Canberra

First meeting was my best so far. Dr. Martin Parkinson, Secretary of the Department of Climate Change. He’s a former Treasury Economist and is the designer of the ETS (cap and trade system). We talked about the White Paper put out by the Department, as well as the Garnaut Climate Change Review, the definitive study on climate change and economic impact on Australia. The reason why it was the best I because while we spoke about the specifics of climate change, we talked about the differences between the US and Australia both in terms of climate change but also in terms of politics. It was a relaxed and very friendly discussion which touched on policy but that meandered other issues. He is willing to be a great resource as I move forward as he makes very complex concepts easy to understand.
My second meeting was with David Atkinson from the U.S Embassy. Very friendly, but also took the time to give me a great perspective about where the Australians are from an energy and climate change position from an American point of view. David has a young family like I do and so we discussed the plusses and minuses of being in the Foreign Service with young children. We also discussed the lack of any information on a new US Ambassador which is beginning to become an issue with the Australian government. The Australians enjoy a close relationship with the United States and they view the Ambassador as an important indication as to their importance to a new US President. I’ll be watching this one closely to see who gets the nod. They are hopeful to hear in the next six months or so.
My third meeting was with Mary Wiley Smith, Assistant Secretary in the Renewables and Energy Efficiency Division and Graeme Marshall, the Director of the Solar Cities program. Both are housed in the Department of the Environment. They are responsible for the government’s Solarcities program. These Solarscities are in each one of the Australian states and through partnerships with the government as well as utilities are demonstration projects for large scale solar integration. I am going to be going to a site visit to the Townsville/Magnetic Island Solarcity.
My final official meeting of the day was with a team of statisticians from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. ABS is an independent agency that provides statistical information to the government and the public. This statistical information, such as census, labor and other statistics is centralized in one agency that appears to have the trust of both the Government and the Australian people. They do a census every 5 years and then also do a monthly random sample of about 40,000 households. They are doing some energy statistics as well. I find it fascinating that they have been able to make their statistical historic data independent but they have also gained the trust of the people doing the surveys, so they have about a 95% participation/return rate on their surveys.
After that dinner I was privileged to have dinner with Sam Archer. Sam is a Nuffield Scholar. Nuffield Scholars have very much in common with Eisenhower Fellows although the program is a bit more rigorous. The Nuffield Scholars are strictly farmers and they are selected after a intense interview process from the Commonwealth nations (I.e Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Zimbabwe). They engage in a 6 week tour of farming hot spots throughout the world and then embark on a 5 month independent study regime. The Nuffield Scholars do receive financial assistance, although there is some expectation that they will also contribute towards their study out of their own pocket.
Sam was outstanding. He took me to dinner, where we discussed traveling, family, Australia, the US, and everything under the sun. He was very helpful and was a great person to talk about what can sometimes be a fairly solitary travel experience. While there is much interaction with people, sometimes at the end of the day, you are alone for dinner or in your hotel room. Sam understood that and also helped explain what to expect when I returned. Life doesn’t stop when you are away and not very many people get to share your experiences.