Abstract:

For many developing countries, natural resources represent an opportunity to make significant steps towards escaping poverty. Towards this goal, transparency can play a crucial role by helping to ensure that a developing country’s natural resources are not plundered by powerful individuals, but are rather used to benefit current and future generations of all citizens. This is the primary motivation behind the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and other disclosure initiatives. This brief reviews progress made worldwide, and argues that Australia needs to be more if, as it says, it wants to be a global leader.