Cost of living is the major pressure on Australian households and the Albanese Government’s major focus, but we also know it’s important to keep an eye on the long term.
The Albanese Government’s 2023 Intergenerational Report invites us all to take a step back and consider the bigger picture.
What will Australia look like in 40 years’ time? How do we prepare ourselves for the changes and chances coming at us? What kind of society are we building for our children and grandchildren?
The report, which is being released today, makes a series of projections about the Australia of 2062-63.
Real incomes will be 50 per cent bigger, our economy more than double today’s size, and Australia’s population growth will slow.
We will live longer, healthier lives – on average, by at least an extra 4 years.
The number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, the number aged 85 and over will more than triple, and the number of centenarians will increase six-fold.
Technological advancements will deliver new life-saving drugs, machines will help out with more arduous tasks, and more green energy will power our homes and businesses.
This snapshot view is what things could look like in 2063.
But the Intergenerational Report is a compass, rather than a crystal ball.
Its main value is not in its predictions but rather the choices it sets out for us.
The report captures the five biggest forces that will shape our economy over the coming decades: an ageing population, the expanded use of digital and data technology, climate change and the net zero transformation, the rising demand for care and support services, and a world of increased change and churn.
How we manage and maximise these shifts for our benefit will determine Australia’s success over coming decades.
That’s why this report is so important.
While there will be some critics who say now is not the time to be engaging with our long-term prospects, we know there will never be a quiet time to think about the future.
There will always be competing pressures and urgent calls on our attention.
The best governments can and need to focus on more than one thing and more than one horizon.
The Albanese Government’s highest priority is addressing the inflation challenge facing Australian households, at the same time as we lay the foundations for a stronger, better future.
In fact, next month alone billions of dollars in cost-of-living relief will start to flow to Australian households.
We’re halving the cost of many medicines for chronic conditions from 1 September, which will benefit millions of Australians.
We’re delivering the biggest increase to Commonwealth Rent Assistance in 30 years, with higher Jobseeker, Youth Allowance and other payments to kick in from 20 September.
And our energy bill relief continues to be rolled out to more than 5 million households and one million small businesses, taking some of the sting out of winter power bills.
We’re providing this support to Australians doing it tough at the same time as we are responding to the pressures identified by the Intergenerational Report.
To meet the challenges the report lays out, we’re getting the budget in better nick, transforming energy and broadening and deepening our industrial base, investing in housing supply and infrastructure, and building a bigger, better trained workforce including making it easier for new parents to work if they want to.
We are realistic about the pressures on the economy and budget but optimistic about the future.
The Intergenerational Report shows that the decisions we make in this defining decade will go a long way to ensuring our nation’s best years are ahead of it.
If we manage and maximise the big shifts underway, Australians can own the future.