House debates
Thursday, 12 March 2009
- Questions without Notice: Additional Answers (0 speeches)
- Tax Laws Amendment (Taxation of Financial Arrangements) Bill 2008; Defence Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2008; Civil Aviation Amendment Bill 2009; Transport Safety Investigation Amendment Bill 2009; Australian Energy Market Amendment (Aemo and Other Measures) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- Returned from the Senate (0 speeches)
Message received from the Senate returning the bills without amendment or request.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Treaties Committee; Reports (1 speech)
On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the following reports, entitled Report 98: Treaties tabled on 26 November and 4 December 2008 and Report 99: Treaties tabled on 3...
- Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities, and Other Measures) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- Referred to Main Committee (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That, unless otherwise ordered, at the adjourn-ment of the House for this sitting, the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities, and Other...
- Second Reading (23 speeches)
Debate resumed from 26 February, on motion by Ms Kate Ellis: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Auscheck Amendment Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (0 speeches)
Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr McClelland. Bill read a first time.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Policy Setting In 2005 a centralised background checking service was established in the Attorney-General’s Department as part of a wider...
- Customs Legislation Amendment (Name Change) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (0 speeches)
Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr McClelland, for Mr Debus. Bill read a first time.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I am pleased to introduce the Customs Legislation Amendment (Name Change) Bill 2009. On 4 December 2008, the Prime Minister released the...
- Social Security Amendment (Liquid Assets Waiting Period) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (0 speeches)
Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Brendan O’Connor. Bill read a first time.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The amendments proposed by this bill will help people who lose their job, and others applying for income support who have limited assets, to...
- Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (1 speech)
Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Tanner, for Mr Swan. Bill read a first time.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Today I am introducing a bill to facilitate the establishment and operations of the Australian Business Investment Partnership Limited (ABIP)....
- Australian Business Investment Partnership (Consequential Amendment) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (0 speeches)
Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Tanner, for Mr Swan. Bill read a first time.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill will provide the Australian Business Investment Partnership Ltd with an exemption from a requirement for it to hold an Australian...
- Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (0 speeches)
Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Tanner, for Mr Bowen. Bill read a first time.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I am pleased to present a bill that demonstrates the government’s pre-election commitment to undoing the damage done by the previous...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Treaties Committee; Membership (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker has received advice from the Chief Government Whip that he has nominated Mr Murphy to be a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties in place of Mrs Irwin.
- Social Security and Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment (Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (4 speeches)
Debate resumed from 11 March, on motion by Mr Shorten: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
- (3 speeches)
I inform the House that the Treasurer will be absent from question time today as he is attending the G20 finance ministers meeting in London.
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Economy (15 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to today’s news that unemployment has reached a four-year high, with nearly 600,000 Australians out of work; that...
- Employment (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Will the minister update the House on what measures the government has taken to assist Australians who are made redundant?
- Economy (6 speeches)
My question is to the acting Treasurer. I refer to the Treasurer’s press release of 8 December last year, in which he said: Families and pensioners will start receiving their payments today...
- Distinguished Visitors (0 speeches)
- (2 speeches)
I inform the House that we have present in the gallery this afternoon Senator Obert Gutu of the Parliament of Zimbabwe. On behalf of the House I extend to him a very warm welcome.
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Pensions and Benefits (34 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Will the minister update the House on government support for pensioners and on any responses?
- Economy (3 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, given the $10 billion Christmas cash splash failed to prevent negative growth in the December quarter, given it failed to create 75,000 jobs...
- Nation Building and Jobs Plan (16 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. How is the government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan helping farmers? Why is it needed? How has it been received?
- Workplace Relations (11 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister explain why there has been a 400 per cent increase in days lost to strikes in the first year of his government?
- Employment (20 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation. Does the government agree with suggestions that removing workplace rights from workers would be good for the Australian economy?
- Durban Review Conference (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer the minister to the fact that Canada, Italy, Israel and the United States have all withdrawn from the Durban Review Conference due to...
- Housing Affordability (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Housing and the Status of Women. Will the minister explain to the House what this week’s ABS housing finance data tells us about the impact of the...
- Special Air Service Regiment (2 speeches)
My question is addressed to the Minister for Defence. I refer to the minister’s statement to this House on 25 February: No special forces soldier in this country has a debt against his name...
- Higher Education (17 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Youth and Minister for Sport. Will the minister update the House on any further evidence of the need to secure the future of university student support services?
- Nation Building and Jobs Plan (9 speeches)
My question is to Peter Costello.
- Australian Federal Police: Iraqi Policing (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister inform the House about what the Australian Federal Police are doing to support policing in Iraq?
- Nation Building and Jobs Plan (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I draw the Prime Minister’s attention to comments by the Queensland Premier yesterday where she stated that federal funds to Queensland would be...
- Road and Rail Infrastructure (16 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. Will the minister outline the government’s record road and rail infrastructure...
- Alcopops (3 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Will the minister outline to the House the government’s action on alcopops and any obstacles in its way?
- Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
- (15 speeches)
Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
- MR Trevor Fowler (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I wish to make a statement. It is likely that this statement will be of some interest to members, given the importance of Hansard in making us sound a lot better than we really are. This week a...
- MR Mike Taylor Ao (0 speeches)
- (4 speeches)
Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I wish to make some brief comments about the retirement, announced today, of Mr Mike Taylor AO, the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Documents are presented as listed in the schedule circulated to honourable members. Details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
- Matters of Public Importance (0 speeches)
- Employment (16 speeches)
Mr Speaker has received a letter from the honourable member for Stirling proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The failure of...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! It being 4.30 pm, I propose the question: That the House do now adjourn.
- Employment; Tourism (1 speech)
The Illawarra community has recently been rocked by the devastating news about the loss of 281 jobs at two local Pacific Brands plants, at Bellambi and Unanderra. The Prime Minister described the...
- Iran: Baha’i Community (1 speech)
I rise to speak on the persecution of people of the Baha’i faith in Iran—in particular, the seven believers who have been incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison for eight months....
- Climate Change (1 speech)
The recent appalling fires in Victoria, not to mention the floods in Queensland and New South Wales, prompted the highly respected Professor Tim Flannery to write a worrying article in the...
- Swan Electorate: Binge Drinking (1 speech)
Between 2002 and 2006 in the four main local council regions in my electorate of Swan, there were just short of 5,000 alcohol-related hospitalisations, costing the community over $23 million....
- International Women's Day (1 speech)
I rise today to acknowledge the passage of International Women’s Day, celebrated last Sunday. It is a day to celebrate and commemorate. International Women’s Day gives us an...
- Victorian Bushfires: Bunkers (2 speeches)
Tonight I rise to reassure those people in fire affected communities in Victoria that our thoughts continue to be with them, and we note some announcements in recent hours about the extraordinary...
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Fadden Electorate: School Leaders (1 speech)
I rise to acknowledge the new student leaders within the schools of Fadden. Australia’s young leaders play an important role in setting a good example by acting responsibly and making...
- Australian National Academy of Music (1 speech)
It is with great pleasure that I can report to the parliament that the Australian National Academy of Music has a new program for 2009. After the cathartic events of late last year, ANAM is going...
- Ryan Electorate: Employment (1 speech)
In the Australian parliament today I want to speak about something that is very close to my heart, and that is job security and the promotion of jobs in the Ryan electorate. Associated with that,...
- Bass Electorate: Social Inclusion (1 speech)
This government has made no secret of the fact that we consider social inclusion to be part of the core business of this government. Social inclusion is a commitment we made and one which we are...
- Regional Telecommunications (1 speech)
I rise this morning to comment on a very important aspect of government failure and policy, particularly as it relates to rural and regional Australia. Some on the other side may laugh and mock...
- Building the Education Revolution (1 speech)
It is with great pleasure that I rise today to speak on the Rudd government’s Building the Education Revolution package. I have some of the most dedicated principals and teachers working in...
- Cowan Electorate: Girraween/Koondoola Senior Citizens Club (1 speech)
Within the electorate of Cowan we are blessed with a number of seniors clubs that provide great recreation and support options for older Australians within the electorate. On 17 February I was...
- Better Regions Program (1 speech)
I would like to share with the House today my great delight that the Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia, who was the previous speaker on this side of the...
- Age Pension (1 speech)
I rise to call on the government to increase the base rate of the age pension in the 2009 budget by responsibly managing our economy and without making others pay for their failure to manage the...
- Funeral Industry (2 speeches)
I would like to inform the House today about a great news story from my electorate of Corio. It is a story of how old-fashioned ingenuity and know-how can take an innovative idea and turn it into...
- Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009; Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (14 speeches, 1 comment)
Debate resumed from 11 March, on motion by Mr Bowen: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I move: That the Main Committee do now adjourn.
- Pacific Highway (1 speech)
I rise to talk about something that just about every state and federal member and local council on the North Coast of New South Wales is incredibly frustrated by, continues to talk about ad...
- Capricornia Electorate: Telecommunications (1 speech)
I draw to the House’s attention the concerns of constituents of mine, the Watts family of Mirani. Patty Watts and her family are frustrated, and for good reason. On 13 January they woke to...
- Disabled Workers Union of Western Australia (1 speech)
There has been much debate given to the rights of disabled workers, and I consider it an opportune and appropriate time to again raise the issue of the plight of the Disabled Workers Union of...
- Hindmarsh Electorate: Education (1 speech)
I recently had the honour to attend Henley High School in the western suburbs of the electorate of Hindmarsh and open their new facilities. This project totalled over $11 million and was funded...
- Cowan Electorate: Girl Guides (1 speech)
In 1915 the Girl Guide movement commenced in Western Australia. In 2009 there are around 2,600 guides across the state. In Cowan we have a number of Girl Guide groups and I take this opportunity...
- Calwell Electorate: Manufacturing Industry (1 speech)
I rise today to speak about my concern regarding the manufacturing industry in Australia and in particular within my electorate of Calwell. The impact of the global financial crisis is hurting...
