http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/tony-burke/ Tony Burke, Federal Member for Watson, has a background in Small Business and in Industrial Relations. He was a founding director of Aticus Pty Ltd and later worked as a union official for the SDA. Tony was appointed as Shadow Minister for Small Business on election to the Australian Parliament in 2004. He then became the Shadow Minister for Immigration in June 2005. In December 2006 Tony’s portfolio was expanded. He was the Shadow Minister for Immigration, Integration and Citizenship until the 2007 election. Following election of a new Labor Government in November 2007, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd named Tony as Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the Rudd Government’s first cabinet.He then had Population added to his portfolios. He is now the Environment Minister in the Gillard Government. Before entering Federal Parliament, Tony served as a member of the NSW Legislative Council. During his time there Tony chaired the NSW State Development Committee, conducting inquiries into Ports Infrastructure and into Science and its Commercialisation in NSW. Tony has degrees in Arts and Law from the University of Sydney and is a former National President of Australian Young Labor. en Copyright 2013 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +0000 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:00:10 +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/all-league-is-local-a-day-of-joy-in-belmore/ All league is local. That’s what was forgotten 15 years ago, when the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs dropped the local area from its name and from its playing and training schedule.  In the last week we have seen the very best of how a local area can support a team, and even more importantly how a sporting team can uniquely support a local area. Before you accuse me of bias let me be clear, I am completely biased. It’s my local area and my local team. And I see both up close. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Burke) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/all-league-is-local-a-day-of-joy-in-belmore/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/all-league-is-local-a-day-of-joy-in-belmore/#item9609 Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:32:12 +0000 Tony Burke | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/protecting-the-barrier-reef-is-the-fin-end-of-the-wedge/ When you take on a job like being Environment Minister there’s some hits you can see coming.  You expect you’ll get a whack when you protect an endangered plant which if people saw in their garden, they’d presume was a weed. You know there’ll be some red hot political point scoring if jobs are meant to be put at risk to make way for the interests of some thrice mutated rare frog. But what I never expected was to have the Queensland Liberal National Party go after me for wanting to look after koalas and the Great Barrier Reef. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman had turned up to his first COAG meeting with the other Premiers and the Prime Minister saying he’d be willing to help speed up processing times for business by enforcing the national environmental standards when he gives state approvals.  But only a fortnight later he flicked the switch from wanting to enforce those standards to wanting to tear them down. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Burke) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/protecting-the-barrier-reef-is-the-fin-end-of-the-wedge/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/protecting-the-barrier-reef-is-the-fin-end-of-the-wedge/#item8584 Thu, 24 May 2012 03:57:20 +0000 Tony Burke | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-cant-keep-the-country-running-at-two-speeds/ Today there will be thousands of Australians losing an hour of time with their kids for the privilege of sitting in traffic gridlock in our major cities.  Somewhere else there will be an employer looking at a business, which could generate much more money if only a worker could be found. The concept of Australia running at two speeds couldn’t be starker than it is with population.  One group of Australians are flying at high speed to work at a mine while others may as well put the handbrake on. Developing a sustainable population strategy means finding a way forward for both groups.  So far a lot of the debate has dealt with national population figures and presumed all we need to do is arrive at a total number. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Burke) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-cant-keep-the-country-running-at-two-speeds/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/we-cant-keep-the-country-running-at-two-speeds/#item2861 Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:55:50 +0000 Tony Burke | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/swearing-for-a-good-cause/ Last night I attended the launch of National Swearing Day without realising it. Attending functions as a politician can be a bit like an episode of “Thank God You’re Here”.  You walk through the door and suddenly discover that you are giving a speech, cooking a meal, or throwing a first prize sash over a pumpkin. So last night, instead of being at the launch of National Swearing Day, I thought I was attending a function for the White Ribbon Foundation.  It’s an organisation headed up by Andrew O’Keefe which aims to prevent violence against women. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Burke) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/swearing-for-a-good-cause/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/swearing-for-a-good-cause/#item1187 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 19:50:08 +0000 Tony Burke | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whos-funding-wacko-peta-its-crazy-animal-campaigns/ When the extreme animal rights group PETA complained about President Barack Obama swatting a fly, the penny finally dropped for me. For a long time I’ve read comments from PETA and thought these people can’t be for real.  Vets and sensible animal welfare organisations regularly work with my office and Department to deliver better labeling for free range eggs, or improving the safety of animals being transported. But PETA runs a completely different set of campaigns that can only be described as bizarre.  They oppose kids being allowed to keep goldfish.  They oppose horse riding.  And they even oppose guide dogs for the vision impaired. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tony Burke) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whos-funding-wacko-peta-its-crazy-animal-campaigns/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/whos-funding-wacko-peta-its-crazy-animal-campaigns/#item398 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:30:22 +0000 Tony Burke | Author bios | The Punch