As market-based instruments (MBIs) become a buzzword, there is an emerging expectation among policy makers and natural resource managers that MBIs should be more widely adopted. However, without the change of existing ideas and institutions, governments tend to continue to use the default regulatory and voluntary instruments. This paper provides an overview of policy instruments and the general expectations about the instrument choice when governments face policy implementation. Although it does not provide specific choice of individual instruments, some key issues and opportunities are identified for the wide adoption of MBIs in South Australia for sustainable NRM and economic development.