Senate debates
Tuesday, 21 March 2017
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Business (0 speeches)
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
I move: That government business order of the day No. 2 Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Digital Readiness and Other Measures) Bill 2017 be postponed to the next day of sitting....
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (12 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Brandis. The Prime Minister has on at least 16 occasions ruled out his government amending section 18C of the Racial...
- Distinguished Visitors (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! I draw to the attention of honourable senators, on the floor of the Senate chamber, a delegation from the United Kingdom Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. On behalf of all senators,...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Workplace Relations (9 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Employment, Senator Cash. I refer to the misinformation campaign following the decision of the independent Fair Work Commission on penalty rates. Can the...
- Economy (12 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Brandis. I refer to the national accounts figures released on 1 March this year. Can the minister confirm that the...
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (11 speeches)
My question is for the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Minister Brandis. Today is Harmony Day. The date is chosen because it falls on the United Nations International Day for the...
- Immunisation (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Simon Birmingham—ah, that is Senator Simon Birmingham. Can the minister update the Senate on how the government's No Jab, No Pay...
- Western Australian State Election (18 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann. On the ABC 7.30 program last Monday, the minister twice refused to rule out having been involved in the Western Australia Liberal...
- Rural and Regional Australia (10 speeches)
Unlike Senator Pratt, I have a serious question to ask. My question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Senator Nash. Senator Wong interjecting— If you will be quiet, please,...
- Crime (12 speeches)
My question is to the Attorney-General. According to the Australian Crime Commission, organised crime costs Australians $36 billion every year. That includes organised fraud and drug and human...
- Science (22 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Senator Sinodinos. Given that tomorrow is the event Science meets Parliament, can the minister update the Senate on what...
- Arts (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for the Arts, Senator Fifield. The minister, in his statement on Saturday, said the decision to return funding from Catalyst to the Australia Council was in...
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (15 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Attorney-General (Senator Brandis) to a question without notice asked by Senator McCarthy today relating to the Racial Discrimination...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Violence Against Women and Girls (1 speech)
I, and also on behalf of Senator Rice, move: That the Senate— (a) notes: (i) the Brisbane action on Sunday, 12 February 2017, as part of the One Billion Rising movement to end violence...
- Agriculture Industry (4 speeches)
I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 238. Leave granted. I, and also on behalf of Senators McKenzie, Canavan and O'Sullivan, move the motion as amended: That the...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Harmony Day (4 speeches)
At the request of Senator Wong, I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) 21 March 2017 is Harmony Day, a day which celebrates Australia's cultural diversity and demonstrates cultural...
- Cycling Safety and Infrastructure (4 speeches)
() (): I move: That the Senate— (a) notes: (i) the tragic death of a cyclist in Melbourne recently, who was struck and killed by a truck while riding a busy cycle route in the city's inner...
- Down Syndrome (1 speech)
I, and also on behalf of Senator Siewert, move: That the Senate notes that— (a) 21 March 2017 will mark the 12th anniversary of World Down Syndrome Day; (b) World Down Syndrome Day...
- Roe Highway (4 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes: (i) the resounding defeat of the Barnett Government in Western Australia on 11 March 2017, (ii) the unnecessary, destructive land-clearing undertaken by...
- Indigenous Health (4 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes the Close the Gap Progress and Priorities Report 2017; (b) acknowledges that unaddressed hearing loss and impairment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait...
- Workplace Relations (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) the decision of the Fair Work Commission, in relation to penalty rates in matter AM2014/305, will result in reductions to the take home pay of...
- Parliamentarians' Entitlements (7 speeches)
People are booing me already, Mr President. I find that disorderly.
- Workplace Relations (9 speeches)
I ask that general business notice of motion No. 242 standing in my name for today, affirming that our society operates on the rule of law, calling on all Australians to respect and abide by the...
- Suspension of Standing Orders (56 speeches)
I move: That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent Senator Bernardi moving a motion relating to the conduct of the business of this Senate, namely a motion to give...
- Workplace Relations (11 speeches)
I ask that general business notice of motion No. 244 standing in my name for today relating to the role of civil disobedience in reducing economic and social inequality be taken as a formal motion.
- Burma (12 speeches)
Let's see if we have any more luck with this motion. I ask that general business notice of motion No. 247 standing in my name for today, relating to Myanmar and the plight of the Rohingya people...
- Matters of Public Importance (0 speeches)
- Taxation (16 speeches)
I inform the Senate that at 8.30 am today four senators each submitted to the President letters in accordance with standing order 75. Senator Gallagher proposed a matter of urgency and Senators...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee; Report (3 speeches)
I present a report of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee relating to the committee's inquiries concerning the importation of seafood and seafood products. I move:...
- Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights; Report (3 speeches)
I present the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on freedom of speech in Australia together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the...
- Intelligence and Security Committee; Report (1 speech)
On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present reports of the committee, as listed at item 13 on today's Order of Business, and move: That the Senate take...
- Economics References Committee, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Joint Standing Committee on Treaties; Government Response to Report (2 speeches)
I present four government responses to committee reports, as listed at item 13 on today's Order of Business: Economics References Committee, Part II: Future of Australia’s naval...
- Community Affairs References Committee; Report (1 speech)
In the brief time that is left I would like to take note of the government's response to the Community Affairs References Committee report, Violence, abuse and neglect against people with...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Community Affairs Legislation Committee; Report (1 speech)
On behalf of the Chair of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee, Senator Duniam, I present the report on Social Services Legislation Amendment (Omnibus Savings and Child Care Reform) Bill...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Boston Marathon: Ms Kathrine Switzer (1 speech)
On 17 April the well-known Boston Marathon will be held yet again. What is not well known is that 50 years ago, in 1967, Kathrine Switzer donned bib No. 261. That of itself may seem unremarkable...
- Legal Aid, Workplace Relations (1 speech)
I rise tonight to speak on two issues that are very close my heart. Our community legal centres are in a perilous state. On 1 July this year the Turnbull government will implement a harsh and...
- Harmony Day (1 speech)
Each week since November, I have stood up in this place, on Ngunnawal land, to convey to this chamber the personal experiences of many Australians, most of them Muslims, who have experienced...
- Ikin, Ms Noeline (1 speech)
Tonight I want to place on record a tribute to a great Australian who passed away in February this year after a year-long battle with brain cancer. Noeline Ikin in her short life did so much to...
- Definium Technologies (1 speech)
I rise this evening to speak about the partnership between manufacturing business Definium Technologies and the University of Tasmania's Sense-T project. Last Friday, I had the pleasure of...
- National Disability Insurance Scheme: Western Australia (1 speech)
I rise to speak about the NDIS in Western Australia. The Greens are deeply concerned that the agreement signed between the WA and the federal governments on the NDIS, as it will operate in...
- Health Care (1 speech)
The Liberal Party, in a combined federal-state fiasco, has overseen the disintegration of health care on the New South Wales Central Coast. No matter what this government says, it cannot walk...
- Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements (1 speech)
Sadly, I have to follow a speech by Senator O'Neill highlighting the neglect of health by those opposite by focusing on another issue which those opposite have also been neglecting, and that is...
- Donations to Political Parties (1 speech)
The Manchurian Candidate, the story of a cunning foreign power pulling the strings of domestic political affairs, is a work of fiction. But there seem to be a lot of people who have watched the...
- Forestry Industry, Seafood Industry Australia (1 speech)
Tonight I stand to inform the house of two very positive things that are happening in the areas of which I have responsibility. One is in forestry and one is in fisheries. Today is International...
- Bendigo Health (1 speech)
I rise this evening to speak about my recent visit to the newly opened Bendigo hospital. I was lucky enough to meet and speak with Mr Peter Faulkner, Bendigo Health's Acting Chief Executive...
- Cycling Infrastructure, International Day of Forests (1 speech)
On a Friday night, just 10 days ago, in the suburbs of Melbourne, a young woman by the name of Arzu was riding her bike from her home in Moonee Ponds to Williamstown to visit a friend. While...
- Western Australian State Election (1 speech)
I rise this evening to congratulate my state Labor colleagues, the Western Australian Premier, Mark McGowan, and the whole of the WA Labor team on their election. I rise to thank so many of the...
- Australian Defence Force (1 speech)
We often hear the acknowledgement of country whenever we go to an official engagement. We acknowledge the Aboriginal elders past and present. I have my own acknowledgement based on the historic...
- Community Legal Centres (1 speech)
Last week in Hobart I joined the shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, on visits to community legal centres, where we heard first-hand about the devastating impact of the government's cuts to...
- Tasmania: Economy, Tasmania: Tarkine Region (1 speech)
Very recently, I spoke at a rally in north-west Tasmania to stop bulldozers and to stop the Tarkine being trashed and logged. The story I told—and it occurred to me just prior to my...
- United States Administration: Family Planning Aid (1 speech)
President Donald Trump's presidential memorandum of 23 January 2017 stated: I hereby revoke the Presidential Memorandum of January 23, 2009, for the Secretary of State and the Administrator of...
- Freedom of Religion (1 speech)
I am an atheist. I grew up with a strong belief that freedom of religion is fundamental to democracy. In my teenage years, I was fortunate enough to be a member of the Young Humanists. There were...
- Queensland: Rural and Regional Development (1 speech)
I would like to share some stories and some experiences about travelling amongst constituents in south-western Queensland a few weeks ago. I can remember coming to the town of Mitchell. That is...
