This 2021 Challenge !

 A new year brings with it change and we hope that 2021 is a lot different from the year that is dearly departed.  It will be a year when vaccinations will be in order and - hopefully - this coronavirus will fade into the rear vision mirror.

It will be a long time before overseas airline travel returns to the frequency - and the seat prices - that enticed us to visit distant countries.  The experience of many Australians who found themselves stuck overseas when border closures came into effect will linger in the memory.

It is highly likely that New Zealand will become the most favoured destination.  Close across the Tasman sea and with a common language that will be a safer option until we get our nerve back to visit exotic cultures.

There will also be a degree of concern when the cruise ships again visit our shores.   It was a harrowing experience for passengers confined to their cabins as the ships visited port after port, only to be refused clearance to dock.

For that reason, many people will prefer a holiday in Australia and this country has much to offer. We have a wide climate range and an entire continent to explore.  That is an opportunity that the advertising industry will not be slow to exploit.

2020 also opened a vista of new job opportunities.  The global trade experience that saw much of our manufacturing migrate overseas delivered a lesson.  Low income countries like China eventually become greedy and dogmatic and seek to exploit their advantage.  The age of robotics and AI restores the balance and there  is now no reason why we can not compete with a return of manufacturing here.

Australia adopted a mind set that saw itself as the raw product supplier to the world.   We became a mining country and our biggest exports were coal and iron ore, which replaced our original export of wool.  We face an evolving world where the future is food production and that will become our export of the future.

That old programme of individual states setting their own education policies needs to change.  We need a national education curriculum to ensure that a common standard applies in all parts of Australia.  Those old days of finishing school and having a job for life are gone forever.  We will become accustomed to constant job training in the future so our skills keep pace with job evolution in an ever changing world.

It is inevitable that our population numbers will keep rising.  An Australian population of a hundred million is not out of the question, and this " home market " will expand the opportunity for manufacturing to be locally sourced.  We will need to disperse that large population more widely to avoid depending on a small number of mega cities.

2021 is the start of a new age with a lot of growth potential.  To take us where the future beckons, we will need to keep an open mind and seize the opportunities offering.