http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/miriam-lyons-and-dr-mark-davis/ Miriam Lyons is the Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Development (htp://cpd.org.au). Formerly the Policy Coordinator of New Matilda, Miriam has a long history of bringing policy ideas to new audiences, as the founding director of the Interface Festival of Ideas in Sydney, and director of the Ideas Program for the StraightOutof Brisbane Festival. Miriam has also worked as a freelance writer and a media development consultant in East Timor with the international NGO, Internews. Miriam was a participant in the 2020 Summit and was recently nominated in the Thinkers’ category of The Australian’s Emerging Leaders series. Dr Mark Davis is co-editor of the Centre for Policy Development’s recent publication More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now (http://morethanluck.cpd.org.au). Mark is also the author of The Land Of Plenty: Australia in the 2000s and Gangland: Cultural Elites and the New Generationalism. He is well-known as a cultural and political commentator, and is Director of the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Melbourne. en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/big-ideas-for-australias-future/ This is the first in a series of essays adapted from The Centre for Policy Development‘s book More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now. Stayed tuned to The Punch this week for more Big Ideas. What use is politics? It’s a question many Australians began to ask in the lead-up to the 2010 election as the Rudd and then the Gillard government ditched what seemed like a policy a day in a bid to lighten their electoral baggage. It was as if the government stood for nought except getting re-elected. What do we expect our governments to deliver, beyond our narrow self-interest? Some say we get the governments we deserve. To some extent, this is true. When we stop paying attention to politics, we make it easier for politicians to stop paying attention to us. Yet it is also true that governments get the citizens they deserve. If politicians treat elections as a marketing campaign instead of a genuine contest of ideas, then they should expect people to shop around for the best deal they can get for themselves. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Miriam Lyons and Dr Mark Davis) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/big-ideas-for-australias-future/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/big-ideas-for-australias-future/#item4846 Sun, 09 Jan 2011 19:55:37 +0000 Miriam Lyons and Dr Mark Davis | Author bios | The Punch