Jordon Steele-John's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
On 14 December, two individuals undertook a cowardly act at Bondi Beach. Their aim was to terrorise and to murder Jewish Australians as they gathered to celebrate Hanukah. From the moment that...
On 14 December, two individuals undertook a cowardly act at Bondi Beach. Their aim was to terrorise and to murder Jewish Australians as they gathered to celebrate Hanukah. From the moment that the first gunshot was fired, so many lives were changed forever. I won't repeat in full what I said in my condolence speech yesterday; however, I will emphasise this: such attacks leave scars that will last generations. They leave an empty chair at the dinner table. They leave wounds on bodies and hearts. They leave moments and memories that will never be able to be made. It is a cruelty to lose those we love to acts such as this, acts that should have never taken place. We must not let the actions of these two men define entire religious, ethnic and racial groups. As politicians, we have a responsibility to act. We must strengthen our laws so that what happened that Sunday can never happen again. It is our responsibility to counter racism and hatred in all of its forms. And in this moment of deepest grief, we must be shoulder to shoulder with one another. The Australian Greens supported the recall of parliament. We supported the establishment of a royal commission to identify what went wrong and what must change, whether in our hate speech laws, our gun laws, our intelligence agencies. We owe it to the victims, their families and the whole community to make sure that this never happens again. I will turn my contribution now to the need for gun law reform. We must close the loopholes in our gun laws that allowed these terrorists to legally access rapid reload weapons. Many of us look at the gun violence pandemic in the United States in horror. We are rightly proud of Australia's gun laws. We are rightly proud of the reforms that were enacted nearly 30 years ago, in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre. And because gun violence is not so widespread here, some people assume that our laws must already be strong enough. The reality is that, as of December 2025, there are more guns in Australia than there were before the buyback of 1996. In the postcode 2026, where Bondi is located, there are 370 registered firearms. One individual has 24 registered in their name. There is no acceptable reason or justification for someone living in the inner city to own 24 firearms—none whatsoever. That is why the Greens will support the changes in this bill. We support tighter controls on what can be imported. The Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026 places restrictions on the importation of assisted repeating and straight-pull firearms, on magazines of more than 30 rounds, on firearms suppressors and speed loaders. We support better background checks. Moving federal firearm checks into AUSTRAC is progress. This will enable agencies and police forces to share relevant information in relation to background checks. One of the clear failures in the Bondi attack was that the gunman was known to ASIO but the information could not be used in federal firearm checks. We support a national buyback scheme, as the amount of firearms in this nation is, as I said, now higher than it was at the time of the Port Arthur massacre. We have a saturation of rapid-reloading rifles and shotguns. This reality goes against the goals of the post Port Arthur action. It is the alarm bell ringing to tell us that urgent action is now needed. But, even once these changes have been made, we cannot be complacent. Firearms manufacturers have a long history of finding ways around strong gun laws. In the past they have changed the reload mechanisms just to dodge the restrictions. Their motivation is profit, not public safety. We need to stay vigilant to safeguard these changes. In 2023, in my home town of Perth, a 16-year-old accessed his father's gun cabinet. He took two legal rifles and ammunition, drove to a school car park and fired three shots, two of which hit the building. That incident showed that gun laws must evolve to stay effective. After that, Western Australia strengthened our gun laws. The Greens (WA), led by Dr Brad Pettitt MLC, voted in support of these stronger and tougher laws. I want to see changes made today, because public safety matters. A community free of gun violence matters. I also want to be clear that these laws should not punish responsible, legal gun owners who have a genuine reason for owning a firearm. Western Australia is home to some of the most threatened species on the planet, including the numbat, the bilby, the western ground parrot and the northern quoll. These animals are not only losing their habitat; they are being hunted to the brink of extinction by feral predators. Licensed landowners, professional pest controllers and conservation minded hunters have an important role to play in protecting these species against feral predators. These laws must be strong so that they can protect the community while also allowing legitimate conservation and land management work to continue. We owe it to the community to make sure that we are safe from gun violence and that the attacks that we saw in Bondi can never happen again. This bill will make it harder for illegal and legal firearms to fall into the wrong hands, while making sure that those who have a legitimate reason for a firearm can still access them. It is commonsense legislation, and we must now get it done.
Bondi Beach: Attack | Condolences | Senate debates
Today I add my voice to this condolence motion for the 15 people who were murdered in an antisemitic act of terror on 14 December at Bondi Beach. For those of us from the west, our connection to...
Today I add my voice to this condolence motion for the 15 people who were murdered in an antisemitic act of terror on 14 December at Bondi Beach. For those of us from the west, our connection to the golden sands of Bondi beach is often shaped by television shows and photographs, with images of rolling surf, glistening pools and endless summer days. While I've never been to Bondi Beach myself, those of us who've grown up on the coast know its sounds and rhythms well: kids laughing as they run into waves, the sound of a sandcastle being knocked flat and the quiet peace of a stroll and dinner by the water as the sun goes down. This place, cared for by traditional owners for tens of thousands of years, reflects something deep in the Australian story—a promise of belonging, of freedom and of shared space that is meant to be safe for everyone. On Sunday 14 December that promise was shattered. At 6.42 pm, during a Hanukkah celebration, two men brought hate, violence and weapons to a place of joy and community. Fifteen people were murdered and more than 40 physically injured. Countless others witnessed and were traumatised by unimaginable horror. The pain that friends and families feel right now—what they are experiencing—is beyond words. To lose someone that you love in such a senseless and brutal way is a grief that no-one should have to carry. I extend my deepest condolences for those who were killed to their families and their friends and to all those who will live with the physical and emotional injuries for the rest of their lives. In the darkness of that night, extraordinary courage began to emerge. There were stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. To me, they are simply the best of us—strangers shielding children on a beach, surfers helping people paddle to safety, lifeguards carrying the injured, first responders acting before emergency services arrived, members of the public confronting the gunmen, hospital staff working through the night and people thousands of kilometres away lining up to give blood. I watched this horrific antisemitic attack unfold on my phone, as so many across our country did, with shock and grief and disbelief. This hatred does not belong here. It does not belong in our streets. It does not belong on our beaches, in our schools or in our places of worship. Violence is never acceptable, especially when it is directed at people because of who they are and what they believe. On that day, the fabric of our community was torn. Trauma and grief affect us all differently. Some feel anger; some are afraid; some are numb; some withdraw. Others build walls. But we cannot allow hatred to decide who we become. We must refuse the 'us and them' stories that are being seeded to divide us. In the face of hate, we must choose love. In the face of violence, we must choose peace. In the face of fear, we must choose connection. And we must build a community where, regardless of your faith, culture or background, everyone can live freely and safely. As politicians, we have a responsibility to act. We must strengthen laws so that what happened on Sunday 14 December can never happen again. We must do more to counter racism and hatred in all its forms, and we must be shoulder to shoulder with one another in this moment of profound grief.
Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, National Environmental Protection Agency Bill 2025, Environment Information Australia Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Excise Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (General Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Restoration Charge Imposition) Bill 2025; In Committee | Bills | Senate debates
Today, I am proud that our parliament is passing long-awaited reforms to environmental laws here in Australia—laws that signal improvement, are better than the ones put forward by this...
Today, I am proud that our parliament is passing long-awaited reforms to environmental laws here in Australia—laws that signal improvement, are better than the ones put forward by this government alone and will provide some relief to many climate campaigners across this country. I am massively grateful to my Greens colleagues in the Senate, who have shown incredible determination in their negotiations to get these concessions from the government. However, these laws still fail to address some of the greatest threats to our environment: climate-polluting corporations and the billionaires who are fuelling our changing climate. For this vote today, I am reflecting on my recent trip to Karratha in WA's Pilbara region, a place of rich Australian history and ground zero for Woodside's Burrup Hub. Guided by elders and custodians, I got to experience our World Heritage listed Murujuga and its ancient rock art. I also saw firsthand the catastrophic impact of industry, devastating First Nations land and eroding the Murujuga rock art. I saw the uninterrupted flame of gas from the Burrup Hub, an open source pouring millions of tons of emissions into the world each year. Following Labor's approval of the North West Shelf expansion, it is estimated that emissions from WA gas exports will reach 15 billion tonnes over their lifetime. This is what happens when we have environmental laws that don't actually protect our environment and do not consider the climate crisis. Above the safety, health and wellbeing of Australians, this government chooses the private industries who gain profit from our land and resources—the private industries who do not pay their fair share of tax, who do not support Australian communities and who do not protect our natural world. It is disappointing that this government refused to negotiate on having environmental laws that would stop new fossil fuel projects in their tracks and protect nature for years to come. These laws presented an opportunity for strong leadership and for genuine reform for Australia's environment. I am really proud that the Greens secured significant improvements that have ensured this bill is better than our current nature laws. We have stopped the fast-track approval process for coal and gas projects so that they cannot be rushed through in 30 days. We have secured new protections for our native forests by ensuring that native forest logging projects will be assessed under the new environmental standards. We have closed land-clearing loopholes, protecting Australia's threatened wildlife and natural treasures like our Great Barrier Reef. We have saved the water trigger, which will continue to be a key tool for people fighting against fracking projects in the Kimberley. We have a lot more work to do. We have a lot more work to do to protect the northern jarrah forests. We have a lot more work to do to save Scott Reef. We have a lot more work to do to protect our precious Kimberley from the frackers. I look forward to continuing to work every day to protect nature, to protect our forests and to ensure a safer climate future.
People with Disability: Education | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
Too many disabled kids are being excluded from our public schools. Just last week, over 900 school bags were laid on the steps of Parliament House in Perth, each carrying the story of a disabled...
Too many disabled kids are being excluded from our public schools. Just last week, over 900 school bags were laid on the steps of Parliament House in Perth, each carrying the story of a disabled student failed by our public school system or the voice of a teacher pleading for the resources to support them. We have seen this before. In 2022, a similar protest called for an independent review. The review produced 15 urgent recommendations. The government has only fully supported one. What many people may be shocked to learn is this: in WA public schools, it is legally permitted to deny the enrolment of a disabled child. This must change, yet the WA government has still not committed to doing so. We must stop rejecting students because of their disabilities. For students at school, we know that the system isn't providing what they need to succeed. I've heard from parents and from disabled young children that school isn't safe, with bullying, exclusion and ineffective support plans. We need to resource our public schools better. We know that teachers are leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers. They are burnt out, lacking support and underresourced. Our educational assistants are also underpaid while taking on complex behaviour management, supporting disabled students and adapting and adopting curriculum on the fly. Disabled students are being denied the safe, inclusive education that they deserve. Inequitable access to education is a problem in this country, especially in WA. Every student in a public school deserves— (Time expired)
Aged Care Act 2024 | Motions | Senate debates
I move: That the question be now put. Question agreed to.
Report No. 2 of 2025-26 | Auditor-General's Reports | Senate debates
I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.
I move: That the Senate take note of the document. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission is the only regulatory body that over 700,000 NDIS participants can...
I move: That the Senate take note of the document. The National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission is the only regulatory body that over 700,000 NDIS participants can turn to when they experience abuse, neglect and poor-quality service. Yet the commission itself has been neglected and chronically underfunded, left without the basic tools that it needs to both prevent and address abuse and neglect effectively. The result is a commission that is struggling to meet its mandate. This failure is happening entirely on this government's watch. The National Audit Office report highlighted some alarming issues. It brought razor focus to the reality that the quality and safeguards commission is failing on so many fronts. Let us take a look at what the auditor found. The commission, it found, has a flawed decision-making process. It lacks a risk based approach to decision-making—something you would hope to find in a safeguarding commission. The commission's record system is noncompliant. The commission did not have an up-to-date statement of expectations from its minister. Since the release of the audit report, they've scrambled to publish one. Here we are, in 2025. We've had the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. We know the harms that disabled people are subjected to in everyday life, and yet the quality and safeguards commission that is supposed to support disabled people is lacking the absolute basics that you should be able to expect from an institution like this. In 2025, more than a decade after the establishment of the NDIS, this should not be happening. We should all be deeply concerned that the quality and safeguards commission is not adequately resourced to do its job. Participants tell my office that the commission fails in its duty to participants again and again. Participants tell my office that they report to the commission what they are experiencing, and yet there is no consequence. They don't hear back after raising a serious issue. One participant told me they waited 14 months before receiving a response to their complaint. We must do better. One of the recommendations in this report that I want to highlight is recommendation No. 4, which states that the commission should 'publicly outline its regulatory processes and decision-making criteria to support public understanding of how the Commission regulates the NDIS'. It is absolutely vital that the public understand how the commission makes its decisions, what it takes seriously and what standards it is prepared to uphold. Another key recommendation, recommendation No. 9, calls on the commission to support its staff to 'apply a consistent approach to compliance' by 'finalising fit-for-purpose policies and procedures for compliance actions and developing guidance to assist staff with selecting the most suitable compliance tool for specific circumstances'. In what world it is not already a reality? It is frankly shocking that the commission does not have in place these basics. Disabled people deserve better. This government must do better. The Australian Greens will push for better.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Joint Committee; Report | Committees | Senate debates
I move: That the Senate take note of the report. I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned.
Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025, Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025; In Committee | Bills | Senate debates
by leave—I move: SHEET 3439 (1) Clause 11, page 17 (after line 3), after paragraph 11(j), insert: (ja) promoting research in relation to public health matters, including by: (i) developing...
by leave—I move: SHEET 3439 (1) Clause 11, page 17 (after line 3), after paragraph 11(j), insert: (ja) promoting research in relation to public health matters, including by: (i) developing and maintaining close relationships with key public health research entities; and (ii) providing advice to research funding entities on research priorities for public health matters; (jb) promoting public health workforce expertise; (2) Clause 12, page 17 (line 13), omit "to (j)", substitute "to (jb)". _____ SHEET 3440 (1) Page 63 (after line 21), after clause 77, insert: 77A Annual pandemic preparedness and climate reporting The annual report prepared by the Director-General and given to the Minister under section 46 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 for a period must include an assessment of the following in relation to the period (including as compared to any previous such periods): (a) Australia's pandemic preparedness; (b) the impacts of climate change on health for Australians. _____ SHEET 3441 (1) Clause 5, page 5 (after line 8), after the definition of Director-General, insert: disability has the same meaning as in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. (2) Clause 30, page 28 (after line 24), after subclause (3), insert: (3A) The Minister must ensure that at least one appointed member is a person with a disability who has expertise, qualifications or experience in the health needs of people with disability. _____ SHEET 3443 (1) Clause 11, page 16 (after line 23), after subparagraph (11)(h)(vii), insert: (viia) bodies whose objects include the prevention and management of occupational exposures and injuries; (viib) bodies whose objects include the prevention and control of infection; (viic) bodies representing people with disability; (viid) bodies whose objects include research into, and the management of, the health needs of people with disability; These amendments, when taken together, substantially strengthen the Centre for Disease Control. They will ensure that climate change is mentioned specifically in the annual report as it relates to public health. They will ensure that there is consultation with community organisations in relation to policy setting. They will ensure that the centre has a clear direction in relation to the promotion of the health workforce and health research. Critically, they will ensure that there is, now and forever, a permanent disabled representative on the advisory council—someone who is a disabled person and who has specific disability-health based knowledge. I think this will go a long way to demonstrating to the Australian disability community that we here in the Senate understand that the disability community bore the brunt of the pandemic. So many of us lost loved ones. So many of us were confined to our homes. So many of us still must isolate in order to safeguard our health. I will share with the Senate, on a personal note, the fear that swept through our community in those early days and weeks of the pandemic. We would reach out to government and ask what the disability-specific response plan was for disabled people, and we were often met with silence or a 'we're working on that' or a 'we are bringing some people together to have a bit of a conversation', all the while people were beginning to become sick or were dying or being incubated. If we can learn one thing from this event it is that government must plan for these situations in a way which ensures there are urgent responses that reflect the diverse needs of the Australian community, because time is the precious substance in these situations. We should spend that time getting health care to people, not pulling together emergency working groups that we didn't know we needed because there was nobody in the room sharing a disabled perspective in relation to the plan as it was actually being made. With that said, as I said, I commend these amendments to the chamber, and I'm proud to do so this morning.
I'm seeking the call to move a couple of amendments The TEMPORARY CHAIR: Let me just check precisely what stage we're at, senators.
I want to talk about the government's bulk-billing changes that came into effect over the weekend. Back in February, the health minister told Australians the new incentive would mean that some...
I want to talk about the government's bulk-billing changes that came into effect over the weekend. Back in February, the health minister told Australians the new incentive would mean that some 4,800 clinics would be fully bulk-billing and that more people would not pay out-of-pocket costs. Are we expecting huge changes to the availability of bulk-billing now that the new incentive has been launched? It looks like probably not. Under the new scheme, GPs and their practices can choose to be fully bulk-billing in order to get an incentive payment, but many GP practices have stated they won't be able to sign up. Pre 1 November, out of roughly 6,500 GP clinics nationwide, about 1,600 were fully bulk-billing clinics. According to the government's own data, released on Monday, just 622 of Australia's 4,720 metropolitan practices planned to change from mixed billing to bulk-billing once the changes are in place. This means that only 13 per cent of metro GP clinics will offer fully bulk-billed services to their patients as a result of this change. So for anyone in a metro area heading in to see their GP for an appointment any time soon, odds are you will still pay out of pocket. The government has said that this plan will fix the system. But, in reality, in its current form, it is barely making a dent. For most people, especially in our suburbs and in our cities, this means still paying some $80 or more to see a GP. People are putting off care, waiting until they are sicker or ending up in hospital because they can't afford basic check-ups. The expanded incentives scale down for metro areas, meaning that the majority of Australians—those living in cities and large towns—may not see much of a difference at all for quite some time. Let's be clear. The overwhelming majority of doctors want to bulk-bill. They want to care for people without worrying about costs, but they can't keep their doors open on rebates that don't even cover basic costs. The RACGP has been sounding the alarm for months. GPs are spending longer with patients, dealing with more complex conditions and health issues, but Medicare rebates haven't kept up. The expanded incentives don't go far enough to change that. The incentive offered for longer consults is simply not enough to make them viable. The Greens have been calling for higher rebates on longer appointments so that people managing complex and ongoing health issues can access bulk-billed care. I want to live in a country where no-one ever hesitates to go to the doctor because they're worried about money and where doctors are able to bulk-bill everyone. But the reality is that a lot of GPs and medical admin staff have probably been having some really tough conversations with their patients since 1 November, trying to explain complex billing systems and the intricacies of Medicare bulk-billing in the hope that their patients will understand that their inability to make the switch is not so much a choice but, genuinely, the only way that some clinics can stay afloat. We need a funding model that actually reflects the costs and complexities of care in 2025, and we need to make sure GP clinics around the country can afford to bulk-bill every patient. The Greens have been saying this for years: health care is a human right, not a privilege. I am glad the government agrees in principle that all should be able to see a GP without cost, but this plan doesn't deliver it. It is time for Labor to get on with real reform.
International Relations: Australia and the United States of America | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
Over the past six months, we have seen a violent shift in the United States, a shift that should worry every single one of us—armed troops occupying cities like Los Angeles, Washington, DC,...
Over the past six months, we have seen a violent shift in the United States, a shift that should worry every single one of us—armed troops occupying cities like Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Chicago; and citizens detained without trial and deported to foreign prisons. The President of the United States is weaponising the justice system and punishing his political opponents simply for dissenting. We continue to see reckless warmongering with countries like Canada, Mexico and, now, Nigeria. President Trump has even called for the US to start immediately testing nuclear weapons delivery systems. If any other country did this, there would be outrage from this place. These are clear violations of human rights and of international law, but, because it is the US, our government stays silent. They are more interested in protecting a political pact to send hundreds of billions of Australian funds to the United States through AUKUS, rather than investing in our hospitals, our schools or literally anything else. Our government clings to the hope that billions of our dollars will get us a handful of nuclear submarines. President Trump is not known for keeping his promises, just ask the investors in his failed businesses or the workers he has underpaid. It is time for this government to wake up, stop pretending this is normal, cancel AUKUS while we still can and— (Time expired)
Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025, Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
I am so pleased to speak to the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. At the outset, I would like to thank my incredible team for their support and guidance as we've considered this...
I am so pleased to speak to the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. At the outset, I would like to thank my incredible team for their support and guidance as we've considered this bill in detail. The Greens have long called on successive governments to establish a centre for disease control, one that is independent, well-funded and appropriately resourced to meet the needs of our Australian community. Like so many nations around the world, we have come to confront a moment in time where a structure such as this is deeply needed. In establishing a centre for disease control, we will join countries including the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The Australian public health community have been advocating for one here at home for many, many years. Many in that community will be proud and perhaps a little relieved that we are finally here today with a bill before the Senate to establish Australia's own Centre for Disease Control from 1 January 2026. The Australian CDC, led by a director-general and an advisory council, will fill a longstanding gap in our public health infrastructure. It will provide advice to government and to the public on a wide range of health matters and serve as a national coordinator for public health data—a critical role that has been missing for far too long. It is my hope that, in the establishment of a CDC, we will see the delivery of greater visibility, understanding and research across key areas of public health—all the better to support the health and wellbeing of our communities. Over the past five years, our health systems have been pushed to their limits. Reviews, reports and lived experience have all made it crystal clear: Australia must strengthen its public health infrastructure. That includes improving pandemic preparedness, enhancing data sharing between the Commonwealth and the states and the territories, and building a nationally coordinated response to growing health impacts, particularly those of climate change. Let me touch on the completed Senate inquiry. I am pleased that this bill passed through the investigation that it was subjected to at the inquiry. It allowed us to hear from a broader community and to road-test with experts what they actually made of the legislation as it had been crafted. Reviewing the submissions, it became clear that many in the public health community are enthusiastic about the establishment of the CDC. The majority of submissions to the inquiry were supportive of the bill, and many offered constructive recommendations as to how it might be strengthened in terms of its design and its implementation. One of the key areas that many in the community have identified as missing from this legislation is the glaring absence of any focus on non-communicable and chronic disease. We know that chronic disease is one of the biggest public health challenges facing Australia today. Chronic disease contributes to nine out of every 10 deaths which occur. Every single year, these conditions account for 6.4 million hospitalisations. One in every two Australians lives with at least one chronic disease. And, if someone has one, it is highly likely that they will have another. Living with chronic disease often means spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars every single year on health care and medication. It can mean cancelling plans because you are too unwell to get out of bed. It can mean being unable to work because your symptoms are unpredictable and your condition simply does not fit into a nine-to-five world. Right now, people living with chronic illness are falling through the cracks of a fragmented system. Allied health appointments are unaffordable, preventative care is underfunded and access to treatment is inconsistent. All of this stems from a lack of clear policy direction on chronic disease. That's why it is so concerning that the bill fails to include chronic disease within its remit. The message from the community was crystal clear. Submissions to the inquiry into this bill overwhelmingly called for chronic disease to be a key focus of the CDC from the very beginning. The Grattan Institute put it plainly in their submission: … putting off the decision about whether the CDC will ultimately play a leading role in combatting chronic disease is a mistake. It contradicts evidence and international norms, and will cause uncertainty and delay while the burden of chronic disease continues to rise. The Australian Greens acknowledge that the minister has indicated a future review could consider expanding the CDC's scope to include chronic disease. We welcome that intention, but people living with chronic disease and illness cannot afford to wait for another review, another report or another delay. We urge the government to listen to the evidence, the experts and, most importantly, the people living with chronic conditions every single day. Bring chronic disease into the CDC's mandate as soon as possible, not later, because people with chronic disease have waited long enough. I move the amendment on sheet 3475 in my name calling on the government to include non-communicable and chronic disease within the purview of the Australian Centre for Disease Control: At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate: (a) notes that: (i) non-communicable and chronic disease is among Australia's biggest public health challenges, contributing to nine in ten deaths and 6.4 million hospitalisations each year, and (ii) public health experts have repeatedly called for the inclusion of non-communicable and chronic disease within the scope of the Australian Centre for Disease Control; and (b) affirms that expanding the Australian Centre for Disease Control's remit to include non-communicable and chronic disease will improve national action on disease prevention and management; and (c) calls on the Government to include non-communicable and chronic disease within the scope of the Australian Centre for Disease Control as soon as practicable". I am pleased to say that the bill before us today has a strong focus on First Nations health. It is encouraging to see the requirement that at least one member of the advisory council must be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, ensuring that lived experience informs the advice provided to the director-general. It is vital that the Centre for Disease Control and the advice it provides reflects the diversity and lived experience of the Australian community. However, upon reviewing this legislation, I was concerned to see that disability was not mentioned at all. The National Centre for Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health highlighted this gap in their submission. They drew attention to the findings of the Commonwealth government's COVID-19 response inquiry, which documented the experience of disabled people during the pandemic, saying it 'stressed the importance of mechanisms to ensure government health responses are informed by people with lived experience and expertise in disability.' For many in our community, the last pandemic was, and in many ways still is, a time of great fear. We lost too many friends and loved ones. Many people continue to live with the consequences of COVID-19—those with long COVID and those who still isolate in their homes for safety. Looking back, the many lives of disabled people were left at the mercy of government decision-making. We hoped they wouldn't forget us or, worse, leave us to die. At that time there was no guarantee that a disabled person would have a seat at the table where decisions about our very lives were being made. As advice was issued, we had no certainty that our perspective had been heard, and that is a fear that we still hold today. That is why I am proud to be putting forward an amendment to this bill to enshrine in law that a disabled person must hold a seat on the advisory council. Our Greens amendment makes clear that the advisory council should include at least one member who is a disabled person with expertise in the health needs of disabled people. It may be just one seat at the table, but it is a seat at the table. It is my hope that, if this amendment is supported, future health emergencies will not again leave disabled people out of sight or out of mind. If I move now to the climate crisis, the Australian Greens know—even if some in this chamber refuse to see it—that climate change is one of the biggest threats to public health in this country. We are already seeing the health impacts of a warming planet. More frequent and intense natural disasters are hitting our shores. Heatwaves are sweeping across our country, becoming longer, hotter and deadlier. A recent Monash University report showed that between 2016 and 2019 heatwaves caused more than 1,000 deaths in Australia. We are on track—with the Labor government still approving huge-emitting projects like Woodside's North West Shelf Project—to continue to make these crises worse. These are real-time health impacts, driven by the climate crisis, exacerbated by the decision of this government to approve and approve new coal and gas projects. The government's own climate risk assessment warned of incredibly dire outcomes if swift action to address climate change is not taken. In some parts of Australia we could see an increase of more than 400 per cent in heatwave related deaths. This is not a future problem; it is happening now. It's asthma attacks triggered by bushfire smoke. It's heat stress on outdoor workers. It's the mental health toll on communities hit again and again by floods, by fire and by drought. This is the reality lived by so many in our community right at this very moment. This is why it is so important that the health impacts of climate change are front and centre in the work of the Centre for Disease Control. To ensure that this happens, the Greens are calling for the health impacts of climate change to be explicitly included in the CDC's annual reporting. On the matter of the role of the director-general, there has been much discussion through the course of this debate, both in the House and in the Senate, on the role of the director-general and the responsibilities of the role of the chair of the advisory council. I'd like to acknowledge the range of organisations who have called for there to be a chair of the advisory council who is not the director-general. These organisations include Deakin University's Faculty of Health, the Public Health Association of Australia, the Cancer Council of Australia, the Kirby Institute, the Burnet Institute and Indigenous Allied Health Australia, among others. It has been disappointing that these calls have not been heard by this government. Essentially, in the spirit of establishing a CDC, we are willing to give the structure outlined in the legislation a go. But we are very clear that the structure of the advisory council, including the role of the chair, should be in the scope of further reviews. The government has also stated that the CDC should be, 'transparent, trusted and independent'. For the CDC to earn the trust of the public, it must take every measure to ensure that data privacy and security is at the top of the agenda. It must ensure the safety and protection of the information that is trusted to it. The Australian Greens will be supporting this bill. It is a change whose time has come. I commend it and our amendments to the Senate.
Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025, Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
It's been a genuinely interesting experience to listen to the contributions of senators this evening on this important legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025...
It's been a genuinely interesting experience to listen to the contributions of senators this evening on this important legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025 and related bill. I would particularly like to associate my remarks this evening with the remarks of Senators McKim and Pocock and put on the record my support for the amendment moved by my colleague Senator Barbara Pocock of South Australia in relation to the payment of superannuation to those below the age of 18. As the Greens spokesperson for youth affairs, I've heard from many young people across my home state of Western Australia and across the country about the real challenges and struggles of young people right now, confronting the reality of the cost-of-living crisis. Last week I shared with the chamber an individual's story shared with me as part of the Raise Our Voice Australia campaign, where they outlined very clearly the challenges of being a young person trying to make ends meet when age based wage discrimination in Australia is a reality. And I would take that argument further. It is a shame upon us that, right now, young people in Australia who are below the age of 18 are often not paid their super. They have to jump through these additional hoops to be able to get the super that should rightly be theirs. It's. quite frankly, ridiculous that in Australia in 2025 a person who is below the age of 18 needs to work-30 plus hours for one employer to be able to qualify for the provision of superannuation. Anybody who has taken a moment to look at the dynamics of work among that particular age cohort knows that if you are below the age of 18, you are much more likely to work for multiple employers in part-time positions as you seek to make ends meet and to find yourself fully employed. So I very much support Senator Pocock's amendment and would commend it to the Senate. I want to mention two other groups here in relation to superannuation and this bill—firstly, disabled people in Australia. We know that disabled people in Australia, as a community, experience far higher levels of unemployment and far higher levels of underemployment than the rest of the Australian community. Because of those factors, we have far less in our retirement savings than the rest of the Australian community. We also continue to live in a reality where it is legal in 2025 in Australia, under Australian law, to pay a disabled person less than the minimum wage purely because they are disabled. We have wage based discrimination as the law of the land in Australia. That means that many, many workers work in so-called sheltered workshops or Australian disability enterprises for dollars on the hour, and that affects the amount of money that they have in their superannuation. A friend of mine who was in an ADE for six years, I believe, managed to accrue some $300 over that time in paid superannuation. So, when we look at reforming the super system, we need to take account of the fact that many disabled people are starting from far, far behind the rest of the community. Finally, I would draw the Senate's attention to some superb reporting that has been done by the ABC and by the Guardian over the course of the last few weeks. They've drawn the community's attention to a rather horrifying fact, and that is that, between 2018-19 and the financial year 2024-25, there has been a 1,200 per cent increase in the amount of money withdrawn by Australians from their superannuation for the purpose of paying for health care. Overwhelmingly, the reason that they are withdrawing that money is to pay for dental care. In the last year alone, Australians withdrew some $817 million from their superannuation in order to pay for dental care. In 2018-19, that figure was $66.4 million. That represents a colossal loss of retirement security which Australians otherwise would have enjoyed, but they had to take it out to pay for the dentist. Some might be thinking, as you listen to this debate tonight, that potentially people withdrew this money for non-essential care. Maybe you're thinking that people have somehow found a way to utilise the hardship loopholes within the superannuation system to withdraw super for cosmetic reasons. But, again, the good journalists that are on the case, this time last week on 7.30, showed us really clearly what the reality is—what is actually going on. They brought us stories of Australians who are survivors of cancer—head and neck cancer. They've taken it on and they've beaten it with the help of their families and their healthcare professionals. When they confront and look down the barrel of the journey back to what life was before—the restorative work that is so necessary to live well again post head, neck or oral cancer—they discover, and their treatment team discovers, that there is this completely unjustifiable gap in our cancer treatment system. The gap is that, if you are seeking restorative care—prosthetics, surgeries—to regain function and if it's for the mouth or some parts of the face, then it's not covered under Medicare. So what do people do? They are having to turn to the remortgaging of their homes and, yes, the withdrawal of tens of thousands of dollars from their superannuation. One story in the most recent reporting quoted an individual who had to withdraw $50,000 to afford the restorative dental care post their victory over cancer. Situations like this are why Jonathan Clark, who is the head of neck and head cancer at the Chris O'Brien Lifehouse hospital, was driven to give a quote to the ABC about this situation. He was asked what he thought about people being confronted with these unthinkable choices and unthinkable decisions—whether to live your life in pain and in physical shame or to go to so deeply into debt. His response was that it made him feel 'ashamed' to work in a health system that thinks that's an acceptable choice for people to have to make. I share that sense of shame with Chris. We as a legislature should never have let our community arrive at 2025 with gaps like that still remaining in the system. It's just not okay. I'm really pleased that, last week, the government supported the second reading amendment that I moved in relation to the commissioning of a study into what it would mean to bring head and neck cancer restorative treatments fully into Medicare. That's a great first start. We have to take the passion, the historical knowledge and the care and commitment that so many have displayed in the course of this debate in relation to superannuation, a scheme which is close to the hearts of many people in here and, I would say, every single one of our electors—we have to take that energy and direct it towards a clear-eyed assessment of what is currently happening in our community, which is a mass transfer of retirement savings from super accounts, where those savings were intended to stay and to accrue interest so that people could have a nest egg. That money is flowing out and into this gaping hole in our public healthcare system. It's a gaping hole that will only be filled when we finally take the step of bringing dental care fully into Medicare. That's what we must do to solve this problem. I know it can't happen overnight. I know it is a significant reform. But let's start somewhere. Let's start by bringing head and neck cancer rehabilitative treatment into Medicare so that nobody ever again has to raid their super to be able to afford a prosthetic that allows them to smile, or a surgery or treatment that gives their teeth enamel and allows their mouth to function, because the radiation that saved their life also fried their salivary glands. Let's end that for people. While we're at it, let's introduce a seniors dental benefit scheme for those older Australians who are doing it tough, so that they can get some basic dental care. Let's take those first three steps towards that world where dental care is covered by Medicare. Among the many benefits that that will bring will be that so much more will remain in people's superannuation accounts, where it was intended to be in the first place. Let's do that. Let's provide full coverage and provision of superannuation for those under the age of 18, as suggested by my colleague from South Australia, and let us make sure that all disabled people in Australia are paid a full wage, regardless of their disability. I commend this legislation to the Senate.
Climate Change | Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers | Senate debates
For years, we have been gearing up for a long-overdue reform of Australia's environmental laws—a reform that should reflect the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet this government has...
For years, we have been gearing up for a long-overdue reform of Australia's environmental laws—a reform that should reflect the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet this government has proposed a profoundly disappointing set of so-called reforms. These proposed laws are weaker than the ones that we already have and risk taking us backwards. Many in our community would find it appalling that this government continues to prioritise corporations over our environment. Labor's decision to greenlight the North West Shelf gas extension to 2070 makes it crystal clear that this government refuses to confront the long-term consequences of its choices. These new laws won't stop new coal or gas projects. The government is failing to stop the source of the climate destabilisation and it is failing to chart a clear and credible pathway for transition. Just last month, I attended the release of a groundbreaking report showing just how Western Australia can reduce its emissions and manage energy demands across major industries—a science based pathway to align WA with the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degrees target. But this wasn't commissioned by government. No, it came from Greenpeace and the environmental sector. The people are doing the work which our governments should be leading. Instead, both WA and federal Labor continue to pander to fossil fuel giants, ignoring the economic and environmental realities that are right before our eyes. This is not a time for denial. It is a time for strategic, bold action, a time for a transition to a cleaner economy—one that is fairer for people and puts the planet first. For those who still believe that Australia is a negligible contributor to this problem, let me say this: Australia is one of the world's biggest gas exporters. Our per person greenhouse gas emissions are amongst the highest on planet Earth. Our fossil fuel exports have already pumped 30 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere since the 1960s, and we are on track to add another 15 billion over the next decade. So no, Australia is not a small player. We are a major polluter, and the government's refusal to act isn't just an environmental failure. It is a moral failure. We need environmental laws that truly protect our environment, our native forests, our critical habitats and our climate because protecting our environment is protecting our future. (Time expired.) Question agreed to.
Health Care | Questions without Notice | Senate debates
() (): Many in the community will find that kind of response frustrating, given that we know that longer consultations are the reality of what is required from so many general...
() (): Many in the community will find that kind of response frustrating, given that we know that longer consultations are the reality of what is required from so many general practitioners—particularly for mental health consultations, which are the overwhelming majority of consults done by GPs now. Will Labor commit to properly funding community healthcare centres, like cohealth in Victoria, so that they can continue to provide the care that is needed? (Time expired)
Many in our community need longer appointments to get wraparound care for complex health conditions, yet the government refuses to lift rebates to support this model of care. Minister, when will...
Many in our community need longer appointments to get wraparound care for complex health conditions, yet the government refuses to lift rebates to support this model of care. Minister, when will your government listen to GPs and lift the rebate for longer consultations?
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing. Minister, people across the country are struggling to access affordable health care right now....
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing. Minister, people across the country are struggling to access affordable health care right now. Out-of-pocket costs are continuing to rise, and community healthcare centres, including cohealth in Victoria, are closing their doors. Minister, why are community healthcare centres closing under Labor state and federal governments?
Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | Senate debates
This omnibus bill, the Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025, seeks to make changes to the process for claiming a private health insurance rebate. The private...
This omnibus bill, the Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025, seeks to make changes to the process for claiming a private health insurance rebate. The private health insurance rebate enables, as we know, eligible people to have the cost of their private health insurance subsidised by the government. Right now, the IT systems responsible for administering these rebates simply can't meet the expectations set out in the legislation, so this bill will update the law to better align with what the system can actually deliver. The Greens have been clear on our position in relation to private health insurance. Our priority, in our view, is that we should be improving and strengthening our public health system. However, while there remains a private health structure in Australia, we see the need and the value in aligning these systems. Let me move to the issue of head and neck cancer. I would like to take the opportunity presented by this legislation to talk about an issue that I am incredibly passionate about: access to affordable oral and dental health care, particularly to dental prosthetics for people who have undergone treatment for head, neck and oral cancers. Head, neck and oral cancers can cause significant damage to a person's mouth and oral health. In some people, this might be through the removal of parts of the face or mouth, such as their lips or gums. For others, the radiation treatment around the head area can cause permanent damage to the salivary glands, which play a crucial role in keeping the mouth healthy. If it were any other type of cancer that we were talking about, Medicare would cover the post-treatment rehabilitation, including prosthetics. But, because we are talking about cancers of the head, mouth or neck, these prosthetics and that rehabilitation aren't covered by Medicare. Instead, cancer patients need to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars out of pocket for it. We have heard of people having to mortgage their house and pull from their super in order to pay for dental prosthetics that they need. While millionaires are living large on government funded tax cuts, it is unacceptable that Medicare can't cover prosthetics. In 2023, the dental inquiry that I had the honour of chairing uncovered these huge gaps in the Medicare system and made two recommendations. These recommendations were to further investigate the ways in which cancer and cancer treatment could impact the mouth and to look into addressing these impacts, including reviewing the Medicare Benefits Schedule with a view to improve access to care. Today I call on the government to implement those recommendations so that survivors of head and neck cancer can access prosthetics and post-treatment care that they need without going broke trying to afford it. I moved the second reading amendment in my name last night during the debate, and I would ask the government to consider supporting that amendment and to action those recommendations. Somebody who has won the battle with cancer of the head, neck or mouth should never have to then think about where they will find the money for the postcancer treatments or the prosthetics that they may need. I am so sick and tired of hearing that yet another member of my WA community has survived cancer and that, after a battle that has claimed a large section of their face or a large part of their mouth and has taken their ability to produce spit in their mouths—can anybody actually imagine what it is like to live with that as a reality day in, day out? And that's their life. The one thing that can collectively be done is to make sure that, when they are in need of medical treatment and prosthetics, they can get it through Medicare. I'm often asked where we should begin the work of bringing dental care into Medicare. Well, here is an opportunity. Let us start by uniting around the idea that people who have survived cancer should be able to get rehabilitative treatment covered under Medicare, regardless of where on the body that care needs to be administered or where the prosthetic might need to be attached. Can we all just do that? Could we all just agree that that is something that should be done? Back this amendment. Let's have it be a unanimous position of this Senate that it should be the case that head, neck and oral cancers are covered under Medicare and that you can get the prosthetics and the treatment you need without having to mortgage your house. Come on—let us do this together. It's a good thing, and the time has come.
Medicare: Dental Health | Statements by Senators | Senate debates
Australians are rightly proud of our healthcare system. For decades, Medicare has been a lifeline for millions of people, giving access to life-saving cancer treatments, surgeries and essential...
Australians are rightly proud of our healthcare system. For decades, Medicare has been a lifeline for millions of people, giving access to life-saving cancer treatments, surgeries and essential health care when needed. At its heart, Medicare is built on two fundamental principles: universality and comprehensive coverage. But, sadly, these very principles are under threat. Successive governments from both major parties have cut funding, failed to expand coverage and allowed out-of-pocket costs to soar. As a result, too many people in our community are being forced to try to find other ways to pay for vital, often urgent, medical treatment. For some, that means draining their superannuation, maxing out credit cards, turning to buy-now pay-later schemes or relying on predatory lenders that sometimes charge up to 47 per cent interest. No-one wants to do this, but it's what people are having to resort to because the government has failed to invest in our healthcare system. Last year, more than 63,000 people in Australia withdrew some $1.4 billion from their superannuation just to cover medical costs—$817 million of that amount was for dental care alone. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. Going to the dentist is completely and wildly unaffordable. Even the most basic dental treatment is out of reach. People are being forced to raid their financial future to pay for essential health care. We know that when you take money out of your super you don't just lose the amount that you need to withdraw; you lose the compound growth that it would have earned over your working life. That means that every dollar withdrawn today could cost you twice as much, if not more, in retirement. No-one should have to drain their superannuation to access health care. Labor must reform dental care so that it is affordable and accessible for everyone. As this gap in public health coverage continues to widen, capitalism's worst actors are moving in. We're talking about predatory lenders, profiteering credit schemes and buy-now pay-later companies, exploiting people's desperation to turn a profit from pain. So let's talk about buy-now pay-later vendors like Afterpay and Zip Pay. You can stroll into dentist offices and psychologist clinics today and often see advertisements encouraging people to use these services to cover treatments that Medicare doesn't cover. This kind of marketing is borderline predatory. After all, we would not accept advertising for credit cards or high-interest loan sharks in a healthcare setting. If you need further proof that these companies are exploiting people to turn a profit, consider this: they've actually hired executives with titles like 'Head of Healthcare Payments'. There are currently no obligations to stop these companies from targeting healthcare providers and their patients directly. And the result? Members of our community are being left thousands of dollars in debt simply because they need to access essential health care. I totally get why people turn to these services, but—let's be clear—they shouldn't have to. The latest Australian Healthcare Index found that three-quarters of Australians said that cost-of-living pressures had caused them to delay visiting a GP, seeing a dentist or even buying prescribed medicine. That's 76 per cent of Australians making decisions about health care based on cost. Amongst young people, that number jumps to 86 per cent. Of those, 44 per cent are now using buy-now pay-later services to fund their health care. These aren't just statistics. They represent real stories of real people. One such story brought to my team's attention was a constituent struggling to pay for healthcare services that their child desperately needed. They shared with me that they had to take out a loan of $6,000 so that their child could undergo urgent dental surgery under a general anaesthetic. After the interest, the fees and commissions, the total repayment will reach around $10,200 over three years—all so that their child doesn't have to live in pain. No-one should ever have to choose between their health and financial ruin. Let us talk about the money involved here. Block, Inc. the parent company of Afterpay, made $8.89 billion in gross profits in the 2024 financial year—all while Australians are being forced to raid their life savings just to access essential health care. Billionaire corporations are making massive profits at the expense of our literal pain and suffering. This ends now. This government must act. It must do more to regulate buy-now pay-later schemes and other credit providers that are embedding themselves in our healthcare system and preying on people in crisis. No-one should have to risk financial ruin to get the health care they need when they need it. The Greens have been out there, knocking on doors, talking to people about just how broken our healthcare system and our hospital system have become. We have a healthcare system that no longer has universal coverage and a public hospital system on the brink of collapse. Healthcare workers are fleeing the sector and patients are taking on thousands of dollars in predatory debt. At Royal Perth Hospital, in my home town, the drinking water is unsafe because of the presence of legionella bacteria. And, almost every month, we seemingly break a new record for ambulance ramping. We can no longer just sit here and say, 'If we don't do this, the health care system will collapse.' It is literally collapsing before our eyes. We saw during COVID that, when a government commits to serious and significant investment, it can get it done. It is a question of political will. The Albanese government must find the political will to fix our healthcare system and to fix the broken hospital system. If they are looking for money to do it, may I suggest that they consider redirecting some of the many tens of billions they are currently committing to passing off to US arms dealers to keep the Trump administration happy. It doesn't have to be like this. We can make Medicare the pride of our country once again and make our hospitals world leaders in patient care and research. All it takes is the right initiatives and a bit of political courage. We must get dental care and mental health care into Medicare. We must lower the cost of accessing urgently needed care where those cost barriers exist. Many love to call Australia the lucky country. Many in here love that quote and use it often. But I'm here to remind you that so many people in this country do not share the luck of the powerful in this place. (Time expired)