CPD Fellow Peter Whiteford outlines the intricacies and analyses the calculations behind the Coalition’s tentative entry into the new ‘investment approach’ to funding welfare.

Writing for The Conversation, Peter unpacks the “$4.8 trillion dollar question” that was posed by Social Services Minister Christian Porter’s recent report on the lifetime costs of Australia’s social security. This large welfare bill was calculated with actuarial analysis, an experimental method imported from New Zealand. This figure is being used to justify the implementation of an approach of targeted investments in social security that are tied to outcomes for the disadvantaged and welfare dependent. Peter shows how the Government arrived at this potentially inflated figure, and flags likely indicators for success for this new policy approach.

You can read Peter’s full piece here.

To find out more about New Zealand’s pioneering ‘investment approach’, CPD Policy Director Rob Sturrock recently went on a fact-finding and sharing mission across the Tasman. Read about his discoveries and the implications for Australia here.