If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
Australia’s smartest and biggest achievers in their fields will attend Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s summit to generate innovate ideas for the country.
Cate Blanchett, Collette Dinnigan and the Sass and Bide duo could sit alongside national figures such as Tim Costello and Tim Flannery as part of the 2020 summit.
A cross-section of the community, including indigenous leader Mick Dodson, atmospheric scientist Graeme Pearman and Babcock and Brown chief executive Phil Green are among the 1000 best and brightest selected to generate innovative ideas.
Aussie Home Loans’ John Symond, Dick Smith, burns expert Fiona Wood and NRMA president Alan Evans have also expressed interest in the summit, News Limited reported today.
The federal government is hoping for a gathering of the country’s greatest minds to attend the summit on April 19 and 20.
Mr Rudd has locked in diary dates with several high profile participants and the 10 co-chairs and panel members have been finalised and will be announced early this week.
More than 400 Australians who consider to be the brightest in the country sent application forms to the prime minister’s office this week.
A Labor Party insider working on the conference said the fight to secure an invite had already begun.
“There’s a flood of people trying to get an invite, ringing up nonstop,” he told News Limited.
Who do you think should be invited?
Popularity: 100% [?]
5 Comments
You know Laurel, I saw this list and blanched, why? Because many of those names I would not want to see at this event, it’s gonna turn into a circus where the media focus on celebrity designers, scientists etc.
I’m sure they are all worthy folks, but really they all have one thing in common, relative access to the halls of power already, all successful and thought leaders to be sure, but still the usual suspects, where is the diversity this was supposed to bring to the table?
For every Kate Blanchett we lose some unsung hero from the community who might be able to bring a different perspective to the table with the added effect of introducing the halls of power to someone new who might just challenge the status quo in a way the Blanchetts of Australia cannot.
As a cyclist and someone seriously interested in transport issues I wouldn’t want to see the NRMA’s Alan Evans at the table, why? Because he does nothing to advance soft transport issues, especially those that might interest cyclists, Evans works actively against our interests, but because he’s with the NRMA his voice would have more weight at the table despite the fact that he’s about furthering a single interest that will have a declining place in Australia’s future transport mix.
In his place I’d rather see a community activist like Fiona Campbell, long a passionate advocate for cycling, public transport and a reorganisation of our cities along lines that would advantage those in place of the personal motoring that is strangling our cities.
But I go on…….
Agreed with concerns about the list so far. Some high-profile applications are clearly wanting to go for personal reasons, i.e. reinforce their public profile and have “influence”, not because they have any real ideas for the future of all Australians.
What also concerns me is the statement that “more than 400… sent application forms.” Sorry, which forms are these? Where were they distributed? Where were they even announced?
This goes back precisely to the selection criteria I discussed.
As an aside, I’ve just registered the domain topic9.com.au and will soon set up a blog covering the topic 9: “he future of Australian governance: renewed democracy, a more open government (including the role of the media), the structure of the Federation and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.” I’ve posted an initial announcement and call for contributors, but won’t get it happening properly until tomorrow night.
The flag issue should be represented and not by the same old Ausflag mob. ‘Southern Cross and Boomerang’ is the most popular new flag design for Australia. There are currently over twenty thousand cars wearing the sticker with over sixty thousand stickers distributed. As such it’s designer should be invited to represent the majority of Australians who want a new flag. Visit flagoz.com
Hi, Bang the Table is providing an opportunity for all Australians to have a say prior to the summit. Bang the Table is the community engagement website. We are hosting a page for each of the summit discussions and are already getting some pretty interesting feedback from the commmunity. All comments will be part of a report passed on to summit convenors and attendees (those we can get in touch with).
Love you all to come and have a say. The index for the 2020 summit is http://www.bangthetable.com/australiasummit
Sorry that should have read http://www.bangthetable.com/australia2020