USQ staff to participate in 2020 Summit
USQ Chancellor Bobbie Brazil and Academic Stephen Hagan have been invited to attend the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra on 19 and 20 April 2008. The Summit will bring together 1,000 of the best and brightest minds from across the country to discuss solutions to some of the challenges facing Australia’s future. Chancellor Brazil said she was delighted to be selected in the Rural Australia section which looks at future directions for rural industries and communities. 'It’s a great opportunity and rather an exciting prospect,' Chancellor Brazil said. 'In many ways the structure of this summit describes the issues in rural and regional Australia for us. There are ten focus areas including the health of the nation, the future of Indigenous Australians and sustainability, climate change and water. 'These focus areas provide an umbrella for all the issues that have to be considered in relation to building a realistic and sustainable future for rural and regional communities.' Chancellor Brazil is also looking forward to contributing to discussions relating to future directions for the Australian economy – including education, skills, training, science and innovation. 'We understand particularly well as a regional university that there are no silver bullets and we need to make the best of capturing sensible and exciting ways forward. 'I would also love to hear from anybody in the University community who has a really positive idea they would like me to put forward especially if it includes a ‘wow’ dimension.' Centre for Australian Indigenous Knowledges Lecturer Stephen Hagan said he was honoured and excited by his selection in the Indigenous Australia section of the Summit. 'I was very excited. To be acknowledged by people in positions of power around the country as a person who can contribute to the future of the country is an honour,' Mr Hagan said. 'In my role as National Columnist for the Koori Mail I am fortunate in being able to express my views every fortnight on issues affecting Aboriginal people around Australia. 'This particular honour to me is a culmination of my efforts, on a number of fronts, to engage the broader community on Indigenous issues generally. 'It’s also very exciting to be attending a forum with 1,000 other people, but in my case specifically 100 disparate people with an Indigenous specific interest, to interact with them and to hear their ideas on how we can build a better future for Indigenous people.' Poverty and Indigenous Representation are the two main areas Mr Hagan wants to address. 'Poverty is the main reason Indigenous people have a 17 year life expectancy gap between us and mainstream society. 'Unless we can close the life expectancy gap you are not going to make inroads anywhere. Poverty to me is everything. You can’t compete on equal footing if there is high poverty in your life.' Mr Hagan said Aboriginal people need a better structure in terms of representation in Government. 'I believe there is a need to replace the old ATSIC model that was sadly abolished by the Howard government in 2004. 'Since the demise of ATSIC we have not had any national Indigenous representation. Until the government can select a representative body to speak on their behalf you will always have people offering solutions without a mandate from their respective community.' Details of the Australia 2020 Summit are available on the website www.australia2020.gov.au. USQ staff are invited to take part in the 2020 The Open Forum will give people the opportunity to comment on the ten key areas via online discussion threads which will be made available to
To take part in the online forum visit http://www.openforum.com.au/Australia_2020_Summit_Have_Your_Say. Media Contact: Jane Urquhart USQ Media +61 7 4631 2559 
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