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As a young person, what actions would you like your government to take in its economic response to COVID-19?
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Governments should engage with regions and sectors that are being left behind due to the impact of COVID-19. Through genuine and consistent engagements, data can be gathered that can be the basis for upcoming policy decisions and solutions anchored on problems on various levels, especially at the grassroots.
I am not from economy-related background and here's my two-cents about what my Government can do for COVID-19 economic recovery:
- More aid and financial support for MSMEs
- Facilitate local businesses to integrate and participate in the global value chain
- Lead the upskilling programs for workforce, especially those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic
- Facilitate trainings through joint-programs with businesses/companies
- Boost FDI
- Diversify sectors that can contribute to national economic growth
Going off your educational curriculum point, this could be achieved if the government seeks to decolonise the curriculum and seeks to reflect Australia's ethnic diversity in the syllabus
I want (and I know that my answer might sound a tad bit aspirational...) the government to economically respond to COVID-19 beyond getting us back to normal, but to really lead us to a "new normal". The term "new normal" is widely used these days to describe our new life together with COVID-19 and I really hope that governments really mean it when they envision life after COVID-19. The way that I see it, it's not just about surviving COVID-19 but building back better. Some ideas that I'd like to throw in here for discussion:
Invest more time and resources in R&D for STEM fields, public health, and child health (e.g. the first five-year period of a child's life). Hopefully this way, governments can ensure that their populations are more resilient to health issues (both communicable and non-communicable) and we have more information and toolkit to both prevent and deal with similar health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Refocus and redefine educational curriculums (which will need economic support as well) to add more digital literacy (or perhaps start with basic literacy first), critical thinking skills, and tech skills for young people. Education should be a process of making one love the process of learning and growing, not just to pass/fail exams.
Redefine how we 'measure' economic output so that it does not only consider GDP, but also sustainability measures. I borrowed this concept from Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics, and I think that she has a point. We need to find new ways of measuring economic productivity that is also healthy for our environment because healthy environments will contribute to a world that is (hopefully) a little bit more resilient towards diseases.
Again, I know that my answers are aspirational. I'm looking forward to discussing this with my fellow delegates on how to make these aspirational more attainable and approachable, and how to make sure that these ideas are considered despite the possible red tape issues in the government! 😀