Article: Australia 2020 Summit wraps up with key ideas

[ozbob]

From The Sunday Mail click here!

Australia 2020 Summit wraps up with key ideas

Australia 2020 Summit wraps up with key ideas
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

April 20, 2008 03:42pm

THE inaugural Australia 2020 Summit has wound up in Canberra with bold ideas on health, the environment, politics, social inclusion and business.

Mr Rudd said the overwhelming mood at the summit was for the nation's focus to shift to planning for the future and not to simply react to the short-term.

"I don't want to wake up one morning in the year 2020 with the regret of not having acted when I had the chance, that's why it's important to plan ahead," he said.

"I don't want to have to explain to my kids, and perhaps their kids too, that we failed to act, that we avoided the tough decisions, that we failed to prepare Australia for its future challenges."

He said there was a common belief that Australia was faced with some long-term challenges, such as climate change, the economy and security.

But he said there was also an overwhelming spirit of optimism for the future.

"Let us look beyond the immediate trench warfare of the next one, two or three years, and look to the long-term," he said.

A 38-page report has been given to Mr Rudd, covering the ideas.

Healthy debate

The Summit's first officially endorsed idea was to create "one-stop-shops" for children where immunisations, child care and other services could be delivered.

The long-term national health strategy group struggled to whittle down its list of big ideas.

In the end it delivered five goals, eight big ideas and another five "out of the box" ideas.

The five aspirational goals were to close the infant mortality gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians; to structure the health system around individuals rather than health providers; to focus on disease prevention; to make Australia a world leader in research and commercialisation of intellectual property; and to develop a unified federal health system.

Its first big idea was to establish a health equalities commission.

"This would benefit all groups with significant health issues with a focus on indigenous health," co-chair Michael Good said.

The second big idea, and one which received a cheer from the delegates gathered in the Great Hall, was to create a national preventative health agency similar to VicHealth that would promote healthier lifestyles and food choices, funded by taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and junk food.

The group also suggested introducing a traffic light food labelling system, with red dots for unhealthy foods and green dots for fresh fruit and vegetables. Foods in the middle range would be amber.

Another idea involved a Healthbook website similar to Facebook, allowing people to share their personal health information with people they trust.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said one of the out-of-the-box suggestions was first aid training to all children by 2020 with a focus on mental health.

Ms Roxon said she would also like all sedentary jobs to be redesigned by 2020 to include at least half an hour of physical activity.

In particular, stairwells could be opened to encourage people to walk up to work rather than use the lifts.

More bang for your buck

Productivity stream co-chair Warwick Smith told the summit's final session that the idea, mooted by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, had plenty of merit.

"You may have heard of this one, it's called the children's and parents' centre," Mr Smith said as he outlined the list of ideas his group agreed on."

"It's an integrated services (centre) for children's health and development."

Mr Smith said it was important to recognise the value of the nation's human capital, and to deploy it efficiently and fairly in a way that addressed problems such as the skills crisis.

"Fundamentally, our ambition and our goal is to maximise wealth, excellence and equity by driving up productivity (and) continuing to focus on the growth of productivity in our community to be like that of other developed countries," he said.

"We want to equip all Australians through the education and training systems and lead the world with a focus on excellence and inclusion."

He said Australia's intellectual capital must also be mobilised more effectively.

The productivity stream also suggested establishing a scheme that would allow graduates to reduce their HECS bill in exchange for them participating in communities around Australia.


Statesmanship

An Australian republic was at the top of the governance stream's list of ideas.

Stream co-chair John Hartigan was applauded by delegates when he announced the idea.

His group had four other big ideas: a charter or bill of rights, collaborative governance, a modern Australian federation and open and transparent government.

The group also put forward three policies: recognising indigenous Australians in the constitutional preamble, a national cooperation commission to ensure state and federal governments work together, and automatic enrolment to vote at the age of 18.

Our place in the region

The security and future prosperity stream, chaired by international relations expert Michael Wesley and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, put the need for increased understanding of Asia at the top of its priorities.

"We have to make Australia's understanding of Asian literacy and Asian culture almost second nature to us," the foreign minister said.

"This is a most important thing we can do, not just from an international relations point of view but also from our young school children's point of view."

Professor Wesley said many ideas suggested by the security group focused on developing multilateral relationships both regionally and globally.

"The second most passionate issue, I guess, was for closer economic and political integration with the Pacific," Prof Wesley said.

He called for "partnerships of development" to achieve growth in struggling Pacific island nations.

Creative thinking

The creative stream's key idea was to expand education and the arts.

Ideas include using mid-career artists as mentors in schools and having a mandated and nationwide creative literacy subject.

Delegates also focused on new investment models, including an arts endowment fund and a HECS-style arrangement for young artists.

Another idea was to link one per cent of federal funding allocated to each government department to the arts and establish a ministry for culture and national indigenous cultural authority.

Summit co-chair Cate Blanchett said creativity was central to all human endeavour.

"By 2020 we want to be celebrating the fact that creativity is central to sustaining and defining the nation," she said.

Getting along

Communities stream co-chair Tim Costello raised the prospect of Australia becoming a more inclusive society, saying it was the "foundation stone" and "linchpin" for ensuring a buoyant economy and healthy environment.

A national development index that measures economic progress against social inclusion was key to improving conditions for all Australians, he said.

Mr Costello said the communities working group had also suggested numerous cost neutral ideas.

"We came up with so many cost-neutral ideas you could actually abolish treasury," he said.

"We could run it, although a Costello running treasury may not be a good idea," he added to laughter.

Mr Costello is the brother of former federal treasurer Peter Costello.

Money matters

Announcing the proposals of the summit's economics stream, co-chair David Morgan said a federation commission needed to be created to drive fundamental and sustainable federalism reforms.

The group also proposed a comprehensive tax review to consider measures to simplify taxes and wide ranging reform of regulation, to reduce regulatory overlaps and complexity.

It also proposed national infrastructure priorities and a priorities body, and more fluid career paths between the public and private sectors to improve the quality of the public sector.

Dr Morgan said there should be a national education and qualification accreditation system and increased education funding.

Going bush

The rural session called for national harmonisation of state-based transport and agriculture rules which were proving too costly, session co-chair Tim Fischer said.

"We almost abolished the states," Mr Fischer said.

Rules governing licensing, standards, road, rail and agriculture had to be standardised urgently, he said.

State-based rules added to the cost burden for all Australians and fell particularly hard on rural and remote communities.

Mr Fischer said the rural session also called for a detailed study of the potential for opening up Australia's rainy north to agriculture, as climate change dried out other parts of the country.
More research, particularly on water, must be commissioned.

"It is chasing the water, focussing on the north," he said.

Transport infrastructure was another key message of the rural session, which called for national "catch-up", particularly on rail and intermodal hubbing.

Agriculture Minister Tony Burke said the "doom and gloom" view of rural Australia was out of place.
The session was full of optimism, he said.

Mr Burke said the session wanted to gain a better understanding of what Australia's future would be in a world of climate change and food shortages.

[ozbob]

Mr Rudd said the overwhelming mood at the summit was for the nation's focus to shift to planning for the future and not to simply react to the short-term.

Hope this is translated from the spin to action! 

This goes to the very core of the transport infrastructure shortfalls.