Summit ‘out of original ideas’

By Melissa Grant
A DANDENONG employee who took part in Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit in Canberra says average Australians weren’t given an adequate platform to voice their views.
Kate Hands, who won a Herald Sun competition to represent Victorians at the 2020 Summit in Canberra last week, said she was disappointed the event was dominated by vague discussion – not specific concerns.
Mrs Hands, a Pakenham resident who works for a paint manufacturer in Dandenong, is now calling for a local 2020 Summit so that working class Australians can be heard.
“I heard some amazing ideas from amazing people but they didn’t make our final summary – a lot of ideas got lost in the articulation,” she said.
“There was no substance, goals or targets and actions that I felt were clearly outlined in our discussions. I felt that there were a lot of broad ideas – they were more like ambitions for Australia.”
Mrs Hands said although Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s 2020 summit was publicised to come up with new ideas she found that the exact opposite happened.
“I think it was well intentioned but there was no substance to it and there were no original ideas that I heard. Like we want Australia to focus on education- well that’s a given and it’s an old concept,” she said.
Mrs Hands’ summit group focused on science, innovation and digital technology. She said the ideas voiced by academics and professors were interesting but the group wasn’t given a proper opportunity to debate and discuss them.
“The informal discussions over coffee and lunchtime were probably the most inspiring discussions that I heard,” she said.
Herald Sun editors chose the 27-year-old from a field of thousands to represent their average reader at the Canberra convention.
Mrs Hands, a senior manager for a paint manufacturer in Dandenong, felt the summit didn’t give her a proper chance to give average middle-class Victoria a voice.