I recently had the opportunity to take part in WOW – Women of the World Cairns, including a session that asked us to imagine a very different future.
The premise was deliberately provocative and a little bit outrageous:
The year is 2046, 20 years after the great societal, environmental and financial crash now known as the “Great Cock Up”, following the actions of the now disgraced group of septuagenarian male world leaders of the 2020s.
Since 2027, traditional lands and countries across the globe have begun electing women-led majority governments to rebuild and reframe their societies, putting citizens back at the heart of decision-making and power broking. The planet and its people have witnessed extraordinary change.
2046: If Women Ran the World?
Our challenge was to describe, in two minutes, how our community, region or sector had changed.
Two minutes may have been interpreted a little generously!
From my very active retirement in 2046 I look back to the time of the great cockup and there are a few things I can’t believe we once put up with: high heels as an everyday norm, endless committees talking about collaboration instead of actually collaborating, dresses without pockets, and systems so complicated that we spent more time establishing and de-coding the rules than playing the game.
My view from 2046
The fact we spent billions more addressing social issues rather than preventing them is a baffling historical cockup of its own.
Things have fundamentally changed. Reading the paper or listening to the radio it’s clear we have moved from a culture of “I” to a culture of “we”.
We have moved from division to diversity, from competition to contribution, from individual success to collective wellbeing, and from trying to fix people, to strengthening communities.
We have also had some early calls come to pass since WOW 2026 – as soon as Mandy Nolan was elected she championed font size 14 as a minimum for all text, so we can now thank Mandy for saving our eyesight. And Jessica Mupenzi has become world famous for her poem “To be a woman”.
In Far North Queensland in 2046, a child does not just go to an early learning centre or school; their family belongs there too.
Grandparents are not tucked away in an aged care system; they are valued members of community life.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and leadership are no longer something we “consult” they are part of the way we make decisions.
Community has become central to our everyday. Health, education, employment, ageing and family support are no longer systems, but collective, collaborative responses.
The early beginnings of these changes were already underway in 2026, economic improvements, learnings from the Scandinavian countries and building on traditional knowledge have since helped us nurture a world class ecosystem of supports.
Recognition of early educators as more important to our community’s future than sports stars has led to overwhelming interest in employment pathways in education.
Rebalancing investment in proactive health measures means people are living longer, healthier, more productive lives, leading to shorter working weeks and more leisure time.
The elimination of domestic and family violence has been one of the greatest outcomes since the cockup, and we are well on our way to having an economic system measured by the Ubuntu’s kindness index, rather than GDP.
Many of these changes began long before the Great Cockup, in neighbourhood centres, early learning services, schools and community hubs, when people stopped asking ‘Whose job is this?’ and started asking ‘How do we do this together?'”
In 2026 we already knew what worked:
- We knew children thrive when families are supported.
- We knew communities are stronger when everyone belongs.
- We knew prevention is better than crisis response.
- We knew collaboration achieves more than competition.
Perhaps the “Great Cockup” was actually the “Great Catalyst” that moved us into a better future.
So….. the big question – how do we make this happen?
In an ideal world, we would pull back our resources, work out what our communities actually need, and redistribute them accordingly.
Simple!
Sadly, probably not happening on Monday.
So…..step by step it is.
The good news is that some of those steps are already happening at Centacare FNQ:
- Child and Family Hubs – connecting early learning, family support, wellbeing and community services in places families already know and trust.
- Early learning as a wellbeing gateway – identifying needs earlier and connecting families with support before things reach crisis point.
- Community hubs and connected support – bringing neighbourhood, wellbeing, mental health, settlement, employment and training supports closer to where people already are, while working with others to connect, contribute and enable families and community.
None of this gets us to 2046 overnight.
But it does move us towards a more connected community.
Perhaps that’s how big change really happens.
Not with one Great Cock Up or even one great idea.
Just one step at a time.
Written By Anita Vievers