Andrew Laming's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2022-07-06T23:05:40+00:00
items: Budget | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Valedictory | Adjournment | House debates
items: Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
items: Defence Honours and Awards | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Covid-19 | Adjournment | House debates
items: Housing Affordability | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Schools | Statements by Members | House debates
items: GP Access After Hours Service | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Covid-19: Vaccination, Bowman Electorate: Homelessness | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Statements by Members | House debates
items: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People | Motions | House debates
items: Child Care | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Member for Bowman | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021, Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Redland Strawberry Festival | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Aboriginal Economic Development Forum | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates

Budget | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Last night's budget was a boon for homebuyers—150,000 places over three years for deposit assistance. It's a policy so compelling, it's been appropriated by the other side. I also note...
encoded: Last night's budget was a boon for homebuyers—150,000 places over three years for deposit assistance. It's a policy so compelling, it's been appropriated by the other side. I also note today that it's been a year since those ridiculous allegations about me were published through the media, untrue, egged on by ALP opponents and broadcast without obtaining my version of events. They're now a thing of the past. Last year's bullies were not warriors for women. They used the same tactics against women for their own personal advancement. Strong women don't need that conduct in their lives. If the media has now considered war in their commentary will get both sides of the debate, then that is an important legacy for me to leave behind from these last 12 months.
date: 2022-03-30T13:59:00+00:00

Valedictory | Adjournment | House debates
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description: There is something to be said for speaking from the heart but also speaking without notes. But if, in your final speech to the parliament, you omit to thank your own daughters and mum, there is...
encoded: There is something to be said for speaking from the heart but also speaking without notes. But if, in your final speech to the parliament, you omit to thank your own daughters and mum, there is something to be said for grabbing some notes and doing it properly! So, for the first time since 2011, I confess there's a very, very important prompt sheet—which, I assure you, has been put together by me, but there has been some oversight. I wanted to recognise—as I didn't, because I completely lost my way in talking about my wife's incredible journey to this country—my 13- and nine-year-old daughters. Sophie is this remarkably empathic young leader that I wanted to refer to in my final speech. She works so hard just to be good at everything she does, and already, at her age, she is starting to make these tough choices about what she can and can't do, to try and not raise ridiculous expectations—as we often do on teenagers. Isobel, at the age of nine, is delighting us with determination, resolve and insistence on process and fairness—particularly when dad doesn't show it! She just drove past the ASIO building this week and said: 'Dad, is that the spy building? I want a job there. Can you get me a tour?' That's a challenge to the minister! We all have parents who brought us to where we are, but the particular story with my mum and dad is that they fell in love and went to the far corners of the earth, as we knew it, in the 1960s, which was to Hobart—no offence to Tassie!—and then to the tropical island of Bougainville, and then to the Papua New Guinea highlands, one of the most remarkable places on the planet. Dad took me under the shadows of Mount Giluwe and taught me survival skills—which sometimes came in handy in this building! I learnt how to hunt birds using bows and arrows, with arrowheads made of possum glenoid processes to hunt a bird without damaging its plumage—something that I haven't done here in Australia with our indigenous species, you'll be relieved to know.…
date: 2022-02-17T13:06:00+00:00

Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
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description: Others will judge our time here. It's customary to thank friends and colleagues, but we can do that over a 'Lukiatto' or a late-night dinner. It's customary to hold our family tight and say thank...
encoded: Others will judge our time here. It's customary to thank friends and colleagues, but we can do that over a 'Lukiatto' or a late-night dinner. It's customary to hold our family tight and say thank you for the remarkable opportunity, but we can do that at home. This opportunity I want to devote to thousands of Australians who never lost faith in what we do here and at a time when so often—perennially—in Australia we are tempted to dismiss, discard or disparage democracy. There are so many people out there, colleagues, that cannot count their time here in days or months or years or even decades. They were never here, but they fought and provided the basis of this pyramid that we enjoy of democracy, whose apex is right at that dispatch box. They weren't just our campaigners—they were anyone who cared enough to fill out a petition; bang the table; dare I say, glue their hands; burn the doors. Whatever their passion about federal issues, I need to say in your own way, thank you, because it may be ugly but it's our ugly. I've got a friend, Geoff Redpath, known as Twinks. He lived in Anzac Avenue, Camp Hill, and with his piercing blue eyes he would look at me as I would try to explain to him my shortcomings in this place, and he would ask me about what happens down here. He desperately wanted to know about the ifs, the buts, the workarounds, the expedience, the flexible and malleable morality that's on show here sometimes, and I would just try and try and explain. Geoff will be remembered as an unsuccessful LNP preselection candidate, and if you go on the web you'll see on the ECQ website that he ran in an unbelievably close Division 6 election for local government on the Fraser Coast, where three candidates all got 33 per cent. He led by 50 votes after prepoll and fell short by about that margin, and within months—no wife should come home to find a lifeless husband in the backyard shed. But he never lost hope; he wanted to fight to the end for this great nation in his own …
date: 2022-02-14T15:26:00+00:00

Defence Honours and Awards | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: I move: That this House: (1) notes the recent Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal recommendation to create a new class of medals and clasps which recognise the loss suffered by the...
encoded: I move: That this House: (1) notes the recent Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal recommendation to create a new class of medals and clasps which recognise the loss suffered by the families of Australian Defence Force personnel killed or seriously wounded as a result of their service; (2) acknowledges the advocacy role taken by former SAS serviceman Kerry Danes and his wife Kay Danes; (3) thanks the veterans and the families of veterans that made submissions to the tribunal; and (4) urges the Government to complete the consultation process as soon as practicable and ensure that the proposed recognition be applied to all military service on behalf of this nation. In this motion today, I wish to note, acknowledge, thank and urge. I want to note the very important decision from the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal on 25 January, making a recommendation to government relating to recognition of the fallen—those who make the ultimate sacrifice—and those who are injured and wounded in service. Of course, I want to acknowledge the significant 25-year campaign by Kay and Kerry Danes of Alexandra Hills in my electorate, who since 1996—12 June, to be precise—have campaigned for the result that was released by the tribunal on 25 January. Of course, I wish to thank every veteran family that made a submission and every veteran family that was part of these discussions—260 of them in 2021. Of those, 70 made verbal submissions to this inquiry. And I urge my government and every future government to do everything possible to bring this proposal to fruition. Deputy Speaker, it won't have passed your notice that 25 years is a very long time, and it does reflect the reverence Australia holds for its honours and awards and the importance it attaches to them. Those 25 years have been incredibly frustrating for those who campaigned. I joined this campaign in 2008, when a former coalition colleague and former Assistant Minister for Defence said to me as he retired and co…
date: 2022-02-14T11:10:00+00:00

Covid-19 | Adjournment | House debates
type: item
description: All of us return to our states tonight, and I return to Queensland, a state that still has emergency powers that were introduced in mid December and extended to April. I make an appeal to leaders...
encoded: All of us return to our states tonight, and I return to Queensland, a state that still has emergency powers that were introduced in mid December and extended to April. I make an appeal to leaders around the country that, with omicron having peaked and now declining in daily cases, we review the need for these emergency powers. Emergency powers are easy to introduce. They don't take long. The laws are drafted. You simply insert a date and get parliamentary agreement. I've argued that the state LNP was quite right in being cautious and using emergency powers as a last resort. What we've learned from COVID, of course, is that it's highly disruptive, and for some of us more than others. This has been a two-year journey—the word 'unprecedented' completely overused—but both sides of this chamber have dealt with these shocks. I remember the management of the GFC also set us challenges we'd never seen previously. And Australia is recognised as having handled these shocks remarkably well. But, as I go around the states, that element of freedom that we bestowed on jurisdictions in the guise of national cabinet, while it worked for us in the first 12 months, obviously became frayed after that. There were significant areas of overlap but also a gap. If we look at the individual policies and compare states, one wonders, if there's only one body of science, how there can be so many varying responses. I'll put mandates into that category. Mandates need to have a scientific basis, because, fundamentally, vaccination itself lies at the heart of scientific evidence. But seeing states dreaming up and fabricating mandates for potentially political purposes is, I think, deeply concerning. If mandates differ between jurisdictions, it can only be for political reasons, because there's only one a science. The Lancet said very clearly in an opinion piece: this is not an epidemic of the unvaccinated. And I differ from most of my medical colleagues because I don't believe in ostracising, humi…
date: 2022-02-10T16:33:00+00:00

Housing Affordability | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: All of us know the importance of housing, but a lot of us take it for granted. If there's one thing I've made a commitment of in my career, it's to make sure that housing is as affordable and...
encoded: All of us know the importance of housing, but a lot of us take it for granted. If there's one thing I've made a commitment of in my career, it's to make sure that housing is as affordable and available as possible—not easy when the Commonwealth government doesn't control public housing. But in 2018, thanks to a staffer by the name of Caroline Rozario, I put together a proposal for a first home owners deposit assistance scheme and workshopped that policy in August 2018 to the Banking Association, who gave great assistance at the time, because we identified that, in many ways, the deposit can be an insurmountable barrier to home ownership. I'm delighted that in the 2019 campaign launch, the Prime Minister announced that home guarantee scheme, that has now helped 60,000 Australians—who otherwise would be renting—into their homes. Just for a moment I want you to picture that young children should have the ability to put a hook in the wall to display their framed merit certificate, without having to ask the landlord. They need a place they can call home. And I'm not mentioning for the moment the challenge of not even having roof over your head. But I've made a commitment that in my electorate we can work together to make sure that no-one in my electorate is without a roof over their head at night. It was a sheer horror, two months ago, to see a young mum with four children, quivering in the full, pouring Queensland rain, in a park living in two tents for three nights—while people walked past her, taking photographs of her misfortune and reporting it to police. And there was a real estate agent sitting there, where she'd just been evicted from, saying, 'I'm not leaving her until we find a solution.' That's the front line. But, for me, it's not just about affordability for young professionals who can't find the deposit, it's about those who need economic security and to be on what we call the 'escalator of the economy'. I'm really keen to see this government, the Morrison …
date: 2022-02-08T16:57:00+00:00

Schools | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: As a career supporter of choice and faith based education and values, many of us in Brisbane were shocked by the actions of Citipointe Christian College last week. Brian Mulheran's notion of...
encoded: As a career supporter of choice and faith based education and values, many of us in Brisbane were shocked by the actions of Citipointe Christian College last week. Brian Mulheran's notion of gender contracts is just revolting, and I'm glad that they were consigned to history. More broadly in the scope of the Religious Discrimination Bill and these competing notions, I'm strongly supporting the role of faith based education. But I will be guided in my vote by the experience of a family in my own electorate who today travels one hour across my city and back, twice a day, to find a school that will accept this child who was not accepted at a local school. The current provision that expulsion of these young children struggling with gender issues shall be prohibited is simply not enough, because these students are usually not expelled. Too often, they're bullied out of schools by a range of other tactics that allow a school to say, 'We never expelled them.' It's incredibly tragic. Let's remember for a moment, in this great tension between parents seeking a faith based education and board members and schools maintaining what they believe they stand for, that schools are not necessarily a place of delivering faith as much as a place delivering education for those students who are there for the right reasons. They deserve to complete their education without being forced out of schools in the absence of these protections.
date: 2022-02-08T13:56:00+00:00

GP Access After Hours Service | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: [by video link] It's a brave member who stands up to New England MPs in a rage, but there is probably a need for some sobering information about exactly how after-hour services work and the fact...
encoded: [by video link] It's a brave member who stands up to New England MPs in a rage, but there is probably a need for some sobering information about exactly how after-hour services work and the fact that there's a broad platform of services that all residents in the Hunter and New England are able to access. The first speaker was absolutely correct that large amounts of money, from both sides of politics, have gone into supporting after-hours GP services. It was an absolute brainchild of the Howard government, which put together this scheme. It led to significant after-hours access to GPs, and it' really important. That funding has never been cut. But, by being activity based, as Medicare is, the more the service is used, the more likely a service is to be viable. Likewise, if hours are reduced by providers then, by definition, their income will be lower. I think that's at the heart of this problem, not some malevolent hatred from a political party towards after-hours access. The rules are the same nationwide. If an individual service is noting a decline in funding then it's most likely due to a decline in activity. That's a very important point. As a government, we don't directly fund Hunter Primary Care. Funding can and has been reduced, for instance, by the state government, which is likely to have a significant impact on the decision to close Calvary Mater hospital on, I think, 24 December. That's a state not a federal issue. I know that residents there can access one of the four other GP Access After Hours programs in the Hunter region. There's a John Hunter just a 10-minute drive away. You've got the explosion of online consultations, as well, through Medicare. We do understand the irritation and frustration, but hopefully not political opportunism, from the first speaker. She's a good MP, but I don't think she fully understands the economics behind changes in funding that are predominantly activity based. The government spends nearly three-quarters of a billion d…
date: 2021-11-29T11:06:00+00:00

Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: [by video link] Thank you, Deputy Speaker Goodenough, for the second opportunity. I too strongly support the Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021. Mitochondrial disease is a...
encoded: [by video link] Thank you, Deputy Speaker Goodenough, for the second opportunity. I too strongly support the Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021. Mitochondrial disease is a group of inherited conditions that can significantly reduce an individual's life expectancy. Maeve's law, as it has been colloquially named, is the proposition that we can allow the staged introduction of mitochondrial DNA donation techniques into Australia. This story goes back many years. I was a medical and public health adviser under the Howard government with then minister Kay Patterson. At the time, the assisted reproduction debate around embryonic stem cell research came to the fore. This was a highly complicated piece of legislation. It's interesting that today is one of those few moments where that legislation is further amended. Of course, it's very hard to see where this kind of legislation will lead. I'm extremely proud of the work that I know that any government at that time would have done to ensure that embryonic stem cell research were possible. It's also a credit to how far society has moved and that, if science has the ability and the overwhelming benefit is clear—not just a net benefit but overwhelmingly so—the community is willing to countenance what, a generation ago, we couldn't have conceived. That is what this debate is all about. I commend the courage of other members contributing tonight. This bill is amending existing legislation. There has effectively been a prohibition on mitochondrial donation here in Australia, but my training as a GP obstetrician gynaecologist back in the UK introduced me to early work in this space and another controversial area of legislation that Australia addressed back in 2006: the controversial use of RU486. The irony, of course, is that abortifacients and technology like this find themselves under the general purview of obstetrics and gynaecology as far as specialist medical training goes. I pointed out back in 2006 the…
date: 2021-11-29T20:25:00+00:00

Covid-19: Vaccination, Bowman Electorate: Homelessness | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: [by video link] I rise today to speak about vaccine mandates. We know how important vaccination is, and Australia is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. But I've always argued...
encoded: [by video link] I rise today to speak about vaccine mandates. We know how important vaccination is, and Australia is now one of the most vaccinated countries in the world. But I've always argued that additional coercion and pressure doesn't get you much of a result. You might move a small percentage of people who need a nudge, but you start getting distortions and deadweight loss. We're now seeing martyring of those who definitely don't want to be vaccinated. It's not terribly helpful. As a medical practitioner and a registered specialist, we will win this and vaccinate this population. We don't need to move to non-evidence-based mandates. I want to be clear about what that is. Of course there's an evidence base for vaccinating any worker in contact with COVID cases in the healthcare system, in aged care, in disability; there's very strong public health evidence for that. Fair Work has very clearly indicated that there are a number of tiers where the degree of reasonableness falls away as the evidence weakens. In public health, we need to make sure that that evidence is provided freely, fairly, openly, publicly and in real time. There are not enough CHOs doing that. That's a real loss for our country if, unlike the Commonwealth, the CMO and the AHPPC, we're not releasing this evidence. It must be released, if possible. Otherwise, you end up with this appalling situation I'm seeing in Queensland, where it is alleged that practitioners will squirt the vaccine on the ground for a fee of $5,000 and sign you off as having been vaccinated so that the unvaccinated can get around the mandate. That kind of behaviour is not what we need in a democracy with a high-quality health system like Australia. There are inconsistencies in border travel for people flying in from overseas. If they fly via Sydney, they get hotel quarantine in Queensland; if they fly direct to Brisbane, they get to home quarantine. These are inconsistencies not based on public health evidence. On Sunday 5 …
date: 2021-11-25T10:52:00+00:00

Australian Broadcasting Corporation | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: [by video link] News of the defamation decision in favour of the member for Dickson yesterday reminds us that, while there'll always be worms and grubs in public debate, we're seeing a return to...
encoded: [by video link] News of the defamation decision in favour of the member for Dickson yesterday reminds us that, while there'll always be worms and grubs in public debate, we're seeing a return to civil behaviour from select parts of the media. Honesty is the lesson of 2021—that being, that if you lie you just admit to it, fess up and apologise. Don't 'Milligan' around for months with the moral hazard of knowing that, certainly with public broadcasting, the taxpayer will fund your intransigence and your delays. This was the experience in 2021, but there is no basis in law whatsoever that is available that the national broadcaster should have colluded with a staff member to defend defamatory material in the public domain, but they did. They passed up the opportunity of a completely cost-free apology and then vaporised around $170,000 on court costs at the taxpayers' expense. We need to accept that it's aggravating that you have to complain about ABC conduct to the ABC News unit first and then to another part of the ABC, but you can never go to ACMA. If we've learnt anything from the last 12 months, it's that the egos and entitlement of some in the Australian media need to be curtailed. We need a public broadcasting ombudsman. I commend Senators Abetz, Antic, Henderson and McGrath for standing up for these matters in the Australian Senate. The Labor Party and crossbenchers should do the same. We need a public broadcasting ombudsman and FOI decisions not done by the ABC for the ABC.
date: 2021-11-25T13:37:00+00:00

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People | Motions | House debates
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description: [by video link] The piecemeal approach on the economic and security challenges in the occupied Palestinian territories, which we've seen not just for years but for decades, really does look like...
encoded: [by video link] The piecemeal approach on the economic and security challenges in the occupied Palestinian territories, which we've seen not just for years but for decades, really does look like being perpetuated, particularly in recent events. I want to summarise the work of the relevant UN report but I also want to make it fairly obvious that many of us have travelled to this part of the world—and we deeply thank our hosts for making that possible—but we all have to be very cautious that we don't develop a political view on this complex part of the world based on whoever funded our last delegation to the region. We have to acknowledge that unravelling this is highly complicated and it goes back well over 70 years. The point I want to make pretty clearly is that short-term fixes aren't going to be the answer. Picking out isolated anecdotes and fixating on them as representing some form of horrific injustice is not going to help fix the problem or the additional crises, led by COVID; nor is the respective parties failing to work together and failing to focus on the economic elements of this tragedy. They are the means through which we can one day have a political solution. If we keep putting the politics of all this first, at the expense of economic opportunity, that's where we will see the suffering. The UNSCO were right to point out this month that the economic and fiscal situation there is 'dire', and their report says that we've got to take this head on. Every hour of every day that I was in that country, I was reminded of a famous quote: if you stay for a day in Palestine, you can write a novel; if you stay for a year, you can barely fill a page. The reality is that the longer you stay there the more you appreciate the complexity. We've had years of economic stagnation in the West Bank, which has seen a further collapse during COVID. The situation in the Gaza Strip has resulted from a multidecade decline, which is not something that can be turned around overnig…
date: 2021-11-22T11:28:00+00:00

Child Care | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: [by video link] It's with pride that I speak about the coalition's record in early learning. I also recognise there's similar passion on the other side of the chamber but point out to the...
encoded: [by video link] It's with pride that I speak about the coalition's record in early learning. I also recognise there's similar passion on the other side of the chamber but point out to the previous speaker that the federal government isn't responsible for setting the wages in the public sector. This is done through an appropriate independent Fair Work process. I suggest that the previous speaker pay a bit more attention to the number of applications that have been made to Fair Work to increase those wage rates, something I think is very important and has widespread support. Today we're recognising how the early learning sector evolved and adapted to get through the COVID process. While every opportunity was taken by the government to have some form of continuity, the shock that was placed on the early learning sector necessitated some unique interventions. We recognise that COVID would have led to falls of well over 50 per cent of income had there not been a Commonwealth response. That response was quickly implemented, particularly where there were falls in attendance of greater than 50 per cent. The waiving of fees for families in that situation was important. It worked. It kept staffing levels as high as possible, particularly in the non-casual sector. Fee freezes, as well, made a really big difference. We can now reflect on the fact that, next year, government payments to this sector will be nearly double where they were under the Labor administration in 2013. We will see up to 1.2 million families benefiting from them, and the particular changes that we're bringing forward in the budget next year will help about a quarter of a million of those. Remember that allowing second and subsequent children able to get even more childcare subsidy than they otherwise would makes a huge affordability difference. A family which has two income earners on say, $65,000 and $45,000 respectively will be more than $100 per week better off under these changes. The annual cap of just…
date: 2021-11-22T10:50:00+00:00

Member for Bowman | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: [by video link] Today I withdraw my 25 March parliamentary apology. It's now obvious the accusations against me were fabricated. My apology at the time was to anyone genuinely upset by my...
encoded: [by video link] Today I withdraw my 25 March parliamentary apology. It's now obvious the accusations against me were fabricated. My apology at the time was to anyone genuinely upset by my electorate communication, but none of those televised in March were genuine. My electorate work is always in the interests of the residents of Redland City, and that local record remains online, unaltered and defended 100 per cent. Serious accusations deserve to be the subject of a formal complaint, and, apart from one thrown out just minutes after I provided a written statement, no complaint has ever materialised despite my public and repeated requests. The caper is now pretty clear: run to the media but assiduously avoid laying any form of complaint, lest it be exposed as baseless. Anyone feeling upset has formal channels available to them. Deliberately avoiding that process for trial by media is not and should never be rewarded. That's why the ALP suspending the House's operations on no fewer than 25 occasions was disappointing political opportunism, and the ABC refusing to apologise for months and stooping to trawling my electorate for mildly annoyed critics to join the pile-on in the form of a bizarre 7.30 report was disappointing. I don't believe there are any exceptional circumstances at play to justify the national broadcaster's conduct, nor at any time was this ever an honest mistake of the ABC—which they continue to maintain to this day.
date: 2021-10-28T13:58:00+00:00

Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021, Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: [by video link] I'm coming in virtually from Queensland. This is a very important companion bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021, and I recognise the...
encoded: [by video link] I'm coming in virtually from Queensland. This is a very important companion bill, the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021, and I recognise the previous speaker, the member for Newcastle, is passionate about this area. It's an area where both major parties can be proud of what they've done, and in particular, the Prime Minister, who will be remembered for achievements like this—and also the national redress scheme for institutional care. They're really important steps and very compassionate ones, campaigned for for a long time and delivered under the Morrison government, which I'm particularly proud of. I have no hesitation in recognising the large number of people who worked to this destination. The Commonwealth takes its role very seriously for the Commonwealth territories. We have a focus today, obviously, on the Northern Territory, and I think there were reasonable summaries from the previous speakers—no disagreement from me. This is a companion bill that implements certain aspects of this scheme and ensures that recipients of these payments are not subject, for instance, to the Social Security Act or the Veterans' Entitlements Act, where they may potentially not be eligible for payments. It addresses situations of bankruptcy where these payments are quarantined, and these are important elements as well—that the payments are not subject to income tax assessment or income testing or capital gains tax. That's what the bill is about, but the opportunity today is to say how important these redress schemes are: the national scheme and the stolen generations redress scheme. Clearly, many of the recipients are very, very senior and frail, and many of them have chronic disease. It's imperative to act quickly, and the government has done that—and I think with a trauma informed, culturally sensitive approach with a focus on survivors. That is what was needed, potentially, decades ago. My contribution to this debate, for th…
date: 2021-10-26T18:31:00+00:00

Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: [by video link] This is an important change to social security law in remote Indigenous Australia. There is a long history of battling to make sure that the opportunities we enjoy in the cities...
encoded: [by video link] This is an important change to social security law in remote Indigenous Australia. There is a long history of battling to make sure that the opportunities we enjoy in the cities and regions are also available in Central and remote Australia. And it's a timely reminder that, right now, Indigenous Australia has been exploring, as recently as last week at the Aboriginal Economic Development Forum in Alice Springs, potential opportunities to unlock the Aboriginal estate; and to recall that, by 2030, perhaps half of Australia's landmass will be under Indigenous control, and we need to make sure that Indigenous Australians can be maximising their opportunities for cultural, economic and social self-determination. There's plenty of that kind of talk in the parliament, but, in reality, how many of us have actually lived in a remote community to understand how it works? Having listened to the member for Barton give a speech clearly written by someone else and basically read out word for word, it's of enormous frustration that there's certainly no reform zeal from the party that have consistently made out that they lead the way in social policy and in Indigenous policy reform. Quite clearly, the federal opposition are all about moving the lips just sufficiently to not offend anyone and to walk both sides of the street, making out that they're defending the needs of those in remote Australia but also doing the right thing by those in the city and being seen to be appeasing the bleeding hearts that insist on these terrible generalisations that come out of the left wing—that every young Indigenous person wants to be either a ranger or a painter, and it's simply not the case. Aboriginal Australia have moved on from the Australian Labor Party, and they're about making the most of opportunities that are increasingly coming to remote Australia. But, before we can get there, we do need a fit-for-purpose social services system and we don't have that at present. That's …
date: 2021-10-25T18:24:00+00:00

Redland Strawberry Festival | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: [by video link] Last Saturday was the mini RedFest. The Redland Strawberry Festival originated back in 1953. So it is one of oldest community festivals in the state of Queensland. Despite the...
encoded: [by video link] Last Saturday was the mini RedFest. The Redland Strawberry Festival originated back in 1953. So it is one of oldest community festivals in the state of Queensland. Despite the challenges of COVID and being cancelled last year, it finally happened this year in a pop-up form. So we're referring to it as the 61.5th RedFest, as opposed to the 62nd. It went off without a hitch, finishing with a fire and light show. I have to recognise the incredible committee that made it happen under really tough circumstances: President Peter Goleby; Vice-President Lee Nelson; Treasurer Garry Skene; and Secretary Michael 'China' Walker—who was in charge of entertainment. I also want to acknowledge the members: Rowena Plant, Stuart McQueen, Justina Goleby, Kathy Huff, Kay Howick, Betty Goleby, Sandra Hodder and Adrian Addicott, who was given a life membership on Saturday. They all worked against the odds with all three levels of government, generous sponsorship and support. It was a fabulous event to recognise Redlands' heritage. In 1851, we tried to become the capital of Queensland. That was short-lived, but hopefully the RedFest will be around far longer. It is a constant reminder of our Indigenous and horticultural heritage, right on the doorstep of Brisbane—so we're now an outer-metropolitan community. We're blessed to have the RedFest and a volunteer committee that makes it happen every year.
date: 2021-10-25T13:37:00+00:00

Aboriginal Economic Development Forum | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: [by video link] While the member for Solomon is, basically, freestyling in the Antarctic Territory there's a very important 10th Aboriginal Economic Development Forum happening in his own...
encoded: [by video link] While the member for Solomon is, basically, freestyling in the Antarctic Territory there's a very important 10th Aboriginal Economic Development Forum happening in his own territory. These are key stakeholders from business, government and the non-profit sector committed to progressing Aboriginal economic develop in Alice Springs, starting today. Sharing knowledge is critical. We need to look back over the last two decades and ask ourselves what both sides of government have achieved in Aboriginal self-determination, predominantly from economic independence. I think they're very important questions that we raise in Alice Springs, starting today: What is this work, as we define it? How far away should it be from country, where there is unquestionable connection? We need to know that Indigenous Australians are getting their share of economic activity in their regions, particularly that those opportunities are spread across all households, fairly and evenly, rather than just being enjoyed by one or two. We need to make sure that economic opportunity is to all age groups, not just working-age healthy adults. We shouldn't lose, for instance, those over the age of 40 or 50 as being too late to engage in the global economy. This connection to country is extremely important. We understand the need for that connection, but it doesn't mean being trapped on country. We need to be asking questions about at what point business can exist in remote communities, particularly service provision that traditionally, between Indigenous Australians, hasn't been monetised necessarily. We know that in the mainstream around half of all employment is service provision. In the notion of global engagement, Indigenous Australia will have an increasing role, walking down both paths—the traditional Indigenous path but also the global economic one. These are vitally important, and goods and services will be showcased in Alice Springs over the next couple of days. The big question i…
date: 2021-10-20T10:40:00+00:00

Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates
type: item
description: On 16 April this year the Opposition Leader visited my electorate to make a series of unsubstantiated allegations, referencing my standing in the community I represent. During the course of a...
encoded: On 16 April this year the Opposition Leader visited my electorate to make a series of unsubstantiated allegations, referencing my standing in the community I represent. During the course of a televised media interview conducted right in front of my electorate office, the Opposition Leader misrepresented me, claiming I had engaged in behaviour that brings politics into disrepute and that I have not represented the community and was an embarrassment to the local community. He then stated the words: 'This is a creep,' without any independent substantiation whatsoever. Finally, he misrepresented my apology, claiming that it was for behaviour when in fact it was nothing of the sort. My apology was for any hurt or distress that communication may have caused. With the clear documentary evidence now available and the absence of any complaint on these matters to answer after six months, let alone any investigation or even a charge, I repudiate these misrepresentations by the Opposition Leader and ask him to correct the record now that all this information is in the public domain.
date: 2021-10-20T15:21:00+00:00

Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I do.
encoded: I do.
date: 2021-10-20T15:21:00+00:00