Monash University Report Leverages Millennium Institute’s Sustainable Development Simulator to Tackle Inequality
The Transforming Australia, SDGs Progress Report by Monash University, as featured in The Guardian, uses the Millennium Institute’s Sustainable Development Simulator (iSD Simulator), to highlight the urgent need for integrated, long-term policies to address Australia’s rising inequality. The analysis identifies actionable solutions to reverse the growing wealth gap and social welfare declines, emphasizing the importance of systemic reforms over short-term fixes.
Inequality in Numbers
The report shows that Australia’s inequality is deepening across multiple fronts. Welfare payments, which were sufficient to cover the poverty line in 2001, have declined sharply and now provide only 65% of the amount needed to meet basic living standards. The wealth gap is equally stark: the poorest 20% of Australians hold 30% less wealth than they did in 2004, while the richest 10% continue to consolidate gains. Without intervention, inequality threatens to destabilize economic growth and social cohesion. Despite some positive trends—such as improvements in life expectancy, renewable energy adoption, and reductions in the superannuation gender gap and homicide rates—the report estimates that Australia is on track to achieve only 55% of progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2050.
The Role of the iSD Simulator
The Sustainable Development Simulator, developed by the Millennium Institute, played a central role in the report’s findings. Our systems modeling tool enabled researchers to test policies, quantify long-term impacts, and identify pathways to reverse inequality trends. By simulating outcomes across economic, social, and environmental domains, the iSD Simulator provided a holistic framework for evaluating integrated solutions.
In a recent interview, Prof. Cameron Allen, Senior Research Fellow at Monash Sustainable Development Institute and the report's Lead Researcher, emphasized the potential of tools like the iSD Simulator have in enhancing long-term systems thinking:
“What we’re advocating for in our report is that governments take a more integrated and long-term approach to decision-making. At the moment, the incentives are not really in place to encourage that type of thinking. In our report, we provide some important tools to help operationalize that thinking.”
How the iSD Simulator Drives Change
The iSD Simulator is a powerful tool designed to help policymakers align policies with long-term sustainable development frameworks. By modeling scenarios across economic, social, and environmental domains, the simulator provides a roadmap to achieve transformative outcomes. It enables users to track progress across hundreds of indicators, test policies in a virtual environment, and set science-based targets aligned with global sustainability goals. This systems-based approach ensures that decision-makers can identify integrated solutions that address interconnected challenges, avoiding fragmented or short-term fixes.
Pathways to Progress
The report evaluates two future scenarios for Australia: the Business-as-Usual Pathway and the Transform Australia Pathway. The first is a scenario in which Australia returns to pre-COVID-19 policy settings and expenditure levels, maintaining incremental progress but failing to address systemic challenges. The latter is an ambitious scenario that accelerates progress toward the SDGs through bold, integrated policies and investments, identifying six key transformation areas with the greatest potential to drive progress, including wellbeing and resilience, and sustainable food systems. These scenarios highlight the stark contrast between incremental progress and bold, integrated policy shifts:
Business-as-Usual Pathway
Under this scenario, Australia’s progress toward the SDGs stagnates, achieving only 55% of targets by 2050. The lack of bold reforms leaves critical gaps in poverty reduction, inequality, and environmental sustainability. Welfare payments continue to lag behind living costs, wealth inequality persists, and educational disparities widen. Environmental degradation accelerates, with minimal progress on biodiversity conservation or emissions reductions. By 2050, Australia’s GDP growth remains sluggish, reflecting missed opportunities for innovation and resilience-building.
Transform Australia Pathway
This scenario demonstrates the transformative potential of bold, integrated policies. By prioritizing six key systemic shifts—wellbeing and resilience, a sustainable and just economy, sustainable food systems, energy decarbonisation, sustainable urban development, and regenerating the environmental commons—Australia could achieve 80% progress on SDGs by 2030 and 90% by 2050.
Key outcomes include:
Halving poverty rates and reducing income inequality by 30% through targeted social transfers and tax reforms.
Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 alongside significant improvements in biodiversity conservation and resource efficiency.
A projected $300 billion GDP boost by 2050 compared to the Business-as-Usual Pathway, driven by investments in renewable energy, education, and climate adaptation.
The pathway also identifies Wellbeing and Resilience, Energy Decarbonisation, and Sustainable Food Systems as critical enablers, with spillover effects that unlock progress across multiple SDGs. For example, transitioning to renewable energy not only reduces emissions but also creates jobs, lowers healthcare costs from pollution, and enhances energy security.
To achieve this vision, the report calls for a 7% annual increase in public expenditure over the next decade, funded by tax reforms. This investment would modernize infrastructure, improve health and education outcomes for disadvantaged communities, and build climate resilience—laying the foundation for long-term economic stability and equity.
The Way Ahead
The divergence between these pathways highlights the profound implications of today’s decisions for Australia’s future. The report underscores the importance of aligning policies with long-term sustainability and equity goals, offering actionable insights to guide transformative change.
The iSD Simulator provides a powerful platform for policymakers to explore integrated solutions, test scenarios, and align strategies with ambitious development targets. To learn more about how the simulator can support decision-making , schedule a demo session with the Millennium Institute:
Explore the data-driven pathways:
📄 Download the Full Report: Transforming Australia — SDG Progress Report, 2024
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