http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/bob-mcmullan/ Bob was born in Perth in 1947. He went to Guildford Primary School and Stirling High School and graduated from the University of Western Australia with degrees in arts and economics. In 1975 Bob became Secretary of the Western Australian Branch of the ALP. In August 1981 he was elected National Secretary and moved with his family to Canberra. During his time as National Secretary, Bob directed the ALP’s successful election campaigns in 1983, 1984 and 1987. In February 1988, following the resignation of Senator Susan Ryan, Bob was sworn in as Senator for the Australian Capital Territory. In 1990 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer and in 1991 became Manager of Government Business in the Senate. In 1993 Bob was appointed Minister for the Arts and Administrative Services and became a member of the Cabinet, the first time the Arts portfolio was represented in Cabinet. In January 1994, he was appointed Minister for Trade. Following a redistribution of Canberra’s House of Representative seats, Bob stood for the seat of Canberra in 1996, and was elected. Following a redistribution in 1998, Bob became Member for Fraser. Between 1996 and 2007 Bob held a number of Shadow Ministerial positions including Shadow Treasurer, Shadow Minister for Finance & Small Business and Shadow Minister for Federal/State Relations. After the election of the Rudd Government in November 2007 Bob was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance. Bob is married to Robin and they have two daughters and three grandchildren. He is an avid follower of most sports and has a particular interest in Australian art and heritage, the environment, reading and golf. Bob is patron of several sports and arts organisations in the ACT. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-should-be-proud-of-our-response-to-the-haiti-quake/ As the rescue operation in Haiti begins to shift to one of recovery, the global community is now beginning to see the true scale of the disaster which has struck the tiny Carribean nation. Natural disasters such as the Haitian earthquake, the Samoan and Tongan tsunami of last year and the Asian tsunami of 2004 always bring out a truly astounding expression of a shared humanity. Natural disasters bring poverty to the fore but the fact is extreme poverty is a daily reality for far too many people around the world. 25,000 children will die today from preventable diseases, 900 million people around the world will go to sleep hungry tonight, and tomorrow 1.4billion people will be forced to survive on less than US$1.25 for the day – more than two-thirds of them women and children. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Bob McMullan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-should-be-proud-of-our-response-to-the-haiti-quake/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-should-be-proud-of-our-response-to-the-haiti-quake/#item2220 Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:40:09 +0000 Bob McMullan | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/And-a-very-happy-world-toilet-day-to-youall/ As a politician one of my roles is to attend official openings. Like all of my colleagues I’ve opened schools, sporting facilities, roads, bridges and buildings complete with photos in a hardhat and safety vest. It is a part of the job and one that I quite enjoy. It is fair to say that in my twenty-two years in Parliament I have attended hundreds of these ceremonies. Out of all of them, there is one which sticks in my mind as both the strangest and also among the most important. In 2008, in the tiny Pacific nation of Kiribati, I formally opened a girl’s toilet at a school. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Bob McMullan) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/And-a-very-happy-world-toilet-day-to-youall/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/And-a-very-happy-world-toilet-day-to-youall/#item1784 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:09:40 +0000 Bob McMullan | Author bios | The Punch