http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/marise-payne/ After growing up in Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands, Marise Payne went on to complete her education at MLC School, Burwood and her Bachelor of Arts and Laws at the University of NSW. A member of the Liberal Party since 1982, Marise was the National Young Liberal Movement’s first female President. She also served on the NSW Liberal State Executive for 10 years and at branch and electorate levels. Having served as a political adviser to some of the most significant figures in Liberal politics of their time, Marise went on to a career as a public affairs adviser in the finance industry. In 1997 Marise filled a casual vacancy to represent the people of New South Wales in the Australian Senate, making her inaugural speech on 2 September 1997. She was then elected in 2001 and 2007. Marise is Shadow Minister for Indigenous Development and Employment, Shadow Minister for COAG [Council of Australian Governments] and Shadow Minister for Housing. She plays an active role in the Senate and has been a member of both Joint and Senate committees, including as Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and as Chair of its Human Rights subcommittee.  From its inception in 2003, Marise was co-convenor of the Parliamentary Friends of Dementia (PFOD) group until February 2011. Based in western Sydney for over ten years, Marise has come to know the local community well and now works alongside local organisations and businesses to help the region develop its great potential. Outside parliament, Marise continues to work in the community on issues as diverse as human rights, emerging technologies and the implications of our ageing population. Away from politics, she is a committed fan of the St George/Illawarra NRL team and the Geelong Cats, an enthusiastic supporter of the arts in Australia, spends as much time as she can in the Southern Highlands and she cooks for therapy. Marise and her partner live in a newly built home in Mulgoa. 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/Reform-agenda-has-slowly-COAGulated/ The COAG reform agenda, having stalled long ago under Labor’s chaotic governing style, is showing about the same signs of life as the US housing market, if the latest performance reports are anything to by. The 2009-10 performance reports released in recent days did not make for pleasant reading. Almost two years after the deadline for Kevin Rudd’s promise to take over the hospital system if the states did not lift their game, we are still no closer to a solution. Elective surgery waiting times rose nationally while “financial barriers” caused one million Australians to put off seeing a GP. No doubt these financial barriers will only worsen as the inflationary effects of Labor’s stimulus spending come home to roost through higher taxes and interest rate hikes. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marise Payne) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Reform-agenda-has-slowly-COAGulated/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Reform-agenda-has-slowly-COAGulated/#item6129 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:45:37 +0000 Marise Payne | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/indigenous-housing/ When it comes to waste and mismanagement, Julia Gillard’s Building the Education Revolution debacle is recognised as the gold standard, but it has a new challenger in the form of the Labor government’s Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP). However, federal Labor – like its state Labor counterparts who gave themselves glowing reports for their management of the BER – has insulted our intelligence by their boasts in early January that it has exceeded its 2010 targets for building houses in remote Indigenous communities. The reality is the government has blown the same amount of taxpayers’ money on administration costs and inflated salaries for consultants under SIHIP as the disastrous schools halls project, in relative terms. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marise Payne) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/indigenous-housing/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/indigenous-housing/#item5025 Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:45:49 +0000 Marise Payne | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/never-do-today-what-you-can-put-off-until-tomorrow/ If the ‘greatest moral and economic challenge of our generation’ can wait until 2013 at the earliest, along with the savings required to repair our tattered budget, what chance does the rest of Kevin Rudd’s overloaded COAG reform agenda have? After two and half years of this government, Australians can now clearly see Mr Rudd’s modus operandi: if it’s A. hard, B. unpopular or C. all of the above; leave it for another day. His decision to shelve his much-vaunted emissions trading scheme (ETS) and abandon his quest to personally save the world from global warming comes as no surprise as he consistently demonstrates to the Australian people that he prefers to take the easy road. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Marise Payne) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/never-do-today-what-you-can-put-off-until-tomorrow/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/never-do-today-what-you-can-put-off-until-tomorrow/#item3028 Fri, 07 May 2010 19:50:04 +0000 Marise Payne | Author bios | The Punch