Tag: australia 2020

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My Australia 2020 application… done!

Done! I’ve just emailed my application for the Australia 2020 Summit. Here’s my “100 words or less on why you (or your nominee) should participate”:

Australia’s democracy, created in the age of steam trains and the telegraph, must grasp the social media and online collaboration tools already transforming our world. Not tentatively, but with bold confidence.

I know these tools and their technology — and their flaws. Practical knowledge, untainted by the need to prop up old-media empires or sell products.

Armed with a high-powered “BS Detector”, I take a forensic approach to analysing complex issues — synthesizing and explaining practical solutions in clear, unambiguous language.

My passions are aroused by issues of integrity, human rights, truth, tolerance and transparency.

As I’ve mentioned before, my referees were Adam Salzer are Zern Liew. Nice to have one at each end of the alphabet, eh?

The more I look through my writing, the more I see the themes of this summit session running through so many articles.

Continue reading “My Australia 2020 application… done!”

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Still can’t decide on Australia 2020 referee

I’m stuck. I still can’t decide who to be my second referee for the Australia 2020 Summit. One will be Zern Liew, but I have a dilemma with the second…

As I commented, the people who’ve paid most attention to my work in this field haven’t known me long. My “old” referees, the ones with respectable titles, aren’t across my recent writing. I’m concerned that the old-fashioned nomination process won’t highlight what I want.

Or am I worrying too much?

I’m nominating for topic 9 on governance: “The future of Australian governance: open government (including the role of the media), the structure of government and the rights and responsibilities of citizens.”

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Australia, let the Enlightenment begin!

If History is the set of stories we tell ourselves to explain the Past, then I guess Society comprises the stories we tell ourselves about the Present — plus the conversations which create our Future. I suspect that’s why certain people seem to be excited by the Australia 2020 Summit: Australia does seem to be starting a new conversation about its own identity.

The other day I quoted an historian who said that the Prussian enlightenment [of the 18th century] was about conversation. “It was about a critical, respectful, open-ended dialogue between free and autonomous subjects,” he said. So I’ll be so bold as to suggest this new conversation will lead to the Australian Enlightenment.

Yesterday I read two pieces which reinforce this idea of a new conversation. The first was Maxine McKew’s First Speech to federal parliament as the Member for Bennelong.

Continue reading “Australia, let the Enlightenment begin!”

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Australia 2020 Summit website (finally) online

The guv’mint has finally gotten up a website for the Australia 2020 Summit. The main new pieces of information are a little more about each topic area and the nomination process.

Key points:

  • Nominations close 25 February. There’s a nomination form, and you’ll have to include an explanation of “why you want to participate as a delegate in the Australia 2020 Summit in 100 words or less.” A bit like a TV Week competition.
  • You can nominate for up to three subject areas.
  • If you don’t get selected, you can still make a submission. Submissions close 9 April.

And that’s about it, apart from a photo of Chairman Rudd. Not even an RSS feed.