Table Of Contents

Appendix: A scenario for the future of Australia

Dr. Ian Lin

Ph (02) 9418 2400, Fax (02) 94182287, E-mail: ianlin@quovadis.com.au

“The Possible Dream” - It is Australia in the Year 2010 and we live and work in…

A New Society

We are a vibrant and successful nation, enjoying the world’s highest quality of life — with full employment, strong economic growth, a sustainable ecology, and a civil and egalitarian society. We are a nation noted for our prosperity, our social cohesion, and our cultural diversity; and we have taken our place in the world as a leading global citizen.

In the last 10 years, our economic, social, and political systems have undergone a radical and dramatic transformation, and we now live in a new Australia — a new nation noted for its enterprise, innovation and vision. Our new national culture greatly enhances the quality of life of all Australians, and we thrive as we meet the ever-changing global challenges of the Information Age of the 21st century.

Compared to the Australia of 10 years ago, there is now far more justice and equity in our society. We all now have the opportunity to not only earn a living, but to also live more healthy, more balanced, more fulfilling and more meaningful lives. Our new national outlook ensures that all Australians have equal opportunity to develop to their full potential, and to both contribute and share in the prosperity of our nation.

We care for the elderly in our communities, and draw upon their knowledge and wisdom to mentor our careers and guide our younger generations. Compared to the beginning of this decade, we now have a far more cohesive and community oriented society; and there is far less poverty, less violence, less drugs, fewer suicides, and far fewer disadvantaged people.

New Education System

Our education system has been totally transformed to take advantage of on-line interactive multimedia global information and communications technologies, and we continually add to the hi-tech information infrastructure that forms the backbone of our national knowledge network. This is freely available to all Australians, regardless of their financial circumstances or geographical location.

We have recognized the continuous rapid and radical changes are now the norm, and that to be successful we need to remain constantly updated with the latest information. Free on-line high-speed access to the Internet has greatly enhanced our ability to select our own sources of information, and to communicate with others around the world.

With this new ability to learn and communicate, all Australians have grasped the opportunity to become much more inform and knowledgeable; and then to discuss, debate, decide, and act on their decisions. More than ever before, individual Australians have the individual power to shape their own destiny and create their own future.

Mentors in our communities have become an integral part of our education system, and they draw upon their knowledge, experience, insight and intuition to provide advice and encouragement to others. They also emphasise the need for values, vision, and wisdom – how to do good, as well as how to do well; and how to do the right things, as well as how to do things right.

With the new resources and opportunities of the Information Age, we have re-learned how to learn, and re-thought how to think. We have developed new dimensions in thinking, and in addition to focusing mainly on the present, we now also think in the future, with imagination, about possibilities.

Life-long education has become the foundation for our continued success, and understanding the importance of the first five years of life, we now train parents on child development and subsidize them to remain at home to assist in the nurturing and education of their children.

In addition to information and knowledge, we now teach our younger generations how to be enterprising, resourceful, respectful, and responsible; on how to be imaginative, creative and innovative; on how to use hindsight and insight to develop foresight and intuition; and on how to develop the passion and spirit needed for individual success, in a rapidly changing and complex world.

They are now well equipped to meet the many challenges of life; to develop and grasp their own opportunities; to create and manage their own careers; and to contribute to the communities in which they live. Young Australians now face a future with a positive attitude, and full of confidence, optimism, faith, hope, and enthusiasm.

New Communities

We now direct our priorities for investment towards community development, education, environment, health, welfare, technology, innovation, and research and development. This emphasis continuously generates new business, employment, and career opportunities; and constantly adds to the intellectual, material and social capital of our nation.

Over the last 10 years, we developed a comprehensive national high-speed transportation and communications network that provides us with individual connectivity, not only within Australia, but also to the rest or the world. We now live and work not only in the physical communities around us, but also in multidimensional virtual communities in cyberspace. We now have a multitude of global friends, acquaintances, and support networks.

We rapidly embraced the new world of e-commerce, and as the geographical location of business became less and less important, the trend towards urbanization has been reversed. Numerous clusters of smaller businesses have now sprouted up all over Australia, providing not only our cities, but also our regional hubs and rural communities with totally new growth opportunities, new directions and new futures.

We now have an enhanced and extensive globalised entrepreneurial business sector, and an enterprising and efficient public service, supported by a highly sophisticated and diverse workforce. More and more Australians, especially women, now choose to work from home or much closer to their work environment, and many choose to live the less stressful, less costly, more balanced, and healthier lifestyles of smaller communities.

Our physical environment has greatly improved as we focus on becoming world leaders in solar technology and other alternative sources of energy, as well as in the development of renewable resources, and the creation of a sustainable environment. Our social environment has also greatly improved as we continue to welcome peoples from all over the world, and their diversity and personal networks add substantially to our global success. We are known as the world’s most tolerant, least racist nation, and are noted for the breadth and depth of our social, economic and political cohesion.

Our urban and rural regions are now thriving mosaics of diversity – they are a socially cohesive, cosmopolitan, and colourful mix of government, business, education, art, music, sports, leisure, food, people, and cultures.

New Business Direction

As a nation with only one-third of one percent of the world’s population, we have identified and capitalized on our unique opportunities as one of the world’s smallest but most advanced nations. The growth engine of our economy are our over one million small to medium-sized enterprises and micro businesses. They have grasped the new opportunities created by technology and globalisation and through their enterprise and innovation have made Australia the world’s leading small-business nation.

In order to do this, our small businesses have collaborated with each other, and have combined their enterprise, ingenuity and innovation to create a diverse mix of up-market goods and services that carve out unique and sophisticated global niche markets. They have created new small business models that collaborate to share resources and tap into the overseas networks of our multicultural population to form a web of both marketing and manufacturing alliances. These greatly enhanced their capability to be much more agile and flexible in harnessing new resources and gaining quick access to ever-changing global trading opportunities.

Our smaller businesses now develop synergy and serendipity through networked clusters, and form virtual corporations that trade directly with hundreds of thousands of individuals and smaller businesses throughout the world. They maintain their independence, but succeed through co-operative interdependence. They compete by being smart, by being different, by being first, and by being friends.

The success of these new global trading strategies continuously creates many new work opportunities, and we have been able to develop an environment of sustainable growth, full employment, and shared prosperity throughout our nation.

A New Economy

The value of the Australian dollar has greatly increased as has our quality of life and standard of living. The continual upward trend of our national current account deficit that was evident at the beginning of this decade has been reversed by our sustainable growth and continuous surge in exports.

Since the year 2005 we have enjoyed large global trading surpluses and have used these to pay off our external debt. This in turn has contributed to the rising value of our currency, and the Australian dollar is now worth US$2.00 – greatly improving the personal buying power of all Australians, and allowing everyone to share in the wealth of our nation. We also create a better world by sharing our wealth and knowledge with developing nations, greatly increasing our assistance them in their education, health and economic development programs.

Over the last 10 years, continuous increases in corporate profits have contributed greatly to government revenues, and full employment has meant substantial savings in social welfare payments. This rising government income and falling expenditure has led to large budget surpluses, and these in turn have been translated into major tax cuts. Over the last five years, tax rates have dropped dramatically, and we now rank as one of the world’s lowest taxed nations.

New Political System

All the changes that have occurred were made possible by the development and implementation of a completely new political system and form of government that we find is much better suited to the enterprising, innovative, agile, flexible and innovative culture that has become the Australia of the 21st century.

We are now a republic and have eliminated the old Senate, the 8 State and Territory Governments, and the over 750 Municipal Councils. In their place we have an advisory Senate, a legislative House of Representatives, and 75 Regional Councils.

The Senate of 12 persons is popularly elected and headed by the President of Australia. It has no legislative powers but advises the House of Representatives and provides continuity in overseeing the vision and strategic direction of our nation. It has the power to refer decisions to the people and to call a referendum in exceptional circumstances.

The national House of Representatives consists of a Prime Minister and Cabinet who are popularly elected, and 75 Regional Representatives who are elected by citizens within their own regions. The House of Representatives is responsible for developing and implementing the policies and strategies that run our nation.

The 75 Regional Councils are popularly elected within their regions and are responsible to develop and implement the operational plans that carry out the policies and strategies of the national government and best meet their own regional requirements.

This new political structure allowed us to radically streamline government bureaucracy, and effectively use new technologies to develop e-government and a highly efficient administration. The careers of public servants leaving the bureaucracy because of restructuring blossomed as they were eagerly accepted by a rapidly growing private sector.

The elimination of levels of government, bureaucracy and administration has saved us over $30 billion a year, and these savings are redirected towards developing the future of our nation. We have been able to greatly increase our annual investment in education, health, environment, innovation, technology, research and development, and infrastructure projects — without resorting to any additional taxation.

During this last decade, our ability to create these new forms of government allowed us, through cost savings and increased income from business growth, to redirect our investment in the future, and has provided us with the financial resources to create a new Australian society.

New Democracy

We realized that just as new information and communications technologies were allowing the creation of totally new dimensions in business, so also could they be used to create entirely new dimensions in democracy. These technologies gave all Australians a much greater say in the leaders and policies they wanted for the future of our nation. We now have a new form of democracy — Cyber Democracy. Our new form of democracy now allows us to use the internet to learn, discuss, debate, decide, and vote, and is based on the use of e-polling, e-referendums, e-politics and e-government.

During elections instead of needing to attend a predetermined physical location for paper polling, we now vote from anywhere, using our wireless internet-connected mobile communicators, telephones, TV sets, or computers. Previously, the cost of conducting a physical vote amounted to tens of millions of dollars and was therefore restricted to one day. We now vote over several days, with polls being declared immediately after the close of voting.

Ten years ago, we had governments with myopic vision that concentrated their efforts on the short-term good of the politician and the party, rather than the longer-term good of the people and the nation. Decisions were based on political expediency to win the next vote and the next election, and the modus operandi was continuous political confrontation and personal vilification. Our democracy allowed us to elect our representatives from a choice of pre-selected political nominees that we knew very little about who had been chosen through obsolete systems of factional party politics, and internal party infighting.

Today, things are quite different. We have a new form of democracy — Cyber Democracy. Rather than confrontational government, we now have collaborative government. Using e-polling techniques on the Internet, we first of all vote for the vision we want for the future of Australia. This is followed by a second vote for the leaders we think can best turn that vision into reality. Rather than rely on political infighting to determine who will guide our nation, we now vote directly for a Prime Minister and Members of Cabinet that we want to be our leaders and in whom we have confidence

Our political leaders are elected for their visionary leadership, their enterprise, their imagination, their experience, and their wisdom — and their ability to lead a new Australia into a new future in the 21st century. They are guided not by short-term party politics, but by a strong set of national values, and a long-term vision for the future of our nation. Their policies recognize the diversity of opportunity and requirements of need in our nation, and they adopt a multidimensional perspective — to combine short, medium and long-term vision, with balanced economic, social and environmental strategies, that take into account the combined future of our families, our communities, our nation, and our world.

We now live in a new level of cyber democracy in a new Australia!

New Nation

Compared to the beginning of this decade, Australia is now a different nation in which to live. The deepening insecurity, stress, cynicism, economic divide, and social division so evident in our society a decade ago have all but disappeared. The chaos, complexity and confusion of globalisation, rationalization, and radical change that characterized our nation, have been replaced by a new set of values, a strong national vision for our future, new strategies for growth, and a newfound national confidence.

Instead of defensively reacting to circumstances that have been created by others, we now proactively seek new global opportunities, and head for new horizons. With a firm vision we confidently create our own future, and shape our own destiny. In the last decade we have come through a period of revolutionary change.

We have a new national culture, a new quality of life, and a new direction that gives all Australians the opportunity to not only survive, but also grow and both contribute and share in the prosperity of our nation in the 21st Century.

What brought about this major transformation of our nation? What created this national metamorphosis? How did we become the nation with the world’s highest quality of life? How did we create a new culture that placed us in the forefront of change, and that forever changed the lives of all Australians? How was this done?

If you are interested in receiving the “Future History” of how “The Possible Dream” was turned into reality, please e-mail ianlin@quovadis.com.au

Previous PageTop Of Page