2020 Summit - Henry's shopping list

As the countdown to the 2020 Summit continues, participants have been getting in early with their favourite ideas.

A prominent law professor has said it should be illegal for politicians to lie. Perhaps the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) should be given the task of policing this, as they supposedly do for Company Directors who issue dud prospectuses, tell lies or fail to report "material developments".

The Prime Minister himself has got in early with his plans to properly educate kids.

Michelle Grattan and colleagues report today. "ALL Australian parents would have access to low-cost child care and welfare services under a proposal Kevin Rudd will take to his 2020 ideas summit.

"Days before the summit begins, the Prime Minister has outlined a vision for universal access to a network of ‘one stop’ child-care centres.

"The centres would provide a broad mix of maternal and child health services, including feeding advice and vaccinations, long day care, preschool education and support for parents.

"Addressing the Sydney Institute last night, Mr Rudd said his plan would need partnerships between various levels of government, as well as private and community service providers".

This is a great idea, but we all recall the promise that no child would live in poverty.

Read Emma Tom in The Australian today for a searing account of the state-of-play with some of our most vulnerable kids.

Other clever ideas from Australia's most reforming PM include bringing the troops home from Iraq, heating up the debate on becoming a republic and encouraging China to do something about human rights abuse in Tibet and elsewhere.

Presumably Mr Rudd also encouraged China's leaders to do something about climate change, which we must hope involves them buying still to be perfected Australian technology to clean up their coal-fired power stations, at the rate of one per week, as they are built.

Henry has not been invited to the great meeting of Australia's best and brightest. But he cannot avoid the temptation to add some ideas. These are oldies but goodies, and they are presented here so that they do not get overlooked in the rush of new ideas.

They come in the order in which they pop into Henry's elderly mind. Bright younger folk can provide the cost-benefit calculations and argue about the ordering of priorities.

1. Introduce a tough budget, control burgeoning labour costs and support the Reserve Bank's attempts to control inflation, without of course doing too much damage to prospects for jobs for all.

2. Reform the welfare system to abolish middle class welfare and the associated "tax and welfare churn". Greatly improve the margin between tax and welfare to improve incentives for people to work and to save, and to become more self-sufficient.

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.

4. Maintain the never-ending task of improving the lot of Australia's poorest citizens, including the disproportionate numbers of Indigenous Australians caught in vicious circles of poverty, dysfunctional families, sexual and drug abuse and general helplessness.

5. Take very seriously indeed Professor Ross Garnaut's report on climate change, and introduce a carbon trading scheme and/or a carbon tax, if possible co-ordinated with the policies of the rest of the world. If the rest of the world does not follow, plan for the worst possible climate change the boffins at the CSIRO can imagine.

6. Provide much higher subsidies for people to install water tanks and solar panels on houses and business premises.

7. Spend more on innovation, with a bias to renewable energy and carbon sequestration.

8. Allow "negative gearing for entrepreneurs" to help make Australia a more innovative nation, paid for by reducing or at least cutting back on negative gearing for property owners and share traders.

9. Restore a sensible level of funding for Australia's universities and other publicly funded research organisations and encourage specialisation.

10. Add to this list the single best new idea from the 2020 Summit but do not forget item one on Henry's list of existing key priorites.