G'Day, my name's Kevin, and welcome to this new website.
This website has a dual purpose: to keep you up-to-date with government announcements and activities, enabling you to hear directly from the source, and the other purpose is to create more opportunities for you to interact directly with the government.
I'm committed to leading an open government that's accountable for its actions and its decisions and, as you may have already heard me say many, many times, I'm a real believer that the best ideas for Australia's future don't all come from Canberra.
My government has benefited enormously from talking directly with communities.
To date, we've held 12 Community Cabinets right across the country; nearly 6,000 people have participated in Q and A sessions, where they've asked me questions, or asked Ministers questions, from one topic to another.
Over 800 Australians have had the opportunity also to have 10-minute sessions with Ministers to talk about things of concern to them.
Over the last couple of months I've also been holding jobs forums across Australia.
We've held these forums in areas likely to be hardest hit by the economic downturn.
It's been highly motivating to hear so many good ideas and see so much enthusiasm from employers and trainers and non-profit organisations - all focused on keeping their communities working, particularly at this time of global economic recession.
Through this website you'll be able to have a direct dialogue with me and other government Ministers via online discussions that I'll be hosting every couple of weeks or so and you'll be able to post comments on my blog in the future as well.
A good government is one that listens to the community and works in tandem with the community to develop solutions to the challenges that we all share.This is the sort of government that I strive to lead.
I look forward to talking with you and getting your feedback direct.
Thanks for listening.