Speeches
THE FUTURE BY US LAUNCH
I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Ministers sentiments and convey our deepest sympathies to the Soldiers loved ones as well as the good men and women of the Australian Defence Force who are grieving at this time.
It is a reminder of the value of human life as well as the challenge facing the Defence Force in their battle against the Taliban.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the launch of the Future By Us.
I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land where the idea for the Future By Us was largely developed. The Ngunnawal people are the Indigenous people of the Canberra region, the meeting place for the 2020 Youth Summit. The Apology to the Stolen Generations was a significant milestone in the journey of Reconciliation, a journey that will continue into the next generation.
The Future By Us is a compelling collection of essays with a vision for our country beyond 2020. It is written by emerging leaders who will all have a significant impact on where our country heads in the future. They already are. From indigenous policy, to the future of the media landscape. From economic policy, through to the daunting challenge of climate change, these essays offer a new perspective from the eyes of Australia’s emerging leaders.
And we have never needed more compelling leadership to respond to the pressing challenges before us, than we need right now.
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For the last six months I have been based in the UK, undertaking my masters, and every day I visited the news websites, seeing the tragedy of the Victorian bushfires unfold; to look at the impact of financial crisis on Australian business and households; thinking about how we as a country are responding to the urgent challenge of Climate Change.
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Above all else-
We realise that there are enormous challenges facing Australia, and the times demand profound change. This book is a call to arms to our generation to step up with the vision and the guts to make the hard decisions.
We are at a point in history that confronts us with both endless possibility and endless uncertainty. Endless possibility, because never before have we been able to communicate with every corner of the globe and develop ideas that have universal reach. Endless uncertainty, because we see the collapse of global markets and its effect on everyone, on every side of the globe.
In this closeness of global community lies the capacity for humanity to be truly great, for each of us to truly serve one another. It’s that sense of possibility that energises The Future By Us.
Martin Luther King once said he would rather live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century.
“Now that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That’s a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”
We too are at a unique point in history, where we can reshape the direction of our country.
This economic crisis is deepening, not slowing. Last month, the Australian economy lost over 40,000 jobs. But as many economists tell us, the worst is yet to come.
Since the foundation of the modern international economic system at Bretton Woods, the US economy has been ahead of the rest of the world. We have seen significant economic gyrations in the US. If that is the pattern, the news isn’t good.
We’ll see further job losses in Australia.
But in the midst of this sea of despair sails a ship of opportunity.
It’s the opportunity to reshape the fundamentals of our economy, to make us smarter, and greener.
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So how do we confront these challenges?
Some would think this is the Boomers’ mess to clean up. It would be easy to say that older generations screwed it up and dug the ditch we will need to climb out from. But finger-pointing doesn't get us anywhere. Saying that is to fall victim to the same shirking of responsibility that has got is into this mess.
Yes, short-term thinking, instant gratification and populist decisions have sucked us into believing that hard decisions can be deferred.
And Yes, history will show that the past fifteen years is scattered with missed opportunities.
But, seeking instant solace in the blame-game is precisely the kind of short-term thinking that, more than any single factor, brought about the calamity we face.
We are now facing a global crisis without precedent in our lifetimes. And after years of flawed regulatory systems, and all the short-term measures: what do we have to show for it?
Do we have roads, ports and public transport systems suitable to meet the demands of a new economy? Are our schools, our teachers and our TAFEs equipped to build a workforce for this century, not the last? Have we put in place the radical policy changes required to adapt to the harsh challenge of climate change?
The answer to each of these questions is no -- but the next question matters most:
What are we going to do about it?
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Our generation does not have the option to fail, and, as such, does not have the time to engage in recriminations or point-scoring. The Future by Us opens a new kind of dialogue about the future of Australia in a post-crisis world.
We have written this book because we believe in an Australia that offers visionary leadership and is a model for the rest of world.
We aim to actively involve young Australians in a dialogue about the sort of country we want to live in beyond 2020, and how we can generate the momentum to make it happen.
The measure of our success will be this: will we be able to say in fifty years’ time that Australians of today and the future were able to reach their potential?
The Future By Us is a call for young Australians to take responsibility for our future, now. If we can come together and change our families, our communities, our schools: we can change the nation.
This book is a roadmap for those of us who have to pick up the pieces. Those of us who choose to own the future.
Above all, it a clarion call to a generation to step up, armed with ideas, vision and the guts to make it happen.
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So the question in your minds may be what are the ideas and vision we have to show for this? To help answer this, in part, I’d now like to introduce Tom O’Connor – who co-edited the Future By Us- to explain a number of key ideas.
TOM O’CONNOR
Thank you so much for coming; it’s a privilege to be here.
You’ve heard how the crisis we face demands guts and vision. It demands that we seize the moment and make critical investments that have been ignored for too long. The Future By Us argues that we need to build powerful foundations now to grow prosperity into the future.
Australia Degree
First, we’ve got the opportunity to get serious about being globally competitive in education. We propose part of this is the Australia Degree, a program that brings the world’s best thinkers into our universities through the digital classroom. Imagine for a second getting your Politics lecture beamed in from Harvard, your Economics lecture from the London School of Economics or your class in French Literature from the Sorbonne. Would universities do it? MIT in the United States already makes all its course materials and lectures available free online, and others in Australia and around the world are following. We could be global pioneers in this area – as the old saying goes, if we can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
GQ – global intelligence quotient
Second, we can invest in the Australian people to engage in the global economy, and better shape our future in the world. We propose a system of GQ – like IQ, a global intelligence quotient. GQ would be a measure of a person’s global intelligence, incorporating skills such as language fluency, historical and cultural understanding of other countries, and overseas travel. Job applicants would put their GQ on their CV, employers would do GQ testing, and schools would tell parents that their classes do great things to improve GQ. It would provide all Australians with an incentive to engage with the world. It would equip this country with the skills to be a global ignition switch, with big vision and big ideas to shape a more positive future.
Personal carbon allocation
Third, we can seize this moment to transform our dirty economy to a green economy, to kick-start growth again with green jobs. We propose a personal carbon allowance for all Australians, which will enable each and every person to take responsibility for their emissions. You would be issued with a carbon credit card, used every time you purchased a flight, fuel for your car, electricity for your home. Now this might seem gimmicky – surely we need to focus on the real issue, big business and industry polluters? But the real problem we face is that we’re dealing with a hidden crisis. The fact that our climate is changing rapidly isn’t something we can touch or see. I go to the fuel pump, and the petrol doesn’t seem that harmful. Why should I change the way I live for a problem I don’t really believe in?
We need to give every Australian the tools to bring this issue out of the shadows, and a personal carbon allocation would go some way to achieving this.
Breaking the silence on domestic violence
Fourth, we need bring a major social disease out from under the rug. This disease is the biggest cause of death and disability among women aged 15-44. And it happens when men beat or kill their wives and girlfriends. Even now, as a man I feel so challenged by that statement.
The Prime Minister put his finger on this issue in a few months ago when he said 'It is the silence that makes it the most insidious. Because it prefers the darkness. Because if it stays in the darkness, it cannot be discussed, debated — let alone dealt with'
For this issue, we don’t have any silver bullet solutions. We need to help men and women talk to each other, as simple as that may seem. This needs to start early, so we propose introducing a school-based program that gives children access to quality information about how to express their feelings and engage in healthy relationships. We need to build on what’s already being done in the community, and also engage teachers and parents in the process. Helping teachers reinforce classroom teaching with positive action, and exposing parents to the same information that their children are hearing is equally important.
Finally, to the young Australians who we hope will read The Future By Us and start to consider how they want to shape the future. It is true that the world is pretty messed up at the moment. But more than 60 years ago, there was another generation of Australians who emerged from a Depression and a World War with the ideas and the guts to make it right
These words were their inspiration, and let them be ours too:
Come to the edge
It’s too high.
Come to the edge.
We could fall!
COME TO THE EDGE!
And they came.
And he pushed.
And they flew.
Thank you so much for coming.
