Tony Abbott's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2019-07-02T23:05:24+00:00
items: Herron, Hon. Dr John Joseph, AO | Condolences | House debates
items: Closing the Gap | Ministerial Statements | House debates
items: Warringah Electorate: Northern Beaches Tunnel | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Indigenous Affairs | Statements | House debates
items: Family Responsibilities Commission | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Family Responsibilities Commission | Adjournment | House debates
items: Warringah Electorate: Lifeline Northern Beaches | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Sir John Monash Centre | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Crouch, Mr Michael Jenkins, AC | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
items: Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: McPhee, Ms Anna | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Johnson, Mr John Richard 'Johno', KCSG | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Papua New Guinea | Constituency Statements | House debates

Herron, Hon. Dr John Joseph, AO | Condolences | House debates
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description: I rise to honour the life of former senator John Herron, who yesterday in the House of Representatives chamber was generously eulogised, in particular by the Prime Minister. I want to make three...
encoded: I rise to honour the life of former senator John Herron, who yesterday in the House of Representatives chamber was generously eulogised, in particular by the Prime Minister. I want to make three points about the late great John Herron. First, he was a fine family man and he often said that his 10 children were by far his greatest achievement. Given all the other things that he did in his life, that was a great tribute to his wife, Jan, and to his children. He was a well-respected—even loved—minister for Indigenous affairs. Given the complexities of that particular portfolio, this was no mean achievement and a great credit to his character. Most notably as minister, he used the Australian Army to lead a sustained upgrading of the then appalling conditions of Indigenous housing in the Northern Territory and elsewhere. He was a wonderful friend of the most admirable character. I have known John Herron for the best part of a quarter century. I didn't know him as well as I knew other colleagues but certainly he never did anything low or mean. He was always as helpful as he could be to all of his colleagues, and, indeed, to all he came across. Perhaps this was an echo, if you like, of the Hippocratic oath which he took to heart as a doctor. As we all know, it begins, 'First, do no harm'. So many of us, even with the best of intentions, have done much harm. John Herron was one of those figures in this parliament who said what he meant and did what he said. He was always ambitious for the higher things, not simply higher office. We need more people like that in our public life. I recall, at the very beginning of my own parliamentary life, John took me aside and said, 'Tony, be conscious of this: it's what you don't do, not what you do, that will be your greatest regret in this place.' I very much took that to heart. I've never forgotten it and I've always thought that, if I was in doubt, I should have a go; I should give it a go. I know that has sometimes been to the dismay…
date: 2019-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

Closing the Gap | Ministerial Statements | House debates
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description: It is good to follow the member for Barton. It is also good to see that there are number of strong Indigenous voices in this parliament. It is a sign of how far we have come, as a country, that...
encoded: It is good to follow the member for Barton. It is also good to see that there are number of strong Indigenous voices in this parliament. It is a sign of how far we have come, as a country, that that is the case. Obviously, we have got further to go, but we have come a long way. Modern Australia has an Indigenous heritage, a British foundation and an immigrant character. Indigeneity is one of the three pillars that constitute modern Australia. I was delighted to be asked by the Prime Minister to be his special envoy, with special responsibility for improving remote school attendance and performance, because if Aboriginal people are to fully participate in this country then obviously they have got to have jobs and they have got to have a decent education, because without a job it is hard to live decently and without an education it is hard to work effectively in modern Australia. I made a statement to the parliament late last year with a number of recommendations, and I was really pleased that the Prime Minister took up three of those recommendations in his Closing the Gap statement last week. First, the government is proposing to waive the HECS debts of teaching graduates who, after a couple of years of experience and appropriate training, go into remote areas and stay for four years. The government is going to considerably expand funding for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. We are proposing to work with more communities that wish to take more responsibility for self-improvement by embracing measures such as the debit card or something akin to the Family Responsibilities Commission. I thank the Prime Minister for adopting those recommendations. It is absolutely critical that every Australian child go to school every day unless there is some absolutely compelling reason for their absence. It is also important that, when kids go to school, they are going to be well taught. We all know that schools with a high turnover of teachers and principals are not g…
date: 2019-02-19T17:32:00+00:00

Warringah Electorate: Northern Beaches Tunnel | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: It doesn't matter what you are in this place or how far you might rise, we are all local members first and foremost, and our constituencies expect us to deliver. They want us to do the right...
encoded: It doesn't matter what you are in this place or how far you might rise, we are all local members first and foremost, and our constituencies expect us to deliver. They want us to do the right thing by them. I've often said that my constituency of Warringah is the best place in the world to live—until, of course, you want to go somewhere else. That's when you get stuck in some of the world's longest parking lots. Well, I'm pleased to say that the Northern Beaches tunnel looks like it might at last finally be happening, thanks to the convergence of a good state Liberal government with a good federal Liberal government. The state Liberal government has put several hundreds of millions of dollars into property acquisitions, into preliminary works, into planning and into designing, and it's only been possible because of the funding partnerships that the federal Liberal government has had with the state. These include the $2 billion plus for WestConnex, the half a billion dollars plus for NorthConnex and of course the Asset Recycling Fund, which was one of the features of the 2014 budget. But I've got to say that the tunnel will only go ahead if we keep Liberal governments, because the Labor Party wants to cancel it. The tunnel will only go ahead if it has a champion. And I'm pleased to note that the only federal candidate so far declared in Warringah who is 120 per cent behind the tunnel is me. This tunnel will cut out 17 sets of traffic lights between Manly Vale and the city alone. It will reduce travel times from Manly Vale to the city by about 10 minutes, and then of course, connecting on with the second harbour crossing, it will do a lot more good for the people of the Northern Beaches and also for people living in other parts of Sydney. It will also enable Military and Spit roads to go back to being suburban thoroughfares. It will restore Mosman, Cremorne and Neutral Bay to their residents. I don't say that the design can't be tweaked and improved. But no-one should …
date: 2019-02-19T16:15:00+00:00

Indigenous Affairs | Statements | House debates
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description: by leave—I table a document from the Department of Education, 'Improving education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children'.
encoded: by leave—I table a document from the Department of Education, 'Improving education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children'.
date: 2018-12-06T12:58:00+00:00

Indigenous Affairs | Statements | House debates
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description: They will welcome me back a second time now that the housing is in the process of being fixed. However long my public life lasts, in government or out of it, in the parliament or out of it, I...
encoded: They will welcome me back a second time now that the housing is in the process of being fixed. However long my public life lasts, in government or out of it, in the parliament or out of it, I intend to persevere in this cause. Some missions, once accepted, can never really cease. Of course, the future for Aboriginal people lies much more in their own hands than in mine; but getting more of them to school and making their schooling more useful is a duty that government must not shirk. An ex-PM has just one unique trait and that's a very big megaphone that I will continue to use to see this done. This is my first statement to the parliament on remote school attendance and performance, but it certainly won't be my last word on this vital subject.
date: 2018-12-06T12:24:00+00:00

Indigenous Affairs | Statements | House debates
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description: by leave—Back when Prime Minister, I used to observe that to live in Australia is to have won the lottery of life—and that's true, unless you happen to be one of those whose ancestors...
encoded: by leave—Back when Prime Minister, I used to observe that to live in Australia is to have won the lottery of life—and that's true, unless you happen to be one of those whose ancestors have been here for tens of thousands of years. That's the Australian paradox. Vast numbers of people from all around the world would literally risk death to be here, yet the First Australians often live in the conditions that people come to Australia to escape. We are the very best of countries, except for the people who were here first. And this gnaws away, a standing reproach to idealists and patriots of all stripes. As long as many Aboriginal people have Third World lives and are on average poorer, sicker and worse housed by a vast margin than the rest of us, we can indeed be, as we boast, the most successful immigrant society on earth—except, ahem, for those who have been here the longest. Why don't the objective outcomes for Aboriginal Australians match those of everyone else—and what can be done to close this gap? Amidst all the glittering successes of our nation, this is the one question that's haunted us, almost since the very first Australia Day; and always will, until it's fixed. You can appreciate, Mr Speaker, my reservations, then, when the Prime Minister asked me to be his special envoy for Indigenous affairs. How could a backbench MP make a difference in six months to a problem that had been intractable for 200 years? Yet perhaps someone who's been wrestling with this for a quarter century and may have spent more time in remote Australia than any other MP, except the few who actually live there—but isn't dealing with every lobby and vested interest, as the Prime Minister, the minister and the relevant local member invariably are—can bring fresh eyes to an old problem and perhaps distinguish the wood from the trees. Amidst all the generally depressing indicators on Indigenous Australia, this one does stand out: Indigenous people who do finish school and who do complete a d…
date: 2018-12-06T12:24:00+00:00

Family Responsibilities Commission | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Queensland government intends to abolish the Family Responsibilities Commission? Can the Prime Minister tell the...
encoded: My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Queensland government intends to abolish the Family Responsibilities Commission? Can the Prime Minister tell the House the impact this will have on the communities of Cape York, where this commission has done so much to improve school attendance and improve family cohesion? What is the government going to do to ensure that these communities once more have their right to take responsibility restored?
date: 2018-11-29T15:18:00+00:00

Family Responsibilities Commission | Adjournment | House debates
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description: I rise tonight to lament the Queensland government's announced abolition of the Family Responsibilities Commission, an initiative originally of Jenny Macklin, the member for Jagajaga; Anna Bligh...
encoded: I rise tonight to lament the Queensland government's announced abolition of the Family Responsibilities Commission, an initiative originally of Jenny Macklin, the member for Jagajaga; Anna Bligh when she was premier of Queensland; and Noel Pearson, which has always enjoyed bipartisan support in this place and until very recently in the Queensland parliament, until what looks like an attempt from within the Queensland bureaucracy to sabotage it. The Family Responsibilities Commission has been associated with better school attendance, less alcohol-fuelled violence and stronger local leadership in all the communities where it has operated. A fortnight ago I was in Aurukun to talk school attendance, but all the locals wanted to talk about was the imminent threat to the Family Responsibilities Commission and to ask me to do what I could to save their community from the booze-fuelled bloodshed that they feared would happen if the Family Responsibilities Commission was abolished. The leaders of the school, the leaders of the police, the elders of the community all wanted the Family Responsibilities Commission to stay—and why wouldn't they? The Family Responsibilities Commission was never imposed on them. It was never imposed on anyone. It only operated in communities where the local leadership had specifically requested it. The Family Responsibilities Commission is not outsiders making decisions for Indigenous people. It is local elders, not white officials, talking to troubled families about how their welfare money might be better managed. And it is not taking anyone's money. The worst that can possibly happen under the FRC is that some of a person's welfare may be quarantined on the BasicsCard. So this is not a punishment agenda; it is quite clearly a responsibility agenda. It is actually empowering local people to take practical steps to improve their community. The Family Responsibilities Commission model should be extended to other communities that want it, certainly …
date: 2018-11-28T19:39:00+00:00

Warringah Electorate: Lifeline Northern Beaches | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: I rise today to acknowledge the work that Lifeline does around the country, but in particular the work that Lifeline Northern Beaches does. Lifeline Northern Beaches has just celebrated 50 years...
encoded: I rise today to acknowledge the work that Lifeline does around the country, but in particular the work that Lifeline Northern Beaches does. Lifeline Northern Beaches has just celebrated 50 years of operation. Suicide is one of our greatest killers. It is the greatest killer of young people, and that's why we need Lifeline. Just five years after Lifeline first started at the Wesley Mission, Lifeline Northern Beaches opened at the Balgowlah Uniting Church. That service now handles close to 10 per cent of the one million calls that Lifeline receives around our country every year. But Lifeline is not just a vital phone counselling service; Lifeline Northern Beaches offers face-to-face counselling for people in financial trouble, people with gambling addictions, people whose families are under pressure and young people who are wrestling with the meaning of life. There are also a number of groups that people can join if they are grappling with particular problems. There is a Suicide Bereavement Support Group, a grief and loss group, a Being Mums group and a moods matter group for young people in particular. I want to thank the staff of Lifeline for making me and my wife, Margie, so welcome last week. I particularly thank Ian Farmer, the chairman, and the 180 trained volunteers who do such a great job. You are the unsung heroes of our country and our area. (Time expired)
date: 2018-11-26T13:31:00+00:00

Sir John Monash Centre | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: I rise today to acknowledge the opening by our Prime Minister and the French Prime Minister on 24 April of the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux. This was announced in April 2014 by...
encoded: I rise today to acknowledge the opening by our Prime Minister and the French Prime Minister on 24 April of the Sir John Monash Centre at Villers-Bretonneux. This was announced in April 2014 by the Abbott government, and the winning design was announced in April 2015, again by the Abbott government, and I'm delighted that this has now come to fruition. Much of the past four years has been spent remembering the service and sacrifice of our forebears a century ago. The Great War was convulsive for our country, just as it was for the wider world. From a population of less than five million, some 400,000 Australians volunteered, 330,000 Australians served overseas, 155,000 were wounded and 60,000 never came home. Gallipoli, understandably enough, has dominated our imagination, but it was the Western Front where the great Australian effort was made: almost 300,000 Australians served and almost 46,000 died. Nowhere on earth is more richly sown with Australian sacrifice as our Great War historian Charles Bean has said. In the last six months of the war—we don't normally remember this—it was the Australian Army, the first Australian Imperial Force serving together for the first time under the leadership of General Sir John Monash which turned the tide of war and changed the course of history. The Battle of Amiens, which was planned by Monash and largely fought by Australians, was the black day of the German army and it set up the victories to come. Over the last six months, Australian forces—less than 10 per cent of the total British army—secured more than 20 per cent of the gains in that decisive period. So it's good that Villers-Bretonneux will now no longer simply be a place of pilgrimage but it will be a place of learning, a place of understanding and a place of inspiration to generations of Australians yet to come, to do great things in a good cause. We say every Anzac Day, 'Lest we forget.' Thanks to this Monash centre, we will remember. It's important to acknowledge t…
date: 2018-05-09T10:15:00+00:00

Crouch, Mr Michael Jenkins, AC | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: I rise today to celebrate the life of Michael Crouch, Companion of the Order of Australia, who has just left us. We Australians don't often think of ourselves as a manufacturing powerhouse, but,...
encoded: I rise today to celebrate the life of Michael Crouch, Companion of the Order of Australia, who has just left us. We Australians don't often think of ourselves as a manufacturing powerhouse, but, thanks to Michael Crouch, Australia is the world's largest supplier of instant boiling water machines. Michael's great insight was that you wouldn't succeed merely by doing what others did. So he did something that no-one was doing then: he created a machine that would deliver instant boiling water, and now, thanks to Michael Crouch, there are billions of conversations right around the world every day at the Zip water heater in just about every workplace. Michael started exporting Zip products 35 years ago and now these products, still manufactured in Condell Park in Sydney, are sold in more than 70 countries. Michael Crouch wasn't just a great industrialist; he was a great philanthropist, too. The good causes he supported included the Duke of Edinburgh awards, involving more than 30,000 young Australians every year, Symphony Australia and the National Biography Award. He supported medical research. He supported water and soil conversation, technical innovation and higher education. He was unashamedly pro-business and unashamedly pro-Australian—not for him the black-armband view of our history. Unsurprisingly, this also made him a strong supporter of the Liberal Party. He wasn't just a friend in good times; he was a friend when you really needed one. The challenge for each generation is to be at least as good as our forebears, and in Michael Crouch we certainly have someone to look up to. His life should be both an inspiration and a reproach. It should inspire us to believe that our best days are still ahead of us, but it should reproach us to put service before self. He's gone but certainly not forgotten, and he deserves to be remembered on our country's most enduring record.
date: 2018-02-28T10:27:00+00:00

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I am pleased to rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017, because, when an adult's right to unconditional welfare denies a child his or her right...
encoded: I am pleased to rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card) Bill 2017, because, when an adult's right to unconditional welfare denies a child his or her right to sustenance, we have a problem. I don't think anyone who has looked at the situation in large parts of remote Australia and some parts of metropolitan Australia could possibly deny that we have a problem. The purpose of this legislation is to extend and expand some trials which have been going on now for a couple of years. This is a legacy of the Abbott government, and I'm pleased that the Turnbull government wants to extend and expand the trials that my government began. I should, in speaking to this legislation, commend the former Minister for Human Services, Alan Tudge, who has certainly been the principal architect within government of these trials. We do have a problem of welfare money being spent not on the essentials of life but on alcohol, drugs and gambling. We all know that there are many parts of Australia where, very regrettably, the booze, the drugs and the gambling are contributing to an epidemic of family dysfunction. For instance, in the Kimberley, which I'm reasonably familiar with from two trips to Kununurra over the last couple of years, the suicide rate is almost double the WA Indigenous average. In some parts of the Kimberley, domestic assault rates are 20 times the West Australian state average. This card is colour blind, although so far it has operated predominantly in Indigenous communities. I should say that, around the country, Indigenous women are 34 times more likely to be hospitalised from assault than non-Indigenous women, and almost 90 per cent of partner violence among Indigenous people is alcohol related. Even though in the Kimberley many Indigenous people don't drink at all, because they have seen the ravages of alcohol, per capita alcohol consumption is almost double the national average. So there is a problem, and I doubt that anyone in…
date: 2018-02-05T18:56:00+00:00

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
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description: I'm very happy to support the amendment that's been moved by the member for Corangamite—very happy indeed. I thank her and congratulate her for bringing an amendment in such clear terms to...
encoded: I'm very happy to support the amendment that's been moved by the member for Corangamite—very happy indeed. I thank her and congratulate her for bringing an amendment in such clear terms to the House. Perhaps for the benefit of everyone in this chamber, including in the galleries, I might read the relevant protection of religious freedom very slowly, because what this amendment proposes is that nothing in this act should limit or derogate from the right of any person to manifest in a lawful manner his or her religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching. I put it to everyone in this chamber this evening: is there anyone at all here who does not believe in the right of people to manifest their religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching? And if, as I am confident, every single person in this wonderful parliament tonight believes that it's right that people should have this fundamental protection, well, what possible objection could there be to including this in the bill before us? We have heard today contributor after contributor to these debates say that nothing in this bill will impinge on freedom of religion. Well, supporting this amendment is an opportunity to demonstrate absolute fair dinkumness when it comes to those statements. It's an opportunity to show that all the things that we've said—all the people who've objected to earlier amendments and everything they said about their desire not to impinge in any way on faith, on freedom, on religion—are fair dinkum. Yes, it's true that if we pass this amendment that the bill, as amended, would then have to go back to the Senate, and there may be an hour or so of toing and froing before it came back. And I know there are many people in the galleries this evening who are yearning for the completion of this debate, but I am quite confident that you would enjoy the hospitality of this House. We could provide some hospitality here in this House. There are many members who would be …
date: 2017-12-07T16:49:00+00:00

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
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description: As the Treasurer said earlier, our society is absolutely unimaginable without the schools, the hospitals, the employment agencies and the drug and alcohol rehabilitation services that the great...
encoded: As the Treasurer said earlier, our society is absolutely unimaginable without the schools, the hospitals, the employment agencies and the drug and alcohol rehabilitation services that the great Christian charities have provided for hundreds and hundreds of years. And it's their faith that drives them. They do it because of their faith motivation, and part of that faith is that marriage is between a man and a woman, preferably for life and, usually, dedicated to kids. Once same-sex marriage is enshrined in law, on public policy grounds, organisations that don't recognise same-sex marriage could, indeed, be subject to some kind of official sanction. Overseas, this has happened. Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to withdraw their services. Orthodox Jewish schools have had their funding threatened. American Christian colleges have had registration refused to their law graduates because of their teaching on marriage. Don't think that it can't happen in this country; it already has. I recall, as employment minister, back in 2003 finding a Human Rights Commissioner threatening faith based employment agencies because of their own employment practices. If that threat had been acted upon, they would have had to withdraw their services. So these amendments are important. I stress: they are not against same-sex marriage. They are simply in favour of the rights of religious organisations to keep doing what they have always done in the great interests of the Australian people.
date: 2017-12-07T13:27:00+00:00

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
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description: The problem that this House is wrestling with today is the absence of detailed consideration of freedom of speech, of conscience and of religion, which both the Prime Minister and the Leader of...
encoded: The problem that this House is wrestling with today is the absence of detailed consideration of freedom of speech, of conscience and of religion, which both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition promised would be given to us before this bill was finalised. That is the problem. A promise was made by the leaders of this parliament and the promise has not adequately been delivered upon, and that is why this parliament is now being called upon to deal with this on the run, as it were, because the promises made from the top were not adequately delivered on. Let me make a couple of observations. I have never before heard members of this House showing such supine respect to another place. Why is it that, simply because something has been passed in the Senate, these are tablets of stone handed down from the mountain top beyond any question or consideration or delay by this House? Please. What would Paul Keating think of the supineness of this House of Representatives in the face of those in the other place across the corridor? We have a problem now, and I would ask those in doubt about this amendment or perhaps inclined to oppose this amendment to consider the actual facts. The Archbishop of Hobart put out a pamphlet—he did nothing radical; he did nothing out of line. He simply asserted the traditional Christian teaching on marriage and he spent months being officially bullied and officially persecuted before the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Tribunal. A Canberra teenager who dared to place on social media her support for traditional marriage was sacked. Parents have been lied to about the content of curriculum their children are exposed to, and now that same curriculum is becoming compulsory in the state of Victoria. We have a problem and we must address it now. We must do what both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition said would be done but as yet has not been done. If that means a conference between the supporters of the Dean Smith bill and t…
date: 2017-12-07T11:36:00+00:00

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
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description: If I could just make a couple of observations following the contribution from the member for Melbourne: look, it's true that we've just had a plebiscite campaign, and it's true that some of us in...
encoded: If I could just make a couple of observations following the contribution from the member for Melbourne: look, it's true that we've just had a plebiscite campaign, and it's true that some of us in this House argued strongly for the 'no' case, but all of us in this House are respecters of the democratic process, and I think it would be wrong to say that there are very many people left in this House who are opponents of same-sex marriage. What there are left in this House—more, I suspect, than the member for Melbourne might think—are people who believe in freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and parental choice. These amendments are not designed to frustrate this bill. They are not designed to delay this bill. They are designed to improve this bill and to make this bill a unifying occasion—as unifying as it can be under all the circumstances. Almost eight million Australians voted yes; almost five million Australians voted no. All Australians, whichever way they voted, deserve to have their views respected and, as far as is possible, accommodated in the legislation. I suspect that many of the eight million who voted yes did not want to exclude traditional marriage; they simply wanted to embrace same-sex marriage too. And that's the beauty of the amendment proposed by the member for Deakin: it respects traditional marriage while allowing same-sex marriage to take place. In addition, it is extending to new celebrants the freedom of conscience that is given in the bill to existing celebrants. If it's right for existing celebrants to have this freedom of conscience, surely it's right for new celebrants to have this freedom of conscience as well. We all want this bill to proceed expeditiously through the House. We all want Australians to feel proud of the parliament this day, but I think we will feel prouder of the parliament this day if the parliament is capable of considering these amendments on their merits rather that coming into this chamber wi…
date: 2017-12-07T10:22:00+00:00

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I should begin by acknowledging the tireless efforts of the member for Leichhardt to bring about the change that we debate today. I should also note the passion and the commitment of the members...
encoded: I should begin by acknowledging the tireless efforts of the member for Leichhardt to bring about the change that we debate today. I should also note the passion and the commitment of the members for Brisbane, Goldstein and North Sydney and, indeed, of Senator Smith in the other place. I admire the commitment that they have brought to this long campaign and I accept that what they have fought for for so long should now come about. Yet almost five million Australians voted no in the recent plebiscite and their voices should be heard in this chamber, and their views should also be respected. They are not bigots. They are simply people who are respectful of traditions handed down from time immemorial and slow to change them. It's no secret that I haven't been a supporter of same-sex marriage. I won't be opposing this bill, though, because I respect the verdict of the Australian people as expressed in the postal plebiscite. When it comes to same-sex marriage, some countries have introduced it via the courts, some via the parliament, and others, Ireland and now Australia, by vote of the people—and that is the best way because it resolves this matter beyond doubt or quibble. To have a plebiscite was in fact an Abbott government decision. We opened the door to change but ensured that change would not lightly be made. I'm pleased that the plebiscite has been continued by the Turnbull government, and I'm also pleased that eventually all sides of this parliament participated fully in it. There were strong views expressed in the course of the campaign. Some of those strong views were mine. I'm proud of my fellow 'no' campaigners because they gave marriage the good defence that it deserved, but I do congratulate the 'yes' campaign on their victory. There was a lot said beforehand about how divisive this debate would be, but, from where I stood, there was little rancour, no hysteria and no abuse. Certainly there was none from the 'no' campaign. The overwhelming support for same-s…
date: 2017-12-04T12:58:00+00:00

McPhee, Ms Anna | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: Too many people don't get the recognition they deserve. Even today, despite the wonders of modern medicine, too many people are cut down in their prime. Today I rise to pay tribute to Anna...
encoded: Too many people don't get the recognition they deserve. Even today, despite the wonders of modern medicine, too many people are cut down in their prime. Today I rise to pay tribute to Anna McPhee, a former Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency head; a former chief of staff to New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell; a business-group head; a constituent; and a friend, who has just lost her battle with cancer aged only 46. Her family were solid Liberals. Her grandfather led the party in the New South Wales parliament and served as a minister in the Askin government. Her father was a Warringah campaign director. Her great-great-grandmother had eight sons, three of whom became members of parliament. So Anna was part of a wonderful tradition of public service, and it was her decency and humanity that made her a concerned and active citizen. She respectfully disagreed with her local MP on the subject of same-sex marriage, but we were on a unity ticket on the need for more women in parliament representing the conservative side of politics through targets, not quotas, and on the need for more democracy in the New South Wales Liberal Party. Probably Anna's final contribution to public life was a wonderful speech that she made to a women's seminar at the recent Liberal Party people's convention at Rosehill, and I wish to quote what she said on that occasion. She said: Liberals … should be spoiled for choice at pre-selection, attracting the best and brightest to public service, we must have selectors who think for themselves and who select the best candidate on … merit … not gendered or factional, candidates men and women who know what they believe in … who can prosecute Liberal policy and debate [and attract] a majority of voters. Without that we will be condemned to a structural deficit of talent that will ultimately deprive the women and men of Australia what they need to get ahead—[that is to say] more Liberal governments. This is a sad moment for me, but I w…
date: 2017-09-05T16:34:00+00:00

Johnson, Mr John Richard 'Johno', KCSG | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to mourn John 'Johno' Johnson, for 13 years president of the New South Wales Legislative Council—a fine Australian, a great servant of the Labor Party and a friend to many on this...
encoded: I rise to mourn John 'Johno' Johnson, for 13 years president of the New South Wales Legislative Council—a fine Australian, a great servant of the Labor Party and a friend to many on this side of politics too. Johno had four great loyalties: to his party, of which he was a life member; to his country, which he served indefatigably in many ways rather than merely in the parliament; to his church—a Papal knighthood was the only honour he ever accepted; and to his family, who have been by his bedside for months now. For years, Johno did his best to recruit me. After the 1993 election I was an unemployed ex-Hewson staffer. Johno called to say, 'It's time you came back to your true home.' 'I've never left the church,' I replied. 'No,' he said, 'the Labor Party.' 'I could almost be tempted,' I said, 'except for Paul Keating and his crusade to make Australia a republic.' There was a long pause, 'Comrade, there's no hope for you,' he said, and hung up the phone! There will always be hope for Australia whilst ever we have people in public life who epitomise the ideals of duty and service as Johno Johnson did so magnificently.
date: 2017-08-09T13:37:00+00:00

Papua New Guinea | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: The people of Warringah are broadminded and they have wide-ranging interests, and so this afternoon, with your indulgence, I want to talk just for a little about PNG, our nearest neighbour; our...
encoded: The people of Warringah are broadminded and they have wide-ranging interests, and so this afternoon, with your indulgence, I want to talk just for a little about PNG, our nearest neighbour; our only former colony; home to 10,000 dual citizens; our largest foreign aid recipient by far; and, along with New Zealand, one of only two countries in the world that have Australia as their largest trading partner and their largest source of foreign investment. Like Australia, New Zealand is passionately interested in the great sport of rugby league. It is a Melanesian superpower. It has close to 10 million people and in some years recently it has been growing at some nine per cent per annum. Australia and PNG have geography and history in common, but we also have a future to work on as well as a past to honour and respect. Here in Canberra, we tend to have our horizons fixed on countries like Indonesia, China, Japan, India, the United States and Europe, and because of the difficulties in the Middle East often we are focused there. These places are, perhaps, more important to us than PNG. But we are more important to PNG than those far-flung places are to them. We should focus on the places where we can do good, as well as the places where we hope good might be done to us. We should focus on the places where we can help, as well as on the places where we might be helped. PNG certainly has helped us. I am very conscious of the fact that but for PNG's help with the Manus boat people processing centre, we would have been in great trouble in 2013. It is funded by Australia but it is run by PNG, and the more obvious it is that this is a PNG centre then the more likely it is that people will go home. We have helped PNG, particularly with the 70 Australian Federal Police officers who we have had there since 2013 acting as advisers. The more operational responsibility that those AFP people can have, the better. It would be very wrong for funding not to be continued beyond the middle o…
date: 2016-11-08T16:24:00+00:00