http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/paul-bird/ Over the last twelve years in Australia, Paul has managed the Finance and Operations of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, managed the operations of The Body Shop, and held the posts of CFO of the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and CEO of Very Special Kids, before joining World Vision in April 2005. He is now the Victorian State Director for Mission Australia. 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/have-you-even-met-an-aboriginal-person/ When my parents arrived in the 1950s as ’10 pound Poms’, Australia was a brave new world. Their street in Melbourne’s Glen Waverley bustled with fellow European migrants eager to create a life for their families.  But while our neighbourhood was a snapshot of multicultural Europe there wasn’t a lot of mixing. My parents socialised with others from the old country while their Italian and Greek neighbours went to their own churches and started their own small businesses. The ‘poms’ and ‘wogs’ in the street lived together quite happily, but separately. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Paul Bird) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-you-even-met-an-aboriginal-person/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/have-you-even-met-an-aboriginal-person/#item5957 Mon, 30 May 2011 19:35:56 +0000 Paul Bird | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/traffic-jams-no-jobs-ghettoes-blame-poor-planning/ Ask any poor wage slave trapped in rush hour traffic or crammed like a sardine into a sweltering carriage on their hour-long daily commute and my guess is you’ll find no shortage of strong opinions on Australia’s less than terrific track record in urban planning. As our major cities have grown in population over recent decades the unimaginative response of state governments has largely been to drive new housing towards our metropolitan fringes. But as many of us experience daily, on the whole they’ve done so without putting in place the economic and social infrastructure to accommodate such expansion – public transport, training and employment opportunities and access to essential community services such as childcare. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Paul Bird) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/traffic-jams-no-jobs-ghettoes-blame-poor-planning/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/traffic-jams-no-jobs-ghettoes-blame-poor-planning/#item5260 Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:50:42 +0000 Paul Bird | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fear-of-violence-is-killing-victorian-culture/ We all know there’s an election on in Victoria and we all know one of the major campaign issues is crime and violence – no surprises there. This is not a piece on the rights, wrongs or otherwise of the respective election platforms on fighting crime – I’ll leave that for others to dissect. What I want to contribute is a perspective on how Victoria’s often intense and sometimes heated debate about violence and personal safety has impacted on young people in the state and the potential knock-on effect for our community as a whole. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Paul Bird) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fear-of-violence-is-killing-victorian-culture/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fear-of-violence-is-killing-victorian-culture/#item4489 Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:45:18 +0000 Paul Bird | Author bios | The Punch