THE HON EMMA MCBRIDE MP
ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION
ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR RURAL AND REGIONAL HEALTH
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR DOBELL

MEASURING WHAT MATTERS

Today the Albanese Labor Government released Measuring What Matters – Australia’s first national wellbeing framework that will track our progress towards a more healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous Australia.

Measuring What Matters is a living framework that will continue to evolve and improve over time to reflect ongoing feedback from the community, new research, improved data availability, and changing community views.

The Government has chosen fifty different indicators to help us better understand how we are faring as we pursue a better Australia. These measures are in addition to, not instead of, all the other traditional ways we measure our economy like GDP, employment, wages and inflation.

The framework currently shows mixed progress across the 50 selected indicators. Over recent decades, 19 have improved and 11 have deteriorated, with the remaining indicators showing little change or mixed results.

Over the last two decades, Australia has made progress in improving life expectancy, job opportunities and resource use. We are more accepting of diversity and have more trust in others. Over those decades, our incomes have also improved.

However, Australians have more chronic conditions and are finding it harder to access health, care and support services. We perceive our national security to be lower and we face new threats online. Over recent decades, biological diversity has fallen, fiscal sustainability has declined, and housing is taking up more of our income. 

The Albanese Government’s agenda is focused on the issues that matter most to people and are central to their wellbeing. We’re investing more in Medicare, housing, early childhood education, the TAFE and university sector, and cleaner and cheaper energy. 

Our hope is that we can provide a better more comprehensive foundation for understanding our economy and our society in ways that inform, interact with and underpin our policy making at all levels.

We will be looking for opportunities to embed the framework into government decision making. This will involve guidance for agencies to inform policy development and evaluation. The framework could also be used in areas of policy that require different levels of government to work together.

As a living document, we welcome your feedback on what we can do better. To contribute or to read the whole statement visit https://treasury.gov.au/measuringwhatmatters