Kirribilli House

I was part of the 'national housing dialogue' on universal housing design, which took place at the PM's official residence in Sydney. Apparently HRH Prince Edward was staying next door at Admiralty House. It appears that some of the participants in our event thought there was something remarkable / of interest about the Royal presence over the wall. God ... we can be colonials when we set our minds to it.

We've been working towards this event for months, years in an odd sort of way. There's light at the end of the tunnel ... possibly. It's not an on-coming train but the very real possibility that within three years, maybe five at the most, there'll be a national regulatory framework that will require all new Australian dwellings to be at least visitable; probably more than that.

I sat on the flagstones beneath the eaves of the house looking out across Sydney Harbour on an uncharacteristically chilly, gray day. I had just finished a small Prime Ministerial quiche and was about to start on a smoked salmon fillet sandwich with cucumber and maybe dill and thought there are worse ways to make one's contribution. I thought too that it has been a decent contribution ... to Parts T & M of the UK's Building Regulations in the late 1990s and to the Building Code of Australia now. That ought to be worth at least one salmon sandwich over the garden wall from one of Windsors.

By the way ... when I say "we've been working" that's the Royal We. My colleague Amelia did all the detailed, hard yakka. Mostly I said, "good job Amelia; keep going."

Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, published this statement on today's work.
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