Wellness retreat
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ wellbeing framework was meant to reshape how we think about progress. But shifting economic priorities are leaving it on the sidelines.
Before Jim Chalmers even delivered his first federal budget in October 2022, he made headlines with plans to unveil a new chapter focused on wellbeing. For months he had been flagging the need to track progress with new metrics of economic growth.
As the treasurer told us when he launched the data, the aim was to improve the national debate through the Measuring What Matters Framework and its suite of 50 indicators, focused on security, health, prosperity, cohesion and sustainability.
Yet the latest — and only the second — update, with changes to 44 of these data points, was released with little fanfare on Monday.
“Our wellbeing framework is all about helping to build a stronger, more productive and more resilient nation that provides more opportunities and delivers a better future for more Australians,” Chalmers and assistant productivity minister Andrew Leigh said in a joint media release.
