What kind of Australia do we want to live in and what is our role in achieving it?

The Community Council for Australia is committed to achieving a better Australia through strengthening the role and effectiveness of charities and not-for-profit organisations.

Most debates about Australia’s future have been limited by a seemingly exclusive fixation on the type of economy to be achieved. As Rev Tim Costello highlights in his Overview, Australians are more than individual tax paying economic units. Our productivity, innovation, skills and achievements are grounded in flourishing communities within our schools, workplaces, families and local neighbourhoods.

In 2015, a group of 60 leaders from across the charities and not-for-profit sector were asked to consider and discuss ways in which they might describe the Australia we want. Through this process a listing of key values was identified.

The Australia we want is just, fair, safe, inclusive, equal of opportunity, united, authentic, creative, confident, courageous, kind, generous and compassionate. The leaders then developed measures that would show whether the values they had prioritised were being achieved.

This third report presents the latest comprehensive review of Australia’s performance against these agreed values- based measures. It is an ongoing journey to a stronger and more resilient Australia, a journey we need to imagine, plan for, enact and monitor. It is about owning our future and creating the Australia we want.