The 20-20 Summit.

The 20-20 Summit is over - and now comes the task of sifting through thousands of ideas submitted by the thousand delegates who applied their minds to prepare a plan of progress for this country.

It was an awesome gathering. There were rows of politicians representing the government, former political leaders, a heavy presence of trade union bosses, representatives of the military, priests and church leaders, academics, actors and luminaries from the media, captains of industry, leaders of charitable organizations - and worthy citizens who - for one reason or another - had won mention in the annual honours listings.

There was one glaring weakness. The assembly was that of hand picked invitees selected by the government - which means they were the selection of the Australian Labor party.

Noticeably absent were representatives of small business - the self employed who are the biggest employers of labour in this country. This summit ignored the family that runs the local newsagency, the mechanic who services your car, the milkman who delivers in all weathers, the man who mows lawns for a living, the woman who runs a day care centre, the local plumber with a string of apprentices - the men and women that make this country tick by providing the services we simply could not do without.

Their absence is understandable. This was a Labor party gathering - and by tradition there is no place for the self employed in a union run organization.
Decades ago the Labor party had universal nationalization of all industry as a plank. The self employed were seen as the enemy - employing a non-unionized work force and frustrating the dreams of socialism.

Times have moved on since then and the Labor party has moderated it's socialist views - but the self employed were excluded because the politicians would not have liked what they would have brought to the talkfest !

They would have pointed out that the ever growing government bureaucracy is stifling the opportunities to employ more people - and that this army of paper shufflers is erecting barriers to expansion. Business is confronted with a demand for information by way of endless forms to be completed and lodged - and yet to obtain permits for a plethora of tasks entails wading through a never ending paper jungle.

No doubt there will be worthwhile ideas from the summit that will bear fruit, but it is a pity that the greatest sector employing the most people was ignored.
Sadly, the opportunity to reform the obstacles that prevent an almost instant economic recovery have been missed !