How do we transform our economic system to value what we value? Part three in our series on economic systems change explores the role of government and a few key policies that would change how we live and work.

What does an economy for the people even look like? How is that even possible, and what are some of the systemic changes that get us there? In part 2, we take a bird’s eye view of the landmarks on the road to wellbeing.

We can’t keep acting like the economy operates ‘over here’ and the issues we care about are ‘over there’.  It’s time to get as confident talking about and working on economic change as we are talking about and working on climate change — so we can reMAKE an economy in service of life itself.

Two things I know to be true: without individuals making time to care and be cared for, our society would crumble. And our carers need more support – a whole new “infrastructure of care”. 

A functional public service with integrity has to be about more than policing personal power and profit. What do we want from our public service, and how can we reclaim it as something for all of us?

Has the public service lost its mojo? Are we too caught up in judging policy by its short-term effect on the budget bottom line, instead of its holistic effect on society? And do public servants exist to serve the government of the day, or the Australian public? Millie had the pleasure of listening to some of our country’s most senior current and retired public servants air these ideas, in a fascinating and candid conversation about public service for the public good.

What if we can take this opportunity of a newly elected government... in all its ongoing peril and possibility, to galvanise around a new ‘why’, that speaks to universal needs and human motivations? What if we can find a way to articulate that the individual issues we care about are really just pieces of the same solution?

What would it look like to have a budget for the public good?
Think of the things the government could be budgeting for that would help us here: no new coal or gas and a serious approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions; proper staffing ratios in arenas that truly matter like healthcare, education and social services; safe and secure housing for everyone; retrofitted buildings and landscapes that are climate positive and robust in the face of disaster.

What is the purpose of our public institutions? How do they best serve us as a community? And in this time of disruption and restructure, can we remember to look beyond the glossy reports and key performance indicators to true purpose?

What is the real purpose of the budget and how we might collectively shift attention to the things that matter most: re-defining and re-energising ideas for the public good?

What if we centred radical love at the heart of politics?

Australia reMADE Chair, Louise Tarrant asks the big question and talks us through what might happen if we have the courage to talk about love.