Hello everyone, it is with great joy I announce a new Regional Director for the joint AbundantHope/Planetary Prince team. We have selected Ron Chapman of Australia to serve as Regional Director of Australia, New Zealand, the various South Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea. Although Ron had participated to a degree on the Forum, he got my attention with great work he was posting on the Yahoo group that supports Abundanthope. Here is what he wrote about himself as introduction. -Candace

I was born in 1942 and raised as a Catholic. I attended Chevalier College, Bowral NSW. Leaving school in 1958 I worked for a stockbroker for four years. I also worked for a number of Australian federal government departments, including Social Services and Telecom (now privatised as Telstra) in Sydney.

After admission to practice as a barrister in 1967 I worked in Canberra for the Commissioner of Trade Practices for four years then spent four years with the Australian Senate Committee Secretariat.

Commencing in 1974 I spent four years in the Darwin Crown Law Office doing civil litigation court work (as a barrister and solicitor) for the federal Attorney-General’s department (AGs). After the Northern Territory achieved self-government in 1978 I spent a year responsible for civil litigation for the newly created Northern Territory Crown Law Office.

I then spent about seven years in the central office of the Australian Legal Aid Office in Canberra and in the AGs policy division which superceded it. My duties included advising successive Attorneys-General, both Liberal and Labor, about the merits of funding public interest and test cases (eg Mabo, Fraser Island & Franklin Dam) and other special interest cases relating to such matters as trade practices, defending overseas drugs prosecutions, child abduction matters, the rights of Chinese students in Australia after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, legal representation for section 69 Judiciary Act cases, royal commission representation and the like.

Thereafter I spent about 11 years doing commercial law work for AGs in Canberra, retiring in late 1997.

I have an Australian National University Arts degree specialising in history, philosophy and political science.

In 2001 I wrote and self-published, a book on ‘The Social Construction of Poverty: the Impact of Reserve Bank Monetary Policy on the Australian Labour Market’.

My main achievement has been helping my wife raise three lovely industrious young adults.

I am delighted and honoured to be appointed as AbundantHope’s Regional Director for Australia and New Zealand.