Australian Priority Investment Approach to Welfare

The Priority Investment Approach (PIA) provided a better understanding of how Australians use the social security system. PIA forecasts showed patterns of payment use and estimated future social security costs.

About the PIA

The Department of Social Services (DSS) introduced PIA in 2015. Its goal was to improve wellbeing for individuals, families and vulnerable Australians.

PIA used modelling to work out Australia’s future lifetime social security costs.

The Australian Government Actuary (AGA) worked with DSS on these valuations from 2019 to 2025.

How PIA works

We produced each valuation in 3 steps:

1. Analyse past data – study social security trends using machine learning to find patterns.
2. Simulate the population – project future social security use based on expected trends.
3. Calculate lifetime cost – convert future costs into today’s dollars.

This resulted in:

• total lifetime cost for the population
• average lifetime cost for an Australian
• average lifetime cost for specific groups.

How were results from PIA used

The simulation showed how the social security system worked at the time and into the future. It helped us:

• understand expected social security use for different groups
• see how changes affected lifetime costs
• track trends by comparing valuations.

Learn more

Explore past reports and learn more on the Department of Social Services website.