Monday, February 04, 2008

Australia 2020 Summit

On 3 February the Australian Government announced it will hold an Australia 2020 Summit at Parliament House in Canberra, 19 to 20 April 2008. One thousand Australians will be invited to help with a long term strategy for the Australia's future in ten areas:
  1. Economy: education, skills, training, science and innovation as part of the nation’s productivity agenda
  2. Infrastructure: the digital economy and cities
  3. Sustainability: Population, sustainability, climate change, and water
  4. Rural: Future directions for rural industries and communities
  5. Health: A long-term national strategy; including the challenges of preventative health, workforce planning and the ageing population
  6. Communities: Strengthening and supporting families and social inclusion
  7. Indigenous Australia:Options for the future of
  8. Creative Australia: The future of the arts, film and design
  9. Governance: The future of Australian democracy, a more open government (including the role of the media), the structure of the Federation and the rights and responsibilities of citizens
  10. Security: Australia’s future s and prosperity in a rapidly changing region and world.
The idea of everyone collecting in one place for two days to work out the future of a nation is a quaint last century idea. The Australian Government should look to the technology it already has available, to allow it to involve many more people over a longer timescale. The event could still be held as a symbolic and ceremonial one to look at what was found online.
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3 comments:

  1. Rat2February 20, 2008 4:55 PM

    For all the people not invited to the Summit, I created an online forum for people to list and vote on the best ideas for Australia. Check it out at http://ozideas.wetpaint.com.

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  2. Matt CrozierMarch 01, 2008 6:11 PM

    The ozideas forum is great. Also have a look at the Bang the Table forum at

    www.bangthetable.com/australia2020

    It is pretty detailed and has a seperate page for each theme with key policy questions outlined.

    There is already some pretty interesting input and a report is to be made to the summit so this is a good way to actually have a say.

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  3. AnonymousApril 07, 2008 4:35 AM

    I too have created a website for Aussies to discuss the 2020 Summit here:

    http://www.australia2020.net

    I've also swapped email with Professor Glyn Davis (co-chair of the Summit) and he agreed to send details of the site to the topic chairs.

    Come by, leave your comments, and participate in the debate!

    Cheers, Dave.

    ReplyDelete