Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his question. I know that he is a very active local member and has rightly identified the numerous benefits that community cabinets offer to local electorates. I certainly agree with the member for Solomon that there would be a great many benefits to Territorians if a community cabinet was held in his seat. He can rest assured that I will certainly take that on board.

The Prime Minister made a commitment whilst in opposition to undertake community cabinet meetings, and it is a commitment that has been fulfilled. The meetings allow the highest level of consultation with the Australian people on issues that concern them, regardless of whether they are national or local matters. As a government we have held 24 community cabinets in every corner of the country. The cabinet has been to Western Australia on several occasions, to Tasmania, to metropolitan and regional New South Wales and, of course, to South Australia, Queensland and Yirrkala, in eastern Arnhem Land. Community cabinets are such an important initiative because, spending so much time in Canberra, the government risks losing sight of what truly matters to all Australians.

As the Prime Minister said at the community cabinet at Epping in April, the reason we take the cabinet on the road is to spend time with the men and women, boys and girls and young people who make up the great Australian family right across the place to hear directly about what the government is doing right, what the government is doing wrong and what the government can do better. So these are initiatives that, as a government, we intend to continue to pursue because they are part of the government’s commitment to keep in touch with what the community expects of us and to provide opportunities for people to bring their concerns directly to government.

There have been 11 community cabinet meetings in the year 2009-10, and there has been a very positive response from those who have attended. Since the inception of community cabinet meetings, over 10,000 people have attended public forums and over 1,300 one-on-one meetings with ministers have been held. Indeed, the reaction to these meetings normally sees more people than can be accommodated registering for each event. I notice various criticisms from the opposition, but this is done at a low cost, with the only advertising being through local papers and community cabinet sections of PM&C’s website, inviting all members of the local public to attend the meeting.

I have attended most of these meetings and have seen firsthand the wide-ranging benefits they provide to the community. There have been a number of issues that members of the public have raised that we as a government may never have known about if we had not gone and visited those various communities. So I will certainly take on board the comments of the member for Solomon and reiterate my agreement that a community cabinet in his electorate, I am sure, would be a very good thing. As far as I can recall, a community cabinet has not been held in Darwin—I am not sure if that is—

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