House debates
Monday, 22 September 2008
- Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2008 (0 speeches)
- Assent (0 speeches)
Message from the Governor-General reported informing the House of assent to the bill.
- International Tax Agreements Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2008 (0 speeches)
- Main Committee (0 speeches)
- Private Members’ Motions (1 speech)
In accordance with standing order 41(h), and the recommendations of the whips adopted by the House on 17 September 2008, I present copies of the terms of motions for which notice has been given...
- Safe Work Australia Bill 2008; Safe Work Australia (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (9 speeches)
Debate resumed from 18 September, on motion by Ms Gillard: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I inform the House that the Minister for Foreign Affairs will be absent from question time today. The Minister for Trade will answer questions on his behalf. I also inform the House that the...
- Pakistan: Terrorist Attack (0 speeches)
- (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker, on indulgence: the Australian government condemns the cowardly suicide bomb attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan on 20 September. This brutal attack on civilians has...
- Shadow Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
by leave—I table the new coalition shadow ministry list, dated 22 September 2008. The document read as follows— COALITION SHADOW MINISTRY 22 September 2008 TITLE MINISTER OTHER...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Economy (12 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, will you, prior to your departure overseas again, meet with me to discuss what bipartisan measures can be taken in response to the global...
- Budget Surplus (6 speeches)
My question is to the Assistant Treasurer. Will the minister outline to the House the importance of maintaining a strong budget surplus and why this is critical to Australia’s ability to...
- Economy (5 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the fact that the government has had three different positions on short selling in three days and that the Australian stock...
- Infrastructure (12 speeches)
My question is to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. How will infrastructure investment help to sustain the Australian economy in the face of...
- Economy (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. I refer to reports that the Prime Minister will take proposals for solving the global economic crisis with him to New York. Will the Prime Minister...
- Workplace Relations (14 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Education, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and the Minister for Social Inclusion. How will the Australian government’s National...
- Economy (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, given that six major global financial institutions have collapsed, merged or been nationalised in the last six weeks alone, what contingency...
- Climate Change (7 speeches)
My question is to be Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline the importance of the government’s global carbon capture and storage initiative to the international fight against...
- Economy (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his commentary that there will be ‘an impact on government revenues as a result of the global financial crisis’. Is...
- Climate Change (5 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism. Minister, why is carbon capture and storage vital to Australia’s clean energy future?
- Age Pension (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Why is the government spending $40 million to win a temporary seat on the UN Security Council yet rejecting the much-needed $30 a week increase in...
- Aged Care: Indigenous Australians (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Ageing. What is the government response to community concerns about the quality of aged care for Indigenous communities?
- Veterans (24 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs. Why won’t the minister support the coalition’s proposal to increase the single war veterans’ entitlements by $30 a week?
- Age Pension (7 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the government’s commitment to fixing the pension...
- Economy (5 speeches)
My—
- Climate Change (7 speeches)
My question is for the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Would the minister please update the House on the attitudes of primary producers in adapting to climate change?
- Documents (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Documents are presented as listed in the schedule circulated to honourable members earlier today. Details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
- Ministerial Statements (0 speeches)
- Economy (2 speeches)
by leave—As honourable members know, the last two weeks have been a turbulent period on global financial markets, to say the very least. There is no question this is a difficult time for...
- Trade (9 speeches)
by leave—I have the pleasure to make a ministerial statement to announce the release of an independent report into Australia’s export policies and programs, the Mortimer report,...
- Safe Work Australia Bill 2008; Safe Work Australia (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (19 speeches)
Debate resumed.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Safe Work Australia (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (0 speeches)
Debate resumed from 18 September, on motion by Ms Gillard: That this bill be now read a second time. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time.
- Third Reading (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That this bill be now read a third time. Question agreed to. Bill read a third time.
- Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws — General Law Reform) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (7 speeches)
Debate resumed from 4 September, on motion by Mr McClelland: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
On behalf of the Standing Committee on Petitions, and in accordance with standing order 207, I present the following petitions:
- Responses (1 speech)
Ministerial responses to petitions previously presented to the House have been received as follows:
- Responses; Marriage Legislation (0 speeches)
Dear Mrs Irwin I refer to your letter dated 25 June 2008 seeking a written response to a petition submitted to your Committee regarding amendment of the Marriage Act 1961. The Government’s...
- Responses; Climate Change (0 speeches)
Dear Mrs Irwin Thank you for your letter of 27 May 2008 concerning a petition regarding greenhouse gas emissions submitted to the Standing Committee on Petitions. The Australian Government...
- Responses; Education: Students with a Disability (0 speeches)
Dear Mrs lrwin Thank you for your letter of 26 May 2008 referring a petition from residents of Victoria and requesting action on funding for students with disability. I apologise for the delay in...
- Responses; Higher Education Assistance (0 speeches)
Dear Mrs Irwin Thank you for your letter of 25 June 2008 concerning a petition submitted for the Committee’s consideration regarding approval of the Doctor of Physiotherapy course at Bond...
- Statements (1 speech)
Last week I was speaking in the House about the inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions into electronic petitions, but unfortunately the clock defeated me....
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Public Works Committee; Report (2 speeches)
On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present the committee’s seventh report of 2008, entitled Update report: the Christmas Island Immigration Detention...
- Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
- Northern Australia: Regional Development (13 speeches)
I move: That the House recognises the energy, water and agricultural potential of the far north of Australia and, in particular, the Kimberley region and urges the parliament to give priority to...
- National Police Remembrance Day (6 speeches)
I move: That the House:(1)Recognises and acknowledges the significant contribution that officers across all Australian policing jurisdictions make to our local communities as we approach National...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! It being 9.30 pm, I propose the question: That the House do now adjourn.
- Hawkesbury-Nepean River (1 speech)
Tonight I draw the House’s attention to the plight of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. While the national spotlight has been on solutions for the Murray-Darling, and rightly so, at the same...
- Justice Graham Mullane (1 speech)
I rise to inform the House of the pending retirement of Justice Graham Mullane, a judge devoted to the administration of family law in the Newcastle registry of the Family Court of Australia...
- Economy (1 speech)
The great economist Milton Friedman once wrote, ‘If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.’ To paraphrase...
- Age Pension (1 speech)
Mr Speaker, that pensioners across the country are doing it tough is not news to you, I know. Nor indeed is it news to me. It does, however, appear to be quite a revelation to those opposite....
- Simpson Desert (1 speech)
I rise tonight to bring to the attention of the House what I believe is an important issue for the Indigenous people of the Simpson Desert and of the Munga Thirri, which means ‘big sandhill...
- Kingston Electorate: Surf Lifesaving (1 speech)
I rise tonight to pay tribute to the many surf lifesavers that patrol beaches around the country. I am very lucky in my electorate of Kingston because it has more than 30 kilometres of beaches....
- Notices (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
The following notice was given:
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Swan Electorate: Perth Football Club (1 speech)
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the local Perth district football club finals, which took place in my electorate of Swan. Over the two days, more than 3,000 spectators watched five...
- Braddon Electorate: Sports (1 speech)
With the end of winter, and a magnificent spring in the air, I am reminded of all the sports that were going on in my electorate during the winter. I mention in particular soccer, netball and...
- Maranoa Electorate: Roads (1 speech)
I rise in the Main Committee to call on this federal government to speed up the funding for the very important Warrego Highway, particularly in the area between Toowoomba and Mitchell in western...
- International Day of Peace (1 speech)
In September 2001 the United Nations General Assembly declared that the International Day of Peace should be observed annually on 21 September, as a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence. The...
- Age Pension (1 speech)
I rise to talk about the plight of pensioners in my seat of Moncrieff, where there are some 10,651 pensioners, part of the 38,321 pensioners across the Gold Coast. I implore the Rudd Labor...
- Mr Terry Parer (1 speech)
I rise to talk about the death of a great man from the town of St George by the name of Terry Parer. While he did not live in my electorate, the member for Maranoa, Bruce Scott, wishes to be...
- Australian Student Prize (1 speech)
I rise today to speak about the outstanding educational achievements in my electorate of Mitchell by both the public and private institutions. We have some great facilities in my electorate that...
- Melbourne Ports Electorate: St Kilda Foreshore Promenade (1 speech)
I want to congratulate the Port Phillip Council on the opening of the promenade at St Kilda over the weekend. As usual, my electorate is the desirable tourist destination for thousands of...
- Solar Energy (1 speech)
I recently met with the manager of the Oxenford and Coomera Youth Community Centre in the electorate of Fadden, which is the fastest-growing electorate in the nation. She asked me a very...
- Makin Electorate: Hope Valley Bowling and Community Club (2 speeches)
I rise to speak about my visit yesterday to the Hope Valley Bowling and Community Club. I visited the club because they invited me to join them in the opening of their 2008-09 season. Whilst I...
- Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
- Age Pension (9 speeches)
Debate resumed, on motion by Dr Jensen: That the House encourages the Government to lift the amount that a person in receipt of an Age Pension can earn from productive employment to an amount...
- Human Trafficking (8 speeches)
Debate resumed, on motion by Ms Rea: That the House:(1)notes that:(a)the insidious act of human trafficking is the second largest criminal activity in the world, and certainly the fastest...
- Credit Cards (7 speeches)
Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Bruce Scott: That the House:(1)calls on the Federal Government to amend finance legislation so as to prevent credit providers from sending unsolicited letters...
- Grievance Debate (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Debate resumed from 15 September.
- Local Food Industry (5 speeches)
It is a great privilege to be able to raise some matters of concern not only to my constituency but to the whole country—and that is concerns for farmers and food producers and the...
- BHP Billiton (1 speech)
My grievance tonight is to focus on the importance of knowledge and research to Newcastle and the nation. The key to my grievance are some of the activities of BHP Billiton that are not endearing...
- Graffiti (1 speech)
My grievance relates to the ongoing challenge of graffiti and the fact that this like other antisocial behaviours is in fact everyone’s problem. I am sure that I, like all other members of...
- Corio Electorate: Tourism (1 speech)
There were 184,000 international convention or conference visitors to Australia during the year ended 30 June 2008. ABS statistics indicate that the national conference market is worth $7 billion...
- Flinders Electorate: Human Security (1 speech, 1 comment)
I want to speak this evening about three issues which cause grievance in relation to human security in the electorate of Flinders. I will start if I may at a railway crossing where I attended on...
- Meatworks (1 speech)
My grievance relates to the Dinmore meatworks in the electorate of Blair, which is one of the largest meat processing plants in Australia. Some 18,000 beasts are killed weekly across 11 shifts...
