House debates

Thursday, 16 February 2012

  • Bills (0 speeches)
  • Tariff Proposals (0 speeches)
    • Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 1) 2012 (1 speech)
      I move: Customs Tariff Proposal (No. 1) 2012 The customs tariff proposal that I have just tabled contains three alterations to the Customs Tariff Act 1995. The first two alterations have...
  • Bills (0 speeches)
  • Committees (0 speeches)
    • Publications Committee; Report (1 speech)
      I present the report from the Publications Committee. Copies of the report are being circulated to honourable members in the chamber. Report—by leave—agreed to.
  • Bills (0 speeches)
  • Business (0 speeches)
    • Orders of the Day (1 speech)
      I move: That the following Main Committee orders of the day, private members' business, be returned to the House for further consideration: No. 14—motion relating to tax reform; and No....
    • Rearrangement (1 speech)
      by leave—I move: That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following orders of the day, private Members' business, being called on, and considered...
  • Private Members' Business (0 speeches)
    • Srebrenica Remembrance (2 speeches)
      by leave—I move: That paragraph (8) be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: (8) the anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, 11 July, should serve as a time to remember...
  • Bills (0 speeches)
  • Statements by Members (0 speeches)
    • Ryan Electorate: Moggill Markets (1 speech)
      I rise to congratulate the organisers of the Moggill Markets who, on 21 January, celebrated their third anniversary. These markets have developed into an important community event, where growers...
    • Petition: Automotive Industry (1 speech)
      I present a petition concerning the automotive manufacturing industry, which has been approved by the Standing Committee on Petitions. The petition read as follows— To the Honourable...
    • Cowen, Sir Zelman, AK, GCMC, GCVO, QC (1 speech)
      After Sir Zelman Cowen's death I spoke to my father, Angelo Vasta QC, who reminisced that, out of all the lecturers during his time at the University of Melbourne, Sir Zelman was by far the most...
    • Reid Electorate: Aircraft Noise (1 speech)
      My constituents, particularly those living in Drummoyne, are crying out for relief from aircraft noise. While noise is inevitable in take-off and landing corridors, this issue again brings into...
    • Macarthur Electorate: National Volunteer Awards (1 speech)
      Today I acknowledge some hardworking volunteers in my electorate who were recognised in the Macarthur 2011 National Volunteer Awards. I was very pleased to take part in these awards by hosting a...
    • Conversation on Ageing Forum (1 speech)
      On 15 December last year, I co-hosted a Conversation on Ageing forum at the Cockburn Senior Citizens Centre in my electorate of Fremantle. These forums have provided important opportunities over...
    • 70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin (1 speech)
      I look forward to spending time at home in Darwin this weekend where we will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin. The commemorations begin with an 8.00 am memorial service...
    • St Kilda Festival (1 speech)
      The St Kilda Festival started in 1980 as a community event for Melbourne and as an opportunity to showcase the cultural side of our sometimes raucous suburb. Thirty-two years later the festival...
    • Latrobe Valley (3 speeches)
      The Minister for Resources and Energy was in the Latrobe Valley last Friday. The House will be surprised to learn that he did not mention big polluters or dirty brown-coal-fired power stations...
    • Rogers, Chief Petty Officer Jonathan, GC, DSM (2 speeches)
      I rise to place on record a very important event that was held in the seat of Robertson over the weekend. The Central Coast subsection of the Naval Association of Australia held a memorial...
  • Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
    • Qantas (4 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister that 1,500 Qantas jobs are now at risk and the Qantas carbon tax bill is four times its current tax bill. Why is the Prime...
    • Economy (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. How is returning to surplus vital for supporting jobs and managing the economy in the interests of working people?
    • Carbon Pricing (8 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of the comments of John Hannagan, local chairman of the world's largest aluminium company: China is now the major competitor in...
    • Economy (10 speeches)
      My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on today's employment numbers? And how is the government supporting jobs and growth in our economy?
    • Carbon Pricing (14 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, last night it was revealed in Senate estimates that neither the Department of Tourism nor the Treasury have conducted any modelling on the...
    • Qantas (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Workplace Relations. Last year, in the face of Qantas's plan to start cutting jobs and offshoring, Qantas workers were bargaining for job security provisions....
    • Employment (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency and Minister for Industry and Innovation. What is the government doing to support jobs and to promote clean technology in...
    • Cost of Living (2 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister explain why an engineer earning $90,000 a year who is married to a police officer earning $90,000 a year, and with a young child,...
    • Economy (7 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation. How is the government managing the economy while building the...
    • Labor Party Leadership (7 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of the question that Laurie Oakes put to the foreign minister yesterday, 'Do you think that Julia Gillard was distributing...
    • Employment (8 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Regional Australia, Regional Development and Local Government, and Minister for the Arts. What is the government doing to create sustainable and long-term...
    • Prime Minister (19 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind the Prime Minister of Ms Kim Sattler's statement: 'Before the riot on Australia Day I had more than one phone conversation and more than one text...
    • Education (4 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth. Will the minister inform the House of the investment the government has made in education to provide working people...
    • Prime Minister (9 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to this statement by her head of communications, John McTernan: The key is to … set out a defensible truth: one that you...
    • Forestry (4 speeches)
      My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Will the minister update the House on the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement and the...
    • Gillard Government (8 speeches)
      My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's declaration that, 'Before you can persuade Australians of your credentials to run the country, you have to show you can run...
  • Motions (0 speeches)
    • Prime Minister; Censure (44 speeches)
      I seek leave to move: That this House censures the Prime Minister for presiding over a government that is paralysed by dysfunction and division and is now incapable of addressing the daily...
  • Questions to the Speaker (0 speeches)
    • Questions in Writing (2 speeches)
      Mr Speaker, under standing order 105(b) I regret to advise that there are 37 questions I have asked that have been outstanding for more than 60 days. I therefore seek your assistance in relation...
  • Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
    • (24 speeches)
      Mr Speaker, I seek to make a personal explanation.
  • Questions to the Speaker (0 speeches)
    • Questions in Writing (2 speeches)
      Mr Speaker, under standing order 105(b) I am asking you if you could write to the Minister for Health about the following questions, which have been outstanding for more than 60 days: questions...
  • Personal Explanations (0 speeches)
    • (3 speeches)
      I would ask the member for Cook not to repeat what he said before but just to precis what he was hoping to say in the balance of what he was planning to mention to the House.
  • Documents (0 speeches)
    • Presentation (1 speech)
      (): Documents are presented as listed in the schedule circulated to honourable members. Details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings and I move: That the House take note...
  • Committees (0 speeches)
    • Selection Committee; Report (1 speech)
      I present Selection Committee report No. 44 relating to the consideration of bills. The report will be printed in today's Hansard. The report read as follows Report relating to the...
    • Membership (2 speeches)
      I have received advice from Mr Bandt nominating himself to be a supplementary member of certain committees for the purposes of certain inquiries.
  • Parliamentary Office Holders (0 speeches)
    • Speaker's Panel (1 speech)
      Pursuant to standing order 17(a), I lay on the table my warrant nominating the honourable members for O'Connor, Lyne and New England to be members of the Speaker’s panel to assist the chair...
  • Matters of Public Importance (0 speeches)
    • Automotive Industry (17 speeches)
      I have received letters from the honourable member for Throsby and the honourable member for Menzies proposing that definite matters of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion...
  • Adjournment (0 speeches)
    • Murray-Darling Basin (2 speeches)
      I rise today with a double honour of being a woman and representing the women from my electorate, quite a number of whom, I might warn honourable colleagues, are on their way to Canberra later...
    • Deakin Electorate: Sporting Facilities (1 speech)
      I would like to relate to the House the opening of a wonderful community facility that I attended on 19 November last year, the Heathmont Pavilion—of course in the suburb of...
    • Federal-State Relations: Native Title Compensation (7 speeches)
      I rise this evening to discuss federal-state relations with respect to native title compensation and the Prime Minister's recent response to this issue. By way of background, for over a decade...
    • Mental Health (1 speech)
      I am pleased this evening to be able to provide some details about this government's hit to mental health as it relates to my electorate. We have heard from members on this side the virtues of...
    • Carbon Pricing (3 speeches)
      It is often reported that Australia currently has a two-speed economy, but in the electorate of Flynn I believe that we have a three-speed economy. The first tier is going gang busters. The...
    • New South Wales Government (2 speeches)
      It is with some reluctance that I bring this matter to the attention of the House. I only do so because of the overwhelming increase in work within my office. Since the last state election in New...
  • Constituency Statements (0 speeches)
    • Petition: Pensioners (2 speeches)
      I rise to enter into the record a would-be petition deemed by the Petitions Committee to be out of order as it is not in the appropriate form. The would-be petition was coordinated by the...
    • Australia (1 speech)
      It was put to me recently by some very good people that we live in a divided country that has a story that it is not telling right and that is not reflecting its best aspects, a country that has...
    • Budget (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about an issue that is concerning my constituents enormously, and that is the waste and mismanagement that is leading to the spiralling national debt we see whenever new budget...
    • Throsby Electorate: Broadband (1 speech)
      I would like to talk about the rollout of the National Broadband Network to the Illawarra, in particular to Dapto in my electorate of Throsby. It is about to be boosted with a further 8,100...
    • Disability Services (1 speech)
      On 21 March the federal parliament will play host to a national treasure. Mr Tony Stevens, a child welfare campaigner for more than four decades who turns 88 this year, will be rollerskating to...
    • Makin Electorate: 25th Anniversary of the Tea Tree Gardens Retirement Village (1 speech)
      Last month, I joined residents of the Tea Tree Gardens Retirement Village in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the village. An afternoon tea held in the community centre at the village had been...
    • Canning Electorate: Austin Cove Baptist College (1 speech)
      I rise today to speak on an issue that has caused great grief for an already grieving school in my electorate—that is, Austin Cove Baptist College's inability to obtain a school chaplain....
    • Australia Day Awards (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the wonderful Australia Day celebrations that I attended in my electorate of Bass. Australia Day is a day when we come together and celebrate our great country. It is a day...
    • Cornish College (1 speech)
      I rise to speak about the official opening ceremony at Cornish College, Bangholme, which I attended on Sunday, 12 February, along with hundreds of parents, teachers and students, both past and...
    • University Fees (2 speeches)
      Thousands of my constituents are heading back to university this week or starting university for the first time. One of them is my younger daughter Abby. Sadly, they will be learning the...
  • Bills (0 speeches)
  • Adjournment (0 speeches)
    • Battle of Timor (3 speeches)
      I rise to speak—
    • Closing the Gap (1 speech)
      In 2008 the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the historic apology to the stolen generations. Four years ago this week, he called the apology, so correctly, 'unfinished business'. It was a...
    • Climate Change (1 speech)
      The Australian people continue to be concerned about the Labor-Green government's carbon tax and they have every right to be concerned. An economy-wide carbon tax that exceeds the plans of every...
    • Calwell Electorate: Hume City Council Australia Day Awards (1 speech)
      I had the great pleasure this year again to be involved in the Hume City Council's Australia Day ceremony, which annually involves the conferment of citizenship for many people who live in my...
    • Australian Year of the Farmer (1 speech)
      As we commemorate 2012 as the Australian Year of the Farmer, I want to take this opportunity to emphasise the Nationals' support for farming families and to highlight some key issues facing the...
    • Malaysia (1 speech)
      I have not yet had an opportunity in the parliament to welcome the freeing by a Malaysian court of my friend Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition in Malaysia. The cooked-up trial against...