FCA-DFAT Canberra Trip 29 Nov. 2017

FCA Canberra Trip

Members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Australia and South Pacific were hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, on Wednesday to find out more about the department and meet with key ministers.

Twelve foreign correspondents writing for outlets from Germany, America, Japan, the United Kingdom, Spain, China and Pakistan met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop and her shadow, Penny Wong, for on the record interviews and the all-important group photo!

DFAT staff also hosted the correspondents to a delicious working lunch, where the journalists and officials were able to find out more about each other and how the various organisations work.

Although the correspondents missed out on sitting in on the Senate as the marriage equality bill was passed through the upper house, they spent some observing the always-lively Senate Question Time.

The final stop was to the press gallery where Gillian Bradford and Laura Tingle took time out of their very busy day to talk to the foreign correspondents about how Australian political correspondents navigate Parliament House and all its goings-on.

Thank you to everyone who met with the FCA members in Canberra who shared with us their time, thoughts and experience. And a special thanks to Sheree Minehan and all the staff at DFAT who made our day so memorable!

Written by Anna Watanabe, Kyodo News