Honorary Consuls

Last Wednesday I have the privilege to attend the induction of WA's new Consul to the Kingdom of The Netherlands down at the Shipwreck Museum in Fremantle. A perfect location given the histoirical connections and shared hertiage and the host for the evening was the Ambassador to Australia though he is travelling in his private capacity, something about credentials not yet presented. The sizable Dutch population was well-represented and I think I head more Dutch spoken there than I did when last in Amsterdam. The great and good were in respectable numbers and the collection of Honarary Consuls was impressive. As a venue it is interesting, intimate and with good accoustics is well able to take a fair number of people whilst not creating a hubbub precluding comfortable conversation. A great evening and well done Arnold Stroobach.

I was a little shocked to hear from a number of locals that they had never been to the Museum but then again I know more of the UK than many of its born amd bred residients and not every Brit has seen the Mary Rose or visited the Victory.

One feature of my business that was apparent that evening and even the next morning at a Club breakfast is the lack of underatanding of lobbyists and lobbying, not doubt beacuse of the poor reputations of a couple of infamous Western Australians but like all service industries there are more good people in the game than not, that much useful and productive work is done and in terms of making a differece it can be a significant community service. Lobbyists are most needed when governments are either brand new or dysfunctional but even on a day-to-day basis there are many incidences of the community, both private and business, needing to alert their government of certain issues, problems and opportunities. Governmemt is so complex these days that many external services are required, whether they be of the direct provision of service variety and consulting or specific one-off contacts. Finding the right people to speak to can be daunting and can involve much wasted time. "Who ya goin to call?"

The Sandgroper has written lately of some of the asects of doing business in Western Australia. I have an absolute beauty to share with people but dare not "blog it." Let's know if you'd like to hear the story.

All teh best, Jonathan.