Senate debates
Tuesday, 6 February 2024
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Meeting (1 speech)
I remind senators that the question may be put on any proposal at the request of any senator.
- Motions (0 speeches)
- Albanese Government (39 speeches)
I seek leave to move a motion relating to the Albanese Labor government's betrayal of Australian taxpayers, as circulated. Leave not granted. Pursuant to the contingent notice standing in my...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Senators (0 speeches)
- Renewable Energy (1 speech)
Despite my youthful good looks and boyish charm, I am old enough to remember the good old days when the Greens chained themselves to trees, not wind towers, and when the Labor Party actively...
- Education: Funding (1 speech)
Today I rise with good news. Western Australia, partnering with the Albanese Labor government, will be the first state in our nation to fully fund public schools according to the school resource...
- Climate Change: Oceans (1 speech)
In my first speech for 2024 I wanted to reflect on the summer that has been. Like a lot of Australians and ocean lovers, I've enjoyed my time down at the beach and in the sea, especially in...
- Prime Minister (1 speech)
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is suffering from an inferiority complex. He wants Australians to accept an inferior tax plan to the tax reform plan that is already legislated in this...
- Medicare (1 speech)
Last week we celebrated 40 years of the little green card that resides in wallets across the country: 40 years of Medicare, a true Labor legacy. I celebrated by going along to our brand new Inner...
- Dental Health (1 speech)
Today I would like all senators to smile—come on, give us a grin! And then I'll ask you simply this: how important is it that you're able to smile? How important is that for your self-worth...
- Domestic and Family Violence (1 speech)
Five women have been killed, eight children have lost their mother, and it's only 37 days into 2024. It's a catastrophic start. Fifty-plus women were killed in family and domestic violence...
- Taxation (1 speech)
The Albanese government is delivering better and fairer tax cuts for all Australians. It's a plan to address the cost of living and is putting people before politics. Every taxpayer across the...
- Grocery Prices (2 speeches)
The Greens conducted a comprehensive survey to learn more about people's lived experience of shopping at Coles and Woolworths. We heard from nearly 5,000 people, and the findings and what they...
- Housing (1 speech)
This week we learnt, thanks to some profound investigative work by the Guardian, that homeless Australians are dying on our streets at an average age of 44 years old, younger than most of the...
- Jewish Community (1 speech)
A few weeks ago, members of the Queensland Jewish community came to meet with me to discuss their experience of antisemitism. As a matter of respect to them and in support of them, I want to take...
- Environment (1 speech)
Everyday Australians from Far North Queensland to Victoria Plains are protesting outside today for good reason. From speaking with these people, our constituents, it's clear that many have never...
- Live Animal Exports (1 speech)
Greens pressure and the incredible work of animal activists and the community, who picked up their phones and called the minister, have worked. We can breathe a sigh of relief for now. The...
- Victoria: Roads (1 speech)
Victoria had a bit of heavy rainfall in January. These floods have affected millions of people across our country and revealed just how vulnerable our road infrastructure is to the catastrophic...
- Medicare, Taxation (1 speech)
I'd first like to say happy birthday to Medicare—40 spectacular years making sure that your green card is more important than your wealth. I have personally had the benefit of this. I've...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Taxation (61 speeches)
My question is to the minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Minister, rather than using the weasel words we've become so accustomed to from Labor ministers of, 'We have no...
- United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (19 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong. Just when one thinks that the Labor government couldn't sink any lower on Palestine, they have made the appalling and...
- Taxation (14 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. From 1 July this year, the Albanese Labor government will deliver a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer. I know...
- Housing (9 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Housing, Senator Farrell. With homeless Australians dying on the street at an average age of 44 years, a new survey by InfoChoice last...
- Environment (8 speeches)
My question is to Minister Wong, the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water, Minister Plibersek. In light of the recent decision to reject the development proposal for...
- Medicare (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Last week, the government—indeed, Australia—celebrated Medicare's 40th birthday. To commemorate...
- Cost of Living (10 speeches)
O'NEILL () (): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Social Services, Minister Farrell. Can the minister update the Senate on what measures the Albanese Labor government is...
- Renewable Energy (27 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Minister Wong. Minister, the government's own community engagement review of renewable energy projects...
- Questions without Notice: Additional Answers (0 speeches)
- Housing (1 speech)
I undertook to come back to Senator Pocock—I think he might have left the chamber—with some additional information following his question to me. I wish to provide additional...
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Answers to Questions (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to all questions without notice asked by the coalition today. After 18 months of exclusively running the government of...
- United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to UNRWA. I rise to take note of...
- Medicare (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice I asked today relating to Medicare. Last year the Minister for...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Consideration of Legislation (2 speeches)
I move: That private senators' bills be considered this week as follows: (a) on Wednesday, 7 February 2024—Defence Capability Assurance and Oversight Bill 2023; and (b) on Thursday, 8...
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That— (a) following the tabling of the Set the Standard annual report by the President, a minister may move, without leave, that the Senate take note of the report;...
- Leave of Absence (3 speeches)
by leave—I move: That leave of absence be granted to Senator McDonald from 6 to 8 February 2024, for personal reasons. Question agreed to.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Condolences (0 speeches)
- Murphy, Ms Peta Jan (12 speeches)
Senators will recall with great sadness the death on 4 December 2023 of Ms Peta Murphy, a member of the House of Representatives for the division of Dunkley, Victoria, from 2019. I call the...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Notices (0 speeches)
- Postponement (1 speech)
I seek leave to postpone general business notice of motion No. 375 till 26 February 2024. Leave granted.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Matters of Public Importance (0 speeches)
- Labor Government (10 speeches)
A letter has been received from Senator Hume: Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion: The Labor...
- Matters of Urgency (0 speeches)
- Middle East (10 speeches)
The Senate will now consider the proposal from Senator McKim. Is consideration of the proposal supported? More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their...
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Medicare (1 speech)
Happy birthday, Medicare. That's right, 1 February 1984 is a significant date in the history of our country, and just last week we celebrated 40 years of Medicare in this country. It is a policy...
- Australia (1 speech)
What happened to the Australia of yesteryear—the Australia that was hopeful, the Australia that was proud? What happened to the Australia that in 1988 assembled a group of entertainers of...
- Renewable Energy (1 speech)
How remarkable that in 2024, on the first day of parliament for the new year, the Liberal Party and National Party facilitated an antirenewable energy rally outside these halls on the lawns of...
- Islamic Republic of Iran (1 speech)
The world is at a critical turning point. War has broken out not as a result of a miscalculation but because of a deliberate strategy by the Islamic Republic of Iran regime to grow their own...
- Prisons (1 speech)
This summer saw heatwaves across the continent, particularly in the Northern Territory, WA and the north of the continent. While many of us escaped the heat in air conditioning or by a river or...
- Rare and Less Common Cancers (1 speech)
Statistics tell us that everyone here will have supported someone close to them as they face a cancer diagnosis, or the diagnosis may have been even closer, and it may have been you. Cancer...
- Perth: Environment (1 speech)
Perth has a proud and green heart, and tonight that heart is heavy with a sadness that really cuts to the core. We value, we love, our precious green spaces with a unique intensity, particularly...
- Western Australia: Live Animal Exports (1 speech)
(): I rise tonight to speak on an issue that I've risen in this place to speak on a number of times, and it's one that's very close to my heart—the sheep industry of Western...
- Tasmania: Regional Jobs Hub Network (1 speech)
It's hard to describe the feeling when you help a client get a job. It's a bit like it's their birthday and kind of like it's yours as well. The transformation is instant. Their eyes light up and...
- Middle East (1 speech)
Like many Australians I watched the news in horror on 7 October as Hamas terrorists proceeded to torture, rape, kidnap and murder innocent civilians. In the many months since that event, there...
- Queensland: Community Events (1 speech)
Before I commence my remarks, I say to the senator that it's a real privilege to follow that contribution. I associate myself with every word of that contribution. One of the great joys, one of...
- Middle East (1 speech)
Australia has become deeply involved in the harm industry, fuelled by the two war parties. We've handcuffed ourselves to the US and, in doing so, we've ensured that every time their hands get...
