Parliament House Visit

Here is a picture I took a couple of weeks ago of some senior politicians in Canberra. The first is the Former leader of the opposition and from 1996-2007 the Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer. I found him to be a man of much knowledge and was cordial and warm. I sensed he genuinely cared about the state of local and international matters and did want to make a difference in the world. He was asked about the recent leak of an invitation he has received to become a member of the UN in New York, he smiled and said "Hmm, the Government leaked that and I haven't decided yet".

Mr Downer's website link is here:-

http://www.alexanderdowner.com.au/Default.aspx



The next picture is of the current federal opposition leader Dr. Brendan Nelson. Dr Nelson, was a person whom I had almost dismissed from his public persona and was pleasantly surprised and humbled by how genuine and how sincere he is. I began to see him in a whole different light. I walked out of his office a believer in him as a person, and in his vision for Australia. I didn't think people like him existed in politics. What a pleasant surprise. It was again a simple reminder that what we see in the snippets on the news is rarely indicative of the person or what they have indeed actually said. News on television by it's commercial station nature is designed to elicit sensationalism and controversy. Dr. Nelson walked the small group who were there, through a single example of how the public perception and how the lack of actual information was shared via the media and then clarified the situation with what actually did occur. Almost diametrically opposite. He is a good man, from humble beginnings and I learned a couple of valuable life lessons with him.

Dr. Nelson's website link is here:-

http://www.brendannelson.com.au/

Then there is Parliament House with a group of Young Adults that I accompanied through Parliament House.