditor-General John Ryan agrees: ‘’I am concerned that it is often not clear to the public or Parliament what outcomes are being sought by governments, how that translates into spending, and ultimately what is being achieved with the public money the Government spends – about $150 billion last year,’’ he said.

In her weekly Stuff Column, Josie argues that, ‘’From clarity comes transparency, and from transparency emerges accountability and improvement.’’