House debates
Monday, 2 March 2015
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- Responses (1 speech)
Ministerial responses to petitions previously presented to the House have been received as follows:
- Statements (1 speech)
Madam Speaker, in my last statement as Chair of the Standing Committee on Petitions I discussed some of the effects that petitioning the House can have. Today, I would like to focus on the...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Imported Food Warning Labels Bill 2015 (4 speeches)
I move: That the bill be now read a second time. In introducing the Imported Food Warning Labels Bill 2015, I doubt whether there is anyone in the House that is not aware of the break-out of...
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- Australian Defence Force (11 speeches)
I move: That this House: (1) congratulates the Government on honouring its election commitment to change indexation arrangements for Defence Forces Retirement Benefits and Defence Force...
- Social Services (11 speeches)
I move: That this House: (1) acknowledges that: (a) there is a significant, ongoing and growing need for emergency relief, financial counselling and related programs, to support the most...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Law Enforcement Committee; Membership (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker has received advice from the Chief Government Whip that he has nominated Mr Kelly to be a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement in place of Mr van Manen.
- Intelligence and Security Committee; Report (3 speeches)
I am pleased to present the committee's advisory report on the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Kingsford Smith Electorate: Black Markets (1 speech)
Yesterday I had the great fortune of attending Bare Island in our community to celebrate the first anniversary of the Black Markets. The Black Markets are an initiative of First Hand Solutions...
- Lyons Electorate: Infrastructure (1 speech)
I welcomed the news last week that the federal government is to spend $4.2 million on infrastructure for the replacement of a number of bridges on main arterial roads across the state. The...
- Richmond Electorate: Honey Innovation (1 speech)
I rise to speak about a very exciting new venture in my electorate and congratulate the innovative local inventors. North Coast beekeepers Stuart and Cedar Anderson are set to take the honey...
- Petition: Capital Gains Tax (1 speech)
I wish to table a petition on behalf of Hinkler constituent Margaret Evans. It has been certified by the Petitions Committee as meeting all requirements. The petition contains 126 signatures and...
- Lalor Electorate: Centenary of Werribee Fire Brigade (1 speech)
I rise today to share with the House the 100th anniversary of the Werribee Fire Brigade and the CFA. I attended a special celebration in the electorate on Saturday, 28 February, the last day of...
- Regional Australia (1 speech)
I want to encourage Australians to have holidays in the regions. I want more Australians to see more of Australia more often. Our fuel prices are cheaper than they have been in the last five...
- Heart Foundation (1 speech)
Have a holiday in the national capital of Australia! I recently had the pleasure of joining with hundreds of Canberrans to attend a unique and very special Valentine's evening—the Hearts of...
- Competition Policy (1 speech)
Small business is the engine room of our economy, and so important in rural and regional Australia to jobs, families and the prosperity of country communities. That is why our government has...
- Veterans Film Festival (1 speech)
I am pleased to announce the support of the inaugural Veterans Film Festival through the Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program. The festival, to be held in my electorate of Parramatta, will use...
- Reid Electorate: Anzac Centenary (1 speech)
I had a day on Saturday in my electorate which I think typifies why this country is so great. In the morning I was with the Auburn City Council rededicating the war memorial as the kick-off to...
- Indi Electorate: Brown, Mr John and Mrs June (1 speech)
It gives me enormous pleasure today to honour, acknowledge and thank two wonderful Australians who are with us today in the gallery—John and June Brown. John Graham Brown has been awarded...
- Taiwan (1 speech)
Last week I had the great honour of taking over the role of chair of the Parliamentary Taiwan Friendship Group from the Hon. Karen Andrews, the member for McPherson, whom I thank for her...
- Community Services (1 speech)
Just prior to Christmas last year the Abbott government slashed $270 million of funding from many of our most important front-line services. These are community organisations that provide...
- Centenary of Anzac (1 speech)
I would like to advise the House of some grants that have been awarded under the Centenary of Anzac Local Grants Program. The Darwin Military Museum has received a grant of $27,000 to produce and...
- Newcastle Electorate: Caddey, Ms Zel (1 speech)
Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the 'Zel: Mind to Hand' art exhibition at the Curve Gallery in Newcastle. The exhibition celebrates the creative and colourful work of...
- Hughes Electorate: Yeramba Lagoon, Clean Up Australia Day (1 speech)
It gives me great pleasure to report to the House the fantastic efforts of hundreds of volunteers across my electorate of Hughes on Sunday for Clean Up Australia Day. I spent time on Sunday...
- Iraq and Syria (1 speech)
On too many occasions over my last 10 years in this House, I have had to rise to report atrocities against the Assyrian people in the Middle East. Again, I have to say that the situation has...
- Sport, Parliamentary Friends of Football Australia (1 speech)
It is always great to rise in this place and celebrate the wonderful game of football—the world game. It is interesting to note that the latest ABS data show that nearly three times as many...
- Women's National Basketball League (1 speech)
I rise today to tell House that I am proud that the Bendigo Spirit, our great basketball team, will again be in the grand final against the Townsville Fire. I have news for the member for...
- Small Business (2 speeches)
Today is Labour Day public holiday in Western Australia, so I am going to talk about work. Talking about work is no longer the province of those opposite. The coalition government have always...
- Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I inform the House that the Minister for Agriculture will be absent from question time today as he is attending a funeral in his electorate. The Deputy Prime Minister will answer questions on his...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Taxation (7 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to Labor's plan today to make multinational corporations pay their fair share of tax. Given this plan would raise more than double what the Prime...
- Small Business (4 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister advise the House how the government is helping Australian small businesses to get ahead, including by ensuring they get a fair go...
- Taxation (6 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Labor has today proposed using a worldwide gearing ratio for calculating deductions multinational corporations can claim on their Australian tax. The OECD...
- Grocery Prices (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister update the House on the progress of the food and grocery code of conduct initiative? And what action is this government taking...
- Health Care (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the statement by the Minister for Finance this morning: 'We will always focus on what is achievable over what is 100 per cent desirable.' Does the...
- Economy (2 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House how the government is building jobs, growth and opportunity for the people of western Sydney and all around Australia?
- Health Care (11 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Just weeks before the New South Wales state election, it has been reported that the Prime Minister's unfair GP tax will be scrapped. This is not the first...
- Employment (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Before the next federal election, 55,000 jobs in motor vehicle construction will vanish, 20,000 in the coal seam gas industry, 15,000 in the coal industry...
- Budget (6 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer please outline the importance of fixing the budget and what are the hurdles standing in the way?
- Intergenerational Report (4 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the net overseas migration numbers underpinning the Intergenerational report match the advice that was provided to the government by the department of...
- Higher Education (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Education and Training. How is the government getting on with the job of creating world-class universities in Australia and spreading the benefits of higher...
- Intergenerational Report (5 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Intergenerational report projections include the government's GP co-payment? Will the IGR projections be rendered inaccurate even before the report is...
- Iraq (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer the minister to the atrocities being committed by the Daesh death cult in Iraq, including mass executions and the destruction of...
- Taxation (4 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, reports today confirm that the Australian tax office will recover $1 billion in new tax revenue because of a program funded by the previous...
- Distinguished Visitors (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Before I call the honourable member for Watson, I wish to advise the House that we have, in the distinguished visitors' gallery, a parliamentary delegation from Fiji led by Madam Speaker of the...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Schools: Security (2 speeches)
My question is the Minister for Justice. Will the minister inform the House how the government is helping to protect students in schools in my electorate and across Australia from the risk of...
- Health Care (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to reports that the Prime Minister plans to shelve his unfair GP tax for the moment. Does the Prime Minister still agree with his statement in...
- Asylum Seekers, National Security (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister update the House on the action the government has taken to address the threat at our nation's borders?
- Abbott Government (6 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Previously, the Prime Minister has promised many things before a vote: that he would drop his Rolls Royce paid parental leave scheme, that he would keep his...
- Infrastructure (11 speeches)
My question is to the Assistant Minister Infrastructure and Regional Development. Will the minister update the House on the government's $7.6 billion investment in much needed infrastructure in...
- Budget (2 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to reports that the Prime Minister plans to shelve his unfair GP tax and his cruel cuts to job seekers for the moment. Does the Prime Minister still...
- Carbon Pricing (7 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for the Environment. I refer to this email from the owners of Sydney Ice Arena and Erina Ice Arena in my electorate of Robertson, who state that the lifting of the...
- Attorney-General (12 speeches)
My question is the Prime Minister. Given that the Prime Minister's Attorney-General could not explain what metadata is, said that everyone has a right to be a bigot and directed the secretary of...
- Questions without Notice: Additional Answers (0 speeches)
- Taxation (3 speeches)
I notice that the member for Fraser has been thrown out of the House?
- Questions to the Speaker (0 speeches)
- Member for Rankin (4 speeches)
Last Thursday the Leader of the House raised with me a tweet by the member for Rankin which repeated unparliamentary language that I had asked the member for Rankin earlier to withdraw. The...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Presentation (1 speech)
A document is tabled in accordance with the list circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the document will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Business (0 speeches)
- Leave of Absence (1 speech)
I move: That leave of absence for the remainder of the current period of sittings be given to the honourable Member for Rankin, for parental leave purposes. Question agreed to.
- Ministerial Statements (0 speeches)
- Defence: Capability through Diversity (2 speeches)
by leave—The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has been involved in continuous operations for almost 16 years, and as I speak our Defence Force has once more been deployed to a foreign theatre...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Sydney Mardi Gras (1 speech)
The Sydney Mardi Gras is now a festival that lasts for just over two weeks with film, theatre, visual arts and community events. It brings about $30 million into our local economy and provides an...
- Canning Electorate: Telecommunications (1 speech)
I wish to bring to the House's attention to some telecommunication issues in the electorate of Canning. Specifically I would like to address two areas—mobile phone coverage and port...
- Sisters of Charity Foundation (1 speech)
When Mary Aikenhead established the Sisters of Charity, she proclaimed that the poor should have for love what the rich have for money. A not-for-profit organisation, the Sisters of Charity have...
- Government Contracts (1 speech)
I rise to speak about government achieving value for money and the concept in reality of reverse tariffs. Achieving value for money is always important in any transaction, but it is critical when...
- Social Services (1 speech)
The federal Liberal government's cruel and chaotic cuts to community service funding have hurt community organisations across the country and reduced the help they can provide to the most...
- Macquarie Electorate: Hydro Majestic Hotel (2 speeches)
I rise to reflect on the opening of the Hydro Majestic Hotel at Medlow Bath in the Blue Mountains. It was a delight to welcome the Treasurer, the Hon. Joe Hockey, to the electorate of Macquarie...
- Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
- Scullin Electorate: Clean Up Australia Day, Scullin Electorate: Australia Day Honours (1 speech)
Before flying to Canberra yesterday evening I was very pleased to be able to spend the day in beautiful Diamond Creek in the Scullin electorate. I spent the day in the company of my great friend...
- Forde Electorate: Beenleigh CBD Redevelopment (1 speech)
I would like to take this opportunity today to commend the initiative shown by one of our local chambers of commerce in addressing the issue of vacant shop space in and around the heart of...
- Isaacs Electorate: Community Grants Program (1 speech)
Early last month I held a meeting with community groups that have had their grant funding cut by the Abbott government. Each of these groups is either based in or services the great electorate of...
- Carbon Pricing (1 speech)
One thing our history has taught us over a long period of time is that many of the leftist, feel-good policies that are introduced by governments actually have many unintended consequences, and...
- Griffith Electorate: Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (1 speech)
I recently had the honour and the privilege to speak at the ceremony to rename ECCQ House as Nick Xynias House. Nick Xynias AO BEM was a co-founder of the ECCQ, which is something that his family...
- Boothby Electorate: Health (1 speech)
Last Friday there was a rally at the Repatriation General Hospital in my electorate. Six hundred to 700 people gathered to express their concern and outrage at the South Australian government's...
- Perth Electorate: Public Transport (1 speech)
This coming Friday, 6 March, a midnight pyjama-party protest is being organised in Perth by a group of activists protesting the planned closure of the late-night train services on the Perth rail...
- Capricornia Electorate: Cyclone Marcia (1 speech)
The clean-up continues following Cyclone Marcia on the Capricorn Coast, Rockhampton and surrounding areas in Central Queensland. This is the heart of my electorate of Capricornia. It has been 10...
- Corio Electorate: Health Care (1 speech)
I rise today to speak about health care, a service which means so much for so many in Australia. From paediatrics to palliative care, a quality health system equipped to meet the complex demands...
- Food Labelling (2 speeches)
I rise today to speak on a very topical and important subject around food labelling, an issue which has been in the press recently, which is of great concern to the people in my electorate and of...
- Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
- International Women's Day (8 speeches)
I move: That this House: (1) notes that International Women's Day: (a) will be celebrated globally on Sunday, 8 March 2015; (b) is a day to celebrate the economic, political and social...
- Development of Northern Australia (13 speeches)
I move: That this House notes that: (1) this Government is committed to delivering a White Paper on Developing Northern Australia that will set out a clear and well defined policy platform for...
- Mobile Black Spot Program (7 speeches)
I move: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) the Government has committed $100 million (GST exclusive) over four years to the delivery of the Mobile Black Spot Programme (MBSP); (b) the MBSP is...
- Testing and Labelling of Food Imports (8 speeches)
I move: That this House: (1) notes: (a) revelations that certain brands of imported frozen berries grown and/or packaged in China are suspected of having infected Australians with Hepatitis A...
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Calwell Electorate: Hume GP Super Clinic (1 speech)
I am delighted to report to the chamber that the Broadmeadows superclinic is now officially up and running in my electorate. I had the great pleasure of opening the superclinic on Monday, 16...
- Casey Electorate: Animal Aid Veterinary Clinic (1 speech)
Last Friday morning I had the pleasure of vising Animal Aid in Coldstream in the electorate of Casey. Animal Aid, which has existed for many years, houses dogs and cats and also offers a boarding...
- Fremantle Electorate: Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program (1 speech)
Across the four-year span of the Great War there were 849 Fremantle-area men and women who would never return alive. There was also a small band of nurses serving just south of Fremantle who...
- Tilmouth, Mr Leigh Bruce 'Tracker' (1 speech)
I rise today to acknowledge the sad passing of Leigh Bruce 'Tracker' Tilmouth, a staunch Labor supporter and a mighty Territorian. He was a fierce advocate for Aboriginal Australians and will be...
- Richmond Electorate: Coal Seam Gas (1 speech)
The New South Wales North Coast is such a great place to live but, as locals know, there is a threat posed to everything we have and this is from harmful coal seam gas mining. I have made my...
- South Australian Government (1 speech)
The South Australian government are at it again. They are closing hospitals, they are closing emergency departments and they are closing courts, but they still always manage to find money for a...
- Wilson, Mr Phil (1 speech)
I want to pay tribute to a great local hero, Phil Wilson, who sadly passed away after a short illness. Phil dedicated an amazing 60 years of service to the Oakleigh District Football Club,...
- Clean Up Australia Day (1 speech)
I rise to talk a little about the Clean Up Australia Day that happened over the weekend. I had the chance to participate along with many other people from the Petrie electorate in Clean Up...
- Palmer, Mr Ron (1 speech)
Last weekend the Labor family in Melbourne's West got together to celebrate one of the Footscray branch's true believers, Ron Palmer. Ron has had an enormous impact on the Labor Party and his...
- Penrith Panthers (1 speech)
It may well be the Year of the Goat in 2015, but I would like to challenge that theory with: the 'Year of the Panther'. With the start this week of the 2015 NRL season upon us, Sunday will see an...
- Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (1 speech, 1 comment)
On Friday I will be hosting an Ovarian Cancer Awareness Morning Tea and Morning Tea with the goal of raising funds for ovarian cancer research. Each year 1,400 Australian women are diagnosed with...
- Canning Electorate: Denny Avenue (1 speech)
I wish to speak about a road in the Canning electorate that has caused many traffic accidents during my time in parliament. Denny Avenue in Kelmscott, where it intersects with Streich Avenue, is...
- Fuel Prices (1 speech)
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released the first quarterly petrol report for the year. I welcome Minister for Small Business Mr Bruce Billson's direction to the ACCC to...
- Australian Festival of Chamber Music (1 speech)
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. This fantastic showcase has called Townsville home all those years. From very humble beginnings, it has become a...
- Iran (1 speech)
On 5 February I attended the Australian release of the documentary, To Light a Candle. The film documents the struggles and persecution of Baha'i followers in Iran over recent decades. The film's...
- Australian International Airshow (1 speech)
On the weekend, and on Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the Avalon air show in my capacity as a member of the Defence Subcommittee of the Joint Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade...
- Anzac Centenary (1 speech)
As part of the Anzac Centenary grants program I am pleased to inform the House that the Maltese Ex-servicemen's RSL Sub-Branch association will commemorate their ancestors contribution to the...
- Murray Electorate (1 speech)
On the weekend, tragedy struck at a small country cricket field, Karramomus, when batsman Vino Kumar suffered a life-threatening heart attack. He was standing at the non-strikers end and he...
- Health Care (1 speech)
I rise to alert the House to the launch today of a report through the Butterfly Foundation for eating disorders entitled Investing in need. This report goes to the opportunities for funding...
- Page Electorate: Yamba Country Women's Association (1 speech, 1 comment)
This Saturday I will have the pleasure of being in Yamba to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the local Yamba CWA. It started on 6 March 1945. The current secretary, Leonie Saunders, and...
- Sport (1 speech)
I spent an amazing Saturday night in the member for Bruce's electorate at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium to watch the under-20 men's final between Victoria and Tasmania. It was a gripping match...
- Swan Electorate: West Coast Eagles (1 speech)
Today, I hosted a delegation from the West Coast Eagles. Amongst that delegation, and in the gallery today, was the 2014 AFL Brownlow medallist, Matt Priddis, along with the new captain of the...
- Indi Electorate: Rail Delays (1 speech)
I want to talk today about trains. In country Australia trains are essential. They need to be reliable, they need to be safe, they need to run on time and they need to be clean. We have a real...
- Petition: Israel (2 speeches)
I rise to present a petition which has been considered by the Standing Committee on Petitions and certified as being in accordance with the standing orders. The petition read as follows—...
- Shortland Electorate: Seniors Forum (1 speech)
Last Friday I held one of my seniors forums at Swansea. That day was an outstanding success, with over 100 seniors in attendance. The first speaker was Lake Macquarie Council, and they talked...
- Employment (1 speech)
There is no greater commission for a government than to provide opportunity for its citizens. Over the last six years of government, we had a welfare bill that exploded out of control and was...
- Shortland Electorate: Anzac Centenary (1 speech)
I would like to share with the House some details of one of the successful ANZAC commemoration projects that have been approved in the Shortland electorate. It was a project put forward by St...
- Leichhardt Electorate: Cairns Street Chaplains (1 speech)
Many a good story starts on a dark and stormy night, and mine is no exception. Imagine walking your city streets after midnight on a Friday night. It is pouring rain, people are flowing out of...
- Shortland Electorate: Centenary of Anzac (1 speech)
I would like to pay credit to St Mary's Catholic School for a grant that they received to create a new Anzac garden under the commemorative Anzac program that has been conducted throughout...
- Moorebank Intermodal (2 speeches)
Today I would like to raise the issue of one of the very simplistic slogans involving the failed ideology of the Moorebank Intermodal: it is taking freight off road and putting it on rail. This...
- Grievance Debate (0 speeches)
- Petition: Climate Change (1 speech)
It is a great pleasure to rise in this debate. In my contribution I want to talk a little bit about climate change policy in 2015, given I have portfolio responsibility for the opposition. But,...
- Research and Development (1 speech)
Today there are too many questions surrounding science funding, policy and direction. The $20 billion Medical Research Fund, for example—is it going to be general or specifically targeting...
- Parramatta Electorate: North Parramatta Colonial Heritage Precinct (1 speech)
In North Parramatta there is a phenomenal colonial heritage precinct that rivals any in Australia by far. It is truly, truly amazing. It is just a short walk from the CBD. And it currently is in...
- Death Penalty (1 speech)
I rise to speak on the plight of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. These young men face the death penalty for drug crimes they committed in Indonesia. Whatever way you look at their...
- National Security (1 speech)
On Friday, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security released its Advisory report on the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014,...
- Media (2 speeches)
The origins of the grievance debate date back to the 13th century formation of the House of Commons, when landowners would send their representatives to Westminster to air their grievances. In...
