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About the House, your free colour magazine
 About the House is a free colour feature magazine produced five times a year by the Liaison & Projects Office of the House of Representatives. It covers the varied work of Members of the House, especially Committee investigations.
The magazine is available through the offices of every Member of the House of Representatives, or can be ordered directly through the Liaison & Projects Office (tel: 02 6277 2122, email: liaison.reps@aph.gov.au).
The current About the House magazine is the March/April 2003 edition (Edition 15).
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In the current edition (March/April 2003)
Cover story:
Feature articles:
Previous editions
Cover Story - March/April 2003:
Quenching our thirst for water
The land is parched; rivers are running dry; cities are on water restrictions; the mouth of the Murray has to be dredged open. The drought has drawn into sharp focus the issue of water supply and management within Australia. The House of Representatives Agriculture Committee is examining the role of the Commonwealth in ensuring an adequate and sustainable future water supply for rural and regional communities and industries, and in balancing the competing demands for water nationwide. About the House reviews some of the evidence presented to the committee so far.
In some ways it's simple. Water in Australia is a scarce resource. Given this, we need a clear set of priorities about what we use it for, and we have to minimise waste within that framework.
In many other ways it's incredibly complex. There are human, environmental, business, community, financial and, of course, political dimensions to every decision made regarding water use and management in Australia.
"Water, along with energy and population, will be consuming national issues in the 21st century," says the CSIRO in its submission to the House Agriculture Committee's water inquiry.
"There are going to be losers," Professor Peter Cullen told the inquiry about water reform. "I think the art of this is to try to ensure that we get policy levers that minimise the losers."
To read the entire article, you can open this pdf document, or ask the Liaison & Projects Office for a copy of the magazine.
Footprints in Antarctica
Going to Antarctica is a privilege afforded to few and it is impossible to visit without being profoundly moved by it. As a way of increasing the understanding within federal parliament of issues affecting the Antarctic, Sharman Stone, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Environment Minister, recently invited federal parliamentarians to participate in a re-supply voyage to Antarctica. WA Senator Peter Cook agreed to take the long journey south, following in the footsteps of the explorers and the scientists who have braved the rough seas of the Southern Ocean for the 10 days it takes just to reach the Antarctic. In this account of that voyage, Senator Cook explains why the pristine beauty of the Antarctic, and the valuable work that is being done in that harsh environment, is something all Australians should know more about.
"There is more than three times the snow and ice in Australia and its territories than in the whole of Alaska."
I was on the bridge of MV Polar Bird, a Norwegian flagged Antarctic supply vessel, crunching its way through dense pack ice towards Casey, one of Australia's three main Antarctic bases. Kim Pitt, a former Navy Commodore who spent time at WA's Garden Island Naval Base, and now Chief of Operations for the Australian Antarctic Division went on: "It is a pity that maps of Australia don't show the continent and all Australian territories. If they did, people would be surprised. Antarctica is huge-14 million square kilometers-and the Australian territory covers 43% of it."
To read the entire article, you can open this pdf document, or ask the Liaison & Projects Office for a copy of the magazine.
The Power of One
When a tragic car accident left a three-month old baby orphaned and fighting for his life, his grandmother was there to fight for his future. Helen Beringen reports on how one woman's love, courage and determination inspired her to speak out and get the laws on compensation payments changed to help her grandchild and many other Australians.
The high excitement of a family holiday to Queensland plummeted to the depths of despair early in the morning of 27 November 1993.
A tragic roll-over near Newcastle in New South Wales left two young parents dead and three pre-school aged children orphaned in the wreckage of the family's four-wheel-drive.
The youngest was Jackson, just three months old, flung 10 metres from the car during the accident and left brain-injured, blind and paralysed.
With the two older children escaping serious injury and in the care of their paternal grandparents, their maternal grandmother Judie Stephens took on the daunting challenge of caring for baby Jackson. This included not only providing love and nurture to promote his physical healing, but ensuring his financial future was secure.
Her six-year journey through the minefield of politics, lobbyists and the media culminated on 5 December 2002, with the passage of the Taxation Laws Amendment (Structured Settlements and Structured Orders) Bill 2002.
To read the entire article, you can open this pdf document, or ask the Liaison & Projects Office for a copy of the magazine.
Community Challenge
How can the challenges facing Indigenous communities best be met? Dr Will Sanders from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University outlines some of the priority areas for a parliamentary committee inquiry into Indigenous capacity building.
To read the entire article, you can open this pdf document, or ask the Liaison & Projects Office for a copy of the magazine.
Grass Roots
For many members of the House of Representatives, a seat in federal parliament is not their first involvement in Australian politics. Peter Cotton talks to members who started out in local government and finds out how grass roots politics has helped them get where they are today.
Just under a quarter of the members of the House of Representatives have been either local government councillors or have served time in state politics.
While members who have served on council or in a state parliament say it helped their progress into federal politics, they don't see it as a prerequisite. But clearly, it helps.
To read the entire article, you can open this pdf document, or ask the Liaison & Projects Office for a copy of the magazine.
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