A submission to the Treasury Department's 'Measuring what matters' consultation period

We welcome the Government’s commitment to releasing a new standalone Measuring What Matters Statement this year and your efforts so far in opening a conversation between Australians on wellbeing.

As researchers, program designers and operators, with deep expertise in sustainability and wellbeing, we have two significant concerns with what is being proposed:
• the themes are insufficient for what is needed; and
• the proposed consultation process is too short and limited in its reach.

We are looking to seek clarity on how this new wellbeing framework and indicator system will be used. Specifically, that social and environmental wellbeing (now and into the future) will be given equal or greater weight in decision-making and funding allocations compared with metrics like
GDP, and what the next steps in the consultation process will be.