Anthony Byrne's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2022-07-06T23:05:38+00:00
items: Holt Electorate: Australia Day Awards | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Afghanistan | Adjournment | House debates
items: Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Education | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Intelligence and Security Joint Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
items: Quarantine Facility in Victoria; Approval of Work | Motions | House debates
items: Barton, Ms Elizabeth | Statements by Members | House debates
items: This is Holt: Our Community - Our Stories | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Sikh Volunteers Australia | Adjournment | House debates
items: Mental Health | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Foreign Interference in Universities | Motions | House debates
items: Neighbour Day | Statements by Members | House debates
items: 2020 Holt Community Spirit and Leadership Awards | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Holt Electorate: Oromo Ethiopian Community | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Fuel: Security | Adjournment | House debates
items: Telecommunications | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Australia-China Relationship | Grievance Debate | House debates

Holt Electorate: Australia Day Awards | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I want to talk about an exceptional group of people and organisations that I honoured on Australia Day as part of the 18th annual Holt Australia Day awards. Thirty-eight individuals and six local...
encoded: I want to talk about an exceptional group of people and organisations that I honoured on Australia Day as part of the 18th annual Holt Australia Day awards. Thirty-eight individuals and six local organisations were recognised for their contribution to the community at the Cranbourne Community Theatre on a rather sultry Australia Day. This wouldn't have been possible without the incredible Holt Australia Day Awards Committee, which comprises Leanne Petridis, Jodie Hollis, Chris Drysdale and Rohimi Barielli, who I want to thank for assisting us with picking these worthy award recipients. This year we recognised individuals like Suzanna Klaster, for her 31 years of service to Casey Radio, and Harley Meddings, for his tremendous volunteer work at the Cranbourne information support centre—or Community Information & Support Cranbourne, as it's known now. We recognised organisations like the Bakhtar Community Organisation, for supporting Afghan Australians in the city of Casey during the pandemic and assisting the settlement of newly arrived Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban. The exceptional people and organisations that were awarded the Holt Australia Day Award this year were: Mr Ali Rahimi, Amorelle Blom, Andrew Pinxt, Barry Freeman, Beven Elankumaran, Carolyn Carr, Charitha Dissanayake, Damien Ablett, Graeme Phipps, Harley Meddings, Jesse Anderson, Jim Wright, Jo Ann Fitzgerald, John Broughton, Dr Kim Son Vu, Kimbarlie O'Reilly, Kimben Lim, Les Rand, Lisa Tuthill, Lloma Shaw, Margaret Lenders, Maureen Fowler, Nia McMartin, Nicole Treffers, Niroshi Rodrigo, Paul Garrett, Peter Hanson, Polly Freeman, Rev. Ric Holland, Robert Adams, Robert Ward, Sara Jafari, Shinnee Kapea, Suzanna Klaster, Dr Tarekegn Chimdi, Tim Burgess, Wayne Smith and Yaneth Orellana. The organisations were Aged Care Reform Now, Bakhtar Community Organisation, Hampton Park Tennis Club, Multicultural Youth Support Service, Monash Health, for the COVID-19 pandemic response, and Sikh Sewaks Australia (SS…
date: 2022-02-10T10:56:00+00:00

Afghanistan | Adjournment | House debates
type: item
description: [by video link] I want to talk tonight about Afghanistan, in particular what has happened there more recently, particularly with the evacuation of some 4,000 citizens, visa holders, locally...
encoded: [by video link] I want to talk tonight about Afghanistan, in particular what has happened there more recently, particularly with the evacuation of some 4,000 citizens, visa holders, locally engaged employees and permanent residents from Kabul airport. As you may know, I've had a close relationship with the Afghan community here in Melbourne, in the south-east of Melbourne, for over 25 years. I've had and have many friends in this very remarkable community. I would like to say that my thoughts and prayers are with them as they've been watching those horrific scenes unfolding at Kabul airport, and they are also with those from the Afghan Australian community who are very concerned about their loved ones, family and relatives who weren't able to be evacuated from Kabul in the past two weeks. One of the grave concerns I have for Afghanistan, having worked in the security space now for some 20 years, is what the reinstatement of Taliban rule in Afghanistan will mean for the people of Afghanistan. I recall watching nearly 20 years ago the World Trade Center towers crash to the ground. I recall what happened in Afghanistan when the Taliban were last in power in the late nineties until 2001, until the international community took action against the Taliban because of its support for al-Qaeda. I remain concerned, as someone who is in the security space, about the Taliban's continuing connection with al-Qaeda. From reports that I'm receiving internationally and locally, that support has not diminished, and there is still a connection between al-Qaeda and the Taliban. I would like also to take this opportunity to thank the veterans community. They must be feeling what they've seen and heard at Kabul airport very, very deeply. To those veterans who may be listening to this: thank you for the work you did over those nearly 20 years in securing Afghanistan. I've got to say to you that your mission was a success. I do recall that we needed to take—the international community resol…
date: 2021-09-01T19:40:00+00:00

Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: [by video link] It goes without saying, with respect to the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill 2021, that the Labor Party supports this bill. I...
encoded: [by video link] It goes without saying, with respect to the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill 2021, that the Labor Party supports this bill. I also support the second reading amendment that was moved by my friend the member for Scullin with respect to the declared area provisions, but I will come back to that a bit later on in this discussion. As I said, we support the bill. The bill deals with a range of counterterrorism and other police powers in the Crimes Act 1914 and the Criminal Code Act 1995 which are due to expire on 7 September 2021. These four powers are the declared area provisions, the control order regime, the preventative detention regime, and a range of stop, search and seizure powers. This bill would extend the sunset date on each of these powers which was, as I've said, 7 September 2021. As well as extending a number of the sunset dates, the bill would also allow the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to conduct a review of the operation, the effectiveness and the proportionality of the declared areas provisions prior to the new sunset date. Finally, the bill would amend the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Act to give the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor more time to finalise his review of the continuing order regime. I note the contribution from the previous speaker, the member for Dawson. In terms of his broad support for the legislation that's been put before him and that he was debating and making a contribution on, he raised some issues about privacy concerns; I noted that. I've been someone who has had his parliamentary career defined by what happened on 11 September 2001. I think it was the defence minister who said everyone in Australia knew where they were at the time that those twin towers fell, at the time when those planes hit the twin towers. I can recall that moment nearly 20 years ago vividly, as vividly as though I'm watching …
date: 2021-08-23T15:53:00+00:00

Education | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: I rise also to support the member for Parramatta's motion that acknowledges the bicentenary of Catholic education in this country. Catholic schools have educated millions of Australians over the...
encoded: I rise also to support the member for Parramatta's motion that acknowledges the bicentenary of Catholic education in this country. Catholic schools have educated millions of Australians over the past 200 years, as said in the member's motion, and today Catholic schools are one of the largest providers of schooling, second only to government schools. I think Catholic schools educate about one in five Australian school-age children. I also want to note that the national mass was celebrated simultaneously across Australia on the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians on Monday 24 May to mark the bicentenary of Catholic education in Australia. National Catholic Education Commission Executive Director Jacinta Collins said that the national mass was 'a highlight of the bicentenary year' and went on to say: As a faith community, our National Mass to celebrate 200 years of Catholic education holds significant meaning … I think the member for Parramatta and the member for Berowra have touched on the scale of Catholic education in Australia. It's quite unique in the world in terms of the service it provides. I think that, at the present period of time, the Catholic education sector serves over 770,000 students and employs over 100,000 staff in roughly 1,800 schools. The chair of the Bishops Commission for Catholic Education, Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher, said: The bicentenary of Catholic education in Australia invites us to remember the past with gratitude, be inspired by that story in the present, and look forward with faith in the future. He also said: After two centuries of service, we in Catholic education are determined to make an even greater contribution to the lives of our young people, families, church and society. And he congratulated the Catholic education sector on its 200th birthday. Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli led a celebration of mass with more than 600 Catholic school students and teachers at St Patrick's Cathedral. One thing to note is someth…
date: 2021-06-23T17:04:00+00:00

Intelligence and Security Joint Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—I've sat on this committee, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, now for some number of years. I recall and note that the Hezbollah's External Security...
encoded: by leave—I've sat on this committee, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, now for some number of years. I recall and note that the Hezbollah's External Security Organisation wing was originally prescribed in 2003. There have since been six relistings which have required, under the statue, our committee to examine the listing and to make recommendations. I've sat as a member of the committee on five of the considerations of those relistings—for some period of time. I recall when we first looked at this in 2005, and subsequently that this distinction between the external security organisation and Hezbollah more generally seemed to be very artificial. My concern certainly wasn't ameliorated over the considerations of each relisting. I think it's very important, particularly in the Five Eyes, to note that we were the only Five Eyes partner that didn't list the military wing or Hezbollah in its entirety in terms of a terrorist organisation, and I don't think that occurring benefited Australia or Australia's national interest. I also wanted to raise a concern about the fact that in 2018 when the bipartisan committee came to a conclusion and recommended to the government that in the prescription process that it would contemplate listing the military wing we didn't get a response to that—the 2018 report—and that's concerning. The government relies on this committee a very great deal. When I speak to interlocutors on sister committees in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere they talk about the great work that this committee has done. For example, when we passed the foreign interference laws, those laws were passed only due to the very diligent work of the committee. The other organisations in jurisdictions like the United Kingdom looked at what we've done, our work, very closely. So my point to the government is, particularly when we are recommending something of this substance and this weight, that the government gives appropriate c…
date: 2021-06-23T10:30:00+00:00

Quarantine Facility in Victoria; Approval of Work | Motions | House debates
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description: First off, I would commend the Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories for bringing these works to the table. Obviously, they are going to be bypassing the Public Works...
encoded: First off, I would commend the Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories for bringing these works to the table. Obviously, they are going to be bypassing the Public Works Committee, and I make no criticism there. What I am deeply concerned about and somewhat incredulous about, as a Victorian who has watched the people he represents being locked down on four occasions, and given, as the Acting Premier of Victoria says, the wicked nature of this virus, is the fact that we are doing this now, when it has been such a long period since this plague hit our shores. If you were in the outer suburbs, you had been locked down on four occasions, you had made the sacrifices that governments had asked you to make to keep the community safe, you had seen that over the forward estimates we will have a trillion dollars in debt and you had seen the economy rebounding after the work that you in those outer suburban areas and each of the states had done to keep everyone safe, you would expect a government and its Prime Minister to lead. You would think we would not be welcoming the first mention of this public works co-facility in Victoria but speaking about the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth or tenth. Fundamentally, it is stunning to me that we have a Prime Minister who basically won't lead. Perhaps we should ask a tradie from the outer suburbs to come in here, because he or she would know what to do. Everyone knows what the difficulty is. It is that we have a hotel quarantine system that's designed to fail. Everyone knows it. We see the evidence of this in the commonsense test. Australians have great common sense, and everyone I speak to knows that hotel quarantine doesn't work. The government will say to you, 'Well, 97 per cent of people have come through.' Have a look what happens when three per cent or even one per cent gets out into the community. You cannot have a system that is city based. I have watched the buses come to the hotels in Adelaide and Melb…
date: 2021-06-23T10:00:00+00:00

Barton, Ms Elizabeth | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: I wish to acknowledge the achievements of aged-care reform advocate Elizabeth Barton, who I was honoured to award a 2021 Holt Australia Day Award to this year. Liz retired from nursing on 6...
encoded: I wish to acknowledge the achievements of aged-care reform advocate Elizabeth Barton, who I was honoured to award a 2021 Holt Australia Day Award to this year. Liz retired from nursing on 6 November 2020 after an incredible 54 years of service. She is now dedicated to improving aged-care services in Australia as an aged-care reform advocate. Liz believes—and she is very qualified to be talking about this—that, after 20 inquiries and a royal commission, we need a new aged care act, along the lines of the Victorian safe patient care act, with proper staffing ratios and a focus on the human rights of older people. Liz states that we must end the neglect in our aged-care system and ensure mandatory reporting of elder abuses. Liz is a dedicated, hardworking member of our community, who is also on the Cranbourne Community Hospital consultative committee. She is working to ensure that we deliver an amazing new hospital for local residents in Cranbourne. Liz has also previously made important contributions to the arguments for the important nurse-to-patient ratio legislation. Liz concentrated her submission on palliative care, the area in which she worked tirelessly for 18 years. Her experience and knowledge of the discipline only strengthened the profession's submission and made compelling arguments for the importance of qualified clinicians in end-of-life care. Our community needs more like Liz Barton, a hardworking community advocate that doesn't mind standing up for what she believes in in the aged-care sector. Thank you, Liz, for many dedicated years of quality clinical care for patients and families at their most vulnerable time.
date: 2021-06-21T16:20:00+00:00

This is Holt: Our Community - Our Stories | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: Today I wanted to talk specifically about people and organisations that make a massive difference to my community, my constituency and my region by their good efforts and good deeds. Being a...
encoded: Today I wanted to talk specifically about people and organisations that make a massive difference to my community, my constituency and my region by their good efforts and good deeds. Being a Victorian—and a number of other Victorians are here with me at the moment—it's been a tough year and a bit for us all, particularly for those that are in Victoria at the moment. From small and large businesses to sole traders, everybody in every constituency that we represent has done it tough and has done an amazing job in seeing off the worst of the COVID pandemic. Obviously, with the state government announcing the relaxation of the recent lockdown restrictions, some hope has been provided, but what I want to talk about separate to that—and we do it on an ongoing basis—is the people that continue to provide hope on an ongoing basis to our community. In a way I would characterise what we're doing at the moment in my project that I'm about to talk about as a light at the end of the tunnel. I want to talk about a project that was started before the lockdown. It's a project which showcases positive stories of amazing people and organisations that make a real difference in my constituency and electorate of Holt. Each week over the coming months I'll be releasing videos celebrating and highlighting the unsung heroes and organisations in Holt. The initiative under which I'll be doing this is entitled 'This is Holt: Our Community - Our Stories'. We've posted three or four short videos that encapsulate what individuals and organisations do. The initial filming started before the second lockdown. So, if you're watching the videos and seeing people without masks, they were done before the second lockdown. I think what they do—and we hope that you enjoy these stories—is again amplify that, in a world that is seized with anxieties and fears about COVID and about what might be happening internationally, we need to remember what makes Australia great, which is each of these constituent unit…
date: 2021-06-16T17:00:00+00:00

Sikh Volunteers Australia | Adjournment | House debates
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description: I rise tonight to speak about an amazing community organisation, which I proudly acknowledge as based in my electorate. It's an organisation that has become a beacon of hope for many people in my...
encoded: I rise tonight to speak about an amazing community organisation, which I proudly acknowledge as based in my electorate. It's an organisation that has become a beacon of hope for many people in my area and in Victoria—a Victoria which has been ravaged by bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic and now flooding. This organisation has become synonymous with the essential Australian spirit of mateship and helping out those in need. I speak of course of Sikh Volunteers Australia. On Australia Day this year, Sikh Volunteers Australia was one of four local organisations to be awarded a 2021 Holt Australia Day Award, for their response in supporting families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given their ongoing efforts, which continue even as I speak here, I think it's appropriate to continue to acknowledge them. I want to talk just a little about their extraordinary work and the inspiration that they provide to us all. During those awful bushfires in late 2019 and early 2020, amidst the trauma, the grief and the fear, Sikh Volunteers provided hope. Let me cite the words of a Victorian police officer whose job it was to evacuate those in the bushfire ravaged areas. He said: 'The community of East Gippsland were significantly displaced during the fires, with emergency relief centres set up to provide assistance to displaced people. In my role as a police officer, knowing the devastation that the areas from Mallacoota to Bairnsdale had endured, to see the Sikh Volunteers on the ground providing hot meals to the community was a relief, knowing that the public and the emergency workers were being cared for in support of the emergency response.' He said, 'This makes me so proud, and demonstrates that each of us, no matter how small or insignificant we may feel, can do things to change people's lives through care and compassion.' Another example of the great works and feats of this group was experienced in the second lockdown in Melbourne last year, when 3,000 residents living in pu…
date: 2021-06-16T19:40:00+00:00

Mental Health | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: I rise to support the member for Macquarie's private members' motion on mental health, which notes that suicide is the leading cause of death amongst Australians aged 15 to 24. If you read the...
encoded: I rise to support the member for Macquarie's private members' motion on mental health, which notes that suicide is the leading cause of death amongst Australians aged 15 to 24. If you read the statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 384 young people took their own lives in 2019. Then, if you talk about suicide, 96 of those were by suicide. Deaths by suicide represented 40 per cent of all deaths in young people aged 15 to 17 and 36 per cent of all deaths in those aged between 18 to 24, which is up from approximately 25 per cent of all deaths in these age groups in 2010. You read that data and you're horrified. I had the lived experience of this when we had a suicide cluster in the south-eastern region in 2011 and 2012. During that time, you would see on occasion, as you drove to work, the name of a young person on a bridge, or you'd see on Facebook the loss of a young person, and then another young person, and then another young person. There was a sense of community helplessness as to what to do. I think the member for Indi was talking about Albury and the work that Professor Pat McGorry had done there. He also did incredible work down in the south-eastern region of Melbourne during that time, which I think has literally saved lives. Because of what had actually happened prior to that and prior to Professor McGorry coming in, we actually called Pat in. He had been dealing with the issue of appropriate mental health facilities in Albury to deal with this suicide cluster, and we asked him to do the same thing, which he did. He came down and, in 2012, we conducted a forum that was covered by Four Corners. They produced a program on it called 'There is No 3G in Heaven'. It featured some of the people we'd actually lost. We conducted that forum, with Pat McGorry facilitating it. It's impossible to describe to this chamber, or to anybody, being there and watching the parents of young people get up and describe the impact of the loss of their child.…
date: 2021-06-02T17:32:00+00:00

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I rise today to speak on Appropriation Bill (No.1) 2021-2022, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, which provide...
encoded: I rise today to speak on Appropriation Bill (No.1) 2021-2022, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2021-2022 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2021-2022, which provide appropriation from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the annual services of government for 2021-22. I do so as Victorians are again in a lockdown, the fourth lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The incredible efforts of the Australian people can't be left unremarked, in particular the people of Victoria for their heroic and Herculean efforts in seeing off this pandemic. Ever since this modern plague hit our shores in early 2020, the Australian people have met this scourge head-on. They have made enormous sacrifices, barely imaginable by the public in a democracy and forecasters alike some time ago. It has been quite a remarkable transformation in the way in which people are dealing with the public health menace that we are confronting. It says a lot about the Australian people that, unlike in some other countries, they have adhered to the very onerous restrictions that they have been required to undertake to protect their fellow community members. Again, on behalf of all of those in this chamber, I thank the people of Australia and Victoria for the sacrifices they have made to keep each other safe, because we know what the consequences are. People can see it by flicking on their television screens at night when a country is not taking appropriate measures to protect its population. Some of the images that you see on television are very, very confronting. So Australians know that they need to take these actions to keep our community safe. I also think, though, that what our community wants when we've been asked to make these sacrifices—we have asked the Australian people to make sacrifices—is a government that gives them clarity. Where are we going to collectively? We ask collectively as a government through the national cabinet and through each state government for people to stay …
date: 2021-06-01T12:47:00+00:00

Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No.4) 2020-2021, which provide appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the annual services of...
encoded: I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No.4) 2020-2021, which provide appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the annual services of government for the remainder of 2021. I do so within the context of how our nation should proceed with the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. I was reflecting on this. I remember having a discussion with a member of the government at the first iteration of the coronavirus—when it first showed itself here in this country and first manifested itself in a way that brought itself to the public attention. We spoke about the government response and what might happen to this country after that. We knew that our country, as a consequence of this pandemic, had changed, and will change, irrevocably, in ways I don't think we could possibly imagine. I think we're still trying to see and determine what has happened to our country. It's like a gigantic rock has been thrown into a pond and we're trying to gauge the reverberations of the pandemic on our society and our community, and the actions of our government. In that discussion I had with the member of the government, I said that, given the sacrifices that we were about to ask the Australian community to make, we had an opportunity to reimagine Australia, to reboot Australia, to put a vision forward of Australia—an Australia that could be, not just the Australia that was. And what we did and watched, post March 2020, was Australians making the sacrifice that governments called upon them to make to keep each other and our country safe in peaceful ways, in ways of common sacrifice and communal sacrifice that we perhaps haven't seen in other countries in the world. We asked people to do things in this country that they haven't done before; and they did so, primarily peacefully, for the common good. In that contract, given what we had asked them to do, given the sacrifices that we had asked them to make, we would have imagined and cr…
date: 2021-03-23T17:34:00+00:00

Foreign Interference in Universities | Motions | House debates
type: item
description: I also support this motion. As someone who has a strong interest in this particular sector and also the issue of foreign interference, I always think that, as John Garnaut would say, the more...
encoded: I also support this motion. As someone who has a strong interest in this particular sector and also the issue of foreign interference, I always think that, as John Garnaut would say, the more sunlight we can shine on this issue, in terms of what is happening to our universities, our society and our communities, the better off we're going to be. We need to be educating not just the education institutions but the Australian public about the threat of foreign interference in a lot of sectors of our economy and our society. Therefore, I support this and have been supporting the people who have worked so hard behind the scenes within the national intelligence community to bring us up to speed to protect our universities and research sector, which is the particular motion that we are talking about today. It's also important at the start of my contribution to point out that a lot of this has been driven by the actions and words of the Director-General of Security, Mike Burgess. He detailed this in his first annual threat assessment, when he said: The level of threat we face from foreign espionage and interference activities is currently unprecedented. It is higher now than it was at the height of the Cold War. I remember talking to the previous Director-General of Security, Duncan Lewis, with respect to that. It was something we actively discussed. Some in the public say, 'They're just words,' but for the men and women of our intelligence and security agencies and our police forces they're not just words; they're actions. They need to take action. They're threats. They need to deal with the threats. This threat, this specific manifestation of this ongoing and enduring threat that we will face as a country for 25 to 50 years plus of our lifetimes—for the foreseeable future of our country—is immense. So I support that particular statement made by the Director-General of Security. With respect to the higher education and research sector, they are one of the threat vectors. Th…
date: 2021-03-22T17:32:00+00:00

Neighbour Day | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Neighbour Day is Australia's annual celebration of community, encouraging people to connect with their neighbours. Neighbours matter, never more so than we've demonstrated in dealing with COVID...
encoded: Neighbour Day is Australia's annual celebration of community, encouraging people to connect with their neighbours. Neighbours matter, never more so than we've demonstrated in dealing with COVID as we did last year, particularly in sticking together. Knowing your neighbours and the broader community is clearly important, and that is why we're encouraging everyone, if they can, to celebrate in a COVID-safe way Neighbour Day 2021, which is generally held on the last Sunday of each March, which will be 28 March this year. The theme of this Neighbour Day this year is 'Every day is neighbour day'. As I was alluding to, particularly given how collectively we saw off the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic by sticking together as a community, I think it's a good reminder about that sense of community that helped us get through and why we should stay connected to our neighbours. One of the things that I discussed when I caught up with Ruth Murray and Jenny Colvin—they are two amazing and remarkable women who used to live in Doveton and have now shifted to Cranbourne and currently live at Lifestyle Casey Fields. They are people who embody what the sense of community is. During COVID they were posting a song on Facebook that Jenny would sing each day. It's a sense of who we are as people. We are humans and we need to interact with each other and protect each other. We need to matter and care. Neighbourhood Day is a good way of celebrating that.
date: 2021-03-22T16:07:00+00:00

2020 Holt Community Spirit and Leadership Awards | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: On Monday 14 December I conducted the 2020 Holt Community Spirit Leadership Awards in what was a virtual presentation ceremony via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Last year marked...
encoded: On Monday 14 December I conducted the 2020 Holt Community Spirit Leadership Awards in what was a virtual presentation ceremony via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Last year marked the 19th Holt Community Spirit and Leadership Awards. Thirty-four students from 33 local schools were recognised at this fairly unique awards ceremony. The students that received the award included Caplen Dexter from Barton Primary School, Eliz Szasz from Botanic Ridge Primary School, Lilly Hopp from Casey Grammar School, Scarlett Mills from Casey Fields Primary School, Desi Kohobange from Clyde Primary School, Cailin Farrington from Coral Park Primary School, Nastaran Mirzaie from Courtney Gardens Primary School, Shujaat Haidri from Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School, Frederick Kiellerup from Cranbourne East Primary School, Fatemeh Habibi from Cranbourne Park Primary College, Josh Bradford from Cranbourne Secondary College, Jamie Bryant from Cranbourne South Primary School, Brianna Boehl from Cranbourne West Primary School, Ineya Sudhakar from Hampton Park Primary School, Eddie Vusic from Hampton Park Secondary College, Harrison De Koning from Hillsmeade Primary School, Katiana Michael from Kilberry Valley Primary School, Lily Hughes from Lynbrook Primary School, Harrison Hand from Lyndhurst Primary School, Zoe Baltruschaitis from Lyndhurst Secondary College, Charlotte Pataki from Marnebek School Cranbourne, Charlotte Nicholls from Narre Warren South P-12 College, Alyssa Hansen from Pearcedale Primary School, Tearo Johassen from Rangebank Primary School, Jerry Cheap from River Gum Primary School, Daelan De Zilwa from St Francis de Sales Primary School, Tapuitea Li-Rina Passi from St Kevin's Primary School, Corey Coupar from St Peter's College Clyde North Campus, Emily Andrew from St Peter's College Cranbourne Campus, Siobhan O'Connor from Strathaird Primary School, Hershey Montemayor from Tulliallan Primary School, Blake Hewegama from Waverley Christian College, Bryn Howel…
date: 2021-03-18T10:12:00+00:00

Holt Electorate: Oromo Ethiopian Community | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: Members of Melbourne's Oromo Ethiopian community continue to be concerned by ongoing political tensions in Ethiopia. According to Human Rights Watch, in 2020 the security and human rights...
encoded: Members of Melbourne's Oromo Ethiopian community continue to be concerned by ongoing political tensions in Ethiopia. According to Human Rights Watch, in 2020 the security and human rights situation in Ethiopia deteriorated as Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed struggled to retain order amidst growing unrest and political tensions. The government postponed scheduled national elections in March 2020, citing COVID related health risks. National elections are now due to be held on 5 June 2021. However, the local Oromo community does not believe that these elections will be free and fair and, as a result, two of the most popular political parties, OLF and OFC, have pulled out of the election. Since the terrible assassination of popular Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa, which triggered protests on 29 June 2020, heavy-handed security response and large-scale property destruction has taken place in Oromia. The Oromo community around the world remains deeply sceptical, distrustful and frustrated about what is happening. There are two people who have been imprisoned, in particular, Bekele Gerba and Jawar Mohammed, for some period of time. The Oromo community also wants release of those two individuals, who are suffering and have been on hunger strikes, and others who have been held by the Ethiopian regime.
date: 2021-03-15T16:16:00+00:00

Fuel: Security | Adjournment | House debates
type: item
description: I rise tonight to talk about the dire situation of Australia's fuel security. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about our fuel security had been steadily growing. I had raised it, as had...
encoded: I rise tonight to talk about the dire situation of Australia's fuel security. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns about our fuel security had been steadily growing. I had raised it, as had the member for Canning, the member for Solomon and Senator Jim Molan. Our concerns were about a lack of liquid fuel reserves, insufficient fuel storage capacity and our diminishing fuel refining capabilities. What we've seen during this pandemic has brought these concerns to a crisis point. COVID-19 has exposed the weaknesses in Australian supply chains. Our reliance on these supply chains has been severely disrupted by the closing down of economies and borders, which has left us exposed and vulnerable. Shortages in critical medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and testing kits, as well as personal protective equipment and clothing for health professionals and frontline workers, impacted our initial pandemic response. At the same time, heightened international tensions, particularly around major trade routes, are forcing us to realise that we run the risk of further supply chain disruption. Current measures to address this issue are falling a long way short of what is needed. The federal government's $211 million fuel security package announced in September was meant to address the enormous shortfalls in Australia's fuel security. So far, it has failed. Since the announcement, Australia has lost two of its four remaining oil refineries. Kwinana in Western Australia has closed, and it has just been announced that the ExxonMobil oil refinery in Altona will close. That leaves us with an energy refinery in Geelong and a refinery in Lytton in Queensland. Twenty years ago we had eight refineries, which virtually took care of all of our domestic fuel requirements. At present, Indonesia has eight refineries. The UK has six major refineries and one smaller one. Japan has 23 oil refineries. The United States has 137 refineries. We have two. What does that mean? It means that we will have…
date: 2021-02-23T19:50:00+00:00

Telecommunications | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I rise this morning to raise one of the most important issues facing my constituents in the electorate of Holt and that is after years and years and years of lobbying, many residents in my...
encoded: I rise this morning to raise one of the most important issues facing my constituents in the electorate of Holt and that is after years and years and years of lobbying, many residents in my electorate, too many residents in my electorate, don't have access to reliable mobile phone reception, particularly in suburbs like Cranbourne East, Clyde, Clyde North and surrounding areas. These are some of the fastest growing areas in Australia. These are suburbs that have lots of young families that come and live and expect, in the 21st century, that when you shift in to an area—and one of the fastest growing areas in Australia—that you would actually have mobile reception. It is story after story after story of people not being able to use their mobile phones. This is the 21st century in a major capital city in one of the fastest growing areas in Australia and you can't use your mobile phone. The consequences of that can be quite terrifying and I'll get into that in a second. Deputy Speaker, as you know, when these matters are raised there is a lot of, in a sense, passing the buck—a bit of handballing like Polly Farmer. I'm putting you are all on notice: the federal government, the City of Casey, telecommunication providers. Stop making excuses and give people the facilities that they deserve, need and warrant. Just because they live in the outer suburbs does not mean that they should be discriminated against. Because you live in Cranbourne East or Clyde or Clyde North does not mean that you should be excluded from getting an essential service like a mobile phone service. Here is one example of not being able to use a mobile phone. Zoe Harriet from Clyde North basically had incredibly difficulty ringing an ambulance for her six-month-old son during an emergency. Her son, thankfully, is okay, but she's unable to contact an ambulance to get access to her son in Cranbourne East. It is unacceptable that that would actually happen. It actually defies description that that would ha…
date: 2021-02-18T10:42:00+00:00

Holt Electorate: Australia Day Awards | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I rise in this place to talk about a group of 30 outstanding individuals and four local organisations we honoured on Australia Day at the Tooradin and District Sports Club as part of the 17th...
encoded: I rise in this place to talk about a group of 30 outstanding individuals and four local organisations we honoured on Australia Day at the Tooradin and District Sports Club as part of the 17th annual Holt Australia Day Awards. I want to thank the Holt Australia Day Awards committee, who helped select these outstanding individuals and organisations—Vanessa Gerdes, Jodie Hollis, Chris Drysdale and Rahimi Baryalai. Australia Day is a day where we can come together and recognise those that make a significant difference to our community, that make Australia a better place to be—what I call the 'social glue' that keeps our community together. I would like to, if I can, read a large number of people's names and organisations into the record to again acknowledge them here in terms of their outstanding achievements and efforts to make our community a better place. They are Alexander Stroud, Barbara Pain, Dr Bol Juol-Thor, Brian Lasky OAM, David Forscutt, David Gomm, Debra Keogh OAM, Elizabeth Barton, Erin Wallace, Gam Tran, Glenn Weir, Hemanth Kumar, Ian Ronald Symons, Judy Clarkson AM, Karen Janssen, Lauren La'Brooy, Machid Ali, Marie Garcia, Dr Mary Cole, Mathew Keene OAM, Neil Haesler, Nigel Bertram, Robert John Best, Rosemary Mynard, Ross Wilkie, Senthil Senthilnathan, Steve Miller, Swaran Singh, Xiu Mei Li, Zarghuna Aatifi, Cannons Creek Foreshore Committee of Management, Monash Health COVID-19 Pandemic Response, and South East Climate Action Network. They are names and organisations, but they are people. They are people that through their efforts have made Australia a better place. I think Australians do this in terms of their community contribution in a very Australian way. They don't seek recognition. They don't seek the awards, the honour, the fame. They just get out there and do it. We saw that time and time again through the COVID response. I mentioned the Monash Health COVID pandemic response team; but also the community organisations that worked in the most chall…
date: 2021-02-17T10:53:00+00:00

Australia-China Relationship | Grievance Debate | House debates
type: item
description: That's an interesting act to follow! Tonight I want to make some remarks regarding Australia's relationship with the government of the People's Republic of China. I would start my address by...
encoded: That's an interesting act to follow! Tonight I want to make some remarks regarding Australia's relationship with the government of the People's Republic of China. I would start my address by noting the words of President Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, when he addressed our nation's parliament on 17 November 2014. He said: Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, while China and Australia are oceans apart, friendly contacts between our two countries have a long history. Starting from the early 19th century, many Chinese began to arrive in Australia by ship. They gradually integrated themselves into the local community and they made an important contribution to Australia's development— which they did. In the first half of the 20th century, Chinese and Australians fought together in two world wars and jointly upheld world peace and human justice. In 1972, China and Australia entered into diplomatic ties, which opened a new chapter of friendship and cooperation in the relations between our two countries. This was in November 2014. I was actually there, and I'm sure you were too, Deputy Speaker. He went on further to say: Our national legislatures maintain regular exchanges, which serve as an important platform for exchanging views and experiences of governance. President Xi also stated: As an old Chinese saying goes, the ocean is vast because it admits numerous rivers. It is the steady streams of mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples that have created the vast ocean of goodwill between China and Australia. I am greatly heartened by the immense support for China-Australia relations in both countries. Those encouraging words were made six years ago. They spoke of a relationship that was deep and growing, a relationship built on trust and mutual benefit, a relationship that would have been—could have been—enduring and strong. Let's talk briefly about Australia. Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world. We …
date: 2020-12-08T19:08:00+00:00