House debates

Monday, 21 February 2011

  • Main Committee (0 speeches)
    • Private Members’ Motions (1 speech)
      In accordance with standing order 41(g) and the determinations of the Selection Committee I present copies of the terms of motions for which notice has be given by the members for Murray,...
  • Petitions (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      On behalf of the Standing Committee on Petitions, and in accordance with standing order 207, I present the following petitions:
    • Responses; Heritage Listing: Dampier Archipelago (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 June 2010 to the former Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts, the Hon Peter Garrett AM MP, concerning the petition in support...
    • Responses; Australian Post: Pakenham Mail Box (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Australia Post —petition request for a street posting box in Pakenham Thank you for your letter dated 25 May 2010 concerning a petition submitted for the Committee’s...
    • Responses; Fair Trade Chocolate (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy I am responding to the letter of 25 May 2010 from the previous Chair of the Standing Committee on Petitions, Mrs Julia Irwin, to the then Minister for Trade, the Hon Simon Crean...
    • Responses; Bats at Maclean High School (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy I refer to the letter of 17 June 2010 from the former Chair of the Standing Committee on Petitions, Mrs Julia Irwin MP, to the former Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage...
    • Responses; Mental Health (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 to the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, regarding the proposed removal in the 2010-11 Budget of social workers...
    • Responses; Administration of Justice (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy I refer to your letter dated 16 November 2010 seeking a written response to a petition submitted to the Committee by Antal Bittman, regarding a section 72(ii) process under the...
    • Responses; Paid Parental Leave (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 15 November 2010 about a petition submitted to the Standing Committee on Petitions concerning paid parental leave. The petition calls for Members of...
    • Responses; Administration of Justice (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter dated 16 November 2010 seeking a written response to petition 343/610, presented to the Committee on 15 November 2010. The petition requests that...
    • Responses; Child Care (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letters of 22 and 24 November 2010 forwarding a petition recently considered by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions regarding funding...
    • Responses; Barker: Eastfront Road (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter dated 22 November 2010 about a petition regarding the repair and reopening of East Front Road, Younghusband, South Australia. East Front Road is a local...
    • Responses; Permanent Residency (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 relating to a petition recently submitted to the Standing Committee on Petitions regarding permanent residency for non-citizens in...
    • Responses; Bowen Electorate: Internet Access (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Broadband access Thank you for the opportunity to respond to a petition submitted for consideration by the Standing Committee on Petitions, concerning access to broadband services....
    • Responses; Burma (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 about the Standing Committee on Petitions’ consideration of a petition regarding Burma’s 7 November 2010 elections. The...
    • Responses; International Development Assistance (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 referring a petition, submitted for the consideration of the Standing Committee on Petitions, regarding Australia’s foreign aid...
    • Responses; Farrer Electorate: Blood Donation (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 enclosing a petition regarding access by the residents of Hay Shire to mobile blood donor services operated by the Australian Red...
    • Responses; Education (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 concerning a petition on secularism in Australian schools and the learning resource, Learning from One Another: Bringing Muslim...
    • Responses; Parkes Electorate: Health Services (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 regarding the petition of residents of Goodooga and surrounds about downgrades and reductions to health and emergency services to the...
    • Responses; Battery Hens (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 forwarding to me a petition on battery hen cages, submitted for the consideration of the Standing Committee on Petitions. I regret the...
    • Responses; Pearce Electorate: Pharmaceutical Benefits (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 regarding a petition submitted for the consideration of the Standing Committee on Petitions by the Western Australian community of...
    • Responses; Non-Incandescent Light Globes (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, the Hon Tony Burke MP, concerning a petition on...
    • Responses; Schools (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 regarding a petition submitted for the consideration of the Standing Committee on Petitions about Commonwealth funding for mobile...
    • Responses; Gungahlin (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 to Senator the Hon Penny Wong, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, referring to a petition submitted to the Standing Committee on...
    • Responses; Burma (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your letter of 22 November 2010 about the Standing Committee on Petitions’ consideration of a petition regarding trade and investment sanctions against Burma....
    • Responses; Pompe’s Disease (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Thank you for your correspondence of 25 November 2010 to the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, regarding a petition in relation to the treatment of Adult (or...
    • Responses; McPherson Electorate: Palm Beach Post Office (0 speeches)
      Dear Mr Murphy Australia Post—closure of the Palm Beach Post Office Thank you for your letter dated 22 November 2010 concerning a petition submitted for the Committee’s consideration...
    • Statement (3 speeches)
      Mr Speaker, I will be brief.
  • Committees (0 speeches)
    • Climate Change, Environment and the Arts Committee; Report (2 speeches)
      On behalf of the Standing Committee on Climate Change Environment and the Arts I present the committee’s report entitled Advisory Report on the National Radioactive Waste Management Bill...
    • Treaties Committeee; Report (1 speech)
      On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the committee’s report entitled Report 114: Treaties referred on 16 November 2010 (part 1). Ordered that the report be made...
    • Education and Employment Committee; Report (1 speech)
      On behalf of the House Standing Committee on Education and Employment, I wish to make a statement concerning the committee’s inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in...
    • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Committee; Report (2 speeches)
      On behalf of the Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, I wish to make a statement concerning the committee’s inquiry into the high level of involvement of...
    • Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee; Report (1 speech)
      On behalf of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs I wish to make a statement concerning the committee’s inquiry into the regulation of billboard and outdoor...
  • Delegation Reports (0 speeches)
  • Assisting the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • First Reading (2 speeches)
      Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Abbott.
  • Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • First Reading (1 speech)
      Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Dutton.
  • Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
    • Tourism Funding (6 speeches)
      I move: That the House:(1)condemns the Rudd-Gillard Government for:(a)reducing funding for Tourism Australia at a time when the high Australian dollar is putting pressure on local tourism...
  • Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
    • (8 speeches)
      Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
  • Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
    • National Broadband Development (7 speeches)
      I move: That this House:(1)notes the:(a)19 September 2010 Declaration by the members of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development to world leaders attending the 2010 Millennium Development...
  • Committees (0 speeches)
  • Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation Amendment Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • First Reading (0 speeches)
      Bill received from the Senate and read a first time. Ordered that the second reading be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
  • Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2010-2011; Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2010-2011; Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 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. Question agreed to.
  • Main Committee (0 speeches)
    • Tourism Funding; Reference (1 speech)
      by leave—I move: That the following order of the day be referred to the Main Committee for debate: Private Members’ business order of the day—Tourism funding—Mr Baldwin....
    • Condolences: Australian Natural Disasters; Reference (1 speech)
      by leave—I move: That, unless otherwise ordered, at the interruption of the debate at 1.45 pm today the condolence motion moved by the honourable the Prime Minister in connection with this...
  • Condolences (0 speeches)
    • Australian Natural Disasters (3 speeches)
      Debate resumed from 10 February, on motion by Ms Gillard: That the House:(1)acknowledges with great sadness the devastation occasioned by this summer’s natural disasters including...
  • Social Security Amendment (Income Support for Regional Students) Bill 2010 [2011] (0 speeches)
  • Statements by Members (0 speeches)
    • Commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin (1 speech)
      I would like to share with the House my attendance at two commemoration services over the weekend to mark the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. The 19 February 1942 bombing was the first...
    • Page Electorate: Anzac Day Schools Awards (1 speech)
      I would like to congratulate Blue Hills College, a school in my electorate of Page, which was chosen recently as the New South Wales state winner in the primary school category of the Anzac Day...
    • Kooyong Electorate: Australia Post (1 speech)
      I rise to raise an important issue in my electorate. On 11 February this year, Australia Post closed the post office at 254 Whitehorse Road, Balwyn, after the lease expired. Australia Post have...
    • Melbourne Ports Electorate: Melbourne Grand Prix (1 speech)
      Over the summer, it was good to see that the Lord Mayor of Melbourne finally caught up with the attitudes of most locals in questioning the ongoing viability of the Grand Prix in Melbourne. I...
    • Longman Electorate: Australia Day Awards (1 speech)
      I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate two of my constituents who on Australia Day were awarded Medals of the Order of Australia: Mr Bruce Simpson and Mrs Edith Cuffe. They are...
    • DonateLife Week (1 speech)
      This week is DonateLife Week. Last Friday I attended its launch by the Governor-General at the National Library. The launch reminded me of the generosity of the 309 families who donated the...
    • Dairy Industry (1 speech)
      I rise today to express my disappointment in supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths, who are continuing to sell their own-brand milk for $1 per litre. My electorate of Maranoa has a large number...
    • Greenway Electorate: Wentworthville Swimming Pool (1 speech)
      I rise to update the House about my local community’s campaign to save Wentworthville pool from closure. I am pleased to say that two Fridays ago I presented Councillor Vasee Rajadurai from...
    • Macquarie Electorate: Pendragons Abreast (1 speech)
      I rise today to acknowledge the passionate efforts of Jan Caldwell and Gillian Brown, who are working tirelessly to raise awareness of Pendragons Abreast. I met with Jan, the Chairperson of...
    • Victorian Government (2 speeches)
      Recently we have witnessed some of the ugliest discrimination in Australia by our country’s elected representatives. In the past few weeks the coalition have not only unveiled their views...
  • Condolences (0 speeches)
    • Larcombe, Sapper Jamie Ronald (5 speeches)
      Mr Speaker, I move: That the House expresses its deep regret at the death on 19 February 2011, of Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, while on combat operations in Afghanistan, and place on record its...
  • Main Committee (0 speeches)
  • Ministerial Arrangements (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      I inform the House that the Treasurer will be absent from question time today as he is attending the G20 finance ministers meeting in Paris. The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial...
  • Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
    • Budget (24 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister inform the House why it was right to announce cuts of $412 million from the Solar Flagships, the National Rent Affordability Scheme...
    • Health (13 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the government supporting our hospital system and patients following the recent Council of Australian Governments meeting?
    • Youth Allowance (4 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. When the opposition fought to restore fair access to youth allowance for kids from the bush, the government labelled it ‘unsustainable and...
    • Health (5 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How will health reform improve the funding and efficiency of the health system, and how have these reforms been received?
    • Climate Change (20 speeches)
      My question is to the Assistant Treasurer and acting Treasurer. Will the Assistant Treasurer inform the parliament why the government ruled out a carbon tax before the election, but will now...
    • Murray-Darling Basin (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Given the recent interim recommendations of the Regional Australia Committee into the...
    • Mental Health (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing. How will enhancements to primary care assist ageing Australians and those with mental health issues?
    • Flood Levy (20 speeches)
      My question is to the aspiring—err, the Assistant—Treasurer. I refer the Assistant Treasurer to the Treasurer’s—
    • Multiculturalism (11 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House the importance of national leadership and shared values in debates surrounding Australia’s migration...
    • Health (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I ask the Prime Minister: will she inform the House why she claimed in her year of decision and delivery speech last November that the Commonwealth share of...
    • Multiculturalism (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. Will the minister outline to the House what the government is doing to support multiculturalism in Australia? How is this strategy...
    • Hospitals (7 speeches)
      My question is to the Assistant Treasurer. What will the Commonwealth’s share of the funding of any new hospital building be during the period of the government’s latest health reform...
    • Australian Natural Disasters (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister update the House on the government’s reconstruction efforts following the recent natural disasters?
    • Hospitals (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister confirm to all Australians that the 50-50 growth funding proposal for public hospitals will not commence until 2017—that is, 10...
    • Australian Natural Disasters (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Defence Materiel. Will the minister advise the House of the assistance provided by defence equipment and support crews during the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi?
    • Government Advertising (5 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister confirm that the government has spent $13 million on government advertising like the one I am holding that claims that for the first...
    • Middle East (3 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the developments in the Middle East?
  • Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
    • (5 speeches)
      Mr Speaker, I wish to make a personal explanation.
  • Auditor-General’S Reports (0 speeches)
    • Report Nos 28, 29 and 30 of 2010-11 (1 speech)
      I present the Auditor-General’s Audit reports Nos 28, 29 and 30 of 2010-11 entitled No. 28, Management of the Australian Broadband Guarantee program; No. 29, Management of the...
  • 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...
  • Social Security Amendment (Income Support for Regional Students) Bill 2010 [2011] (0 speeches)
  • Committees (0 speeches)
  • National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • Second Reading (18 speeches)
      Debate resumed from 21 October, on motion by Mr Martin Ferguson: That this bill be now read a second time.
  • Business (0 speeches)
    • Days and Hours of Meeting (1 speech)
      by leave—I move: That the time and order of business for the sitting tomorrow, Tuesday, 22 February 2011, be as follows, unless otherwise ordered:(a)the House, at its rising, adjourn until...
  • Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Amendment Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • (0 speeches)
      Consideration resumed from 26 October 2010.
    • Second Reading (4 speeches)
      I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill amends the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005. It allows the...
  • National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
  • Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
    • Older Australians (8 speeches)
      I move: That this House:(1)notes that:(a)Australia has an ageing population;(b)age discrimination exists within Australia and that this discrimination impacts on the strength of society, economy...
    • Asylum Seekers (8 speeches)
      I move: That this House:(1)notes that:(a)Australia has a long and proud record of resettling more than 70, 000 refugees since the Second World War;(b)there are 10.4 million refugees around the...
  • Adjournment (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      Order! It being 9.30 pm, I propose the question: That the House do now adjourn.
    • Disaster Relief (1 speech)
      The government’s welfare payments for flood and cyclone victims is beginning to look like the latest multimillion-dollar administrative bungle of the Rudd-Gillard government. Early in the...
    • Shortland Electorate: Schools (1 speech)
      When members leave this place and return to their electorate it is an opportunity to see how the programs and legislation that have passed through this parliament work and also to connect with...
    • Durack Electorate: Regional Tertiary Education (1 speech)
      I rise this evening to address the issue of tertiary education for country students, a very topical situation I may add given that this government should hang its head in shame for the drastic...
    • Blair Electorate: Queensland Floods (1 speech)
      Usually the new year brings with it a feeling of refreshment, a new beginning, the chance to undo, redo or redress. Resolutions abound, often about behaviour and choices aimed at improving our...
    • Aston Electorate: Youth Mental Health Services (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the urgent need for better youth mental health services in my electorate of Aston in outer eastern Melbourne. I raise this in the parliament because I believe it is one of...
    • National Service Day (1 speech)
      On Sunday, 30 January, I attended the annual memorial service held by the Para Districts Sub Branch of the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia. It was one of many services held...
    • National Service Day; Indigenous Housing (1 speech)
      The third Closing the Gap report was released by the Prime Minister last week. Looking through it for the outcomes that we, of course, expect to see in these reports but getting little more than...
    • National Service Day; Kingston Electorate: Health Care (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the important investments in health care that this government has made in my electorate of Kingston. Ensuring health care is affordable and accessible to people when they...
    • Bruce Highway (1 speech)
      There is a very important issue confronting the Sunshine Coast, and that is the need to upgrade the Bruce Highway from Caboolture to the Sunshine Coast to six lanes. The Howard government,...
    • Harvest Moon (1 speech)
      What do you get when you have got a long growing season, rich volcanic soils, a mild maritime climate without the extremes of heat in summer and cold in winter, pristine waters and attention to...
    • Bowel Cancer (1 speech)
      Over the last year or so, one of the most talked about issues in my electorate, and one that I have the most correspondence about, is the matter of bowel cancer screening. Bowel cancer is...
    • Africa (2 speeches)
      The Third World has shrunk. For most of the past century, the development challenge has been how to get the rest of the world up to the living standard of the top one billion. Now that challenge...
  • Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
    • McMillan Electorate: Dairy Farmers (1 speech)
      Murray Goulburn in my electorate have a very diverse customer base through exports and their local base. Having regard to what I said about the plight of dairy farmers last week, it is very...
    • Greenway Electorate: Kellyville Ridge (1 speech)
      I wish to raise some important issues currently being experienced by residents in the suburb of Kellyville Ridge in my electorate of Greenway. Kellyville Ridge forms part of the important growth...
    • Forde Electorate: Australia Day Awards (1 speech)
      Australia Day saw many wonderful members of the Forde electorate receive recognition for their contribution to the community. I am very pleased to share with you the community spirit that was...
    • Corio Electorate: Surf Coast Knockout (1 speech)
      I would like to talk this morning about golf, which is an auspicious thing to do this morning as a good Victorian boy, Aaron Baddeley, I hope as we speak, is closing out the Northern Trust Open...
    • Independent Youth Allowance (2 speeches)
      I rise today to talk on the issue of the independent youth allowance and to highlight a report called the Deferring a university offer in regional Victoria report of 2010. I also want to comment...
    • Victorian Floods (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the recent flooding in my electorate of Isaacs, which continues to prevent some residents from returning to their homes and has resulted in lost revenue for a number of...
    • Road Safety (1 speech)
      Ten years on and the fight to have seatbelts on buses continues. Ten years ago a school bus accident took the life of a 15-year-old local boy and a group of parents formed the Belt Up for Safety...
    • Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre (1 speech)
      Last Monday, 14 February, I, alongside the new Victorian Minister for Health, turned the first sod of the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre. Once this facility is completed, people...
    • National School Chaplaincy Program (1 speech)
      I rise today to place on the record my strong support for continued federal government funding of the National School Chaplaincy Program, a program which could be in jeopardy if the current case...
    • Chifley Electorate: Local Health Networks (2 speeches)
      An important feature of the health reforms secured by this federal government was the creation of local health networks, which are made up of small groups of hospitals working together to provide...
  • Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
    • Gas Appliance Safety (6 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Dr Stone: That this House:(1)mourns the tragic loss of young Chase and Tyler Robinson, who died at Mooroopna on 30 May 2010 in a recently rented home;(2)notes that...
    • Murray-Darling Basin (5 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Ms Rishworth: That this House:(1)notes that:(a)support for a solution to return the Murray-Darling river system to health is widespread across Australia;(b)a poll by...
    • Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land and Agribusiness (10 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion byMr John Cobb: That this House:(1)requires the responsible Minister to:(a)commission the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), with the assistance of ABARE, to prepare...
    • Violence in Western Sahara (5 speeches)
      Debate resumed on motion by Ms Saffin: That the House:(1)notes that the Government:(a)deeply regrets recent reports of violence in Western Sahara, and allegations of human rights violations with...
    • Coptic Orthodox Community of Egypt (5 speeches)
      Debate resumed on motion byMs Vamvakinou: That this House:(1)condemns the New Year’s Day attack on the Al-Qiddissin Church, the Church of the Two Saints, in Alexandria,...
  • Roberts-Smith, Corporal Benjamin, VC, MG (0 speeches)
    • (4 speeches)
      Consideration resumed from 10 February 2011.
  • Ministerial Statements (0 speeches)
  • Screen Australia (Transfer of Assets) Bill 2010 (0 speeches)
    • Second Reading (3 speeches)
      Debate resumed from 17 November 2010, on motion by Mr Crean: That this bill be now read a second time.
  • Private Members’ Business (0 speeches)
    • Australian Arts Community (26 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Perrett: That this House:(1)recognises the conclusion of a great television police drama, The Bill, and thanks the ABC for its long standing commitment to the...
    • Tourism Funding (18 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Baldwin: That the House:(1)condemns the Rudd-Gillard Government for:(a)reducing funding for Tourism Australia at a time when the high Australian dollar is putting...
    • Public Libraries (5 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Hayes: That this House:(1)notes the importance of public libraries in communities across Australia;(2)recognises that:(a)various state-based research provides...
    • Defence Housing as an Immigration Detention Facility (13 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Robert: That this House:(1)notes that:(a)Defence Housing Australia (DHA) is the professional manager of Defence houses;(b)the Department of Defence still retains...
    • Security in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (5 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Ms Burke: That this House:(1)notes:(a)the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to suffer from high levels of poverty, insecurity, and a...
    • Family Law Act 1975 (2 speeches)
      Debate resumed, on motion by Mr Neumann: That this House:(1)notes that in 2006, the Howard Government made sweeping changes to the Family Law Act 1975 in parenting matters, and that these...
  • Grievance Debate (0 speeches)
    • (1 speech)
      Debate resumed from 22 November 2010.
    • Airport Noise (2 speeches, 1 comment)
      Tonight I raise a grievance on behalf of the people of Port Stephens in relation to aircraft noise. They have been promised so much by Gillard Labor, but it has failed to deliver time and time...
    • Climate Change (1 speech)
      I again wish to speak in this place on the grievance debate about climate change. Thanks to the efforts of the deniers of climate change, public confusion still surrounds the origins of what has...
    • Queensland Floods (1 speech)
      I rise today to speak on behalf of the people in my electorate of Bonner and also those in greater Brisbane. I am speaking today in support of Lord Mayor Campbell Newman and his request for the...
    • Howes, Mr Paul (4 speeches)
      After a spray last week that would have been laughable if it were not so serious, the Secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Paul Howes, attacked the CEO of one of Australia’s largest...
    • Superannuation (2 speeches)
      My very brief contribution tonight relates to Australia’s superannuation system. Although it is widely regarded as one of the best superannuation systems in the world, there is still more...