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Introduction: This consensus statement recommends eight high‐level trackable policy actions most likely to significantly improve health and wellbeing for children and young people by 2030. These policy actions include an overarching policy action and span seven interconnected domains that need to be adequately resourced for every young person to thrive: Material basics; Valued, loved and safe; Positive sense of identity and culture; Learning and employment pathways; Healthy; Participating; and Environments and sustainable futures. Main recommendations: Provide financial support to invest in families with young children and address poverty and material deprivation in the first 2000 days of life.Establish a national investment fund to provide sustained, culturally relevant, maternal and child health and development home visiting services for the first 2000 days of life for all children facing structural disadvantage and/or adversity.Implement a dedicated funding model for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community‐controlled early years services across the country to ensure these services are fully resourced to provide quality early learning and integrated services grounded in culture and community.Properly fund public schools, starting by providing full and accountable Schooling Resource Standard funding for all schools, with immediate effect for schools in communities facing structural disadvantage.Establish legislation and regulation to protect children and young people aged under 18 years from the marketing of unhealthy and harmful products.Amend the electoral act to extend the compulsory voting age to 16 years.Legislate an immediate end to all new fossil fuel projects in Australia.Establish a federal Future Generations Commission with legislated powers to protect the interests of future generations. Changes in approach as a result of this statement: Together, these achievable evidence‐based policies would significantly improve children and young people's health and wellbeing by 2030, build a strong foundation for future generations, and provide co‐benefits for all generations and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group singing is a common feature of classroom-based music education, and has often been proposed to have benefits that extend beyond acquisition of music skills, primarily in academic achievement. However, potential social and emotional well-being benefits have been under-represented in these discussions. This article proposes that an evolutionary lens provides a helpful framework for understanding how music education can contribute to student well-being. Specifically, group singing may a) create a shared emotional experience which is generally positive; and b) increase group cohesion and pro-social behaviours. It is proposed that, while these changes are generally immediate and short-term, regular participation in group singing may lead to stable, persistent changes in affective style and sociability. The implications for music education are discussed, particularly for improving the social and emotional wellbeing of students.

During the 2020 COVID‐19 wave, the Australian Government made an additional $550 Coronavirus Supplement available for people receiving social security payments, and temporarily suspended mutual obligation requirements. By doing so, the government effectively gave people who had been long stigmatised and subject to punitive conditionality to compel them into the labour market, financial security and their time back. Drawing on survey responses from people who received the $550 Supplement and had their mutual obligation activities suspended or reduced, this research examines how people used their time during this period and whether it differed from pre‐pandemic government policy. We find that the increase in payments through the Supplement and the suspension of mutual obligations impacted positively on people's lives including the (1) the ability of respondents to meet basic needs and improve their long‐term financial security, (2) improvements to physical and emotional well‐being, (3) increased labour market engagement and (4) engagement in other forms of unpaid productive work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As populations age, it is critical to understand how psycho-social wellbeing supports successful ageing. The health sector is increasingly asking how best to improve social connection and affective state because of their positive influence on overall health. Choral participation has been proposed as a particularly effective way to improve socio-emotional wellbeing, due to benefits of music exposure, social opportunities, and the act of singing. It may be, however, that improvements in wellbeing are also dependent on individual attitudes towards participation, including preference, motivation, and exercising agency. There is a need for studies that account for the influence of choice and preference as they may predict benefits for wellbeing. Findings are presented here from a quasi-experimental study exploring whether choral participation yields greater benefits for wellbeing in the long term (seven months) than does participation in an exercise group that shares some of the nonspecific characteristics of choirs such as social interaction and exposure to music. Emotional wellbeing increased for both groups, while there was a small but significant decrease in mental wellbeing for both groups between the first and second time points; no other statistically significant changes were observed. Analysis of qualitative data indicated that members of choirs found the act of singing to be intrinsically rewarding, while members of exercise groups relied instead on the benefits of social interaction to keep them committed to an exercise regime; however, themes such as the importance of social connection, confidence, improved mental and emotional state, and overall improved wellbeing were common to both groups. Effects on the wellbeing of the members of the two kinds of group did not differ significantly despite differences in their self-reported motivation for joining and participating. No changes were observed in measures of social connection or empathy across the length of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Future Healthy Countdown 2030, which aims to hold Australia accountable for the health and wellbeing of children and young people. It highlights the poor outcomes in various domains, such as wealth inequality, physical activity levels, food insecurity, and psychological distress. The Countdown seeks to influence social, economic, and political changes to improve the prospects of disadvantaged children. It focuses on key measures of health and wellbeing and identifies critical indicators that require immediate attention. The initiative is supported by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation and aligns with the Australian government's commitment to wellbeing. [Extracted from the article]