UNSW hosts local 2020 summit

UNSW academics will co-chair a local 2020 summit on campus on Saturday April 5 with Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett.

The local summit is a prelude to next month's Australia 2020 Summit established by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd MP to ready Australia for the challenges of the 21st century.

Local summits are being held around the country to inform the national summit to be held at Parliament House, Canberra, on 19 and 20 April. Tomorrow's local summit at UNSW has been organised by Minister Garrett's office. It will include 50 constituents, organisations and community groups from the federal seat of Kingsford Smith. Nominations to the local summit are closed.

The morning session - Towards a Creative Society - will be co-chaired by Minister Garrett and UNSW Professor Ian Howard, Dean, College of Fine Arts. The afternoon session - A National Approach to Environmental Sustainability - will be co-chaired by The Minister and Professor Matthew England, co-director of UNSW's Climate Change Research Centre.

Australia 2020 will be a national forum to shape a long-term strategy for the nation's future - covering the economy, the nation's infrastructure, our environment, our farmers, health care, indigenous Australians, the arts, and national security.

Thirteen members and affiliates of UNSW will participate in working groups for the Australia 2020 Summit:

David Gonski AC, UNSW ChancellorProfessor Fred Hilmer AO, UNSW Vice-ChancellorProfessor Deb Brennan, Social Policy Research Centre, Faculty of Arts and Social SciencesAssociate Professor Kate Crawford, Faculty of Arts and Social SciencesMs Megan Davis, Indigenous Law Centre in the Faculty of LawProfessor Julian Disney, Social Justice Project in the Faculty of LawProfessor Michelle Haber, Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical ResearchDr Sarah Maddison, Faculty of Arts and Social SciencesLouisa Minney, Manager of International Programs and Policy in the National Centre for HIV Social ResearchAssociate Professor Alison Ritter, National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre in the Faculty of MedicineProfessor Peter Shergold, Centre for Social Impact in the Australian School of BusinessDr Rosemary Stanton, Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of MedicineProfessor George Williams, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, Faculty of Law