House debates
Monday, 30 May 2011
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- Marriage (0 speeches)
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives This petition of Parishioners of Saint Agnes' Catholic Church, Highett Vic. 3190, draws to the attention of the 'House'...
- Public Holidays (0 speeches)
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House that: We therefore ask the House to:...
- Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport: Guardian Pharmacy (0 speeches)
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives This petition of the Citizens of New South Wales and Citizens of all other States and Territories in Australia draws to...
- Israel (0 speeches)
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives This Petition of citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House our concerns about the behaviour of the State...
- Ballarat Electorate: Mobile Phone Services (0 speeches)
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives This petition of the citizens located in the state of Victoria, draws to the attention of the house the lack of...
- Merit Protection Commissioner (0 speeches)
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives This petition of a citizen of Australia: draws to the attention of the House of Representatives that his application for...
- Responses (1 speech)
Ministerial responses to petitions previously presented to the House have been received as follows:
- Breast Screening (0 speeches)
Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 16 March 2011 regarding the petition to return mobile breast screen services to New South Wales. In accordance with Standing Order 209 (b), I am...
- Aged Care (0 speeches)
Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 16 March 2011 to the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, regarding the petition 366-647 made to the Speaker of the House of...
- Forgotten Australians (0 speeches)
Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 16 March 2011 about a petition submitted to the Standing Committee on Petitions seeking an inquiry into child abuse and neglect of the Forgotten...
- Australia Post: Darch (0 speeches)
Dear Mr Murphy Petition—Australia Post Shop at Darch, Western Australia Thank you for your letter dated 16 March 2011, concerning a petition submitted for the Committee's consideration...
- Child Sex Trafficking (0 speeches)
Dear Murphy Thank you for your letter of 30 March 2011 referring to petition 434-725, submitted for consideration to the Standing Committee on Petitions, regarding support for programs to prevent...
- Gippsland: Princes Highway (0 speeches)
Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter dated 29 March 2011 about a petition recently submitted for the consideration of the Standing Committee on Petitions regarding Princes Highway funding. I...
- Alpine National Park (0 speeches)
Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 30 March 2011 concerning the submission of a petition regarding cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park. I regret the delay in responding. The...
- Statements (1 speech)
From time to time the Standing Committee on Petitions follows up on some petitions that have been presented to the House by examining them at roundtable meetings. The committee also follows up on...
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- Asylum Seekers (8 speeches)
I move : That this House: (1) condemns the Gillard Government's deal with Malaysia that would see 800 asylum seekers intercepted in Australian waters and sent to Malaysia; and (2) calls on the...
- Reference to Main Committee (1 speech)
In accordance with standing order 41(g), and the determinations of the Selection Committee, I present copies of the terms of motions for which notice has been given by the members for Fowler,...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- Tobacco Products (11 speeches)
) ( ): I move: That this House: (1) recognises that: (a) there are about three million Au stralians who still smoke; and (b) tobacco is a le thal product, killing around 15 000 Australians every...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Petition: RAAF Base Darwin (2 speeches)
In the lead-up to the 2010 federal election I campaigned to allow the empty RAAF base houses in Darwin to be used for the community and to prevent their destruction or removal. I have continued...
- Petition: New Zealand Potatoes (2 speeches)
I present a petition signed by 471 people asking the House to take steps to ensure that Australia rejects the application to allow the importation of fresh New Zealand potatoes into Australia...
- Canning Electorate: Digital Television Services (1 speech)
A number of constituents have contacted my office to complain about the poor quality digital TV reception experienced in the Mandurah area and in Waroona. Problems include audio drop-out, spikes,...
- Gould, Mr Bob (1 speech)
I rise to pay tribute to Newtown bookseller Bob Gould, who passed away on 22 May 2011 aged 74. Bob was part of the progressive left in Australia for the better part of the post-war era. From the...
- Petition: Australia Post (2 speeches)
I rise in the House today to table a petition on behalf of the constituents of Brisbane strongly opposing the decision by Australia Post not to reopen the Milton Business Centre. The former...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Carbon Pricing (25 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Now that we have a 'yes' campaign on a carbon tax, when will the Prime Minister finally admit that, yes, she did break her promise not to have a carbon tax,...
- Climate Change (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister inform the House how the 10,000 Teens campaign will see young Australian women take action on climate change? Why is it critical to...
- Carbon Pricing (7 speeches)
My question is the Prime Minister. I refer to the Press Club address last month by the Minister for Climate Change. He said: If the imposition of a carbon price led to production being moved...
- Climate Change (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Will the minister update the House on the government's efforts to introduce a carbon price that will cut pollution and...
- Carbon Pricing (5 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that in withdrawing from the 10-state emissions trading scheme in the United States—the scheme she has previously cited in...
- Climate Change (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Resources and Energy. Minister, the proposed HRL coal fired power station in the Latrobe Valley will have a pollution intensity similar to a black coal fired...
- Economy (16 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Is the Treasurer aware of recent reports about the importance of credible policies to return the budget to surplus? What is the government's response?
- Carbon Pricing (4 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to last week's G8 meeting, at which Russia, Japan and Canada advised that they would not join a second round of carbon cuts under the Kyoto...
- Tobacco Products (5 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Will the minister outline the steps the government has taken with regard to tobacco plain packaging legislation? How have these steps been...
- Carbon Pricing (4 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the Australian Food and Grocery Council's modelling that suggests that food and grocery prices will rise by between three and...
- Budget (7 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, why is it critical that savings measures in the budget are supported, and are there any threats to their passage through the parliament?
- Carbon Pricing (4 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Is the Treasurer aware of independent research conducted by the National Farmers Federation which shows that an average Western Australian grain producer will be...
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Carbon Pricing (27 speeches)
I move: That so much of standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Warringah moving immediately— That this House calls upon the Prime Minister to come clean...
- Questions to the Speaker (0 speeches)
- Questions in Writing (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker, I draw your attention to questions 216, 217, 221, 222 and 284 on the Notice Paperin my name and, in accordance with standing order 105(b) I ask you to write to the relevant ministers...
- Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
- (6 speeches)
I seek leave to make a personal explanation.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Business (0 speeches)
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
I move: That business intervening before order of the day No. 4, government business, be postponed until a later hour this day. Question agreed to.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- Death Penalty (9 speeches)
I move: That this House: (1) notes the release on 28 March 2011 of an Amnesty International report entitled Death Sentences and Executions 2010 and that: (a) over the last 10 years, 31 countries...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Solomon Electorate (1 speech)
It has been a very busy time back in my electorate of Solomon, with lots of activities, events and openings taking place. The SIDS and Kids NT is an organisation that is very dear to my heart. It...
- Women in Public Office (1 speech)
Tonight I pay tribute to women in local government and specifically mention the 2011 Australian Local Government Womens Association Conference of New South Wales, which was hosted over the...
- South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre (1 speech)
Last Monday Swimming Australia announced the new South Australian Aquatic and Leisure Centre at Marion would host the 2012 Olympic trials. This is the culmination of a dream for so many people in...
- Clean Start Campaign (1 speech)
A few months ago I met with union members from United Voice, including workers employed as cleaners in my electorate of Throsby. Members may be aware that United Voice is the new name for the...
- Child Safety (1 speech)
I wish to raise the issue of child safety and our responsibility as adults to protect all children. To begin with, I say that we are not islands and we do not have the leisure to see our own...
- Live Animal Exports (1 speech)
I want to urge the government and my parliamentary colleagues to take a look at tonight's episode of Four Corners and move to suspend the trade in live cattle to Indonesia. The Four Corners...
- Hughes Electorate: Graffiti (1 speech)
The marks of graffiti vandalism left on public and private premises leave an ugly image in the mind and are faced by communities across the country. Graffiti vandalism also reduces the value of...
- Wakefield Electorate: GP Superclinic (3 speeches)
It is interesting that the previous speaker was talking about commitments made at election time. I remember in 2007 the now government made a commitment to build a GP superclinic in the Peachey...
- Mental Health: Hills Clinic (1 speech)
I rise tonight to pay tribute to the great achievement in Australian history which has occurred in my electorate of Mitchell. In recent weeks I had the privilege of attending the opening of...
- Fowler Electorate: Disabilities Forum (1 speech)
Last Friday I hosted a disabilities forum in my electorate, the second such forum I have hosted since becoming a member of parliament. I find community forums are a wonderful way of getting...
- Home Insulation Program (1 speech)
Today's Courier-Mail, in a major article headlined 'Time to stop the waste', deals with some of the bungles, blunders and wipe-outs of this government. Featured prominently is a discussion of the...
- Macedon Ranges Healthy and Active People Project, Kilmore and District Hospital (1 speech)
Last week I had the pleasure of announcing a $700,000 grant, on behalf of the Gillard Labor government, to the Macedon Ranges Shire Council to run programs that encourage and support people to...
- Notices (0 speeches)
- (2 speeches)
The following notices were given:
- Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
- Flinders Electorate: Police Presence (1 speech)
On behalf of the people of Lang Lang, I want to refer to the risk that that wonderful town may lose—and has already partially lost—full police presence. Lang Lang has traditionally...
- Chisholm Electorate: Lighter Footprints (1 speech)
Today I want to get up and say congratulations and thank you to the members of the Lighter Footprints group, a climate action group that has been operating around my electorate. They are actually...
- Armenian Genocide (1 speech)
The Armenian genocide is one of the least known, least understood and least respected human tragedies of the modern era. It was the systematic eradication of a particular group of people and it...
- Dwyer, Mr Phillip Kevin (1 speech)
On 6 April 2011, Ipswich sadly lost Phillip Kevin Dwyer—known as Kev—a party stalwart, a loyal unionist and a strong civic leader. Kev was born on a small farm at Peak Crossing, south...
- Armenian Genocide (1 speech)
Earlier this month the people of Bennelong were appalled to learn of the vandalism of a monument located in Meadowbank Park dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide. The simple plaque...
- Percival, Mr Greg, OBE (1 speech)
With the passing of Greg Percival, Campbelltown loses one of its last genuine community builders, someone who has positively impacted on the lives of many in our region. Having lived in...
- Armenian Genocide (2 speeches)
I rise in this House to show support for the Armenian community and join with them in the solemn commemoration of the Armenian genocide. Many Armenian Australians are situated in and around my...
- Building the Education Revolution Program (1 speech)
It is important in this place to reflect on significant events in our local communities. The Australian government is proud of the education revolution, from early childhood education, through...
- Cowper Electorate: Charity Bike Ride (1 speech)
On 2, 3 and 4 May this year I had my annual charity bike ride. The beneficiaries of that bike ride were the Disabled Surfers Association and Macleay Vocational College. The Disabled Surfers...
- Jock, Mr David (2 speeches)
I rise to inform the House of the remarkable journey of David Jock, who has called the good electorate of Adelaide his home. I first came to hear of David's journey following a visit from my...
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- Iraq (5 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Mr Hayes: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) for more than 2,000 years religious groups such as Assyrians, Mandaeans, Chaldeans, Syriacs and other Aramaic speakers...
- Defence Properties (5 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Mrs Griggs: That this House: (1) notes: (a) that Darwin is currently experiencing the worst housing crisis since Cyclone Tracy, and the Minister for Defence Science...
- Greater Western Sydney Conservation Corridor (17 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Mrs Markus: That this House: (1) notes that in the 2010 Federal Election, the Coalition, Australian Labor Party and Australian Greens committed to establishing the...
- Marine Conservation (8 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Ms Parke: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) Australia's oceans are the most diverse on earth but less than 1 per cent of the South-West, North-West, North, Coral...
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (5 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Mrs Moylan: That this House: (1) recognises the provision of affordable medicines through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is central to Australia's health...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2011-2012; Second Reading (15 speeches)
Before the debate is resumed on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2011-2012, I remind the Committee that pursuant to the resolution agreed to by the House on 10 May 2011 this order of the day will be...
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- 100th Anniversary of the Sinking of SS Yongala (7 speeches)
Debate resumed on the motion by Mr Christensen: That this House: (1) recognises the one-hundredth anniversary of the sinking of SS Yongala; (2) notes that: (a) the SS Yongala sank in a cyclone on...
- World Multiple Sclerosis Day (7 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Ms Burke: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) Thursday 26 May marks World Multiple Sclerosis Day; and (b) around the world, World Multiple Sclerosis Day in 2011 is...
- 40th Anniversary of the Ramsar Convention (7 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Mr Chester: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) 2011 marks the fortieth anniversary of the Ramsar Convention and the establishment of a list of wetlands of...
- The Philippines (5 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Mr Laurie Ferguson: That this House: (1) notes: (a) there has been a long running armed conflict in the Philippines; (b) both the new President Benigno Aquino III and...
- Condolences (0 speeches)
- McNicol, Mr Greg (3 speeches)
Debate resumed on the motion: That this House: (1) expresses: (a) its condolences to the family of Australian citizen Mr Greg McNicol who was shot while helping to transform a...
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- MySchool, MyHospitals and MyChild Websites (6 speeches)
Debate resumed on motion by Dr Leigh: That this House: (1) recognises: (a) Australians are keen to have better access to information about government performance; (b) more transparent public...
- Grievance Debate (0 speeches)
- Biosecurity (1 speech)
I am raising a very serious grievance on behalf of Australian apple and pear industries, Australian fruit consumers and the Australian environment—especially those plant species that are...
- Employment (2 speeches)
I would like to thank the government for its efforts to tackle, as is its responsibility, unemployment in my region. The federal government has adopted a number of projects and programs and...
- South Pacific (3 speeches)
Mr Deputy Speaker, you know you have a problem in foreign policy when one of your nearest neighbours hosts a significant regional leaders meeting and you are not invited but Luxembourg is.
- Live Animal Exports (1 speech)
If the true moral test of a nation is our treatment of those who are most vulnerable and dependent on our care, including our animals, then we are failing. The Australian live export industry...
- Hughes Electorate: Intermodal Freight Terminal (1 speech)
I rise tonight to raise a considerable grievance of the residents of the southern Sydney suburb of Liverpool in my electorate of Hughes—a grievance I share. Currently on the books are plans...
- Palestine (4 speeches)
At the commencement of my contribution to this debate I would like to congratulate the member for Fremantle on her contribution to the grievance debate tonight and say that I endorse every word...
- Questions in Writing (0 speeches)
- Ministers: Staff, Capital Works and Acquisitions (Question Nos 257 and 258) (2 speeches)
asked the Minister for Social Inclusion and the Minister for Human Services, in writing, on 3 March 2011: (1) How many personal staff are employed by the Minister. (2) What is the (a) total cost,...
- Broadband (Question No. 291) (2 speeches)
asked the Minister representing the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in writing, on 21 March 2011: In respect of the statement by Mr Mike Quigley, Chief Executive...
- Defence Materiel: Staff (Question No. 306) (2 speeches)
asked the Minister for Defence Materiel, in writing, on 23 March 2011: In respect of the Defence Materiel Organisation in: (a) 2007-08; (b) 2008-09; (c) 2009-10; and (d) 2010-11. By...
- Prime Minister and Cabinet: Think Tanks and Policy Institutes (Question No. 310) (2 speeches)
asked the Prime Minister, in writing, on 23 March 2011: (1) How many think tanks or policy institutes are funded by the Minister's department, and (a) what are (i) their names, and (ii) key areas...
- Tourism: North Queensland (Question No. 351) (2 speeches)
asked the Minister for Tourism, in writing, on 10 May 2011: What assistance or new initiatives is his department undertaking to increase tourism to North Queensland, in particular Townsville, in...