Zoe Daniel's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2025-09-07T23:05:16+00:00
items: Budget | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Defence Procurement: Submarines | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Australian Society: Social Cohesion | Adjournment | House debates
items: Biodiversity | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
items: Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Morton-Bowles, Ms Holly Jayne, Jones, Ms Bianca Adrienne | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Antisemitism | Motions | House debates
items: Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
items: Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Bowles, Ms Holly, Jones, Ms Bianca | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Jones, Miss Bianca | Statements on Indulgence | House debates
items: Oversight Legislation Amendment (Robodebt Royal Commission Response and Other Measures) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Migration Amendment Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates

Budget | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: This week's budget saw the age-old ritual of the government announcing a tax cut with great fanfare to offset the impact of bracket creep. While the top-up tax cut is welcome relief, voters in...
encoded: This week's budget saw the age-old ritual of the government announcing a tax cut with great fanfare to offset the impact of bracket creep. While the top-up tax cut is welcome relief, voters in Goldstein aren't fooled. It is yet another tactical return of bracket creep just before an election, not a sustainable or transparent way to run the tax system. I have been calling for the indexation of income tax brackets for some time. Indexation forces governments to make deliberate, honest decisions about revenue, rather than relying on inflation to quietly grow the size of the tax pie. When I speak to voters in Goldstein they are frustrated with the major parties on this issue. My community tax survey made that crystal clear. Bracket creep is a stealth tax increase year after year that disproportionately burdens younger Australians, workers and families. It allows the government to fill its coffers through an overreliance on income tax and enables them to kick the can down the road, instead of conducting a meaningful review of our tax system. As our population ages, we must broaden the tax base to ensure the next generation isn't saddled with enormous national debt and the interest payments that come with it. Relying on revenue creeping through the back door is no longer working for the lucky country, and unless we get serious about tax reform, we are going to run out of luck. For too long the major parties have relied on windfalls, whether from resource prices, superannuation taxes or bracket creep, to paper over structural deficits, but that well is running dry. Hoping for budgetary luck or favourable resource prices is not fiscal policy. It leaves the national accounts in structural deficit with no real plan, and there's red out until at least 2035. Bracket creep is not just bad policy; it's an intergenerational equity issue and a drag on the lives and livelihoods of working Australians, especially young people. Seventeen countries in the OECD already index their incom…
date: 2025-03-27T09:30:00+00:00

Defence Procurement: Submarines | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: It is on relevance. The question went to either the capacity or the willingness of the US to deliver such subs.
encoded: It is on relevance. The question went to either the capacity or the willingness of the US to deliver such subs.
date: 2025-03-27T14:17:00+00:00

Defence Procurement: Submarines | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: I rise on a point of order.
encoded: I rise on a point of order.
date: 2025-03-27T14:17:00+00:00

Defence Procurement: Submarines | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Prime Minister. People in Goldstein are constantly raising with me their concerns about the stability of the Australia-US relationship under the Trump administration and...
encoded: My question is to the Prime Minister. People in Goldstein are constantly raising with me their concerns about the stability of the Australia-US relationship under the Trump administration and whether it's sensible to be spending billions on the AUKUS deal when even the US Congressional Budget Office says the submarines may never be delivered. What is your Plan B?
date: 2025-03-27T14:17:00+00:00

Australian Society: Social Cohesion | Adjournment | House debates
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description: We're living in a time where the truth isn't just distorted; it's drowned. Political leaders flood the media with so many outrageous claims that accountability becomes almost impossible. We're...
encoded: We're living in a time where the truth isn't just distorted; it's drowned. Political leaders flood the media with so many outrageous claims that accountability becomes almost impossible. We're seeing what's happening in the US with the Trump-Musk dysfunction to the extent no-one can keep up with it, and I'm seeing that same playbook unfolding here in Australia. As a foreign correspondent, I was in Singapore in 2018 among an international press pack as Donald Trump unloaded his idea of a deal to encourage Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear aspirations and exploit the beauty of North Korea's beaches to become a tourist attraction. He informed us that he'd told the one he called 'little rocket man': … Boy, look at that view. Wouldn't that make a great condo? … In his version of international diplomacy, he is, to his credit, consistent. Benjamin Netanyahu struggled to contain his surprise last week when the President pronounced that two million Palestinians could be shifted out of Gaza so it could become the 'riviera of the Middle East'. No-one should imagine that these outrageous fantasies are spontaneous. They reflect Trump's conviction that the modern media can't cope with more than one initiative a day, and he's right. As New York Times journalist Ezra Klein noted in the days after Trump's second inauguration: … speed and force is a strategy unto itself … My observation after spending four years or so covering the first Trump administration is that, if you say something often enough, it becomes true and often more dangerous. This week the President has pledged to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports of iron, steel and aluminium to the United States without exception. Then he and our Prime Minister agreed that an exemption of Australia would be under consideration. Beyond the obvious question of how Australian diplomats do their work when the target changes not weekly but within minutes is the issue of whether we want this kind of behaviour to influence our own pol…
date: 2025-02-13T16:30:00+00:00

Biodiversity | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
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description: At the 2022 federal election, then aspiring prime minister Anthony Albanese committed to delivering an ambitious package of environmental reform named the Nature Positive Plan. Nature Positive is...
encoded: At the 2022 federal election, then aspiring prime minister Anthony Albanese committed to delivering an ambitious package of environmental reform named the Nature Positive Plan. Nature Positive is a global movement to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and achieve recovery by 2050. Three years later, the lack of substantive progress on this critically important area of policy is one of the most substantive failures of this term of government, and it's frequently raised in that vein with me by my constituents in Goldstein. In the final sitting week of 2024, after much political brinkmanship in the Senate, Minister Plibersek was within striking distance of a deal with the crossbench to pass these reforms. But an intervention by the Prime Minister and the Western Australian premier left it and the urgent action that our native wildlife and environment need shelved indefinitely. The government has a record to folding to powerful corporate interests. This is just one example displayed during the term of this parliament. Australia is endowed with diverse natural beauty and unique native wildlife. Both are central to our lifestyles, our culture and our national identity. With that comes a responsibility on us all to preserve and protect it. As an example, data provided by BirdLife Australia shows that 11 bird species that called Goldstein home are now classified as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable—the Swift parrot, the fairy tern and the blue winged parrot—and 2,142 Australian animals, plants and unique ecological communities were officially recognised as being in danger of extinction last year. Yet, even with clear data on the disastrous outlook for those species, this government's proposal for environmental reform in this term of parliament has not been the systemic reform our environment deserves. It was first chopped up across multiple packages of legislation and now terms of parliament. At every possible opportunity, I moved amendments to strengthen our envi…
date: 2025-02-12T15:37:00+00:00

Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: We have a real opportunity to transform early childhood education and care in this country. I cannot overstate how important this is for children, women, families and the economy. What could be...
encoded: We have a real opportunity to transform early childhood education and care in this country. I cannot overstate how important this is for children, women, families and the economy. What could be more important than giving every child the best start in life? The early years are critical. They set the foundations for a child's development and learning trajectory. By the age of five, 90 per cent of a child's brain is fully developed. The barriers some children face, socioeconomic disadvantage, unstable homes and limited access to education and care can lead to gaps in learning that become increasingly difficult to bridge as children grow older. Early childhood education and care can level opportunities from the start, with lasting economic and social benefits. Children who attend quality care are twice as likely to reach their development targets when they get to school. Quality care also leads to reduced crime rates and improved health, which ultimately reduces the costs to society. Unlike interventions aimed at addressing inequalities later in life, early childhood education and care is a cost-effective way to close these gaps before they widen. All the evidence is there. 'Early childhood education is the golden ticket for children', as the Parenthood describes it. It also unlocks the economic potential of women. Early childhood education and care is the centrepiece of my work to accelerate women's economic security in Goldstein and Australia-wide. Women in Australia are among the most highly educated in the world and have similar levels of labour force participation to men until they have children, when they begin to fall behind and never catch up. The differences are most pronounced in families with children under the age of five. The extent to which child care is available and affordable has consistently been found to lift rates of female participation. The Impact Economics and Policy 2023 report found that if labour force participation rates for females in familie…
date: 2025-02-12T11:10:00+00:00

Morton-Bowles, Ms Holly Jayne, Jones, Ms Bianca Adrienne | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Last week I met with Holly Morton-Bowles's father, Shaun. Holly and her friend Bianca died after consuming bootleg alcohol in Laos last year. Their...
encoded: My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Last week I met with Holly Morton-Bowles's father, Shaun. Holly and her friend Bianca died after consuming bootleg alcohol in Laos last year. Their families are desperate for information about the investigation into what happened and whether anyone will be held responsible. They're also concerned about protecting other young travellers like their precious girls. Can you please advise the House what progress has been made on this important matter?
date: 2025-02-06T14:53:00+00:00

Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Scams don't just rob Australians of their money; they rob Australians of their peace of mind, trust and dignity. Being the victim of a scam can be a devastating experience that ripples through...
encoded: Scams don't just rob Australians of their money; they rob Australians of their peace of mind, trust and dignity. Being the victim of a scam can be a devastating experience that ripples through families and communities, creating untold suffering and leaving immense damage in its wake. Our country has become a honey pot for scams. Last year alone, a staggering $2.7 billion was stolen from Australians by scammers. Small businesses remain particularly vulnerable to scams, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission highlighting that small and micro businesses lost over $13.7 million to payment redirection scams in 2022, a 95 per cent increase from the previous year, constituting a significant proportion of total business scam losses. These scams exploit digital vulnerabilities, leaving businesses exposed to financial and operational risks. This is an issue that requires urgent attention and a solution that will protect all Australians from the scourge of scams. This is a transnational criminal industry that extends far beyond our borders, and it requires an immediate and effective response. The devastating consequences of scams cannot be understated. I hear stories about scams all the time in my own electorate. I'm especially haunted by one story. It's about a man in his 70s, an immigrant, who came to Australia decades ago and built a life here then was caught in a series of scams that took nearly everything he had. He had saved for his family and for his children and grandchildren, but over time, as he found himself widowed and living alone and vulnerable, he fell prey to a series of calls that seemed so convincing. They promised him higher returns, security for his future and companionship. He trusted them, and in return he was stripped of his life savings. Now, at nearly 80, he is contemplating finding a job because his retirement has been stolen. This isn't an isolated story. It's a shared experience for countless Australians, and that's why we're here t…
date: 2025-02-05T19:02:00+00:00

Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: It's a matter of sadness and concern that we've come to this—that this legislation should be necessary. The fact that we're debating this bill, the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes)...
encoded: It's a matter of sadness and concern that we've come to this—that this legislation should be necessary. The fact that we're debating this bill, the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024, today is a sign of just how seriously the social fabric of this nation has been torn and the extent to which division and vilification have been normalised in public debate. The wild west that social media has become has not helped, aided and abetted by the intransigence of the digital giants. They should be responsible for the content they allow to be published. The idea that age assurance or verification, for example, will protect children from the deluge of pornography and toxic misogyny available at the click of a cursor or the swipe of a device is a victory for hope over expectation and a reward for corporate irresponsibility. That's a matter for other legislation, but I make the point to indicate how much of the antisocial behaviour we confront is linked and how hard it is, indeed, to address one problem just as another pops up elsewhere. Technological change aggravating social and cultural division is so rapid that we struggle to keep up. But try we must, and in doing so we must separate the right to free speech from hate speech and hateful online behaviour. They are not equivalent. Hate speech, at its core, is about dehumanising, silencing and infringing on human rights. Freedom of speech is critically important, and I've worked in countries where it does not exist, but it is not absolute. We have been a socially cohesive nation. Our multiculturalism has been a success story and the envy of much of the world. But as I've said many times since entering this parliament, our social cohesion is being challenged as never before in my lifetime: homes sprayed with graffiti, communities vandalised, a synagogue just outside Goldstein firebombed and a caravan found packed with explosives and antisemitic materials in New South Wales. The fault lines of war in Gaza have reache…
date: 2025-02-04T17:43:00+00:00

Antisemitism | Motions | House debates
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description: Goldstein is home to the third-largest Jewish community in Australia—Holocaust survivors and their descendants, largely, who came to Australia for safety. This is something to be proud of....
encoded: Goldstein is home to the third-largest Jewish community in Australia—Holocaust survivors and their descendants, largely, who came to Australia for safety. This is something to be proud of. When I speak to members of the Jewish community in my electorate, they speak with such strong love for the safety their families have found here and now with such deep sadness, confusion and fear about what's happened over the last 15 months. When I think of the Jewish community and talk about this frightful situation, my mind inevitably goes to a friend and her young, primary-school-age son. He has barely slept since 7 October 2023, and he has barely gone to school, not only because of the terror over the seas but because of his fear here. It was only when he saw armed guards at school that he would go back. This is not only sad; this is wrong. What's happened in Gaza is terrible. I don't agree with the way it has unfolded. Questioning that, the lack of humanity in it, is not antisemitic. We must be able to demand accountability from governments across the world. But hateful rhetoric and acts against Jewish people here are absolutely wrong and must be condemned. No Jewish person—Jewish people have many views, I might add—should be blamed for the actions of a government in Israel. These are separate and must be treated as such. People have been cancelled, communities have been defaced, a synagogue adjacent to my electorate was firebombed, and credible threats of domestic terror attacks have been found. We have been blessed to be a socially cohesive nation. Our multiculturalism has been a success story, the envy of much of the world. But, as I've said many times since entering this parliament, our social cohesion is being deeply challenged. Our geographical distance has provided us safety from many modern conflicts in the past, but not from this one. Let me be clear: antisemitism is intolerable and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. But the twin tragedies of this co…
date: 2025-02-04T12:59:00+00:00

Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
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description: by leave—I move amendments (1) to (7), as circulated in my name, together: (1) Schedule 1, heading to Part 1, page 3 (line 2), at the end of the heading, add "relating to social media...
encoded: by leave—I move amendments (1) to (7), as circulated in my name, together: (1) Schedule 1, heading to Part 1, page 3 (line 2), at the end of the heading, add "relating to social media minimum age". (2) Schedule 1, item 1, page 3 (lines 6 and 7), after "A provider", insert "(other than an exempt provider)". (3) Schedule 1, page 3 (after line 18), after item 3, insert: 3A Section 5 Insert: exempt provider has the meaning given by section 63CA. (4) Schedule 1, item 7, page 4 (line 18), after "Providers", insert "(other than exempt providers)". (5) Schedule 1, item 7, page 6 (after line 22), after section 63C, insert: 63CA Exempt providers (1) For the purposes of this Act, a provider of an age-restricted social media platform is an exempt provider at a particular time if, at that time: (a) the provider has complied with: (i) its risk assessment obligations under section 63CB; and (ii) its risk mitigation obligations under section 63CC; in relation to the age-restricted social media platform; and (b) a determination under subsection (2) is not in force in relation to the provider and the age-restricted social media platform. (2) If the Commissioner believes on reasonable grounds that a provider has not complied with its obligations mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) in relation to an age-restricted social media platform, the Commissioner may make a determination, in writing, that the provider is not an exempt provider in relation to the age-restricted social media platform. 63CB Risk assessment obligations of providers (1) A provider of an age-restricted social media platform must undertake an assessment (a risk assessment) that identifies and assesses the risks associated with providing the service to age-restricted users. (2) Without limiting subsection (1), the provider must have regard to the following matters in undertaking the risk assessment: (a) the dissemination of illegal and harmful materials to children; (b) the dissemination of online scams to children; (c) negat…
date: 2024-11-27T09:39:00+00:00

Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: This legislation, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, is a bandaid to fix a wicked problem. It's neither the systemic nor the structural reform the Australian public...
encoded: This legislation, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, is a bandaid to fix a wicked problem. It's neither the systemic nor the structural reform the Australian public needs. I can well understand why parents like it, and I especially acknowledge those parents who've lost children, whose loss is attributed to social media harm—including those who testified, bravely and powerfully, to the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, which I was a member of. I also acknowledge Robb Evans, father of Liv, who I've spoken of before in this chamber. Liv took her own life due to an eating disorder, and social media was a contributor. I convened a working group on eating disorders and social media, which, in many ways, has been the genesis of my policy work in this space and I think has also captured the government's attention in a positive way. I absolutely acknowledge the connection between various harms and social media. So I don't deny that something needs to be done. The platforms have powerful underlying systems that actively and knowingly influence kids' social lives, play kingmaker in online public debates and run a data free-for-all in the name of advertising. And it's self-evident that these platforms are motivated by profit, not community benefit or safety. However, my issue is that this legislation will make zero difference to the harms that are inherent in social media. It will not force the platforms to manage their algorithms, it will not force the platforms to identify and manage risk, and nor will it force transparency. So what to do? Social media gives us many great rewards: connection; information; business opportunities. It opens up the world. For young people, it's a social space—the 2020s equivalent of sitting on the landline phone on the hallway floor for hours, as I did in the 1980s. It's a source of mental health support for many, and University of Canberra research shows that it's where the vast majorit…
date: 2024-11-26T19:09:00+00:00

Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: How we treat the most vulnerable among us reflects the values we uphold as a society. This Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024, now in its fifth...
encoded: How we treat the most vulnerable among us reflects the values we uphold as a society. This Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024, now in its fifth iteration since 2017, falls short of these values. Despite minor amendments, it remains deeply flawed and its passage would compromise the rights and dignity of individuals already in highly precarious situations. This legislation aims to expand the search and seizure powers of detention offices, including confiscating mobile phones. These measures allegedly address safety concerns, yet the evidence does not adequately support such sweeping powers. Instead, it risks exacerbating the situation for detainees, who are already detained for an average of 513 days—nearly 1½ years—sometimes without any criminal conviction. The Human Rights Law Centre has highlighted how these expanded powers will isolate detainees further, cutting them off from their families and legal counsel. I understand the government's arguments about bikie links and such, but human rights still apply. Mobile phones are lifelines for detainees, many of who are held in facilities far from loved ones. Confiscating personal devices disrupts communication, delaying access to legal support critical for challenging detention or ensuring accountability. Existing laws like the Migration Act 1958 already grant detention offices powers to manage risks, including searching for and seizing contraband, while police are equipped to handle serious crimes. Claims of endemic criminality among detainees lack sufficient substantiation. While some do have prior convictions, some pose no security risk. They are not all the same. For those who do have a criminal history, provisions may well be warranted, but they must be specific and targeted, not catchall. Even the Human Rights Commission report into the Yongah Hill centre, which this bill leans heavily on, notes the complexity of different cases and different environments. It's i…
date: 2024-11-25T19:42:00+00:00

Bowles, Ms Holly, Jones, Ms Bianca | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Prime Minister. As you know, the community in Goldstein and across Australia has been shattered by the tragic deaths of Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones due to methanol...
encoded: My question is to the Prime Minister. As you know, the community in Goldstein and across Australia has been shattered by the tragic deaths of Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones due to methanol poisoning in Laos. The community's priorities are to provide Holly and Bianca's families with every support we can to make sure the girls are returned to Australia as soon as possible and to make sure that a proper process occurs to prevent this from happening to other young travellers. Prime Minister, can you update this grieving community on what the government is doing to bring Holly and Bianca home?
date: 2024-11-25T14:54:00+00:00

Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Research from the Foundation for Social Health shows that the emergence of social media correlates with young Australians now being the loneliest...
encoded: I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Research from the Foundation for Social Health shows that the emergence of social media correlates with young Australians now being the loneliest cohort in our society. Previously, it was the over 60s who topped the stats on social isolation, but now it's apparently our most connected generation that feels most disconnected. Ninety-one per cent of participants in the millennial and gen Z generational cohorts reported that social media has taken away from their real-life interaction with friends, family and community in some way. Human society has long had a dual relationship with technology. New inventions—particularly those with the potential for transformational change—have carried an inherent but invisible framework of risk and reward. And since the emergence of social media, we have failed to manage that risk. Now, we're faced with the challenge of retrofitting rules onto enormously powerful societal influencers—the companies that run these platforms. And I would argue that we should do that not with bandaid measures but with an approach that manages the whole environment where the harm is taking place—and puts the responsibility on the platforms not the users. Over the last decade or two, as social media and big tech have entrenched their practices and business models, governments—like the former coalition government—have designed 'content' based take-down regulatory models like those previously designed for broadcast media. It makes sense—broadcast something that doesn't meet community standards—remove it or don't do it again. But of course those legacy media environments didn't have the algorithm to spread content like wildfire the way information moves on social media now. In lieu of a better idea, it's understandable that governments returned to what used to work. And when the former government enacted the Online Safety Act, it was world leading in its ability to combat the spread of harmful content. There w…
date: 2024-11-25T10:16:00+00:00

Jones, Miss Bianca | Statements on Indulgence | House debates
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description: Bianca and Holly went on a holiday to Southeast Asia—a rite of passage that many young Australians experience. If you were to look at their holiday photos, you would see the wonderful...
encoded: Bianca and Holly went on a holiday to Southeast Asia—a rite of passage that many young Australians experience. If you were to look at their holiday photos, you would see the wonderful adventure that these best friends were having together. They could be any of our teenaged kids embarking on life from the wonderful suburbs of Bayside, Melbourne, where they've both grown up—gone to school at Mentone Girls' Grammar and Beaumaris Secondary College, worked in casual jobs and then, of course, played AFLW together at the famous Beauie Sharks. Bianca's parents, Michelle and Mark, and her brother Lachlan have been by her side during this ordeal, for the last few days. Today, of course, they're suffering pain beyond measure, a pain that no parent or sibling should ever experience. I offer my sympathy to Bianca's family and also my strength to Holly's parents, Shaun and Samantha, who remain at her bedside in Bangkok. I'm sure, as I do, the House sends love and strength—along with people all around the country—to the families of these two young Aussie girls who just headed off on an adventure together. I know that so many members of our community are connected to these girls and to these families. I feel your grief. Our hearts are broken.
date: 2024-11-21T15:07:00+00:00

Oversight Legislation Amendment (Robodebt Royal Commission Response and Other Measures) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: The royal commission's findings on robodebt were damning, and rightly so. It was an intentionally unintelligible, unjust and illegal scheme that was shrouded in secrecy and targeted Australia's...
encoded: The royal commission's findings on robodebt were damning, and rightly so. It was an intentionally unintelligible, unjust and illegal scheme that was shrouded in secrecy and targeted Australia's most vulnerable people. This so-called welfare cop initiative branded 866,000 Australians as noncompliant and deviant, inflicting deep financial and psychological wounds on people's lives, and it did so without accountability, with no clear processes to safeguard against errors or abuses of power. As the commission described it, robodebt was a 'crude and cruel' system, a mechanism that sent letters indiscriminately implying wrongdoing where there was none, forcing recipients to prove innocence under threat of debt recovery. The scale of harm, financial distress, mental health impact and even the tragic loss of life reflects a government failing in its duty of care to the people it served. Women already facing financial instability were issued erroneous debt notices under robodebt, exacerbating their economic struggles and severely impacting their mental health. Single mothers reliant on support payments were disproportionately affected, with the stress of unjust debt claims undermining their ability to care for their children. For survivors of domestic violence, the situation was even more distressing, as some found themselves pursued for debts accrued during abusive relationships, retraumatising them and hindering their efforts to rebuild their lives independently. This scandal revealed more than policy failure; it exposed something deeply broken within the heart of government: an erosion of accountability, transparency, integrity and, above all, care. It was a gross breach of public trust, a failure to uphold the duty of care that public administration promises to each and every Australian. We saw a government more invested in recovering debts and achieving financial targets than in safeguarding the dignity and welfare of its citizens. The numbers themselves tell a story. T…
date: 2024-11-20T18:35:00+00:00

Migration Amendment Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: The saying goes that history repeats itself. This is certainly the case with ongoing back and forth between the High Court and the executive that has unfolded over the past year, the latest...
encoded: The saying goes that history repeats itself. This is certainly the case with ongoing back and forth between the High Court and the executive that has unfolded over the past year, the latest iteration of which is the Migration Amendment Bill. And while the High Court's actions reflect the separation of powers working as intended, the government's repeated attempts to thwart the court's intentions with patchwork legislation is concerning. In late 2023, the High Court's NZYQ decision on the illegality of indefinite detention provoked a wave of bills to manage the criminal and political risk of the cohort of potentially dangerous individuals being released into the community. Community safety is critically important. There is absolutely no argument about that. The release of potentially dangerous and violent offenders, sexual predators and others into our communities absolutely requires a response, and, in some cases, targeted deportation may be warranted. However, the cohort of individuals affected by the High Court's decision-making is not homogenous. These people are not all the same, and imposing a one-size-fits-all approach on them is therefore flawed. Indeed, this bill captures people who should not be caught in it and goes far beyond the NZYQ group. All of these bills have been complex and rushed. In many cases, they have not undergone proper committee or external consultation, and many of their key provisions are the result of deals between the major parties, which I would argue, in some cases, have been politically motivated. It has been over two decades since Australia began sending refugees and asylum seekers offshore, and our nation is still living with the stain of offshore detention on our national character. Humanity should be at the centre of any conversation about war and its consequences, and this principle must be the starting point for policymaking on migration and refugees. Indeed, Australia's conversation and history of policy in this space has bee…
date: 2024-11-20T10:56:00+00:00

Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Reform) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: We've all heard that Australians have lost interest in politics, that they see all politicians as cynical and self-interested. Indeed, in a recent Australian Reader's Digest survey on Australia's...
encoded: We've all heard that Australians have lost interest in politics, that they see all politicians as cynical and self-interested. Indeed, in a recent Australian Reader's Digest survey on Australia's most trusted professions, politicians won the wooden spoon, ranking last—just below journalists. As a former journalist and now standing here in this place, I get it when people question my choice of job, yet last Thursday night, in my electorate of Goldstein, more than 800 people turned up at a community townhall event at the historic Kingston City Hall in Moorabbin to join me to discuss the issues that matter most to them. In recent months I've had multiple full Politics in the Pub events, where we've discussed everything from housing to women and the economy, the renewable energy transition, US politics and Australia's place in the world. It is therefore a lazy trope, I think, to say that people aren't interested in politics. These people are passionate about the issues they care about—climate change, housing affordability, the cost of living, student debt, early childhood education and care, just to name a few. They want to be heard and they want to be part of the solution to these problems. They believe in a type of politics where they're included and respected. They want a seat at the table. Imagine their disappointment and exasperation when, a few days later, they woke up to the news that the Albanese Labor government had apparently done a deal with the coalition on its electoral reform bill that all but locks in the major party duopoly that voters, at best, are drifting away from and, at worst, loathe. Their cynicism would have only grown when they found out that the government dropped this huge and complex piece of legislation late on a Friday afternoon and then demanded that it be hustled through the parliament in a mad rush this week. Even sending it to committee inquiry was a bridge too far. The legislation isn't even set to apply until 2026, and—by the minister…
date: 2024-11-19T17:41:00+00:00