When the 2020 summit was announced we assumed that the participants were likely to be a mixture of academics, business reps, unionists, church types and community group leaders, with maybe a celebrity or two thrown in. As it turns out, we underestimated the number of celebrities massively.

Whether the summit is a pointless political stunt, as some of us think, or a sinister, undemocratic event privileging elites and technocrats over ordinary punters, as some others believe, it’s hard to avoid the impression that it will be a colossal exercise in groupthink. It’s like the Lateline Christmas party without Tony Jones.

Sure, there are some surprise nominations. Aerial skier Alisa Camplin’s membership of the medical group has already been questioned, although she does bring extensive experience of seeing orthopaedic surgeons. And we await Phillip Adams’ contribution on the issue of “governance” with interest. But these fish apparently out of water are a definite minority.

Here’s a suggestion that just might save the whole weekend: run with the Alisa Camplin approach. Swap the names of the groups. Have the medicos talk about education and training. Have the economists talk about indigenous issues. Have the security types discuss rural and regional issues. Get the welfare and social inclusion types in the “Strengthening Communities” group to discuss the economy. Get the actors and directors to … OK, just leave them where they are.

If these people are “the best and the brightest”, take them outside their comfort zones and get them talking without the same scripts they’ve been using for years. We might see genuinely new ideas or new approaches presented by people not locked into the comfort of groupthink, but forced to use their brains to grapple with something new.