Jim Chalmers puts wellbeing budget on the backburner

Jim Chalmers’ second ‘wellbeing framework’ will be pushed back until the next term of parliament, with Treasury dumped from overseeing the process.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Jim Chalmers’ second Jacinda Ardern-inspired “wellbeing budget” will be pushed out until at least a year after the next federal election, with the Treasurer downgrading the high-profile pre-election policy amid an inflation crisis driving down the living standards of Australians.

After the inaugural Measuring What Matters report was criticised last year for using out-of-date data, the Treasurer has transferred responsibility for the process from his own department to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which will release an annual survey tracking the wellbeing of Australians.

The survey will help “inform a more comprehensive statement that the government will publish every three years”, with senior Labor sources saying the government’s “framework” would differ from the wellbeing budget ­championed by the Ardern ­government.

The Australian can reveal the first results of the new ABS survey will not be released until 2026, ­although the body is likely to next month provide some sort of an update to data released by Treasury last year as it takes over the Measuring What Matters online dashboard.

With the next election set to be fought on cost of living, inflation and interest rates, the Coalition has vowed to scrap the wellbeing framework if Peter Dutton ­becomes prime minister.

Dr Chalmers used a speech from opposition in 2020 to first back adopting a version of New Zealand Labour’s wellbeing budget, which was released through Treasury as part of the traditional budget process and tracked broader measures than gross domestic product.

“(It is) all geared towards ­meeting goals like improving mental health, reducing child poverty, addressing the inequalities faced by Indigenous people, thriving in a digital age, and transitioning to a low-emission economy,” Dr Chalmers said of the Ardern government’s approach in 2020.

“This has quite significantly ­reshaped the conversation in New Zealand about the budget and the economy.”

Dr Chalmers made clear in the 2020 speech the wellbeing budget was an opportunity to “bolster the role of Treasury”.

A spokesman for Dr Chalmers played down the revamp to the wellbeing framework, which would be delivered once per ­parliamentary term under the government’s plans.

“We always intended to ­update the data, dashboard and framework periodically and that’s what we’ll be doing – beginning with a new dashboard this year, better ABS data in coming years, and improvements to the framework itself over time,” the spokesman said.

ABS head of social statistics Bindi Kindermann said a $14.8m funding boost to the ABS would see the irregular General Social Survey be delivered annually, with a larger sample of 10,000 people and with more questions.

“We are designing and building the survey now, we will be collecting the data next year and publishing it in the first half of 2026,” Ms Kindermann told The Australian.

She said the survey would tell Australians “how we feel about life overall and how that changes over time”. “That compliments some of the other measurements that the ABS puts out regularly around GDP, CPI, unemployment,” Ms Kindermann said. “It gives us a different view.

“It tells us about how much volunteering we do as a nation, how much discrimination (people receive), gives us more information about financial pressures we might be facing. So more of the financial stress measures rather than just tracking how our incomes are going over time.

“There are questions in this survey about the ability of a household to raise emergency funds in the event that they were faced with an unexpected emergency or circumstance.

“We also include information on social connectedness around friends, family (and) community support.”

ABS health and wellbeing spokeswoman Janelle McFarlane said there would also be an expansion of the psychological distress index. “That gives a little bit more detail about a person’s experience of stress,” she said.

“We are looking at cultural participation and attendance as well.”

Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor told The Australian there was no need for the wellbeing framework, with a ­Coalition government to dump the process. “The true wellbeing of Australians should be his focus now and that means lower inflation, lower interest rates,” Mr Taylor said. He said it was a waste of money to bolster the ABS to do the annual surveys.

“It is just going to be more spin from the spin doctor,” he said.

“We don’t need a wellbeing budget. You only have to get out around Australia to see how their welfare is. Australians are suffering.”

Last year’s long-awaited wellbeing framework used out-of-date data to declare homeowners were finding it easier to repay mortgages, the disabled are less satisfied with services, and mental health was not a rising concern.

The data failed to reflect the Covid-19 pandemic, billions of dollars in extra NDIS spending, and the most aggressive series of interest rate hikes in a generation.

The report included an “overall life satisfaction” rating based on an ABS survey from 2020. It also determined mortgage holders were spending less of their take home pay on housing than two decades ago — but this was based on 2020 data when the official cash rate ranged from 0.75 per cent to a record low 0.1 per cent.

Responding to criticism of the report last year, Dr Chalmers said it was the government’s “first crack” at the process.

“One of the tasks is to identify the gaps in the data, or where it’s not up to scratch or not frequent enough,” he said.

Teal MPs were split on the changes to the welfare framework.

Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel said the process was being “shuffled off to the ABS”.

“They will no doubt do a fine job, but I would suggest that doing so wriggles government out of the annual accountability that the budget provides,” Ms Daniel said.

Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps, Wentworth MP Zali Steggall and Curtin MP Kate Chaney backed the reforms to the framework.

“The first Measuring What Matters statement showed that we don’t actually measure the things that are most important to us; admitting this and trying to change it is a good first step,” Ms Chaney said.

“I’m supportive of the ABS being funded to measure more of the things that people actually care about. Economic growth measures are important, but a good life involves so much more.”