Recently, Peter Leahy of Care Australia and I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Kelly, the federal MP in Eden Monaro electorate to speak about all thing Make Poverty History.
Mr Kelly was genuinely interested in talking to us about all the issues concerned with the Make Poverty History campaign, taking an hour out of his morning to chat to us in his electoral office in Queanbeyan.
Mr Kelly spoke passionately about prioritising the needs of women through international development work and how he has been working on this issue through assisting with the development of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Mr Kelly was extremely well informed about international aid, climate change and food security. He explained that his passion for development issues was driven by his experiences on the ground in East Timor and Afghanistan.
Mr Kelly was keen on Australia being proactive in terms of action on climate change and is convinced that we will play a leading role in making a commitment to the international community in 2020 as per the agreement from last year’s international climate change negotiations in Durban.
Mike restated Australia’s commitment to give 0.5% of GNI to overseas development by 2015/2016 and left us with the parting words “While charity should begin at home, it certainly shouldn’t end there!”.
A huge thanks to Mr Kelly and the staff at his office that made this meeting possible – it was great to come away from a meeting with an MP feeling hopeful for future.
by NSW campaign coordinator Debbie Hunt
