“The Australian Treasury report notes that 13 per cent of Australians reported mental health problems, and half the population has one or more chronic health conditions.”
From left: Minister for Finance Biman Prasad and Dr Naren Prasad at the Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi. Photo: Mereleki Nai
There is that wonderful maxim that says “not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”.
Minister for Finance, Biman Prasad said during the Evidence-based Policy Making and Decent Work Workshop at the Tanoa International Hotel in Nadi yesterday.
Representatives from 11 countries from around the Pacific islands were in the workshop.
“That maxim perhaps gave rise to some groundbreaking approaches to economics where gross national happiness or well-being became markers of economic development, rather than GDP.
Mr Prasad said just days ago Australia released a report titled ‘Measuring What Matters’ and a dashboard to measure indicators because of deficiencies in effective monitoring of fundamental national issues.
“Government of Australia has made progress on life expectancy, reducing resource use, diversity, incomes and employment,” Mr Prasad said.
“But they found that measures to effectively gauge issues of chronic health conditions, national security, biodiversity and fiscal sustainability had all declined.
“The Australian Treasury report notes that 13 per cent of Australians reported mental health problems, and half the population has one or more chronic health conditions.”
Mr Prasad said naturally, such policy shifts in thinking and counting approaches was making the Coalition Government also ponder deeply because the Australian economy is strong and its most recent budget announcement was a surplus budget.
“It is highly relevant in the context of what I said a little while ago – not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.
He encouraged participants to remember the hard lessons from COVID-19 and explore early warning alerts in their evidence-based strategies that can help mitigate risks and future-proof policies as best as possible.
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