Gai Brodtmann's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2019-07-02T23:05:26+00:00
items: Cook, The Hon. Adrian George Hingston, QC, Budget | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: National Capital and External Territories Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
items: Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
items: Closing the Gap | Ministerial Statements | House debates
items: Aged Care | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Broadband | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Canberra Electorate: Broadband | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Tuberculosis | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Canberra Electorate: Drones | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Canberra Electorate: Operation School Supplies | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Canberra Electorate | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Canberra Electorate: Local Sporting Champions | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: International Human Rights and Corruption (Magnitsky Sanctions) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Student Protection) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Girls Take Over Parliament | Statements by Members | House debates

Cook, The Hon. Adrian George Hingston, QC, Budget | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: It is an honour to be able to stand here today in my final days as a parliamentarian to remember the extraordinary life of Adrian George Hingston Cook QC. Adrian's intelligence was far beyond...
encoded: It is an honour to be able to stand here today in my final days as a parliamentarian to remember the extraordinary life of Adrian George Hingston Cook QC. Adrian's intelligence was far beyond normal. Adrian's teachers could see his potential from a very young age. He sat for his leaving certificate twice, as the first time he was too young to attend university. At the tender age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Sydney to study arts and pursue his dream of becoming a teacher. On completing his degree, again his age held him back. He was too young to graduate from university, because back then you had to be 21 to graduate. So what else was there to do but to apply for and accept a scholarship program to study law for a further three years. When Adrian did finally graduate, he did so with a double degree in arts and law. It is at the point of graduating university where this remarkable life story gets really fascinating. Adrian gained employment as a judge's associate and became a barrister when he was in his 20s. In 1963, he became the youngest barrister ever to win a murder trial at the Privy Council in London; he was just 33. This was an extraordinary man. Adrian spent a lengthy time working in the Australian Army Legal Corps, dealing mainly with complex and difficult courts martial during the Vietnam War. He was later appointed Queen's Counsel in 1977 and then a judge in the Family Court. He retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1985. During his time as a judge, he made many landmark decisions and presided over cases that are still studied by law students today. Adrian eventually retired and moved to Norfolk Island, where he remained active in the community, providing legal advice and taking on the odd legal case. He also served as a minister in the Norfolk Island government and married his beloved wife, Lynn Quintal. Adrian was one of Norfolk Island's jewels. He was an asset to the community and he will be greatly missed. Vale Adrian George Hingsto…
date: 2019-04-03T11:08:00+00:00

National Capital and External Territories Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
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description: by leave—As Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories, I initiated this inquiry into Canberra's national institutions, and I initiated it...
encoded: by leave—As Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories, I initiated this inquiry into Canberra's national institutions, and I initiated it because it had been 10 years since the committee had taken a close look at the national institutions that so beautifully tell our national story, our national history. They are our national memory. A lot had changed in those ten years, particularly on the social media front and on the digitisation of the national institutions—the way we engage with the sort of immersive technology that is now experienced at national institutions overseas. The terms of reference of the inquiry were deliberately broad to ensure we had a clear read on the issues actually facing our national institutions in 2018 and 2019 in terms of funding, in terms of staffing and in terms of completing their legislative mandates to collect, to maintain, to preserve, to exhibit, to share, to engage and to tell our national story. Out of all of the issues considered and the 20 recommendations made in the report, there are two areas that I particularly want to focus on, and the chair has outlined a number of others. I want to focus on paid parking on national land and the efficiency dividend. In my first term, the decision was made to apply paid parking to national land in Parkes, Barton, Russell and Acton from 1 July 2014. If paid parking was to apply in these areas, it was only right, I believed, that the public servants who worked there received some return in terms of amenity, because there were no retail services or banking, and public servants were getting into their cars and travelling to other areas—Kingston, Campbell and Civic—in their lunchbreaks to access just basic general services. So I fought hard to get the inquiry into amenity in the Parliamentary Triangle to ensure that the NCA's planning arrangements enabled and encouraged retail space in new developments. And I successfully campaigned to get a mini…
date: 2019-04-03T16:25:00+00:00

Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
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description: Speaker, it was day one as the newly minted member for Canberra. I'd just picked up the keys for my electorate office and I was opening it up for the very first time. I was on my own because none...
encoded: Speaker, it was day one as the newly minted member for Canberra. I'd just picked up the keys for my electorate office and I was opening it up for the very first time. I was on my own because none of my team had started yet. And as I opened the door, I heard the phone ringing. At the end of the line was a very distressed woman, a single mother, living with her three daughters in her mom's two-bedroom home, sleeping on the couch, doing it tough, desperate for a home. I got Lee a home and she is just one of the many Canberrans my team and I have helped to secure that most fundamental of needs—safe shelter. And it's those days that are the very best days of this job. Because as another single mother said to me, 'My whole life turned around once I got a house.' It's a reminder that there is no greater office in this chamber than that of local member. When I spoke for the first time in this chamber, I said: I admire anyone who takes up the challenge of politics and who honestly tries to improve the lives of his or her people, no matter what political lights they follow. In the end, it's about improving people's lives and, at its best, politics is about building a better community and a better nation. But politics is a contest of ideas and there is a reason why I am Labor. I come from a working-class matriarchy of single mothers, just like Lee. My great grandmother was a domestic. She brought up 13 children on her own in a house with dirt floors and paper walls. She spent her life bent over a copper, cleaning the clothes of the wealthy and she left school when she was just 11. My grandmother worked three cleaning jobs. She brought up seven children on her own in a housing commission home. She spent her life with an abiding fear that the state would take her children away because she was poor. She left school at just 13. My mother was dragged kicking and screaming from school at 15. I'm not looking at you, Mum! She brought up my sisters and me on her own when my father left…
date: 2019-02-21T13:02:00+00:00

Closing the Gap | Ministerial Statements | House debates
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description: I begin by acknowledging the Ngambri and Ngunawal people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, in my electorate of Canberra, and I pay my respects to their elders, past, present...
encoded: I begin by acknowledging the Ngambri and Ngunawal people, the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, in my electorate of Canberra, and I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and future. I'm grateful for the opportunity to once again speak on the Closing the Gap report. Like the member for Indi, this is my last opportunity to do so. I've been speaking on these reports since I became the member for Canberra, and it is a great honour again to be able to speak on this latest report. Reading these reports, we see that there are incremental gains every time. There are some significant gains, and in some sectors there are no gains at all. It does make for poignant reading. It's a poignant reminder of the work that we have yet to do to ensure true equality for the diverse First Nations people across the country. The overall message of Closing the Gap this year is one of hope, and that's what we need to take from this report. As I said, while we haven't achieved all the targets set in the majority of sectors, we are making significant progress in many others. We've seen improvements in the education sector, and we're on track in early education, with 95 per cent of First Nations children enrolled in preschool in 2017, which is a fantastic result. In the ACT we've achieved universal enrolment for all First Nations children. We're also on track in year 12 attainment, with the gap narrowing from 36 per cent in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2016. These achievements are significant and they should be celebrated, particularly that extraordinary achievement on early education. Once you get the children in at that early age, they're more likely to continue right through to secondary and then onto vocational or potentially tertiary education. While the overall literacy and numeracy rates are not improving at the pace we need them to, there have still been some significant gains. First Nations students in year 9 are on track in numeracy across every state in Australia, an…
date: 2019-02-20T16:30:00+00:00

Aged Care | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: Across Australia, more than 127,000 older people have been waiting for more than a year to access the care that they've been promised—to access the care for which they've received approval....
encoded: Across Australia, more than 127,000 older people have been waiting for more than a year to access the care that they've been promised—to access the care for which they've received approval. When the last Home Care Packages Program data report was released, covering July to September last year, there were 735 Canberrans who were waiting to access their approved home care package. These are services that help them stay in their homes—services that allow them to continue to live with dignity to retain their independence. These delays are causing uncertainty and stress for many of these older Canberrans. An older Canberran has been trying to get assistance for standard gardening and home maintenance services. And she has asked not to be named, so I will call her Margaret. Margaret's My Aged Care package was approved in July last year. Since then, every time she tries to get some help, she's been told that all service providers are at capacity, that they're full, and she has to wait until there is an opening. Service providers have also told Margaret to call in the new financial year. And she did that—this was last year—and she got nothing. They also told her again to call, after Christmas, six months later, and she still got nothing. Margaret is still waiting—she doesn't know for how long—and she doesn't know if she'll ever receive the services for which she is entitled and for which she has approval. Another story, this time from Janne. Janne and her husband are both My Aged Care participants and have been using DUO, a service provider here in Canberra, for over five years for gardening and home maintenance services. At the end of the last year, Janne was told that DUO was no longer able to provide yard-tidying services, as their books were full. This was despite Janne being an existing client for more than five years. Janne is not a new client. She's been using this service for five years. She's been registered with Duo for five years. So how can they suddenly say tha…
date: 2019-02-20T10:59:00+00:00

Broadband | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Elliott's NBN saga part 2: Elliott tried to get an NBN connection. He has been trying since September last year and here's a summary of what he's been enduring since then—hold on, it's...
encoded: Elliott's NBN saga part 2: Elliott tried to get an NBN connection. He has been trying since September last year and here's a summary of what he's been enduring since then—hold on, it's quite a ride! Between September and October, NBN Co wouldn't and couldn't accept that the equipment needed to connect his apartment complex to the NBN was already installed so photos were sent to NBN Co to show the installed equipment. In November, Elliott and his body corporate couldn't get NBN Co to respond to them. Three weeks later, NBN Co emerged from its radio silence, once again requesting photos of the installed equipment so the photos were resent. Now the NBN connection was finally turned on—great rejoicing, much excitement! However, the excitement was short-lived. NBN Co cancelled the order and turned the service off. It beggars belief. Two weeks later and leading up to Christmas, an NBN technician arrived on site to install the service and was shocked that all the equipment was already installed. The service went live again yet in January NBN told the ISP to turn off all connections because work is still being required by the developer. This is the same work that was completed months ago, the same work that was shown in the photos sent to NBN Co six times—count them, six times. This is absolutely farcical. (Time expired)
date: 2019-02-19T13:30:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate: Broadband | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Elliot's NBN saga part 1: on 10 September 2018, Elliot placed an order with an ISP to get his apartment connected to the NBN. After three weeks of NBN Co's confusion over whether NBN...
encoded: Elliot's NBN saga part 1: on 10 September 2018, Elliot placed an order with an ISP to get his apartment connected to the NBN. After three weeks of NBN Co's confusion over whether NBN infrastructure was already installed in the apartment building, Elliot's request for connection was advanced no further. On 2 October 2018, Elliot placed several calls to NBN Co who asked him for information he was unable to provide. They wanted the development number. The body corporate didn't have a record of this, and at this stage other apartments in the same building were already connected to the NBN. On 17 October 2018, Elliot contacted me frustrated about his experience with NBN Co. I spoke about the issues, the delays and the confusion that he had experienced in parliament many times. At least it sparked some action. A senior staff member called with an update, and I quote: Some remediation is required from the developer. On 19 October 2018, the developer made all the necessary changes, installed the vent and labelled the NBN terminal with a warning to not suffocate the NTD and sent the images to NBN Co. The tenants and landlord also sent the photos to NBN Co—that is, photos from three separate accounts. Now, NBN Co has asked to be advised of any outstanding work, and there's been no response—no resolution from NBN C. (Time expired)
date: 2019-02-18T16:06:00+00:00

Tuberculosis | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: I, too, would like to join with my colleagues to commend and congratulate the member for Leichhardt for his constant advocacy on this issue for many, many years. He is keeping it at the forefront...
encoded: I, too, would like to join with my colleagues to commend and congratulate the member for Leichhardt for his constant advocacy on this issue for many, many years. He is keeping it at the forefront of our conversations and keeping a focus on it amongst colleagues here. That is vitally important, particularly given the statistics we've heard during the course of today's discussion. I also want to thank him and commend him for his leadership on this issue. There are others on the other side of the chamber, and on this side, who have also shown leadership on this, but the member for Leichhardt has actually been at the forefront of this and the lead champion. I congratulate and thank him. I want to also thank the member for Leichhardt for bringing this motion forward because it highlights the work that is being done and what we still need to do to both prevent the spread of TB and cure people from this insidious preventable disease. Because TB is largely non-existent in Australia, many people do not know or remember what the symptoms of TB actually are—and the speech from the member for Macarthur was very useful in reminding us of those symptoms. This disease has a long history. It was recognised in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance periods, during the 17th and 18th centuries and beyond. With medical science advancing over time, we did have TB on the run for a while. But then the drug-resistant variety of the virus emerged, causing the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency in 1993. While TB is largely wiped out in Australia, in Asia more than 8,000 cases are diagnosed across the continent and archipelago every day. That's not every week, that's not every month; it's 8,000 cases every day. TB is known as the disease of the poor, spreading through overcrowded neighbourhoods and poorly ventilated homes and workplaces. Importantly, for Australia, it is our closest neighbours to the north who are detecting the largest growth in new cases of TB. The W…
date: 2019-02-18T11:28:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate: Drones | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: A commercial drone operated by Evoenergy was shot down over a rural property. Actually, it was across the weekend; it was that recent. The wariness and distrust of drones by rural property owners...
encoded: A commercial drone operated by Evoenergy was shot down over a rural property. Actually, it was across the weekend; it was that recent. The wariness and distrust of drones by rural property owners is shared by Bonython residents in my electorate in response to Project Wings drone delivery trial. But at least none of Wings' drones were shot down. Instead, two of them fell from the sky for no reason but they weren't actually shot down. A local community group, Bonython Against Drones, presented a petition of 1,024 signatures to the Australian Capital Territory. Remember, there are 1,685 households in the area. And this result was replicated in larger surveys from the Canberra Times, the RiotACT and Canberra ABC Radio. In December, the Canberra Times published a poll canvassing a broader range of people than just the residents. The result was 68 per cent against drones, 17 per cent for and 15 per cent unsure. The RiotACT's online poll on the delivery drone services showed 66 per cent of respondents said 'keep them out of my backyard'. ABC Radio's poll on 13 February with 793 participants showed 65 per cent were against the drone delivery trial or the service in general. It is clear there is a disturbing lack of regulation on this issue, and we need more investigation.
date: 2019-02-18T13:33:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate: Operation School Supplies | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Canberran students went back to school last week, and in anticipation I made a call to action to my community—a call to action to take part in my Operation School Supplies campaign; a call...
encoded: Canberran students went back to school last week, and in anticipation I made a call to action to my community—a call to action to take part in my Operation School Supplies campaign; a call to action to help families doing it tough, particularly after Christmas; a call to action to ease the pressure on those families through donations of stationery, drink bottles, lunch boxes, backpacks and calculators; a call to action in response to the real need identified by the Gordon Community Centre and the YWCA Mura Lanyon Youth and Community Centre. A few days after I dropped off a mountain of supplies, I received this beautiful letter from Gordon Community Centre: We have been able to give out so many of the items already. In particular we were able to help a mother of a large family with one child in hospital. She's struggling with the expense of getting back and forth from the hospital and hadn't bought any school supplies. We were also able to help a single dad who has just got housing for himself and his three children—he's sleeping on the couch so each of his children has their own room. Their faces lit up when I let them know we had a supply of brand new, back to school items. I also sent off a backpack with one of my colleagues which will be given to a young carer who is supporting a member of their family. I want to share my thanks with the people of Canberra. Thank you for taking part in this campaign. A big shout-out goes to Georgina Warren, who interned in our office and helped me and my team coordinate it. (Time expired)
date: 2019-02-14T13:30:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate: Drones | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Last Friday heralded the end of the drone delivery trial in Bonython and the community is rejoicing. From Irena: The drones stopped flying last weekend and I can tell you the peace and quiet we...
encoded: Last Friday heralded the end of the drone delivery trial in Bonython and the community is rejoicing. From Irena: The drones stopped flying last weekend and I can tell you the peace and quiet we have had in the past week has been sublime. We (and our pets) have been seriously traumatised by living with and fighting the drone trial. We are so relieved that they are gone. Our thoughts are now with the residents of Gungahlin. The drones should not be allowed to fly over there until a government body is made responsible for the noise, and the issues about privacy are addressed. Irena, I am with you. The Bonython trial has thrown up lots of questions. That's why I've been calling for and I continue to call for the minister to conduct an independent review before the Gungahlin pilot—an independent review led by CASA and the Privacy Commission and involving the relevant federal and territory government agencies; an independent review that is publicly released and looks at the regulatory framework, particularly for commercial operators; an independent review that looks at the privacy issues, particularly regarding where the data is being stored, what data is actually being captured, what happens to the data and at which location it is being stored; an independent review that looks at the economic benefits to the ACT, particularly for local small businesses. If we're going to have a place where we have fast food delivered by drones, as a nation we need to have a conversation about this, and that starts with an independent review. (Time expired)
date: 2019-02-12T13:48:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: This is my final 90-second statement for 2018. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped me serve and advocate for the Canberra community over the course of the year. On...
encoded: This is my final 90-second statement for 2018. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped me serve and advocate for the Canberra community over the course of the year. On this International Volunteers Day, I want to thank Jack McCaffrie, Kerry Burton, Eva Cawthorne, Ian Pieper, William Pieper, Anne Gardiner, Jenny Nicholson, Jacob Biggs, Deb Biggs, Chris Siedl, Liz Morris, Sandi and Diya Mitra, Alex Wang, Shannon Cook, Tim Dobson, Maryam Khazaeli, Mal Larson, Robyn McIntosh, Sam Wilson, Joann Khaira, Eric Topp, Lucy Topp, Charlotte Corbyn, Helen Fraser, Toni Skyy, Ian McLure, Gerry Lloyd, Jen Newman, Georgina Vallance, Chris Lang, Nick Wheeler, Jay McLinden and Cath Byrne. I also want to thank my part-time team of Martin Geng, Neda Fereidounkhan, Catherine Moggach, Benjamin Magrath, Robert Potter and Byron Nagy, and my ANU intern Kate Dawson. Finally, I thank my tireless fab full-time team of Vic Robertson, Steph Brimson and Drew Eppelstun. Enjoy the break, Canberra. Enjoy the time with your family and friends and the opportunity to reflect on what is important. And please, if you're travelling interstate, travel safely—and stop, revive and survive. Please enjoy the break.
date: 2018-12-05T13:36:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate: Local Sporting Champions | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Canberra lays claim to producing some of the world's greatest sporting stars. This year I have had the honour of presenting 63 awards to our local sporting champions. I know we will be seeing...
encoded: Canberra lays claim to producing some of the world's greatest sporting stars. This year I have had the honour of presenting 63 awards to our local sporting champions. I know we will be seeing many of these names up in the bright lights on the world stage before too long. Keep an eye out for Angus Alford, Chloe Arnold, Madison Arnold, Joshua Arnold, Marcus Bateup, Jeremy Blick, Lily Bray, Georgia Bryant, Sophira Bryen, Oliver Bryson, Noah Budd, Kai Calloway, Matthew Cameron, Tara Cannon, Nicholas Coghill, Lachlan Cunanan, Max Curry, Patrick Dunn, Sean Edwards, Zoe Evans, Joshua Grovenor, Poppy Hancox, Lachlan Hope, Chloe Ives, Lucy Jalland, Sophie Jung, Georgia Keane, Kiara Keane, Jordyn Kearney, David Kidd, Clare Kwiatkowski, Noah Le Lievre, Chandler Leydon, Taine Lockton, Olivia Malone, Samuel Manton, Samantha Mcalister-Scott, Alexander Mcdonald, James Micallef, Eloise Millington, Laura Monterosso, Ryan Navin, Ada Nebauer, Emily O'Brien, Benjamin Paton, Gabrielle Petersen, Riley Proudfoot, Rebecca Rainey, Zachary Rauter, Alexander Sangah, Jonny Sheridan, Catherine Smith, Charlie Snow, Mitchell Thomas, Lauren Thomas, Ally Thornton, Georgia Tongs, Sofiya Vakar, Minski Wade Quayle, Dylan White, Georgia Willey, Eric Wong and Lucia Zarak.
date: 2018-12-03T16:16:00+00:00

Fair Work Amendment (Family and Domestic Violence Leave) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Violence and abuse against women exist in many forms. They can be physical. They can be emotional. They can be financial. Now, in the information age, they can also come in new forms like the...
encoded: Violence and abuse against women exist in many forms. They can be physical. They can be emotional. They can be financial. Now, in the information age, they can also come in new forms like the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. We've heard these statistics endlessly. On average, one woman is killed every week by a current or former partner; one in three women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by someone known to them; one in five women over the age of 18 have been stalked in their lifetime; and domestic violence is the principal cause of homelessness for women and their children. This compares to one in 16 men. Violence against women is a national tragedy. It's a national disgrace. It is a tragedy, but it's also a disgrace. It is a national crisis and it is a national shame. Do you want to know what else is a national shame? The dismissive response that women who are victims of violence or harassment receive from those who are in a position to help. Last week I stood here in this very spot, and I was sharing experiences of Canberrans in relation to housing stress and homelessness. Straight after my speech, a woman from Victoria called my office to thank me for speaking out and explained why she identified so closely with that speech. The woman receives the disability support pension and she lives in a rental property. The property has no heating. Fancy being able to rent a property with no heating! I remember that one of the first places I rented in Canberra in the early 1990s had no heating, but I would have thought that 30 years later things would be a bit better. So this property has no heating, and that was the first point my caller identified with. The second was the dismissive attitude of real estate agents. My caller shared her story. She had been the victim of an attempted rape in the previous fortnight and, since then, had been trying to break her lease so she could move somewhere where she could feel safe. The response fro…
date: 2018-12-03T17:37:00+00:00

Broadband | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: A local charity in Canberra contacted me recently about their experience trying to connect their premises to VDSL2. The local charity asked the telco provider the question, 'Is VDSL2 definitely...
encoded: A local charity in Canberra contacted me recently about their experience trying to connect their premises to VDSL2. The local charity asked the telco provider the question, 'Is VDSL2 definitely available at our address?' and the response was: 'VDSL2 is available at that site. Yes, that is the case.' Based on this, the local charity proceeded with the connection, but to no avail. Despite the plans showing a cable at the premises, no such cable existed. The telco provider then quoted nearly $2,800, excluding GST, to install a cable to the building. Even though the telco provider had said an NBN connection was available, suddenly an NBN connection was not available, and the expensive connection to VDSL2 was the only option. Due to the generosity of a couple of local Canberra businesses, the charity is being helped through the connection process. But my concern is that the telco provider is being rewarded after some rather questionable, dubious, commercial ethics. I've checked the NBN rollout map, and it shows that fibre to the curb is available. Telco providers need to ensure that their customer and business relations staff act with integrity and provide the best possible outcome and experience for their customers, not just price gouge.
date: 2018-12-03T13:29:00+00:00

International Human Rights and Corruption (Magnitsky Sanctions) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I second the motion and reserve my speak.
encoded: I second the motion and reserve my speak.
date: 2018-12-03T10:14:00+00:00

Canberra Electorate: Broadband | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Here is Elliot Crighton's NBN saga, part 4. On 19 November, NBN Co advised me that Elliot Crighton's apartment in Coombs was finally activated for service. After 10 days, it wasn't activated. I...
encoded: Here is Elliot Crighton's NBN saga, part 4. On 19 November, NBN Co advised me that Elliot Crighton's apartment in Coombs was finally activated for service. After 10 days, it wasn't activated. I sought an update from NBN Co, and they've decided to provide Elliot with a case manager. Hurrah, hurrah! I let Elliot know, and he said: 'I appreciate the update; however, I'm not riddled with optimism, as I had an NBN case manager around one to two months ago that was extraordinarily unhelpful and was unable to answer any questions or issues. That particular case manager also took almost two weeks just to report they had no information.' Elliot's provider, Aussie Broadband, told him his apartment has a location number that is provided only after NBN is connected. The apartment developer has no outstanding requests from NBN Co and has tried to contact them on multiple occasions to find out why there is the delay, and all it's been is absolute crickets. From Elliot: 'One possible solution is that the case manager finally advises what needs to be done by the developer before the address is listed as activated, or they simply change the status of the resident from phase 0 to phase 3.' I'm calling on the minister to pay attention to the NBN rollout and pay attention to Coombs, because this is a greenfields site. (Time expired)
date: 2018-11-29T13:39:00+00:00

Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Student Protection) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Thanks very much for that; I'm talking about VET. Those opposite wasted $24 million on a bungled apprenticeship IT system and failed to meet their apprenticeship targets. For more than one year,...
encoded: Thanks very much for that; I'm talking about VET. Those opposite wasted $24 million on a bungled apprenticeship IT system and failed to meet their apprenticeship targets. For more than one year, those opposite failed to spend one cent of its flawed Skilling Australians Fund on an apprenticeship. Those opposite have provided no leadership on vocational education and training. Those opposite have ignored the underlying flaws in the system and instead continued to cut funding and continued to cut support to skills formation. Contrast that to Labor—and this isn't just Labor's opinion either—in terms of what those opposite have done, in terms of the decimation of the VET system in this country. The Productivity Commission called the system 'a mess', the OECD has found Australia doesn't have the skills to engage effectively in global value chains, and an independent report by Terry Moran, one of the original architects of the national scheme, says that it's fragmented and devalued, that there is no effective governance, that the funding arrangements are chaotic and that there is no national strategy. VET plays a vital role in our skill formation system. It is essential—absolutely vital—to Australia's future prospects and to our domestic and international competitiveness. We have an obligation to ensure that VET is excellent. We used to be world leaders on VET. We were one of the few countries that had a really sophisticated VET system going. There was the polytechnic system in the UK, the Germans and us—we were the world leaders. And now this is a world-leading system that has been starved in every way thanks to those opposite, including The Nationals. We have an obligation to ensure that VET provides an environment where students flourish, where they achieve things they've never imagined and where they reach goals they may never have felt possible given their personal circumstances and experiences. This cannot be achieved if, when it comes to cost cutting, VET continues …
date: 2018-11-28T16:45:00+00:00

Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Student Protection) Bill 2018; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I want to commend the member for Bass on that speech. I want to commend him for the fact he actually underscored the fact that TAFE is there for various parts of your career. It is the journey of...
encoded: I want to commend the member for Bass on that speech. I want to commend him for the fact he actually underscored the fact that TAFE is there for various parts of your career. It is the journey of life, in many ways, in terms of education. I know this from my father, who was an electrician. He studied at TAFE in the 1950s, and then he decided he wanted to go back and get a further qualification and so moved from being an electrician into becoming an accountant. It was TAFE, or technical colleges as they were called then, that trained him as an electrician and it was TAFE technical colleges that trained him as an accountant. That's the beauty of TAFE: it can provide you with an entry point into a career and then it can provide you with a pathway into a new career. It can provide you with an update on your current skills. It can provide an endless range of opportunities throughout the course of your life. As the member for Bass said, it provides lifelong learning opportunities, which is why I am a huge fan. It's not just because of that story of my father but because I did go through the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology myself. I did my second degree there. I was also union president there. I also tutored out at the University of Canberra before I went into politics. Again, I'm a huge fan of vocational education. Just yesterday, I met a group of 18 amazing young women from regional, rural and remote Australia. They were in Canberra as part of the Country to Canberra 'power trip'. These women had come from all over Australia, from Nhulunbuy, Tasmania, Victoria, remote parts of New South Wales, remote parts of WA and Queensland. I met two young women whose stories really stuck with me. The first was Chloe. Chloe is really excited about taking part in this program. Chloe has been going through her own personal journey in trying to work out what she wants to do. She's in year 11 in north-western Tasmania. She has finally settled on studying hairdressing, and so she'…
date: 2018-11-28T16:45:00+00:00

Girls Take Over Parliament | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: Today is the day that Girls Take Over Parliament. Girls Take Over Parliament is a program organised by Jasiri Australia, in partnership with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and Girl Guides,...
encoded: Today is the day that Girls Take Over Parliament. Girls Take Over Parliament is a program organised by Jasiri Australia, in partnership with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation and Girl Guides, to enable girls aged between 12 and 20 to be politicians for the day. This year I'm paired With Ella Ezergailis from Girl Guides ACT. Here she is, in the chamber. Ella is in year 6 at Gowrie Primary School in my electorate of Canberra. She is a school vice-captain and class representative on the student representative council. Earlier this year, Ella was awarded the Gowrie Cup for being an outstanding citizen of Gowrie Primary School. I asked Ella why it was important for her to take part in this program, and she said: I wanted to have a say in my country plus see how it is run. I also wanted to show Australia that girls and young people want to have their say. I would like to change the acronym STEM to STEAM because you also need artistic flair to solve problems, think outside the box and build marvels of the world. It is important to me that everyone is represented equally, no matter who they are. I am proud to have a change-maker taking over my office today, and she's earning plenty of Tim Tams too. I hope that as a future leader, should she get into this place, or if she inspires others as an arts teacher, she will empower the next generation of girls to realise their true potential and to live a bold, big life, free of fear, in true equality.
date: 2018-11-28T13:36:00+00:00