Key Points
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers has released Measuring What Matters, Australia's first national wellbeing framework.
- Wellbeing is a combination of physical, social, economic and emotional factors, and overall quality of life.
- The framework will track how healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous Australia is.
Australians live longer, are happier in their jobs and trust each other more than they did two decades ago.
But more people are also battling chronic diseases, struggling to make ends meet and having bad experiences online.
These are some of the findings of the first national wellbeing framework, released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Friday.
So why is the government measuring wellbeing, what does it have to do with the economy, and will this actually mean anything for you?
What is Measuring What Matters?
Chalmers first floated the idea of a "wellbeing budget" in 2020 when the Coalition was in power, which then-Treasurer Josh Frydenberg described as "laughable".
Wellbeing is a combination of physical, social, economic and emotional factors, and overall quality of life.
According to the World Health Organization, focusing on wellbeing supports the tracking of the equitable distribution of resources, overall thriving and sustainability.
Measuring What Matters is Australia’s first national wellbeing framework uses 50 indicators to track how healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous Australia is.
The framework also includes an overall life satisfaction indicator.
The consultation process included over 280 submissions from people and organisations and meetings with other countries and international organisations.
According to the report, in the past two decades, Australia has improved in life expectancy, feelings of safety, representation in parliament and childhood development.
But there are also higher numbers of Australians living with chronic conditions and many find it more difficult to access health care than in previous decades.
There has been less progress on mental health and real wages, and measures relating to homelessness and trust in the national government have deteriorated.
Australians are also finding it more difficult to make ends meet.
There has been some criticism of the data used in the framework, some of which was collected before 12 interest rate rises, the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, which critics say have all been detrimental to wellbeing.
Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor said Chalmers needed a reality check and his department's tracker was "half baked".
"This report focuses on data from prior to 2020, prior to the pandemic ... it is completely out of date," he told reporters in Perth.
"At a time when we've seen 11 interest rate increases, a $25,000 increase in the costs of a typical Australian family, and you're ignoring that data from your report.
"This is not a report on wellbeing."
Chalmers acknowledged the government needed to be better at measuring progress over time.
"There are a number of areas where there are limitations in the data and we need to improve that," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"One of the motivations for releasing this first national wellbeing framework is to recognise where we need to do a much better job measuring what matters in our economy and in our society."
The framework will continue to be refined as Treasury gathers new data and community feedback.
What does wellbeing have to do with the economy?
The framework is part of a push to measure economic success at a societal level as well as via the more traditional means of gross domestic product (GDP), employment, inflation and wages.
It aims to put people, progress, fairness and opportunity "at the core" of Australia's economy and better align social and economic goals across the country.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the wellbeing budget would help align Australia's economic and social goals. Source: AAP / Jono Searle
The wellbeing framework aims to use the additional metrics to better understand how Australians are faring, support more informed discussions about how to improve lives, and help inform policy-making across all levels of government.
What could this mean for you?
According to the Treasury, the framework can be used to inform decision-making, policies and complement ongoing initiatives.
The framework outlines key government initiatives being taken to improve outcomes in each area.
These include health campaigns, access to services, national strategies and plans, cost of living relief, housing schemes and emissions reduction targets and climate change policy.
The report acknowledges the indicators outlined in the framework are not an accurate measure of the well-being of First Nations Australians.
The indicators are limited in their ability to represent "intrinsic cultural differences" or acknowledge the past practices that have had "detrimental impacts", the report says.
The report says Measuring What Matters can supplement the Closing the Gap metrics and add to work being done through the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples' Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing (2017–2023).
Which countries have a 'wellbeing budget'?
Australia is not the first country to link wellbeing with the economy and government policy.
In 2015, Wales published the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act, designed to improve outcomes across social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing.
In 2019, New Zealand introduced a wellbeing budget, focused on priorities of supporting mental health, reducing child poverty, lifting opportunities for Maori and Pasifika residents, boosting innovation and moving toward a low-carbon economy.
New Zealand - along with Scotland, Iceland, Finland, Wales and Canada - is also involved in the Wellbeing Economy Government partnership.
Members of the partnership have committed to collaborating in pursuit of policy approaches to create wellbeing economies, progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and address economic, social and environmental challenges.
