Rate My Professor Peter Burnett

Peter Burnett is an Honorary Associate Professor in the College of Law at the Australian National University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws, Master of Public Law, and a PhD in environmental policy and law awarded in 2019. From 2000 to 2013, Burnett held several senior leadership positions in the Australian Federal Department of Environment, where he worked on a diverse array of policy and regulatory matters. These included the development of national pollution standards, Australia's international engagement on chemicals and waste issues, management of World and National Heritage sites, environmental impact assessments for major developments, and reforms to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Prior to his federal roles, he served at the ACT Environment Management Authority. As a former senior public servant, Burnett maintains a keen interest in advancing environmental policy and decision-making processes.

Burnett's research centers on environmental and biodiversity policy, environmental regulation, and natural capital accounting, with particular emphasis on the integration of environmental information into development approvals and the function of environmental impact assessment in decision-making. His key publications include the PhD thesis 'Australia's National Approach to "Ecologically Sustainable Development": Success in Principle, Failure in Policy, Still in Prospect' (2018); 'The accounting push and the policy pull: balancing environment and economic decisions' co-authored with Vardon and Dovers in Ecological Economics (2016); 'Accounting for ecosystem services – Lessons from Australia for its application and use in Oceania to achieve sustainable development' in Ecosystem Services (2019); 'Measuring net-positive outcomes for nature using accounting' in Nature Ecology & Evolution (2020); 'From natural capital accounting to natural capital banking' in Nature Sustainability (2021); and 'Conservation of the critically endangered Box-gum grassy woodlands with ecosystem accounting in Australia' in Biological Conservation (2023). He serves as a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council, contributes regular commentaries on environmental policy to The Conversation, and authors the Sustainability Bites blog. In 2019, he participated in events surrounding the OECD Environmental Performance Review of Australia and joined collaborative research with the Federal Environment Department on environmental information use in decision-making.