Inquiry into a framework for performance reporting and driving wellbeing outcomes in NSW

ANA welcomes the planned introduction of the NSW Performance and Wellbeing Framework in the 2025-26 Budget. We also welcome NSW Treasury’s explicit intention for the Framework to align with, and build on, the federal Measuring What Matters Framework. ANA makes the following comments, supported by details from the next page:

• ANA welcomes the inclusion of arts and culture under the Community theme
• ANA suggests additional performance indicators for the Community theme

We also attach our submission to the Australian Government’s Measuring What Matters Framework. That submission shows how arts and culture contribute to the proposed Healthy and Skilled wellbeing themes, and how Australia’s peers are measuring cultural participation.

ANA welcomes the inclusion of arts and culture under the Community theme

ANA welcomes the proposed inclusion of ‘Community’ as one of eight Wellbeing themes, and the explicit acknowledgement of the contribution of cultural and creative industries and activities to strong social bonds. ANA also welcomes the proposed Framework recognising First Nations people and communities in NSW, and commitments to engage with those communities.

This would be consistent with ANA’s focus group research which shows that middle Australians

• think arts and culture are the building blocks of community, connection and place, and therefore to social cohesion
• think arts and culture help people coming to Australia to understand the nation’s diverse identity, and
• value First Nations cultural and creative practice in Australia.Kate Fielding, Aakanksha Sidhu, and Angela Vivian, “Intergenerational Arts and Culture: Lessons across Middle Australia” (A New Approach (ANA), October 2023), 9, https://newapproach.org.au/analysis-papers/intergenerational-arts-and-culture-lessons-acrossmiddle-australia/.

This would also be consistent with the NSW arts, culture and creative industries policy, which explicitly links cultural and creative activity with quality-of-life and social cohesion.NSW Government, “Creative Communities – NSW Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy 2024- 2033,” December 2023, 57, https://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-12/creativecommunities-arts-culture-and-creative-industries-policy.pdf.

ANA suggests additional performance indicators for the Community theme

ANA welcomes the proposal of cultural and creative attendance indicators under the proposed outcome ‘Communities are diverse, engaged and cohesive’.

ANA suggests also including indicators of cultural and creative participation, to complement other proposed attendance indicators. Cultural and creative participation extends beyond attendance at venues and events to a wide range of activities such as working and volunteering, practice and learning, and creating works. As our Insight Report Transformative shows, cultural and creative participation is relevant to wellbeing because

• engaging with cultural activities strengthens our communities
• arts and culture enhance individual development and contributes to societal development, and
• arts and culture help sustain urban and regional development.Kate Fielding, Iva Glisic, and Jodie-Lee Trembath, “Transformative: Impacts of Culture and Creativity,” Insight Series (Canberra: A New Approach and The Australian Academy of Humanities, November 2019), 20–21, https://newapproach.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2-ANAInsightReportTwo-FullReport.pdf.

Relevant indicators of cultural and creative participation already exist, and they meet the selection criteria for performance indicators (Purposeful, Comparable, Timely, Relatable and Measurable) set out in the NSW Treasury’s consultation paper. NSW can draw on the following existing sources for these indicators:

• Results from the Australian Bureau of Statistic’s Cultural Participation and Attendance Survey. This is an annual survey of over 20,000 respondents, conducted as a topic on the Multipurpose Household Survey, with breakdowns for NSW.Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Cultural and Creative Activities Methodology, 2021-22 Financial Year,” April 21, 2023, https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/cultural-and-creative-activitiesmethodology/2021-22.
• Results from Creative Australia’s National Arts Participation Survey.Creative Australia, “Creating Value: Results of the National Arts Participation Survey,” September 19, 2023, https://creative.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/creating-value/. This is a threeyearly survey with over 9,000 respondents. NSW could obtain state-based breakdowns, as some jurisdictions already do.For example, see the 2022 Survey breakdowns for South Australia and Victoria. 

We also highlight two future sources of information that could inform indicators to the Community and other wellbeing themes:

• The NSW Creative Statement to Parliament, to be made every three years. This was a key initiative to implement a whole-of-government approach under the NSW arts, culture and creative industries policy.NSW Government, “Creative Communities,” 75.
• The annual General Social Survey, to be enhanced from 2026 to provide greater detail about Australians’ wellbeing. The latest federal budget includes $14.8 million for enhancements include more timely data, larger sample sizes and additional questions.See Andrew Leigh and Jim Chalmers, “Joint Media Release: Measuring What Matters to Deliver Better Outcomes” (Treasury Ministers, June 26, 2024), https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/andrew-leigh-2022/media-releases/measuring-whatmatters-deliver-better-outcomes.