James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the member in rising to speak in favour of Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 5) Bill 2022, which is noncontroversial and fairly straightforward. I commend the words of the member for Fadden around the predicament that the government have found themselves in, having to proceed down this path with this separate bill.

One of the entities in this bill that receives DGR status is the Leaders Institute of South Australia, and I want to put some words of support for them on the record here in this debate. They do excellent work. The Governor of South Australia, Frances Adamson, is the patron of their organisation and, though that and the Governor's Leadership Foundation, they do excellent work in identifying, supporting and providing a program for emerging leaders in South Australia. We definitely commend their work, and this DGR status puts them in a position where they get deductible gift status, which will help them with more support et cetera and those that want to support them will get a fair and reasonable deduction.

It's noteworthy, I think, that the Indigenous recognition group are being registered for DGR status. It reminds us that this Indigenous voice referendum is going to be a significant part of 2023. It's one thing that I think is really important in our democracy. I very much support them getting this status, and inevitably there will be other organisations, both for and against the referendum question, that will probably emerge over the coming months. It's important that we treat everyone fairly through the process of wanting to participate in the debates on that referendum. It'll be on the hands of the government as to when the referendum is held. I noted at the introduction of another bill earlier regarding the referendum and in that the government have confirmed there won't be any taxpayer support for the campaigns for and against, as was the case for the referendum in 1999, when there was taxpayer funding for both sides of the argument. It will be during the debate on that bill that we'll get into discussing funding. But I'm thinking fairly deeply about that situation, because I believe we want everyone to have confidence that it's a fair playing field for the referendum next year.

Taxpayer funding in some form usually provides the ability to demonstrate that there's no attempt to give one side of a contest a particular advantage. Those progressing the yes campaign, like the group mentioned in this bill, have been in existence for some time and are no doubt well resourced. Good luck to them for that, but that's something we may have to confront, whether or not it is going to damage the perception of the legitimacy of the process of the campaign if a very well organised and well funded side of the debate exists before the debate begins. We're apparently going down the path of not providing any taxpayer support for the two sides of the argument, and I'm reflecting on how that might give rise to certain perceptions.

Speaking of DGR, I want to acknowledge the Andy Thomas Space Foundation. I was really pleased to work closely with former treasurer Josh Frydenberg on getting the foundation their DGR status a year or two ago. I congratulate Nicola Sasanelli, who was in building this week. She's the CEO of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation. Andy Thomas is a very famous former constituent of mine in the seat of Sturt. He went to school in my electorate and is the first Australian NASA astronaut. To do that, you have to be a US citizen, so Andy is now a US citizen. The foundation is doing great work, particularly in getting young people excited about space and STEM. We all understand that getting our next generation to want to pursue careers in STEM is a challenge. The opportunities are enormous, and raising awareness is something that the foundation does really well. Andy has said to me that the two things that get kids excited about STEM are space and dinosaurs. We have Jurassic Park doing the heavy lifting on the dinosaur front, and even the Lego people are doing a lot of Jurassic Park stuff. Young kids love dinosaurs and they also love space and everything to do with space. The Andy Thomas Space Foundation are doing excellent work working with the Space Discovery Centre in South Australia, providing an educational framework for kids. I really do commend them, and I give them a shout-out. With those words, I commend the bill to the House.

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