Delegates were hand picked for a select section to debate the Republic will the Summit be the same?
Who will attend the Summit? I am concerned that with email today anyone can contribute but a Summit will restrict contributions.
I think it is a good idea to go around the country as the PM is doing meeting the people but who can get into these sessions? In WA it was restricted.
How was it in other states was it easy access?
It seems a waste of time for the PM when he has so much to do.
However it was a good promotion exercise for the new government.

A SUMMIT of academics and business and special interest people will not bring out anything new just another talk fest.

Mar

Do not pre judge a thread exists talking about this but remember Hawks summit?
Rudd has told us little but we know opposition will be involved and I hope and expect experts in areas we need to include.
Like every mass talk fest , that is in numbers so big, it will be hard to get results .
I however think those who are detracting from the idea and its outcomes already have every right to do so.
However they should remember their comments and hold themselves accountable for them.
Try this.
After the event re read both this and the other thread.
Consider how close to the truth each contributor was to the actual outcomes.
If we all did this some of the less than balanced comments may not be made.

is now a good time to mention the utility of citizen initiative? (again)

rudd is taking out insurance against hard times coming, he'll be able to say he consulted, nobody had better ideas. this is good tactics, although implying the politicians don't know everything is a stretch of guild rules.

What is this about "the utility of citizen initiative" ?

IF the people of Australia hold Sovereign Power,

IF the Australian Constitution is as agreed to by the people of Australia,

IF Parliament legislates in accordance with the Constitution as agreed to by the People of Australia,

THEN citizen initiative is NOT a utility, rather it is the basic right, the responsibility and the core principle for our self government.

Our politicians prefer view our system as providing them regal powers once elected...

A single house of Parliament is sufficient to approve a bill for a s.128 Referenda.

This Constitutional fact the Democrats on so many issues failed dismally to utilize.

Consequence to the Democrats being voters pruning them.

The Democrats could often have presented s.128 bills to take issues to the people for their ballot box decisions.

IF Democrats could have argued how other parties conspired to deny Australian voters ability to make decisions on such issues they could well be in government.

Australians do not wish to be deciding every issue, prefering to leave most issues to their representatives, however they do want the choice to make decisions on particular issues.

eg. The Bill for People of Australia to determine in accordance with s.128 if they should elect their Governor-General.

p.

10-1 it will be a fizzer like the Summit was.

If Rudd needs to ask what to do, he has no business being PM.

I saw the list of suggested areas of discussion.
It did not make a reference to the greatest area of concern.

It is a business as usual agenda.
With oil depletion on us now and we only now produce 55% of our own oil
and in about seven years we will be importing 100% (if we can get it),
they are not making a specific agenda item for this overwhelming
event.

They will probably spend days discussing global warming but none
discussing fossil fuel depletion.

arrrggghhh politicians !

Gosh some of you are cynical (I can be too sometimes :))

The summit is about discussing important issues of the future and to field ideas/possible solutions from a variety of people from a variety of fields.

We complain about consultation and democracy and as soon as the opportunity arises we throw mud on the idea. The Summit is not a vehicle for Rudd to get people to make decisions for him as suggested, just as consulting with the opposition on the Apology was not about the decision but to inform and allow the opposition to put a point of view. This included Brendan Nelson's speech today as part of the Opposition's contribution to the very first Parliamentary Welcome to Country by Indigenous leader, Matilda House.

Can you imagine Howard and his cronies consulting with community groups and the like. The only group Howard consulted and acted for was big business.

It is a bit early to pre-judge what the Summit will produce - but if the field is wide enough there may be some brilliant ideas..OR not. We will have to see.

Good one pelican you have the issue in a nut shell, Bazz even uses his thoughts and words to bash the idea.
He has no idea what will be talked about but informs us of what he thinks and calls it facts.
Review the two threads on this subject one month after the event.
Sit and think about what we said about it.
Few are brave enough to say , well I got that very wrong.

Belly, I did not bash the idea, I bashed its lack of the most important
problem on the agenda.

Sure, someone will I hope bring up oil depletion and how we mitigate
its affects, but it should be right up front, not just hoping that
someone thinks of it.

In less than 10 years, we will be totally at the mercy of foreign oil
companies and the exporting countries, who will have much larger economies to worry about.
Do you think the Australian buyers will be
allowed to compete with their head office buyers in the market ?

Australia will be in a difficult position needing 100% import.
Don't you think that deserves an agenda item of its own ?

bazz, aaaarrgh! is not constructive. and politicians are always politicians, you expected something else?

if you want oz to be run 'for the people', it has to be run 'by the people'. it's called democracy. oz ain't got it, but we better get it quick because, as you point out, pollies won't do.

ozzies don't have the political culture to run their country effectively. bad as pollie rule is, you deserve it, because you're sheep. can't be helped, harold copped an arrow at hastings, wat tyler walked too close to henry, and here we are- still saying "please, sir, can we have more?"