TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

companionship went far beyond the call of duty ; Mrs Nada Muster, of theAustralian Embassy in Vienna, who organised and accompanied usthroughout our tour of BiH, and Midhat Muratovic, our driver in BiH ; HisExcellency John Oliver, the Australian Ambassador to SiM ; Mr Peter Nagy,the Embassy's Third Secretary, and Ms Bojana Rodic, the Ambassador'sexecutive assistant . We were the recipients of the magnificentprofessionalism of those Australians who have made it their life's workrepresenting our interest around the world . Some of the material used in thisreport, specifically the country briefings that preface every chapter, are thework of those mentioned above and other nameless DFAT officers . We thankthem and acknowledge their fine work .We would also like to express our appreciation for the efforts of the staff in ouroffices and Multicultural SA for their good work in assisting this productive andinformative tour .If there is one message we would send to any readers of this report, it is thatdespite years of Communist dictatorship, a bloody war and a difficult peace,life in the Balkans has moved on, and so should our perceptions . It is a goodplace to do business and a magnificent destination to visit . There are manyopportunities for Australians of Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian, Montenegrin andBosniak descent to pursue there, if they are so minded .The n . M .J . Atkinson M .P . NlsAW"Ciccarello M .P .Travel Report, Hon. Michael Atkinson, M.P . and Ms. vini Ciccarello MP., August, 2004 4