Riots, Reforms & Resilience

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3938479.htm Panellists: Jamie Briggs, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Development; Anthony Albanese, Shadow Infrastructure Minister; Ged Kearney, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions; Clive Palmer, Leader of the Palmer United Party; and Rhonda Cornum, Gulf war veteran & leader of US Army wellbeing project. -- Jamie Briggs Jamie Briggs was born in rural Victoria in 1977 and grew up in the River Murray town of Mildura. His father was the local bank manager and his mother a volunteer worker at the Catholic primary school. Like most country boys, Jamie was drawn to sport and played cricket, football and golf whenever the opportunity arose. He went to school at St. Joseph’s college in Mildura where he excelled in cricket before moving to Adelaide to pursue dreams of playing for Australia. But he also had an interest in public affairs from an early age, which developed into a particular interest in politics in his early 20s. After finishing school Jamie studied for a Bachelor of Management at the University of South Australia. He has since undertaken post graduate studies in international relations. At the age of 22 Jamie worked for Business SA, assisting South Australian businesses in managing their workplaces. It was at this time that Jamie joined the Liberal Party. In 2001 he was employed by the State Treasurer, the Hon Rob Lucas MP. In 2003 Jamie moved to Canberra to work for the coalition Government and after the 2004 election he was moved to Prime Minister Howard’s office as an adviser. In early 2006 Jamie was appointed to a senior adviser’s role in the Prime Minister’s office. In 2008 Jamie won a by-election held to replace the retiring Alexander Downer in the federal seat of Mayo and in September that year he became the 1061st person to be elected to the Federal Parliament. After the 2013 election Jamie entered the ministry as Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Development. Jamie lives in Mount Barker with his wife, Estée, and their three children Elka, Henry and Scarlett. Recreationally, he enjoys playing and watching sports, running and reading. -- Anthony Albanese Anthony Albanese, known universally as Albo, has been immersed in politics and the Labor Party for his entire adult life. Born in 1963, he joined the ALP at 16 and for more than 30 years has been a stalwart of the NSW Left faction and one of its best-known activists and strategists. Since 1996 he has been the member for the inner-western Sydney seat of Grayndler, taking in the suburb of Marrickville where Albo grew up and where he still lives. His wife, Carmel Tebbutt, is also a senior political figure and represents the State seat of Marrickville for the ALP. Albo graduated from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Economics and worked briefly as a bank officer before joining the staff of Hawke government minister Tom Uren in 1985. During this period he was very active within the ALP, as a delegate to the ALP State conference and as president of NSW Young Labor. He has also been a delegate to every ALP national conference from 1986 to the present. In 1989 he began working in the ALP’s head office as Assistant General Secretary, and immediately before entering Parliament he was Senior Policy Adviser to NSW Premier Bob Carr. In 1998 Albo became a shadow parliamentary secretary and by 2001 he was a shadow minister. In 2006 he became Manager of Opposition Business in Parliament, and with the change of government in 2007 he entered Cabinet as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Leader of the House. Albo supported Kevin Rudd in his battle for the leadership with Julia Gillard. Following the Rudd return he was elected Deputy Prime Minister and had the important broadband and communications portfolio added to his ministerial responsibilities. After Labor lost the 2013 election Albo was defeated by Bill Shorten in the first ever party ballot to decide the parliamentary leadership. -- Ged Kearney Gerardine (Ged) Kearney is President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, which represents about 1.9 million union members and their families. She began as ACTU President in July 2010, succeeding Sharan Burrow. Ged began her working life as a registered nurse in 1985. She has worked in both the public and private acute sectors, predominantly in Melbourne, and has also been a nursing educator, including manager of the Clinical Nursing Education Department at Austin Health. She has a Bachelor in Education. The year after qualifying as a registered nurse, she took part in the famous Victorian nurses’ strike of 1986 which resulted in substantial improvements to pay and conditions. Ged became an official with the Australian Nursing Federation in 1997, was elected ANF Federal Secretary in April 2008, and oversaw a period of rapid growth by the union, which represents more than 200,000 nurses and midwives. Ged now strives to improve the working lives and conditions for all Australian workers. She believes that unions should not just be concerned with the experience of people at work but should also be advocates for change to improve all aspects of Australians’ lives. She wants to ensure that unions continue to be at the forefront of public debate in Australia. Ged’s ambition as ACTU President is to build respect from political leaders and the broad community for the values of fairness and the role played by unions in delivering social change so that people want to join. The second youngest of nine children, Ged grew up in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond, where her father was a publican. She was brought up in a household where the importance of the collective, both in politics and society, was emphasised from an early age. Ged is the mother of four children and lives in Melbourne. -- Clive Palmer Clive Palmer is an MP, a mining entrepreneur and one of the most colourful characters in Australian political and business circles. He is renowned for being always willing to speak his mind. Once a staunch supporter of the Liberal National Party, Clive has had several clashes with the LNP leadership and the Queensland LNP Premier, Campbell Newman. Consequently he formed his own political party, the Palmer United Party, and has now entered Parliament having won the seat of Fairfax in Queensland. Several PUP candidates will enter the Senate when the new Senators take their place in July this year. Clive was born in Victoria but now lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Now 56, he originally retired at the age of 29 after making a fortune in the 1980s Gold Coast property boom. In the later 1980s he started taking an interest in mining exploration in WA and his principal mining company, Mineralogy, secured access to 160 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves in the Pilbara region. Clive once worked as press secretary for the late Joh Bjelke-Petersen when he was Queensland Premier. He has been a big financial supporter of conservative political parties but has friendships and contacts across the political spectrum. He was named as an Australian Living Treasure and attracted controversy when he claimed the Greens were a puppet of the CIA. As owner of the Gold Coast United FC he also featured in a public spat with Frank Lowy, head of the Football Federation of Australia. His most recent venture has been the announcement that he is building a replica of the Titanic, to be called Titanic II. -- Rhonda Cornum Brigadier General (retired) Rhonda Cornum, PhD, MD, has a unique perspective on positive psychology and resilience. During the Gulf War, while a flight surgeon aboard a helicopter in search of a downed pilot, Dr Rhonda Cornum was shot down, wounded and taken prisoner of war, which she wrote about in the book She Went to War. From 2008 until 2012 she served as the first Director of the U.S. Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness initiative, which represents the model for universal implementation of physical and psychological health promotion within the US Department of Defence. The program incorporates interactive training in positive psychology and resilience skills. Rhonda received the Mental Health Humanitarian Award from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology to recognise her devotion to improving the mental health of veterans, servicemen and women and their families. She previously served as the Assistant Surgeon General for Force Projection, responsible for the policies and procedures to prepare soldiers and units for deployment, and commanded the Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre, the evacuation hub for Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa and Europe. Rhonda sits on numerous committees and advisory boards, including the Veteran Affairs Secretary’s POW Advisory Committee, and is a Professor of Military and Emergency Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Rhonda is a Fellow in both the American College of Surgeons and the Aerospace Medical Association, and is a member of the American Society of Nutrition. She recently joined TechWerks, a US-based healthcare IT solutions company, as the Director of Health Strategy. ---- Audience: ALP 33%, Coalition 43%, Greens 10% ASYLUM SECRECY Sarah Whitby asked: After the recent riot on Manus island, it again became obvious that Tony Abbott has an "addiction to secrecy," particularly when it comes to Operation Sovereign Borders. Scott Morrison has criticised journalists for raising reports that contradicted his statements but he himself has only provided information that succeed only in raising concern and intrigue. How does the government justify its decision to deprive its people of accurate and detailed information? ASYLUM – ALP SILENCE Rebecca Weber asked via video: Minister Albanese, how can the Australian Labor Party stand by in silence and watch what is happening on Manus Island? Does the ALP believe that Australia is now a nation that treats vulnerable people seeking our help with cruelty and inhumanity? Is the Minister and the ALP proud that Australia can now claim to be 'deterring' the small number of refugees that arrive here seeking our protection by subjecting them to conditions worse from that which they have fled? JOBS – G20 – IS THERE A PLAN? Patrick Michell asked: Prospects over the next 5-10 years look grim for young Australians looking to have stable, well paid employment in a service-only economy, be able to afford a home anywhere, existing amongst out-dated, and poorly planned infrastructure. The G20 tells us to "go for growth" as Australian governments go for cuts. Is this just a rosy picture? Because I truly believe there is no plan for the future other than dirt digging and house flipping. QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: My question is to Mr Albanese, you just listed all the things that the government should be doing why weren’t you doing that when you were in government? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: You talk about cutting taxes, I'm from the US, Obama talked about cutting taxes to lighten the load. Is that your plan? How is the government going to get the money to create new jobs? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Why is there deregulation among TAFE’s and Universities? This leads to limited training resources/facilities... IR REFORM – CASUAL WORKERS Annie Fitzer asked: Industrial relations reform always seems to be about bettering conditions for employers not employees. As a young casual employee in the hospitality industry the reality is I work when my employer wants me to. How can I have any hope of negotiating on equal terms? They will just hire someone else. And why shouldn't I be paid extra for working the days and times nobody wants to work? TAREE FUNDING- INFRASTRCUTURE Mayor Paul Hogan asked via Video: My question is for Jamie Briggs, The Prime Minister Tony Abbott has stated he wants to be remembered as the infrastructure Prime Minister. In December last year, you publicly stated your Government would honour all Commonwealth infrastructure grants, yet, you have withdrawn 11.4 million dollars in funding for local roads and bridges from the struggling community of Taree. Perhaps this is political payback in Rob Oakeshott's old electorate, or is it just a lack of care for a regional community? Do Tony Abbot's aspirations include regional Australia? DAWSON DEATH Nic Kelly asked: Following the devastating loss of Charlotte Dawson over the weekend, there’s been renewed conversation about the political approach to mental health. As someone who’s seen depression and anxiety affect close family members, friends and myself, I know for a fact that despite the great work of organisations like LifeLine, Headspace and ReachOut, the overall approach to mental health from the community isn’t currently enough to end this crippling and increasing epidemic. What more does the panel believe the government is able to do to help fix this, and why hasn’t it happened yet? PTSD Peter Fitzer asked: My question is for Brigadier General Rhonda Cornum. As a former NSW Police Officer and PTSD sufferer, I am personally aware of the challenges and high incidence of this condition. In what ways can the armed, emergency and police services be more proactive in preventing the occurrence of PTSD and better support sufferers and their families?