Russell Broadbent's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2025-09-07T23:05:08+00:00
items: Health Care: Immunisation | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Member for Moreton | Questions to the Speaker | House debates
items: Petition: Freedom of Speech | Adjournment | House debates
items: COVID 19: Vaccination | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Parliamentary Representation | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Covid-19: Response | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Freedom of Speech | Adjournment | House debates
items: Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Donnelly, Mr Cecil | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Energy | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Climate Change | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Society, Nuclear Energy | Adjournment | House debates
items: Wages | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Home Ownership | Private Members' Business | House debates

Health Care: Immunisation | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Our government's no jab, no pay policy, which withholds the family tax benefit part A supplement and childcare subsidies from families who choose not to vaccinate their children in accordance...
encoded: Our government's no jab, no pay policy, which withholds the family tax benefit part A supplement and childcare subsidies from families who choose not to vaccinate their children in accordance with the national schedule, is unreasonable, unethical and unconscionable in a country like ours. This policy is the only law in the world that ties a person's access to social support payments to their compliance with a medical procedure. Welfare payments are being used as coercive leverage against parents' personal health choices, targeting parents least able to absorb the loss of payments. It punishes young families, single parents and low-income Australians, who are already doing it tough. Coercion is not a good policy; it's lazy and unethical governance. It erodes trust in public health and undermines informed decision-making—two cornerstones of safe and ethical health care. How is questioning your doctor about vaccines—'How safe is it? What's in it? Has it been tested?'—seen as a radical and extreme concept? Surely, having a conversation to weigh up risks and benefits and choosing to decline a medical product without facing fear of financial reprisal from your own government would be an automatic human right. We must be better than this. We must stand for informed consent not enforced compliance. Health decisions are personal, not political. Repealing no jab, no pay is not an antivaccine position; it's a pro-choice, pro-ethics position. The government should never hold your child's welfare hostage to your informed medical decisions. Where is the Human Rights Commission on this issue? (Time expired)
date: 2025-03-27T13:33:00+00:00

Member for Moreton | Questions to the Speaker | House debates
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description: I have noticed with interest this week that your grace has been upon the member for Moreton in that you haven't ejected him from the chamber. I'm just wondering whether your grace will extend...
encoded: I have noticed with interest this week that your grace has been upon the member for Moreton in that you haven't ejected him from the chamber. I'm just wondering whether your grace will extend through question time today.
date: 2025-03-27T09:02:00+00:00

Petition: Freedom of Speech | Adjournment | House debates
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description: Today I rise to pay my respect to and honour a remarkable group of Australians who have been unwavering in their support and have sustained me in my fight to protect our freedoms, especially our...
encoded: Today I rise to pay my respect to and honour a remarkable group of Australians who have been unwavering in their support and have sustained me in my fight to protect our freedoms, especially our fundamental rights to bodily autonomy and freedom of speech. While I know there's always a risk in naming individuals, I cannot possibly list everyone who's played a part. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary commitment, tenacity and courage of the following people. These are the people who have consistently stood for truth and justice, no matter the personal or professional costs—medical professionals like doctors Julie Sladden, Chris Neil, Duncan Syme, Jeyanthi Kundahasan, Melissa McCann, Phil Altman, Judy Wilyman, David Bell and Kara Thomas; professors Ian Brighthope, Gigi Foster and Kylie O'Brien; lawyers Katie Ashby-Koppens, Julian Gillespie and Tony Nikolic; journalists Rebekah Barnett, Maryanne DeMassi and Elizabeth Hart; and, of course, former Qantas pilot Graham Hood, former paramedic John Larter and firefighter Josh Hawkes, who, despite being terminated from their jobs due to COVID mandates, have turned their adversity into a powerful force for truth and justice. A special mention goes to Katie Ashby-Koppens, who, as part of a small but determined team at the Aligned Council of Australia, a peak group representing over 1.8 million Australians, led the charge against the chilling and Orwellian mis- and disinformation bill, a bill that would have legalised state sanctioned surveillance and censorship. In mid-2023, I wrote to all my fellow parliamentarians to sound the alarm about this heinous bill. Now, thanks to the efforts of thousands of Australians, the bill has been axed—for now at least. Today I'm proud to present to the House the 'Save the truth, Stop the Mad Bill' petition, which has been considered by the petitions committee and found to be in order. The petition read as follows— The proposed Misinformation and Disinformation Bill threatens to undermine f…
date: 2025-02-13T16:49:00+00:00

COVID 19: Vaccination | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: More than 140,000 Australians have lodged, on the TGA database, adverse reactions to the not-so-safe and ineffective COVID vaccines. But thousands of these Australians have been unable to access...
encoded: More than 140,000 Australians have lodged, on the TGA database, adverse reactions to the not-so-safe and ineffective COVID vaccines. But thousands of these Australians have been unable to access compensation due to the scheme's overly onerous requirements and very narrow eligibility criteria—people like Tracey, who came to my office today, and Bernice, Dirk, Jason, Jerry, Joel, Kara, Karen, Linn, Margaret, Michelle, Naomi, Orida, Rado and Sandra. But Chris, a 51-year-old father of two, was more fortunate; at least, he thought he was. With the help of a lawyer, Chris navigated his way to securing compensation after suffering horrific life-altering injuries from the COVID vaccine. This process included 12 months of compiling more than a thousand pages of documents and then a further 500 days for the claim to be assessed and settled. Chris's financial settlement is in the millions of dollars, compensating him not just for the short-term impacts of his injury but also for lost income, given he's unable to return to his career of 30 years. But Chris's horrific story doesn't end here. It turns out his compensation will be subject to full taxation in the year the payment is received. This means that around one-third of his compensation will be lost in tax and returned to the very government that mandated these unsafe and untrialled vaccines. In my opinion this is cruel, callous and unconscionable behaviour by government and completely at odds with the intent of the compensation scheme. These compensation payments should be tax free.
date: 2025-02-06T13:36:00+00:00

Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: The misinformation bill is dead thanks to the collective tireless efforts of Australians and a few of their representatives in this parliament. From the moment it first appeared in 2023, I...
encoded: The misinformation bill is dead thanks to the collective tireless efforts of Australians and a few of their representatives in this parliament. From the moment it first appeared in 2023, I slammed this bill, writing to the Leader of the Opposition to express my strongest objections. The legislation was and always has been an offence to democracy. What made the government think they could be the purveyors of their truth? Just look at the COVID track record. We were told 15 days to slow the spread; instead we had two years of border closures and harsh lockdowns. We were told masks weren't effective. Then they were. Then you only had to wear them standing up and not sitting down—madness. We were also told that, if you take the vaccine, you won't get COVID and you won't infect other people—more lies. Emails show that Australian experts knew the shots didn't stop infection or transmission, yet the vaccines were mandated anyway. The Australian Department of Home Affairs censored 4,000 social media posts under the guise of misinformation—posts that turned out to be completely and utterly true. Australia's COVID inquiry showed trust in government institutions has been decimated. Why? Because the government was the largest purveyor of misinformation over the past four years, and the people knew it. The people have spoken, and the mad bill is dead. Today we celebrate, but let's not rest. The social media bill is set to bring about digital ID by stealth. The government says, 'don't worry; it's voluntary', but the government will try to make life impossible without one. So they do at their peril; the people have spoken.
date: 2024-11-25T16:41:00+00:00

Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Thank you for the opportunity to speak on aged care once again, after many, many times. I support the member for Barker's remarks in full, in total, absolutely. Personally, I don't have a problem...
encoded: Thank you for the opportunity to speak on aged care once again, after many, many times. I support the member for Barker's remarks in full, in total, absolutely. Personally, I don't have a problem with where the Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill is headed, and the coalition have already announced that they will be letting this bill go through on the voices. Having said that, I have a major problem with the implementation of the bill and the processes we've come to, to this point. The last thing Prime Minister John Howard said to me before his government was defeated and he was defeated was, 'Russell, don't come and ask me for more money for aged care,' because the exponential increase of moneys put into aged care from the time I was first elected in 1990 until this time has been astronomical. So every government has had to increase the funds it outlaid on aged care. But I would put this to you: the implementation has always been the problem, and it is a problem today. John and Betty came into my office. He's now in his 90s and is living at home with his wife. All he wants is his lawn mowed, nothing else. He has a package, but the package can't be implemented because the agency that has the package hasn't got the staff to do it. We found out recently with another inquiry we had that the agency that is charged with the responsibility of delivering the package has 88 people on its waiting list to get their lawns mowed or their gutters cleaned or whatever it is; there are 88 people just for lawns. It may not seem like a big thing to get your lawn cut, and, yes, his son comes in sometimes and does it, but there are other times John would like the place looking nice. We as a government have outlaid funds for them to do that, which was the old HACC, the Home and Community Care, program. That program has been transferred into private hands, and the private people are in it for profit; therefore, there are less funds for the end users. I'm disappointe…
date: 2024-11-25T18:35:00+00:00

Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Today I hold petitions signed by 54,464 Australians who are vehemently opposed to the government's mis- and disinformation bill—people who rightly believe this bill is not only a grave...
encoded: Today I hold petitions signed by 54,464 Australians who are vehemently opposed to the government's mis- and disinformation bill—people who rightly believe this bill is not only a grave threat to freedom of speech but also to our precious democratic values. I'll be delivering these petitions to the petitions committee today. To every Australian who is standing up and speaking out against the government's unprecedented and unparalleled intrusion into our private lives, I say thank you. Hold the line and keep up the pressure. Government overreach is in plain sight, for all to see. This bill should send a chill down the spine of every Australian. In my decades of service to this parliament I've never known such outrageous legislation, which I believe is both unconstitutional and breaches our human rights. It's simple maths. This mis- and disinformation bill plus the social media ban for children under 16 plus digital identity requirements equals tyrannical, state-sanctioned surveillance and censorship. Make no mistake, this is an election issue. Australians know that these bills are an insidious assault on our nation's way of life, sneakily presented under the guise of keeping us safe, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are dangerous, they are a violation of our privacy and they are an ominous sign of what could be in store for the people of this nation.
date: 2024-11-21T13:33:00+00:00

Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: Australia has a world-class health system: Medicare. The backbone of that system is the dedication of our highly skilled, hardworking healthcare workforce. These healthcare workers are subject to...
encoded: Australia has a world-class health system: Medicare. The backbone of that system is the dedication of our highly skilled, hardworking healthcare workforce. These healthcare workers are subject to intense conditions that wouldn't be acceptable in any other industry, but day in day out they get on with their job and do it wonderfully. They bore the brunt of the pandemic. Even though overwhelmed by immense pressure and unknown variables, healthcare workers stood as our first line of defence. But, four years on, healthcare workers are still overwhelmed in large part by unprecedented and unexplained levels of sickness right across the country. Why isn't anyone investigating this phenomenon? The Australian people deserve answers. Today I rise to speak on a matter of grave national importance which has, until now, been met with silence by those who should be taking decisive action. My recent correspondence with the Prime Minister highlights alarming findings in synthetic DNA contamination in Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 products, detected at levels of up to 145 times above the TGA's own stated limits. Let me assure you that I did not write those letters lightly. My letters were accompanied by a science summary co-authored by 52 eminent scientists including Dr David Speicher, a Canadian virologist, who authored the report investigating DNA contamination in Australian COVID-19 Pfizer and Moderna vials; Professor Angus Dalgleish, one of the world's leading oncologists; Emeritus Professor Wendy Hoy; Emeritus Professor Robert Clancy; Professor Alexandra Henrion Caude; and Kevin McKernan, former research director of the Human Genome Project. These distinguished individuals put their names and reputations on the line attesting to the overwhelming evidence of synthetic DNA contamination in these vaccines and the risks posed to Australians. The science summary speaks directly to the catastrophic implications of this contamination. Experts have determined that as few as three to 10 m…
date: 2024-11-18T12:37:00+00:00

Parliamentary Representation | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: At six o'clock last night in my office we quietly celebrated the closing of the polls in 2004, which saw me re-elected to the parliament after being defeated twice before and being a oncer...
encoded: At six o'clock last night in my office we quietly celebrated the closing of the polls in 2004, which saw me re-elected to the parliament after being defeated twice before and being a oncer twice—and the member at the table was a participant in one of those election campaigns. It has been an honour to serve the people of McMillan and Monash, accordingly, in that time. Of course, in my 25 years in the parliament, I served as the member for Corinella for three years as well. It's been a very difficult time, in that two great achievements were, firstly, being on the wrong side of every leadership ballot for the whole 25 years because I supported the leader, and, secondly, being in a place where policy was particularly important to me and I was prepared to speak out on those issues, no matter who the government of the day was. I've never stepped back from the time that I spent in this place in the alternative, and I look forward to continuing in that role.
date: 2024-10-10T13:30:00+00:00

Covid-19: Response | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: It's a pleasure for me to speak today on a critical issue that has been an issue for me for some time. Today I hosted in the House, from the Australian Medical Professionals' Society, AMPS, Dr...
encoded: It's a pleasure for me to speak today on a critical issue that has been an issue for me for some time. Today I hosted in the House, from the Australian Medical Professionals' Society, AMPS, Dr Chris Neal, Dr Jeyanthi Kunadhasan and Kara Thomas. With them were Professor Angus Dalgleish and Dr Paul Marik. Professor Dalgleish is an imminent virologist; immunologist; medical oncologist; general physician; professor at St Georges, University of London; fellow of both the UK and Australian Royal Colleges of Physicians; and fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. He has over 500 publications in peer reviewed literature and over 25,000 citations. Dr Paul Marik is a former tenured professor of medicine and chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. His training is in internal medicine, critical care, pharmacology and anaesthesia. He has over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles, 80 book chapters and four critical care books. He's been cited over 54,000 times in peer-reviewed publications and is a founding member of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance. These two gentlemen have an amazing message for us. They are eminent doctors who have made significant contributions to medicine and the advancement of patient care over the decades of their lives. We would do well to pay attention to their message. But the problem is that their message, if given out only a few short months ago, would be deemed as misinformation or disinformation under the bill that's coming before the House, which is further censorship of scientists, censorship of health professionals and censorship of doctors and nurses. It's been a pleasure to have them in the House and hear the message that such eminent people gave around the whole history of the COVID response, not only the COVID response but the effect it's had on so many millions of people across the world. We would do well to listen to such eminent people, to change the way we're going about things an…
date: 2024-10-08T16:18:00+00:00

Freedom of Speech | Adjournment | House debates
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description: Today is a dark day and one that does not bode well for the nation. The government's so-called combatting misinformation bill marks the beginning of the end for free speech and democracy in...
encoded: Today is a dark day and one that does not bode well for the nation. The government's so-called combatting misinformation bill marks the beginning of the end for free speech and democracy in Australia. Make no mistake, this bill is another alarming example of overreach and a step towards government tyranny over what we can and cannot discuss. It gives the government unfettered power and control over Australians and their right to exchange ideas, thoughts and opinions. Do you realise what we're risking here? Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, and, as Benjamin Franklin said, there is no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. The bill compels digital platform providers like X and Facebook to censor content that may contribute to serious harm. But who makes that decision? Who's the arbiter of truth? One of the bill's definitions of content that may cause serious harm is content that may cause serious harm to 'public health in Australia, including the efficacy of preventative health measures'. Where have I heard those words before? Why don't they just say misinformation is whatever discussion or debate goes against the narrative of the government of the day? It appears that anyone with a view that's contrary to the government's narrative is going to be in the firing line, just like during the pandemic, when our government, the government I was a part of, censored 4,000 social media posts as misinformation, many of which proved to be absolutely true. I'm not alone in my concerns. In giving feedback on the original exposure draft, the Law Council rightly outlined concerns that digital platform services lack the expertise and resources to identify and distinguish misinformation. The Human Rights Commission, who were missing in action during the pandemic, said the bill didn't strike the right balance between censorship of objectively untrue content and protection of freedom of expression. It seems this final bill hasn't adequately addressed either of th…
date: 2024-09-12T16:29:00+00:00

Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Paid parental leave is an avenue for, in particular, women to participate further in their opportunities to work, their families to have better opportunities and, as has been described in the...
encoded: Paid parental leave is an avenue for, in particular, women to participate further in their opportunities to work, their families to have better opportunities and, as has been described in the legislation, women to have greater opportunities for a better retirement than they would otherwise have had. The Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024 is to be supported and is laudable. It brings in fairness and justice, which the government and this parliament has promoted through whatever parliament there has been before it. When injustice festers in a community, it ripples outward, affecting us all. Injustice doesn't just harm those directly involved; it compromises the entire fabric of society. We can't stand idly by when faced with discrimination, especially when it targets the most vulnerable among us—our children, particularly our Indigenous children. We share the burden of this injustice, and it is our collective duty to call it out and demand change. I don't claim to be an expert on the pros and cons of childhood vaccination. That's for those far more knowledgeable than I. However, what I do know and what has come to my attention through the voices of over 1,000 families is the deep harm caused by policies like no jab, no pay and no jab, no play. These measures, intended to protect public health, have instead punished families who choose not to vaccinate, by stripping them of essential support. Childcare subsidies, out-of-hours care, Centrelink payments and crucial family tax benefits have all been reduced or withheld entirely. Families, particularly single-parent households, are being driven to the brink, living hand to mouth, struggling under the weight of government policies that are, at best, indifferent; at worst, cruel. Kirsten is one of many who have reached out to me whose story is emblematic of the challenges faced by countless others. When Kirsten welcomed her first child into the world, it was a moment …
date: 2024-09-11T11:14:00+00:00

Donnelly, Mr Cecil | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Today in the House Tom Pritchard was honoured as the last remaining Rat of Tobruk. My next-door neighbour, Cecil Donnelly, was a Rat of Tobruk. Cecil began his working life working for my...
encoded: Today in the House Tom Pritchard was honoured as the last remaining Rat of Tobruk. My next-door neighbour, Cecil Donnelly, was a Rat of Tobruk. Cecil began his working life working for my grandfather at his grocery store. Cecil went on to become a POW on Crete, after Crete was overrun, and then a POW in Germany. Cecil finished the war as a POW. He was a remarkable gentleman because, in a way, he was very humble and never mentioned to me he'd been a Rat of Tobruk in any of the conversations we had. It was interesting: he called his children by nicknames—Alan was 'Gondi', Craig was 'Macca', Meredith was 'Minnie' and Kaye was 'Kad'. I remember that each night at five o'clock—our family ate later than the Donnellys did—Midge Donnelly, the mum, would come out and yell out the four names of the kids at the top of her voice, and they'd come in for their dinner. I honour Cecil Donnelly and all the Rats of Tobruk that made Australia and the nation—and they had that reputation that was spoken about in regard to Tom Pritchard today. I was so proud that Cecil Donnelly, my mum's friend and one of the first workers, was honoured in this way today.
date: 2024-08-12T16:27:00+00:00

Energy | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: Here's another dose of Monash common sense from Russell Broadbent. One thing that I have always held up very high, as the member for Monash—and, formerly, the member for McMillan, and the...
encoded: Here's another dose of Monash common sense from Russell Broadbent. One thing that I have always held up very high, as the member for Monash—and, formerly, the member for McMillan, and the member for Corinella before that—is that I have a duty of care not only to the people that I represent locally but also to the nation. We are parliamentary representatives—and I have the greatest respect for every member of parliament who comes into this place with a view to putting Australians and their best interests first and having a duty of care towards them. As to that duty of care, have you ever thought for a minute why there isn't already a nuclear plant here in Australia? Well, we have one—but a major nuclear power plant? There is one very good reason. It's that we have an abundance of natural resources in coal and gas. How dare it be written, as it was in one of the newspapers I read on the weekend, that coal is the cheapest form of electricity! Coal powerfully grew the Hunter Valley. It powerfully grew the Latrobe Valley and gave Victoria an abundance of cheap power. We have so much gas underground in Victoria, it's nearly bubbling to the top by itself. But there's a moratorium in Victoria that says: 'We lack common sense. We are going to cut both our hands off in regard to energy so we can't use these amazing natural resources that we have.' If we don't address that, and exercise our duty of care towards the Australian people, we are going to end up having maybe not brownouts but running out of power in some spots. So we'll just switch off Bendigo for a while, or we'll take the biggest business we can find and tell them: 'You're going to have to curtail what you're using at the moment. We're going to have to cut your gas down for a while, so you won't be able to operate that day. Can you agree with that?' My wife had a day this week without power and she went through all the issues. I said, 'Look, I've got this fantastic battery boiler; you can put it onto the car, a si…
date: 2024-07-04T10:00:00+00:00

Climate Change | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: You're destroying manufacturing in this country. Manufacturing has been declining. I'd love it if the government's plan for manufacturing were true. It is not. It is not the future. You're not...
encoded: You're destroying manufacturing in this country. Manufacturing has been declining. I'd love it if the government's plan for manufacturing were true. It is not. It is not the future. You're not doing the best. You don't have a duty of care for this country. I say that to the Treasurer as well. Give me the plan that takes you from here to net zero and all the things that go on the bridge to get there without destroying all the benefits that coal and gas grew this country on.
date: 2024-07-04T13:51:00+00:00

Climate Change | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: After nearly 25 years in this House, it comes down for this to me: it's a matter of common sense in our legislation. It's a matter of trust given by the Australian people to our politicians. It's...
encoded: After nearly 25 years in this House, it comes down for this to me: it's a matter of common sense in our legislation. It's a matter of trust given by the Australian people to our politicians. It's a duty of care to the Australian people. We take something from our doctors in our legislation when they commit to first do no harm—I say to your nation. Net zero by 2050 for me is a plan and a future target, but there's no bridge—I see the minister—that is practical from now to net zero by 2050 to get you there. I would ask anybody to come to me and show me how, without destroying Australian manufacturing, farms, businesses and opportunity, you can take this country from where we are today to net zero by 2050.
date: 2024-07-04T13:51:00+00:00

Society, Nuclear Energy | Adjournment | House debates
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description: Today I open a new book, a new gospel. I'm going to read a verse from the gospel of Adam: Adam Creighton of the Australian, with a new book called a new book called 'The Book of Common Sense'....
encoded: Today I open a new book, a new gospel. I'm going to read a verse from the gospel of Adam: Adam Creighton of the Australian, with a new book called a new book called 'The Book of Common Sense'. For this nation and nations around the world, with regard to the arguments that you and everybody in this room have heard about whether we use nuclear power or we don't use nuclear power—thousands of words written over the last six to eight weeks in newspapers across this land. So I open the new book today: the book of common sense. One of the profits and watchkeepers of this book of common sense that I open today is Adam Creighton. There are others, but there is Adam Creighton particularly in an article in the Australian today which to me says it all. For a start, he talked about how the electoral fortunes of those in Europe, who have voted recently, seem to be changing in dramatic ways. In a biblical reflection, their voting trends are changing, and they're changing because they are people who are thinking and using the book of common sense. In France, the support for the great green movement has halved to 5.5 per cent. In Germany, support for the Greens collapsed 50 per cent, to 12 per cent from 24. In the US, support for nuclear energy for domestic power surged from 43 per cent in 2020 to 57 per cent in 2023. The number of nuclear reactors in the US, which provide around 20 per cent of the country's electricity, declined from a peak of 111 in the eighties to 93 today, but nuclear power is being embraced by the current Biden administration as the only realistic way to achieve net zero. I am enjoying this book of common sense. France has announced it's building at least six and up to 14 new nuclear power stations in the coming years. India is building how many—18 nuclear stations by 2030. China is planning at least 100 new reactors by 2035. Yes, nuclear power stations will be expensive until the speed of production increases and local industry adjusts. State and federal gove…
date: 2024-06-27T12:15:00+00:00

Wages | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: I have risen to speak on motions like this probably many times in my time in the parliament, and it is very clear to me now that this is another promotion that has come straight out of polling....
encoded: I have risen to speak on motions like this probably many times in my time in the parliament, and it is very clear to me now that this is another promotion that has come straight out of polling. The Labor Party repeat, 'We want you to have more money and keep more of your money.' They have proposals here in the budget. But I would like to take them up on just a couple of things. While the energy bill relief is targeted and helpful for people, energy bills have gone through the roof so badly that these measures haven't got the punch that they would have had if we hadn't had the increases that we're experiencing now through inflation. Household insurance and business insurance doubled in many cases last year and had a further increase this year. But it's the hidden costs that I want to talk about today. What are the hidden costs that are hitting people very hard? I'll give you two examples. I know they're both state issues, but families are families are families. We're responsible for them, state governments are responsible for them, and local governments are responsible for them. Everybody's taken their chip, to the point where a report from the other day, from a welfare agency that provides food and welfare for the community, said, 'The people that used to donate to us are now coming to us for food parcels.' That's an indictment on everything that we're doing at the moment. In the first example, a builder is picked up on a camera—a speed camera or a camera checking registrations et cetera—and they find out that the tandem trailer is two days over its registered date and that the builder was driving around with a trailer that had been unregistered for two days. Fair enough. You would think you'd get a reasonable fine for that. The registration for that trailer is $75. The fine is $772, and if you don't pay it within the given time then it's another $65 on top of that for compliance. I'll give you another example of what's happening to people out in the community. This…
date: 2024-06-24T11:12:00+00:00

Home Ownership | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: Over the past year or so, I've been following Matt Barrie, an award-winning Australian technology entrepreneur who has his finger well and truly on Australia's housing pulse—a pulse that is...
encoded: Over the past year or so, I've been following Matt Barrie, an award-winning Australian technology entrepreneur who has his finger well and truly on Australia's housing pulse—a pulse that is weak, sluggish and in desperate need of immediate resuscitation. As Matt said recently: The root of all evil in this country is the astronomical price of housing. Once you understand all the ramifications of that—it really is the problem that is the root of all problems. I couldn't agree more, Matt. Matt also delivered a sobering message. He said: … it is now mathematically impossible for a household on the median income to pay off a mortgage in Australia … What happened to the lucky country? What happened to the clever country? Since when did the offer of a car park to sleep in for homeless women and children become a solution? The current situation is that, despite the Reserve Bank increasing interest rates to get a hold of inflation, property prices in capital cities in Australia continued to surge another 20 per cent last year. Matt Barrie said a home is considered astronomically unaffordable by economists if it costs more than five times the average salary. In Australia, the average capital city home is nine times the average salary of Australians and, in Sydney, it's an eye-watering 13 times. So who's to blame? This has been an issue on the horizon for decades now, so the blame has apportioned to all sides of politics, but Labor's immigration policy—bringing in 518,000 people in 2022-23—has served only to inflame this already hot issue to the point where now homeownership is unaffordable for the vast majority of the Australian population. What is the solution? Economist Yanis Varoufakis has told the Equity Mates Investing podcast that another one million homes were needed in Australia within the next three years. He said that any measures to increase the affordability of housing, such as lowering interest rates or government grants, would only increase prices. Australia is …
date: 2024-06-03T13:19:00+00:00

Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: Whilst I disagree with some parts of the motion the member for Macarthur has put forward to the House today, I would never doubt his sincerity towards the issues around health and the wellbeing...
encoded: Whilst I disagree with some parts of the motion the member for Macarthur has put forward to the House today, I would never doubt his sincerity towards the issues around health and the wellbeing of his community and the community in Australia, and I applaud him for that. He asks for improvements to our health system. Well, we're clearly in desperate need of improvements, given the way that flu, RSV and COVID are currently sweeping across the nation and overwhelming the public health system. Elective surgeries have been cancelled under South Australia's emergency 'code yellow', with plans to transfer some patients from overwhelmed Adelaide metropolitan hospitals to regional centres—in large part because frontline workers are sick. But how can that be, if they're all vaccinated? Clearly I do not understand how vaccinations work. An improved and supportive health bureaucracy is not the experience of Chris Nemeth, a vaccine-injured gentleman who has been suffering great distress and financial hardship since he was injured by the COVID vaccine. Chris is so desperate that he's given me permission to use his full name. Chris was diagnosed with a COVID vaccine injury called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, which resulted from his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. He will have this condition and need treatment for the rest of his life. This is the same vaccine that was removed from pharmacy shelves after its manufacturer conceded, in a United Kingdom court last month, that the vaccine causes blood clots. It bewilders me that there hasn't been more of an uproar from Australians who received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Chris has been engaged with the government's vaccine injury compensation scheme and is getting nowhere. Working with a lawyer, because the system is so difficult to navigate, Chris compiled a thousand-page submission, which he submitted to Services Australia on 2 March 2023. That's 459 days ago. In those 459 days, his application passed the in…
date: 2024-06-03T11:27:00+00:00