Australia faces significant challenges ahead - including navigating the health and economic impacts of Covid, responding to emerging issues around the future of work and new technologies, preparing for an increasingly risky geo-political environment, and addressing longstanding challenges such as climate change and reconciliation with Indigenous Australians. Addressing these requires leadership of a quality that enables society to cohere in the face of pressures that would otherwise create divisions. Trust will be at a premium - in turn, this will depend on the quality of ethical decision making by individuals, groups and organisations. A more ethical Australia would achieve an economic improvement about half as big as the nation’s economic reform priority list outlined by the Productivity Commission in 2017 (which would lift the economy by some $80 billion over time). But improving ethics cannot be achieved with a single initiative; it requires improvements in five key areas. With the individual, business and economic benefits on offer from a more ethical Australia, the business case for change is a sound one. In the face of the challenges ahead for Australia, strengthening ethics is simply a must for a better future. - Deen Sanders, OAM, and John O'Mahony. Earn 1.00 CE/CPD hrs on Portfolio Construction Forum