At our event on 16 April 2024, we were privileged to hear from Sophie Howe, the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, about how a country with fewer than 4 million people made the bold decision to plan and legislate with the wellbeing of future citizens in mind in 2015. 10 years ago, Wales was a trailblazer; today, it is one of more than 60 countries globally that are putting frameworks in place to honour future generations.
Since stepping into this role, I have spoken about Perth 2050 as a focal point. Early on, many questioned whether 2050 was too far away to be relevant. To challenge this mindset, we invited school students to share their hopes and worries for the future. That was an ‘aha’ moment for many. When a young person stands before you and reminds you that in 25 years they will be 32, 35 or 40, it really puts into perspective how close 25 years is. From today (1 May), there are 9,011 days until 1 January 2025. The clock is ticking.
A year on, on 17 April 2025, we welcomed Sophie Howe back to Perth to share her reflections at our Future Ready Forum. With deeper understanding into Perth’s unique challenges and opportunities, as well as developments from around the world, she provided insights into the potential future we can shape for our city. In September 2024, she attended the UN’s Summit of the Future in New York, where the focus was on creating a better present and future for all by addressing “today’s realities and prepare for tomorrow’s challenges”. By 2100, demographics will have shifted with seven of the 10 largest countries among today’s youngest nations, particularly in Africa. The Pact for the Future is designed to empower young people to participate in shaping policies to influence our collective futures.
Sophie also reminded us, “We must do policy by design, not by disaster”, encouraging us to embed foresight and anticipatory governance into the DNA of how we plan and make decisions– so we can fundamentally shift the way we respond to future challenges.
How could Perth, WA and Australia develop plans and goals to drive the best possible outcomes? Sophie highlighted the unique opportunity Committee for Perth has with our cross-sectoral membership - spanning government, business, and community - to agitate, challenge and collaborate to ensure we are creating a region fit for generations to come. We are having important conversations following on from the event so watch this space and think about how in your sphere of influence what you can do? Have you got a young person mentoring you? Sophie says it is a must, and I am looking to engage a young mentor soon.
Together with Scitech, we launched the Perth 2050 report in November 2024, identifying 10 key priority focus areas to help shape our best possible 2025, and beyond. These were distilled down into the ‘Three D’s’: Decarbonisation, (Economic) Diversification and Densification. In May, we will activate our working groups, each tasked with generating ideas to inform Committee for Perth’s future plan.
WA State Government is focused on the energy transition and economic diversification, but how can we promote future thinking for Perth and WA beyond the next election? At the Premier’s Address in December 2024, Premier Cook mentioned our report and the need for a plan. We look forward to playing an active role in realising that vision – contributing our research, member insights and cross-sectoral perspective to support long-term planning for the greater Perth region.
I close by inviting you for your ideas and opportunities to help continue this important shift in thinking - from today, for the world we want to create and leave behind. As always, I welcome your thoughts at paula.rogers@committeeforperth.com.au.
Best wishes,
Paula Rogers
Chief Executive Officer
Committee for Perth
PS. On behalf of the Committee for Perth team, we are proud to launch our new campaign, shining a spotlight on our brand and mission as Champions for a Greater Perth – challenging and advocating for change to make Greater Perth the best place in the world to live, work, invest, study and visit. Keep an eye out for it in Business News and across our social channels.
We would love to explore how we can share the campaign with your teams and help broaden its reach across your networks.