House debates
Thursday, 16 February 2017
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Public Works Committee; Approval of Work (1 speech)
I move: That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969, it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing...
- Public Works Committee; Reference (1 speech)
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 Works for...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
I move: That Notice No. 11, government business, be postponed until a later hour this day. In moving the procedural motion, I realise it is not a matter that needs to be debated. To explain to...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Publications Committee; Report (1 speech)
I present the report of the Publications Committee sitting in conference with the Publications Committee of the Senate. Copies of the report are being placed on the table. Report—by...
- Joint Select Committee on Government Procurement; Membership (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That Ms Swanson, Mr Zappia and Ms Sharkie be appointed members of the Joint Select Committee on government procurement. Question agreed to.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Members (0 speeches)
- Macquarie Electorate: St Albans Common (1 speech)
St Albans Common in the electorate of Macquarie was granted to early settlers and residents of the Macdonald Valley by Queen Victoria, and has been successfully managed since 1824 by valley...
- Murray Electorate: Murray-Darling Basin Authority (1 speech)
Strong rural and regional growth is critical to Australia's future, and investments in infrastructure and decentralisation are the cornerstones to this growth. The National Party, as part of the...
- Parramatta Electorate: Parramatta War Memorial Pool (1 speech)
When Rob Stokes, the former planning minister in New South Wales, left his position recently, he started to call for the Warringah pool in his electorate to remain open. It is a shame that when...
- Ikin, Ms Noeline (1 speech)
On Tuesday next week, in the small community of Mareeba, west of Cairns, there will be a huge outpouring of community loss and grief at the funeral of Noeline Ikin, a very special woman who has...
- Australian Labor Party (1 speech)
Here is a good question for the government: what have coalition governments ever really done for Australia? What has this mob done lately for Australians? The same as all coalition governments of...
- Nightlife Music: crowdDJ (1 speech)
Mr Deputy Speaker, did you know that there are more than 40 million songs in circulation around the world today? If you tried to listen to them back to back, you would be listening for over 200...
- Ovarian Cancer (1 speech)
Last night, my fellow ovarian cancer ambassadors the member for Higgins and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and I hosted our fifth annual Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month drinks for female politicians...
- Manly Warringah Gymnastics Club (1 speech)
Last Saturday I had the great pleasure to tour the Manly Warringah Gymnastics Club in Cromer. The achievements of this club are nothing short of astounding. The club has 2,371 members and over...
- Women's Legal Service Victoria (1 speech)
I rise today to share with the House the state of funding for the Women's Legal Service Victoria. I met yesterday with Helen Matthews and Joanna Fletcher, like many of my Victorian colleagues, to...
- Fall of Singapore: 75th Anniversary (1 speech)
Of the 65 nurses who boarded the SS Vyner Brooke as Singapore fell, this week in February 1942, only 24 returned to Australia. This was the single biggest loss of Australian nurses during the two...
- National Affordable Housing Agreement (1 speech)
Today I am calling on all members of parliament, in particular members of the coalition parties, to back my call to save the National Affordable Housing Agreement, because we know it is under...
- Medical Workforce (1 speech)
The current system of training doctors is failing the communities of western New South Wales and it is failing country communities across Australia. Charles Sturt University has a plan to do...
- Native Title Amendment (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) Bill 2017 (1 speech)
I rise to condemn this Prime Minister and this government for their conduct in this place in the last 24 hours in attempting to ram through substantial legislation in relation to a historic land...
- Fisher Electorate: Maleny Dairies (3 speeches)
I rise today to congratulate Maleny Dairies on their outstanding win in the 2017 Australian Grand Dairy Awards last Thursday. This local business in my electorate of Fisher had their Farmers...
- National Disability Insurance Scheme (1 speech)
I have just been to a barbecue—which is a great, Aussie thing to do—hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of Rare Disease. I bet many members in this House do not realise that two...
- Vocational Education and Training (1 speech)
I am pleased to rise today and reflect on the Turnbull government's reforms of the VET FEE-HELP system, Labor's failed policy, last year. Here is why. Last week I was contacted by a young...
- International Women's Day (1 speech)
For this year's International Women's Day I will be hosting the Inaugural Women of Lindsay Awards in Penrith to celebrate the incredible and dedicated work of the women in my community who are...
- Telecommunications (1 speech)
Today I call on telecommunication companies to provide accurate and truthful information to consumers when they purchase an NBN broadband plan. Increasingly, retail service providers are...
- Politics (1 speech)
It has only been two months in 2017 and a lot has changed in the world, a lot of it because of what has happened on the other side of the Pacific. A country that you may have your views about...
- Renewable Energy (2 speeches)
Mr Speaker, I am sure you have seen the scene from A Few Good Menwhen Jack Nicholson's character, Colonel Nathan R Jessep, says to Tom Cruise's character, Daniel Kaffee, 'You can't handle the...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Taxation (5 speeches, 1 comment)
My question is to the Prime Minister. In question time on 22 February last year, the Prime Minister ruled out increasing capital gains tax saying, 'Increasing capital gains tax is no part of our...
- Energy Security (7 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on how the government is supporting hardworking families and businesses by ensuring that power is affordable and...
- Taxation (4 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. In question time on 29 February last year the Treasurer said that any increase to capital gains tax would be 'one big fat tax on investment' and a 'punishing tax...
- Energy Security (7 speeches)
Will the Prime Minister advise the House on the importance of affordable and reliable power for Australian households and businesses, including in my electorate of Corangamite and across Geelong?
- Taxation (6 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Today the Prime Minister has repeatedly refused to rule out changing capital gains tax. Is the Prime Minister aware that the finance minister has ruled out...
- Renewable Energy (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. The government tells us that Australia should be able to achieve the policy trifecta of energy—that is affordable, reliable...
- Agriculture Industry (5 speeches)
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the minister outline to the House the effect of electricity prices increases across...
- Housing Affordability (12 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Today the member for Bennelong repeated his call for reform of capital gains tax and negative gearing. If the Prime Minister will not listen to first home...
- Energy Security (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the importance of a pragmatic and credible approach to energy security internationally and in my home...
- Capital Gains Tax (5 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the Prime Minister rule out changes to capital gains tax?
- Energy Security (6 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on the importance of a stable and secure energy network to the Australian economy. Mr Keogh interjecting— Mr Dick...
- Capital Gains Tax (4 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. On Tuesday, the Treasurer called for Labor to come up with our own alternative revenue measures. Yesterday, the Treasurer could not recognise Labor's reforms to...
- Energy Security (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Energy. Will the minister update the House on how the government is prioritising a stable, secure, affordable energy supply, which supports...
- Capital Gains Tax (2 speeches)
My question is to the Treasurer. Why should Australians believe the Treasurer when he says the government is not considering changes to capital gains tax, given that, just this week, the...
- Child Care (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services. Will the minister advise the House on how making our childcare system more affordable, flexible and accessible for all...
- Capital Gains Tax (8 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister's office, the Treasurer's office or the finance minister's office, or any junior Treasury minister's office, requested any advice or...
- National Disability Insurance Scheme (6 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Social Services. Will the minister inform the House on the government's commitment to the NDIS and its plan to fully fund it? Are there any alternative...
- Energy (7 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. The Melbourne Energy Institute has found that his plan to build new coal-fired power stations would cost $62 billion. Given that this cost would have to be...
- Firearms Trafficking (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Justice and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Counter-Terrorism. Can the minister update the House on threats to community safety posed by illegal...
- Western Australian State Election (8 speeches)
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to his earlier answers where he has defended his industry minister's describing One Nation as 'more sophisticated'. Given it is now reported that One...
- Statement by the Speaker (0 speeches)
- McClelland, Ms Robyn: Retirement (7 speeches)
I would like to inform the House of the retirement tomorrow of Robyn McClelland, the Clerk Assistant (Committees), after a career spanning four decades in the Commonwealth Public Service. It is a...
- Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
- (21 speeches)
I seek to make a personal explanation.
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Presentation (1 speech)
Documents are tabled in accordance with the list circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
- Matters of Public Importance (0 speeches)
- 75th Anniversary of the Fall of Singapore (23 speeches)
I have received a letter from the honourable Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The Government...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Human Rights Committee; Report (1 speech)
On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, I present the committee report entitled Human rights scrutiny report: report 1 of 2017. Report made a parliamentary paper in...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Community Legal Centres (1 speech)
I rise today to address something that is deeply personal to my professional career as a practising lawyer. We seek to live in a just society. But there can be no just society without access to...
- Energy (1 speech)
The Prime Minister is absolutely right when he says that if Australia is to have a reliable, affordable source of energy for households, for businesses, for hospitals and for schools—to...
- Mobile Black Spot Program (1 speech)
I rise today to address the haphazard implementation of the government's mobile phone black spot program and the impact of that failure on the people living across my electorate of Longman. The...
- Infrastructure (1 speech)
The National Party is the party of infrastructure and decentralisation. We are serious about creating new economic opportunities in regional communities by building infrastructure that enables...
- Atkinson, Sir Anthony Barnes (1 speech)
If you have ever referred to 'the one per cent', you are using the work of Tony Atkinson. Tony, who died on New Year's Day this year, aged 72, contributed as much as any modern economist to the...
- Flynn Electorate (1 speech)
I would like to talk for a moment on the diversity of my electorate of Flynn and some of the achievements for which I have been proud to be the representative for Flynn since 2010. I sit with my...
- Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
- Centrelink (1 speech)
Thousands of Centrelink customers have been under attack from this government as a result of failures of the incompetent human services ministry and the disastrous oversight of Centrelink's...
- Goldstein Electorate: Sporting Achievements (1 speech)
It is a great pleasure to get up and recognise Goldstein's outstanding young sporting achievers. Gavin Bircher, the captain of the under-18 Victorian state ice hockey team, last week returned...
- Climate Change (3 speeches)
I rise to draw attention to the impact the recent heatwave has had on my electorate of Lindsay. As many members would well know, New South Wales has been on the receiving end of an extraordinary...
- Moncrieff Electorate: Australia Day Awards (1 speech)
I rise to talk about a few special community members from my electorate who were honoured recently on Australia Day. On 26 January each year, we celebrate what it means to be an Aussie and are...
- Brierley, Mr Saroo (1 speech)
I congratulate everybody involved in the movie Lion. Lion is a remarkable, moving story about one of my constituents—Saroo Brierley—and his journey. It is based on his novel, A Long...
- New South Wales Government (1 speech)
Last month one of my local state members of parliament, Jillian Skinner, announced her intention to resign from the New South Wales parliament, following 23 years of incredible service to the...
- Blair Electorate: Mobile Phone Services (1 speech)
In October last year in this place, I talked about the unacceptable state of telecommunications in rural parts of my electorate. I would like to say that mobile phone coverage is better, but I...
- Robertson Electorate: Telecommunications (1 speech)
I rise to update the House on one of our key election commitments, to deliver continuous mobile coverage on trains from Wyong to Hornsby and wi-fi at the train stations. It is estimated that...
- Community Legal Centres (1 speech)
Before we reconvened in this place, over summer I had the great privilege of meeting with consumer credit community legal centres all across the country. I was incredibly impressed and struck by...
- Logan Health Justice Partnership (1 speech)
I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a terrific initiative of the Commonwealth government to improve support to women and families affected by domestic violence. I recently...
- Community Legal Centres (2 speeches)
It would be difficult to find anyone in this place who does not consider that it is a basic tenet of our democracy that justice is a fundamental right. When I reflect on this, I am reminded of a...
- Law Enforcement (1 speech)
Can I say thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, for your role in and your bipartisan approach to the Joint Standing Committee on Migration as the deputy chair. Melbourne is a fantastic...
- Manor Court Aged Care Facility, Aged Care, Law Enforcement (3 speeches)
I would like to thank the member for La Trobe. He did not quite volunteer to have a youth justice precinct in his electorate, but he came very close. A lot of people in my electorate want to know...
- Australian Defence Force (1 speech)
Today, 75 years ago, 21 Australian Army nurses in the prime of their lives were shot to death by Japanese soldiers on Radji Beach, Bangka Island. Today, we remember and honour their sacrifice in...
- Oxley Electorate: Centenary of Anzac (1 speech)
Today, I am excited to formally announce in the parliament a new initiative in my electorate: the inaugural Oxley electorate Spirit of Anzac Award. This will be a new competition open to students...
- Fall of Singapore: 75th Anniversary (1 speech)
Yesterday marked the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore in 1942. The fall of Singapore was one of the worst military defeats in the history of the British Empire. Singapore was meant to be...
- Higher Education, Centrelink, Pensions and Benefits (2 speeches)
Next week, tens of thousands of students will be heading off to university for the very first time as O-week kicks off. They will be starting a journey that will change their lives and, we hope...
- Calare Electorate: Roads (1 speech)
I wish to update the House on one of the holy grails of unfinished road projects in Central Western New South Wales. I speak, of course, of the crossing at Dixons Long Point, a project...
- Canberra Electorate: Norfolk Island (1 speech)
Two weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of spending a week on Norfolk Island, which is in my electorate. I held a day of constituent meetings and got an update from a range of Commonwealth...
- New South Wales: Bushfires (2 speeches)
On Sunday, earlier this week, there was a catastrophic fire event, probably not seen before in New South Wales. It was a perfect combination of 50 days of unrelenting heat, following a very mild...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- International Women's Day (1 speech)
This morning in this parliament we had a momentous celebration of International Women's Day: a breakfast; an inspiring speech from the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull; a wonderfully detailed...
- Murray-Darling Basin (2 speeches)
Today I am fortunate enough to welcome the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor of Balonne Shire Council. Unfortunately, they are not here on pleasant business. They are here to talk to us about the...
- International Politics (1 speech, 1 comment)
A few reflections, because all around the world politics is rapidly being overturned. Brexit was a fringe idea until it happened. Donald Trump running for president was so absurd that it featured...
- Energy Security (1 speech)
I rise to speak about an issue critical for our nation's future—getting our energy mix right. I have the great honour of representing Groom in this parliament and I reckon our region is a...
- Income Inequality (1 speech)
I want to talk about income inequality this morning. Income inequality and wealth inequality is growing and it has emerged as one of the greatest challenges of our generation. It is serving as a...
- 350.org Australia (1 speech)
350.org Australia claims to be an advocacy organisation. Its website says 350.org Australia is an independent not-for-profit climate change advocacy organisation. Yet it has now declined three...
- Gellibrand Electorate: Community Festivals (1 speech)
The first part of each year, the summer, is a very special time in my electorate in Melbourne's west. It is festival season. I have spent almost every weekend for the past two months attending...
- Taxation (1 speech)
I wish to make some comments about business tax. Any student of Australian business and economic history since the mid-80s knows that part of Australia's success was derived through the reduction...
- Brand Electorate: Tourism (1 speech)
One beautiful day, a sunny day in January, I was walking my old dogs and Blue and Jack along the beautiful dog beach of Shoalwater Bay. I stopped by a bit to let my feet sink in the sand and to...
- Tuberculosis (1 speech)
I stand here today as the co-chair of the Australian Tuberculosis Caucus, and I wish to acknowledge my other co-chair, the Hon. Matt Thistlethwaite. We are very capably, between the two of us,...
- Corio Electorate: Australian International Airshow (1 speech)
Next week is the Avalon air show. It is one of Australia's largest displays of scientific engineering and technical prowess when it comes to Australia's air power and, indeed, air power more...
- Australian Tuberculosis Caucus (1 speech)
Continuing from my earlier contribution, helping to drive stronger health systems on the ground in the Treaty Villages of the Western Province of Papua New Guinea is the Cairns-based Reef and...
- Vietnam: Human Rights (1 speech)
Last April, dead fish began to be washed up on the shores of central Vietnam, from the Ha Tinh province down the Hue province and spreading down almost to Da Nang city. The evidence suggested...
- Page Electorate: Light Horse Brigade, Klein, Mr Helmut, Klein, Ms Jan (1 speech)
Tabulam holds its head high in our nation for many reasons. It is physically beautiful. It sits on the upper Clarence. It has productive country: beef, blueberries and much more. Very...
- Centrelink (1 speech)
I wish to raise an important issue that has been coming up in my office for several weeks now, and that is about the Centrelink automated debt letters. My office is receiving call after call,...
- Banks Electorate (1 speech)
On 31 January I had the pleasure of visiting Cafe 41 at Penshurst for its annual fundraising morning with 3Bridges Community. Of course, 3Bridges is a very important organisation in my...
- Petrie Electorate: Housing Affordability, Employment (1 speech)
Jobs and the cost of living rank as the most pressing issue in my electorate of Petrie. In fact, I know from speaking with my colleagues that these rank among the most significant issues weighing...
- Dean, Mr Cal, Central Australian Football League (1 speech)
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Central Australian Football League. Like many organisations in Alice Springs, the league began in the years immediately after...
