Fed: Rudd calls in the boffins
By Cathy AlexanderFri Aug 28 02:23:04 EST 2009
Thu Aug 27 16:23:04 UTC 2009
CANBERRA, Aug 27 AAP - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants to call in the boffins to bring about better government in Australia.
Mr Rudd has unveiled his vision for the country's top university academics to help steer the ship of state.
He wants them to train up politicians and public servants, and give advice on government policies.
"Academia should not be a life sentence," Mr Rudd told students at his old Alma mater, the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra.
"At the moment, there are thick walls between academia and public administration.
"Our bureaucrats and our politicians need to be challenged by the larger world of ideas."
Mr Rudd said key areas where academics could take a hands-on role included balancing the role of the market and the state, health reform, climate change, and tackling indigenous disadvantage.
To make a start on his grand plan, Mr Rudd wants a new National Security College to be set up between the ANU and the government.
The College would train up senior officials who are working in national security, with an eye to boosting "strategic leadership". Talks had already begun with the ANU, he said.
Mr Rudd delivered his call to arms to the nation's academics while decked out in ceremonial robes after being made an honorary fellow at ANU's Burgmann College, where he studied in the 1970s.
Hundreds of students attended the prime minister's speech.
