00:00 Well, government says that this framework will be embedded in their decision-making.
00:05 It's basically looking at how we're tracking over time across 50 different indicators,
00:11 things that look at things like health, happiness and security, basically our social progress.
00:17 Now, this is something that the Albanese government has been spruiking since they were in opposition,
00:22 and we know that there are other countries like New Zealand, Germany and Canada that
00:27 have similar frameworks.
00:28 Now, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor was up speaking today.
00:34 He was asked about this first initial report that the government has put out, which is
00:38 looking at Australia's progress over the past decade.
00:41 He's criticised some of the data that's been used.
00:44 Some of it is pre-pandemic and outdated.
00:48 Things like people are spending less of their income on their mortgage, which many could
00:55 say is inaccurate now.
00:57 Here's some of what he had to say in his criticism.
01:00 If you're talking about Australians' wellbeing, at a time when we've seen 11 interest rate
01:05 increases, a $25,000 increase in the cost of a typical Australian family, and you're
01:10 ignoring that data from your report, this is not a report on wellbeing.
01:15 It's completely half-baked, it's completely out of date and it's completely out of touch.
01:20 Just on that note, he was making a comment about data.
01:23 It's important to note he's referenced that there have been 11 interest rate increases.
01:28 There have actually been 12.
01:30 But Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers was also asked about some of the data that's been collected.
01:36 Here's what he had to say at a press conference earlier.
01:40 What we've said really from the beginning is we want to refine this national wellbeing
01:45 framework as we go.
01:48 A really important part of the task is understanding and recognising where there are gaps in the
01:54 data or where we would like that data to be more up to date.
01:59 We've made that clear from the beginning.
02:01 The commentary in the document itself recognises that there are a number of areas where there
02:07 are limitations in the data and we need to improve that.
02:10 One of the motivations for releasing this first national wellbeing framework is to recognise
02:16 where we need to do a much better job measuring what matters in our economy and in our society.
02:21 Well, it paints a pretty mixed picture.
02:24 So there definitely are some areas of improvement, things like life expectancy, which has increased
02:28 over the past two decades, things around job opportunities and job satisfaction, which
02:34 have improved.
02:35 It says that Australians feel safer and trust each other more, but not when it comes to
02:40 politicians.
02:41 Other areas have deteriorated.
02:43 There are higher rates of chronic conditions and for some it's been harder to access care
02:49 and support services in that area.
02:52 There's also been little progress on mental health and Australians are feeling poorer
02:57 and finding it harder to get by.
02:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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