House debates

Thursday, 25 February 2010

  • Proposed Joint Select Committee on Cyber Safety (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      I move:(1)(a)That a Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety be appointed to inquire into and report on:abuse of children online (cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking and sexual grooming);exposure to...
  • Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Recreational Fishing for Mako and Porbeagle Sharks) Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • First Reading (0 speeches)
      Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Garrett. Bill read a first time.
    • Second Reading (1 speech)
      I move: That this bill be now read a second time. On 25 January this year I announced that the government would be acting to address the disproportionate impacts on recreational fishers that have...
  • Antarctic Treaty (Environment Protection) Amendment Bill 2010; Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Weekly Payments) Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • Referred to Main Committee (1 speech)
      by leave—I move: That the bills be referred to the Main Committee for further consideration. I inform all honourable members that this motion enjoys the support of the Chief Opposition...
  • Committees (0 speeches)
    • Public Works Committee; Reference (2 speeches)
      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...
    • Electoral Matters Committee; Report (2 speeches)
      On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters I present the committee’s report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled Inquiry into the implications of the...
  • Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Close of Rolls and Other Measures) Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • Second Reading (15 speeches)
      Debate resumed from 11 February, on motion by Mr Byrne: That this bill be now read a second time.
  • Foreign Affairs: Australian Passports (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      on indulgence—On 20 January this year, senior Hamas figure Mahmud al-Mabhouh was found murdered in a hotel room in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. On 16 February, police in Dubai...
  • Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Close of Rolls and Other Measures) Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
  • Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
    • Home Insulation Program (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. I refer the minister to his department’s evidence that, as at 15 February this year, 65 briefings were provided to...
    • Foreign Affairs: Australian Passports (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. How has the government responded to reports of the misuse of Australian passports? How have successive Australian governments ensured the...
    • Home Insulation Program (9 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to the disastrous consequences of fast-tracking his original home insulation scheme. If the new scheme is to be fast-tracked in...
    • Health Care (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. What is the government doing to advance reform in the delivery of health care for all Australians?
    • Home Insulation Program (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, at least 24 per cent, or nearly 240,000, of the one million homes insulated under the disastrous home insulation scheme are now known to have...
    • Health (20 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. What are the latest developments in the rollout of the government’s GP superclinics and what has been the community’s reaction?
    • Home Insulation Program (2 speeches)
      My question is, again, to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his earlier answer regarding the Home Insulation Program. I ask the Prime Minister: is he really telling Australians...
    • Economy (5 speeches)
      My question is to the Treasurer. What do this week’s data releases say about the Australian economy and how do they relate to what key economic commentators are saying about the state of...
    • Home Insulation Program (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. In the light of his previous answer, I ask the Prime Minister: will he now personally apologise to the families of the four young men who have died in...
    • Indigenous Affairs (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. What is the government doing to improve living conditions in the Alice Springs town camps?
    • Home Insulation Program (7 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Given that it might take five years to complete the inspections arising from his failed home insulation scandal, is the Prime Minister planning to compensate...
    • Solar Flagships Program (4 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Resources and Energy and the Minister for Tourism. What progress has been made with the Solar Flagships program and how will it contribute to Australia’s...
    • Home Insulation Program (4 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, I refer you to a constituent of mine, Mr Ron May of Insulmaster, who now faces the prospect of having to sack 28 of his workers and who, in...
    • Economy (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Finance and Deregulation. Minister, why is foreign investment important for job creation and economic development? Further, why is it vital that those seeking...
    • Home Insulation Program (3 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Would the Prime Minister explain to the group of fired insulation workers seen on the front page of the Gold Coast Bulletin why they have lost their jobs...
    • Infrastructure (15 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. What reforms are the government putting in place to address underinvestment in...
    • Cape York: World Heritage Listing (2 speeches)
      My question is to Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Will the minister guarantee that Cape York will not be put on the tentative World Heritage listing without the consent of...
    • Workplace Relations (10 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion. What have been the recent comments about industrial relations...
  • Former British Child Migrants: Apology (0 speeches)
    • (2 speeches)
      by leave—Today the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, offered his nation’s apology to the 150,000 British children sent overseas as child migrants. It is estimated that between...
  • Documents (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      Documents are presented as listed in the schedule circulated to honourable members. Details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings and I move: That the House take note of...
  • Vancouver Olympic Games (0 speeches)
    • (4 speeches)
      On indulgence, I just thought honourable members might be interested in this. I think it is good for the country. To those opposite, please join in as well. Young Lydia Lassila in the winter...
  • Matters of Public Importance (0 speeches)
    • Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (29 speeches)
      Mr Speaker has received a letter from the honourable member for Calare proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The failure of the...
  • Adjournment (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      Order! It being 4.30 pm, I propose the question: That the House do now adjourn.
    • Hume Electorate: Roads (1 speech)
      I rise to speak on the issue of road safety and an instance in which a decision of the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority makes absolutely no sense at all. Late last year the New South...
    • Makin Electorate: State Sports Park (1 speech)
      As South Australians approach the 20 March state election, it is becoming crystal clear that the South Australian Liberal Party is continually making policy on the run, with already a number of...
    • Home Insulation Program (1 speech)
      In question time today I raised an issue with the Prime Minister on behalf of Mr Ron May of Insulmaster. I pointed out that this person, taking the Prime Minister at his word in good faith, built...
    • National Security (1 speech)
      This week the Prime Minister released a further piece of the government’s national security reform agenda, the counterterrorism white paper. The protection of Australia and...
    • Pearce Electorate: Toodyay Bushfire (1 speech)
      Since the devastating bushfire tore through the outskirts of the town of Toodyay in my electorate on the eve of New Year, residents have anxiously awaited the release of the EnergySafety WA...
    • Health (3 speeches)
      Today I am going to talk about two initiatives that are part of the health reforms being delivered under the Rudd government: one a capital infrastructure and one a community initiative. The...
    • Home Insulation Program; Green Loans Program (2 speeches)
      The $41 million announced by the Rudd government to help insulation installation workers keep their jobs or potentially find new ones and be kept on in the workplace ignores a very simple fact:...
  • Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
    • Cook Electorate: Rotary Club of Cronulla (1 speech)
      I rise today to acknowledge a significant milestone for one of the most active service clubs in my electorate, the Rotary Club of Cronulla. In February 1950, some 60 years ago this week, the...
    • Holt Electorate: Southern Cross Kids Camps (1 speech)
      Today I rise to talk about a group called Southern Cross Kids Camps. As I have stated in this chamber on a number of occasions, being a member of parliament enables us to meet extraordinary...
    • Lyne Electorate: Regional Development Australia (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the welcome start of Regional Development Australia, on the mid-North Coast, that is now up and running. There has been an 18 month- to two-year void in regional development...
    • Shortland Electorate: 25th Lake Macquarie Sports Awards (2 speeches)
      On Saturday, 13 February, I attended the 25th Lake Macquarie Sports Awards. The event was held at the Belmont 16 Foot Sailing Club and recognised the enormous contribution that a number of people...
    • Gippsland Electorate: Rural Health Workforce (1 speech)
      I rise to raise my concerns about the crisis in the rural health workforce. I deliberately use the word ‘crisis’, not to sound alarmist but to endorse the term used by the Rural...
    • Bennelong Electorate: Sri Lanka (1 speech)
      Like many other members of this parliament, indeed many members of the international community, I welcome the end of decades of conflict in Sri Lanka. In my electorate there are a number of...
    • McMillan Electorate: Paid Maternity Leave (1 speech)
      This week I was with the children of St James School at Nar Nar Goon, in my electorate of McMillan. They reminded me of why I am here. Children are our today, our tomorrow and our future hopes...
    • Fremantle Electorate: Gimme Shelter Benefit Concert (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the great success that was the Gimme Shelter benefit concert, held on Saturday, 20 February, on the beautiful grounds of the Fremantle Arts Centre. For the third year in a...
    • Macarthur Electorate: Housing (1 speech)
      I rise to speak on the appalling lack of public housing in New South Wales. I would like to highlight an article from my local paper, the Campbelltown-Macarthur Advertiser about a mother of six...
    • Moreton Electorate: Australia Day (2 speeches)
      Last month I was pleased to join in Australia Day celebrations throughout Brisbane’s southside. There is no greater honour in this job than to be present as New Australians make their...
  • Ministerial Statement: Indigenous Affairs (0 speeches)
    • Closing the Gap Report 2010 (3 speeches)
      Debate resumed from 24 February, on motion by Mr Snowdon: That the House take note of the document.
  • Fisheries Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 (0 speeches)
    • Second Reading (10 speeches)
      Debate resumed from 25 November, on motion by Mr Burke: That this bill be now read a second time.
  • Adjournment (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      I move: That the Main Committee do now adjourn.
    • Petition: Landcare (1 speech)
      I rise to present a petition approved by the Standing Committee on Petitions. The petition contains 506 signatures and is on a topic which is very dear to my heart and to the hearts of many...
    • Isaacs Electorate: Building the Education Revolution (1 speech)
      I rise today to talk about my recent visits to several primary schools in my electorate to see how the infrastructure works that are part of the Rudd government’s stimulus package are...
    • Xstrata (1 speech)
      Mr Deputy Speaker, if you have not seen an angry ant before, look over here. I am extraordinarily angry about an issue that continues today in Australia. It is in relation to what governments do...
    • Bonner Electorate: Wynnum Scout Group (1 speech)
      On 13 February this year I had the great privilege of attending a celebratory dinner at the Wynnum Manly Leagues Club for the 100th anniversary of the Wynnum Scout Group. Although Australia...
    • Mr Laurie Lawrence: Child Water Safety (1 speech)
      Laurie Lawrence is a name that most Australians would know quite well. It is a name that would be known to all those who have a love of rugby, because, of course, he was an Australian rugby union...
    • Private Health Insurance (1 speech)
      I join with the member for Ryan in congratulating Laurie Lawrence on his work in water safety and working with the government on the DVDs. In my electorate I have also been providing families...
    • Home Insulation Program (1 speech)
      I rise to ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts exactly how many homes in my electorate of Forrest are at risk because of the absolute debacle of the failed, rushed and...
    • National Archives of Australia (1 speech)
      I would like to outline the importance of an announcement made earlier this week by my good friend and hard working Special Minister of State and cabinet secretary, Senator Joe Ludwig, about...