You are Never Alone

The Initial Report from the 2020 Summit to the Prime Minister, sets out the key results of discussion by 1000 Australians over the weekend of 19 and 20 April in Canberra.The Report includes results across the 10 streams of the Summit, including ambitions, priority themes and top ideas from each stream.

A more detailed, final report of the Summit to the Prime Minister will be prepared next month and will be available on the web site.

• Australia 2020 Summit - Initial Report - WORD 2.6MB | PDF 1MB

The Australia 2020 Summit - The Record

The Australia 2020 Summit Initial Report was made available to participants after the final session on Sunday April 20. This Report was presented to the Prime Minister, the Honourable Kevin Rudd MP by Professor Glyn Davis AC on behalf of all the participants.

Logistics in getting the Initial Report prepared and printed didn’t allow for the capturing of some of the ideas from the final Sunday sessions.

These Power Point slides from each of the 10 streams summarise the Ambitions and Goals, Priority Themes and Top Ideas.

A more detailed record of the Summit will be available during next month. This record will include:

• A more formal and detailed record of all the discussion sessions, picking up on the range of ideas put forward;

• Overviews of the preliminary Summit events, including the Youth Summit, local summits and schools summit;

• A strategic overview of the ideas raised in the public submission.

The Prime Minister announced that he would like to continue the “national conversation” through the Australia 2020 website.The submissions database on this site has been disabled. The current capacity of the website will be upgraded to continue to receive submissions and ideas.

The new site to replace this current site, will be available by 7 May 2008.

• Australia 2020 Summit - Sunday Plenary Stream Report - Low Resolution - PowerPoint 1MB | PDF 618KB
• Australia 2020 Summit - Sunday Plenary Stream Report - Medium Resolution - PowerPoint 3.3MB | PDF 2.1MB
The 40 page (pdf) Initial report is accessible at http://www.australia2020.gov.au/report/index.cfm

There are a lot of ideas to sift, and obviously, like any think tank, there are a few threads that need further teasing out. Lots of implications for our education system.

BY 2020
Australia will maximise its wealth, excellence and equity by driving up productivity growth to the leading edge of developed countries, by:

• Equipping all Australians through an education and training system that leads the world in excellence and inclusion

• Deploying Australia’s human capital efficiently and fairly including by overcoming the barriers that lock individuals and communities out of real opportunities

• Connecting through new collaborations across our education, business and innovation systems.

Here are the “top ideas” in Equip

• Supporting kids: Overcome the public private divide in education by, for example, funding students according to need and encouraging more private investment.

• Extending HELP: Extend Higher Education Loan Programs (HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP) to all students in post-secondary education.

• 2020 Scholarships: merit based scholarships to vocational education and training and higher education institutions in skills shortage areas.

• Community Corps: allow community service to reduce a person’s HECS-HELP debt.

• Science and Maths Connections: Improve science and maths education by connecting scientists and others with teachers, especially in our primary schools.

• Rewarding excellence in teaching: Focus on the connections between quality teaching and productivity.

• Celebrating teaching: Celebrating the vocation and contribution of teaching.

• Teaching first: Establish a national program to attract talented graduates and career-switchers into teaching, and reward teachers for working in national priority areas, including disadvantaged communities, remote areas and in shortage subjects.

• Innovation Australia: Establish a national institute for innovation and creativity.

What do you think are the best ideas?