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Murdoch Business School Working Papers

Factors Affecting the GRI Disclosures in the Annual Reports of Australian State Government Departments
Dr Maria Mucciarone Murdoch Business School Professor Greg Tower - Curtin University Professor Mike Garner - Salisbury University

Working Paper No.3
February 2012

The views presented in this paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Murdoch Business School or Murdoch University. Working papers are considered draft publications for critical comments by colleagues and will generally be expected to be published elsewhere in a more polished form after a period of critical engagement and revision. Comments on this paper should be directed to the authors at m.mucciarone@murdoch.edu.au; Greg.Tower@cbs.curtin.edu.au; rmgarner@salisbury.edu.au © Copyright is held by the author(s) of each working paper: No part of this publication may be republished, reprinted or reproduced in any form without the permission of the paper’s author(s).

National Library of Australia. ISSN: 1837-6371

Factors Affecting the GRI Disclosures in the Annual Reports of Australian State Government Departments

Abstract Purpose: Growing concern over the environmental impact of climate change and carbon tax has increased demand for public disclosure on how government departments are fulfilling their social and environmental obligations. The purpose of this study is to identify what factors influence Australian State government departments in their reporting of social and environmental information. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Public Sector Supplement (2005) document is used as the globally accepted benchmark for sustainability reporting. Design Methodology: This study is based on a content analysis of fifty major state government departments 2010 annual reports The dependent variable is an aggregate of

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