Last week Leigh and Withers questioned why Australia had stopped investing in its future and identified four reasons: short-termism, divided responsibility, risk-aversion and a lack of trust in politicians. This week they consider risk-aversion and the distrust in politicians and propose some responses. They propose that the government mitigate risk through extending the use of HECS-like income-contingent loans into other areas such as business start-up, community development and drought assistance and they argue for reform of party preselection and question time to increase trust in politicians