I decided the most crucial challenges for Australia are: (1) Increasing Employment, and (2) Building a More Resource-Efficient (Sustainable) Economy.

The criteria I used to make this choice were:

·        Broad impact – the downside if we don’t tackle these challenges will be very painful for many Australians not just a few

·        High probability – there is a strong chance of dire outcomes for Australians if nothing is done in the next 15 years.

(1) Increasing Employment

On this issue, I’ve been strongly influenced by the speeches of Evan Thornley, co-founder of internet search company LookSmart and Research Director of the Fabian Society.

Employment hasn’t got a lot of attention in the last five years because the official unemployment rate has decreased to around 5%.  Compared to mid- 1990s when it was up around 10% this appears to be an improvement. However the point Thornley makes is changes to the official definition of unemployment during that time have masked the fact that the problem hasn’t gone away. Since the mid 1990s the number official unemployed has dropped from around 1 million to 500,000 but disability pensions have risen from 100,000 to 600,000.  We’ve shifted the deckchairs around, says Thornley, but the problem remains.  He estimates there are at least 2 million people who have less work than they want.

Young people are heavily represented in this group. The Dusseldorp Skills Forum recently reported that 560,000 Australians aged 15-24 are not in full time work or study and 330,000 of them are female.  We also know that 1 in 6 children lives in a jobless household.

Unemployment will always be one of the key drivers of dislocation, poverty and poor outcomes in health and crime.  For this reason a focus on increasing employment will lead to results in other really important areas.  Increasing the number of people holding a well paid, full time job will go along way remedying much of the hardship and disadvantage in our society.

Thornley’s perspective is that the solution here is shifting the orientation of our economy outwards towards greater exports of value-added goods and services in areas we’re already strong (mining, wine, education, surfwear, tourism). 

(2) Building a More Resource-Efficient (Sustainable) Economy

Australia’s economy is wasteful in its use of energy, water and non-renewable raw materials.  Continuing our inefficient practices in our businesses and in our homes promises to pollute irrevocably our environment and alter its function in ways which will harm us long term (i.e. salinity and climate change).

Profligate use of electricity from coal-fired power stations underpins a lot of this harmful activity.   Both business and households can do more with less power and electricity price settings should encourage more efficient practices.

Government regulation has a critical role here but I also see great opportunity for private sector entrepreneurs to follow the model set out by people like Paul Hawken in Natural Capitalism and build profitable businesses supplying goods and services in ways which make it compelling for their customers to ‘tread more lightly’. 

This is an area in which I’m actively involved as one of the co-founders of the sustainable transport company Flo Carshare (www.flocarshare.com.au).