John Deeble reached three score years and ten in July 2001. At the start of this year we thought it would be most fitting if the health policy community in Australia were to celebrate his professional life and contributions to Australian health care by writing short chapters for a book in his honour. John we believe dared to dream and to work to create a better health care system in Australia. We felt that this volume ought to reflect that capacity to dream. We thus asked contributors to think positively of how Australian health care might develop over the next decade. They could do so on the whole institution or some sector such as general practice. They could look at particular disease programs or issues of social justice or better financing systems. We chose not to ‘prescribe’ areas. We asked contributors not to write about John’s work nor specifically to pay tribute to his work. We are grateful to all our authors for their contributions and to Linda Browning of Black Swan Press for her generous assistance
