JULIA GILLARD: I am just going to make a very brief statement but I am really going to hand very quickly over to the stars of the show, our co-summit chairs of the Youth Summit, Kate and Hugh who are with me. But it has obviously been a great pleasure for me this morning as Acting Prime Minister to be here to open the 2020 Youth Summit. This is part of a community festival of ideas, of trying to collect ideas from right around the nation to feed into the 2020 Summit next weekend. We've had more than 500 schools bring young people together to talk about this nation's future and where we want it to be in 2020. Those ideas have fed into today's Youth Summit which brings together 100 young Australians from right around the country who are going to spend a weekend talking about the kind of nation they want to live in in 2020. As I said in my speech, we've brought together representatives of the 1001st generation to live in this country. It's a special generation with its contribution to the nation's future. And when we are talking about 2020, the people in this room today will be the adults of 2020. Whatever long term ideas come out of the 2020 Summit, it's the generation represented at this Youth Summit who will implement them and guide them into the future. So it is a very special opportunity to hear the voices of young Australians. The Summit is being lead by Kate and by Hugh and I will turn to them now to see if they would like to make some statements about what a great, exciting possibility for a weekend full of ideas from some of the best and brightest young people around the nation. So I will call first on my Ministerial colleague Kate Ellis.
KATE ELLIS: Well thank you very much Julia. It's fantastic for my co-chair Hugh Evans and I to be here in Canberra to welcome one hundred remarkable young Australians to join with us in talking about the challenges which lie before our country and how we can reach our full potential. The one hundred young Australians from right around the country come here with fresh ideas, with different experiences, with unique perspectives. And we think it's really important that when we are talking about Australia in 2020, we are involving in that conversation, the people that will be the parents, the business leaders, the community leaders, indeed possibility the politicians of that time to be amongst the conversations and start working now to put those plans into action. These one hundred people range in age from 15 to 24. They're from right around the country and they've already achieved some remarkable results. Amongst this group in Canberra we have people that have set up their own development agencies, they've gone into business, they've made remarkable academic achievements. They're already out there making a difference in the community and what this government is very keen to do is recognise that young people are already doing very important things. Too often they're stereotyped as being the lout, the party animals and we don't recognise that there are some remarkable young Australians. It's the end of National Youth Week and we think this is a really significant way to put them on the agenda. And I might if I can, just welcome Hugh Evans to say a few words about some of the young Australians amongst this group and some of the things they have already achieved.
HUGH EVANS: Thank you Minister Ellis. I'd like to add, what a great privilege it is to be here for the 2020 Youth Summit. Some people say that our generation only cares about ourselves, that we don't commit to anything, that we just don't care but really that is a lie. All across Australia young people are shaping the future of our great nation. They are here this weekend because they believe that change is possible and that we can be a generation that really tackles some of the greatest moral and social challenges of our time. And so we have amongst us some very dynamic young people. A young guy, who is our youngest delegate, is a guy by the name of Nicholas Rokkas; he is 15 years old and has already won a sustainable living award for doing incredible stuff in and around his community. He submitted a range of ideas that are practical ideas for Australia's future. We have young people like Tom O'Connor who is the Young Victorian of the Year this year. He's one of the leaders of the Oak Tree Foundation and has also played a significant role with the United Nations Youth Association as well. Him and many others like him are out there to really make a substantial difference for Australia's future. So I am very proud to be here. I am very proud to be able to co-chair this summit together with Minister Ellis. Thank you Minister Gillard for being able to share with us today, we really appreciate you being here. But I guess what we'd like to say it that there are some critical challenges ahead of us. The challenge of climate change is real. The challenge of global poverty is real. We see that probably the most substantial challenge is the challenge of Australia becoming a true knowledge nation. And the reason why this is important is if Australia can be a true knowledge nation it actually gives us the opportunity to tackle broader social policy issues head on because we will have initiative ideas for Australia's future. Thank you.
JULIA GILLARD: Alright, can I ask if there are questions on the Youth Summit first, if people would ask those and then we will turn to more general questions. So are there any questions directly on the Youth Summit and feel free to direct them to Kate or Hugh.
JOURNALIST: Kate, you mentioned in your speech there the ‘Corey factor' but the reality is that a lot of young Australians are like Corey. Where's their representation here for them?
KATE ELLIS: What we're asking for here is a balance. That when you pick up the newspapers, when you look at the media, people could be mistaken for thinking that there is a whole generation of kids out there that just want to party. They don't care about anything and don't add anything to our community. That's not true. What we're trying to say is there are remarkable young Australians out there. There are people that care about making Australia a better place. That care about improving their local community, about getting involved. And we think that they deserve a fairer go then they've been getting. That's why we've brought these people here this weekend in Canberra. That's why we want to put them under the spot light and let them show Australia their great ideas. Because I think there are a lot of people out there that think they're a bunch of partying Corey's, that are going to be very surprised at just how amazing some of these young Australians are.
JOURNALIST: So is this partly then about besides getting those ideas worked out, also a process of rebuilding the image following some of that publicity surrounding the Corey's and what have you?
KATE ELLIS: I think that is important. I think that is important that all Australians get a fair go. And I think that some people can legitimately argue that remarkable young Australians aren't featuring as prominently in public debate and in public discussion as they should have been. I know that I'm certainly of the view that young people have not been involved in political discussions, have not had a seat at the table in Australia for far too long. We don't want to silence these people. We think they have great contributions and we want to give them a forum so that they can come forward and be involved in the debate going forward.
JOURNALIST: As Minister who will be receiving the torch in Canberra you relieved that the IOC has announced that it will go ahead today, the Relay?
KATE ELLIS: I think that the Olympic Torch Relay is a really important part of the Olympic movement. In the past we have seen it is a great opportunity to build excitement about the games to start focusing on our athletes; the training they have been doing, their hopes and expectations. And I hope that when the Olympic Torch Relay comes to Australia, that some of the focus remains on those remarkable athletes. I think it's very important.
JULIA GILLARD: Thank you. Any other questions?
JOURNALIST: In the Olympic year do you think that Brendan Nelson's almost finished running his marathon?
JULIA GILLARD: Look, that's a matter for the Liberal Party.
JOURNALIST: As someone who's witnessed leadership challenges. Do you have any advice for Brendan Nelson?
JULIA GILLARD: Oh look I don't. These are all matters for the Liberal Party to deal with.
JOURNALIST:Is he the Government's best asset while he remains leader?
JULIA GILLARD: These are all matters for the Liberal Party to deal with and I'm not going to provide any advice or commentary. The Liberal Party can deal with these issues itself.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned about more reports today about the connection between developers making donations to the New South Wales state Labor government?
JULIA GILLARD: Well clearly Federal Labor has signalled that we want to make sure that there are better disclosure laws in this country. We were very critical of the Howard Government when it increased the amount, before you had to make a disclosure, to $10,000. My colleague Senator Faulkner is ensuring that disclosure has to happen for donations of $1000 or more and it has to happen more quickly that it's happened with the past with a six monthly disclosure cycle. And then we will of course be questing for ideas for about better disclosure arrangements generally and better transparency in political funding. My colleague Senator Faulkner is going to go through a process, to have a discussion about further ideas. I certainly think the Australian community wants to be reassured on these questions and we are taking urgent steps to do so, making sure we've got proper disclosure arrangements back in the Federal arena with amounts of a thousand or more disclosure. Thank you very much.