“Greetings from the past,” the communication from Bob Stensholt begins. And then, “I remember Mosman with some fondness.” The Mosman Bob refers to is the International Training Institute, ASOPA’s successor organisation. Bob was a frequent visitor to Middle Head during the eighties, when I was there, latterly as acting principal, in his role as assistant director general of Australia’s aid agency, AusAID, from 1984-97

But for Bob, as for the rest of us, life has moved on. He is now a Labor member of the Victorian State Parliament, having taken Jeff Kennett’s old seat of Burwood in what he terms “dark blue Liberal territory” eight years ago.

Before politics, Bob had a diverse career as a diplomat, manager, company director, university lecturer, teacher, community worker and international consultant. He now chairs the Parliamentary Public Accounts and Estimates Committee and is a frequent parliamentary contributor especially on economic matters. He continues to nominate international development issues as one of his major interests.

Bob had stumbled upon the ASOPA website and if you want to stumble over his, you can find it here.