2020 SUMMIT:

Kevin Rudd has given his official closing address for the 2020 Summit in Canberra he initiated after being elected as Australia’s prime minister in late 2007.

Shortly after his victory over John Howard at the polls Mr Rudd announced the 2020 Summit would be held in Canberra to tap the nation’s brightest brains for ideas about the Australia’s s future.

Mr Rudd last night delivered his closing address to a room full of people who had spent the past 12 years at the summit or who had been born in one of the plenary session rooms (main picture) to parents selected as delegates to the event when it started.

“I said at the time back in April 2008 when I opened the summit that the whole idea behind it was to look for ideas to improve the Australia we would be living in by 2020,” he said.

“I admit it did come as a surprise to me that most delegates didn’t realise that the summit would actually stretch to 2020.

“I’ve heard that some were complaining about that because they thought they were just giving up a weekend.

“It was all made crystal clear in the summit brochures and delegate packs.

“But if they can’t read the fine print and the succession of related dot points and the footnotes to those dot points then I can’t be blamed for that.

“Besides, the clue was in the name — the 2020 Summit. I mean, fair suck of the sauce bottle, isn’t that the clearest example of programmatic specificity you’ve ever seen?” Mr Rudd said.