Bright ideas fade

April 23, 2008, 9:10pm,  124 views

The consensus which emerged from the 2020 summit appears to be a little shaky, according to a report by Imre Salusinszky in The Australian.

Salusinszky writes that delegates to the productivity, indigenous, rural and community services sessions told The Australian they felt railroaded into signing off on the agenda of those chairing and facilitating their streams.

Rural journalist Genevieve Barlow said the impression given in the document was that water security and regulation had dominated the rural session.

“There was a lot more discussion on matters like health and education and tourism, and how important they are for rural areas,” she said.

“Members of our group were disappointed that wasn’t presented in the summing up at the plenary session.”

I really believe the summit was a PR stunt with a hidden motive to get the republic debate back on the agenda. There would never have been a catalyst for it otherwise.