April 4, 2008
David Hetherington, an executive director of Per Capita, a progressive think tank, says that:
When it comes to the international community of ideas, Australia has been sitting on the sidelines for a decade, unwilling to offer a fresh, independent perspective to global debates. In part, this stemmed from a political desire to march lockstep with our most important ally. But it also reflects an inherent suspicion about the value of big ideas. Our experience rightly tells us to be wary of them. Why? Because Australia's marketplace for ideas is broken.
Why is it broken? Hetherington says that the problem is that so few of our good ideas ever make it: they're trapped in the lab, the workshop or the pub. We lack a mechanism that breaks down these silos and enables a flow of ideas between academia, business, politics, the media and public opinion.
Heatherington says that there are four main reasons why the big ideas struggle to break through.
Firstly, concentration of media ownership means that our public debate is dominated by a small clique of commentators who have held sway for decades....The second reason is that our public leaders emerge from a political system which fails to cultivate ideas. Political parties place a great premium on campaigning and organising skills, but little weight on articulation of values or development of policy thinking .... Thirdly, we lack a culture of investment in ideas. In Australia we give generously to volunteer associations, charities and disaster relief - all worthy causes - but investing in a marketplace for ideas is foreign to us. The Lowy Institute marks a welcome departure in this direction, but we have a long way to go to match our international peers ... The final barrier to a healthy marketplace for ideas is the least expected: our fantastic climate. For there is an inverse relationship between quality of climate and quality of public ideas.
The first three are the most significant.
Heatherington is optimistic, as he says that our marketplace for ideas is maturing. Ideas journals like The Monthly and The Diplomat are flourishing, and several new think tanks have emerged. The 2020 summit shows the Government's willingness to tap into the national brain pool, rather than run a closed shop.
|