http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/richard-marles/ Richard Marles was elected to Federal Parliament as Member for Corio in November 2007. He served as Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry from 2009 until his appointment as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs in 2010. In March 2012 he was appointed to the additional role of Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Richard was born in 1967, raised in Geelong, and educated at Geelong Grammar School. He has a LLB (Hons) and BSc from Melbourne University. He began his career with law firm Slater and Gordon. In 1998, he became Federal Assistant Secretary of the Transport Workers’ Union where he was responsible for bargaining with national transport companies and managing the union’s activities in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. In 2000, he became Assistant Secretary of the ACTU and ran the Working Hours Case which gave workers the right, for the first time, to refuse unreasonable amounts of overtime. He was a member of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission and led the ACTU’s work on OHS. He also led an innovative program of co-operation between the Australian and Papua New Guinea union movements. He was Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs from February 2008 to June 2009. He lives in Geelong with his wife Rachel and has four children, Sam, Isabella, Harvey and Georgia. 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/were-serious-about-our-tilt-at-a-un-security-council-seat/ Recently I visited Andorra, Albania and San Marino. The trip elicited sideways glances from odd spot type gossip columnists who, with an almost salacious air, suggested that it may have had something to do with Australia’s UN Security Council campaign. I confess: guilty as charged. Australia is running for the UN Security Council. It is a tight race. We are trying to win. We are campaigning hard. Each of these countries has a vote. We are seeking their support. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-serious-about-our-tilt-at-a-un-security-council-seat/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/were-serious-about-our-tilt-at-a-un-security-council-seat/#item8552 Mon, 21 May 2012 19:30:31 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-budget-blade-didnt-cut-aid-its-being-paid-in-spades/ Ten million children vaccinated. 2.5 million people with access to safe drinking water. And 30 million people supported through humanitarian crises like famine and war. These are some outcomes to be delivered this year, by Australia’s Budget for overseas aid. This year, Australia’s aid budget will rise – by $300 million, to a record $5.2 billion. And it will go on rising - reaching $7.7 billion in three year’s time. In dollar terms our aid budget is the largest in our history. As a percentage of Gross National Income, it’s at 0.35%, rising to 0.5% by 2016/17. That’s just one year later than planned – a pretty good outcome in a tough budget year. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-budget-blade-didnt-cut-aid-its-being-paid-in-spades/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-budget-blade-didnt-cut-aid-its-being-paid-in-spades/#item8514 Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:36 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/albania-a-country-which-actually-is-moving-forward/ It was a country that banned beards. Travellers arriving at the border sporting facial hair would be shaved on the spot. A citizen attempting to leave the country on other than official business engaged in an act of treason punishable by jail or even death. During the second half of the 20th Century Albania was one of the most isolated countries on earth. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/albania-a-country-which-actually-is-moving-forward/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/albania-a-country-which-actually-is-moving-forward/#item8427 Mon, 07 May 2012 19:30:47 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/his-love-of-his-pooch-could-see-him-sent-to-the-dog-house/ As a teacher’s kid I grew up on a school campus. This was idyllic for children but, for dogs, it was utopia. Hounds roamed free. Leashes did not exist. And the dog community participated in every aspect of the school’s life. One maths teacher had a beautiful Labrador who dutifully followed him around school wherever he went, including the classroom. As classes were taught, the Labrador would happily sleep up the front, content in the knowledge that he was on top of his subject having heard this lesson many times before. An Afghan who lived near the oval loved athletics. During the season he would regularly join the final lap of the 800m and was responsible for many a school record as nervous kids found extra pace with a large dog literally nipping at their heels. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/his-love-of-his-pooch-could-see-him-sent-to-the-dog-house/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/his-love-of-his-pooch-could-see-him-sent-to-the-dog-house/#item8363 Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:30:52 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/A-heroic-young-Aussie-whose-spirit-lives-on-in-the-Pacific/ Last weekend the Melanie Jewson Foundation was formally launched to honour the life of Melanie Jewson, a Geelong teenager who died tragically in a car accident in 2004. She was about to turn 19. Melanie was a remarkable person who had a zest for life. She was a regular at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre where she loved to perform. She danced and sang like an angel. She had the respect and love of her peers being elected the school captain of Western Heights College in 2003. She had a gift for communication: in movement, in voice and with the written word. On her tribute website melaniejewson.com there is a short piece of her writing which tells the story of a particular performance, of her passion for music and of her love for her father. It is simply impossible to read it with a dry eye. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/A-heroic-young-Aussie-whose-spirit-lives-on-in-the-Pacific/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/A-heroic-young-Aussie-whose-spirit-lives-on-in-the-Pacific/#item8311 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:35:23 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/My-bittersweet-relationship-with-a-sweet-brown-mistress/ A new person entering a small workplace will inevitably alter the human equilibrium. Just as chaos theory predicts the fluttering of a butterfly wing can cause a cataclysmic event, the introduction of small habits can have big consequences. Enter Jo: a talented, hard working and very personable colleague who has wonderfully enhanced our office in every respect… bar one. Jo has brought a coffee machine. As a garnish to the coffee she has beside her desk a jar of chocolates. In many ways my life has been characterised by a stormy relationship with chocolate. True it is that in a world of shifting sands and moving goal posts chocolate has been a constant friend delivering consistent satisfaction on demand. Yet the legacy on my waist has been a girth approaching the dimensions of the MCG. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/My-bittersweet-relationship-with-a-sweet-brown-mistress/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/My-bittersweet-relationship-with-a-sweet-brown-mistress/#item8179 Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:55:36 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fresh-elections-could-pave-pathway-to-PNG-prosperity/ The events of the last twelve months in Papua New Guinea have been extraordinary and unexpected – even by the standards of the ‘Land of the Unexpected’. The Prime Ministership has been declared vacant. The Governor-General has been suspended. The Chief Justice has been arrested. Governments have been declared invalid. The judiciary and the legislature have been in dispute. As startling as these events may be, in the midst of this turmoil, in many ways, PNG deserves considerable credit. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fresh-elections-could-pave-pathway-to-PNG-prosperity/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fresh-elections-could-pave-pathway-to-PNG-prosperity/#item8007 Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:45:34 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Jamaicans-bolting-away-from-traditional-bat-and-ball/ When England robbed us of the Ashes last summer, the sense of malaise that fell across the country was palpable. People were cranky. The skies were grey. The rain fell. Cricket was a fundamental source of anxiety. Mental health was served by not thinking about it. A year later, with a panel of selectors prepared to let some new blood flow and a captain full of surprises, success has followed at a startling rate. In Pattinson and Cummings we have a future bowling attack to make you drool. The possibilities that Warner brings to the game are almost unimaginable. The sun has started shining and summers are back on the agenda. The extent to which cricket nourishes the soul is not unique to Australia. On entry into Dakar airport one is met with a wall size photograph of the Bangladeshi cricket team that simply says: “We love cricket”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Jamaicans-bolting-away-from-traditional-bat-and-ball/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Jamaicans-bolting-away-from-traditional-bat-and-ball/#item7786 Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:30:09 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/foreign-diplomatic-service-a-deadly-serious-business/ The Mexican Ambassador to Venezuala was recently kidnapped. A ransom demand ensued and after five or six hours he was released.  The incident happened right outside his house in what was thought to be a safer part of town.  The attack was highly co-ordinated with three teams of assailants using sophisticated and powerful weaponry. While no-one was hurt, the episode was traumatic and by no means a one-off incident.  It has left the diplomatic community in this city thinking intensely about how to deal with this ever-present danger in as professional a way as possible. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/foreign-diplomatic-service-a-deadly-serious-business/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/foreign-diplomatic-service-a-deadly-serious-business/#item7712 Sun, 12 Feb 2012 19:40:36 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-santa-isnt-that-good-at-choosing-presents/ Holding a foreign affairs portfolio in the Federal Government means you travel… a lot. And with a young family this carries with it certain domestic challenges. So a social contract has developed between me and my family to resolve the situation. Be it out of compensation or guilt, provided I return bearing gifts then everything is OK. My wife Rachel is the easiest piece of the puzzle. I pass through Duty Free often which simply means cosmetics. Her favourite is nail polish which lives in the refrigerator. After a year of travelling the inside door of the fridge now has a line-up of tomato sauce, milk and a bank of Chanel. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Richard Marles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-santa-isnt-that-good-at-choosing-presents/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/sometimes-santa-isnt-that-good-at-choosing-presents/#item7443 Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:50:53 +0000 Richard Marles | Author bios | The Punch