Australia’s new federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, spoke regularly in opposition about a well-being budget and the need to measure more than just the traditional economic indicators.
He was even mocked for it by his predecessor, Josh Frydenberg, who joked about him “fresh from his ashram deep in the Himalayas, barefoot, robes flowing, incense burning, beads in one hand, well-being budget in the other”.
Chalmers hasn’t been deterred. The day he was formally sworn in as treasurer he reiterated of the need for better ways to measure progress:
