Politicians and the government seem to carry the weight of Australia’s future on their shoulders. And election time certainly ramps up the pressure. While elected officials do have significant power over the direction of the nation – they aren’t the only ones. Decision-makers across all sectors have a responsibility and role in creating an Australia that, as a nation, we can proudly pass on to the next generation. With the election campaign now behind us, Next25’s research offers emerging and established leaders a go-to guide on what the public wants and five levers to unlocking progress on the nation’s most important issues. For anyone wanting to act in the public interest, including our newly elected and re-elected politicians, here’s what you need to know.
1. Currently, Australia is not on track to deliver a strong future
Australia entrusts the country’s key institutions to deliver a strong future by acting in the “public interest”. But despite the frequent use of the term, our country lacks a comprehensive understanding of what the public wants for Australia’s future and how well they feel we are progressing towards it. So, we created Next25 Navigator – a social research survey that answers the question, “What future does Australia want, and are we on track?” Navigator’s Public Interest Index (PII) shows whether Australia is on track by asking the public to assess how well politicians, NGOs, business, media, public service, and experts / academia act in the public interest. The 2021 PII demonstrates widespread disappointment with a score of just 31/100 overall. When broken down by institution, these scores highlight varying disconnect between what the public and the country’s institutions. Notably, politicians score the lowest on the PII. With a shake-up of seats across the country and a new government, there is an opportunity for politicians to reflect on the low PII score and commit to doing better.
2. How to act in the public interest – the future Australia wants
With a growing and increasingly diverse Australian population, it can be challenging to find common ground. Navigator is designed to overcome this challenge by answering the question, “What future does Australia want?” We asked the public to rank the importance of 39 aspirations and how well the nation is doing on each of them – we call this performance. The aspirations that have the greatest gap between these two scores – those that the public says are important, and that the nation is performing poorly on – are the country’s priority to-do list. These are the aspirations that institutions need to prioritise if they are to regain public confidence. With this understanding, institutions, leaders, and decision-makers across sectors have a clear reference point for acting in the public interest.
3. Where to do the work – five levers for positive change
The priority aspirations above highlight the public’s greatest concerns for Australia’s future. While addressing these issues in isolation is critical to making a strong future, Next25 takes a systemic approach to enabling positive change. We dig beneath the surface to identify and address the deep-seated problems hampering progress on multiple problems at once. Once addressed, our five levers can unlock long-term progress on many of Australia’s biggest issues.
Articulate and embrace an inclusive Australian identity
Define and embrace success paradigms beyond GDP
Enable and embrace constructive discourse
Enable and embrace public wisdom in decision-making
Restore trust between government and the people
Next25 has been making progress on lever five for almost eight years with our longest-standing improvement, Next25 Leadership – a professional development program for parliamentarians to understand and increase their power, not only as individuals in the system, but as individuals who can improve the system. The impact of Leadership demonstrates how working on these levers creates a domino effect for positive change. Sparked by their Leadership experience, our alumni have:
Instilled a culture of professional development in NSW Parliament by curating, popularising, and funding a new program of accredited courses (including Leadership)
Shaped a further improvement that Next25 is building to repair the relationship between the media and politicians (which our alumni identified as a significant barrier to parliamentarians acting in the public interest)
Asked for our support to improve the culture of parliament for women, starting with a pilot in NSW that intends to go nationwide
Next25 is currently investigating an improvement for lever three to better enable and embrace constructive discourse in Australia. Imagine the progress Australia could achieve if we could talk out disagreements and listen to each other to effectively collaborate on ideas? But we know that change of this scale cannot be done alone.
4. Next steps and support
Improving the way Australia makes its future requires collaboration from diverse industries, institutions, organisations, and individuals. Next25 offers strategic advice and support to those with an appetite for positive change. Recently, our Executive Director Ralph Ashton took Next25’s research to Tasmania, speaking with parliamentarians, senior bureaucrats, and community leaders about how to improve the state’s future. Most were interested in lever two on defining and embracing success paradigms beyond GDP and lever four on enabling and embracing public wisdom in decision-making.
Being a think-and-do tank, Next25 doesn’t stop at research. Following the presentation in Tasmania, we asked attendees what next step they’d commit to being involved in. Most were interested in delving deeper into the levers and ideating potential improvements in their community with Next25’s support.
Australia’s decision-makers – this is an opportunity to reflect on these findings, consider where you have agency or influence, and what next steps you can take towards enabling positive change. Making the future Australia wants means understanding and acting in the public interest, but often it’s not easy to address the public’s biggest concerns. Next25’s five levers can unlock long-lasting progress on multiple fronts. But we cannot do this work alone. Together, we can achieve the nationwide change Australia needs.
Get in touch with us today if you’d like to discuss opportunities for collaboration and ways Next25 can support you.