Introduction by Croakey: Governments are urged to put health and wellbeing at the centre of policy-making, including economic policy, and to reframe spending on health as an investment rather than an expenditure under a landmark resolution adopted by the World Health Assembly recently.
Will the Australian Government pick up the ball and run with it?
The signs to date are not promising, given the Treasury’s radio silence since the July 2023 publication of the Measuring What Matters: Australia’s First Wellbeing Framework, writes Jason Staines.
Jason Staines writes:
When the Federal Government released its Measuring What Matters report almost a year ago, it was a chance to take a bigger picture look at the nation’s wellbeing. Rather than a myopic focus on gross domestic product (GDP) and its fantasy of infinite growth, the report would take a “big picture” approach to the nation’s wellbeing to see if it was on track.
Since then, however, ‘Measuring What Matters’ has very much fallen off the radar, with a ‘Future Made in Australia’ and ‘cost of living crisis’ taking centre stage. Many had been asking if the concept had been quietly retired, until the Health Minister revealed during meetings at the World Health Assembly that there was life in the framework yet.
To recap, Measuring What Matters was Australia’s attempt at a national wellbeing framework. The idea was to track the nation’s progress towards a more healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous country. All up, there were 50 indicators that would track how Australian society was progressing (or not) over time to provide policy-makers with some guidance.
Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers released the first Measuring What Matters report in July 2023, with the data showing a mixed bag of results. For example, while overall life expectancy had improved, First Nations peoples’ life expectancy was lower than the national average. And while mental health was marked as “stable” in the report, the finding relied on data that predated the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns. And, of course, cost of living pressures have intensified for many since then.
In fact, the Government received criticism for just how out of date some of the data in the report was, with Dr Chalmers saying it was a “first crack” at such a report and that the data would be refined and improved. It was, after all, an exercise in identifying overall trends so that a government could know if policy settings were working.
Radio silence
Since then, however, there has been radio silence on the issue from the Treasurer and the Treasury, which is the department responsible for the framework. The idea of a “wellness budget” — as the framework is dubbed — failed to make an appearance in this year’s Federal Budget, which was dominated by cost of living relief and a Future Made in Australia.
Which perhaps explains why the concept has been put on the backburner. With voters suffering from higher housing costs, not to mention groceries, and an election due in less than a year, there was a need to focus on the here and now, rather than tracking data over time.
“Here’s a tax cut and $300 off your electricity bill” is an easier political sell than “you might be behind on your mortgage and unable to afford school shoes, but a child born today will live longer than one born 20 years ago”.
However, this short-term political focus doesn’t address the reality, that an escalating climate crisis will continue to exacerbate cost of living issues as well as underscoring the importance of alternative economic metrics and a focus on wellbeing of people and planet.
Still, Health Minister Mark Butler hasn’t forgotten about the framework. Before heading off to the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva recently, he flagged that he would be taking part in a “strategic roundtable” that would cover many of the concepts in the framework.
In supporting a resolution, ‘Economics of health for all’, the WHA certainly backed the concept of a “wellness budget”, urging member states to consider the link between the economy and people’s health and “include an economy of well-being perspective horizontally into national policies and put people and their health and wellbeing at the centre of policy-making”.
This should be backed up, according to the resolution, by evidence-based and effective policy interventions at a national level that “reorient economic and innovation strategies towards health and well-being for all, including consideration for the needs of those in vulnerable situations”.
Public spheres
In the wake of the WHA, Croakey Health Media contacted both the Health Minister and the Treasurer to ask if the framework was still an active government project, and what progress had been made on moving it forward.
By publication time, there had been no response.
While awaiting a response, Croakey Health Media looked at every media release the Treasurer had put out since the launch of the framework (all 123 of them), as well as his speeches (25) and almost 100 of his media appearances over the following six months.
Across more than 34,000 words, “wellbeing” got a mention 54 times, with the vast majority of those clustered around the release of the framework.
As well as the Treasurer’s own mentions during its release, he was questioned on it in interviews on the ABC, a doorstop in Queensland, at the National Press Club and an interview with Guardian Australia. Beyond the launch, however, interest from the Treasurer – and the media – dried up.
Related words such as “health” and “climate” were more poplar, receiving 170 and 147 mentions apiece. However, these paled in comparison to “growth” (417) and “budget” (1,142). Budget’s regular neighbour, “surplus” , was mentioned 206 times.
The Measuring What Matters is a policy worth pursuing, however, and one that other countries have taken on board as they move away from a focus on gross domestic product (GDP) as the key indicator of the nation’s health. In 2019, Aotearoa/New Zealand became the first country to adopt a wellness budget under Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Since then, other countries including Finland, Iceland, Scotland and Wales have adopted the approach.
With much political and economic debate in Australia focused on the percentage point changes in GDP from quarter to quarter, it is worth revisiting US Senator Robert F Kennedy’s remarks to the University of Kansas in 1968.
While vying to the Democratic Party’s pick to run for president, he lamented GDP’s shortfalls as a metric:
“It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”
Update on 7 June
The Department of Health media team eventually responded to Croakey Health Media’s request for comment on the Measuring What Matters framework. Their advice was that it was a matter for Treasury, and passed on the generic Treasury media email address as a point of contact.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Aged Care later said: “The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care, did not attend the ‘Economics and financing of health and well-being for all: A bold new vision for achieving universal health coverage’ strategic roundtable at the 77th World Health Assembly. Any further details should be requested from Treasury.”
Further reading
Project Syndicate: What comes after neoliberalism?
In this article, Professor Mariana Mazzucato, says that addressing the challenges that lie ahead – most notably, the climate crisis – will require more sustained efforts to achieve “mission-driven government,” which recognises that the economy will not grow in a socially and environmentally desirable direction on its own. Despite the clear potential of green initiatives to boost incomes, productivity, and economic growth, she says the false dichotomy between economic prosperity and environmental sustainability persists.
Previously at Croakey
Chelsea Hunnisett and Alexandra Jones, 2024. How does the Federal Budget rate when evaluated against the Measuring What Matters framework?
Katherine Trebeck, 2024. On the wellbeing economy, is Australia at risk of dropping the ball?
Lesley Russell, 2024. The Health Wrap: a big diabetes investigation, questions for the Treasurer, primary care reforms, and the benefits of crochet.
Chelsea Hunnisett, 2024. As we approach the Federal Budget, whatever happened to “Measuring What Matters”?
Melissa Sweet, 2023. Calling all “frustrated champions” – Australia’s future needs you, now.
Jennifer Doggett, 2023. On the wellbeing framework, and ways forward.
Robert Costanza et al, 2023. Health is key to our first national wellbeing framework.
Melissa Le Mesurier, 2022. With just 56 days left on wellbeing budget consultation, putting some questions and issues on the radar.
Leanne Wells, 2022. Wellbeing budgets are not the soft underbelly of public policy.
Nieves Murray, 2022. How a Wellbeing Budget could help save lives at a critical time.
Jennifer Doggett and Alison Barrett, 2022. To make a proper Wellbeing Budget, what are the essential ingredients?
