House debates
Thursday, 12 November 2015
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Ministerial Statements (0 speeches)
- Deregulation (2 speeches)
by leave—Today marks the fourth red tape repeal day of this government. The coalition made a commitment before the last election to reduce red tape by $1 billion annually. I am pleased to...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Publications Committee; Report (1 speech)
I present the report from the Publications Committee sitting in conference with the Publications Committee of the Senate. Copies of the report have been placed on the table. Report—by...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- National Disability Insurance Scheme; Report (2 speeches)
On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, I present the committee's progress report on the implementation and administration of the National...
- Communications and the Arts Committee; Membership (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker has received advice from the chief government whip nominating a member to become a member of the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Taxation (1 speech)
Cuts to family benefits and an increase to the GST will hit middle- and low-income families in my electorate the hardest. This is hardly what you would call tax reform. But as we have seen, this...
- Fraud (1 speech)
The scammers are out there again. I warn all people to be aware of scammers. I would like for to everyone to be vigilant when taking phone calls as a new scam has hit Central Queensland and...
- Ride-sharing Services (1 speech)
Today I would like to raise a toast to TOAST—Tolmie Offers a Seat to Town. Tolmie is a small town 30 kilometres north of Mansfield in North-East Victoria. There is no public transport and...
- Schools (1 speech)
I rise to speak about one of the great privileges that comes with being a member of parliament. This week I have had the opportunity to host a number of schools from my electorate of Barker while...
- Baby Formula (1 speech)
We have a four-month-old baby at home, and it is great. One of the things that I am learning—that we are learning—is that babies are fussy creatures. They have particular preferences...
- Remembrance Day (1 speech)
On Sunday morning I attended a special Remembrance Day ceremony in Davey Square, Strathfield. Of course Remembrance Day is a solemn and important occasion every year. But this ceremony was...
- Family Payments (1 speech)
Across kitchen tables in Australia last night, families asked themselves the question: 'What will we go without?' With the cuts to the FTB supplements, 1.5 million families will go without $726...
- Telstra Business Women's Awards (1 speech)
I rise today to congratulate three very successful women from my electorate of Brisbane who were winners in this year's Queensland Telstra Business Women's Awards. Dr Catherine Ball was the major...
- Family Payments (1 speech)
Here we have the government's hypocrisy at its best. At the beginning of the week they were talking about increasing taxes, which will hurt some of the poorest families in our community, and now...
- Western Australia Threatened Species Forum (1 speech)
I was very pleased to attend the inaugural WA Threatened Species Forum in Geraldton last month. Co-ordinated by the Northern Agricultural Catchments Council, led by CEO Richard McLellan and his...
- Turnbull Government (1 speech)
The Prime Minister tells us that he actually understands this whole issue of fairness and he says: Fairer is what is it all about. Fairness has got to be the key priority. But I really ask the...
- Hume Electorate: Boorowa Touch Football and Netball Carnival (1 speech)
People usually notice when I wear a netball bib, but not at Boorowa recently. I was one of thousands in sporting colours at the schools' annual touch footy and netball carnival. The host schools,...
- Goods and Services Tax (1 speech)
There is much to be proud of in my community—the colour, the vibrancy, the diversity. After all, it is the most multicultural community in the country but, regrettably, it also has...
- Blakeway, Miss Heather (1 speech)
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate and boast about one of Forde's outstanding local athletes, Heather Blakeway. Heather is one of PCYC Logan's rhythmic gymnastics and, at the...
- Goods and Services Tax (3 speeches)
I am so glad to have the opportunity this afternoon to make a very clear statement on behalf of the people of Hotham that an increase to the GST, a massive tax hike that will go onto every...
- Bowman Electorate: North Stradbroke Island (1 speech)
The rest of Australia will find it inconceivable that state Labor in Queensland is intending to kill off sandmining on North Stradbroke Island. Picture yourself as a family utterly reliant on a...
- Family Payments, Goods and Services Tax (1 speech)
I rise to voice my opposition to the government's lazy policy to raise the GST at the same time as they are attacking families through slashing the family tax benefit. The current Treasurer is...
- Trade, Trade with China, Japan and South Korea (1 speech)
What a performance that was from a union hack that now occupies the seat on the other side of this chamber. Whilst Australia has a relatively small population, it produces and creates far more...
- Goods and Services Tax (1 speech)
One of the most exciting events in my electorate is at the Rocklea markets, where they have the first mango of the season. People come along and bid for the first carton of mangoes. It is a very...
- Barton Electorate: Being Greek Festival (2 speeches)
Recently the Prime Minister came out to my electorate and attended the Being Greek Festival at Carss Park on Sunday, 25 October. As the name suggests, the festival is about celebrating all things...
- Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I inform the House that the Prime Minister will be absent from question time today as he is in Jakarta undertaking bilateral meetings with the President of Indonesia. I will answer questions on...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Goods and Services Tax (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker, my question is to the Treasurer. This morning the Treasurer's colleague Senator Abetz, in a wide-ranging interview, said: Once again the government does need to settle the agenda here...
- Economy (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker, my question is to the Acting Prime Minister and the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Will the Acting Prime Minister update the House on how government measures...
- Goods and Services Tax (4 speeches)
Mr Speaker, my question is to the . Will the minister rule out applying a GST to council rates?
- Budget (4 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the progress the government is making to improve the budget position and how important is a strong budget to economic...
- Taxation (7 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Vocational Education. Will the minister rule out increasing TAFE fees with the GST?
- Mental Health (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, the report of the National Review of Mental Health Programs and Services was provided to the government in December 2014 and, consequently,...
- Trade (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the Minister explain how the upcoming APEC meetings will boost jobs and growth in Australia?
- Liberal Party Leadership (4 speeches)
My question is also to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. This morning, the deputy leader's colleague, the Minister for Immigration, said, 'Obviously the deputy leader in the party owes a special...
- Minister for Foreign Affairs (9 speeches)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will rephrase. Can the minister explain to the House what the implications are for Australia's relations with other nations of the special loyalty the minister has shown...
- Superannuation (8 speeches)
It will be good to get back onto the serious matters.
- Minister for Foreign Affairs (11 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The minister did at least three major media interviews on 15 September this year, the morning after her party brought down their Prime...
- National Security (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Will the minister inform the House of action the government is taking to address the growing threat of terrorism and to...
- Goods and Services Tax (10 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Brian Abbott of St Clair is 39, single and has no children. He works, but does not earn enough to pay income tax. Brian wrote to me on Tuesday. He wrote, 'People...
- Cowan Electorate: Broadband (13 speeches)
My constituency question is to the
- Goods and Services Tax (7 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer and goes to the detail of his last answer. A part-time retail worker will earn in the order of $18,000 a year and therefore pay no income tax. Given that there is...
- Sport (4 speeches)
My constituency question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. This weekend my community will celebrate the fifth annual Hyundai Bennelong Cup, welcoming some of the world's top table tennis...
- Goods and Services Tax (8 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. I wonder if the Treasurer can advise us what compensation there would be for any increased and broadened GST to take into account the fact that fuel, groceries...
- Broadband (2 speeches)
My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Communications. With the two koala corridor suburbs of Mount Cotton and Redland Bay due to be connected to fibre-to-the-node by year's...
- Goods and Services Tax (3 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, if the GST is jacked up to 15 per cent, how will compensation be delivered to self-funded retirees?
- Business (2 speeches)
My constituency question is to the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. Craig Deveson, CEO of Cloud Manager, has been a tireless advocate of innovation, working in the Brisbane...
- Family Payments (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Social Services. Bronte works part time and is a single mother of three children in Mount Barker in South Australia. She says: 'I'm really concerned about how...
- Broadband (24 speeches)
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Honourable members: He's the speaker! My question is to the Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects. Honourable members interjecting—
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Presentation (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)
- Goods and Services Tax (29 speeches)
I have received a letter from the honourable member for McMahon proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The Government's plan to...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Public Works Committee; Reference (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969, the following proposed work be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Taxation (1 speech)
'Protecting tax privacy for the uber-rich is a strange thing to take a stand on.' I wish I could claim credit for those words, but that is the title of Lenore Taylor's summary in The Guardian of...
- Canning Electorate: Crystal Methamphetamine (1 speech)
Today marks 30 days since I was sworn in as the federal member for Canning, and I am pleased to inform that House that the Canning Ice Action Plan is well underway. Over the past 30 days I have...
- Driverless Cars (1 speech)
Last week in Adelaide I felt very privileged to be able to get a preview of the game-changing technology of autonomous vehicles, at the International Driverless Cars Conference. This technology...
- Salter, Mr Philip John (1 speech)
Today I rise to tell a great Australian story, one which unfortunately ended far too prematurely. Last weekend this country lost a great man, husband, father, grandfather, entrepreneur,...
- Turnbull Government (1 speech)
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks about moving on from old politics. He talks about serious policy conversations. He talks about bipartisanship. And, as we have all experienced in recent...
- Small Business (2 speeches)
The business community in my electorate will be celebrating the achievements of local entrepreneurs over the coming week with both the Wanneroo Business Association and the Joondalup Business...
- Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
- Calwell Electorate: Broadmeadows Sporting Club (1 speech)
This past week has been a very big week in my electorate. Of course 11 November, yesterday, marked the 40th anniversary of the sacking of the Whitlam government, and I got the opportunity to be...
- Bradfield Electorate: San Run for Life (1 speech)
The Sydney Adventist Hospital at Wahroonga is a much loved and respected institution in my electorate of Bradfield, fondly known as 'the San'. It is the largest private hospital in New South...
- Blair Electorate: RAAF Base Amberley (1 speech)
For the last 75 years, the city of Ipswich in my electorate of Blair has been home to RAAF Base Amberley. Over those years, the base has grown to become one of the nation's largest, employing...
- Tasmania: Tourism (1 speech)
Indeed, there are new records being set in tourism in Tasmania. In the year ended June 2014, tourism contributed over $1 billion—or four per cent—to Tasmania's economy: 15,000 direct...
- Scullin Electorate (1 speech)
I spent last Friday in the company of dozens of Scullin electorate's youngest and newest citizens in a Welcoming the Babies event at the Galada Community Centre in Epping North, in the heart of...
- Northern Australia Investment Forum (2 speeches)
I rise to update the House on the very successful Northern Australia Investment Forum held earlier this week in Darwin. I note your keen interest in Northern Australia too, Deputy Speaker Landry....
- Australian-Azerbaijani Parliamentary Friendship Group (1 speech)
I am the chairman of the Australian-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Friendship Group and, as such, I will raise issues in the parliament regarding matters to do with Azerbaijan. In 1992 and 1993,...
- Fremantle Electorate (1 speech)
I would like to take this opportunity to mention a few important achievements and events in my electorate. On Sunday, 25 October Fremantle celebrated one of the most distinctive occasions on its...
- Remembrance Day, Armenia (1 speech)
Yesterday we commemorated Remembrance Day, marking both the day the guns fell silent on the Western Front in 1918 and also further recognition of the Anzac Centenary. It has been 100 years since...
- Charitable Organisations (1 speech)
I rise to express concern on behalf of the not-for-profit community service organisations in the electorate of McEwen regarding the atrocious and appalling mismanagement of the allocation of...
- Anzac Centenary (1 speech)
This weekend, I had the enormous pleasure of accompanying the Coo-ee marchers as they passed through both Penrith and St Mary's. The Coo-ee enlistment march was re-enacted 100 years after the...
- Hurn, Mr Brian OAM, Rawady, Mr Reginald Peter (1 speech)
It is my sad duty to inform the House of the passing away of both Brian Hurn, who was the mayor of the Barossa Council, and a another notable identity in the mid-north, Reg Rawady. Brian 'Bunga'...
- Dobell Electorate: The Entrance Leagues Club (1 speech)
Members here in this House will recognise the important contribution made to our community by local registered clubs. In my electorate of Dobell, The Entrance Leagues Club represents the great...
- Goods and Services Tax (5 speeches)
I rise today to speak in opposition to the government's plan to increase the GST. I have made it very clear to my constituents in Richmond that I am fighting hard against the Prime Minister's and...
- Page Electorate: Tabulam Public School, Hale, Ms Elsie (1 speech)
The Tabulam Public School was the first school on the Far North Coast to compete in the New South Wales MILO T20 Blast cricket finals recently in Sydney. The school was invited to attend after...
- Gambling (1 speech)
In a secret negotiation in 2003, the Tasmanian government gifted the Federal Group a monopoly licence to operate poker machines in Tasmania. Since then, poker machines have cost Tasmanian...
- McMillan Electorate: Schools (1 speech)
Deputy Speaker Southcott, you know exactly what I am talking about when I say: there is nothing more humbling for an MP, that gladdens the heart and lifts the spirits, like a visit to a school....
- Canberra Electorate: Lanyon High School (1 speech)
It is a great pleasure today to talk about a terrific school initiative that I was involved in a little while back called the Giving Project. Year 9 students at Lanyon High School were asked to...
- Corangamite Electorate: Television Reception (1 speech)
It is pleasure to rise on behalf of the residents of Apollo Bay and Skenes Creek to celebrate the wonderful news announced by the Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects...
- Port Phillip City Council (1 speech)
The Port Phillip City Council is at it again. Not content with destroying Fitzroy Street, it has now turned its attention to Acland Street with another half-thought-out plan. The council is...
- Free Trade Agrements (1 speech)
On Friday 4 December, Austrade will hold an information seminar in my electorate to explain the details of the free trade agreements this government has signed with some of our largest trading...
- Cunningham Electorate: Broadband (1 speech)
Members may recall that I recently spoke of the internet issues being experienced by many of the constituents in the northern suburbs of the Illawarra. In particular, I reported to the House a...
- Migration Act 1958 (1 speech)
Last financial year alone the Australian government cancelled the visas of 580 foreign criminals and refused 135 visas for applicants with a criminal history. This was thanks to the December 2014...
- Thank a Paramedic Day (1 speech)
Thursday last week was Thank a Paramedic Day, a time for people across New South Wales to take a moment to recognise the important work that paramedics play in our community. First held in 2008,...
- Banks Electorate: Community Groups (1 speech)
I wanted to inform the House this morning of a number of important community groups in my electorate and visits that I have recently undertaken. Last Friday, I attended the Mortdale RSL...
- Shortland Electorate: Community Forums (1 speech)
One of the activities I do within the Shortland electorate is to hold forums on a variety of issues to provide information while having a lot of fun at the same time. These are social events...
- Ryan Electorate: Scientists and Researchers (1 speech)
I have spoken many times in this place about the outstanding scientists and researchers based in my electorate of Ryan. We have some remarkable minds—from Professor Ian Frazer and his...
- Holt Electorate: Anzac Centenary Local Grants Program (1 speech)
Today I want to talk about Remembrance Day in my constituency and, more importantly, the Anzac Centenary grants that commemorate the centenary of the First World War. A number of specific...
- Santos, Ms Danielle (2 speeches)
I rise today to talk about a brilliant young lady in my electorate of Macarthur who is about to embark on a four-week UN Youth Australia's Young Diplomats tour along with 15 other students from...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Mental Health (1 speech)
Every year it is estimated that 3.6 million people in Australia will experience mental health problems, with 7.3 million adult Australians experiencing a mental health issue at some point in...
- Diabetes (1 speech)
I would like to begin today by reminding everyone that tomorrow is Diabetes Australia's 18th Walk to Work Day. Most of us will be back in our electorates, so let us make a point of encouraging...
- Myanmar General Election 2015 (1 speech)
It is with great honour and pride that I stand before the parliament to share my reflections and observations from my participation in the Australian embassies election observation mission to...
- Family Court (1 speech)
This morning I would like to talk about a rort—a rort that is going on in the federal family courts of Australia. It is a rort that involves excessive fees, price gouging and virtual...
- National Broadband Network (1 speech)
I rise today to discuss the Abbott-Turnbull government's bungling of the National Broadband Network, particularly its multitechnology mix, MTM—or, as it is commonly referred to, Malcolm...
- Robertson Electorate: Gosford City (1 speech)
I am fighting to see a strong heart beat in the heart of the Central Coast—Gosford City. I am fighting for a business heart, so that businesses in Gosford can grow, thrive, compete, prosper...
- Sinnathamby, Mr Maha (2 speeches)
Today I want to acknowledge in the parliament a dear friend and a great man in Maha Sinnathamby, or the 'Chairman', as he is known to many. He is also known as the visionary behind the...
- Flynn Electorate: Roads (1 speech)
I want to draw the House's attention to the great work we are doing to improve the infrastructure on the Bruce Highway in the Flynn electorate. For example, we have been proactive in improving...
- Diesel Pollution (1 speech)
Last year I indicated my intention to personally devote more parliamentary attention to health issues, and the scandalous revelation that Volkswagen deliberately modified the engine management...
- Infrastructure (1 speech)
I would like to thank the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, for taking a meeting with me yesterday to discuss how we could get better value for money for (a) the taxpayer and (b) for regional...
- Canberra Electorate: Gallipoli Garden (1 speech)
Yesterday I had the opportunity to commemorate Remembrance Day at three very special events. The first was with you, Madam Deputy Speaker, at the Australian War Memorial, where it was very wet...
- Tasmania: Shipping, The Advocate-IGA Junior Sports Awards (1 speech)
Australia's leading shipping and stevedoring company, DP World, last week announced that it had entered into an exclusive agreement with TasPorts for a $30m international container terminal at...
- International Development Assistance (1 speech)
I would like to read into the Hansard a letter I received from Emma Field. She writes: I am a student of Belmont High School and soon to be a younger voter in your electorate. I am writing to you...
- Calare Electorate: Shop Small (1 speech)
I am very excited to announce that we are launching Shop Small in my electorate of Calare tomorrow. Small businesses are the engine room of our economy, particularly the economy of Calare, and...
- Medicare (1 speech)
When Labor introduced Medicare to the Australian parliament, the Prime Minister at the time, Bob Hawke, said that without it two million people faced potential financial ruin in the event of...
- Dunkley Electorate: Youth Services, Dunkley Electorate: Frankston North Schools Family Fun Day (1 speech)
I am thrilled to be able to display to the chamber this magnificent work of art so that its creator, Indi, can actually say there is some of her work displayed in the nation's parliament. So,...
- Tom Uren Memorial Fund (1 speech)
The devastation, both human and environmental, seen in Japan in 1945 demonstrated conclusively that humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist. Yet, while the threat of nuclear weapons may seem...
- Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (1 speech)
The case for a national redress scheme for those who suffered whilst staying in an institution as a child has been raised again in the media and, I must admit, also by the opposition leader. I do...
