dick quan

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Chairman Rudd’s got a clever strategy going, unless it’s just a coincidence. The usually-secret Red Book warns of approaching “challenges” like climate change, an aging population and the economic growth of India and China. Then we announce the Australia 2020 Summit.

As any management consultant will tell you, develop a shared vision and folks will endure short-term pain — like interest rate rises and having to change the light bulbs.

Actually I’m not that cynical about it. I’m quietly enthused. After a decade of Howard’s backward-looking short-term thinking we seriously need to look to the future. Fast. Of course, back when Barry Jones was science minister we had a permanent organisation to keep watch, the Commission for the Future. Maybe I’ll read Lessons from the Australian Commission for the Future: 1986-1998 [PDF file] when I get the time. But I digress…

If Chairman Rudd wants 1000 of our “best and brightest” in Canberra on 19-20 April, who should they be?

It’s flattering that Nick Hodge and Peter Black nominated me, bless their sycophantic little hearts. And I’ve already gained four votes at Bloggerati. I’d love to be part of this Summit, sure, because I’d be Fighting the Hallucinating Goldfish hands on. However I have a few more modest suggestions…

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Photograph of mixed media artwork Royal Stags by Kate Rohde

The Snarky Platypus will appreciate this one, I’m sure. This is Royal Stags, a mixed media artwork from 2005 by Kate Rohde which is currently gracing the walls at Sydney’s Gallery 4a.

It’s part of an exhibition called 4αXY, which celebrates the gallery’s 10th birthday by exhibiting works from the collection of Dr Dick Quan who, as I’ve mentioned before, is a passionate collector of contemporary Australian and Asian art.

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Mardi Gras Pre-Parade photo by ’Pong

What a night! ’Pong wins a prize with implications far beyond its monetary value, we experience a fantastic seafood restaurant we’d previously ignored, and… well… I’ll tell you about The Rowdy Boys Incident in another post.

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