This document marks a new and vital stage in the life of South Australia’s Strategic Plan.

When I launched the plan in March 2004, I said I wanted it to be a goad to action for all South Australians. I wanted it to be a plan for everyone – for business, for the community, and for government – not a plan for government alone. South Australia’s Strategic Plan was a first both for this state and for Australia, and I am pleased to see that other states are now following South Australia’s lead.

The plan was based on the conviction that when South Australians work towards common goals, we can achieve so much more than if we go it alone.

It had six objectives:
Growing Prosperity
Improving Wellbeing
Attaining Sustainability
Fostering Creativity and Innovation
Building Communities
Expanding Opportunity

These objectives were based on the idea of ‘creating opportunity’ for our people, wherever they are, whatever they do. They were intended to build on our strengths, create new abilities, and ensure that our citizens and our state thrive.

It has been vital for guiding government action and priorities, and in driving greater discipline and focus across the government.

In 2004 I also promised that, after two years, the state’s progress against the plan’s targets would be reported on publicly and objectively by an independent group of experts, without bias or spin.

I delivered on that promise in June 2006. I am proud that the independent Audit Committee found that, just two years into a ten-year plan, we as a state have already either achieved, or are on track to achieve, more than 50 percent of the targets. The report showed major progress being made by South Australia, particularly in areas such as the economy, the environment and education.

This is a terrific result, but it should encourage all of us to work harder still on the areas in which we need to improve.

We were never going to reach every target in the first two years of a ten-year plan. There would have been nothing more cynical than to have set the bar too low simply to be able to congratulate ourselves when we achieved easy targets.

If it were that easy, we would not have needed a plan in the first place.

So now to this update of South Australia’s Strategic Plan.

As I said in 2004, the plan must be a dynamic, living document. A plan that is about achieving change must itself be open to change when circumstances alter. And so this update differs in some respects from the original version.

After nearly three years, our Strategic Plan has taken root in communities across South Australia. People from all over our state, from all walks of life, have taken part. The plan has helped change the way South Australians see their future, and their idea of what they need to do to make a better future.

We have changed the plan to take account of the views and priorities of the thousands of South Australians we spoke to across the state during the work of the plan update team. They wanted us to introduce some new targets and sharpen the focus of others.

We have also updated the plan because, in many areas, we have already achieved the target originally laid down, and can therefore address new and greater challenges. It is important that we keep moving and maintain the momentum – not rest on our laurels.

We have updated the plan where we believed targets could be made clearer and more easily measurable. To ensure consistency, the timeframe for nearly all targets has been set at 2014. Many targets have been strengthened and, in a very few cases, others have been amended to reflect changed circumstances or knowledge gained over the first two years of the plan.

In many ways, I regard the guiding thread of the plan to be ‘a knowledgeable community’.

If the objective is growing prosperity, the most important ingredient of sustained economic growth is investing in the knowledge base and skills of South Australians. If we are concerned with improving wellbeing, knowledge of the consequences of the decisions we make as individuals (about nutrition or smoking, for example) is critical.

If the objective is attaining sustainability, then new skills and technologies which can be applied to the use of renewable resources, the design of buildings, understanding of our natural ecosystems, and the understanding and measurement of the impact of human activity are critical. Education and knowledge are the best way to expand opportunity for everyone in the community, and to create a fairer, more cohesive community in which all South Australians can share in the benefits.

Innovation and creativity must be at the centre of everything we do. That is why the updated plan places such emphasis on education and has a new target for early childhood development, among other things.

The plan gives all South Australians a positive focus on the future. It asks: ‘Where are we now, where do we want to be, and what do we have to do to get there?’ This version of the plan also provides some examples of what we are doing at the moment to reach our targets, but this is not meant to be an exhaustive list.

I thank all those South Australians, from all parts of the state and from all walks of life, who had their say on our shared future by taking part in the discussions on this update of South Australia’s Strategic Plan.

The goal for us all now is to use the plan to make South Australia an even better state.

Mike Rann
Premier of South Australia
Minister for Economic Development
Minister for Social Inclusion
Minister for the Arts
Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change

January 2007