The human capital agenda mentioned above is a particularly innovative and compelling component in the ‘story’ about the need for reform. The Human Capital agenda argues that Australia needs a healthier, skilled, more motivated workforce so that our businesses can continue to compete and succeed in the global economy. We know that, in addition to the well-founded social reasons, there are strong economic reasons why governments should invest in improving people’s health outcomes, improving the skills of our population and creating a motivated workforce.

The argument about the importance of Australia’s human capital is at the heart of the NRA. The NRA approach at COAG is a marked change from a time in the past when governments came together at COAG to discuss social policy reforms which tended to focus in isolation on the ‘latest crisis’. For example, the previous premiers’ conferences focused on isolated policy content such as the number of hospital beds, ‘drugs’ in schools at COAG in 1999 and child protection at COAG in 2002. The NRA has tried to move away from ‘crisis management’ by encouraging a view across portfolios — looking for synergies in education outcomes and health outcomes. Promoting healthy living in schools is an obvious example. The NRA puts forward a long-term perspective, looking at government interventions across a lifecycle, for example from developing good diet and exercise habits in childhood to maintaining good habits as we get older and managing good health in the longer term.

This long-term perspective is particularly important. The NRA allows governments to make specific decisions about investing in early intervention based on the evidence that this investment is critical if we are to make a difference to long-term outcomes. The NRA provides governments with a framework that promotes a long term view.