Plain old economic growth is good for society

This article was published in The Australian 21 September 2010

Without reform, our modern prosperity may not be sustainable.

It will disappoint some that the Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest snapshot of national progress shows things are mostly getting better.

A key indicator of health - life expectancy at birth - confirms Australians are living longer. In the decade to 2008, life expectancy for girls rose 2.2 years to 83.7 years and by 3.3 years to 79.2 years for boys. The suicide rate, which the ABS classifies as an indicator of social cohesion, has fallen even amid concerns about worsening mental health. The suicide rate for men aged 20 to 24 halved during the same period.

And volunteering, seen as an indicator of social networks, has increased, up from 24 per cent in 1995 to 35 per cent in 2006.

Even before Julia Gillard's education revolution, Australians were investing more in their human capital.