GAP – Year in Review 2016

Dear Colleagues,

The end of the year is a time to reflect and gives us an opportunity to share with you how the GAP process has delivered to its members and to society as a whole.

Our policy work this year highlighted challenges and ways to address them in early childhood education provision and funding; new models of intervention, treatment and recovery at work for injured employees; exciting opportunities in the domestic space and satellite industry; a scope for more efficiency and savings in public healthcare procurement; the potential for Sydney to become a global innovation hub, and the impact and implications of private sector investment in northern Australia.

We also launched two brand-new taskforces – on hospital funding and cyber security – and contributed to the debate on issues as diverse as the national electricity reform, productive ageing, digital identity framework and digital transformation of government, management of superannuation funds and capital markets, revitalisation of services export to Asia, enhancing Australia’s economic diplomacy in the South Pacific, and building our nation’s future IT capacity by lifting the standards of STEM education in schools.

Our flagship annual economic summit in September welcomed a select audience of senior business, academia and government executives to explore “Spaces of Australian Innovation”. The Summit urged Australia to embrace a bold and inspiring vision for its future, and called for new physical and virtual spaces for collaboration, the removal of cultural and systemic barriers to business growth, university reform to meet new demands in a digital age, more integrated support for talented young Australians, and the need for a cultural shift to embrace fresh thinking and agility.

In 2017, we will bring medium business into the spotlight. GAP has been championing the interests of the Australian mid-market through research, the Medium Enterprise Advisory (MEA) and online platforms such as First 5000. MEA is committed to establishing the Mid-Sized Business Growth Institute to provide leadership and support for the sector which, until now, has been largely disconnected and disengaged from the policy process. All this work will culminate in our 8th Annual Economic Summit next year, which will focus on “Mid-Sized Business, Scale-Ups and Australia’s Productivity”.

We measure our success on the positive impact we have had through our many initiatives, the partnerships and relationships we have developed, and how much we have enjoyed the year.

In 2016, the demand for our expertise continued to increase. We are thrilled to be developing new initiatives which  deliver solutions to Australia’s most pressing social and economic problems.

As a truly independent, bipartisan, not-for-profit organisation, we rely on our committed supporters who believe in the GAP “Second Track” process. Thank you to all our Partners for your enthusiastic support. We urge you to continue your collaboration with us as we strive for even greater change in 2017.

From all of us here at GAP, I wish you a safe and happy holiday period and look forward to our work together in 2017. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, talents and time with us.

Best wishes,

Catherine Fritz-Kalish
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Global Access Partners