Australia

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 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.