2020 Summit - Yawn!

What a farce.

1000 of the brightest people in Australia gathered for 2 days to suggest a vision for our way forward. The Prime Minister hoped it would "...unleash the national imagination from beyond the ranks of politics and the public service". He called it a "new form of governance" to which he said he was passionately committed. It would "help fashion a national consensus around a common vision for the nation". By 2020, he said, he hoped Australians could look back and say 2008 was something of a turning point, when the nation seized its future and began long-term planning." I had hopes for it too. I really did.

And the only idea they all got excited about – “best idea” – “most concensus” – was the only idea that means absolutely nothing: Make Australia a republic within 5 years. Well , oh gosh Grandpaw. Strum that banjo and fan my whiskers. Put the clock out and wind up the cat. We’re in for a big night!

Making Australia a republic won’t create more jobs, won’t strengthen families, won’t stop binge drinking, curb obesity, create more aged care, stop nincompoops breeding, create more hospitals, improve character, increase foreign aid, make poverty history, bring electricity to Africa, wipe out AIDS, get "our new friend" China to stop being the worst polluter, worst child killer, worst religious persecutor on the planet, get our "old friend" USA to clean up its own parlour, ban cars over 10 years old, increase public transport, get Iraq to heal itself, get Israel and Palestine to kiss and make up, speed up the proliferation of green power, save the aborigines, or do anything useful at all. Sure they all got on the lists of ideas one way or another but as the one idea that excited them all was the republic issue, then I can only keep hoping for better days ahead.