This submission is COTA Australia’s response to the Australian Government Department of Treasury Measuring What Matters Consultation.
The Australian Government has commenced a consultation process to improve key measures informing Australia’s economic and social progress. The new measurement framework will introduce new quality of life indicators to complement current economic measures.
COTA Australia advocates for older people to be counted appropriately in all indicators and for data to be disaggregated into 5-year cohorts.
Key measures should also be disaggregated by age to provide a more substantive understanding of the diversity of Australian society and ensure that older people are included.
We support the development of quality-of-life measures and the inclusion of subjective wellbeing indicators to inform government policies and service initiatives.
COTA Australia recommends that the circumstances of older people be included in new measures on employment, poverty and housing.
The integrated national wellbeing framework should be linked to government decision making processes including Budgets.
To embed and implement the framework effectively, the development of national measures should include ongoing consultation with Australian citizens including older people.
