CDU EXPERT: Australia needs to adopt a 'growth mindset' - but what is it, and how do we do it?
Charles Darwin University
22 AUGUST, 2025
Who: Charles Darwin University Associate Professor in Ecological Economics Kamaljit Sangha.
Topics:
- Informing and advocating for a transition towards developing local, sustainable economies.
Contact details: Call +61 8 8946 6721 or email [email protected] to arrange an interview.
Quotes attributable to Associate Professor Kamaljit Sangha:
“Creating the right opportunity to suit people’s skill set and knowledge is the government's responsibility. If the young generation does not have the opportunity and support to be creative, then we all lag behind. We face plenty of challenges on the environmental front, including severe floods, bushfires, and biodiversity loss-related crises (and their costs are huge) that impact us and will severely impact our future generations.”
“To date, our governments have not taken much action to date to deal with such challenges. Future generations are going to bear more of those costs due to inaction of our present generation. There is a chance to turn them into opportunities. For example, governments can fund programs to mitigate environmental crises and restore our degraded landscapes—requiring a combination of IT, environmental, social, and technological skills, offering innovative opportunities to young Australians.”
"A ‘growth mindset’ is about adaptability, considering challenges as opportunities and updating skills to meet the work requirements. The Chair of the Productivity Commission rightly says that Australia must adopt a growth mindset. Such an approach will help Australia to create a workforce that is able to update its skills and turn challenges into opportunities.”
“However, to do so requires changes in our education, work, and economic/political systems to accommodate the creativity, flexibility, cultural perspectives, and resilience of people, allowing different perspectives/ideas to prosper. Policies and programs allowing creativity and enabling people to develop innovative opportunities will certainly help Australia move forward, especially the young generation, to realise their ideas.”
Contact details:
Raphaella Saroukos she/her
Research Communications Officer
Marketing, Media & Communications
Larrakia Country
T: +61 8 8946 6721
M: 0427 895 533
E: [email protected]
W: cdu.edu.au
Charles Darwin University acknowledges all First Nations people across the lands on which we live and work, and we pay our respects to Elders both past and present.
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