A neo-liberal once proudly claimed that man had reached the end of history as economic rationalism had triumphed over other political ideologies and we had therefore reached the final evolution of political and economic development. Several years down the track, most people would probably disagree as they know instinctively that we may have had a little too much economic rationalism at great cost to sections of our country. The strange thing is that despite a growing awareness that economic rationalism is not the final panacea, it has been so hard to put into words what is wrong with it. Economic rationalism is a policy of minimal intervention so many of the things that are ‘wrong’ with economic rationalism are due to what it doesn’t, do rather that what it does. Systems that don’t do things are intrinsically harder to critique than systems that do. Maybe this is largely responsible for the leadership vacuum in the political sphere. Recently it seemed that oppositions at all levels and all parties had become hopeless at creating new political agendas. The failure of good opposition is perhaps one of the greatest costs of economic rationalism. Failure of traditional opposition and a continuing diet of economic rationalism have started to create a new groundswell in the community. When the road towards this website began about one year ago, there seemed to be almost no objective, cohesive analysis of what economic rationalism has done for Australia and where it is taking us. There was a screaming need to take stock of the situation and to start dealing with the looming environmental and social issues that will undermine future quality of life if business as usual continues. It seemed that in a leadership vacuum, anyone with good new ideas would attract a following. This web-site was created to seed ideas provide a catalyst for the emergence of new leadership. However something interesting is happening. Many people have been working on this issue have and they are starting to publish their works. The social stock takes have been done, the faults of economic rationalism have been put into words, pictures and graphs and new ideas that address the weaknesses in our system are coming forwards. Many, perhaps most of the works that I have read were penned by Australian authors – perhaps reflecting the level of effect that economic rationalism is having on our society. These books are on the wall of you local bookstore. Popular titles include Collapse, Growth Fetish and Economia.Many of the roles that FutureOfCairns set out to fill are rapidly being filled. It is very encouraging to see what the community has achieved on its own and the number and strength of ideas that are coming from ordinary people. FutureOfCairns will have to do its own stock take to ensure that it remains relevant and provides the maximum of service to the people of Cairns. To date, FutureOfCairns has played a role in exposing the shenanigans of Cairns City Council and other government bodies. In the future, it would be good to start presenting opinions and ideas from forward thinking community members. If you feel the need to know or need to raise areas for discussion, please contact FutureOfCairns so that we can set up an appropriate forum for you. Ed.