Kevin Rudd’s 2020 Summit on the weekend may have won him much praise for its inclusiveness and big picture vision.

But it will be the detail in the next federal budget that will determine whether or not the new Labor Government will be anything special.

This week Mr Rudd spoke of the need for a roots and branch, top-down look at the Australian taxation system with a view to a fundamental review of how and from where the government collects money.

It is a real shame and missed opportunity that the weekend Summit didn’t suggest a similar review of how and on what that money is spent.

There are so many areas of aching need in our community that, despite Australia’s vast wealth and its pretensions as a compassionate and caring society, are not being met.

I have the privilege each year to work with a wonderful group of parents from the Nambour and Currimundi special schools who together with their principals, help organise the annual Island Charity Swim.

The swim, which started in 2001, makes a real difference in the quality of the schooling of children, most of whom have profound disabilities and will require lifetime care and support.

The way the Sunshine Coast community has rallied around the event has guaranteed an annual injection of funding and, importantly, has given a group of parents with the toughest jobs in the world an indication that they are not alone in their struggle.

There is nothing more humbling than to sit in a room, as I did on Monday, and listen to these brave people talk about the daily challenges they face and will face for the rest of their lives. Their children don’t graduate from high school, get a trade or a university education or go on to have children of their own.

While the charity swim and the wonderful support it receives from individuals and the Sunshine Coast business community have combined to help give these kids a truly special education, at the end of the 24 semesters government mandates as their learning experience, that’s it.

Then there is just the void.

The pressures on families of high need offspring are enormous. Many relationships don’t survive, leaving in many cases, mothers to battle on alone with a life-long responsibility and little support from government.

Parents make annual submissions for a precious few respite funding packages that afford a rare opportunity just to rest.

In that meeting room provided by the Reed Property Group, as part of its annual in-kind and monetary support for the swim, I was reacquainted with the reasons why Ashley Robinson and I first started the event.

I just wish Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Mr Rudd or his treasurer Wayne Swan had been with me to see the tears well in eyes of stoic and courageous people who, for just a moment, gave way to despair as they discussed the difficulties their situations present.

Maybe then our politicians would have found it harder to justify the self-laudatory praise they purchase with the hundreds of millions of advertising dollars they spend annually, or the proliferation of signs that increasingly dot our landscape talking up their spending of our money on us.

I am sure a ruthless examination of the expenditures of both state and federal government, informed by the compelling need of our society’s most vulnerable, would find money to spare for even one extra day’s respite a year for these wonderful people.

Yet governments continue to fail the most basic of tests.

Despite all the fine words if you don’t really look you don’t really see. And as a consequence people whose life experience would be improved immeasurably by, in the scheme of things, just a little bit more of the vast billions governments draw into their net each year continue to be ignored, marginalised by fate and indifference.

The eighth annual Island Charity Swim from Mudjimba Beach, around Old Woman Island and across to Mooloolaba will be held on August 26.

The 11-kilometre ocean swim supervised by USM Events and Mudjimba SLSC, is a reward for teams and individuals who raise the required entry fee. All monies raised go towards enhancing the learning experience of the students at Currimundi and Nambour special schools.

If you are interested in getting involved contact Rob Abbas on 5448 3764 or 0418 797 100.

Teams and individuals who took part last year should already have received an invitation by mail.