Professor John Wiseman
Director, the McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing
School of Population Health
The University of Melbourne

If we measure the health of our communities, our country and our world solely by growth in income, wealth and consumption, then many of us, at least in Australia, are thriving. But if our definition of community wellbeing is broadened to include the full range of social, economic, environmental, cultural and political issues that matter most to citizens and communities, then the diagnosis and prognosis are far more mixed.

Globally, three billion people still live on less than two dollars a day. Eleven million children under five years die every year due to poverty related diseases. One billion people do not have safe drinking water. In Australia inequalities and inequities in income distribution, employment, housing affordability and health outcomes continue to grow. As in many affluent countries, there is also a rising tide of anxiety and depression even amongst the richest and most fortunate. And for all of us, rich and poor, our planetary environment appears in danger of becoming increasingly fevered.

Internationally and in Australia, there is growing interest in the concept of community wellbeing as a more holistic and accurate measure of societal progress than the dominant paradigm of economic growth. This lecture will provide an overview of recent debates about community wellbeing issues, indicators and outcomes, including new evidence about local community wellbeing trends in Victoria.