Small business and creating technology ignored by Summit

Small business will provide the majority of new jobs and will be the core innovators in the next decade, says Russell Yardley.

Having just had my knee operated on last week I spent a good deal of my weekend looking in at the summit on ABC2. It was clearly a wonderful exchange of ideas amongst a well informed and diverse group of people.

The medical book (as in facebook) idea to share medical information with those who you choose was a clever twist on a proven idea that could solve the problem of the universal medical record that is consuming millions of dollars around the world.

It was not so much an event to create new ideas (they don't seem to come when requested) but rather a powerful way to sift and sort the best ideas to help create a longer term agenda. I think this was acheived and will prove a substantial challenge for the Liberal Party in the coming few years.

Nelson did hit on the obvious weakness in the selection of summitteers. In the entire broadcast I did not hear one single speaker raise issues impacting small business. The Productivity stream often spoke of business issues and on business but it was either educators, researchers or big business and they were as was specifically identified in their idea only thinking of the "top 100" businesses in Australia!

Can the ads

Last week the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) released its revised ‘Advertising to Children Code’ heralding "major changes". This was a great opportunity for the advertising industry to demonstrate corporate responsibility and to attempt to make significant impact towards improving the health of Australian children.

New dogs, old tricks

By Greg Eatock

Little children ARE sacred, which is why the NT intervention has to stop.

The Howard government’s decision to create a blanket punitive approach to instances of child abuse in the Top End has been a disaster for Aboriginal communities throughout the Northern Territory.

Garnishing welfare payments, and returning to a system of ration cards has forced a tremendous upheaval and heartache. Not only is it degrading and humiliating for many Aboriginal people to be using the cards rather than controlling their own money, it is also forcing thousands to flee remote communities for urban settings, which were already over crowded and bereft of basic services.

Leading by example

By Kerry Fallon Horgan

Better work/life balance needs to start at the top.

When I asked John McFarlane, then CEO of ANZ Bank, whether to create an enabling environment that supports work/life balance it is necessary for an organisational leader to model this balance, his response was illuminating.

"Get a full life and then have success at work!"

One of his key strategies being to follow a personal mission statement. This statement sets out the roles and pursuits on which he focuses all of his attention, avoiding "with good grace activities that are inconsistent, however appealing". He also takes very practical steps to ensure his time is managed well such as only having meetings in the mornings and if people are "high maintenance" he sends them away.

To create sustainable flexible workplaces managers must lead by example. Unfortunately all too often what we find in our organisations are "mega-managers". They are the people, who because of the long hours spent at work, have highly developed roles as managers at the expense of other life roles. When these "mega-managers" return home late at night, usually tired and stressed, the only role accessible to them is that of manager. And no partner, child or friend wants to be managed!

OPEN FORUM REPORT: “Innovation Attitudes in Australia” Survey Results Published

The Open Forum survey on innovation attitudes in Australia has revealed Australians believe the nation is in urgent need of a co-ordinated national policy on innovation. The survey, motivated by the recent national inquiry into the National Innovation Agenda proposal by the Victorian Government, has found 74% percent of the respondents also believe the Federal Government should establish an innovation portfolio to coordinate innovation activities across sectors and institutions.

BEST CONTRIBUTION AWARD: Lenovo’s notebook winner announced!

We are pleased to announce Nick Mallory as the lucky winner of our "Best Contribution to Open Forum" Award. He has won a ThinkPad R61 from our sponsor Lenovo – congratulations, Nick! Thankyou to everyone who participated and contributed their ideas to the site. Our competitions for the Best Contribution and Best Participation awards will continue, so stay tuned for more great incentives!  

Motherhood in Australia

Whether you have embarked on motherhood, planning for it or just thinking about it, Open Forum would love to hear your thoughts on the real experience of motherhood in Australia. Our two new surveys "Myths & Facts of Maternity" and "Motherhood for Baby Boomers" are short and simple to complete with an opportunity to participate in an upcoming online discussion about maternity leave and current government policy. With the debate raging over what entitlements and options should be on offer to women who leave the workforce to have children, this is your chance to have your say on an issue that really matters to women and their families.

A mandate from “the Australian people”?

By Philip Argy

Without detracting from the new Government's victory, the media really does a poor job in reporting facts.  With a 5% to 6% swing from the Coalition to Labor, it means that 94% to 95% of voters voted exactly the same as they did in 2004.  Out of about 13.5 million voters, that means around 800,000 people changed their vote.  But of those, some were in electorates where a swing of that magnitude didn't change the result becuase the incumbent had a greater margin, and in others most of the swing was 'absorbed' by the margin, so that the no. of votes that actually determined the outcome of the election were probably less than 100,000 across the country, and perhaps even as few as 20,000.  Ultimately you have to wait for the results to be formally declared and then see by how many votes the ALP candidate won in the aggregate across the seats that changed hands to change the majority in the House of Reps.

In an average electorate of 80,000 voters a 5% swing is 4,000 votes.  Very few seats were wrested with a margin of that magnitude, so at the end of the day, what are we to make of it all?  In Bennelong, for example, it has been suggested that there is a large enough Chinese community that if they all found appealing the idea of having a Prime Minister who could speak mandarin, and they voted for Labor as a consequence, that was enough to unseat the PM.  We may never know, but language like landslide and overwhelming mandate and suggestions that the Howard government was despised don't seem apt to me given the facts.

Salvation through Innovation? Some thoughts on the Australian future under Rudd PM

By Steve Blume 

 

 

Throughout his leadership and in the election campaign Kevin Rudd has painted Labor as the Party of innovation and has asked that we contemplate a government that would encourage ‘fresh ideas’ under his ‘new leadership.

 

Laudable notions these certainly are and admirable goals too, but at the overview level raised in the campaign they are motherhoods – who would ever disagree. 

 

What sorts of actions might be taken by a Labor Government to ensure that Australia is positioned to move beyond our reliance on the current mining boom? How does a national government produce a substantive attitude change in all tiers of government to work co-operatively with the private sector and academia so that innovation is truly encouraged?

 

Shaping Government policy: Online Survey update

We are pleased to report that our 'Shaping Government Policy' Survey received a fantastic response from the Open Forum community, and would like to thank you all for your contribution and ideas, as well as for the wonderful show of support for our open democracy project. The survey results have been presented to the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), and will be used to inform the Australian Government Consultation Blog project.

A summary of the findings will be reported in the next Open Forum newsletter.

EXCLUSIVE: 13th SARAJEVO FILM FESTIVAL REPORT

One of the most vibrant film festivals in Europe in the last decade, the Sarajevo Film Festival, focuses on the region of Southeast Europe. The festival aims to present important and inovative films of high artistic value made throughout the world. In 2006 the festival screened more than 120 features and some 50 short films. This year, Open Forum brings you an exclusive insight into the world of Southern European cinema.

Go to report

TALK OPENLY: The Hon. Tony Abbott, Minister for Health and Ageing, Answers Your Questions

In an effort to facilitate a higher level of consultation between our community and key decision makers, Open Forum has invited a number of thought leaders to facilitate an Open Forum discussion. Our first “Talk Openly” session will be facilitated by The Hon Tony Abbott, Minister for Health and Ageing. Details of the session will be posted in our Events section.