northern Queensland gulf, south west Queensland and north west New South Wales report which was published in December 2014. Additionally, ABARES publish a number of series, including the Australian quarterly forecast report, Agricultural commodities (ISSN 1839-5619, since September 2011). History of Agricultural commodities report The Agricultural commodities title replaced Australian commodities: forecasts and issues (ISSN 1321-7844, March 1994-June 2011), formerly Agriculture and Resources Quarterly (ISSN 1032-9722, March 1989-December 1993). Agriculture and Resources Quarterly originated from the merging of Resource Trends (ISSN 0818-3619, September 1986-December 1988) and Quarterly review of the rural economy (ISSN 0156-7446, February 1979-December 1988, previously Quarterly review of agricultural economics ISSN 0033-5754, January 1948-April/July 1978). Controversy In February 1998 the Commonwealth Ombudsman produced a report of an investigation into ABARE's external funding of climate change economic modelling. The investigation was instigated after the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) sought membership of ABARES’ established GIGABARE Steering Committee. ABARES sought a membership fee from ACF which the ACF requested to be waived. After the waiver was declined the ACF then made a formal complaint to the Ombudsman on the basis of: - ABARES’ undisclosed source for research funding, - ABARES’ lack of appropriate guidelines and protocols for private sector funding, where private funded projects informed government decisions, and - The Steering Committees established by ABARES’ were not accessible to organisations without significant financial resources and thus ABARES’ role providing assistance and advice would be swayed in favour of business interests. As a result of the investigation the Ombudsman ruled against ABARES and concluded the GIGABARE committee was constituted by ABARE primarily as a means of raising additional revenue for these projects. As a result of the findings ABARES underwent radical restructuring which aimed to limit the possibility of corrupt or fraudulent behaviour into the future. See also Australian Bureau of Statistics Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment International Association of Agricultural Economics Agricultural Economics Natural Resource Economics References External links Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Agricultural organisations based in Australia