Go back to the list of participants Karen Heck Biography: The Heck Group is a fifth generation family sugar business and one of the largest landholders in South East Queensland. It owns and operates sugar and ethanol production plants, cane farms, an industrial products packaging plant, an industrial land development, a joint venture in a green energy co-generation project and is a key driver for industry and infrastructure development in the region. Karen has been involved in the Heck Group for most of her life. After completing a commerce degree and an MBA, Karen served her `apprenticeship' in the family business before being appointed CEO in 1996. In her current role as an Executive Director, she has taken on a more strategic role, working with Federal, State and local government agencies, corporate advisers and industry bodies to formulate a 20-year plan for the 6,000-hectare sugar cane catchment. For more information please see www.womenonboards.org.au or www.faaw.org.auStatement: The major challenge for Australia over the next 15 years is how we balance economic development drivers for industry with positive social and community outcomes. As a mother of young children, I believe that the two most significant social issues facing us today are in finding ways to improve the support we provide to parents with young children and in finding a better way to balance the needs of being a working parent and raising healthy and happy children. The latest research from Professor Christina Lee outlines what woman have known for some time. Most young women (90%) want to be married, have a couple of kids and they want a career. But is it possible to assume we can balance the needs of our families and a career? With the increased pace and extent of change that has occurred in Australian society over the past 20 years, has come significant transformation in the way that families, the workplace and communities interact with one another. We now have a stronger connection to work than we ever had with our community. The concept of taking a "village to raise a child "has all but evaporated in many urban areas and is being replaced by a virtual village. Family life has become more complicated making parenting a greater challenge. Over the past 3 years Dr Fiona Stanley has highlighted many of the social and economic benefits from prevention and early intervention of childhood problems, particularly with children 0-5 years. It isn't about finding a way to balance the need for a bigger house in a grander location, a demanding job and the needs of our family. It is about the larger social and emotional cost that we as a community wear for increased levels in obesity, child abuse and neglect and a softer and more confusing approach to discipline. We need to raise the bar when it comes to supporting and valuing the role that parents, child care workers and teachers have in developing and nurturing our children. So how can we keep growing our economy productively and sustainably whilst balancing out our family, social, environmental and community responsibilities? With a rise in the number of AWAs being negotiated over the next 5-10 years and an increasing reliance on information technology, teleworking will become a more realistic prospect for many people, particularly those in the service industry. Where technical issues may have held teleworking back in the past, the only limitations in the next 15 years will be overcoming corporate culture, management think and internet / software training. As small businesses and the service industry continue to grow, so too does the opportunity to increase the number of our total workforce working remotely, from home or from a mobile office. Teleworking provides:
Our future will be dependent on our effectiveness to connect with each other as individuals and as communities. We must achieve a balance between growth and sustainability, change and certainty, safety and fear, with the aim of bringing hope and opportunity for all Australians.
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