Deborah O'Neill's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2026-02-10T22:05:30+00:00
items: Hall, Mr Geoff, New South Wales: Growing Regions Program | Adjournment | Senate debates
items: Australian Parliamentary Delegation to the 151st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Bilateral Visits to Romania and Switzerland | Delegation Reports | Senate debates
items: Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee; Government Response to Report | Committees | Senate debates
items: Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation Committee; Delegated Legislation Monitor | Committees | Senate debates
items: Fiscal Policy, Defence Properties | Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers | Senate debates
items: Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
items: John Houston Memorial Swimming Pool | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
items: Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
items: Bondi Beach: Attack | Questions without Notice | Senate debates
items: Bondi Beach: Attack | Condolences | Senate debates
items: Withdrawal | Notices | Senate debates
items: Workplace Safety: Women in the Transport Industry | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
items: Customs Tariff Amendment (Geelong Treaty Implementation) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
items: Workplace Relations | Adjournment | Senate debates
items: Economy | Questions without Notice | Senate debates

Hall, Mr Geoff, New South Wales: Growing Regions Program | Adjournment | Senate debates
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description: Strong communities require dependable and generous people. Geoff Hall, a longstanding member of the Labor Party in Wagga Wagga, who passed away on 14 January 2026, is being remembered widely as...
encoded: Strong communities require dependable and generous people. Geoff Hall, a longstanding member of the Labor Party in Wagga Wagga, who passed away on 14 January 2026, is being remembered widely as exactly that: a dependable, wise and generous man who was dedicated to his regional community. Geoff was the heart and soul of Labor in the Riverina. He could be relied upon to always be there, organising election booth packs, managing rosters, engaging respectfully and advocating for his local community. Born into a Labor home, he lived a Labor life, and he has now gone to his grave as a Labor man to his bootstraps and beyond. I extend my condolences to Regina, Louise, Frances, Bevan and your families on the passing of Geoff, a man of true conviction and a strong Labor voice for regional New South Wales, who will be greatly missed. I recently had the opportunity to revisit the extraordinary national heritage listed Baiame's Ngunnhu, also known as the Brewarrina Fish Traps. These fish traps, which are over 40,000 years old, harness timeless, innovative technology. Their skilful architecture allows for the efficient herding and catching of fish and reveals a deep understanding of the region, with the fish traps proving resilient to high and low river flows. They're also a shining example of sustainability, with the rock weir and pen system encouraging people to take only what is needed. However, not too long ago—in the context of millennia—there was a sustained period where the fish traps were at risk of being destroyed. Paddle steamers entered the region, and, to accommodate those steamers, settlers blew up natural weirs and rock formations. This sowed division within the community and, in the course of that action, damaged the river. These ingenious fish traps that had sustained so many for millennia could well have been lost because the wisdom and voices of the people who lived on, loved and intimately knew this part of the world were being ignored. We in the Labor governme…
date: 2026-02-05T17:16:00+00:00

Australian Parliamentary Delegation to the 151st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Bilateral Visits to Romania and Switzerland | Delegation Reports | Senate debates
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description: by leave—I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary delegation to the 151st Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly and the bilateral visits to Romania and Switzerland, which took...
encoded: by leave—I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary delegation to the 151st Inter-Parliamentary Union assembly and the bilateral visits to Romania and Switzerland, which took place from 12 to 23 October 2025. I move: That the Senate take note of the document. This report provides an overview of our delegation's participation in the 151st Assembly of the IPU, as well as our bilateral visits to Romania and Switzerland. I was very pleased to be part of the Australian delegation to the 151st assembly, which took place in October last year. Our delegation was very ably led by the Speaker of the House, the Hon. Milton Dick, and included the Deputy Speaker, my good friend Ms Sharon Claydon; Senator Brown, who sits right near me here in the chamber and is a fine representative for Tasmania; Senator McLachlan from the opposition, a senator for the great state of South Australia; and me. Our program included bilateral visits to Romania and Switzerland followed by the assembly itself in Geneva. These visits provided valuable opportunities to deepen parliamentary relationships and to engage directly with counterparts on shared global challenges. In Romania, I was particularly interested to learn of the important role the country is playing in supporting Ukraine. Romania is currently hosting around 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and has become a critical economic and logistics conduit enabling Ukrainian exports, particularly grain, to reach global markets through Romanian ports and infrastructure. What may also interest Australians here at home is that Romania played an integral role in assisting Australians to flee Ukraine following Russia's illegal full-scale invasion in February 2022. Romanian authorities worked closely with Australian officials to facilitate safe transit for Australians seeking to leave the conflict zone, a practical demonstration of international cooperation in times of crisis. Across our meetings in Romania, our delegation also emphasised Australia's…
date: 2026-02-05T16:46:00+00:00

Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee; Government Response to Report | Committees | Senate debates
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description: I'm proud of the work that we've done as a parliament—in particular, the work of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services—in getting to grips with the...
encoded: I'm proud of the work that we've done as a parliament—in particular, the work of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services—in getting to grips with the egregious and unethical behaviour in the consulting sector that we uncovered and reported on in our report to which the government has responded this week. I want to take the opportunity, in particular, to thank Deputy Chair Alex Hawke, Senator Paul Scarr and Senator Barbara Pocock for their dedication across party lines to the monumental task that unfolded before us. I'm proud that ordinary Australians are now alive and alert to the ethical failures of the big four accounting, assurance and tax advice providers in this country and globally. I've said many times in this place that these big partnerships that morph between being Australian and being international entities as much as it suits them provide the financial information verification that ensures the proper functioning of the financial markets of our country. What they do, how they act and what they say and produce have an impact on the superannuation earnings of every Australian—every single one of us and every cent of the $4 trillion under management. The fact is that the government is paying close attention to these issues and to the work of the committee. It is unusual in this place that a government responds to the findings of a committee over the course of the inquiry, but that is exactly what happened in the case of this inquiry. There has already been significant response and action in response to what we uncovered, and I'm pleased to say that, as a result of the hard work of the PJC, there's a body of work in this report that will stand the test of time. I stand by it and I stand by all of the recommendations. It is a tool of guidance not only for our nation but for all democratic nations across the globe confronting similar practices in the financial sectors in their sovereign nations. Indeed, you can name the UK, Chin…
date: 2026-02-05T16:29:00+00:00

Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation Committee; Delegated Legislation Monitor | Committees | Senate debates
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description: I present Delegated legislation monitor: monitor 1 of 2026, together with ministerial correspondence, and I move: That the Senate take note of the report. I rise to speak to the tabling of the...
encoded: I present Delegated legislation monitor: monitor 1 of 2026, together with ministerial correspondence, and I move: That the Senate take note of the report. I rise to speak to the tabling of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation's Delegated legislation monitor: monitor 1 of 2026. This monitor reports on the committee's consideration of 155 legislative instruments registered between 22 October and 25 November 2025. In this monitor the committee has commented on two new instruments and one ongoing instrument. The first new instrument that the committee has commented on is the Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) (Aged Care Systems Modifications) Rules 2025. This instrument amends the Aged Care Act 2024 and the Aged Care Rules 2025 to, among other things, allow certain determinations to be corrected if they're deemed to be incorrect and to extend certain notice requirements. The committee is raising concerns under scrutiny principle (l), which requires the committee to scrutinise instruments as to whether they amend or modify the operation of primary legislation. Such instruments may limit parliamentary oversight and subvert the appropriate relationship between parliament and the executive. In this case, the instrument directly modifies the Aged Care Act. Beyond this, the committee is particularly concerned that the instrument inserts new provisions into the act which allow the minister to further prescribe matters through delegated legislation. The instrument then relies on these new powers to amend parts of the Aged Care Rules. For example, the instrument inserts the new subparagraph 317(1)(b)(i) into the Aged Care Act. This enables the minister to prescribe laws and programs that may provide a basis to establish that individual contribution rate determinations, income determinations and asset determinations are incorrect. The instrument then relies upon this provision to insert the new section 317-1 into the Aged Care…
date: 2026-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

Fiscal Policy, Defence Properties | Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers | Senate debates
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description: No. It was the Morrison government.
encoded: No. It was the Morrison government.
date: 2026-02-05T15:48:00+00:00

Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
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description: As I was saying before, at the hard mark of 11.15 am, on the matter of the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, our geography matters and so does our capacity...
encoded: As I was saying before, at the hard mark of 11.15 am, on the matter of the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025, our geography matters and so does our capacity to deter. Central to our deterrence posture is the strategy of denial, ensuring that any adversary is deterred from attempting to reach our shores. The acquisition of nuclear powered submarines through the AUKUS partnership will be transformational. These platforms represent a step change in stealth, endurance and deterrent capability. They will also be a national endeavour that must deliver jobs, skills and economic opportunity across our regions and, indeed, across the entire nation. As we build capability, we must ensure communities share in the benefits and that local consultation and investment in community infrastructure proceed in parallel. Colleagues, technology is moving at pace. The government's investments in advanced platforms and the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator are important starts. But the technology development cycle for many autonomous systems is measured in months, not years. Building stockpiles that sit in warehouses and become obsolete is not an effective use of taxpayers' money. Instead, Australia must support a sovereign industrial base capable of rapid development, production at scale and iterative improvement. That requires a whole-of-society approach: government procurement and incentives, industry partnerships, research institutions and workforce training. Our aim must be to ensure that the ADF can access the right mix of high-end and mass produced systems when required and that we can scale production quickly in response to changing circumstances. The defence subcommittee's recent report, which was tabled this week, on the 2023-24 Defence annual reportemphasises these points. It highlights the rapid evolution of autonomous technologies and the need to align capability development with Australia's strategic geography. It also underscor…
date: 2026-02-05T12:15:00+00:00

Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
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description: I rise today to speak to the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. I do so with a deep sense of responsibility and with a conviction that this measure is...
encoded: I rise today to speak to the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. I do so with a deep sense of responsibility and with a conviction that this measure is essential to strengthen parliament's capacity to scrutinise, to advise and to hold to account the institutions charged with protecting our nation. Like many in this chamber, I wish for peace above all. Peace is the aspiration that guides our diplomacy and our values. Yet we must be clear eyed about the world we inhabit. Peace is most reliably preserved when a nation is prepared, when our defence forces are properly funded, when they're well trained and when they're ready to respond. That readiness depends not only on equipment and strategy but on robust parliamentary oversight that ensures capability, accountability, public trust and, indeed, public pride in the defence of our sovereignty. In my role as chair of the defence subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I have had the privilege of visiting bases, meeting with personnel across ranks and hearing directly from those who plan and execute our defence posture. I've met exceptionally talented, brave and committed men and women, young Australians who volunteer to serve, who display professionalism and courage and who embody the Anzac spirit in a modern form. Their dedication demands that parliament do its part to scrutinise, to support and to ensure that the institutions that serve them are fit for purpose. The nature of conflict has changed. Warfare in the 21st century is significantly a technological endeavour. The domains of space, cyber and autonomous systems are now central to strategic thinking. The conflict in Ukraine has provided a painful and costly education to militaries around the world about the interaction among tactics, industrial capacity and the rapid iteration of both hardware and software. What's happened in Ukraine has shown the value of both high-end, sophisticated …
date: 2026-02-05T11:10:00+00:00

John Houston Memorial Swimming Pool | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
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description: There is so much terrible news to report to the chamber, but I want to take the opportunity to bring some good news—that is about the official reopening of the John Houston Memorial...
encoded: There is so much terrible news to report to the chamber, but I want to take the opportunity to bring some good news—that is about the official reopening of the John Houston Memorial Swimming Pool after a refurbishment. Its reopening, on 19 December at 11 am, was a remarkable community event. This was made possible by $4.2 million in funding from the federal government under the Growing Regions Program, combined with $3 million from the state government of New South Wales, funding of $200,000 from local ratepayers and $320,000 raised by a fantastic local woman called Gail Munn—part of the package of the entire renewal, which is now a signature for anybody who's going to or through Hay. This pool is a consequence of John Houston, who became concerned about a problem in his community when he was a kid growing up in Hay: kids were drowning in the river and something needed to be done about it. John didn't sit back, whinge about it and wait for somebody to come and solve the problem. He decided that he was going to do something and formed the Hay swimming pool committee, which fundraised for 10 years to get the pool built. That's what great citizens across this country do. They love our country. They love their community. They find ways to make life better and to connect us as fellow Australians. John Houston showed that, and he showed us that we can solve our community's problems. We don't leave it to someone else; we need to work together. There is nobody else. We are the sum total of the resources of this nation, and we need to do things together for our own collective benefit. The John Houston Memorial Pool is a shining example of identifying a problem, having a dream to make it better and competing fairly against other projects around the country to acquire federal money to make this country even better.
date: 2026-02-03T13:32:00+00:00

Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
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description: At Bondi, on 14 December, two evil men, drawing on a perverted distortion of Islam that is the foundation of the terror organisation ISIS, committed a terror attack on our shores. For the record,...
encoded: At Bondi, on 14 December, two evil men, drawing on a perverted distortion of Islam that is the foundation of the terror organisation ISIS, committed a terror attack on our shores. For the record, ISIS is funded by Iran. Every part of its existence is to be abhorred. No Australian who shares in our nation's vast democratic success, shares in our collective wealth, which thrives in the fertile environment that is enabled by our democratic values, and benefits from our laws and the peace they bring can ever support ISIS or any organisation that harbours support for ISIS in any form. I don't think there would be any dispute here in this chamber or around the nation of the moral righteousness of that statement. But it is a fact that one of the antisemitic, ISIS inspired gunmen—one of those evil men—who shot 15 fine citizens that afternoon, Sunday 14th, in Bondi was born and raised here in Australia. He was known, in some glancing way, according to reports, to the intelligence agencies of this nation. The other man, his father, was not a citizen of this country. Their actions and the actions of others like them tell us that something is wrong with our current laws. We must learn from Bondi that threats to our society come from both within and outside our nation and our population. That father-and-son act of terror demands that we face the reality of the country we are today. We have to confront, through the myriad horrific images of people in Bondi on that fateful Sunday evening in December, the reality of our time. It's horrifying. People are scarred at a distance from media engagement, just by looking at the images of what happened in Bondi. There's a massive national provision of support for the mental health of the people who watched those images. But we have to look. We cannot turn away. It's horrifying for me that, in the moment when we could have confronted and responded to this challenge of our time, acted in unison, protected the best of what we are and been clea…
date: 2026-01-20T20:25:00+00:00

Bondi Beach: Attack | Questions without Notice | Senate debates
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description: Thank you so much for some of the correction of misinformation. What will these sensible gun reforms mean in practice? What effect would these reforms have had on the Bondi terrorists?
encoded: Thank you so much for some of the correction of misinformation. What will these sensible gun reforms mean in practice? What effect would these reforms have had on the Bondi terrorists?
date: 2026-01-20T14:29:00+00:00

Bondi Beach: Attack | Questions without Notice | Senate debates
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description: Thank you for that fulsome response, Minister. Could you also explain what this means for Australian gun owners and the importance of sharing accurate information about the gun reforms?
encoded: Thank you for that fulsome response, Minister. Could you also explain what this means for Australian gun owners and the importance of sharing accurate information about the gun reforms?
date: 2026-01-20T14:28:00+00:00

Bondi Beach: Attack | Questions without Notice | Senate debates
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description: My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Watt. The antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach on 14 December last year was the deadliest terror attack on...
encoded: My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Watt. The antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach on 14 December last year was the deadliest terror attack on Australian soil. What steps are the Albanese government taking to address both the motivation and the means of this attack to ensure something like this can never happen again?
date: 2026-01-20T14:25:00+00:00

Bondi Beach: Attack | Condolences | Senate debates
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description: Dan Elkayam, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Marika Pogany, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Alex Kleytman, Reuven Morrison, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Boris Gurman, Sofia Gurman, Edith Brutman, Boris Tetleroyd,...
encoded: Dan Elkayam, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Marika Pogany, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Alex Kleytman, Reuven Morrison, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Boris Gurman, Sofia Gurman, Edith Brutman, Boris Tetleroyd, Adam Smyth, Tania Tretiak and 10-year-old Matilda. I stand in the parliament of our nation, the centre of democracy, and I grieve for you. I associate myself with the remarks of my colleagues, who have sought to capture your lives of goodness in their contributions to this condolence motion today. I grieve for the days you had yet to live, for the plans you had made that will not come to pass and for the loss of your profoundly unique contributions to the lives of all those who knew you. I acknowledge the deep and abiding grief of all those who loved you and lost you on 14 December 2025—24 Kislev 5786, in the Hebrew calendar. I mourn your loss. I'm mourn with you as a mother, as a sister, as a daughter and as a longstanding friend of the Jewish people. I mourn with you as a person blessed with my own Catholic faith, which I have practised publicly with little resistance or derision, and I see your suffering as a Jewish community that has already, for years and years, had to farewell your children at fortified school gates, watched over by guards with guns protecting you and your family as you attend faith based schools. I mourn with you as an Australian of goodwill, and I bring to you the many condolences of all who have shed tears for you, all who have prayed for you and all who, like me, continue to grieve with and for you. What happened in Bondi was a day that can never be undone, a day of shame forever now part of our nation's story, a day when the whole world saw our collective failure and a day that impels us to act in unison and move our country towards a more enduring and secure internal peace. But I fear we will fall short. I have a long and strong association with the Jewish community. As Chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group of Israel, I've worked closely with…
date: 2026-01-19T11:47:00+00:00

Withdrawal | Notices | Senate debates
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description: Pursuant to notice given yesterday, on behalf of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, I withdraw business of the Senate notice of motion No. 1 for four sitting days...
encoded: Pursuant to notice given yesterday, on behalf of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, I withdraw business of the Senate notice of motion No. 1 for four sitting days after today, proposing the disallowance of the Competition and Consumer (Notification of Acquisitions) Determination 2025, made under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
date: 2025-11-27T11:47:00+00:00

Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation Committee; Delegated Legislation Monitor | Committees | Senate debates
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description: I rise to speak to the tabling of the Scrutiny of Delegation Legislation Committee's Delegated legislation monitorNo. 8 of 2025. This monitor reports on the committee's consideration of 98...
encoded: I rise to speak to the tabling of the Scrutiny of Delegation Legislation Committee's Delegated legislation monitorNo. 8 of 2025. This monitor reports on the committee's consideration of 98 legislative instruments registered between 24 September and 21 October 2025. In this monitor the committee has commented on two concluded instruments and one new instrument. The committee has concluded its examination of the Competition and Consumer (Notification of Acquisitions) Determination 2025. This instrument supports the new merger control regime that was introduced in 2024 through amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Part 6 of the instrument sets out the content and format of the notifications and public benefit application forms prescribed under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and the information and documents required to accompany these forms. Under scrutiny principle (a), the committee expects that instruments are made in accordance with their enabling acts and otherwise comply with all legislative requirements. In addition, Senate standing order 23(4A) empowers the committee to scrutinise legislative instruments that are exempt from disallowance, including whether it's appropriate for those instruments to be exempt. In this case, the committee raised concerns about the legal basis for exempting only part 6 of the instrument from disallowance. Part 6 is made under sections 51ABY and 51ABZQ of the Competition and Consumer Act. Those sections also provide that any 'legislative instrument' made under them is not subject to disallowance. The other nine parts of the instrument are made under different enabling provisions within the Competition and Consumer Act and are subject to disallowance. Paragraph 44(2)(a) of the Legislation Act 2003 provides for two distinct circumstances in which an act may declare or have the effect that the usual parliamentary disallowance process does not apply—that is, to a 'legislative instrument' as a whole or to 'a provisi…
date: 2025-11-26T18:19:00+00:00

Workplace Safety: Women in the Transport Industry | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
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description: Can you believe that, right now, in 2025, there are women in Australia who don't have access to a toilet in their workplace? This is a reality for too many women who work in the transport sector,...
encoded: Can you believe that, right now, in 2025, there are women in Australia who don't have access to a toilet in their workplace? This is a reality for too many women who work in the transport sector, highlighted in a new survey conducted by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, the mighty RTBU—and a shout-out to Alex Claassens. Nearly three out of every four women, 73 per cent, working in the sector reported health issues because of inadequate workplace sanitary facilities. Dehydration, UTIs, digestive issues, menstrual complications and kidney problems—all the result of not having access to a safe, private toilet in their workplace. Women are delaying their toilet breaks. They're dehydrating themselves. They're having to carry used period products around in their pockets or bags during shifts, or even having to wear adult nappies or special underwear just to get through their shift. The response of managers? Too often, they laugh it off, and they make comments like, 'That's just how it works in this job.' Not good enough! I support this campaign. Every decent Australian should too.
date: 2025-11-26T13:58:00+00:00

Customs Tariff Amendment (Geelong Treaty Implementation) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
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description: Senator Shoebridge, I'll interrupt you for a moment, if you could take a seat. I'm going to commence by saying you haven't technically broken any of the rules of the Senate. With this being a...
encoded: Senator Shoebridge, I'll interrupt you for a moment, if you could take a seat. I'm going to commence by saying you haven't technically broken any of the rules of the Senate. With this being a week when we're trying to manage respectful practice and also respectful language, I'd just ask you to review some of the more colourful phrases that have popped into your contribution. I give you the floor again.
date: 2025-11-26T12:04:00+00:00

Customs Tariff Amendment (Geelong Treaty Implementation) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
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description: I rise to speak in strong support of this bill, the Customs Tariff Amendment (Geelong Treaty Implementation) Bill 2025, which forms part of Australia's deep and enduring partnership with the...
encoded: I rise to speak in strong support of this bill, the Customs Tariff Amendment (Geelong Treaty Implementation) Bill 2025, which forms part of Australia's deep and enduring partnership with the United Kingdom. AUKUS represents a world renowned opportunity to uplift Australia's capability, and it strengthens our partnerships with our most trusted allies. Australia is a respected voice on the international stage, due in no small part to the tireless work of our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong, whose leadership has restored and enhanced Australia's standing, particularly in our region but also across the globe. Our diplomatic efforts are fortified by our security here at home. We have a capable, modern defence force that underpins our commitment to peace and deterrence. Australia stands firmly for a rules based international order. We make no apology for supporting our democratic allies, nor for backing the multilateral institutions that help resolve disputes peacefully and prevent conflict. As the Chair of the Defence Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I have travelled with my fellow committee members across the country meeting with academics, industry leaders, think tanks and Defence officials. Our current inquiry, into the Defence annual report 2023-24, has revealed the scale of change now underway in our strategic posture. Australia is leveraging our natural advantages by orienting our defence capability to the north and investing in sea power, ensuring we can respond with agility and strength to potential threats. Central to this transformation is the AUKUS partnership. The acquisition of Virginia class submarines followed by the SSN-AUKUS is pivotal to Australia's ability to deter conflict. These submarines are the apex predators of the sea—capable, stealthy and strategically decisive. Complementary littoral capabilities in the Army will strengthen this posture, giving Australia the capacity to deploy…
date: 2025-11-26T11:55:00+00:00

Workplace Relations | Adjournment | Senate debates
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description: I rise to make a contribution about workplace relations, particularly with regard to Black Friday. This Friday marks the start of the Black Friday weekend, and, according to recent reports from...
encoded: I rise to make a contribution about workplace relations, particularly with regard to Black Friday. This Friday marks the start of the Black Friday weekend, and, according to recent reports from the ABC, around six million Australians are expected to take part in a weekend of major markdowns and bulk purchasing incentives. Many will turn to online shopping to avoid the chaos at shopping centres. The online shopping realm presents as a desirable retail experience for many Australian consumers, who will manage to check off Christmas lists and even grocery shop from the comfort of their home this festive season. I do encourage them to think, though, about their local small businesses and to see what they can do to support business in their own area. The online retailer that has perhaps been most successful in promoting the convenience and cheap prices that consumers covet is Amazon. As a goliath of the e-retail space, Amazon owns a substantial share of the online retail market in Australia. This isn't, in my view, something to celebrate. Instead, as we head into this festive season, we must pause and recognise the workers whose labour underpins every click, every parcel and every promise of convenience. Those workers are the ones who make this retail frenzy possible. While Black Friday is certainly an exciting event for many Australians, it's far less festive for Amazon distribution workers, who will face immense pressure in an already stressful, antiworker environment. The environment of Amazon rids employees of their human and workers rights. Amazon has intrusive surveillance practices. Amazon forces employees to work and live like the very machines that surround them. This week, the Transport Workers' Union and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association are campaigning to protect Australian jobs and businesses that fall victim to the exploitative and deplorable actions of Amazon. Today I am proud to stand in this chamber and support the SDA and the TWU …
date: 2025-11-24T20:14:00+00:00

Economy | Questions without Notice | Senate debates
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description: Australia's economy is stronger and more stable than many advanced nations, with the IMF praising our fiscal strategy and reform agenda. How important is it to maintain this responsible approach...
encoded: Australia's economy is stronger and more stable than many advanced nations, with the IMF praising our fiscal strategy and reform agenda. How important is it to maintain this responsible approach so we never return to the days of sliding global ranks and missed opportunities for jobs, for wages and for growth?
date: 2025-11-24T14:30:00+00:00