2020 summit, day one

April 19, 2008, 6:33pm,  167 views

Australia by 2020 will be an independent, confident, prosperous and just nation deeply engaged with and demonstrating a close understanding of regional nations.

That’s the introduction to AAP’s summary of today’s opening session of the 2020 summit.

I have a high regard for AAP journalists and I’m sure they have successfully captured the essence of the opening day.

The agency’s report says that was a big picture vision outlined by participants in the future security stream of the summit.

When I worked briefly for a national marketing company we attended a workshop where the facilitator asked us to come up with a BHAG (big hairy ambitious goal). If that’s the best the future security group can come up with, I’m disappointed.

I would say Australia is already independent, confident, prosperous and deeply engaged with regional nations. What are doing in the Solomon Islands and East Timor if we’re not?

According to AAP, human rights lawyer Fiona McLeod said she saw a nation where inequality was a thing of the past.

In her future Australia, women filled quotas for a third of senior positions in the public and private sectors, there had been a female prime minister and an Aboriginal woman had been president.

Well, that’s going to improve our standard of living, isn’t it?

Alas, my anticipated commentary today hasn’t been as fresh as I hoped. The media reporting has been fairly limited during the day.

I don’t like to think I might have done the participants an injustice by selectively quoting their reported comments, but that’s all I have to go on.

Alexandra Kirk has written a nice summary of day one for the ABC web site.

I like the fact there was some focus on the plight of the homeless, including from former Competition and Consumer Commission head, Professor Allan Fels.

“There’s a large number of properties in Australia that could be converted into uses for the homeless,” he said, citing church-owned buildings as an example.

Former NSW Premier Bob Carr offered a mixed bag:

“A lot of big ideas - an easy way to get a republic … simply making the Governor-General the head of the state of Australia,” he said.

“That resolves all the arguments about presidents and elected presidents or non-elected presidents.

“The other big ideas is that … we tackle health by dealing with the causes of ill health - having a calorie count on the menu of every chain restaurant.”

Thanks Bob.

Meanwhile, Andrew Bolt reports a Laurie Oakes observation that just one of the 100 summiteers discussing government opposed a republic.

“Congratulations to whoever stacked the delegates so brilliantly and shamelessly,” Bolt writes.

A group this large was never going to build consensus unless it was stacked. That appears to be where it’s heading: the government will get the recommendations it wanted.