Parent and children centres Picks up the idea floated by the Prime Minister last week of a one-stop shop for familes, offering health, development, learning and care services.

Fine, makes sense, but what kind of care services?

Learning for life accounts for every Australian from birth into which the government and others can make payments for education, training, parental leave, and superannuation contributions, with capacity to go into deficit any repayments contingent on income. 

This is simply transferring responsibility away from government and back to the individual. The most vulnerable will not be able to accumulate sufficient savings to provide for all those things; and you can bet your life savings that there will be tax benefits that will give the better off and advantage! The devil in this good idea will be in the detail.

Golden gurus: Retired people acting as workplace mentors.

This sounds great, except experience shows that in many cases the golden gurus are not particularly aware of the knowledge society or economy. This may be only relevant in the area of the old economy. ON the other hand, mentoring of any kind is valuable to those mentored and increases social cohesion.

ECONOMY

New Federation Commission to completely review the roles and responsibilities of the three levels of government. The independent body would have the power to pursue constitutional and economic reform.

Will they make big decisions?

Sweeping review of the taxation system: A two-year deadline to simplify taxes, reduce inefficiencies in the system and remove poverty traps.

As the States are the problem, this will be a challenge for Kevin’s new federalism.

Low-cost funds for housing A government-guaranteed scheme that creates securities from prime mortgages to deliver a steady supply of cheap money to home-buyers.

Is the problem finance or other factors like land availability, housing type, proximity to work, transport and services? If money is provided and the housing isn’t appropriate or available, then the money only goes to the banks and the wealthy.

ENVIRONMENT

National Sustainability, Population and Climate Control Agenda: Government would use all its tools – spending, tax, regulation and investment- to address pressing environmental issues like climate change.

Tick

Carbon and water accounts

Tick

Sustainable Cities Program: National approach to urban and regional planning that puts a priority on water efficiency and 
reducing carbon emissions.

Tick, and start in Sydney, please.

RURAL

New Government body to consider national and global food security

Gosh, whatever will the ethanol lobby do?

Northern Australia as a new food bowl: Government should survey the region to determine its agricultural suitability.

I hope this means more than turning the NT into the kind of agri-disaster that we’ve managed with the Murray-Darling basin.

Rural-city student exchanges: to improve urban understanding of the bush and encourage more students to take up 
agricultural studies.

Yawn: no-one wants to live in the country, not even country people. It may be beautiful and economically important, but the structure of rural life is changing dramatically as the corporations move in. This happened for years in many independent schools and there was no influx to the bush, but we could all do with an understanding of how the other five per cent live!

HEALTH

National Preventative Health Agency. Funded by tobacco, alcohol and junk food taxes, the new body would research health 
issues and advocate change, such as requiring each sedentary job to include 30 minutes of physical activity a day.

Yes!

Bionic eye Applying better research to achieve a cure for blindness.

Yes!

Universal first aid training: Goal is to have all children undertake training by 2020, allowing better use of volunteers to  deliver health care in emergencies like the Bali bombing.

Yes! and it could be delivered in the existing syllabus.

FAMILIES

24/7 use of schools for day care Open up school grounds to provide care for pre-school children, courses for parents and 
“education-focussed” before and after school care.

This will work if the money is provided for differentiation of facilities and the high costs of personnel; but maintenance will also increase through simple wear and tear. It isn’t gain without pain. And many secondary schools run 7 to 5 already.

Micro-finance Provides small, low-interest loans to people currently excluded from the main finance system. These can be used for personal or business purposes and help build budgeting skills in struggling areas.

Yes ( in the light of some recent comments about single women on welfare, this is great.

National Disability Insurance Scheme for people who experience catastrophic injury.

What will the lawyers say? Will it lead to a limiting of liability or compensation? 

INDIGENOUS

High quality education to be made available through a use of ABSTUDY, private school scholarships and more government  funding.

Yes, but how?

Indigenous future fund to fund housing and major capital works and invest in innovation.

Tick

National indigenous knowledge centre network to provide support to regional communities.

Yes, but are these big enough ideas to support the legitimate ambition and vision of aboriginal Australians?

CREATIVE AUSTRALIA

National mentoring scheme Artists would be placed in schools, working as “practioners in residence”. The scheme would be 
funded by philanthropic funds and tax incentives.

Digital art The collections of major national institutions would be archived electronically by 2020.

Research priority The creative industry given access to research and development funding and other industry schemes.

All very modest, but I think more could have been done had the creative role of universities and the importance of quality education been given more of a guernsey. For art to flourish, people need education and leisure, something the aspirational voters don’t have. Mum and Dad have been flogging the cultural wagon in Penrith for years with much success, but what portion of the population could really be said to consume Australian culture. Their noses are in their mortgages and their faces are in the plasma TV, watching dross on Channel 9.

GOVERNANCE

Australian republic Stage one would end ties with the UK while retaining the Governor-General’s titles and powers for five years but “with wide community involvement and ownership of the outcome”.Stage two would identify new models after extensive and broad consultation.

Bill of Rights Australians would be consulted on how best to protecty their human rights.

Overhaul of federalism A constitutional convention to define roles and responsibilities and a National Co-operation Commission to eliminate squabbling between the levels of government.

Twenty years overdue.

SECURITY

Pacific Partnership to bring Australia closer to its smaller Pacific neighbours.

Regional energy security forum

High level advisory councilcomprising business, academic and scientific leaders to advise on emereging food, water and energy security challenges.

Interesting: not one word on the role of Australian defence forces. What are we to be: a regional power? A middle level power? Do we defend our shores, our region or our interests? At the moment, with commitments all over the place, it seems somewhat schizoid.

So, at some stage, I need to sit down and make an evaluation; but already I am seeing that those areas I nominated in a previous blog are neglected by the delegates. Given the preponderance of academics, I find the silence on research, education and the knowledge economy deafening.