Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. After being elected to local government back in 2009, I quickly realised just how short-term the mindset of decision-making can be: annual budget cycles, three- or four-year electoral cycles and maybe five-year strategic planning cycles—the system itself a handbrake on a longer-term vision, prioritising short-term political outcomes and expediency over future prosperity. That's been a key motivator for me in my work as a parliamentarian since being elected to this place, and the opportunity to be involved with this issue has been a highlight for me.

I'd also particularly like to pay tribute to the amazing Taylor Hawkins, co-founder and managing director of Foundations for Tomorrow. Their mission is to equip Australian leaders to think beyond election cycles and financial quarters to make the strategic long-term investments that lay the foundations for a thriving community environment and economy for years to come. It's been exciting to work with Taylor and the team across this term of parliament to progress this agenda.

This brings us to the bill before us today, the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill, for an act to establish a framework for embedding consideration of the wellbeing of future generations into government decision-making. It will introduce intergenerational policymaking to Australia which considers the rights and interests of current and future generations concurrently. It seeks to do that by introducing the four measures: establishing a federal legislative framework for the wellbeing of future generations, imposing a positive duty on public bodies to take into account the long-term impact of their decisions, establishing an independent statutory commissioner for future generations and requiring a national conversation on future generations.

As we've heard, this approach is not revolutionary nor without precedent internationally, and there are many examples that we can look to. This bill represents a clear and positive direction for Australia to take to advance intergenerational fairness and to safeguard the wellbeing of future generations. I commend the bill to the House.

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