Introduction by Croakey: In the lead-up to the federal and Western Australian elections, an Australian youth-driven, non-profit organisation, Foundations for Tomorrow, is calling on policymakers and leaders to focus on long-term solutions for future generations.
“Short-termism tends to ignore the economic, political, and commercial systems’ interconnected effects of issues such as unsustainable development and wealth concentration,” say Amie Furlong and Clare Beaton-Wells, from Foundations for Tomorrow.
In a policy brief launched last year, the organisation outlines three recommendations for Australia to embed intergenerational fairness and long-term thinking into our governance framework:
- Legislate a Wellbeing of Future Generations Act in the Federal Parliament
- Establish an independent statutory Commissioner for Future Generations
- Mandate the launch of a National Conversation on Future Generations and ongoing public engagement.
Their call for action comes as more than 24,000 people, including health leaders and high profile Australians, support a petition backing a Duty of Care and Intergenerational Bill that would require decision makers to consider the likely impact of decisions that could harm the climate on the health and wellbeing of current and future children.
Amie Furlong and Clare Beaton-Wells write:
In the wake of 2024’s super-election year in which up to 1.5 billion people attended the polls in more than 80 countries, 2025 will be another litmus test for the health of democracy, both locally and globally.
Whether the trend of incumbents suffering stunning blows will continue remains to be seen. What’s certain is that as more electors head to the polls, democracy and a vision for Australia’s future will continue to be tested, with issues of intergenerational equity and economic wellbeing set to be defining themes of national politics.
In Australia, voters will have faced the ballot box at least once by May – twice if they live in Western Australia.
While 2024 was indeed historic for its global voter turnout, history is set to be made in Australia where Gen Z and Millennials will outnumber Baby Boomers in every state and territory at the federal ballot box in 2025.
This seismic generational shift is bound to usher in a gear change. With power now dramatically concentrated in the hands of younger people, politicians may need new battle tactics if they plan to win over this demographic.
Distinguished from previous elections, the 2025 federal vote is an opportunity to revamp the way we do politics.
As young people who have come of age during an epoch of polycrisis, we have watched as traditional institutions and systems built around short-term cycles are beginning to crack.
Demanding better leadership
Policy approaches that overwhelmingly prioritise quick wins over long-term resilience are leaving a legacy of ecological destruction, economic inequality, complex ill-health, and social division for future generations – and they deserve better.
For Millennials and Gen Zers like us, the question that appears to be looming large is: will our political leaders stand up for our future, or will they continue to allow the country to be run by short-termism?
It’s not just younger generations demanding better leadership. A recent EveryGen survey revealed rising appetite for intergenerational policymaking in Australia, with 97 percent of respondents believing in the importance of policies considering the interests of future generations and 81 percent feeling that Australian politicians focus too much on the short-term.
What’s more, 79 percent supported bold decisive action such as the establishment of an Australian Commissioner for Future Generations to safeguard intergenerational wellbeing.
At our organisation, Foundations for Tomorrow, the imperative for a future generations approach to policy in Australia is clear. Short-termism is shackling our shared future. Short-termism tends to ignore the economic, political, and commercial systems’ interconnected effects of issues such as unsustainable development and wealth concentration.
Acting for the long-term is not only, we believe, the right thing to do for the prosperity of all generations, but it supports policymakers to navigate increasingly complex problems and trends in the present and for decades to come.
Intergenerational fairness
The For Our Future Policy Brief, launched at the Australian Intergenerational Fairness Summit in November last year, calls for a paradigm shift involving three foundational levers: a federal Wellbeing of Future Generations Act, a Commission(er) for Future Generations, and a national conversation to develop a shared long-term vision and set the course for the wellbeing of future generations.
Foundations for Tomorrow, as a youth-driven not-profit, has conducted over two years of research on future generations policy and practice. We have built connections across the globe, with countries already making a difference with their own future generations’ policy, legislation, or constitutional changes, and other countries following stead.

This international movement stands ready to work with their respective governments to adopt future generations’ leadership.
The leadership of nations such as Wales has already begun to embed the principles of intergenerational fairness and stewardship into their national policy frameworks.
Of course, these principles must also be credited to centuries of Indigenous practices that have protected the land, communities, and overall wellbeing. We believe that it is time to truly adopt these principles in Australia’s law, approach to policy making, and politics.
The former Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing in Wales, Jane Davidson, was the person in parliament responsible for the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, and her book tells us the inspirational story of a small nation rethinking public policy for the future.
Acting today
The now very much established Office of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has the motto of “acting today for a better tomorrow”. Although no one statutory office can achieve everything, shifting the culture and ways of working towards future thinking has achieved a great deal in Wales.
The United Nations Pact for the Future and Declaration on Future Generations was adopted in September 2024. Foundations for Tomorrow sees this as a mandate for international cooperation with a shared vision to do better – in each country, each region, and together as a whole world.
These endorsed documents ultimately recognise that each country has its own responsibility to achieve sustainable development practices, security and innovation, and must do their part for the sake of the future, its people and the planet.
If we were Millennials and Gen Zers in 2100, we would hope to live in a world where we acted sooner.
It would be devastating if rising global temperature and sea levels had further threatened human health and safety, and resulted in loss of habitable coastlines, because the Paris Agreement of 2015 didn’t broker sufficient negotiation on emissions reductions.
It would be similarly devastating if our families and peers could not afford secure housing and had fallen closer to the poverty line, because decisions weren’t made today to reform tax systems that had been inequitable for too long and a housing system centred on profiteering.
As one of us gets ready to send a postal vote from Sweden while studying abroad, and the other to vote at both the national and Western Australian ballots, we are hopeful that with the appropriate mandate and willingness, Australia can act for the future.
Don’t we, as a nation, want to be sure the decisions that we make today don’t result in future generations paying a bad price?
About the authors
Amie Furlong is the Western Australia and Central Regional Director at Foundations for Tomorrow. She also leads the creative research project ‘Portraits of Our Future’ which aims to make complex policy frameworks and speculative forecasting relevant for everyday Australians. Amie has worked in senior and management policy and advocacy roles in government and not-for-profit organisations seeking to better Australia’s health system, particularly with and for First Nations communities.
Clare Beaton-Wells is Head of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships Lead at Foundations for Tomorrow, where she drives systems change and intergenerational collaboration to address wicked policy problems. As a forward-thinking leader, Clare specialises in long-term governance reform and cross-sector leadership. She has worked in the government, non-profit and youth sectors, as well as with major IGOs, advancing policy innovation and advocacy for equitable outcomes for future generations.

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