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Australia 2020

Welcome to the website for the Australia 2020 Summit.

The Australia 2020 Summit was held on 19 and 20 April 2008.

The Summit was an exciting initiative aimed at harnessing the best ideas for building a modern Australia ready for the challenges of the 21 st century.

I know from travelling around the nation that many of the most creative solutions to our big future challenges are in the minds of Australians whose voices normally aren’t heard in our national Parliament.

The Summit brought together business people, experts, community leaders – and just every day Australians.

The ideas and ambitions from the Summit will now help us shape a long term strategy for the nation’s future – in relation to the economy, the nation’s infrastructure, our environment, our farmers, health care, indigenous Australians, the arts, national security, how we improve our system of government, and how we strengthen our communities and ensure nobody is left out of Australia’s future.

It was a big agenda, but we need to continue to think big.

The new century has thrown up enormous challenges, as well as breathtaking opportunities. The ground rules of economic success are being re-written with the rise of nations like China and India. New technologies are continuing to transform our work lives, our social lives and everything from health care to entertainment. Our own society is changing rapidly as well as we live longer and expect greater fulfillment in our older years.

If we want to shape the kind of nation Australia will be in 2020, the work needs to start now. There are few limits to Australia’s future potential – now is the time to start turning our nation’s potential into a reality.