Public policyPublic policy is described by Peters (cited in Shaw & Eichbaum, 2008) as guiding the actions of a government and taking into account the effects of that action or inaction on the lives of people in the community. Dye (cited in Shaw and Eichbaum, 2008) defines policy as “anything that governments choose to do or not to do.” Shaw and Eichbaum (2008) go on to argue that public policy is the most obvious way in which government policy can affect people's lives. As an example, Shaw and Eichbaum use the interest-free loan program introduced by the Labor government in 2006. “Decision moments” are often present in public policy. At each “moment of decision,” the government is faced with the choice of whether to act or not. The policy of the interest-free loan program demonstrates three decisions: first, review the existing policy, second, modify the policy, and third, introduce the new policy. (Shaw & Eichbaum, 2008). Public policy can often be complex because it is driven by a number of diverse influences and can end up being a contest of divergent ideas and opinions. Some of the influences on public policy described by Shaw and Eichbaum (2008) are the role a government (and those within it) play in the economy, the values ​​of people from diverse backgrounds, and the resources involved. policy is usually developed to achieve a certain goal. This objective can be expressed positively or negatively. Shaw and Eichbaum (2008) use examples of economic growth as positive and reduction of child abuse as negative. Whether it is a positive or negative goal, the end goal is to bring improvement to the country as a whole. Majone (1989) has a different view from Shaw and Eichbaum as to why...... middle of paper. ....1) describes the importance of the “precautionary principle” in political analysis where prevention is considered better than cure. This is demonstrated by a number of policies, including the Bergen Declaration (EEC), the Rio Declaration and the “Maastricht Treaty”, in which measures must be taken to avoid further environmental degradation. When used in policy analysis, the precautionary principle allows analysts to move away from reactive policies that attempt to repair damage already done to the environment, and toward a more sustainable system aimed at preventing damage that occurs in the first place. analysis is necessary to solve environmental problems because it provides a better understanding of the problem, its implications, its history, the parties involved, the end goal, and the means by which achievement of the goal can be measured.