Australia 2050 report calls for conversations about the future

The Australian Academy of Science has launched the final publication from its Australia 2050 project, which aims to get Australians talking about our long-term economic, social and environmental future. Initiated by the academy in 2010 with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the project has sought to find ways to foster national discussion about future scenarios for Australia with experts from science, industry, commerce, government, community, sports, arts and social welfare.

‘Australia 2050: Structuring conversations about our future’ is the third volume in a series offering a roadmap for groups to have constructive conversations about the future they want for themselves, their children and their grandchildren, based on the comparison of four different scenarios. It includes a foreword by former Governor-General Dame Quentin Bryce, who says the Australia 2050 project has been an important step towards catalysing a national conversation about the kind of future Australians want.

“Predicting the future is impossible, yet we need to plan for it if we can,” she wrote. “We know that the choices we make today will, to a greater or lesser extent, shape the future we will have.”

Academy fellow Dr John Finnigan, the chair of the Australia 2050 steering committee, said the project provides “insights to governments and community groups about how to better plan for the future. It also tries to get Australians to confront the fact that different groups want different futures for our country and that not all of them are compatible or even possible.

“What we can be sure of is that whatever future we will have, we will all share it and choices we make now will help shape it. Sleepwalking into the future is not an option.”

All three Australia 2050 publications are available at https://www.science.org.au/publications/australia-2050.