Tax summit | Australian style

A summit without friends or agenda is even more useless

Andrew Bolt – Wednesday, August 03, 11 (07:09 am)

Peter Costello is tipping a charade of a tax summit:

WHEN Kevin Rudd gathered delegates at Parliament House for his Australia 2020 Summit it was regarded as a hot ticket. Rudd said they were ‘’1000 of Australia’s best and brightest’’. Cate Blanchett came with baby Ignatius, only six days old. Jewish delegates got a special preview since the date clashed with Passover. Worthies like then Victoria Police chief Christine Nixon were invited. So was Fairfax journalist David Marr. The head of News Limited, John Hartigan, was co-chairman of the session on mapping out ‘’The Future of Australian Governance’’.

People forget how chummy things were in the afterglow of Labor’s 2007 election. The only people excluded were those associated with the Ancient Regime - people like me. But these days I find a lot of those who attended do not like to be reminded of it. The ones that are getting respect nowadays are the few who were invited but declined the invitation.

We could ask just how that summit shaped the nation’s future? Or perhaps we should ask an easier question. Can anyone remember any new ideas that came out of the assembly of Australia’s 1000 brightest people?
All this springs to mind as the government gathers its hand-picked audience for the tax summit on October 4-5.