Australia 2020 Summit: Did the “1000 Best and Brightest” get it right ?

| April 22, 2008

Now that the summit is over – do you think we're headed in the right direction?

PR stunt, or revolutionary approach to policy development? Lively debate or rubber stamp? Whether or not you agree with the process, it's clear that the outcomes of the Australia 2020 will affect all of us in the coming years.

So don't miss out on your chance to read through the result of the Summit and comment on long-term challenges Australia faces.

While the Summit is over, Open Forum still provides you with the opportunity to influence government policy by participating in our online debates and forums. 

 With the results in, the Federal Government's Australia 2020 Summit is still causing a stir as we figure out how to go about implementing the ten big ideas.

While 1000 ‘best and brightest' actually attended the event, Open Forum members participated by logging on and debating how we might deal with the different areas identified as fundamental to Australia's future.  

Now that we have the results – are we on the right track, and how are we going to turn high-level brainstorming into real policy outcomes that affect the lives of all Australians?

There's still a chance to log on and have your say about whether or not we got it right, and what measures need to be put in place in order to turn theory into reality.

While the official Australia 2020 Summit is over, Open Forum also offers an ongoing platform for further discussions and public consultation for Government in the long term, so don't miss out on your chance to have your say.

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Australia 2020 Summit 10 Critical Areas (to participate, just follow the link!)

  1. THE PRODUCTIVITY AGENDA: Education, skills, training, science and innovation 

  2. THE FUTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY: Economic infrastructure, the digital economy and the future of our cities

  3. SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE: Population, sustainability, climate change and water

  4. RURAL AUSTRALIA: Future directions for rural industries and rural communities

  5. HEALTH: A long-term national health strategy – including the challenges of preventative health, workforce planning and the ageing population

  6. COMMUNITIES AND FAMILIES: Strengthening communities, supporting families and social inclusion

  7. INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA: Options for the future of indigenous Australia

  8. CREATIVE AUSTRALIA: Towards a creative Australia: the future of the arts, film and design

  9. GOVERNANCE: The 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

  10. AUSTRALIA'S FUTURE IN THE WORLD: Australia's future security and prosperity in a rapidly changing region and world  

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"1000 Best and Brightest" initiative and its challenges 

19 MARCH 2008, SYDNEY – The announcement by the Federal Government that it will be holding the Australia 2020 Summit at Parliament House on 19 and 20 April 2008 has sparked a great deal of debate leading up to the event.

For the 1000 ‘best and brightest' chosen, it will be a great opportunity to make a contribution to setting the direction of some major initiatives in the subject areas to be debated. The Summit is likely to be successful for the Government merely for the fact it has thought of the idea and the subsequent media attention it will attract.

Two potential challenges arise from the initiative. Firstly, while 1,000 people will be pleased that they are judged ‘best and brightest' and honoured to participate, some of the other 20 million Australians deemed not in the top 1,000 may feel somewhat miffed with missing out, may argue about the selection criteria and view the whole event negatively. There is a feeling that the experts chosen to participate are already contributing to social policy discussions of this nature in any case through academia and conferences, while new voices are being excluded.

Secondly, a test of the Summit will be whether there is any long term progress on any of the ideas, which, if there is not, is likely to trivialise the event as simply a colourful milestone in the new Government.

There is a way to both cast the wider net to garner more ideas and ownership of the process, as well as provide a mechanism for the long term progression and refinement of the ideas that the Summit will be a catalyst for. By combining the 2020 event with the power of the Internet and inviting mass contribution to the subject areas of the debate, the reach, longevity and openness of the process will be greatly enhanced.

Open Forum "Australia 2020" Online Summit

As the 2020 Summit is concerned with Australia's future, all Australians should be able to participate in the debate, including those living overseas. In this way the broader community can have a say and help shape the ongoing direction of the dialogue.

Open Forum offers the people of Australia the opportunity to contribute to the discussions by writing on their thoughts and experiences of each topic area. Delegates of the Australia 2020 Summit will be able to draw on this feedback and gain an insight into the issues and concerns of a broad range of Australians.

This parallel virtual event will provide the Summit with a means to be inclusive of stakeholders who otherwise would not have a chance to participate. Thought leaders from the Australia 2020 Summit will be able to engage in conversations and respond to any queries or questions which are raised through the forum.

Open Forum also offers an ongoing platform for further discussions and public consultation for Government in the long term.

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  1. yellowsunmagnetic

    October 15, 2008 at 8:12 pm

    2020 Summit is not closed

    Many may be surprised, but the 2020 Summit is not closed.  Prime Minster Kevin Rudd extended the period of time for which the People of Australia may continue to submit ideas onto the 2020 Summit web site.  People like Maxine McKew, one of the co-chairs of the "governance" stream along with John Hartigan during the Summit launch, said that she didn't think that anyone in her stream offered any "Big Ideas" – and that is important, she said, because the subtitle of the 2020 Summit was "Thinking Big."

    Unfortunately, only the 1000 attendees of the 2020 Summit launch in Canberra ever seem to be mentioned.  However, thousands of Australians offered many more ideas on the 2020 Summit web site.  I offered what I consider to be a Big Idea in the governance stream: submission number 2000113.

    On another positive note, it's good to see the Open Forum up and running as a parallel forum for the benefit of the Australian People.

    Sheryle Moon, author of the Open Forum article entitled Collaborate or Collapse, has brought up the issue of the "malaise in the global economy." All of us, collectively, need to get a grip on the economy and what makes it run: money. I must say that I am tremendously impressed with the advancement in the technological presentation of the Money Issue. From when I started learning about this issue 30 years ago it is now much easier to quickly get a handle on how money works. The best presentation I have seen recently is ZeitgeistII – just check it out somewhere on the net (It's about two hours long – but very much worth it.

    Now for the Focus of Collaboration during the 2020 Summit and beyond: Collaboration of the People – not the current corporate elite who have built their "Globalisation" empire upon a fraudulent money foundation.

    Therefore, the main challenge for collaboration is to get a significant number of People on Earth to focus on what can be called the starting point for the restoration of Mankind – getting onto the same frequency so-to-speak.

    The focus consists of four steps:

    1. Recognize that each of us is a Sovereign individual, and when we unite we are the Collective Sovereignty.

    2. We must have a structure on which we can and will unite – and that's the United People System on (site administration has removed this link)- with forums such as Open Forum being a complementary part of this process.

    3. Once united, on which every sphere of Sovereignty (local to global), the Collective Sovereignty must create the Law – for the Law can come from only one source: The Sovereign.

    4. Once the Law is created, a government (the servant of the Collective Sovereignty) may be created by the Collective Sovereignty – on whichever sphere of Sovereignty applicable (local to global).

    But how can people be inspired to be part of this same frequency and desire to participate in exercising these four steps? It's been suggested by some that the best way to become attuned to this frequency, and become highly motivated to help activate this process, is to watch the highly inspirational Swedish film, with English subtitles, "As it is in Heaven" – visit your local video store and rent it today.

    Once the People are on this common frequency, it will become obvious that the servant (government) makes no Law – just policies for the purpose of self management within the framework imposed by its Master: The Collective Sovereignty.

    Once the People are awakened and able to take the reins of destiny back into their own hands, their only question will be: "How was it that we have been enslaved for so many years before waking up?"

    Well, just as I heard an Aborignal Elder say recently in Uki NSW, "when in public, speak from your heart," this is what I have done.

    I look forward to us all co-creating our new honest and transparent money system of the People – the new Law.  After we establish the Law togethter, I look forward to working with everyone to truly create a new Australia.  Thank you Kevin Rudd for this great opportunity.

    Sincerely,

    Ricardo Johansson

    • vincent2010

      June 17, 2010 at 10:14 am

      Wake up Australia








      WAKE UP AUSTRALIA !

       

      Why?

       

      Well:

       

      Do you want Australia to be managed efficiently with the best interest of ALL Australians being the priority?

      Do you want a good education for your children?

      Do you want better and free health services for ALL Australians?

      Do you want a better & fair justice?

      Do you want your family, friends, relatives to be safe, in your home , at their places, walking in the street, no matter what time of the day or night or location within Australia?

      Do you want crimes rates to drop dramatically?

      Do you want our Australia to have enough money to deal with our internal issues such as health, security, homeless, and in general better care of ALL Australians, without raising taxes?

      Do you want the government stop wasting your tax money on scumbags, and spend money more appropriately?

      In overall do you REALLY, and I mean REALLY, TRULY, want Australia to be a better place?

       

      If you have answered Yes to all

       

      Well then read on,

       

      If not, well just piss off, leave Australia, you won’t be missed!

       

      Now how all these so much wanted things and much more can become reality?

       

      Well, it’s not that hard. But it require an overall change in the way we, ALL AUSTRALIANS, express what we want. But before going into that subject , let roll back a bit and let me share with you the following scenario:

       

      Imagine a huge HOME (not a house…but a HOME) ,

      Imagine you own that Home and live there with a very extended family.

      Imagine your Home has a beautiful, gigantesque backyard and well as a massive entertainment area.

      Imagine you need to make a living out of your Home.

      Imagine you are inviting neighbors and visitors in your Home to spend holidays with the hope they will buy things you have made.

      Now,

      Imagine that some of your extended family’s kids are running wild in the house, smashing things around as they go ,graffiti everywhere, stealing your stuff ,etc…just for fun.

      Imagine that the grounds rules of the house came with it when you moved in, and that the wild kids, when damaging your home get only a little slap on the wrist and a “bad boy/girl, don’t do that again…you are very naughty!”

      Imagine some of your neighbors or even family members will only come to visit you to steal things from you. If caught, as part of the Home grounds rules they will get a slap on the wrist and a “bad boy/girl, don’t do that again…you are very naughty!” unless they can prove they were under the influence of any substances in some ways which then free them of any wrong doing and they are let free to go about your home again and re-offend….as per the original grounds rules

      Imagine some of your family members deals or take drugs openly discarding their wastage anywhere, scaring your visitors and neighbors, You expect those idiots to be in deep trouble, isn’t it ? well that is unless they can prove they were under the influence of any substances in some ways which then free them of any wrong doing and they are let free to go about your home again and re-offend….

      Imagine some other family members carrying knife and guns and hurting the rest of the family and your visitors, threatening anyone at anytime, undermining the safety of all , undermining all your hard work trying to get more visitors and make a living. You expect something will be done to stop them…. well that is unless they can prove they were under the influence of any substances in some ways which then free them of any wrong doing and they are let free to go about your home again and re-offend….

       

      Ooops, wait a second! Have you noticed those committing those offences are getting away with it? How is it possible? Is there any justice in that? any fairness? Of course NOT, why? Because the person in charge of the order in your huge home is not you as you are too busy trying to make a living but instead you have given that authority to an elderly person, you believe is wiser than everybody else ….hummmmm, that elderly person is in fact living in his little own world within your Home. That useless out of touch old person is trying to serve justice applying outdated laws and using his “common sense” from it s degenerating brain to make decisions . Now the poor bugger is so out of touch with the reality that he doesn’t even realize its decisions are not fair and do not reflect the public opinion nor do they provide real justice. In some case this out of touch poor bugger will even let offenders go because of technicalities in the case… as he call them, even if that offender is guilty to the bone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Let s continue…..

      Imagine that in your Home you still need to pay lots of money to feed your lazy family members who refuse to work, to provide constant and costly care for all those “black sheep” family members who have committed offences and re-offended and are now held in the cellar (they are all entitled to free accommodation, laundry, medical care etc…and cost you so much!).

       

      Now take this not so encouraging picture of your Home in your head, and extrapolate it to our beautiful country that is Australia.

       

      There you go , yes ….Australia is our Home, WE, as a nation have failed to set strict rules in our Home. We expected someone (our politicians and justice system) to come along and do the work for us, clean the house and keep it safe…..well we have deceived ourselves by placing too much trust / confidence in those people/system. It is obvious, looking at the present situation that they have failed us and our Home, big time.

       

      We need to evolve, change the systems so they reflect what we want and stop referring to those out of date systems that are failing us.

       

      Why those people/systems have failed to manage the Home on our behalf? Well we have been just plain idiots, yes , sorry to be so direct but that the not so pleasant truth.

       

      The truth about our politicians and ourselves:

      You see we all communicate with each other in 3 different ways:

      Using our body language , our voice tone, and the words we speak.

      Those 3 ways of communication are not equal and studies have proven that the percentage we respond to these communication ways are as follow:

      Body language : 55 %

      Tone of voice : 38%

      Words spoken : 7 %

       

      So why I am telling you that? Well it s simple we choose our politicians , and to do so we look at them and listen at their speech and at what their policies will be.

      There is our downfall ….Yes …you got it now , politician needs only to be con-men , if they learn to behave appropriately and condition themselves, they will use their body language to have use fooled, they will teach themselves to behave nicely and in an attractive manners. They will carefully choose their voice tone and this is easy to correct and use it to fool us too. We do listen to their policies , but by then most of us are already sucked in by 93% (body language 55%,voice tone 38%) of how we perceive those politicians.

       

       

       

       

       

      The policies they proposing , well yes we will listen to them , but politicians know very well that is not what will win them the election. That is why so many politicians break their election promises, they don’t care as long as they behave and talk nice we , suckers , will fall for them….well until now ….you are aware of it, make a change…you can do it !

       

       

      So what can we do ?

       

      We need referendums!

      Why? We need to express our opinion and let our leaders know what we really expect from them.

      Will that be enough? No of course, We need a better system, a transparency systems. What do I mean? well let s take it step by step….

       

      Let s start by the referendums, …We will need several of those as a major revamp of our justice and the way our country is managed need to be updated.

      The referendums needs to be totally transparent. We all know that corruption is everywhere. It is human nature to seek what is the best for the individual instead of seeking what is really the best for the whole community.

      I am personally appalled the way voting is happening in our area. I went to vote several times and every times you have to use pencils for answering. This leave room for election fraud. So I believe all voting stations should have several cameras all directly fed to online websites in real time allowing anyone to follow and observe the process. Furthermore the counting of the vote should happen on site, at the voting station at the end of the voting day, live on the net to avoid corrupt conduct.

       

      Our justice system:

      Well as you know or have  figured it out while imagining your Home, the current systems is outdated, and doesn’t reflect what we expect from it. We want real justice, We want offenders to know there are real and serious consequences for their actions. We are tired , scared and appalled to see offenders let free because of technicalities, because a detective made some mistake typing its report , because a lawyer twisted some situation around and made the victim appear guilty of setting off the offender. In simple words WE DO NOT ACCEPT THE CURRENT WEAK, IRRESPONSIBLE, INADEQUATE, UNFAIR, JUSTICE SYSTEM. WE WANT IT UPADTED !

       

      How this can be done? Well I am afraid we will have to all make a little sacrifice…remember your huge Home….and you extended family? Well let s go back to it…

      Since the chaos is in your house as nobody fears any consequences for their actions. – You may have to get rid of the old person in charge of the order …give that person a fishing rod and send them away.

      You need to establish new grounds rules associating harsh consequences for each offensive behaviour.

       

      Humm what kind of harsh consequences, you may ask yourself? Well those that will deter anyone from committing offences. Is it possible to have that kind of grounds rules? Yes but you need to have a huge family meeting and discuss it all together and organise a vote. Those new grounds rules will certainly have lots of people jumping

      up and down (human right actvists,lawyers, judges, politicians …as well as most of the international community )….well

       it will be up to us as individual and as a nation to decide if we want to follow the rest of the world in their decadence, unsafe and unruly nations or if we want to finally create a country where it is safe to live without fear of being bashed while walking the streets, have your home invaded, being assaulted and robbed, have your belonging stolen or damaged etc…We will have to decide if it is worth the trouble we will get from those people and the international community….I personally believe YES and that is why I am sharing my views with you.

       

      So what are the consequences that will deter offenders? Well people hate to be publicly exposed and shamed, people hate corporal punishment, people are horrified at loosing parts of their body.

       

      No, keep reading on, I am not crazy, I am thinking outside the square, and how to solve our lovely big Home issues in a way that change it forever.

       

      I am explaining: anyone committing an offence that result, let s say in a damage or loss of anything equal or over $200 but let s say less than $1000, will have a public flogging (in every town a public area will be set up to have offenders receive their punishment. The offender will be stripped off as part of the humiliation process and then the punishment will be administrated in front of the public. In addition there will be a name and shame website where all offenders name, photo etc.. will be displayed (display time will be relative to the offence committed), as well as have all public flogging live on the net and have the footage available on the net for reviewing too…. You see, nude public flogging is a really humiliating experience it will act as a real deterrent adding the name and shame to it with the ultimate national humiliation to be flogged live on the net will create a perfect strong deterrent, cutting crime rate dramatically.

       

      For those committing more serious offences let s say where there will be a damage or loss equal to $1000 or more, then the punishment will step up as well and on a gradual scale, the offender may be amputated of part of his fingers and toes, and as the offence committed is more serious the amputation will be reflected and the offender may eventually loose a limb or more. Of course those amputations will be live on the net.

      This is not about enjoying someone else suffering or for sickening sensations it is to act as a real deterrent.In our current situation the punishement does not deter the offenders so they keep re-offending and first time offender don’t really care if caught as there are no real deterrent as consequences. Let s change this, it is harsh but it will work!.

       

      In the case of someone killing someone else, well we need to address the possibility of the return of the death penalty….I know touchy touchy subject but I will come back to it a bit later.. you will see it will then make sense…

       

      Am I crazy? Is it the return to barbaric times? Do you want a real, permanent solution to the unruly behaviors in your Home..in your beautiful country? Well I am sorry to break it to you but this is a perfectly tailored response to the mess in your Home/ country.

       

      You need to have grounds rules that will restore order. The kids to the druggies and the killers in your Home need to know that if they fuck around, huge consequences will happen.

       

      Will it be a loss of privacy? Loss of confidentiality and human rights? A breach of our constitution? Well are you willing to make a little sacrifice to ensure You , and everybody from your extended family living in your Home are safe at all times and live happily ever after?

      How can we ensure real offenders are paying for their consequences and that NO INNOCENT will ever be accused and have to suffer consequences for offences they never committed.

      Well we need an overall revamp on how we deal with offenders.

      Let s get rid of the present system, it is not working as we all know…so put it in the bin, put the cover on, turn your back and do not look at it again…

       

      So we need to ensure the right people are punished as the punishment is severe and in some instances irreversible. Now we don’t want to spend money on court cases, we don’t want court case lasting for months or years we don’t want a judge that can let go some offenders based on technicalities, we don’t want to put more people in jail ( as they cost us money), and we don’t want to give absolute power to one person…so what can we do ?

       

       

       

       

      We need to look at the way to use our knowledge and technology to ensure the real offenders are punished.

      We need to use conjointly several techniques, systems and technologies.I call it the TVS (Truth Verification System)

      First of all people are good liars so only using a lies detector can’t always works, but if you use it in association with other techniques such as hypnosis and brain scan and body language observations then you have a unique systems that can’t be beaten.

       

      Hypnosis: as some people can be resistant to hypnosis that may need to be associated with light exposure to substances relaxing the offender but not overdoing it as the body language will need to be observed. Once hypnotised people can t lie.

       

      Brain scan: It is possible in our days to actually find out which part of the brain is operating when answering questions, (different parts of the brain are active when recalling an incident or accessing old memories or even using the imagination. That technology could then be used in addition to the hypnosis and lie detector to ensure the person doesn’t lie.

       

      Body language: An expert in body language should also be present. Average people talk more with their body language and voice tone than with their words, as explained early in this document.

       

      This potential offender interview should happen in specially designed building but should also be public to avoid misused of the system , so live internet should be a favorite tool here again. It may appears to be a breach of privacy etc…but if you are innocent you should not worry about the whole nation knowing it, isn’t it?

       

      So let s recapitulate what would happen. Let s say someone is accused of an offence. That person and all others involved in a situation will be taken to the interview centre,to be submitted to the TVS, live on the net, and if no offence comes to light from the interview, if no brain scan abnormalities appears while answering the question under hypnosis and that there are no contradicting body languages and lies detector anomalies then the person is immediately free to go. Case closed.

      Now if at contrary the person admit of the offence during the interview then immediate punishment should occurs. No need to appeal and waste money on them

       

      No old person with outdated concepts or potentially corrupt persons, just an in-depth interview. The whole interview process fully transparent and live on the net.

       

      Once offenders have had their punishment they will also be excluded from the social security system for a time relative to the seriousness of the offence committed.

       

      A lot of public scrutiny in that system, that is to avoid misuse of that system and after all remember your home…your extended family …well loosing a bit of privacy among your family extended or not is not so bad if that can ensure the safety and security of ALL living in your home, isn’t it ? so extrapolate this to Australia.

       

      What happen next:

      Well we just took the first step to fix our justice system, we are now saving millions and millions of dollars of our tax money by emptying our jails, by stopping huge waste of money in a legal system that was not working, we have less crime as crime rate plummets so local governments have more money too as there is a dramatic reduction is public assets damages etc….it will have a snowball effect….

      So what can we do with that extra money? Well let s fix our health system , let s provide our kids with the best education we can provide, let s look after ALL AUSTRALIANS..the homeless, the sick etc…, let s fix all our internal problems before we start helping our neighbours,…well they could easily adopt the same system as us …and help themselves…

       

      We will create new jobs and will get rid of some. Now I am aware that this document will create few people to hate me , such as judges, lawyers, drug dealers, scumbags, and few others….but the most important is that if this system was implemented most Australians will then be much better off than under the current system.

       

      What about those offenders with mental health conditions ,poor IQ or under the influence of a substance?

      Will they be accountable for their actions and have to suffer the harsh consequences ?

      Well, you bet! If someone decided to take some substances that alter the way they think or behave, they should be fully accountable for it.

      Why?

      Simple….go back to your Home again…look at your extended family…what do you see? People with different IQ , people behaving differently …ho wait why are they behaving differently ?…well people think differently …we are all unique and we all process information differently and everyone brain process is unique….so what am I saying …well since we all think differently and perceive things differently, and are accountable for our actions, why can’t people under the influence of any substances be just accepted as another person thinking differently ….having said so that person under the influence should then be , like everyone else held accountable for their actions.

      In addition, I know for a fact that drug, alcohol and mental health support is not working. It is a constant revolving door with same people coming in and out as our system failed to see the abuse that is in practice.

       

      Ho, about transparency, we should have our dear elected representative pass a yearly” interview to ensure they are not corrupt. Pre-determined standards questions for all of our elected representative.

       

       Death penalty? Is it needed? We I think so…do you really want to keep murderers for the rest of their natural life in jail and spend so much money on them when that money could be used to save lives in redirected to the health system?

       

      So in conclusion, If we were to do it , and if other countries could just adopt the same systems as us and help their own “home”. Imagine…wouldn’t it be nice to have all the countries adopting that system…imagine then each nation becoming accountable the same way individuals are …that could just be the start of world peace….and all because we AUSTRALIANS, have started to say NO to bullshit politicians, No to violence and NO influential and corrupt businessmen …isn’t that a nice prospect….it will not happen overnight…but wouldn’t it be nice ?!

      Those are my ideas on how to deal with the current unacceptable situation. Do you have any idea of your own ?  talk to your family and friends about it …that s all I want …people starting to ask questions but also provide potential answers. We are over 20 millions now , let s put our brains together to solve our problems.

       

      Most important is not to loose from our sight that we all want a safe and secure Home for our family.

       

       

       

      Vincent

       

       

  2. sally.rose

    October 15, 2008 at 10:45 pm

    Why Site Administration has Removed a LInk

    I have removed the details of link in yellowsunmagnetic/Riccardo Johansson's comment above.  As Riccado mentions, I have also edited, censored and blocked some of his past submissions to Open Forum.

    This has not been a misunderstanding, but rather considered decisions which I stand by. A number of his entries also stand.

    After visiting the site he reccommends, I have chosen to block the link from public view.  If anybody wishes to follw Riccardo's reccommendation you are welcome to email me directly and I will provide the you with the link he has suggested.

    Sincerely

    Sally Rose

    Blogger-in-Chief

    srose@openforum.com.au   

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