Over the week­end, Aus­tralian Prime Min­is­ter, Kevin Rudd, announced the 2020 Sum­mit to address chal­lenges fac­ing Aus­tralia. In an encour­ag­ing move, Leader of the Oppo­si­tion, Bren­dan Nel­son has thrown his party’s sup­port behind the sum­mit. It appears that in 2008, bipar­ti­san­ship has a chance of func­tion­ing! At least on this issue.

This would appear to be an amaz­ing oppor­tu­nity for some of our lead­ing thinkers and doers to take part in some­thing that could really mess with iner­tia and the sta­tus quo. But there will need to be action out of the summit.

Pol­icy areas to be dis­cussed are (my emphasis):

  • Future direc­tions for the econ­omy, includ­ing edu­ca­tion, skills, train­ing, sci­ence and innovation
  • Eco­nomic infra­struc­ture, the dig­i­tal econ­omy and the future of Australia’s cities
  • Pop­u­la­tion, sus­tain­abil­ity, cli­mate change, water
  • Rural indus­tries and communities
  • National health strategy
  • Fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties and social inclusion
  • Indige­nous Australia
  • The future of Australia’s arts, film and design
  • Democ­racy, open gov­ern­ment, the role of the media, the struc­ture of fed­er­a­tion, cit­i­zens’ rights and responsibilities
  • Future secu­rity and prosperity

The Aus­tralian Tech com­mu­nity, and its prac­ti­tion­ers work­ing in the Inter­net and Web indus­tries in par­tic­u­lar think this is a great idea and have launched a blog to host dis­cus­sion about our con­cerns and issues. 2020​sum​mit​.org will be a place for the com­mu­nity to host that dis­cus­sion, bring for­ward our thought lead­ers and hope­fully, get them in the eye of the 2020 Sum­mit organ­is­ers and get them on the panel for the event.

The fab­u­lous Lau­rel Pap­worth has already kicked off dis­cus­sion on the sum­mit and hope­fully we’ll get some real activ­ity going in the blogosphere.