In Australia important debates are also emerging, particularly in the area of sustainability and SRI reporting and disclosure. There is no denying that SRI and surrounding concerns are firmly embedded in our financial, governance and social landscape. The Ethical Investment Association invites you to join us as we reflect on the performance and growth of SRI in the last 12 months, applaud the first SRI Symbol licensees and contemplate the future shape of SRI in Australia.

For those of you that don't know ASrIA, we are a not for profit membership group dedicated to promoting sustainable and responsible investment practice in the Asia region, we have over 100 members and a network of partner organisations whom we work with. EIA is very much one of these and Duncan Paterson sits on both boards to foster the links between us.

The driving force for creating ASrIA was the realisation that due to scale and pace of change, what happens in Asia will determine the fate of the planet. Who agrees with this? If everyone in the world is to have the same standard of living as people in OECD countries do, under current systems of production and consumption, then we need at least three possibly five planets worth of resources to deliver that outcome. We have One Planet. This is why sustainable investors are so important, they have spotted this stark fact ahead of the market and are driving change. The question for all of you here in Australia is therefore: are you going to let Europe stitch up the clean-tech business in your doorstep markets of Asia or are you going to be dominant players?

I've been visiting Australia since 1997 and I'd like to contrast the experience over time, there have been three phases. In 1997 coming to Australia for the first time I had high hopes that businesses here would be environmental exemplars, building new business in Asia on the back of growing demand for healthy food, clean tech, energy efficient buildings and so on. The reality was very sobering indeed with very little evidence of these business developments.

In 1998 retrenching from Asia was underway following the Asia crisis and by 2002 when my colleague Louisa Mitchell visited this was in full swing. So we gave up on building relationships with Australian financial institutions and focussed on building our relationship with EIA.

Now in 2005 things have changed again, there's a cautious appetite for Asia once more. But from conversations with those I've met these last few days a 'White House' cloud clearly hangs over the country especially in relation to climate change and energy futures. Even though excellent initiatives are underway at the state level, the federal government stance fosters a broader complacency in business about climate change and sustainability which is downright dangerous. All credit then to the companies which are keeping their own sustainability agendas alive. This is definitely the moment to thank IAG, who have recently joined ASrIA, for shipping me out here and to congratulate them in raising the profile of climate change with their customers.

Don't let complacency take hold of SRI. My visits here suggest that there is some loss of direction about what sustainability/SRI is about. So I make two suggestions to keep the issues more focussed. Firstly, don't shy away from contentious issues. To give you an example, in the early nineties there was much controversy when the water industry was privatised in the UK. The UK Social Investment Forum acted as facilitator helping the SRI community to become an effective force for raising standards in the industry. EIA can do the same here for example in the debate about investing in Uranium/Nuclear, investing in Integrated Energy solutions, on asbestos, on gaming and so on.

Secondly, in the quest to be accepted by mainstream investors and advisers there has been much emphasis on Best of Sector strategies and Engagement. In my view investing in Industries of the Future will get us quicker to One Planet Living then incremental improvements by today's dominant industries. So where best of class and engagement is the strategy, it has to come with a challenging agenda and with more openness to collaborative action within the SRI community. It's interesting to see that SRIers are not leading the way in collaborative engagement with companies, more frequently they are seen to be at loggerheads with each other. Other groups such as the Global Corporate Governance Network are showing what can be done. Surely we can do better?

Finally congratulations to EIA for developing the symbol. This is a major lead for the industry internationally and I have no doubt whatsoever that it will be picked up by other countries, so all credit goes to your collective efforts. There is still a long way to go to overcome today's problems: climate change and the greening of industry, economic development and social progress for all countries, not just the privileged OECD. And it's all us in this room and our generation, now ever more present in the seats of power, making the big decisions. We must not let up in making sustainability progress through the markets.

For more details see: http://www.eia.org.au/