Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

We believe in being positive in our engagement with the nation’s expertise, not rejecting of it. That is why we want the nation’s brightest and best to team up with us. That is why we have decided to embrace an approach which is demonstrably bipartisan, inviting two former coalition ministers to be party to this overall exercise. The overall program that we have put together will also be supported by a youth summit, which will be convened by the Minister for Youth on the previous weekend, when we will have 100 of our young people come to Canberra. It will be co-chaired with Hugh Evans, formerly of Oaktree. The really exciting thing is that, across the nation in the few weeks leading up to then, we now have more than 500 schools holding their own school summits—500 schools, from Christmas Island to Esperance to Geraldine and down to, I am told, a little town called Snug in southern Tasmania; I like the sound of a town called Snug. Those young people in their school summits will be feeding into the youth summit. The youth summit will be feeding into the 2020 Summit.

This will be a great event for the nation. We believe in harvesting the nation’s talents and abilities to bring forth the best ideas for the nation’s future, given the huge challenge that we in Australia face. Once the summit has convened, if we can from its gathering shake out of the tree another dozen good ideas for the nation’s future, it will be a well-invested weekend. By year’s end, we will respond to each and every one of the submissions which have been made to us by the good people of Australia and those participating in the summit. This is a good exercise in open government. I am surprised that those opposite react to it with such cynicism. Is it another case of flip, flop, flap? The Leader of the Opposition, who has been objecting vociferously about this and who, within 30 minutes of my announcing this some time ago, stood up and said he welcomed it, now two months later says he doesn’t really welcome it. We have seen a bit of that today. We are very excited about what can come forth out of this. We will not solve all the nation’s problems, but we intend to engage the good people of Australia, and all their talents and abilities, to make sure that we help craft a modern Australia, capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century and securing a future for working families.

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.

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