Senate debates
Thursday, 2 October 2014
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Notices (0 speeches)
- Withdrawal (1 speech)
I withdraw general business notice of motion No. 450 standing in my name for today.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Selection of Bills Committee; Report (1 speech)
I present the 13th report for 2014 of the Selection of Bills Committee and I seek leave to have the report incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The report read as follows— SELECTION OF...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That: (a) the government business order of the day relating to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy Amendment Bill 2014 and...
- Leave of Absence (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That leave of absence for personal reasons be granted to Senator Lines for today, 2 October 2014. Question agreed to.
- Motions (0 speeches)
- National Rugby League Grand Final 2014 (1 speech)
I, and also on behalf of Senators Payne, Moore and Lazarus, move: That the Senate— (a) notes: (i) That the National Rugby League (NRL) grand final, to be held on Sunday 5 October 2014,...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Consideration of Legislation (1 speech)
I move government business notice of motion No. 1: That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Economics References Committee; Reference (1 speech)
At the request of Senator Dastyari, I move: That the following matter be referred to the Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by the first sitting day of March 2015: Digital...
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Australian Hearing Services (1 speech)
At the request of Senator Cameron, I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) Australian Hearing Services has provided affordable hearing care services since 1947 and continues to provide...
- Abbot Point (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) the Queensland Government has announced that it will use Queensland taxpayer funds to pay resource companies and port developers to dump dredge...
- Electricity network companies (2 speeches)
I seek leave to amend Business of the Senate notice of motion No. 1 standing in my name proposing a reference to the Environment and Communications References Committee relating to electricity...
- Taxation (2 speeches, 1 comment)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes: (i) the recent release of the Who Pays for our Common Wealth? report by Tax Justice Network and United Voice, and (ii) That the report found that of...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Economics References Committee; Reference (1 speech)
I seek leave to amend business of the Senate notice of motion No. 2 standing in my name for today, proposing a reference to the Economics References Committee of matters relating to Australia's...
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Medical Internships (7 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) expresses concern over the audit of the National Medical Intern Data Management Working Group's findings that approximately 240 Australian medical graduates...
- Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (7 speeches)
I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 469 standing in my name for today, relating to the Korea-Australia free trade agreement, by deleting paragraph (a)(iv). Leave granted....
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Western Australia: Oombulgurri (4 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) demolition work has begun to dismantle the remote community of Oombulgurri in Western Australia, (ii) this demolition is being conducted without...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Indigenous Communities (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) children from New South Wales Aboriginal communities are being removed from their families at an unprecedented rate with more than 6 000...
- Medicare (7 speeches)
I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 470, standing in my name for today, relating to Medicare. Leave granted. I, and also on behalf of Senator Lazarus, move the motion as...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Australian War Memorial (19 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Senator Ronaldson. I refer to the recent budget cuts to the Australian War Memorial's travelling exhibition program and the claim by the...
- Queensland Government (8 speeches, 1 comment)
I am motivated by real concern to ask a question of the Leader of the Government in the Senate about a matter of grave importance to many Queenslanders and to those who cherish democracy. Can the...
- Aged Care (13 speeches)
My question is to the Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Fifield. Saturday marked 100 days since the government made the cruel and shocking decision to axe the dementia and severe...
- Ebola (6 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Brandis. Does the government acknowledge concerns by the United States Centers for Disease Control and...
- Defence Procurement (23 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston. Can the minister confirm that in May this year officials from the minister's department and the Defence Materiel Organisation met...
- Road Safety (10 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Abetz. Today I met Mrs Lystra Tagliaferri, whose husband was killed by an out-of-control truck while he was changing a tyre on the side of...
- Department of Human Services (16 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Human Services, Senator Payne. Can the minister outline to the Senate her department's approach to improving service delivery for DHS clients by outsourcing...
- International Development Assistance (18 speeches)
My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Brandis. Senator, is the government now treating the overseas aid budget as an ATM to dip into to fund its...
- Superannuation (14 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Abetz. I refer to the government's decision to freeze the superannuation guarantee for millions of workers and to AMP chief...
- Questions to the President (0 speeches)
- Parliament House: Security (2 speeches)
by leave—Mr President, during question time today senators would have received by email an information circular entitled Access changes to the private areas and to the Chamber galleries in...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Questions without Notice: Additional Answers (0 speeches)
- Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (1 speech)
I would like to add to my answer yesterday when I took a question on notice as part of my answer to Senator McLucas regarding the number of voluntary redundancies in my department. For the...
- Budget (0 speeches)
- Consideration by Estimates Committees (30 speeches)
Pursuant to standing order 74(5), I ask the Minister representing the Minister for Social Services for an explanation as to why answers have not been provided to questions on notice Nos....
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Aged Care, Superannuation (10 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Assistant Minister for Social Services (Senator Fifield) and the Minister for Employment (Senator Abetz) to questions without notice...
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Higher Education (9 speeches)
I move: That the Senate notes the adverse impact of the Abbott Government's proposed cuts to university funding and deregulation of higher education. Today is a very inconvenient day for the...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Government Response to Report (1 speech)
I present two government responses to committee reports as listed on today's Order of Business. In accordance with the usual practice, I seek leave to incorporate the documents in Hansard. Leave...
- Budget (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Publications Committee; Report (1 speech)
On behalf of the Chair of the Publications Committee, I present the ninth report of the Publications Committee. Ordered that the report be adopted.
- Privileges Committee; Report (1 speech)
On behalf of the Chair of the Privileges Committee, I present the 158th report of the Privileges Committee, entitled Person referred to in the Senate—Ms Heather Sculthorpe, Tasmanian...
- Membership (2 speeches)
Order! I have received letters from party leaders requesting changes in the membership of various committees.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Government Response to Report (6 speeches)
() (): I seek leave to take note of the Australian government's response to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations committee report Higher education and skills training to...
- Budget (0 speeches)
- Consideration by Estimates Committees (1 speech)
I seek leave to make a short statement for less than one minute. Leave granted. Earlier today the Senate passed a motion, supported by the government, to compel the Treasurer, Mr Hockey, to lay...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Environment (1 speech)
It is with disappointment that I rise to speak to the issue that shamed this Senate yesterday, and that was a grubby deal done by the Palmer United Party, the Labor Party and the Greens, and the...
- Peter Sculthorpe (1 speech)
Tonight I would like to pay tribute to a genuinely unique and remarkable Australian man, Peter Sculthorpe, who sadly passed away on 8 August. Described as a 'supremely elegant and unpretentious...
- National Centre for Farmer Health (1 speech)
Earlier this week my Nationals colleague the Minister for Agriculture paid tribute to Australian family farms and their contribution to our country and economy. 2014 is the International Year of...
- World Sight Day (1 speech)
I thank the courtesy of the senators present to enable me to make this brief contribution at this time. Tonight I want to speak this evening about World Sight Day, which is an annual day of...
- Tasmanian Jobs (1 speech)
In July this year, within three days of each other, announcements were made that 200 jobs were to go immediately at the Mt Lyell copper mine in Queenstown and 150 were to go at the Henty gold...
- Mining: Gloucester Valley (1 speech)
Tonight I would like to talk about the Gloucester region in New South Wales. I was fortunate to visit this area again recently. The Gloucester Valley sits between the Avon and Gloucester Rivers....
- Deregulation (1 speech)
I want to talk about the vexing issue of red and green tape. Before I do that, however, I will digress for a little bit. Today is a sad day for the Liberal-National Party in Queensland. Over the...
- Iran (1 speech)
Most chronologies of the Arab Spring begin in Tunisia in December 2010. But others will recall the frustration that swept across the Middle East and North Africa much earlier, which began with...
- Central Queensland (1 speech)
Before I start my remarks tonight, I would like to briefly mention that a number of Queensland state politicians have announced their retirement in the last few weeks. All up, these four people...
- Freedom of Speech (1 speech)
Tonight I rise to speak on the principle of freedom of speech. I believe there is no democratic value or individual freedom more greatly valued and oft cited in the modern Western world than the...
- United Nations International Day of the Girl Child (1 speech)
In the lead-up to this year's UN International Day of the Girl Child, which is 11 October this year, Plan International, the world-renowned development organisation, surveyed over 1,000 young...
- National Security (2 speeches)
This time last week this Senate was debating the passage of the ASIO bill. You know the story by now: a bill substantially expanding the intrusive powers of ASIO was shotgunned through parliament...
