Seeding Futures for Wellbeing: Catalysing Collective Imagination

Full text

FOR WELLBEING
SEEDING FUTURES
Catalysing Collective Imagination

Context
This compendium is a response to the essay penned by The Hon
Dr Jim Chalmers MP for The Monthly in February 2023.
Our team at Grifth Centre for Systems Innovation (GCSI – formerly
The Yunus Centre) was inspired by the Capitalism after the
Crises topic, and decided to approach a diverse group of potential
collaborators (see below) to come together around the theme.
We were interested to explore what we might together as a group
be able to generate by way of practical (HOW) suggestions that
could support the vision and sentiment outlined in the essay. We
gathered on March 16th, 2023, before and after CEDA’s Major
Address lunch held that day, and also ‘listened together’ to the
Treasurer’s address at the event.
On the day and over the intervening period, we’ve worked to
develop this response. We offer this in the spirit of being ‘in
conversation’ with the Monthly essay and the Treasurer’s efforts
to promote a values-based capitalism agenda, potentially as an
important legacy of his tenure.
We hope to continue this conversation and offer our support
to deepening and strengthening both conceptual and practical
understandings of what it would take to affect systems-shifts along
this trajectory.
CONTENTS
2
Seeding Positive Futures
- A Collective Imagination Starter Pack
- How might we catalyse collective imaginations for positive futures?
- Understanding the imagination landscape
Creating Conditions for Cultivating Collective Imagination
- Next step seeding...
Seven Themes
Accounting for the Future
Intergenerational Wellbeing of Places + Communities
Systemic Capital
Transforming Markets + Supply Chains
Quality Jobs in the Future of Work
A Diverse Care Economy that Really Cares
Just Energy Transitions
3
27
8
10
12
15
18
21
24
Participants who came together to workshop ideas presented in this compendium:
• Professor Ingrid Burkett, Director, GCSI
• A/Professor Joanne McNeill, Deputy Director, GCSI
• Dr Glenda Stanley, Partnerships Manager, The Bryan Foundation
• Professor Katherine Gibson, Community Economies Institute & Institute for Culture
& Society, Western Sydney University
•Craig North, Managing Director, Firesticks Alliance
• Belinda Drew, Deputy Director-General, Communities, Department of Treaty,
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Communities & the Arts
• Adam Fennessy, Dean & CEO Australia & New Zealand School of Government
• Tim Marshall, Head of Government Relations & Public Affairs, Skafold Global
• Sacha Edema, Head of Government Affairs, Paul Ramsay Foundation
• Clare Fountain, Education & Training Lead, Business Council of Cooperatives &
Mutuals (BCCM) https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/5007

The current political environment in Australia
isn’t always conducive to the sharing of bold and
courageous visions for collective futures. Yet,
we live in a time when exactly such visions are
needed, perhaps more than ever. We need to be
able to harness our collective imaginations, and
commit our shared capacities towards creating
such futures. We do not have to agree on how
to get there - but we do need to imagine potential
directions, opportunities, options towards which
we can navigate, no matter where we sit.
Starting from the article shared by the Treasurer,
we have identied seven themes that could
create the foundation for such conversations.
We offer this as a catalyst to start deeper
conversations - conversations that take this
particular vision as a starting point, but use it
to ask deeper questions, foster engagement,
debate, dialogue and genuine curiosity about how
we can grow positive futures.
We call on the Treasurer to continue to foster,
nurture and grow this important conversation
- and to start close in, in his own electorate, to
support a collective, deliberative, participatory
imagining of how we could plant and grow
seeds of possibility towards the vision of a
more just, more sustainable future.
Some of these ‘seeds’ are already planted,
waiting to ourish with the right attention and
conditions. There are existing initiatives that
are already growing pockets of these futures in
the present which need further exploring and
sharing. Some of the seeds are responding
to ‘unknowns’ in the future - but we make
space for the conditions that might mean that
if we plant them they could sprout and provide
opportunities over coming years.
The seven themes are outlined below. This
booklet explores each one in turn, creating
some foundations for deeper discussions.
Seeding Positive Futures
CONTENTS
Quality Jobs in
the Future of Work
Systemic
Capital
Transforming Markets
+ Supply Chains
A Care Economy
that really Cares
Just Energy
Transition Intergenerational Wellbeing
of Places + Communities
Accounting for
the Future
Seeding Futures for Democratic, Values-based Capitalism
3
Creating Conditions for Cultivating Collective Imagination
- Next step seeding...
Figure 1: Seven themes identied in Jim Chalmers’ 2023 essay ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’ (https://tinyurl.com/5dnk37vs)

How might we catalyse collective
imaginations for positive futures?
All of the questions, inspirations and pockets of possibility shared in the
following pages offer insights into (and hopefully inspire imagination
around) the kinds of enterprises and initiatives policymakers, nanciers
and other eco-system actors could be supporting and prioritising to take
on practical roles in shifting the trajectory of change.
But if we are to really shift-the-dial here we need to get much more
nuanced about what we mean by values when we talk about values-
based capitalism, and about how public participation could help shape
narratives around imagining this relatively complex territory.
Over the course of the original day’s discussion, our collaborating group
coalesced around two inter-twined strands that would be critical in taking
the dialogue further into the public domain:
• meaning-making over indicators and other ‘measures’ of wellbeing,
to improve interest in participation; and
• opening up more deliberative, distributed and participatory spaces
through which people could contribute to decision-making that affects
their lives and the futures of their communities.
Theme
Core Question
Perspective on the Territory
Starting Point for Sense-Making
Territories for Deliberation
Themes drawn from the original article
requiring collective imagination
A core question that helps shape a frame for
imagining possibilities
An overview of some of the territories of the
theme from our perspective
A provocation or framing as an offering for
sense-making
A set of potential territories for collective
imagination + deliberation
“The task of turning imaginative ideas into lived realities
invariably involves assemblies that combine multiple things
into a useful form rather than just extrapolation from a single
idea...what changes the world in the end is the generative
ideas, not the detailed blueprints.”
Geoff Mulgan, Another World is Possible: How to Reignite Social and
Political Imagination, 2022
A Collective Imagination Starter Pack
This booklet is intended as a collective imagination starter
pack! We have created a reection on the seven themes
identied above with the aim of engaging with other interested
parties, both locally and internationally, in processes of rigorous
imagining and deliberation about how we could create the
conditions for futures in which values-led capitalism, democracy
and wellbeing could ourish.
For each of the seven themes we have drawn together some
questions, perspectives, sense-making starting points and
deeper potential discussion points aiming to foster collective
imagination and deliberation.
4

The assumption is that if measures could be made
more meaningful, then people will be more interested in
participating in dening and supporting the values that
guide and govern decision-making. And if more people
are participating, the values that permeate our lives will
be more explicit and by default also more inclusive and
representative in their expression.
Many of us have heard of ‘citizens juries’ or ‘citizens
assemblies’ as ways of drawing together diverse groups
of people to rigorously and deliberatively explore particular
issues. We suggest that a variety of methods be tested
and tried, including any or all of those illustrated here (see
Figure 2).
Understanding the imagination landscape
In thinking about a trajectory towards a society where
values-based capitalism models become more normalised
as ways of ‘doing business’, we nd the Three Horizons
method offers a useful framework (see Figure 3).
We draw on this approach (developed by the International
Futures Forum), to challenge and open up linear views of
change - that make futures appear opaque, impossible
and risky – and to make the different ways we could
imagine futures into being more visible.
The Three Horizons framework helps to get clearer about
both what potentials lie in the present and how we could
imagine futures. We’ve written previously about how the
framework can be used in combination with Mariana
Mazzucato’s work on Mission-oriented innovation (we call
it Challenge-led, as appropriate in the Australian context).
If we locate normalised democratic, values-based
capitalism and wellbeing as part of the ‘preferred future’
(third horizon), we can gain a sense of how we might
traverse there through applying a second horizon lens
– as this isthe transition and transformation zone where 5
Figure 2: Beyond Citizen Juries: Opening possibilities for collective, deliberative and participatory imagination
Uncovering citizen
narratives about collective
futures.
For example, the use of the
method, ‘SensemakerTM’ to
look at clusters of narratives
that give us a sense about how
citizens are thinking about their
futures + the future of their
place - see
https://tinyurl.com/3ujuenkb
Serious Imagination Games
Using real + virtual games to
engage people around
imagining local futures. For
example, “Utrecht 2040” is a
multiplayer mobile game that
enables students of Utrecht
University to re-imagine better
futures for the city aligned with
the UN SDGs, + propose
changes in real contexts + share
them with other players - see
https://tinyurl.com/hy5wcv67
Distributed Collective
Futures Festivals
For example, the RSA’s
Unboxed celebrated the power
of people coming together to
imagine + design better futures
through installations, events +
experiences created across the
United Kingdom
- see
www.thersa.org/collective-futures
Growing imagination
capability across
communities + cohorts
For example, Camden
Imagines has created courses
for teams + organisations with
a focus on imagination as a
core leadership skill +
encourages working with
communities to embark on
collective imaginings. see
https://tinyurl.com/2p9btpaw
Imaginariums
Spaces (physical and/or
virtual) of curated imaginative
ideas for the present + futures,
or museums of imagination
that exhibit ideas from a place
or a region or a cohort of
people - see
https://tinyurl.com/3bx2xche
Speculative Futures writing +
arts festivals For example, the
Black Speculative Arts Movement,
a worldwide creative movement
integrating African diasporic
worldviews with science or
technology holds a Black Futures
Festival in St Louis to explore
speculative futures - see,
www.bsam-art.com

experiments, adaptations, and partial ‘solutions’
proliferate and where we can ‘test’ the future.
Examining ‘pockets of the future in the present’
can also help us to add colour to pictures of what
democratic, values-based capitalism could look
like in practice in different contexts.
So many of the themes we’ve picked out of the
article have deep roots - they are not ‘new’ ideas
and they have been spoken about in many forms
often for decades.
The real challenge is less about debating the
‘truth’ of tiny details of ideas and imaginings, and
more about how we move from conceptual
imaginings to making imaginaries that provide
opportunities to test how new approaches and
shifted trajectories could become part of our
social fabric.
We think there are ve core rhythms to helping
shift from big ideas to big realities (not in a linear
way, but more as a continuous rhythm):
1. Learning the territory: understand the
histories of the idea, origins, traditions and
lessons learnt;
2. Making visible existing seeds + saplings:
nding what is already planted, and nurturing
these, creating conditions for these to
ourish;
3. Seeding collective imaginations towards
transitions: working with diverse peoples to
create participatory processes in imagining
HOW positive futures might be created;
4. Biodegrading incumbent systems: in
order to make space for the new, we need to
nd ways to biodegrade what is no longer t
for purpose - this is a whole body of work in
itself and rarely discussed or enacted!
5. Seeding possibilities + creating
conditions for possible futures: seeds can
take years to germinate...but unless they are
planted in the present, and the conditions for
them to grow are present, there is no hope
for generating forests of future possibilities.
For these rhythms to generate real shifts over
the next few years, a movement of leaders,
convenors, creatives, makers, thinkers and
Horizon One
Current paradigms,
assumptions, data +
infrastructure
Horizon Two
Transitions requiring
transformational
experiments + learning
Horizon Three
Emerging paradigms, future
systems + consciousness
NOW NEAR
FUTURE
FAR
FUTURE
doers will be required. And just like some of the
responses to the Treasurer’s article, there will
be naysayers, haters, distractors and trolls. But
let’s get on with it anyway!
Because, without at least some movement
towards the kernel of each one of the themes
identied here we face futures that will be hard,
perhaps even catastrophic. Taking a position
of opening the way to engage our collective
imaginations will at least give us a way to start
opening up different possibilities.
6
Figure 3: The Three Horizons framework (based on that developed by Bill Sharpe and the International Futures Forum, 2016)
The best time to plant a tree seed was 30
years ago, the second best time is now.
A quote sometimes linked to Confucious...
but it’s actual origins are a little unclear!

NOW NEAR
FUTURE
FAR
FUTURE
Nurturing Conditions for
existing saplings to flourish
Embedding a strong culture of adaptation
Supporting conditions for collective
imagination, experimentation + action
Seeding futures in which people,
places + the planet can thrive
Making Visible Existing Seeds + Saplings
Recognising the seeds of the future that exist in the
present + fertilising them
Acknowledging + learning from what has gone before
(honouring + learning from First Peoples knowledge)
Recognising needs for
transition + tapping into
decline of current
systems
Creating + investing in a transition seed bank that fosters
both collective imagination + experimentation
Seeding possibilities: collective imagination of possible
futures + then creating the conditions to enable them
Learning the Territories
Biodegrading incumbent systems
Seeding collective imaginations towards transitions
Seeding possibilities + creating conditions for possible futures
7
Figure 4: The Three Horizons Framework reimagined as creating different conditions for seeding futures

Accounting for the Future “To measure what matters is also to recognise a growing consensus from
economists and investors that our economies need to embed and express
more than one notion of value. Tracking these metrics over time will give
us a more comprehensive picture of whether policies are working. But it
will also give us an evidence base from which we can have better, more
informed discussions about what needs to be done to lift living standards,
boost intergenerational mobility and broaden opportunity”.
Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
At the end of the 20th Century, John Elkington developed the
‘Triple Bottom Line’ model which became the basis for a range
of accounting and reporting systems from ‘full cost accounting’
to ‘integrated reporting’ and ‘multiple capital models’. In the last
decade there has been an explosion of different models and
frameworks that are trying to ‘account for the future’ - from ESGs to
SDGs, everyone is seeking to measure what matters for wellbeing
and sustainability. Of course there are questions around efcacy of
measures, how we best use and learn from what we are measuring,
and how we measure forwards towards better futures rather than
just rely on retrospective measurement.
The government’s release of the Measuring What Matters
framework is a great step forward - recognising of course that there
have been attempts to measure wellbeing before in Australia going
right back to last century, but that they have not been maintained
largely because they have not had broad political commitment (see
for example, Measures of Australia’s Progress). So, perhaps the
most critical questions centre on how we agree, maintain and apply
wellbeing measures over time and across political divides to really
shift policy, grow opportunities, address challenges and commit to
learning from mistakes.
Data represents a huge new value creator. If Australia can build
the infrastructure, commit the resources needed, and grow strong,
ethical frameworks around access, availability, usability and equity,
we have the potential to seed positive futures connecting data,
measurement and opportunity.
“Triple Bottom Line’s stated goal from
the outset was system change —
pushing toward the transformation
of capitalism. It was never supposed
to be just an accounting system. It
was originally intended as a genetic
code, a triple helix of change for
tomorrow’s capitalism, with a focus
on breakthrough change, disruption,
asymmetric growth (with unsustainable
sectors actively sidelined), and the
scaling of next-generation market
solutions”.
John Elkington, 2018
How do we build a true picture of the nation’s books – one
that reveals more than the bottom line?
8

NEAR FUTURE FAR FUTURE INFINITE FUTURE
INFINITE PAST
NOW
NEAR
FUTURE
NOW NEAR
FUTURE
FAR
FUTURE
How might examining
the history of current
accounting frameworks
help us open opportunities
for changing how we
account for our futures?
How might we make
current accounting +
reporting frameworks
only a part of the
picture + eventually
biodegrade those that
are not useful?
How might we not only
‘measure’ what matters, but
understand when + how to
act on what we learn from
measurement?
What would it mean to
harness the power of data
for the intergenerational
wellbeing of people, place
+ planet?
What might the long
game story of data +
accounting be?
How might First People’s knowledge of
wellbeing that connects people + country
shape a remembering of the future?
How might learnings from
diverse histories help
account more holistically
for collective futures?
The ‘Three Horizons’ can be used as
a framework for dialogue - to open up
questions + stimulate discussion across
horizons of time.
Here we have collected some key
questions that might inform some
starting points for processes of
generating collective imagination -
connected to the theme of Accounting
for the Future.
A set of potential territories for collective imagination + deliberation: in these cards we have drawn some starting points from our
discussion with the group and from research that could form the basis of questions for deliberations on this theme.
Local &
Global Futures
How could we align the
‘measuring what matters’
framework with global
frameworks (like SDGs),
making sure that local
communities + regions
also benet from +
access measurement
frameworks +
infrastructure to measure
what matters for them?
Power to
People
How could we grow
a nation of ‘citizen
researchers + learners’
- putting the power over
data in the hands of
citizens AND creating
infrastructure that enables
citizens to access, use,
share measures + data
that matter to them,
growing the picture of
what matters from the
ground up?
Open Data +
Measures Leveraging
Technology
with Care
Deepening
Accounting &
Accountability
How could we build
on Open Data, to
make measurement
infrastructure freely
available for the public
good, encouraging
transparency, ethics,
learning + innnovation?
How could decisions
about measurement
+ data maximise the
potential of technology
to create economic +
social opportunities
+ minimise potential
harms from bias + decit
data?
How could accounting
frameworks support
‘action on what matters’
by building in transparent
incentives, accountability
mechanisms + ags
when measures
indicate challenges or
deterioration of wellbeing
or sustainability?
9
Figure 5: The Three Horizons Framework stretches out to pasts + futures

Intergenerational Wellbeing of Places & Communities
People live in, work in, care in, places and
communities. Those places are embedded in Country,
in ecosystems, in landscapes that people know and
care for, which dene their lives and their prospects.
In recent times Australia has seen the impacts of
climate and biodiversity crises in specic places - who
can forget the res in places like Kinglake, Mallacoota,
Bega Valley, Beechmont, and the oods in Lismore,
Bundaberg, the Lockyer Valley and in the Kimberley
to name just a few. Communities bear the brunt
of ecological, economic, and social shifts. Places
represent the face of pressures as climate changes,
supply chains strain and housing crises worsen.
It is no wonder then that ‘place-based’ approaches
have become common for delivery of services,
engagement of populations and transition activities.
Place-based policy is increasingly recognising the
“I know from my own community in Logan, south of Brisbane, how unjust it is that people who live on the outskirts of capital cities
and in some regional areas experience much more inequality than other citizens. But this injustice presents an opportunity: to
focus our attention on place-based initiatives where communities have the genuine input, local leadership, resources and authority
to dene a new and better future, especially for kids”. Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
“Imagination is often referred to as a sort of solo activity — authors, artists — but what we’ve found is really
key to creativity is that it’s a collective imagination process. It’s the magic of creating together.”
Phoebe Tickell, Moral Imagination, 2022
How do we nurture positive futures in place, caring for Country, protecting our diverse ecosystems and
ensuring that future generations will thrive in vibrant, healthy communities?
importance of context in creating positive social and
health outcomes, and is building on evidence that
community participation and collaboration can be
an important part of achieving better outcomes for
children and families.
There is, however, a need for some deeper integrated
thinking and action around how we ensure that places
and communities across Australia can continue to
create opportunities for future generations. We need
bold ideas and actions to ensure that places and
communities can support thriving ecosystems; provide
opportunities for good, quality jobs in strong local
economies; develop robust social fabrics; offer access
to effective support networks; promise equitable
availability of housing, education and health services;
and secure affordable, high speed communications
services that enable distributed opportunities across
this vast continent.
10

Locally-led
Wellbeing
Indicators
Beyond Projects
+ Pilots
Real Community
Governance Resourcing
Local Adaptation
Infrastructures
How could we connect
national indicators for
wellbeing with locally-led
frameworks measuring,
monitoring + learning
from what matters at a
local, community level
creating the foundation
for rich, adaptive +
engaging approaches to
wellbeing?
How could we go
beyond small + pilot
projects to grow
wellbeing through bold,
far-sighted, long-term,
holistic + developmental
approaches; including
opening up what they may
look like + what they may
focus on?
How could we grow
democratic futures
in Australia through
a radical revision of
grass-roots governance
that is more than local
boards, committees and
meetings so that genuine,
democratic opportunities
for diverse communities
to have a voice are
established?
How could we resource
local infrastructures
that enable decision-
making, data + learning
to encourage locally-led
adaptation in the face of
climate crises and the
wellbeing challenges this
generates?
The ‘Firesticks Alliance’ is a growing movement that seeks to spread not only these practices but grow intergenerational wellbeing in First
Nations communities, and nurture and protect ecologies. The Firesticks Alliance is an example of how holistic wellbeing can be practiced -
and how ‘wellbeing’ could take us to places far beyond what is currently imagined in mainstream articulations of the concepts.
The Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation provides
Indigenous leadership, advocacy and action to protect, conserve
and enhance cultural and natural values of people and Country
through cultural re and land management practices.
Firesticks aims to re-invigorate the use of cultural burning
by facilitating cultural learning pathways to re and land
management.
It is an initiative for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to look
after Country, share their experiences and collectively explore
ways to achieve their goals.
Firesticks is an opportunity for people to build on the knowledge
they already have on Country and look for ways to make use of
new technologies and understandings as a way to support cultural
identity and practice.
Firesticks ultimately strives to empower Aboriginal and non-
Aboriginal communities to work together towards healthy,
functional and resilient landscapes.
Firesticks is facilitating training, implementing on-ground works and
conducting scientic monitoring to establish a greater understanding of
the ecological impact of cultural burning practices.
The program aims to work with re to enhance ecosystem health by
improving habitat condition and connectivity within culturally connected
landscapes. The integration of social and ecological elements is
driving a deeper approach to wellbeing.
Firesticks Alliance
https://www.resticks.org.au/
11
A set of potential territories for collective imagination + deliberation: in these cards we have drawn some starting points from
our discussion with the group and from research that could form the basis of questions for deliberations on this theme.
Pockets of the Future in the Past + Present

Capital is a fundamental enabler of innovation and action
- whether that capital is public, private community and/or
collective. Capital markets have been a primary building
block of the modern, global economy. However, as it
becomes increasingly clear that these economic systems
need to be rewired to mitigate existential risks to human
wellbeing and the health of the planet, paradigms around
the purpose and application of capital are also shifting.
Around the world, and in Australia, governments, nancial
institutions, businesses, non-prot entities, philanthropists,
individuals, and communities, are experimenting with
different ways to access, structure, and blend nance
to enable transitions and collective betterment. These
developments, such as impact investment, are promising,
but not yet sufcient.
Too few resources are nding their way to actors and
activities that have the potential to create real positive
impact, and those that do often fail to foster enduring and
coherent change. So, beyond the need to increase the
ow of resources towards creating better futures, there
also needs to be new thinking in respect to how those
resources are allocated, managed, and governed.
Indeed, while there is a growing realisation that complex
challenges require ‘systems of interventions and system
innovation’ (Johar, 2017), we are not yet investing with
that mindset. Yes, we are seeing nancial capital move
Systemic Capital
“What we need now is a radically new approach to investing with the explicit aim
of systems transformation - one that deploys capital with a broader intent and
mindset; that is anchored in different methodologies, structures, capabilities,
and decision-making frameworks; and that moves away from a project-by-
project mentality...What matters is that investment decisions are based on an
understanding of how such impact will emerge at the system level, not just at
the level of a single project or transaction”.
Dominic Hoffstetter, Transformation Capital, Climate KIC, 2020
“Across the social purpose economy, in areas such as aged care,
education and disability, effective organisations with high-quality talent
can offer decent returns and demonstrate a social dividend - but they
nd it hard to grow because they nd it hard to get investors. Right
now, the market framework that would enable that investment in effect
doesn’t properly exist” Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
towards impact goals through elds like impact investment, but
the mechanics of allocation remain largely the same, focused on
generating ‘pipelines’, cherry-picking deals, and growing portfolios
of ‘single point solutions’ (Gurciullo, 2021).
Impact Investment is built out of the rst horizon and helps
us to move towards second horizons. However, while such
approaches (whether they be commercial, public, philanthropic
or community-based in nature) are enabling many good things to
happen, they will not foster the trajectories and scale of change
we need. As a result, we are missing opportunities to harness
collective efforts that exist across people, enterprises, projects,
and institutions wanting to achieve common goals, and limiting
our potential for transformation. To shift towards second and third
horizon trajectories we need to think more about systemic capital
and transformational investment - including using emerging
instruments such as co-operative shares, debentures and co-
operative capital units (eg. see https://tinyurl.com/2p8yn5nc) - and
stretch our imaginations beyond the orthodoxies of current market
mechanisms and assumptions.
How do we enable the ow of the vast resources
needed to enable coherent, collective effort, and
shared pursuit of bold, holistic goals?
12

Growing
Affordable
Housing in
Logan
Green
Energy
Local
Jobs
New
Construction
Trade
Training
intake
Solar +
Retrofit
Trade
Training
Courses
Ownership
Development
Infrastructure
Local Power
Company
Micro-grid
Cooperative
Wind
Farm
Green
Infrastructure
Development
Contract
Housing
Retrofit
Enterprise
Cooperative
Finance
Conservation
Park + Forest
Library
Maker
Space
Rent-to-Buy
Scheme
Joint Equity
Scheme
Self-Build
Affordable
Green Housing
Investment
Fund
Community
Infrastructure
Small
Business
Development
Infrastructure
Local Job
Creation
Incentives
Below is an imaginary group of systemic investment portfolios for Logan - through which we can see how three ‘outcome’ arenas - affordable housing, green
energy and local jobs could spark a range of investment opportunities - all generating value across the outcomes, but not all having the potential to deliver
stellar monetary returns. If we are to really develop systemic investment approaches, we need to imagine such scenarios, test them, try them, learn and grow
them.
13
Figure 6: Imagining systemic capital in Logan, Queensland

Value + Outcome
as Focus of
Portfolio
Composition
Multiple Asset +
Outcome Multiplier
Approaches
From
Segmentation
to Integration of
Markets + Capital
How could we drive
private + public
investment away from a
focus on single assets,
deals and investable
projects, towards systemic
capital that takes as its
starting point an outcome
‘eld’ where the outcomes
intersect + multiply in
relation to each other?
How could we focus
portfolio composition on
total value + outcomes
- so that they become
much more driven by their
catalytic potential than
their risk/return proles,
creating opportunities to
drive transformation away
from polycrisis?
How could we incentivise
‘integrated’ investment,
drawing together private,
public and civic capital
to focus on maximising
+ multiplying benets,
outcomes + value
creation?
NEAR FUTURE
NOW
NEAR
FUTURE
Impact Investment has helped to
challenge asset classes, what is
‘investable’ + what should be included
as a ‘return. It is a good start, but not
enough to take us forward...
There is growing recognition that transitions to
regenerative futures require fundamental changes -
moving beyond investment orthodoxies +
challenging some core economic tenets so that
investment is able to sustain intergenerational
wellbeing
14
Figure 7: Impact Investment is a good start but it is not robust enough to help us transition into positive futures
A set of potential
territories for collective
imagination +
deliberation: in these
cards we have drawn
some starting points
from our discussion
with the group and
from research that
could form the basis
of questions for
deliberations on this
theme.

“It’s not just our economic institutions that need renewing and restructuring, but our
markets as well. Here, government has a leadership role to play: dening priorities,
challenges and missions - not ‘picking winners’. This is critical to guide how we design
markets, facilitate ows of capital into priority areas, and ultimately make progress on
our collective problems and purpose”. Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
Transforming Markets & Supply Chains
In order to create the sort of transformative change that is
needed in this age of ‘polycrisis’, governments have been
challenged to see their role as less ‘market xing’ and more
‘market shaping and creating’ (see the work of Mariana
Mazzucato in particular). Creating strong incentives and
constraints within an agenda of inclusive and sustainable
growth is a critical role for governments - particularly in an
era where corporate and shareholder power is challenging
some of the fundamentals of democratic rule.
The experience of a global pandemic, and increasingly
strong ecological signals, indicate the need to challenge
some of the fundamentals of economic thinking, and more
particularly, neoliberal economic orthodoxies. We need to
think afresh about the role, the capacities and the capabilities
that government, business and civil society must cultivate
and resource in order to be able to make their contributions
to transitions and transformations.
The public sector in particular has a signicant shaping,
steering, and creating role to play given the levers available
“The common good is a shared objective. By emphasizing the how as much as the what, it offers opportunities to promote
human solidarity, knowledge sharing, and collective distribution of rewards. It is the best – indeed the only – way to ensure a
decent quality of life for everyone on an interconnected planet” Mariana Mazzucato, Project Syndicate, January 2023.
How do we transform markets for public, common and planetary good? How might transformed markets build more
resilient, less fragile supply chains whilst also ensuring stronger wellbeing for people, places & the planet?
- such as policy, public investment, regulation and tax
incentives.
No doubt technology will both generate and potentially
support market and supply chain transformations.
However, we need the available levers to shape these
technologies so that they support democratic, equitable
and sustainable futures; and stop relying on the interests
of individual rms and/or ‘the market’ to determine our
societal trajectories. Here consideration of platform
ownership offers a useful entry point for exploration (see
for example https://platform.coop/).
We have an extraordinary opportunity to harness
technology for the public, common and planetary
good over coming decades - but we must urgently and
decisively grow democratic institutions and equip them
with the guardrails that will ensure this opportunity is
harnessed and directed towards inclusive and
sustainable futures.
15

Social
Procurement
Impact Supply ChainsConventional
Procurement
Optimising value as
price. Though ‘value
for money’ has been
broadened, much
conventional
procurement practice
does not focus on
strategic approaches to
value creation.
Optimising positive
impacts for people, place
+ planet through value
chains + supply chains
Opportunities for growing + strengthening regenerative
supply + value chains to optimise total value creation
Opportunities for transforming
conventional ‘price-based’
procurement policies + procedures
P
r
i
c
e
a
s
v
a
l
u
e
f
o
c
u
s
I
m
p
a
c
t
a
s
v
a
l
u
e
f
o
c
u
s
Sustainable development
+ CSR movements saw
increased pressure on
corporations to take more
responsibility for
environmental + social
impacts generated
through business models.
Corporations use their
buying power to
generate social value
above + beyond the
value of the goods,
services, or construction
being procured.
Purchasing entity (or collaboration
of entities) configure their supply
chain management policies +
practices so existing budgets can
be harnessed to foster, maintain +
grow supply networks that
intentionally contribute to
generating specific social,
environmental, cultural +/or local
economic objectives.
‘Do no harm’ ‘Additional Value’ ‘Regenerative Value’
Sustainable
Procurement
16 Figure 8: Scenarios for supply chain futures on a continuum
Below is a continuum of procurement policies and practices that shows both the current evolution of procurement as a lever for equity and
impact, but also illustrates the next potential evolution needed to really imagine procurement as creating regenerative value. This image
was developed by Grifth Centre for Systems Innovation and Ethical Fields for City of Newcastle’s Localising Supply Chains 2022 project.

How could we use
levers such as taxation
to incentivise long-
term investment
+ disincentivise
speculation + short-
termism in markets?
How could we grow +
incentivise supply chain
transparency, including
through technologies
such as blockchain,
to promote ethical,
sustainable supply chains
+ to understand key risks
to supply disruption +
plan alternatives?
How could we foster an
approach of subsidiarity
(the principle that
specic issues are best
managed at the most
local level possible) by
growing and deepening
local supply chains
particularly for critical
supplies?
How could we
plan + test supply
chain diversication
opportunities for critical
industries including
reshoring, nearshoring,
local supply and value
chains that could support
other goals such as
energy transition?
Incentivising Long
Term Markets
Local First Critical Industry
Planning
Transparency
Matters
17
A set of potential territories for collective imagination + deliberation: in these cards we have drawn some starting points from our
discussion with the group and from research that could form the basis of questions for deliberations on this theme.
Pockets of the Future in the Past + Present
G21 Regional Opportunities For Work
(GROW) is an initiative of Give Where You
Live Foundation and G21 – Geelong Region
Alliance. The initiative aims to change the way
the whole region procures and operates to buy
and employ locally and improve the economic
and social prosperity of the region, by giving
a chance to job seekers who are missing out.
The network has around 130 signatories who
have committed to shift the ways in which they
procure and spend to create opportunities
for people and places in the region who have
experienced ongoing challenges.
The four ways in which GROW has used
procurement initiatives to shift opportunities
focus on:
• Spending Locally – fostering commitments
to buying from local businesses to help the
local economy and create jobs;
• Spending Socially – growing opportunities to
buy from businesses who employ from GROW
communities;
• Being Inclusive – creating safe and supportive
workplaces for all; and
• Advocating and Collaborating – for region
wide change, and to strengthen the GROW
network.
These actions help GROW Signatories,
and the system stakeholders they engage, to
enable the movement of knowledge, the movement
of talent and the movement of capital.
GROW’s work in local procurement demonstrates
that for every dollar GROW Signatories spent with
local G21 suppliers, $2.04 is generated in the local
economy. The direct impact of signatory local spend
helps to support jobs and industry. However, this
under counts the full benet to the local community.
Local benet multipliers occur when spend is made
with locally owned and independent businesses.
That spend is recirculated through the local
economy at 2-4 times the amount, than money
spent with non-local companies. As this spend
moves through the community, it generates more
local wealth, charitable contributions, and jobs.
At a macro level, GROW has shifted the way
government procures, particularly on major project
spends. They have piloted a social procurement
approach for inclusive employment and targets,
which includes paid pre-employment training,
an on-site mentor and wrap around supports
throughout a candidate’s placement. The model is
included in a tenders’ scope of works and requires
bidders to price this into their application. Penalties
also apply if the social procurement targets are not
delivered.
See the GROW report card, 2022

Job creation is regularly called out as critical
to the creation of strong national and local
economies — particularly at times of crisis or
recovery. The mantra of “jobs, jobs, jobs” has
once again been loud after the pandemic, and in
the face of the ongoing economic uncertainty.
However, there is also a growing recognition
that focusing just on growing the number of
jobs will not necessarily lead to either improved
economic or social outcomes (see for example
OECD,2020).
What is increasingly called for is a focus on the
quality of jobs needed to promote the wellbeing
of workers and their families.
There are pockets of innovation in various corners
of the globe that have created a solid evidence
and policy base for a focus on quality jobs — but
we are a long way from the dominant narrative
focusing on quality over the quantum of jobs.
Quality Jobs in the Future of Work
“Low quality jobs can hinder economic growth and
strain public budgets. Low quality jobs may be designed
to minimize labor cost for an individual business
and accommodate high turnover. Such jobs limit the
purchasing power of a large segment of consumers,
reducing the strength of the economy as a whole. … In
contrast, good quality jobs invest in human capability,
boost productivity, and provide workers with the resources
to express their wants in the market in the form of
consumer demand without having to rely on means-tested
benets” Aspen Institute, (2021).
How do we ensure that economic transformation over coming years builds strong foundations for
quality jobs that provide living wages, fair conditions and opportunities for people, families and
places?
Despite this gap, it is clear that evidence points to the
inherent connections between quality jobs, physical
and mental health, wellbeing and even positive
intergenerational outcomes.
What is also increasingly evident is that quality
jobs can have broader benets for businesses and
organisations; places and communities; and ultimately
could have profound implications for regenerative and
distributive futures and the health of our planet.
“(We aim for) growth that puts equality and equal opportunity at the centre. This is not only fair, it’s good economic
policy. ...Our goal here is secure, well-paid jobs, but also getting our human capital right more broadly - seeing
productivity and participating as a function of investing in people, especially their capacity to adapt and adopt new
technology” Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
18

Q
u
a
l
i
t
y
J
o
b
Financial Security
Economic Certainty
Physical + Mental Health
Access to Safe + Stable Housing
Community Participation
Quality of Life
Potential for Self Development
Financial Security + Financial Stress
Frequency that employment anxiety interferes with
family life or results in family stress
Family Stability
Access to Safe + Stable Housing
Intergenerational Wellbeing
Intergenerational Opportunities for Work + Education
Mental + Socio-Emotional Development Outcomes
for Children
For workers, quality jobs are linked to:
For families, quality jobs are linked to:
Community Participation
Local Economic Demand + More Diverse Local Economy
Connection + Commitment of People + Families to Place
Community Wealth which is reinvested + supports better
infrastructure
Opportunities for local residents
Social Cohesion
For places, quality jobs are linked to:
For businesses + organisations, quality jobs are
linked to:
Foster sunrise industry development
Contribute to decarbonising the economy
Create opportunities for future generations through decent
work in sunrise industries
Generate opportunities for alternative opportunities if jobs
are automated
For the future of our planet, quality jobs have
potential to:
Productivity + Longevity
Customer / Client Service
Employee Recruitment +
Retention
Adaptability + Viability
19
Figure 9: Potential impacts of quality
jobs beyond the individual worker
Imagining quality jobs in the
future of work requires us to
think much more broadly about
the role quality jobs have in
relation to workers, families,
communities, businesses
and organisation, places /
communities and the planet.
Here we have summarised the
potential impacts that quality
jobs have at each these levels
- this is further explored in this
blog.

A set of potential territories for collective imagination + deliberation: in these cards we have drawn some starting points from our
discussion with the group and from research that could form the basis of questions for deliberations on this theme.
Green + Gold
Jobs Plan
Quality Jobs
Index
Quality
Care Jobs
Employee Voice
+ Ownership
Quality + Inclusion
in Reporting
How could we create
a living ‘Green + Gold
Jobs Plan’ which
identies, incentivises
+ promotes sunrise
industries where quality
jobs are being + will be
created over the next
decade?
How could a ‘Quality
Jobs Index’ be created
that would start tracking
job quality, tracing how
it impacts different
sectors, industries
+ people + be made
transparent to stimulate
market responses and
a race to the top across
industries?
How could we ensure
that jobs in the care
industries (whether
that be care in terms of
health, children, elderly
and/or care for Country)
represent quality jobs
in terms of income,
conditions, training and
progression?
How could we support
+ incentivise business
models + structures that
grow ownership + asset
development rights, in
addition to stakeholder
participation + voice
- such as employee
ownership + cooperative
structures?
How could corporate
reporting (such as ESG
or integrated reporting)
focus not just on a
company’s ‘external’
impacts, but the internal
conditions for staff +
workers, making inclusion
+ equity in employment
a key part of corporate
reporting?
20
New Social Contract that
positively connects workers,
business + State
Engaged, Valued
Workforce
Stakeholder
Centred Business
Well-being
Focused State
Quality Jobs as a Public Health issue
critical to intergenerational
well-being
Quality
Job
Quality
of Life +
Health
Outcomes
Conditions
Income
Stability
Support
Incentivising quality jobs in essential
+ especially care industries: health,
children, elderly, Country
Quality Jobs
in Care Good for
Business
Good for
Workers
Good for
Consumers
A quality jobs index that makes
visible the quality of jobs across
industries + sectors
Earnings
Quality
Labour Market
Security
Working Environment
Quality
New Multipliers calculating total
benefits + costs of investment into local
projects - away from trade-offs
towards spillovers
Increased
Demand
Increased Productivity
Stronger Local
Value Chains
Complementarities
Spillovers
Making inclusion + equity in
employment central to corporate +
institutional reporting
Equity
Shared Value
Sustainability
Participation
Diversity
Progression
Stability
Inclusion
Mapping Quality Jobs across geographies,
populations, genders, ethncities, ages +
race + the infrastructure to act on
inequities
G
o
o
d
J
o
b
s
M
e
a
n
G
o
o
d
B
u
s
i
n
e
s
s
Incentivising business structures
+ strategies that promote
employee ownership, asset
development + voice
Worker Owned
Enterprises
Employee Stock
Ownership Programs
(ESOPS)
B Corps
Social Enterprise
Green + Gold Jobs Plan:
Incentivising + promoting sunrise
industries where quality jobs are
created + regenerated
Green Jobs:
Preserve
Restore
Regenerate
High Quality Jobs
Gold Star Jobs:
Figure 9: Potential starting points for
creating futures for quality jobs

One of the shifts the global pandemic has
catalysed is a deeper recognition and appreciation
of the critical role of care workers in society. The
pandemic has not only raised the prole of the care
sectors, it has generated widespread discussions
about the need to improve their working conditions
and the overall care infrastructure. In Australia
the so called ‘care economy’ covers sectors such
as aged care, disability services, family services,
child care, social housing, homelessness services,
mental health services - it employs around
1.8million people, and is the fastest growing
employing sector (Care Economy CRC, 2022).
It is also likely to continue to expand and face
signicant challenges as the population ages and
demands increase.
Government is a major investor in and provider of
services within the care economy, in addition to
playing a signicant role in regulation and quality
assurance. In many ways, for much of this growing
part of the economy Government has played a
major shaping, creating, designing role - and has
led the development of markets within care sectors.
A Diverse Care Economy that Really Cares
“People...(have an) appetite for a more conscious sense of wellbeing...(one of) the key lessons
of the pandemic: that healthy economies rely on healthy people and communities. The old
mental models die hard, even while they were shown to be so inadequate for the new problems
they left us: skills shortages, an aged-care crisis...etc” Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
How do we cultivate a care economy that genuinely values and supports caregivers, promotes
wellbeing for care recipients, and builds a more compassionate and equitable society?
The care sector plays a crucial role in supporting
individuals, families and communities, enabling
economic, social and workforce participation,
and contributing to the overall wellbeing of the
Australian population. Yet this sector faces some
major challenges over coming decades - around
workforce availability, structure and capability, the
quality of services and community expectations,
and the availability, use and integration of
technology into various sectors. The care
economy is highly feminised in terms of the labour
force - and, as was highlighted in the Ageing
Royal Commission, it is plagued by lower than
average incomes and poor working conditions.
Further, measures such as productivity in this
sector of the economy are woefully inadequate
- it is quality of care and outcomes for people
and families that we need to measure and report
on as key measures of success, not outputs
per hour. Essentially, if the care economy is to
contribute to equity, wellbeing and sustainability
we will need to ensure that it truly is about care
and caring.
21

Workforce
Wellbeing
Economic
Social
Infrastructure
Technological InstitutionalSocial
Investment
Public
Informal
Formal
Training, Education,
Skills
Participation,
Inclusion, Equity
Private Civic
Value Creation
Care Recipients
C
A
R
E
E
C
O
N
O
M
Y
Aged Care
Health Care
So
c
i
a
l Care + Welfa
r
e
Child Care
Caring for Country
What if...
We valued the wellbeing of care
recipients, care givers + families
within the care economy?
What if...
Informal care provision was
recognised as generating social
+ economic value?
What if...
People could access a lifetime care
budget + use these to choose
elements of care from across formal
+ informal sectors?
What if...
The care economy became the
sector of choice for workers seeking
holistic recognition + rewards
through employment?
What if...
Participation, inclusion + equity
were integral to the design +
delivery of all levels of care?
What if...
The care economy offered
access to high quality training +
education for all workers + care
recipients?
What if...
We established systemic investment
models that could generate value from
investing in care across life-cycles?
What if...
Long-term ‘patient’ investment into care
ecosystems was incentivised over
short-term, maximised financial returns?
What if...
We could receive integrated reports
detailing holistic value creation across
different types of capital to get a better
picture of investment flows into care?
What if...
We created more opportunities for
cooperatively + diversely owned
infrastructure that generates social capital
across care?
What if...
Technological infrastructure enabled
cross-generational opportunities for
deeper whole-of-life care?
What if...
Distributed institutional infrastructure that
is embedded in place enabled people to
access care in their communities across
their lifetimes?
What if...
The financial returns with the
care economy were only one of
the value measures?
What if...
We were to account for the social
value created through a thriving
care economy across
generations?
W
h
a
t
I
f
C
a
r
e
E
c
o
n
o
m
i
e
s
R
e
a
l
l
y
C
a
r
e
d
?
22 Figure 11: Dimensions for re-imagining a care economy that really cares

How could care
infrastructures
be reimagined +
transformed to ensure
that care industries
promote equity,
accessiblity, affordability
and quality for both
carers + care recipients?
How could collaboration,
integration + holistic
approaches be
stimulated + incentivised
to create stronger
pathways + navigation
across care sectors +
ensuring responsiveness
to diversity + quality
outcomes?
How could stronger
prevention
infrastructure be built
into the care system,
which recognises
and invests in social
determinants of health,
wellbeing promotion +
ecosystems of care?
How could quality
jobs be mandated +
promoted across the
care economy so that
quality is embedded not
just for care recipients
but for care givers too?
How could business
models + structures that
enable caring cultures +
engender the business
of caring, such as
cooperatives, employee
owned businesses,
networked organisations
be grown + scaled?
Care
Infrastructures
Focus on
Prevention +
Ecosystems of Care
Quality Jobs
in + for Care
Growing Caring
Business Models
A set of potential territories for collective imagination + deliberation: in these cards we have drawn some starting points from our
discussion with the group and from research that could form the basis of questions for deliberations on this theme.
Better Collaboration
Integration +
Diversity
Social care mutuals deliver social care through co-operative or mutual
structures. This means that members of the organisations, who can
be the consumers, the carers, the community or any combination
of these, are involved in decision-making and benet from its
activities, including through the reinvestment of trading surplus.
Co-operatives and mutuals operate in aged care and disability services,
community health, First Nations services and social housing. Co-
operative and mutual structures can increase diversity and choice
in health, community and social services with positive outcomes for
accountability, innovation, quality and productivity.
The Co-operative and Mutual Enterprises Support Program (Care
Together) is Australia’s rst co-operative and mutual enterprise
support program in social care.
Care Together will help improve the quality and diversity of services
provided to older Australians, people living with disability, and
veterans in remote and regional areas and other areas of high need.
The program is designed as a cross-sector, place-based program using human-
centred co-design methods to demonstrate innovative ways to improve service
quality and safety in priority areas, including aged care, disability care, veterans
care, allied health, and primary care.
The Business Council for Cooperatives and Mutuals (BCCM) will work with
communities to co-design social care projects in areas deemed by the Royal
Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety most in need. These include
rural, remote, and regional communities, Indigenous services, and more housing
options allowing people to ‘age well’ in community settings.
The BCCM is funded by the Department of Health and Aged Care to establish
a national support program to advise communities on how to start new co-
operatives in aged care and other care sectors and help existing co-operatives to
grow.
For examples of how cooperatives overseas have become a critical part of
care infrastructures see: https://cecop.coop/works/italian-social-cooperatives-
celebrate-their-30th-anniversary and https://www.shaw.co.uk/
Pockets of the Future in the Present
23

Just Energy Transitions
Australia has long been described as the ‘lucky country’ - with
a wealth of natural resources, including energy sources, and a
strong, democratic commitment to sharing the opportunities this
has afforded. This has, however, also had profound implications
for First Nations communities who have not always beneted
from this wealth (despite being the custodians of the land from
which this wealth has been derived), and on the environment -
through both extraction and consumption practices.
Transitioning to clean energy, low carbon industries and
economies, in the relatively short window of time available
to prevent deeper climate crises, is already creating both
challenges and opportunities for Australia and the world.
Ensuring that this transition is timely and just is critical. This
includes ensuring that access to the opportunities the transition
will no doubt afford are shared, and that they speed the closing
of the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The next decade represents a critical period for designing,
building, and operationalising energy transitions in Australia. It
is perhaps the greatest opportunity that Australia has ever had to
transform both the economy, the social contract, the commitment
to environmental sustainability - and most importantly, to
demonstrate reconciliation.
“(We need) an orderly energy and climate transition, with implications for living costs, employment, where and
how we live, the commercialisation of technology and the trajectory of our economic development. This means
introducing cleaner, cheaper, more reliable and increasingly renewable energy, and adopting practices and
technologies that limit our emissions. All while creating new industries, empowering workers and regions, and
leveraging our traditional strengths” Jim Chalmers (2023) ‘Capitalism After The Crisis’
How do we ensure a just energy transition in Australia that is tailored to the unique circumstances of
Australia, considering its vast geography, diverse communities and ecologies, and its specic energy
challenges and opportunities?
Energy Transition
Just Energy Transition
Shifts in ways people produce, consume + value energy. Low-carbon energy
transitions are shifts from high-carbon energy sources (oil, gas, coal) to low +
zero carbon energy sources (renewables)
Equitable sharing of the benefits, costs, risks + opportunities in the energy transition
Quality Jobs in low
carbon growth
sectors
Economic
opportunities
for those
impacted most
Affordability +
Accessibility
Environmental
Justice + Fairness
Participation +
voice in
decision-making
24 Figure 12: Framing a ‘just’ energy transition compared to a ‘business-as-usual’ energy transition.

How could integrated
and emergent jobs +
skills planning help to
map + develop worker
transitions, responsive +
adaptive skills + education
offerings, harnessing of
platforms + technologies
for generating workforce
development +
opportunities for emerging
industries?
How could we ensure
that the transition is
just + equitable - taking
consideration of ows
of costs, opportunities,
benets at all stages, +
investing in promoting
equity in spaces such
as housing retrotting +
efciency, job training, +
access to new technology
in particular?
How could Australia
become a regional +
international leader of the
transition, beneting both
future development of
Australia + also becom-
ing a supplier + promoter
of energy transitions in
the Asia-Pacic region?
How could incentivising
diversied energy mixes,
local grids, community
ownership models and
co-investment models
promote resilient energy
infrastructure at national
and local levels?
How could integrated
measurement
frameworks help track
+ share benets of
the transition across
environmental, economic,
social, health indicators,
including emissions,
job creation, public
health improvement,
protection of ecosystems
+ biodiversity?
Equity as Central Skills + Jobs
Revolution
Regional +
International
Leadership
Local + National
Independence
Measured
Benets
A set of potential territories for collective imagination + deliberation: in these cards we have drawn some starting points from our
discussion with the group and from research that could form the basis of questions for deliberations on this theme.
25
Technological
Institutional
Economic
Production
Capital
Financial
Capital
Socio-political
ideas +
behaviours
Socio-
institutional
frameworks
Technological
Revolutions
Techno-economic
paradigms
Revolutionary
Transitions
Demand
Impetus +
Enablers
Directional
Impetus +
Enablers
Innovation
Impetus +
Enablers
Labour
Organisation
Directional Policy
Structures
Social
Safety
Nets
Incentive
Structures
Capital
Availability
+ Flow
Directional
Procurement
Structures
Enabling
Market
Structures
Research +
Development
Structures
Innovation
Ecosystems
Figure 13: Transitions always include three core domains (based on Carlotta Perez, 2002)
Economist Carlotta Perez is a specialist in the history
of technical change and its impact on economic
growth and development (Perez, 2004, 2022). She
argues that major transitions such as the energy
transition we are starting to experience always involve
technological, economic and institutional shifts.
In discussions about the energy transitions we often
focus only on the technological and economic shifts,
and institutional shifts are either left out or thought to
be determined by the other two domains.
Re-imagining the institutional infrastructure and the
nature of the innovations we need to construct these
could be the basis for challenging and interesting
public deliberation.

Pockets of the Future in the Present
Community Power Agency (CPA) are working
to create a clean energy future that benets and
involves all Australians. They provide expert
advice and support to communities, organisations,
government and industry in developing community
owned renewable energy and more broadly a faster
and fairer clean energy transition. CPA works closely
with project partners to improve the social outcomes
of renewable energy development for communities,
regulators and developers. They are leaders in
corporate benet-sharing and community engagement
practices within the sector and are committed to
ensuring a fair and equitable transition to a clean
energy economy.
Enabling participation in the energy transition
is fundamental to its work. Through workshops
and trainings, CPA has supported more than 50
community energy groups to take the power back and
develop and deliver their own clean energy project;
they have contributed to the growth in community
energy initiatives across Australia, where there
are now more than 110 groups and 150 projects
operating.
CPA also works closely with governments to develop
policies and programs that are both inclusive and
sustainable, with the objective to improve outcomes
for all Australians and our environment by setting the
agenda and making community energy a priority in
the political and social landscape.
CPA is a Workers Cooperative registered in NSW
with the Department of Fair Trading; and a registered
charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-prot
Commission.
Agricultural
Revolution Enclosure of Land
Clearances +
Mass Migration to
Urban Centres
Boom in capital
markets
Voting Reforms
Creation of an Urban
Labour Force
Burgeoning middle
class
Demand for reforms
in Company Act
Political shifts to
merchant cities
Increased food
production
Surplus food
+ income
Money to purchase
manufactured goods
First: Industrial Revolution
(Britain) ~ 1771
Second: Age of Steam
(Britain to Europe to USA) from
1829
Demand
Enablers
Institutional
Changes
Technological
Changes
Economic
Changes
Social
Changes
Shifts in family
structures
Shifts in
gender roles
Shifts in transfer of
knowledge - craft
guilds to production
techniques
Shift in work from
home to factory
Private Property
Protection
Growing rural +
urban poverty
Growth of Institutional
Charity - private +
public
Poor Laws +
regulation of poverty
Mass Urban
Housing
Development
Growth of Mutual Aid
Cooperatives
Voluntary Philanthropy
What is
made
visible as
‘innovation’
An often invisible
context that
included many
other ‘innovations’
both enabling technological
innovation plus being driven by it
Technological
Innovation
Social Innovation
Public Innovation
Civic Innovation
Figure 14: Every transition requires innovation but not only in the form of technological innovation - it is
just as important to foster innovation of institutions, societal processes, and economies as can be seen as
underpinning the industrial revolution in the UK (based on Carlotta Perez, 2002).
26

Towards Growing Collective Imagination Capabilities
By exploring each of the seven themes – delving into core questions,
perspectives on the Territory, starting points for sense-making, and Territories for
deliberation – and looking at where some potential pockets-of-the-future already
exist we hope to have sown some imagination-seeds for meaningful next steps.
As mentioned, citizen juries or assemblies, participatory budgeting initiatives,
and the deliberative democracy movement more broadly offer useful insights and
tools for engaging broader participation in imagining and enacting futures. Whilst
previously there has been some ad hoc activity in Australia, as far as we can tell
there has been no systematic attempt to test various models being used around
the world in our local context.
For imagination-starters around this, the OECD’s 2020 publication Innovative
Citizens Participation and New Democratic Institutions: Catching the Deliberative
Wave is a useful resource – it draws on almost 300 examples of deliberative
practices, and exploring “the reasons and routes for embedding deliberative
activities into public institutions to give citizens a more permanent and meaningful
role in shaping the policies affecting their lives”.
However, as we identied earlier, we also think there is a signicant opportunity
to strengthen collective imagination towards positive futures through engaging
with a broader range of methods – such as uncovering narratives about collective
futures; Imaginariums; Speculative Futures writing and arts festivals; serious
imagination games; distributed collective futures festivals; and intentional
‘growing imagination capabilities’ initiatives (see p.5 for more).
Fostering diverse participation and learning towards how to do this at scale will
strengthen our democratic system through enshrining at its centre a fuller range
of perspectives and realities. Whilst the task can seem daunting, we advocate a
process of starting small, testing, learning and iterating the ways forward.
In addition to thickening ties with local citizens and building capabilities
that underpin resilience characteristics, deliberative processes also offer
policymakers a ‘people-powered tool’ that reduces reliance on the reports of
consulting rms and strengthen the critical notion of public service.
27
“The virus is rewriting our imaginations. What
felt impossible has become thinkable. We’re
getting a different sense of our place in history.
We know we’re entering a new world, a new era.
And we seem to be learning our way into a new
structure of feeling.”
Kim Stanley Robinson, 2020

“This is the complex nature of a time between
worlds. It asks us to sit with the unthinkable,
with yet un-worded sensations; while old stories
still hold us hostage; with the pull of the abyss
within us. These threshold-times will not relent
to a nostalgic past nor will they release anyone
from unknowable futures - so learn to sit and
withstand we must. ... Reimagining the enabling
conditions (from those elusive social imaginaries
to concrete spaces to binding legal frameworks to
the nuanced social-structuring of projects to the
ow of capital) prompts other questions, conjuring
other ways to rehearse freedoms, defying
invented walls .. and reweaving it all once again
into radical inter-dependencies that are truer to
the realer larger reality of entangled life”.
Gabriella Gómez-Mont, 2023
“The moral imagination requires the capacity to
imagine ourselves in a web of relationships that
includes our enemies; the ability to sustain a
paradoxical curiosity that embraces complexity
without reliance on dualistic polarity; the
fundamental belief in and pursuit of the creative
act; and the acceptance of the inherent risk of
stepping into the mystery of the unknown that lies
beyond the far too familiar landscape of violence”
John Paul Lederach, 2005
28
We offer a foundation - a step towards engaging and
harnessing our collective imaginations.
And we make a commitment to taking these
foundations and demonstrating them in action, in the
Treasurer’s own electorate - will you join us Jim?
Our commitment to planting seeds...
Fostering bold and collective imagination and creativity
will take time, space and practice.
We’ll need to support and stoke imagination equally
amongst citizens and the public sector.
There is no shortage of this creativity, just a lack of
‘infrastructure’ that supports it to be heard, explored and
channelled.
In this booklet we’ve explored some possible steps
towards engaging and harnessing our collective
imaginations, to support the acceleration of transitions
towards positive futures.
We think the Treasurer’s own electorate (where we
happen to be based!) would be an excellent place to test
some of these steps - whilst also generating a broader
conversation about the role of collective imagination
in shaping democratic, values-based capitalism and
wellbeing.
We commit to reaching out to the Treasurer’s Electorate
Ofce, and to our wide network of local stakeholders,
with the aim of catalysing action around fostering
collective imagination experiments within the Logan
place-based context; and to sharing learnings outwards.

29
Chalmers, J. (2023) Capitalism After the Crisis, The Monthly,
March, available at: https://tinyurl.com/5dnk37vs
Elkington, J. (2018) 25 Years Ago I Coined the Phrase “Triple
Bottom Line.” Here’s Why It’s Time to Rethink It, in Harvard
Business Review, June
Gurciullo, S. (2021) ‘Systems Finance for Development
Portfolios’, Medium Blog Post, UNDP available at: https://
tinyurl.com/28nwvmxj
Hofstetter, D. (2020), Transformation Capital – Systemic
Investing for Sustainability, published by EIT Climate-KIC,
Amsterdam (NL), August.
Johar, I. (2017) ‘10 Provocations for the Next 10 years of
Social Innovation’, Medium Blog Post, available at: https://
tinyurl.com/5n8jwds5
Lederach, J. (2005) The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul
of Building Peace, Oxford University Press.
Mazzucato, M. (2023) For the Common Good, Project
Syndicate Article, available at: https://tinyurl.com/yjnzmvnh
Mazzucato, M. (2018). The entrepreneurial state. Penguin
Books.
Mulgan, G. (2022) Another World is Possible: How to
Reignite Social and Political Imagination, Hurst Publications,
London
OECD (2020) How’s Life? 2020, available at:
https://tinyurl.com/4s7dems9
Perez, C. (2002) Technological Revolutions and Financial
Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages, Edward
Elgar, Cheltenham, UK
Perez, C and Leach, M. (2021) Technological Revolutions:
Which Ones, How Many and Why It Matters: A Neo-
Schumpeterian View” Working Paper – Horizon Project
Beyond 4.0 Publications
Sharpe, B. (2020) Three Horizons: The Patterning of Hope,
Triarchy Publications, 2nd Edition
References
The Banksia as a Metaphor...
We illustrated this response with images
representing the Banksia or Wallum. The Banksia
grows in what could be seen as quite difcult terrain,
reminds us of regeneration, rebirth, particularly after
crisis, with many species needing re before the
woody fruits are able to crack open and release their
seeds.
Banksia roots are also important to soil health and
fertility. Banksias have ‘cluster roots’, shaped like
brushes with hundreds of tiny roots connecting with
the soil, making them able to thrive in poor or sandy
soils. Banksias improve soil conditions as the soils
support their growth - fostering a relationship of
mutuality between growth and conditions.
Banksias have connections to the ancient continent
of Gondwana and have modern relatives in once
connected lands as far away as Africa. Banksias are
seeding futures at the same time as being rooted in
ancient pasts.
Like the banksia fruit, there are some core seeds
within this nation that could germinate thriving
futures for all species who call this place home.
Yet we are at a critical juncture, a tipping point, a
moment in which extraordinary courage is needed
- and perhaps we need to go through metaphorical
cultural res to ensure that these seeds will actually
germinate these possible futures. Whether we
are speaking of The Voice and creating a strong
path towards Treaty, or whether we are speaking of
ensuring that we acknowledge and act on addressing
the climate and biodiversity crises, we will need
courage, truth-telling, deep reection and radical
imaginations over the coming years.

www.grifth.edu.au/grifth-business-school/centre-for-systems-innovation