Introduction by Croakey: The health sector, and particularly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector with its holistic approach to addressing the cultural and social determinants of health and wellbeing, has much to contribute to Treasury’s consultation on developing Wellbeing Budgets.
As of 7 December, Treasury’s website says there are only “56 days left to have your say” (until 31 January 2023) on the “Measuring what Matters” framework, outlined in the recent Federal Budget.
The framework is an opportunity to address climate concerns and the social determinants of health, a Consumers Health Forum of Australia event was told recently. Melissa Le Mesurier, who MC-d the event, reports below.
Melissa Le Mesurier writes:
More than 30 members of Consumers Health Forum (CHF) recently examined the opportunities and risks posed by the Australian Government’s proposed Wellbeing Budget.
It was a lively and interactive discussion at the CHF Members Policy Forum, which covered “Everything you wanted to know about Wellbeing Budgets but haven’t had the time to ask”.
The forum, conducted both in person in Canberra and online on 22 November, followed the October 2022-23 Federal Budget announcement that began the conversation on what measures might be included in a Wellbeing Budget.
“The forum was designed to help organisations, particularly in the health and social service sectors, shape their submissions to Treasury on how Australia might better measure what matters,” CHF CEO Dr Elizabeth Deveny said.
“For those countries that already have wellbeing frameworks, the policy areas covered include income, employment, education, environment, personal safety and health.
“These are all social determinants of health and CHF has been actively involved in policy discussions around each of these issues.
“Submissions to Treasury close on 31 January 2023 so there is limited time to consider this important and broad-reaching topic,” Deveny said.
Deveny was one of four panellists who provided diverse and thought-provoking views on what measures should be included and how they could be shaped.
Housing matters
ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said a focus on secure housing was a key factor that influenced Australians’ sense of wellbeing.
“This is not the room where we need to debate the importance of income and secure and safe housing and how important these are to even the basics of health.”
She said that the Wellbeing Budget should provide a framework for poverty reduction, especially given Australia was the wealthiest country in the world.
“It should reflect our Sustainable Development Goal commitment to halving poverty by 2030 and should be underpinned by a national definition of poverty,” she said.
“As a community, we have all the resources available to us to deliver wellbeing to every community, person and child.
“To quote the Treasurer, we need to have an honest conversation as a country about who we really want to be.”
Who decides?
Emily Unity, mental health advocate and software engineer, used their personal story to illustrate how the many facets of lived experience impact wellbeing.
Unity said the wellbeing measures offered a great opportunity to look at the intersectionality of various factors including ability, age, culture, education, gender, health, housing and sexuality.
“It is exciting that we are measuring what matters, but what concerns me is who decides what matters and how are they deciding it?” Unity said. “I think wellbeing measures must be designed, implemented and evaluated not just for us, but with us.”
Mohammed Al-Khafaji, CEO of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA), reminded everyone of the importance of data and statistics and why it is essential to engage culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, so we measure the right things.
“We know that our communities have been typically underrepresented in policymaking, particularly in health,” he said. “Our communities are not hard to reach frankly, they have just not been engaged with.”
Al-Khafaji also said he’d like to see a significant investment in health literacy for CALD communities so that barriers to participation were removed.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic revealed examples of incorrect health messaging and translations that resulted in poorer health outcomes.
“We’ve seen some serious failures in how we tokenistically engaged with multicultural communities and that needs to change.”
Deveny gave the final presentation and raised the question of what the impact would be on government services and funding as Australia moved to wellbeing budgeting.
“This could be quite a shift, especially for the not-for-profit sector,” she said. “As we move to a focus on ‘healthy’ communities, not just the provision of ‘health’ services, do not-for-profits have to reconsider their strategic goals? Is the sector ready for this?”
As the forum opened up to a live chat, one of the main topics of conversations was how climate change impacted health and wellbeing.
South Australian consumer advocate Penelope McMillan said climate change would impact many of the proposed wellbeing indicators.
“For example, housing that is supportive of health during extreme weather or employment opportunities for people in industries impacted by climate change,” she said. “How can climate change be embedded into the wellbeing indicators?”
McMillan was one of several consumers who also spoke about the importance of community integration and connectedness.
“I would like to see community integration being included as a [wellbeing] factor to consider when considering ‘healthy’ aims,” she said. “It is integral to community and individual health outcomes, which also positively impacts on economic outcomes.”
Last but not least, Dr Deveny’s summary prompted a discussion of the unintended consequences of measurements and how important it was that they were not set in stone.
“How do we engage consumers so we are flexible and adaptable as the wellbeing measures evolve?” she said.
All agreed that continuing the conversation on wellbeing was vital, especially for those organisations advocating to improve the health and welfare of their members and the broader Australian community.
See a full recording of CHF’s Members Policy Forum on Wellbeing Budgets here.
See Croakey’s previous articles on #WellbeingBudget2022
