Senate debates
Tuesday, 20 March 2018
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Meeting (1 speech)
I remind senators that the question may be put on any proposal at the request of any senator.
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Schools (16 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Cormann. I refer to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham, who has accused the Victorian Catholic...
- Distinguished Visitors (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! I draw to the attention of honourable senators the presence in the gallery of delegates from the 23rd National Schools Constitution Convention. On behalf of all senators and the Senate, I...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Queensland: Mining (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia and relates to a matter that's very important to my state of Queensland. I ask the minister if he could give us details of the...
- Education (12 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham. I refer to former Prime Minister Abbott, who yesterday told 2GB that the Turnbull government education policy was,...
- Australian Bushfires (10 speeches)
My question is to the Leader of the Government, representing the Prime Minister. Minister, my heart goes out to the many people who have been affected by the bushfires in Tathra and in...
- Association of Southeast Asian Nations (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Payne. Can the minister advise the Senate how Australia is working with its ASEAN partners to promote regional economic growth and security?
- Taxation (15 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann. Can the minister confirm that since 2001 the cost to taxpayers of dividend imputation refunds has increased from $550 million to $5.6...
- National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence (10 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Education and Training, Senator Birmingham. Can the minister update the Senate on the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence, which was held on 16...
- Taxation (9 speeches)
My question is for the Minister representing the Treasurer, Minister Cormann. First, Minister Cormann, thank you for explaining the fact that the franking credits have already been funded by the...
- Migration (8 speeches)
My question this afternoon is to the minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Payne. On Sunday, the minister told the ABC's Insiders program: The humanitarian program's...
- Indigenous Affairs (8 speeches)
My question is to the best Minister for Indigenous Affairs that we have had in generations, Senator Scullion. Can the minister update the Senate on the government's support for the Indigenous...
- Pensions and Benefits (22 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Social Services, Senator Fierravanti-Wells. I refer to an answer the minister gave in the Senate yesterday when the minister was...
- Pyeongchang Paralympic Games (19 speeches)
My question is to the champion Minister for Sport, Senator McKenzie. With the Winter Paralympics in Pyeongchang—
- Questions to the President (0 speeches)
- Parliament House: Cleaning Services (2 speeches)
Mr President, as I indicated both to my counterpart and to your office, I have a question to ask of you. My question relates to the contract for cleaning services at Parliament House. Has the...
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Education (13 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) and the Minister for Education and Training (Senator Birmingham) to questions without notice...
- Australian Bushfires (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Di Natale today relating to climate change. Over...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Business (0 speeches)
- Leave of Absence (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That leave of absence be granted to Senator O'Neill tomorrow, 21 March 2018, on account of parliamentary business. Question agreed to.
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
I move: That consideration of the business before the Senate on the following days be interrupted at approximately 5 pm, but not so as to interrupt a senator speaking, to enable senators to make...
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Future Bayswater (1 speech)
At the request of Senator Smith, I move: That the Senate— (a) congratulates Future Bayswater for their success at the recent 2017 Planning Institute Australia (PIA) Western Australian...
- Home Care Packages (4 speeches)
At the request of Senator Polley, I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) the latest waiting list for aged care home packages for the December quarter indicates there are...
- Condolences (0 speeches)
- Tsvangirai, Dr Morgan (1 speech)
I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 739 standing in the name of Senator Moore for today, relating to Dr Morgan Tsvangirai. Leave granted. I amend the motion by omitting,...
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Trade Unions (4 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that decisions to amalgamate trade unions should rest with the members of the respective organisations as expressed in a ballot; and (b) calls on the...
- Goods and Services Tax (10 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) in contrast to New Zealand's comprehensive GST, Australia's GST does not apply to a significant range of products, such as various...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Queensland Teachers' Union (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that the Queensland Teachers' Union (QTU) has committed to ensuring there are Eureka Flags in every school in Queensland in solidarity with the CFMEU; (b)...
- World Oral Health Day (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that 20 March is World Oral Health Day, a day to promote good oral hygiene practices to adults and children around the world, and acknowledge the...
- Matters of Urgency (0 speeches)
- Building and Construction Industry (16 speeches)
I inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, four proposals were received in accordance with standing order 75. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by...
- Delegation Reports (0 speeches)
- Parliamentary Delegation to Papua New Guinea (4 speeches)
by leave—I present the report of the delegation to Papua New Guinea in November last year and seek leave to move a motion to take note of the document. Leave granted. I move: That the...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Legislation Committees; Report (1 speech)
Pursuant to order and at the request of the chairs of the respective committees, I present reports on the examination of annual reports tabled by 31 October 2017.
- Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security; Report (3 speeches)
On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, I present three reports of the committee as listed at item 15 on today's Order of Business and move: That the Senate...
- Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit; Report (1 speech)
On behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I present report No. 470, Defence Sustainment Expenditure, as well as the executive minutes and responses on various reports....
- Treaties Committee; Report (2 speeches)
(—) (): On behalf of Senator Fawcett, I present two reports of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties as listed at item 15 on today's Order of Business. I seek leave to have the tabling...
- Community Affairs References Committee, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Public Works Committee; Government Response to Report (1 speech)
I present three government responses to committee reports as listed at item 15 on today's Order of Business. In accordance with the usual practice, I seek leave to have the documents incorporated...
- Constitutional Recognition of ATSIP, National Disability Insurance Scheme; Membership (2 speeches)
The President has received letters requesting changes in the membership of committees.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Western Australia: Agriculture (1 speech)
I've often noted during previous contributions in this chamber the importance of our regional industries to the economic strength of our nation. Nowhere is this truer than in my home state of...
- Cooper, Professor David, AO (2 speeches)
It is with deep regret and sadness that I rise to pay tribute to the late Professor David Cooper AO, who passed away last Sunday. I do so as someone with deep respect for David Cooper but also as...
- Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017, Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017, National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 (1 speech)
With its package of bills on foreign interference introduced on 7 December last year, it is clear the Turnbull government is determined to undermine civil society, to hamstring it. In fact, the...
- Goodwin, Dr Vanessa (1 speech)
It is a privilege for me tonight to rise to pay tribute to a wonderful Tasmanian whose life, sadly, was cut far too short, and that's the late Dr Vanessa Goodwin, who was the Tasmanian...
- Commonwealth Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (1 speech)
I was at an emotional and very informative public hearing of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee in Melbourne recently. We were hearing evidence about the bill officially called the...
- Regional Queensland (1 speech)
I want to talk about regional Queensland, federal Labor and federal Labor leader Bill Shorten's ongoing commitment to ensuring that we are representing the interests of regional Queensland. I...
- Human Trafficking (1 speech)
I speak tonight about alarming recent media reports on the surge in paedophile live streaming, also known as cybersex trafficking. In June last year the Senate passed the Passports Legislation...
- First Nations Women's Forum (1 speech)
Tonight I want to briefly report on a women's forum we held last week. I'm immensely proud to stand in the Senate and do this, and I'm even more pleased that Senator McCarthy is here with me....
- Video Game Industry (1 speech)
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to tour the Melbourne based collaborative video game development space known as The Arcade. Guided by the Game Developers' Association of Australia's Tony...
- Charitable Organisations (1 speech)
Charities play a valuable role in Australian society. From the Adelaide Fringe Artist Fund to the Australian Council of Social Services and from the Women Lawyers' Associations of South Australia...
- Hands Off Our Charities (1 speech)
A few weeks ago, the Labor Party, together with minor parties and crossbenchers, met with Hands Off Our Charities, a group representing organisations as diverse as the Uniting Church, Oxfam and...
- New South Wales: Bushfires (1 speech)
In the time available, I'd like to report to the Senate some impressions of recent events on the South Coast of New South Wales. The Prime Minister and Minister Angus Taylor, the minister...
- Home Care Packages (1 speech)
I rise this evening to speak about another of the Turnbull government's train wrecks that are unfolding before our eyes: the aged-care home-care package waiting list crisis. Today in the Senate...
- Environmental Conservation, Infrastructure: Housing Acquisition (1 speech)
In the 1980s, with the help of AusAID—the Australian government's former aid agency—the scientific community, indigenous activists and people from Ecuador and abroad, the Los Cedros...
- Tropical Cyclone Marcus, MJD Foundation: 10th Anniversary (1 speech)
I would like to speak in the Senate tonight about Cyclone Marcus, which impacted on the cities of Darwin and Palmerston and rural areas on Saturday. I just want to point out to the Senate the...
- Defence Facilities: Chemical Contamination (1 speech)
Recently, the New South Wales state government, through New South Wales Health, conducted a study into whether a cancer cluster existed in the Williamtown area as a result of PFAS contamination....
- International Day of Forests (1 speech)
Tomorrow is International Day of Forests. While we celebrate the beauty of forests across the globe, it's also a chance for us to have a sober look at what we're doing to the forests of...
- Turnbull Government (1 speech)
The Turnbull government is in terminal decline. This is a government incapable of addressing the key issues facing Australians. This is a government that lacks cohesive policies on economics,...
- Donations to Political Parties (1 speech)
The late, great John Clarke once joked that, having defeated Labor in the semifinals, capital was set to take on democracy. 'It'll be an absolute cracker,' he said. 'You won't be able to get a...
- World Down Syndrome Day (1 speech)
In 2012, the UN decided to designate 21 March as World Down Syndrome Day and called on people across the world to use this day to work together to raise awareness of people with Down syndrome and...
- Gold Coast: Black Swan Lake, Iraq War, Queensland Teachers' Union (1 speech)
I'd like to try to cover a few different topics in my 10 minutes this evening. I'd firstly like to particularly note and pay tribute to a whole range of people in the community on the Gold Coast...
