Is this the Australia we want? Media Release, 7 May 2019

A new national report has revealed that in many fundamental areas of life, Australia is heading in the wrong direction. 

According to David Crosbie (CEO of CCA); ‘We need to look beyond economic indicators and start focusing on the values that make Australia a great place to live.  We are all much more than passengers in an economy.  We are part of families, workplaces and communities.  Within our communities we want to live lives that are worthwhile and enact values we believe in.  This report highlights how far Australia is slipping in achieving some very important values.  It should be a wakeup call for all of us.’

The Australia We Want is the first ever benchmark of how Australia and each State and Territory is performing against values and goals prioritised by leaders from across the charities sector.  These values include; just, fair, safe, inclusive, equality of opportunity, united, authentic, creative, confident, courageous, optimistic, generous, kind, and compassionate.  Drawing on key statistics from the OECD, ABS and the AIHW, to evaluate these values, this second report reveals that:

• Australian incarceration rates are very high – twice most countries in Europe and rising (how just are we?)
• Australian suicide rates are higher than our road toll and increasing (how inclusive are we?)
• Australia is slipping down both the international corruption scale and the scale of international generosity (how authentic and compassionate are we?)
• We continue to increase our CO2 emissions (how sustainable are we?)
• The gap between how safe women and men feel walking alone at night is one of the highest in the world (how safe are we?).  
• NSW and NT are the worst performing and Tasmania is the best performing jurisdiction when it comes to achieving communities where the prioritised values are being achieved.  The ACT has slipped down the rankings and WA has improved since the 2016 report.

The positive news is; volunteering has increased, and Australia isabove average compared to other OECD countries in equality of access to employment, education levels, business and consumer confidence.  Housing affordability and income distribution need improvement.

David Crosbie (CEO of CCA) said: ‘The findings of this report are damning – they tell us that if we are going to live in the kind of Australia we want for ourselves and our children, we need to work at changing some of these fundamental issues.’