Alumni News

A young University of Adelaide graduate is among a group of Harvard alumni who have shared their views on how to take Australia into the 21st century.

Macgregor Duncan and three other talented Australian authors have written a new book, Imagining Australia - Ideas for our Future, which discusses the country's future political, economic and social policy while offering new ideas.

Duncan, who graduated with first class Honours in Politics and Law from Adelaide, said the idea developed during 2002 and 2003 when he and his co-authors, Andrew Leigh, David Madden and Peter Tynan, were studying at Harvard University.

"We set up a fortnightly policy seminar called the 'Australian Half-Baked Ideas Seminar' in an effort to get Australian students at Harvard discussing new ideas that might advance and rejuvenate Australia. After a while, we thought we should take these discussions and put them down on paper," Duncan said.

"Our aim was to get people thinking that if Australia is to be an even more successful country, we need to rekindle our sense of optimism and ingenuity."

Even though the four authors are Australian, Duncan said that the book was written across the four corners of the planet and rarely were the authors together at one time.

"Imagining Australia was written in the Islands of the Moluccas, Jakarta, Hobart, Boston, the sunny shores of Mossy Point, Washington DC, the Sutherland Shire, a law firm in Manhattan, Redfern, Oxford, Las Vegas, Adelaide, and London, to name just a few. We discussed ideas using instant messenger and email, phone conferences and occasionally even face-to-face conversations."

Duncan, who has had an interest in politics and public affairs since high school, has encountered many exciting prospects since he graduated from his Adelaide studies in 1998.

"After finishing university, I worked for Justice Michael Kirby at the High Court. I then attended Princeton University where I studied public policy and international relations and later I did a Master in Law at Harvard Law School. Currently I am working for a major New York law firm."

The authors, Duncan said, all had a unified view that education plays a significant role in our future.

"Higher education is vitally important. And in Australia we need to do more - much more - to create outstanding universities that produce graduates ranking among the world's best," he said.

"I often think Adelaide is an ideal university-town; it's got an interesting combination of intellectualism and parochialism."

Imagining Australia - Ideas for our Future is published by Allen & Unwin and has a recommended retail price of $24.95.

Story by Natalie De Nadai