Tag: democracy

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What should I do about Australia 2020?

OK, so I didn’t make the 1000 “best and brightest” going to the Australia 2020 Summit. Nevertheless I’m still very interested in Topic 9, “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.” What should I do?

There’s still the possibility of getting media accreditation, or perhaps connecting to the themes of the event in some other way. Here’s a brain-dump of my thoughts on this sunny Sunday morning… comments appreciated!

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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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Topic 9 to discuss Australia 2020 Summit’s government topic

I’ve just registered the Internet domain topic9.com.au, where I’ll set up a blog to discuss topic number 9 of the Australia 2020 Summit: “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.”

I won’t have time to do anything with it until (probably) tomorrow evening. Meanwhile, can you suggest people who might be interesting contributors?

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Weekly Poll: How disturbing is a “disturbing image”?

Ah, I love the smell of democracy in the morning! But since we’ll be overloaded with election news today, I’ll avoid politics in today’s Weekly Poll. Instead, the scalping of a cat’s tail.

The other day Artemis, one of our cats, was run over by a car. Or at least the fur on her tail was, and a 20cm section was effectively scalped, exposing the flesh beneath the skin. Yummy.

I have a photo. It’s fairly gross. A TV newsreader might preface it with “Some viewers may find this image disturbing.”

Now I have no qualms about publishing good Anglo-Saxon swear words. We can hear them any day on a bus, so I reckon being coy and writing “f*ck” and “c*nt” is stupid. I mean, we all know what these words are, so adding an asterisk doesn’t change the received meaning. But I did hesitate before posting this photo.

So, should I publish it? Go to the website to vote!

[poll id=”14″]

Last week’s results: After a year of phoney campaigning and a long, 6-week election campaign, it looks like most voters are indeed very glad today’s election day and we can all move on.