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One of the most important promises we made during the election campaign was ending the blame game between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories. Today’s COAG meeting in Melbourne signals the start of this core task.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is meeting with Premiers, Chief Ministers and the Australian Local Government Association today to map out the future direction for the Australian Federation over the next several years.

Kevin Rudd said Australia should be a world leader in the fight against global poverty in his campaign launch speech – Mr Howard did not even mention it.

It is clear that only Labor is genuinely committed to making poverty history.

Labor welcomes yesterday’s Make Poverty History’s SMS and email campaign, in which all the leading agencies are calling on Australians to make aid an issue at the election next week.

Make Poverty History’s report card has highlighted the relative strengths of Federal Labor’s aid policy, and articulated the numerous areas where Australia’s aid is currently falling short of decent international standards.

Senator Kate Lundy, Annette Ellis MP, and Bob McMullan MP joined together today to encourage ACT college students to make sure they have their say in this year’s federal election by enrolling to vote now.

Bob McMullan and Mick Gentleman running a stall in Civic to encourage people to enrol to vote.

Senator Kate Lundy, Bob McMullan, Member for Fraser, and Annette Ellis, Member for Canberra, are today reminding Canberrans to make sure they are correctly enrolled on the ACT electoral roll before changes to the Commonwealth Electoral Act commence early in the new year.

On 3rd November 2006, Bob McMullan hosted a gathering of the Australian-Chile Friendship Group. Members of the group were treated to traditional Chilean food and drink.

It is interesting to follow the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. I thought the first half of his speech was a very interesting definition of the comprehensive nature of the problem. I do not agree with everything he said but it was broadly and in sweeping terms an outline of the fundamental international characteristics of the problem. But what it inevitably meant was that the second half of his speech showed how inadequate the response is to the problem he defined.

I want to refer tonight, and seek a response, to what I see as a continuing scandal in Public Service employment as it relates to the employment of people with disabilities.

I rise to support the Export Market Development Grants Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 and the second reading amendment. It was interesting to hear the remarks by the member for Riverina. They would have led one to believe that the Export Market Development Grants Scheme was a great coalition initiative rather than one which the coalition butchered when it came to office. It slashed it and abolished all the accompanying programs in the biggest cut to assistance to exporters in Australian history.

Australians wanting to reform the euthanasia laws need to mobilise a “coalition of the willing”, Member for Fraser, Bob McMullan, said today.

(This article appeared in The Canberra Times on 5 January 2006 with slight amendments.)

It is a source of great disappointment that John Howard appears to have rejected out-of-hand the proposition that the size of the ACT Assembly should be increased.