2016-05-06
Yesterday it was my great pleasure to welcome the delegation of members of the Japanese Diet to my electoral office in a visit organised by the Australian Political Exchange Council (APEC). I was impressed and honoured that the delegation was interested to meet with a representative of a newer political party to find out how we serve our electorates and juggle our portfolio responsibilities.
It was an excellent opportunity to share views on a range of issues, from the diverse needs of constituents in a city as proudly multicultural as Melbourne, through to keeping up with infrastructure for a fast-growing population and to addressing the energy needs of both our countries. The delegates demonstrated a commendable level of understanding of local issues, asked excellent questions across a range of portfolio areas and were able to represent amongst them a fascinating range of political perspectives with maturity and openness.
I would like to sincerely thank all of the delegates for taking the time to travel to my electorate office in Cheltenham and APEC for doing such a good job of organising what turned out to be a very informative exchange of policy concerns and perspectives.