Tim Watts's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2026-02-05T22:06:00+00:00
items: Defence Properties, Victoria: Infrastructure | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
items: McKinnon Institute for Political Leadership | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Housing | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Renewable Energy | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Racism | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (Delivering on Our 2025 Election Commitment) Direction 2025; Consideration | Documents | House debates
items: Address-in-Reply | Governor-General's Speech | House debates
items: Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025 | Statements | House debates
items: Parliamentarians | Adjournment | House debates
items: Deputy Speaker | Parliamentary Office Holders | House debates
items: Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Cost-of-Living Measures | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Reference to Federation Chamber | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
items: g147.2
items: International Relations | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
items: Israel Attacks: First Anniversary | Motions | House debates
items: Gellibrand Electorate: Welcoming the Babies, Albanese Government | Constituency Statements | House debates

Defence Properties, Victoria: Infrastructure | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: This week, the government released our response to the Defence Estate Audit. This report recommends a divestment of RAAF Williams Point Cook and a significant part of RAAF Williams Laverton. The...
encoded: This week, the government released our response to the Defence Estate Audit. This report recommends a divestment of RAAF Williams Point Cook and a significant part of RAAF Williams Laverton. The government's response to this audit has rightly been made on the basis of its assessment of the national interests and the needs of the ADF in changing strategic circumstances in which Australia finds itself today. The world has changed a lot since these bases were established and Australia needs to make hard choices to ensure that locations of our defence bases are fit for purpose and that the ADF has the facilities and capabilities it needs to keep Australians safe. But these recommendations will also have significant local implications for our community in Melbourne's west. So I want to reassure my community of a few things. Despite the breathless media coverage this morning, no decisions have been made about what will happen to land divested as part of this audit. The process for deciding how this land is used will be a long one. It will take years and our community will have plenty of opportunities to be heard. As the local member, I'll work with all levels of government to ensure two things along this journey. First, that the heritage value of Point Cook as the birthplace of the RAAF is preserved. Point Cook has been on the Commonwealth Heritage List since 2004. Julia Gillard fought for its preservation as the local member then, and I'm not about to squander that legacy as the local member now. Done right, this process is an opportunity to increase Australians' access to this heritage site, which is currently severely constrained due to the significant limitations of public access to an active RAAF base. Second, I know full well the strains that development in Melbourne's west is putting on our local infrastructure. I live it. Point Cook has grown to become Australia's biggest suburb by population and our community needs infrastructure to keep up with it. So, should an…
date: 2026-02-05T09:46:00+00:00

Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
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description: As we've heard powerfully today, in the Jewish tradition, the memory of those that we have lost is kept alive by saying their names, so let me begin by again saying the names of those who were...
encoded: As we've heard powerfully today, in the Jewish tradition, the memory of those that we have lost is kept alive by saying their names, so let me begin by again saying the names of those who were killed in the antisemitic terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on 14 December last year: Matilda, Edith Brutman, Dan Elkayam, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Alexander Kleytman, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Peter Meagher, Reuven Morrison, Marika Pogany, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Adam Smyth, Boris Tetleroyd, Tania Tretiak, Tibor Weitzen. There is a universe inside every one of those names. There is a universe of human potential, of human experiences, of thoughts and feelings, of joy and of love in every individual life that was ended in that abhorrent attack. We mourn for them in this parliament and as a nation. We grieve with all of those who lost a loved one or who were traumatised by this appalling attack, and we send to them our condolences, our love and our solidarity. We thank and celebrate the heroes of that day. People going about their everyday lives put themselves in harm's way to save others. First responders ran towards the danger. Surf lifesavers, a sacred symbol of Australian identity, braved human, rather than natural, threats on that day to save lives. This sickening ISIS-inspired antisemitic terrorist attack targeted Jews celebrating the first night of Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights celebrating Jewish resilience. Our hearts break not just for the loss of life on that day but also for the way in which this atrocity attacked the Australian way of life. I represent one of the most religiously diverse communities in Australia—home to churches, Sikh gurdwaras, Hindu mandirs, Islamic mosques and Buddhist temples—and I've been proud that over generations we have built a country where people don't need to choose between their faith and a sense of belonging with their community and their nation. It's a country where the things that unite us as Australians are bigger than the things …
date: 2026-01-19T17:40:00+00:00

McKinnon Institute for Political Leadership | Statements by Members | House debates
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description: I want to take the opportunity to celebrate one of the good news stories in Australian democracy and thank the people that made it happen. The McKinnon Institute for Political Leadership was...
encoded: I want to take the opportunity to celebrate one of the good news stories in Australian democracy and thank the people that made it happen. The McKinnon Institute for Political Leadership was established to support Australian political leaders, state and federal, to become more capable, effective and legitimate policymakers while also cultivating a sense of stewardship in our democratic institutions. It was established with the extraordinary vision of Grant Rule, Sophie Oh and Sam Mellett from the Susan McKinnon Foundation, with the objective of building a world-class, structured professional development program for Australian political leaders. It has been an extraordinary success. MKI has delivered over 30 programs, including its flagship Advanced Political Leadership course, leadership coaching, political mentoring and international study. These programs aren't just world class; they are world leading. Of the 91 McKinnon scholars who have participated in programs to date, 24 are currently ministers and 32 are shadow ministers. There are a lot of people who have made significant contributions to the success of this institution, but I want to pay special tribute today to Rod Glover. Rod has variously been the CEO, academic director and professor of political leadership at McKinnon Institute. He recently announced his resignation after six years at MKI. Rod's policy expertise, professional dedication, personal generosity and earnest belief in both best practice policymaking and the practice of democracy have left a lasting impression on all members who have participated in MKI programs. Rod is usually the kind of person who works in the background of politics and government, outside of the public eye, but I want to take the opportunity to thank him here publicly today. In working with the team at MKI to build this institution into what it is today, he's made a significant long-term contribution to the quality of the democracy that we all share.
date: 2025-11-24T16:29:00+00:00

Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: The Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025 establishes the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence. There's never been a more important time for parliamentary...
encoded: The Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025 establishes the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence. There's never been a more important time for parliamentary accountability and oversight over defence decisions. The stakes are higher than at any time since the Second World War. As the 2024 National defence strategy stated, Australia faces the most complex and challenging strategic environment since that time. Conflict has returned to Europe. Conflict has returned to the Middle East. We've also seen conflict in our own region in South-East Asia. We face evolving threats as well—cyber threats, grey zone tactics and foreign interference, as well as continuing threats like that of nuclear conflict. In a time of geostrategic uncertainty, it has never been more important to maintain independent oversight of our defence community. Engaging the parliament and the public in these matters is vital to the way that Australia responds to these challenges. The new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence will enhance transparency, accountability and oversight of defence decisions. It will provide scrutiny to all parts of the defence ecosystem at a significant moment in Australia's history. I want to acknowledge at this point my colleague the member for Bruce, Assistant Minister Julian Hill. This bill would not be before the House but for the work of Minister Hill in chairing the Defence Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in the previous parliament. He led the inquiry into international armed conflict decision-making which led to the bill before the House being with us today. The parliament plays a crucial role in scrutinising and debating decisions of the executive government and the implementation of those decisions by departments and agencies. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence will provide oversight of all areas of our defence ecosystem. The circumstances demand a coordinated, whole-of-g…
date: 2025-11-05T11:36:00+00:00

Housing | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is for the Minister for Housing, the Minister for Homelessness and the Minister for Cities. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering for first home buyers to help them to get...
encoded: My question is for the Minister for Housing, the Minister for Homelessness and the Minister for Cities. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering for first home buyers to help them to get into a home of their own? What other approaches are the government being asked to consider?
date: 2025-11-05T15:02:00+00:00

Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program | Constituency Statements | House debates
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description: With apologies to the Jakarta Bintangs, but the Krakatoas Football Club is the best named Aussie Rules team in the world. I was delighted to join them on a training run on the weekend with...
encoded: With apologies to the Jakarta Bintangs, but the Krakatoas Football Club is the best named Aussie Rules team in the world. I was delighted to join them on a training run on the weekend with delegates from the Australia Indonesia Youth Exchange Program. AIYEP is more than 40 years old and connects Australian and Indonesian youth for social, professional and cultural exchange. Each year, 42 delegates from Australia and Indonesia become immersed in each other's countries. They grow their intercultural skills, international networks and professional capabilities, and we're very pleased to host it in Melbourne this year. All 21 delegates from Indonesia come from a different province, coming from as far west as Aceh to as far east as the Papuan provinces, reflecting the vast diversity of that country. Given that the median age in Indonesia is just 30, this program is an important way to connect Australian and Indonesian leaders of the future. The 21 delegates from Indonesia are currently spending five weeks in Australia. This year's Indonesian delegates are hosted by generous host families and workplaces in Melbourne, and I'm delighted to be hosting one myself, in my electorate office in Melbourne, the lovely Petra. We've already learned so much from each other, and she has brought fantastic energy and enthusiasm to the office. Petra would like me to tell our parliament: I've really enjoyed living in Australia so far and the thing I love the most is living with my host family, sharing my Indonesian culture, and doing the internship at Tim Watts' Office in Melbourne. I've learned so much during my time here already and I will always be grateful for these experiences. Thank you to the Australian and Indonesia government for providing this life-changing opportunity. There are plenty of people to thank for keeping a program like this operating for 40 years. Terima kasih to all the generous host families in both Australia and Indonesia, and a special shout-out to Kristy and Rya…
date: 2025-11-03T10:45:00+00:00

Renewable Energy | Questions without Notice | House debates
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description: My question is to the Treasurer. What did Treasury's net zero modelling show about the Albanese Labor government's approach to the transformation to cleaner and cheaper energy? And what risks are...
encoded: My question is to the Treasurer. What did Treasury's net zero modelling show about the Albanese Labor government's approach to the transformation to cleaner and cheaper energy? And what risks are there in other proposals?
date: 2025-10-08T14:17:00+00:00

Racism | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: Indigenous leader Noel Pearson has said that you can't tell the full story of Australia without telling three stories: the story of our oldest continuous culture on earth, the story of our...
encoded: Indigenous leader Noel Pearson has said that you can't tell the full story of Australia without telling three stories: the story of our oldest continuous culture on earth, the story of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders; the story of the Westminster institutions that followed, our rule of law and our democratic institutions; and the story of our multicultural migration, a migration that has built a country where half of us either are born overseas or have a parent born overseas—the most successful multicultural nation on earth. The marches against Australia we saw on the weekend were an insult to all three of these stories that make our country great. Australians are rightly proud of the diverse country that we have built here together. We are a country that produced John Wing, a 10-year-old Chinese-Australian boy who suggested that, in the closing ceremony of the Melbourne Olympics, athletes march not as separate countries but together as friends. That is a unique, egalitarian, Australian Olympic innovation. We are a country that has produced two Fields Medal winners, Terence Tao and Akshay Venkatesh, a migrant and a child of a migrant. We are a country enriched by the diverse contributions of Australians like Sir Gustav Nossal, Harry Seidler, Harry Triguboff, Frank Lowy, Victor Chang, Gout Gout, Usman Khawaja, Sam Kerr, Jason Day, Melanie Perkins and Jack Zhang. We're proud that the Australians who work in our hospitals, care for our elderly, help our country grow and help our parliament govern have heritages from every corner of the globe. We're proud of them because they are us—they're our family, our friends, our teammates, our work colleagues and our classmates. The tiny number of protesters on the weekend are scared of this. They want an Australia that's small and weak. They want an Australia that never grows or changes. They want an Australia that would be left behind in the modern world. They are so clearly wrong, and that's why the vast majority of…
date: 2025-09-01T10:33:00+00:00

Housing Australia Investment Mandate Amendment (Delivering on Our 2025 Election Commitment) Direction 2025; Consideration | Documents | House debates
type: item
description: My community in Melbourne's west are hard-working, aspirational Australians who want a good life for themselves, their children and their grandchildren. They're tradies, small business owners,...
encoded: My community in Melbourne's west are hard-working, aspirational Australians who want a good life for themselves, their children and their grandchildren. They're tradies, small business owners, shift workers. They're young people who dream of security and independence. They're parents who want their children to grow with stability and opportunity and for their children to be afforded the same opportunities that were afforded to them. People in my community are doing everything right. They work hard, they're saving diligently, and they're contributing to their families and their community. They still can't afford a place to call home. All the time, I hear from Australians who dream of owning their home but can't see a pathway to homeownership. I hear from renters whose rents increase as they struggle to save for the 20 per cent deposit needed to buy their first home. It all just feels out of reach. A home is more than just a roof over your head. It's a place for family, where birthdays are celebrated, which kids take their first steps, where memories are made. For a generation of Australians, though, this homeownership has felt like a distant dream. On top of that, renters have felt insecure, with the scales tipped against them. The Albanese Labor government is continuing to listen to young Australians, and we're continuing to deliver for them. We're delivering on our election promise to ease the housing crisis and help more Australians to own their own home. From 1 October, everyone in Melbourne's west and across Australia will be able to buy their first home with a five per cent deposit. It's a game changer. For many, this will mean the difference between continuing to rent indefinitely and stepping into homeownership. It will cut years off the time that it takes to save for a deposit. There are no income caps and no limits on the number of places. It means that more families, more young people and more single parents can access this support. We'll have house-price …
date: 2025-09-01T12:53:00+00:00

Address-in-Reply | Governor-General's Speech | House debates
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description: In this traditional first debate of the parliament after a federal election, it's always been my practice to begin by saying thank you. Thank you to the voters in my electorate in Gellibrand in...
encoded: In this traditional first debate of the parliament after a federal election, it's always been my practice to begin by saying thank you. Thank you to the voters in my electorate in Gellibrand in Melbourne's west for their trust and confidence. Thank you to them for choosing the things that unite us and seeing that the things that we have in common are bigger and more important than the things that divide us. Thank you to the outstanding, professional and independent staff of the Australian Electoral Commission, who undertook a very well-run election in Gellibrand in Melbourne's west. Thank you to the other contesting candidates who ran in Gellibrand at the last federal election. They all conducted themselves with, I think, very real respect and dignity, and I was proud to spend many, many hours standing next to them at prepoll and on election day. But, of course, the most important group that I need to thank here in this chamber are the Labor true believers and my supporters, who made the election win in Gellibrand for the Labor Party possible. We couldn't have achieved the result we did without the volunteers who shared our vision for building Australia's future, including those who, without complaint or ego, showed up in a common cause to support our Labor campaign. I'm proud that our campaign in Gellibrand was as diverse as the place in which we live and work. It reflected modern Australia and won the endorsement of modern Australia. It brought together people from all possible backgrounds in pursuit of a common cause: to build a stronger and fairer future for Australia. I want to name many of these people individually here for the benefit of the Hansard. I want to give special thanks to Alison, Catherine, Freddie, Victor, Azhar, William, Jason, Greg, Leon, Clovis, John and Nitika, who showed up throughout the entire campaign to deliver our Labor government's vision for building Australia's future. Alison and Victor showed up for all the usual events, joining me f…
date: 2025-08-26T18:47:00+00:00

Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025 | Statements | House debates
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description: At the last federal election, the Albanese government promised to cut student debt by 20 per cent, and this week in parliament we're delivering on that promise. We said it would be the first...
encoded: At the last federal election, the Albanese government promised to cut student debt by 20 per cent, and this week in parliament we're delivering on that promise. We said it would be the first thing we do when parliament returned after the election, and now we are here delivering it. We're delivering real cost-of-living relief for 18,000 Australians in my electorate with a student debt, we're delivering a better deal for three million Australians across the country with a student debt, and we're reducing the average student debt by about $5,500—in one hit, in one bill. Labor's commitment to cutting student debts by 20 per cent was one of those policies that, I can tell you, really cut through at the last election. I can't tell you how many voters I met on the doors, on the streets or in the shopping centres in my electorate, at pre-poll or at polling booths on election day who I asked: 'Do you have a student debt? Do you want to buy your first home?' 'Well, vote Labor, and the first thing we'll do is cut your student debt by 20 per cent, then we'll also increase your borrowing capacity with the banks, and, to top it off, we'll enable every Australian to buy their first home with a five per cent deposit without having to pay lender's mortgage insurance.' This cut through because it spoke to a bigger intergenerational injustice. It was offering a fairer deal to young Australians who have gotten a raw deal in recent years. I agree with the member for Kooyong. Young Australians are facing a housing crisis, a cost-of-living crisis and the legacy of a climate crisis. Of course, it also cut through because the coalition, those opposite, opposed these cuts to student debt when Labor announced them at the last election. They called them 'wasteful'. In this parliament, the coalition's No. 1 priority is now protecting generous tax concessions for Australians with $3 million in superannuation, which is already there for their retirement. These are the intergenerational priorities…
date: 2025-07-29T20:21:00+00:00

Parliamentarians | Adjournment | House debates
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description: Speaker, I extend my congratulations to you for your continuing service in this important role. The results of the last federal election said something about the kind of nation we are, and we...
encoded: Speaker, I extend my congratulations to you for your continuing service in this important role. The results of the last federal election said something about the kind of nation we are, and we have seen it in parliament this week. On Tuesday we saw new MPs being sworn in on Bibles, on Korans and on the Bhagavad Gita. We saw gender equality in the members and the senators sitting on the government benches during the Governor-General's address, and in members' first speeches we've heard beautiful stories encompassing the glorious diversity of modern Australia. At the last election, the Australian public chose a government that reflects and represents modern Australia, a diverse nation united by common values and aspirations, a nation that doesn't always agree but still comes together around the bigger things that unite us as Australians, a nation that defines itself not by our differences but by what we have in common. It is what the Prime Minister called a 'progressive patriotism'. The Australian voters voted for this at the last election, but they also voted to reject those politicians who practice the politics of division. They rejected politicians who sought to advance their own partisan interests by dividing the Australian community. The world has thrown a lot of challenges at Australia over the last three years. Australians have been traumatised by direct connections to international conflicts, and some Australians have disagreed strongly about how the world and Australia should respond to these conflicts. It's challenged the cohesion of our diverse Australian community. I've said before that cohesion is a verb, not a noun. It means the action of forming a united hole. It's an ongoing process, not an end state. Preserving our cohesion as a nation requires a continuing work, and Australian multiculturalism works best when we work at it. This means engaging with each other in good faith; understanding that our fellow Australians will sometimes see things differentl…
date: 2025-07-23T19:45:00+00:00

Deputy Speaker | Parliamentary Office Holders | House debates
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description: It is a true pleasure for me to second the nomination of my friend the member for Newcastle as our deputy speaker. The member for Newcastle and I were both elected to this place in the 2013...
encoded: It is a true pleasure for me to second the nomination of my friend the member for Newcastle as our deputy speaker. The member for Newcastle and I were both elected to this place in the 2013 election, an election which produced a parliament which, I must say, looked very different from the chamber before us here today. I don't want to make you feel old, but, in the 12 years since then, 60 per cent of the class of 2013 has already left this place, and those of us who were elected in that year have now been here for twice as long as the median MP, which is to say that the last 12 years have been a tumultuous time in this place—a tumultuous time to serve. But, through this period, the member for Newcastle has become an MP held in the highest regard across the chamber. She is the kind of parliamentarian that you measure yourself against; the kind of MP that you feel proud to serve in this place with; and the kind of friend that you go to for advice on the most difficult issues, including, on one occasion when we were both serving on the inquiry into social media, trying to work out how to manage Craig Kelly on that committee. I would say to the new members in this place that you'd do well to follow the example of the member for Newcastle as you begin your time in this place. But, in saying this, I know it's ironic, because new MPs are perhaps the worst placed in this chamber to understand the impact that the member for Newcastle has had on the work of this parliament. I said earlier that this chamber looks very different than it did in 2013, and I should say also that it feels like a very different place to work in than it did back then. There have been days over the past decade when, frankly, I've finished the day as an MP in this building feeling that I need a shower, or have gotten to the end of a sitting week desperate to get back home to my community to feel like a human being again. The member for Newcastle has played a central role in the processes of change that …
date: 2025-07-22T17:03:00+00:00

Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
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description: Let me say what a serendipitous privilege it is for me to be able to follow the member for Moreton in this debate for his last contribution in this chamber. Let me put on the record my deep...
encoded: Let me say what a serendipitous privilege it is for me to be able to follow the member for Moreton in this debate for his last contribution in this chamber. Let me put on the record my deep affection and admiration for GP. This is a man who has made a contribution across so many different aspects of our nation. Importantly to me, he has been a consistent voice for Australia's relations with Africa, a cause that I have spoken about a lot in my time and a cause that needs more voices in this chamber speaking up for it. GP and I have been able to travel all the way to north-western Kenya to the Kakuma refugee camp, which so many members of the Australian community have travelled through on their way to Australia, to really see the impact that our work through both ODA and other arrangements has had there. Travelling with someone in an environment like that you get a sense of the kind of person they are. I won't share with the chamber everything that happened on that trip, GP! But I have to say it is a genuine tribute to the calibre of GP and the regard in which he's held in this chamber that he can inflict so much pain on so many members of this chamber on the sporting fields of Parliament House and still be so beloved. The member for Fremantle and I have both been personally affected by GP's enthusiasm on the sporting field! Good luck, mate. I know you owe it to your family. Let me put on the record our thanks to them for sharing you with us during this time. Good luck in retirement from this place, mate. I am pleased to be able to speak on the Pacific Banking Guarantee Bill 2025 today. Since the election of the Albanese government, we have committed to a new era of Australian engagement in the Pacific. We have worked hard to deepen the social, cultural and economic connections between Australia and our Pacific family. We have really worked to enmesh our nation with the Pacific family. The foreign minister visited the Pacific on just her fourth day in the role, travel…
date: 2025-03-27T17:40:00+00:00

Cost-of-Living Measures | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: The Albanese government's No. 1 priority is taking pressure off households and helping people in Melbourne's west with the cost of living. Over the last two years we've already delivered tax cuts...
encoded: The Albanese government's No. 1 priority is taking pressure off households and helping people in Melbourne's west with the cost of living. Over the last two years we've already delivered tax cuts for every Australian, provided $300 in energy bill relief to every household, revived bulk-billing and saved Australians $1 billion through cheaper medicines. Next year we're committed to going further. A re-elected Labor government will cut student debt by 20 per cent—that's 20 per cent for everyone with a HECS debt, Australia wide. This will be additional cost-of-living relief for the three million Australians who have student debt, including more than 21,000 people in our community in Melbourne's west. Our changes will put $680 a year back in the pocket of the average graduate who has a HECS debt and cut $5,500 off the average debt. Labor wants Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn and to reduce the debt they owe. These changes don't just help young people who are considering study or those who are currently at university; they help anyone who has a HECS debt, regardless of when they last studied. The impacts are tangible and mean more money in the pockets of more people in Melbourne's west. Labor will also raise the repayment threshold and lower the rate of repayments, because you shouldn't have to start paying off your student debt until you're earning a decent wage. This plan to slash student debt will work alongside other Labor measures to help make housing affordable for working people. We know that home loan lenders can take student debt into account when determining how much they can borrow, and this can hold people back from buying a home. By reducing existing debt levels and repayments, we're improving the ability of young Australians to save and to break into the housing market. The Albanese government's plan is about pragmatic change to take pressure off households in Melbourne's west and remove barriers to homeownership. These HECS changes …
date: 2024-11-25T10:32:00+00:00

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Reference to Federation Chamber | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—I move: That further statements on Australian consular and crisis support 2023-2024 be permitted in the Federation Chamber. Question agreed to.
encoded: by leave—I move: That further statements on Australian consular and crisis support 2023-2024 be permitted in the Federation Chamber. Question agreed to.
date: 2024-11-20T09:51:00+00:00

g147.2
type: item
title: Cyber Security Bill 2024, Intelligence Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Cyber Security) Bill 2024, Security of Critical Infrastructure and Other Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Response and Prevention) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
description: I'm very pleased to take the opportunity to speak on the Cyber Security Bill 2024 today. I first raised the issue of ransomware in this parliament more than seven years ago, in 2017. It has long...
encoded: I'm very pleased to take the opportunity to speak on the Cyber Security Bill 2024 today. I first raised the issue of ransomware in this parliament more than seven years ago, in 2017. It has long been an area of interest and concern to me—including during the last parliament, when I was the shadow assistant minister for cybersecurity. I should also acknowledge that it's an area of interest for others here in this chamber today. In that term, I introduced a private member's bill dealing with these issues, the Ransomware Payments Bill 2021, which would have formed a policy foundation for a coordinated government response to the threat of ransomware. As Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, I was pleased to work with the then cybersecurity minister, the member for Hotham, on the international chapter of the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy, launched in November last year. This recognised that the evolving challenges of cyberspace required us to work with our international partners to uphold international law and norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace and to impose costs on bad actors that make cyberspace less safe and less secure. The strategy sets out how we will improve cybersecurity, manage cyber-risks and better support Australians and Australian businesses in cyberspace. This includes reinforcing our cyberdefences; strengthening our resilience, or our ability to bounce back from cyber incidents; deterring and responding to malicious actors; and working closely with international partners—reducing the returns to bad actors targeting Australia with cybercrime and increasing the costs to them of targeting our businesses. This bill delivers on measures promised by our government in that strategy. It takes necessary steps to ensure that Australians and Australian businesses can enjoy the full benefit of the internet, while keeping us safe. There's an urgent need for this bill. The previous government did little to address these threats. When I …
date: 2024-11-19T20:00:00+00:00

International Relations | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
type: item
description: Members will appreciate that we serve in this place in historic times. Australia currently faces the most complex, most challenging and most consequential strategic circumstances in living...
encoded: Members will appreciate that we serve in this place in historic times. Australia currently faces the most complex, most challenging and most consequential strategic circumstances in living memory, and the Australian public look to us for cool heads and calm leadership in this time. Our region, the Indo-Pacific, is currently being reshaped by a series of fundamental dynamics of change: climate change, demographic change, technological disruption and intensifying strategic competition. They're all reshaping our region. Military power is expanding, but the means to constrain conflict are not. The rules and norms that have underwritten our regional security are coming under increasing pressure. The way that all of these changes will unfold will have vital implications for Australia's prosperity, for our security and for our very way of life. In these circumstances of change, Australia cannot afford to be a mere spectator. We know that we need to influence these dynamics of change in Australia's national interests. We want to build a region that's peaceful, prosperous and secure; a region that's governed by rules, norms and international law; and a region where there's a strategic balance that ensures that countries are free to make their own choices, where no country dominates and no country is dominated. We've said that we'll use all the tools of statecraft to pursue these objectives: diplomatic, defence, development, soft power—every source of national power at our disposal. But we can't do it alone. We need to work with our key allies to pursue these goals. For a country like Australia, isolation is impotence. So our relationships with our key allies matter now more than ever before, and, since the last election, the Albanese government has worked tirelessly to strengthen our relationships with our allies, to deepen our engagement with our partners and to repair our relationships and restore trust in the Pacific. We've done this because we know that, in complex, chal…
date: 2024-11-07T15:25:00+00:00

Israel Attacks: First Anniversary | Motions | House debates
type: item
description: I thank the Prime Minister for moving this important motion today. It is a grave topic that all of us in this place have an obligation to rise to, to meet this occasion as leaders in this...
encoded: I thank the Prime Minister for moving this important motion today. It is a grave topic that all of us in this place have an obligation to rise to, to meet this occasion as leaders in this country. On this side of the chamber, as I hope on all sides of the chamber, we meet, as we did on 16 October last year, to give an unequivocal condemnation of Hamas's appalling terrorist attacks in Israel. They were terrorist attacks characterised not just by their brutality, with 1,200 innocent civilians killed, but by the appalling broadcasting of this depravity, a unique innovation in this depraved attack. Hundreds more were traumatised by the attacks, sexual violence and of course hostage-taking, with many still living in Hamas's terrorist tunnels beneath Gaza. On Sunday night of this weekend, I attended a candle lighting in Sydney: Illuminate October. As a result of the quirk of international time zones, it was the first candle lighting anywhere in the world to acknowledge the loss of life on October 7 and the hostages that are still being held. We heard from Michal Ohana, who gave a powerful testimony as a survivor of the violence at the Nova music festival, where young people meeting to dance were met with appalling violence. We heard from Melissa McCurdie, a Jewish Sydneysider who had multiple members of her family taken hostage on that appalling day. Around the country, Australians meet and have met in the preceding days to express their shared humanity and their outrage at these attacks. It is a basic act of human decency to mourn the loss of life that we have seen. It's a basic act of decency to recognise our shared humanity as Australians and to express our shared devastation at the loss of civilian life on October 7 and in the following 12 months, with 40,000 Palestinian deaths and many innocent Lebanese civilians killed in the last week. We mourn all civilian deaths—Israeli, Palestinian and Lebanese—that have been unleashed by the appalling events of October 7. That'…
date: 2024-10-08T12:45:00+00:00

Gellibrand Electorate: Welcoming the Babies, Albanese Government | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: There are more mums in Point Cook, in my electorate, than in any other suburb in Australia. It was the perfect place to host new families from Melbourne's west at my Welcoming the Babies event at...
encoded: There are more mums in Point Cook, in my electorate, than in any other suburb in Australia. It was the perfect place to host new families from Melbourne's west at my Welcoming the Babies event at the Saltwater Community Centre last week. We all know that being a new parent is both rewarding and challenging. Our Welcoming the Babies event allowed new parents to connect with each other, with local support groups and with local government support services in our community that are there to help. I want to thank everyone who participated in making the event a success: Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia, the Dil ki Baat women's group, Safety Seats, Tweddle Child and Family Health Service, the Australian Breastfeeding Association, Baby Presents, Wyndham City Council Maternal and Child Health Services, Services Australia and St John Ambulance Victoria. The Albanese government knows that the early years are the most important part of a child's life. We're supporting families to give children the best possible start, from expanding access to cheaper child care to delivering a wage rise for early childhood educators while keeping fees low for families. I know that it's been a tough time for families in our community. That's why the top priority of our government has been delivering responsible cost-of-living relief that doesn't add to inflation. Every family at the Welcoming the Babies event—indeed, every family in my community, from Newport to Point Cook, from Williamstown to Truganina—has been benefiting from cost-of-living relief measures introduced by our government. We want Australians to earn more and keep more of what they earn. Our tax cuts have increased the pay packets of 84,000 workers in my electorate by an average of $1,676. A family with a combined income of $120,000 will pocket an extra $2,300 a year, making a real difference to household budgets. Low-income workers have received three consecutive pay rises, including big rises for people in the care ec…
date: 2024-09-09T10:38:00+00:00