Henry, you phrased it incorrectly. You wrote:

"3. Free up Australia's migration system to allow more entry of guest workers, including folk from the poor nations in our region, as well as skilled workers from just about everywhere."

What I think you actually meant to say was:

"3. Place further stress on our finite water and other resources. Expand our cities thus increasing loss of surrounding farmland and native habitat. Leave us more vulnerable to impending energy decline when maintaining current levels of resource consumption - including food - will become impossible."

Henry, if you are having trouble putting words to your thoughts (or seeing the consequences of some of your thinking) then I will be happy to edit future attempts for you! Just send them to the Online Opinion editor and ask to be forwarded to me before you post on your own site.

Love,

Michael

“…encouraging China to do something about human rights abuse in Tibet and elsewhere.” Is a “clever” idea?

There is nothing clever about the Summit in the first place, but it is supposed to be about Australia, is it not? China’s actions in Tibet have nothing to do with Australia and the Summit’s supposed aims for our country.

Glad to see Henry hasn’t called his freed up migration system ‘clever’, because it is daft. We are over-populated by at least half already. There is no water in the wide open spaces of the country, and the places migrants want to go anyway – the eastern capitals – are bursting at the seams.

Anybody suggesting more immigration should be horse-whipped at the very least

Henry,

We need to radically change how the current populace treat the resources here before we can support any more people.
Personally I'd like to see zero net migration.

Attention 2020 Summit.

Regenerating Australian coast ocean environment could sustain production of millions of tonnes of high value natural fish product for local supply and for export worldwide. While Aus presently exports high value abalone and crayfish the nation is losing over A.$1.3 billion annually to import primarily fish due to Australian marine environment food web devastation.

There is now a world production and supply and affordability food crisis, especially for seafood dependent island and coastal economies and people. Into the bargain unprecedented marine animal starvation and marine food web ecosystem damage is occurring and continuing unchecked.

Will the 2020 Summit embrace ocean fish stock devastation and solutions and act or will the real situation continue to be ignored and gagged?

http://greens.org.au/campaigns/article.php?id=12

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown today released a 12 point plan ...

I particularly support the dumping of the $7.1 billion dollar tax rebate idea.

guys there is a real serious purpose driving this 2020 conference...as an analogy...we all are on the titanic after its hit the iceburg...realized we need change old structure and voted in new 'management' and looking at the real problems we have and survive the reasonably expected bleak future...

here is my list...cronwn as administrator of Australian government bodies...they cease and desist their current practice to hide all their operations/acts, then declare all their corporations and vested interests, then transparent public monitoring of interelations with public interests and public power to prevent unreasonable gains...or get crown out(for republic referendum) and control given to 'public' with our good/best minds given the job with close public monitoring of money flow...this way each cent is made to count...as currently in reality its essentially a big black 'unknown' hole biased towards corporations...

eg half a billion labour 'new plan' to build homes for aboringinals...done before...'construction company'(?crown) gets the money...homes go to 'women' separating community and established society structure...anger mounts...homes not used then damaged/destroyed...back to square one...

and the fundamental society need, a reasonable knowledgeable mind says protect the childs brain so allowing normal range development of brain parts to make whole...especially by preventing traumatic experience/environment...allowing healthier adaptable individuals adults to develop and as absolute essential requirement of any society...so if we all have to be trained and pass exams before allowed to have a child...then childs health monitored at a society level...so be it...better than whats happening now...child in almost total isolated control by parent with little effective safety net and/or help for child...what we have is effective 'image-creating-machine' that tries to hide facts but its getting harder as scale of disruption/destruction is now too large to hide...

now that we have plugged the money waste, and quick-rich schemes that usually caused the biggest environmental disruption/destruction...and workable society that produces 'well balanced individual'...who set up a constantly monitored management...whatever 'plan' set up has better chance of working as intented...and we are already off to a better directions and world...

Sam

"Mr Rudd said his plan would need partnerships between various levels of government, as well as private and community service providers".
Despite appearances, Public Private Partnerships are behind the thrust of the 2020 Summit - veiled behind the necessary spin.
Essentially, the aim is to exploit the decayed condition of basic social facilities, such as roads, railways, water, energy, schools and hospitals, as the pretext for introducing “Public Private Partnerships”, a form of privatisation. “Best practice guidelines” for Public Private Partnerships will be drawn up by October. Basically, to co-opt in as many people as possible, string them along under rhetoric about democratic input and hinting about a share in the large profiteering criminal enterprises under way.

Essentially a “cover” for meeting the profit demands of the corporate boardrooms and media mogul Murdoch for a new offensive, after what is now described as the “wasted” years of the Howard government.
Likewise, the banner of “climate change” was adopted to push for the completion of national market trading schemes to replace the former water, gas and electricity utilities, so that these services are opened fully to private operators, with consumers inevitably milked for very higher prices.
Despite the chronic under-funding of hospitals, the next five-year federal-state healthcare agreement was put off for a year, and will not commence until July 2009. It was a none-too-subtle reminder that Murdoch’s media outlets backed Labor’s election last year because Rudd attacked Howard from the right, for retreating from the free market program of the Hawke and Keating years. Various editorial’s hint crudely that Rudd must prove that he can do the “hard yards”, that is, impose this renewed offensive regardless of the inevitable opposition that will develop in the working class.

Somebody please hurl a timerope to Henry and haul him up out of 1973, where he has evidently been languishing all this time.

Then explain to him that 54% of Aussies have incomes under $15,000 because idiots like him think it's a good idea to remove tariffs. In three decades this has wiped out two thirds of our family farms and one third of our manufacturing, thereby eliminating three million full time jobs.

His idiot friends also thought that, with one million rural and regional Aussies heading for cities to find non-existent jobs, it was a good idea to invite the world's refugees here too, and boost our migrant intake.

Of course, these actions have strained our fragile water resources and created severe urban housing and other infrastructure failures; creating widespread misery, exacerbated by the inmates of the Reserve Bank lifting interest rates to contain inflation caused by rising fuel and supermarket prices.

Yes, I know it is rude to call people idiots and inmates, but what is the alternative? Would you rather I conclude that these are intelligent people. What, then are we to speculate about their motives?