Issue 05. 5 May 2008 - UWA Staff - The University of Western Australia

Our group
of eight at
by Natali Morgan
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called for ‘big ideas’ at
the 2020 Summit and UWA presented him with just
that - eight of our leading academics whose
motivation for change may help create the better
future Australia is looking for.
More than 1,000 delegates from around the nation were called
upon to attend the two-day talkfest in Canberra to discuss
ideas on climate change through to the possibility of creating a
national education curriculum.
Individual contributions made at the Summit by our attending
academic staff will be looked at in future issues of UWA News,
but here is taste of who went, and what may be to come:
A tax on junk food, alcohol and tobacco to fund a national
preventative health agency and programs to keep people
healthy received strong support from experts in the long-term
national health strategy stream of the Summit, attended by
Dr Fiona Wood, 2005 Australian of Year, and clinical
professor in the University’s School of Surgery. The creation of
a healthbook website similar to Facebook also raised
discussion and will be
considered along with
recommendations on
creating a self-sufficient
“
and flexible medical
workforce.
Australia’s future security
and prosperity workshop
was attended by Dr Gary
Sigley, director of the
University’s Confucius
Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd
Institute and senior lecturer
in the School of Social and
Cultural Studies, and
Associate Professor Samina Yasmeen, who both
contributed their knowledge of culture and language to
Summit discussions on the national and international
community in our rapidly changing world. Ideas which evolved
in this area included linking Australians to Asian communities
through school partnerships and establishing four institutes to
look at Australia’s relationship with Japan, China, the US and
India.
Holding the government accountable on Indigenous issues
through the creation of a new watchdog got discussion under
way in the Options for the future of Indigenous Australians
stream, attended by Adele Cox, lecturer at the UWA Centre
for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Heath, Dr Christine
Jeffries-Stokes from the School of Primary, Aboriginal and
Rural Health Care and chief investigator of the Eastern
Goldfields Renal Project, and Professor Fiona Stanley,
2003 Australian of the Year and director of the Telethon
Institute for Child Health Research in UWA’s Faculty of
Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. All three women
contributed their much-valued insight into Indigenous
Australia, acquired over their many years of work with
Indigenous communities. Delegates also looked into
increasing the formal and legal recognition of Aborigines with a
possible treaty.
Building upon the Indigenous Australia discussion was the
Creative Australia stream, where Indigenous culture was
recognised as core to creativity in Australia. Discussing the
expansion and development of education in arts and creativity
to enrich and support cultural endeavours, were Shelagh
Magadaza, artistic director of the Perth International Arts
Festival, and Professor Margaret Seares, UWA Senior
Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Other key policy ideas raised included
boosting Australian
television content and
establishing a ministry of
I don’t want to wake up one
morning in the year 2020 with
the regret of not having acted
when I had the chance
“
culture with funding access
to research and
development.
With myriad ideas from
delegates across all
Summit streams, public
submissions, internet blog
sites and the media, many
will await the government’s
response to the Report of
the Summit (end of 2008)
with baited breath. What will the future hold? Will it be
changed? One thing is for certain – although the government’s
response is important, we are all passionate about pursuing
our imagined future and it is we, as like-minded individuals,
who will set about creating its path.
The future is in our hands, a notion poignantly captured by Mr
Rudd at the closing of the Summit: “I don’t want to wake up
one morning in the year 2020 with the regret of not having
acted when I had the chance; that’s why it’s important to plan
ahead,” he said.
“I don’t want to have to explain to my kids, and perhaps their
kids too, that we failed to act, that we avoided the tough
decisions, that we failed to prepare Australia for its future
challenges.
“We can either take command of the future or we can sit back
and allow the future to take command of us.”
Read about what our delegates had to say in the next issue of
UWA News.
6
UWA NEWS 5 May 2008
The University of Western Australia