Dear Mr Rudd
6.30pm Monday 14 April 2008
Tickets: $20/$15 Concession
Bookings: Seymour Online Box Office: 02 9351 7940
In the lead up to the Australia 2020 Summit, Sydney Ideas presents a panel of Australian experts in key areas of national importance, and gives them an opportunity to propose their ideas for a better Australia to the new Prime Minister.
The forum is drawn from the contributors to the book Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a better Australia edited by Robert Manne. Here leading Australian thinkers offer essays on key areas of interest: climate change, the economy, human rights, health, the republic, water and much more. Each essay serves up in a readable and inspiring way a set of new ideas to consider. At this time of national renewal, it is an invitation to debate and discussion issued by many passionate and imaginative Australians. They will also explore the potential role of academics and public intellectuals in shaping Australia’s social policy, and how they react to the opportunities the Rudd government is offering them to participate in the process.
The forum will be moderated by Peter Thompson, journalist and ABC TV presenter Talking Heads.
The panel will include:
Robert Manne, Professor of Politics at La Trobe University. Robert is the author of many articles and books including The New Conservatism in Australia (1982), In Denial: The Stolen Generations and the Right (2001), Whitewash: On Keith Windschuttle's Fabrication of Aboriginal History, (ed) (2003) and Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia? (2005)
Julian Disney, part-time Professor and Director of the Social Justice Project at the University of New South Wales. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is Chair of the National Affordable Housing Summit and National Chair of Anti-Poverty Week. He is also Convenor of the Community Tax Project and of the Neighbours Program, which works to strengthen engagement between community leaders in Australia and neighbouring Asian countries.
Geoff Gallop, Professor and Director of the Graduate School of Government, University of Sydney and Premier of Western Australian from 2001 to 2006.
Martin Krygier, Professor and Director of the European Law Centre at the University of NSW. He is the editor of Civil Passions (2005), a collection of essays on politics and society, Australia and Eastern Europe.
Mark McKenna, Associate Professor and senior research fellow in Australian history at the University of Sydney. His Looking for Blackfella's Point: An Australian History of Place won the Book of the Year in the 2003 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, and his latest book is This Country: a Reconciled Republic? He is currently conducting a research project on Manning Clarke: A public life.