What I thought was to be a relelatively quiet week at the UN turned out to have some very interesting meetings, and one that allowed me to make another speech in regards to Weapons of Mass Destruction and the elimination of same.
The General Assembly also voted on fiveextra countries to represent the security council, Australia will be applying for a place in 2013.
Was priviledged to sit in on a youth meeting organised by Holland and Australia. We often hear about the negative stories about our young people, well I need to say how proud I was of all the delegates from about 20 different countries who took part. It is a pity that we pollies don,t get to hear of these types of discussions. The average age of the delegates were 17-22, so as I said I felt very honoured to have been asked to attend.
On the weekend I made another trip to ground zero to get a closer look at the new "Freedom Tower" being built to replace the Twin Towers. I still find it hard to comprehend the enormity of it all. There are still some buildings near it that have still not been re occupied. Whilst there I went to Wall Street, heart of the finance sector. People are still wandering around shaking their heads asking "How did this all happen"
My Labor collegue and I invited some of the interns at the Aust. mission over for dinner. Again these young adults have travelled far and wide, some as volunteers, all in order to advance and increase their job prospects and to gain knowledge from aound the world.
Today Sunday. I have just returned from volunteering at a "soup kitchen" in near the Harlem area, run by St.Johns Church of the Divine, don't think I have ever cut up as much fruit salad ... and my dishwashing skills are still there from my hospitality days. It certainly brought home to other side of New York.
I am still finding that walking is much quicker than the bus, and I really do enjoy seeing the people and trying to guess what and where they might work.
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