Monique Ryan's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2026-02-10T22:05:33+00:00
items: Migration | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Health Care, Climate Change | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates
items: Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
items: Aged Care | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Health Care | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: g30.1
items: Health, Aged Care and Disability Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
items: Ovarian Cancer | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
items: Perth: Attack | Motions | House debates
items: Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
items: Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
items: Asylum Seekers | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Science | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Commonwealth Prac Payment | Matters of Public Importance | House debates

Migration | Private Members' Business | House debates
type: item
description: Australia's success as a prosperous and successful democracy is inseparable from the contribution of migrants. Migrants strengthen our economy, enrich our social fabric and increase the...
encoded: Australia's success as a prosperous and successful democracy is inseparable from the contribution of migrants. Migrants strengthen our economy, enrich our social fabric and increase the resilience of our communities. In seconding the member for Warringah's motion, I recognise that migrants are not only central to our national identity; they are key to Australia's economic and cultural prosperity. Australians understand this. The Scanlon Foundation Research Institute's The 2024 mapping social cohesion report found that 85 per cent of Australians agreed that multiculturalism has been good for this country, with 82 per cent believing that immigrants improve Australian society. In recent years, real and urgent economic strain, a national housing shortage, international conflicts and an increasingly polarised public debate have rendered migrant communities more vulnerable to negative and harmful political narratives. Politicians like Pauline Hanson have repeatedly chosen the low road by politicising immigration for their own ends. The coalition has proposed to cut permanent and net migration but without a coherent plan for how we could do that without hurting our economy. Labor's approach has been to fail to specify migration targets while allowing others to imply that immigrants are at fault for the policy failures of successive governments. The reality is that net migration has fallen significantly in the last two years, after significant, albeit belated, tightening of student visa policies. But we do still have a significant issue with onshore backlogs for both permanent and temporary migration. For the first time, we have more than 400,000 individuals in this country on bridging visas. This is an issue which started when Peter Dutton and Mike Pezzullo oversaw Home Affairs. It worsened after COVID, when the coalition stomped on the immigration accelerator, and then it consolidated under the first term of the Albanese government. We need to discuss immigration levels i…
date: 2026-02-09T16:45:00+00:00

Health Care, Climate Change | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Two weeks ago, Australia's east coast was scorched by extreme heat, with temperatures in Kooyong soaring to 43 degrees and temperature records being broken across three states. This was the worst...
encoded: Two weeks ago, Australia's east coast was scorched by extreme heat, with temperatures in Kooyong soaring to 43 degrees and temperature records being broken across three states. This was the worst heatwave since Black Saturday 2009, when almost 400 Victorians died from heat and 173 died from bushfires. Experts warn that 50-degree summers have arrived, and these heatwaves are deadly. Extreme heat strains every system of the body, worsening heart disease, diabetes and respiratory illnesses. But, despite killing more Australians than floods, storms and bushfires combined, heatwaves remain a silent killer. That's why I'm urging the government to confront this danger head-on by naming heatwaves in the same way that we name cyclones. Doing so would increase public awareness of the immediate risk associated with extreme heat. It would also help trigger timely health responses in households, by local governments and by healthcare services. In a rapidly warming world, we can best protect people by slashing the carbon pollution that drives climate change. But, in the meanwhile, by recognising heatwaves as the lethal events that they are, and by acting decisively to prepare for them, we can protect vulnerable people and we can save lives.
date: 2026-02-09T16:11:00+00:00

Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates
type: item
description: In my remarks made to the House during debate on a motion moved by the member for Curtin on 3 February 2026, I said: Five months after this act of violence, we're still waiting on investigations...
encoded: In my remarks made to the House during debate on a motion moved by the member for Curtin on 3 February 2026, I said: Five months after this act of violence, we're still waiting on investigations to be completed and charges to be issued. While it is true that an investigation into the attack by a group of Neo-Nazis on Camp Sovereignty continues in Victoria, it is incorrect to state that charges have not been laid. I was made aware after I completed my speech that people have in fact been charged for offences relating to that incident, and I therefore wish to correct the record in that respect. Thank you for the opportunity to do so.
date: 2026-02-09T18:46:00+00:00

Personal Explanation | Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I would like to take this opportunity to correct the record.
encoded: I would like to take this opportunity to correct the record.
date: 2026-02-09T18:46:00+00:00

Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I move amendment (1) as circulated in my name: (1) Clause 11, page 9 (line 13), after "Commonwealth", insert "and student". This amendment to the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary...
encoded: I move amendment (1) as circulated in my name: (1) Clause 11, page 9 (line 13), after "Commonwealth", insert "and student". This amendment to the Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025 is about one thing: it's about ensuring fairness for students in our higher education system. Today, for many young Australians, university education has become a narrow and expensive pathway. Students are being burdened with rising fees, growing debts and a funding structure that fails to reflect the realities that they face. My amendment takes steps towards recognising those issues. The government says that it wants a tertiary education commission able to drive long-term reform, but the bill before the House creates a commission that cannot speak for or investigate the plight of students unless it's politically convenient to the government of the day. Under this bill, the commission is empowered to examine what the Commonwealth contributes to higher education, but it's prevented from looking at what students themselves are charged. It's extraordinary that the government has drafted a bill that gives the future steward of Australia's tertiary education sector the power to review and advise on what comes out of the Commonwealth purse but pays no mind to the financial burden on students. The government's omission is not accidental; it's deliberate. That omission significantly weakens the commission's ability to provide the honest and robust advice that the government needs to hear. Many submissions on this bill from higher education experts and from within the university sector have raised the alarm that the legislation fails in this respect. I know that the minister has heard these calls, but he continues to ignore them. After years of expensive university degrees, it's irresponsible, in my view, to legislate a new national steward that is deliberately blind to the significant policy failure of the job-ready graduates scheme. The reality is that, beca…
date: 2026-02-09T18:37:00+00:00

Aged Care | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is for the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. The government's new single assessment scheme is failing older Australians. I'm hearing from many constituents about the long wait times...
encoded: My question is for the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. The government's new single assessment scheme is failing older Australians. I'm hearing from many constituents about the long wait times for assessments and that experienced clinicians are unable to override algorithmic decision-making. It's been reported that more than 120,000 Australians are still waiting for one of these automated assessments. Minister, are these once-in-a-generation reforms just 'robo aged care'?
date: 2026-02-09T14:52:00+00:00

Migration | Private Members' Business | House debates
type: item
description: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
encoded: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
date: 2026-02-09T11:26:00+00:00

Health Care | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: Australia's dream of universal health coverage has been lost. Australians now face an impossible choice, as they cannot access or afford to see medical specialists in this country. We know that...
encoded: Australia's dream of universal health coverage has been lost. Australians now face an impossible choice, as they cannot access or afford to see medical specialists in this country. We know that one in three Australians are postponing medical care because of cost, and that increases to one in two Australians in the regions, where markets are impossibly thin. Recent figures from RedBridge suggest that 75 per cent of gen Xers in the regions are deciding not to seek the medical care that they need, because they cannot find or access an affordable specialist. In a cost-of-living crisis, healthcare costs are increasing disproportionately to those of other parts of the economy. I hear constantly from constituents who tell me that they've had private hospital and extras cover for years. They've paid thousands of dollars every year for what they thought would guarantee timely access to care, choice of practitioner and protection from large, unexpected medical bills. Instead, they're encountering extreme out-of-pocket fees to receive specialist care, including costs sometimes multiple amounts more than the Medicare schedule fee. They're getting bills for surgery a day or two before. I heard this morning from a constituent who, as they entered the car park of a private hospital, had been contacted by the surgeon's assistant with a demand for a fee that they didn't anticipate they were going to have to deal with. They're being asked to pay full fees upfront, even those portions that will attract later reimbursement. Since 2010, private specialist fees have increased by 73 per cent. Over the last five years, out-of-pocket costs for common procedures have increased by 300 per cent. People who are vulnerable and seeking urgent medical care for sometimes life-threatening conditions should not be expected to deal with unexpected costs through the private healthcare system. They need to be able to put themselves in the hands of medical professionals they can trust, and it is heartbre…
date: 2026-02-05T09:43:00+00:00

g30.1
type: item
title: Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) Bill 2025, Universities Accord (Australian Tertiary Education Commission) (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
description: In 1974, Gough Whitlam made university in Australia free. In 1989, when Bob Hawke introduced our HECS-HELP system, Australia's higher education sector remained, even then, among the most...
encoded: In 1974, Gough Whitlam made university in Australia free. In 1989, when Bob Hawke introduced our HECS-HELP system, Australia's higher education sector remained, even then, among the most accessible in the world. It produced generations of Australians with the skills to strengthen our economy, to enrich our communities and to deepen our democracy. Effectively, those who aspired to go to university to study tertiary education could do so affordably. Today, the promise of fair and accessible higher education in Australia has become a mirage. Australians are being priced out of opportunity. Our higher education system that once opened doors is closing them. The bill before us today takes some commendable steps towards reforming our higher education sector and implementing recommendations of the 2024 universities accord. Establishing an Australian Tertiary Education Commission is a welcome reform and a step towards coherence and independent stewardship. Setting a national tertiary education objective will provide much needed clarity for our universities. Those reforms hold a promise, a promise to improve our higher education sector, and I support them. But I'm disappointed that this legislation fails to recognise and act on the structural failures that have created the current HECS crisis. Right now, three million Australians carry, on average, more than $27,000 in HECS debts. Student contributions for courses like commerce and law are nine times higher than they were when Hawke introduced the HECS system in 1989—a time when many members of this parliament were graduating. Graduate salaries have increased by about 2½ times since 1996. In that time, student contributions have increased sixfold. The average HECS debt for someone in their 20s is more than double what it was in 2006. How did this happen? Well, much of it can be traced back to the disastrous job-ready graduates scheme, which the Morrison government introduced in 2021. What was sold then as a way to channel st…
date: 2026-02-05T12:46:00+00:00

Health, Aged Care and Disability Committee; Report | Committees | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—The NDIS is simply not sustainable in its current form and at its current rate of growth. The uncomfortable truth for those of us who care deeply about the NDIS is that it has to...
encoded: by leave—The NDIS is simply not sustainable in its current form and at its current rate of growth. The uncomfortable truth for those of us who care deeply about the NDIS is that it has to undergo reform or we risk losing it altogether. It wasn't designed to support all disabled Australians, but in recent years the loss of community based block funded supports has left a void for those with mild developmental delay and disability. Many participants can't find the help they need, particularly in rural and regional settings. In the absence of alternatives, everyone has had to fight for an NDIS package. We've got an unsustainable situation where 11 per cent of Australia's five- to seven-year-old boys now have individual packages. We have a demand driven scheme with no means testing and no limits on spending, which is projected to cost as much as $100 billion a year by 2032. That's a scheme for 700,000 people which will cost more than Medicare for 30 million. This is unsustainable, inefficient and inequitable, especially when we're still leaving many people with a disability without the support that they need. So it does make sense that, rather than limiting services to individual packages, we should create a system with defined packages for those people who have a more significant disability and community based programs for younger children with developmental delay and neurodivergence. Increasing community supports for children with emerging developmental delays should be more cost effective. It should increase capacity, and it should promote inclusion. The Thriving Kids initiative marks a commitment to a new system of evidence based early intervention services, which should provide equity of access for all young Australian children with emerging developmental delay and disability. We have to acknowledge that there has been very justifiable anxiety within the disability community about these changes. For Thriving Kids to be accepted by the community, it will only win so…
date: 2026-02-04T17:07:00+00:00

Ovarian Cancer | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Today is World Cancer Day, and February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Today, five Australian women will be told that they have ovarian cancer, a devastating condition with a survival rate of...
encoded: Today is World Cancer Day, and February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. Today, five Australian women will be told that they have ovarian cancer, a devastating condition with a survival rate of only 49 per cent. Ovarian Cancer Australia's national awareness campaign is shining a much-needed light onto one of Australia's most challenging forms of cancer. Every year in Australia, 1,900 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. In most cases, detection occurs at an advanced stage, rendering treatment much more difficult. Raising awareness is therefore essential to improving early recognition, timely care and survival outcomes. One of Ovarian Cancer Australia's primary priorities this month is to secure more research funding. The Medical Research Future Fund has allocated only $21 million to ovarian cancer since 2015. The NHMRC has allocated $64 million since 2012. It is, quite simply, not enough. Minister Butler could double that allocation today with the stroke of a pen. So, today, I call on the Albanese government to save Australian women's lives by releasing the money put aside for that purpose—funding life-saving research into ovarian cancer—in the Medical Research Future Fund.
date: 2026-02-04T13:36:00+00:00

Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: The Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 will enable qualified registered nurses to prescribe pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits...
encoded: The Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 will enable qualified registered nurses to prescribe pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It seeks to implement reforms identified as necessary by the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and the subsequent scope-of-practice review. The amendments will empower nurses to work to their full scope of practice in primary care. It does make sense that we should do everything possible to ease chronic workforce pressures and provide more equitable access to treatment for people living in rural and remote areas of Australia, in particular. The prescribing of medications has, in the past, generally been limited to authorised health practitioners, primarily doctors but also some others, including dentists, optometrists, nurse practitioners and midwives, who have been given the ability to prescribe within their defined scope of practice. We have chronic workforce shortages across Australia in a range of healthcare craft groups, and these are generally more pronounced in regional, rural and remote areas. Factors contributing to these workforce shortages include the increasing demand associated with an ageing population, rising levels of chronic disease and barriers to education and training, including the financial barriers associated with the absence of paid practical placements for students taking undertaking training in all healthcare professions in this country. Nurses play a critical role in providing essential care for Australians. They manage chronic and complex health conditions and keep people out of hospitals. Nurse prescribing is a cost effective intervention which will offer continuity of care, can reduce the workload for other healthcare team members and improve patient satisfaction. Nurses are highly trusted. Australians trust them and consistently rank them as the most trusted profession in health, which I have a small problem with personally but which I g…
date: 2026-02-04T13:19:00+00:00

Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—I move: (1) Schedule 1, heading, page 3 (line 1), omit "Temporary", substitute "Indefinite". (2) Schedule 1, item 1, page 3 (line 7), omit "Temporary", substitute "Indefinite". (3)...
encoded: by leave—I move: (1) Schedule 1, heading, page 3 (line 1), omit "Temporary", substitute "Indefinite". (2) Schedule 1, item 1, page 3 (line 7), omit "Temporary", substitute "Indefinite". (3) Schedule 1, item 1, page 3 (lines 8 to 19), omit subsection 6L(1), substitute: (1) Despite any other provision of this Act, subsection 6A(1) applies in relation to each CPI indexed draught beer rate as if the indexation factor were 1 for 1 August 2025 or a later indexation day. Note: This means the rates as they are on 31 July 2025 will be unchanged indefinitely. I propose amendments to the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 and Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. The rising cost of living has challenged millions of Australian families for several years now, with inflation rising sharply since our economy bounced back after COVID. The government has a hand in setting the price of relatively few grocery items, but one of them is the cost of beer. The average price of draught beer has gone up by over 30 per cent in the last three years, an increase which is considerably higher than the rate of inflation. This has, at least in part, been driven by the automatic indexation of the beer excise every six months which has forced price increases above their annual CPI. This indexation is yet another typical anomaly in our unnecessarily complex tax system. It's pleasing to see the government's commitment to freezing indexation on draught beer for two years, but indexation of the excise over recent years has left those draught beer prices already too high. Indexation of the beer excise needs to stop, and that's why I'm moving that this freeze should be permanent. A permanent cap on the draught beer excise would help millions of Australians with cost-of-living pressures. It would also help support Australia's emerging craft beer industry. Despite rapid growth of small independent brewers, 85 per cent of Australia's beer market is controlled by two foreign owned m…
date: 2026-02-04T10:06:00+00:00

Perth: Attack | Motions | House debates
type: item
description: This motion confronts us with a truth that should unsettle every person in this chamber. Racial violence against First Nations people in Australia is not hypothetical, it is not historical and it...
encoded: This motion confronts us with a truth that should unsettle every person in this chamber. Racial violence against First Nations people in Australia is not hypothetical, it is not historical and it is not isolated. It remains a real and present threat. The attempted bombing in Boorloo/Perth on 26 January was not just an attack on a peaceful protest; it was an attack on First People who were asserting their identity, their history and their right to gather on a day that to them marks a day of dispossession. That this incident is now being investigated as a possible act of terrorism is appropriate but also deeply alarming. It speaks to the seriousness of the threat that we are now all confronting. Violence motivated by racial hate has no place in Australia. Many of us spoke to this fact, and we tried to legislate to that effect in this place last month. But words of condemnation, while necessary, are insufficient. When acts of racial violence occur and are not met with immediate, visible, decisive action by police forces and by government, they don't fade; they metastasise. An attack against First Nations people is an attack on all Australians. This is not a political slogan; it is a statement of fact. Our country and our culture rest on the principle that no group should live in fear because of who they are. When that principle is breached for one community, it is weakened for all of us. For many First Nations people, 26 January is a day of mourning. As a country, we should have the heart and the maturity to respect that fact. To target a non-violent Invasion Day rally with an act of violence represents a deliberate attempt to intimidate and to silence. That's why this motion matters and why the response to it must be more than just the sum of the words that we speak here today. What happened in Perth on 26 January didn't happen in isolation. Months earlier, after the March for Australia rally in September, Neo-Nazi protesters in Melbourne openly attacked a camp which …
date: 2026-02-03T17:11:00+00:00

Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I move the amendment circulated in my name: (1) Schedule 1, page 42 (after line 10), at the end of the Schedule, add: Part 8 — Reporting Criminal Code Act 1995 65 At the end of Subdivision...
encoded: I move the amendment circulated in my name: (1) Schedule 1, page 42 (after line 10), at the end of the Schedule, add: Part 8 — Reporting Criminal Code Act 1995 65 At the end of Subdivision C of Division of the Criminal Code Add: 80.2DA Annual report (1) The AFP Minister must, as soon as practicable after the end of each financial year, cause to be prepared a report about the operation of this Subdivision, and the rest of this Part to the extent that it relates to this Subdivision, during the financial year. (2) Without limiting subsection (1), the report must include the following matters: (a) the types and number of alleged offences reported to police; (b) the types and number of alleged offences referred to a prosecutorial agency; (c) of the alleged offences referred to a prosecutorial authority, the types and number that were finalised without court proceedings; (d) of the alleged offences referred to a prosecutorial authority, the types and number that were finalised by a court, including whether a conviction was recorded; (e) in relation to matters finalised by a court, details of any sentence imposed. It's clear that the Australian community has insufficient evidence based information in relation to existing hate speech offences. There has been a lot of misinformation about these offences, how they operate and whether they're successful in the prosecution of serious instances of hatred within our communities. To have respectful, fact driven conversations about hate crimes and about how well we are addressing them, we need clear and regular reporting about the incidents, nature and outcomes of those crimes in this country. That data can then guide assessment of the effectiveness of interventions such as the legislation that we are debating today. At the eleventh hour, earlier today the government agreed with the opposition to include reporting on new aggravated offences for hate preachers and listings of prohibited hate groups within this legislation. Those add…
date: 2026-01-20T13:36:00+00:00

Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: The terrorist attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025 shocked our country, and it utterly traumatised the Australian Jewish community. In its wake, our country needed our leaders to stand together...
encoded: The terrorist attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025 shocked our country, and it utterly traumatised the Australian Jewish community. In its wake, our country needed our leaders to stand together with resolution and unity. Instead, our leaders have largely failed us in the last four weeks. The immediate politicisation of a mass murder, by the opposition, which attacked the Prime Minister and which immediately chose to punch down on immigrants, disgusted many people in the community that I represent. The opposition's strident calls for the immediate return of parliament, followed very soon after by complaints about the early return of parliament, were confounding. The government initially vacillated on the need for a royal commission and then proposed broad, sweeping legislation on critical areas—the Criminal Code, migration law and gun control—without the judicious consultation and review that would ensure the confidence and support of our constituents. Civil liberty and community groups were given 48 hours to provide, to the parliamentary committee, submissions on a 144-page bill, with the final report being released just this morning. While I consulted constituents on the bill last week, the government decided to fold to pressure over the weekend, announcing wholesale changes without including our communities. The legislation now before the House was first seen by us less than an hour ago. We have been given five minutes to speak to it. This is unacceptable. Australians want us to get this right. Poor policymaking will not reassure our electorates. It won't make our constituents safer. Terrorism is not just an attack on our lives; it is an attack on our confidence, on our idea that the democracy we live in can remain both secure and free. Legislation on the run will never engender confidence in our processes or our government. In the last week, I've heard from many constituents who are rightly concerned that this legislation has been introduced and moved too quickly,…
date: 2026-01-20T11:57:00+00:00

Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
type: item
description: The terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025 changed our country. What should have been an evening of sunlight and laughter, of faith and community, became a moment of national trauma. We...
encoded: The terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025 changed our country. What should have been an evening of sunlight and laughter, of faith and community, became a moment of national trauma. We lost 15 of our own to acts of senseless violence, and we lost some of the confidence we had as a country in our safety, our freedom and our generous diversity. In this place today we honour those lost by saying their names, and we say them with love, with respect and with grief: rabbi Eli Schlanger, Boris Tetleroyd, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Reuven Morrison, Edith Brutman, Marika Pogany, rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Peter Meagher, Tibor Weitzen, Alexander Kleytman, Dan Elkayam, Adam Smyth, Tania Tretiak and Matilda, the 10-year-old girl who broke Australia's heart. A central promise of our liberal democracy has always been that Australians should never have to live in fear of violence or intimidation because of who we are. In our most challenging hours as a nation Australians have drawn together. We've always been united against hate, against terror and against division. In moments as dark as these we are confronted by how much our society has changed in recent years. Antisemitism has accelerated. Racism and bigotry have become more virulent, their proponents more vocal and more violent. For many Jewish members of the Kooyong community the events of 14 December exacerbated their increasing fears that they're not safe here, they are not valued here and they do not belong here. I've heard from many of their devastation and their anger. Many are the children or grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Their families crossed the world to find safety and security but now find themselves vilified in our streets, their schools defaced and their synagogues and cars torched. I've also heard from dozens of constituents who are not Jewish but who want me to convey on their behalf in this place their profound grief at what happened at Bondi. They've asked me to acknowledge on their behalf the pain an…
date: 2026-01-19T11:40:00+00:00

Asylum Seekers | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. In the last three months the government has signed a secret MOU to pay Nauru at least $2.5 billion to house an undisclosed number of asylum...
encoded: My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. In the last three months the government has signed a secret MOU to pay Nauru at least $2.5 billion to house an undisclosed number of asylum seekers. Allegations of corruption have been made against multiple members of the Nauruan government, and it's been reported that Australian bikie gangs have won contracts to manage security on Nauru. Minister, is it your position that the opacity, wastefulness and cruelty of these arrangements reflect well on this country?
date: 2025-11-27T14:43:00+00:00

Science | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Australian scientists invented medical ultrasound, wi-fi, Aerogard and the cochlear implant. Our medical researchers developed penicillin, spray-on skin, cardiac pacemakers and vaccines against...
encoded: Australian scientists invented medical ultrasound, wi-fi, Aerogard and the cochlear implant. Our medical researchers developed penicillin, spray-on skin, cardiac pacemakers and vaccines against HPV. But in 2025, the Albanese government lacks the vision and commitment required to maximise yield from Australia's remarkable science, technology and medical research sectors. As inflation and the cost of computational requirements and cybersecurity rise, we are undersupporting science and medical research, and our institutes and research organisations are suffocating. While we await the government's strategic examination of research and development, the CSIRO is cutting jobs and programs; ANSTO is losing facilities and staff; the Medical Research Future Fund is underspent, while the financial capability of one in five medical research institutes is on the line; and grants from the Australian Research Council and the NHMRC have declined by 27 per cent over the last decade. Australian research and development is at risk of being stifled in the present and sidelined in the future, while we lose the talent and infrastructure that drive jobs, national security and technological strength. We have a choice: vision and transformation, or failure and loss. A defining decision awaits this government, and I urge it to choose wisely.
date: 2025-11-27T13:38:00+00:00

Commonwealth Prac Payment | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
type: item
description: The cost of tertiary education shouldn't hang over Australians' heads for the whole of their working lives, and, while they're studying, they shouldn't be anxious about where they're going to...
encoded: The cost of tertiary education shouldn't hang over Australians' heads for the whole of their working lives, and, while they're studying, they shouldn't be anxious about where they're going to sleep and what they're going to be able to eat because they can't cover the cost of their practical placements. Earlier this year, I welcomed the introduction of the Commonwealth prac placements for nursing, midwifery, teaching and social work students, but my position has always been—as the member for Indi's has, and I thank her for moving this motion—that this payment should apply to all courses in the care sector. When I was a medical student, accommodation was free. Caffs were cheap, but those days are gone. Medical students now have to cover the cost of professional registration, working-with-children checks, police checks, travel and accommodation, all while they are strictly limited in their ability to work to support their living expenses. Cost-of-living pressures mean that the proportion of students who have to support full-time study with full-time work has doubled, from one in 14 students in the 1990s to one in seven in 2023. In expecting students to undertake unpaid prac placements, we're therefore asking some of them to effectively work three full-time jobs. Medical students are required to undertake 2,000 hours of unpaid clinical placements, often well away from home in rural and regional settings. Occupational therapy students are required to undertake 1,000 hours of unpaid placement, including regional rotations with no travel support and no accommodation support. It's similar for podiatry students, who undertake up to 1,200 hours. The Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy recently found that placement poverty, which they define as experiencing significant financial hardship while on tertiary placements, affects 75 per cent of medical imaging students during their 56 weeks of placement. Nearly a quarter say that they cannot support themselv…
date: 2025-11-26T16:06:00+00:00