Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I thank the member for Reid for her question, together with all Sydneysider members of this chamber. These are uncertain times, particularly in Sydney, and we are very mindful of our fellow Sydneysiders as they face this most recent challenge. Again, I commend the New South Wales government for the commonsense actions that they're taking to track down and trace this latest outbreak that has occurred.

As a government, we are getting on with the job of securing the recovery and taking Australia through the course of this global pandemic, saving lives and saving livelihoods. And over the course of this last fortnight, as the House and Senate have met here in Canberra and, indeed, as I had the opportunity to be overseas the previous week to participate in the G7, we are getting on with that job. That job has seen us rally our defence partners and allies around the world to alert them strongly to the situation and secure their partnership in addressing the many security challenges we face here in the Indo-Pacific.

We have seen legislation pass, through the Your Future, Your Super bill, which enables $17.9 billion over 10 years to be saved by Australians in fees that they might otherwise have incurred as a result of their superannuation investments. We are garnering international support in the fight we're taking up against the latest challenges to the best-managed reef in the world, the Great Barrier Reef, securing that much-needed international support for our case at UNESCO. Mutual recognition of skills legislation has passed the parliament, which will cut red tape, providing a $2.4 billion boost to our economy and making sure that tradespeople and others can move between state borders and do their work without being held back by red tape and additional costs.

Stronger powers to protect Australians online from trolls and bullies have been passed by this parliament, important protections keeping Australians safe. I particularly commend Erin Molan for her advocacy and the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts who has done a great job in bringing that bill to this parliament and shepherding it through to make it law. For stronger protections against serious organised crime on our borders, I commend the Minister for Home Affairs. This is us toughening up to ensure that those organised criminal gangs cannot get access to our airports and to our ports. There was opposition to this bill, but, thankfully, we were able to get the bill passed through the parliament and ensure that the parliament saw common sense.

The fuel security bills have been passed, supporting, in particular, our agricultural sector, and, after a very long wait, the bill for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility has passed. This is a major achievement for the government, ensuring that we are putting in place the recovery plan from the pandemic.

See this speech in context