Monique Ryan's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2026-02-05T22:06:04+00:00
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
items: United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women | Motions | House debates
items: Tertiary Education | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Law Enforcement | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Communications Legislation Amendment (Australian Content Requirement for Subscription Video On Demand (Streaming) Services) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Medical Research Future Fund | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: g51.1
items: Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates

Health Care | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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

United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women | Motions | House debates
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description: I thank the member for Newcastle for raising the very important issue of gender based violence and our colleague the member for Leichhardt for his very generous contribution. But I really feel...
encoded: I thank the member for Newcastle for raising the very important issue of gender based violence and our colleague the member for Leichhardt for his very generous contribution. But I really feel that I need to draw attention to the government's failure to address one of the key drivers of gender based violence, that being gambling. Less than a month ago this parliament received the second yearly report from the independent Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission. The report noted that over the last 15 years there has been no shortage of royal commissions, inquiries, coronial inquests and reviews into the experiences of women and children facing violence. Those reports have come up with over a thousand recommendations—many repeated, many consistent, many overlapping. We don't lack solutions for gender based violence. They're well established. What we lack is coordinated action led by the federal government to implement solutions that will save women's lives. The 2020 report, commissioned by the Commonwealth Institute of Family Studies, into the relationship between gambling and domestic violence against women found a clear correlation between gambling addiction and financial abuse as well as other harms. It shared stories of women who'd had to support the family alone while their partners gambled away his wages, women who'd had their bank accounts cleaned out and their mortgage payments taken by a partner to spend on gambling, women who'd lost their homes and their assets and been coerced or defrauded into taking on debt, and women who'd been assaulted by partners angry because of their losses. Amongst the study's seven headline recommendations is the suggestion that we should tighten regulation of the gambling industry to prevent gambling related harm, including a reduction in gambling advertising—a recommendation clearly stated but as yet unimplemented. Another example, which will be familiar to MPs in this place, is the report produced by the Standing Commit…
date: 2025-11-24T18:07:00+00:00

Tertiary Education | Private Members' Business | House debates
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description: Australians are paying too much for their tertiary education. The recent changes to HECS by the Albanese government were welcome, but they were inadequate. We cannot condemn Australians to a...
encoded: Australians are paying too much for their tertiary education. The recent changes to HECS by the Albanese government were welcome, but they were inadequate. We cannot condemn Australians to a lifetime of working off debt in the face of ongoing significant skills shortages. We need to be a clever country, and that has to include the foresight to support our citizens to gain the skills that our society needs. In the 47th Parliament, I pushed hard on the cost of tertiary education. My petition signed by 290,000 Australians demonstrated the significance of this issue to so many students, graduates and concerned parents. We achieved a response from the government in the form of a change to the way that HELP indexation is calculated and a reduction in existing student debt of 20 per cent, backdated to 1 June 2025. Now, many constituents have told me that it was the first time that they have felt heard by the government in a way that had a meaningful and positive effect on their lives, but how we index HECS is still unfair. The cost of degrees is still far too high. We are not supporting enough young people in their practical placements—the most important time in their studies, when they get the hands-on experience which is vital for competence and quality in the care specialities in particular. We have to put a stop to back-to-front priorities, where we tax education but we subsidise pollution. For the last three years Australia has collected three times more revenue from student loan repayments than it has from the petroleum resource rent tax. At the same time, we've subsidised polluting industries to the tune of over $30 billion. At the same time, cost-of-living pressures are leaving many students in poverty. One in seven full-time students has to work full time to support themselves. That is too much of a burden for many, and it's no surprise that non-completion rates are rising. At the same time, arts students are still being forced to pay $55,000 for their degrees. Ma…
date: 2025-11-24T12:32:00+00:00

Law Enforcement | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: Victoria is experiencing a youth crime crisis. In the last year alone, offences were up 15 per cent—25,000 incidents involved children aged 10 to 17. Two-thirds of robberies and a half of...
encoded: Victoria is experiencing a youth crime crisis. In the last year alone, offences were up 15 per cent—25,000 incidents involved children aged 10 to 17. Two-thirds of robberies and a half of our aggravated burglaries are committed by children, many from a core group of about 400 repeat offenders. Crime has hit hard in my electorate of Kooyong. I hear every week of car thefts, break-ins and aggravated burglaries in our suburbs. People are nervous, and those affected by these crimes are traumatised. The papers are baying for these children to be punished harder. The Allan state government has responded by banning machetes, tightening bail laws, reopening Malmsbury youth prison, abandoning a pledge to raise the age of criminal responsibility, and now threatening lifelong sentences for crimes committed by children. The thing is, throwing the book at children doesn't work. Almost 40 per cent of young people in detention are there for violent crimes. But children aren't born violent; they're born into poverty and abuse. As many as 25 per cent of children in our youth justice system have undiagnosed foetal alcohol syndrome, ADHD or other disabilities. Prison won't fix that. It will compound harm, sever family ties and provide a criminal apprenticeship. And it's expensive: a million dollars a year to lock up a child—for what? Most are released within weeks back into the same unstable housing, disrupted schooling and domestic trauma that contributed to their offending in the first place. Local and international studies are clear: harsher sentences do not reduce crime, and prison often increases re-offending. Children's brains are still developing. Under pressure, they act impulsively. Toughening bail laws and imposing adult sentences for kids as young as 14 won't make us safer, and it won't help vulnerable children. So what will help? Prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, stable housing, supportive schools, pathways to jobs, culturally safe services for Indigenous youth, youth…
date: 2025-11-24T10:30:00+00:00

Communications Legislation Amendment (Australian Content Requirement for Subscription Video On Demand (Streaming) Services) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: When we think about what has shaped the cultural identity of most of the people fortunate enough to sit in this place, we think of the stories told on our screens. We recall with fondness Skippy...
encoded: When we think about what has shaped the cultural identity of most of the people fortunate enough to sit in this place, we think of the stories told on our screens. We recall with fondness Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, A Country Practice, Hey Hey It's Saturday and, particularly for those of us who grew up in Melbourne, Neighbours. Old people like me think of Seven Little Australians and The Sullivans. Some of us picked up career inspiration from shows like The Young Doctors, and some of the more wily members of this house likely picked up a few tips on how to win friends and influence people from Prisoner, Total Control, or even Underbelly. Those shows did more than just entertain us; they reflected who we are on screen. We recall films like Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Getting of Wisdom and Breaker Morant, which captured our unique continent and our history. Those productions didn't just create memories; they created jobs—thousands of them—in writing, acting, directing and the trades that underpin our arts sector. Those stories mattered. They told us who we were and who we could be. They gave us Australian voices, Australian artists and Australian landscapes. They built an industry that trained generations of creative professionals, legends like Jack Thompson, Jacki Weaver, Kylie Minogue and Peter Weir, and they exported a unique talent to the world. Today, that cultural foundation is under threat. Australians are consuming less Australian content than ever before. For the first time, in 2023 less than half of Australians watched free-to-air TV, where local content has historically dominated. Last year, more Australians watched subscription video on demand services like Netflix than live free-to-air or broadcast video on demand. On the other hand, nine out of ten of us use an online streaming service, where global giants like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime dedicate only a small fraction of their catalogues to Australian content. The proportion of Australian-made drama and ch…
date: 2025-11-24T15:51:00+00:00

Medical Research Future Fund | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is for the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, Australian medical research saves lives. It boosts our economy. It improves our domestic security and it provides aid to our region. The...
encoded: My question is for the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, Australian medical research saves lives. It boosts our economy. It improves our domestic security and it provides aid to our region. The Medical Research Future Fund was established to support the sector with $1 billion dollars a year, but your government is spending only $650 million annually. Could you please tell the dozens of medical researchers in the gallery today why it is that you're withholding the support that we committed to, and that their sector needs and deserves?
date: 2025-11-06T14:29:00+00:00

g51.1
type: item
title: Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, National Environmental Protection Agency Bill 2025, Environment Information Australia Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Excise Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (General Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Restoration Charge Imposition) Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
description: I move the amendment as circulated in my name: (1) Schedule 1, page 12 (after line 18), after item 60, insert: 60A After Subdivision FB of Division 1 of Part 3 of Chapter 2 Insert: Subdivision FC...
encoded: I move the amendment as circulated in my name: (1) Schedule 1, page 12 (after line 18), after item 60, insert: 60A After Subdivision FB of Division 1 of Part 3 of Chapter 2 Insert: Subdivision FC — Clean air and water 24F Requirement for approval of activities that may affect air and water quality (1) A constitutional corporation, or a Commonwealth agency that does not enjoy the immunities of the Commonwealth, commits an offence if the corporation or agency takes an action that: (a) may produce an actual or potential adverse effect which may occur from air or water pollution, or from exposures to pollutants in other media, which pollutants originate as emissions to the ambient air; or (b) may affect the air and water quality in national parks, national wilderness areas, national waterways and marine parks and areas impacting other matters of national environmental significance. Penalty: Imprisonment for 7 years or 420 penalty units, or both. Note 1: An executive officer of a body corporate convicted of an offence against this subsection may also commit an offence against section 495. Note 2: If a person takes an action on land that contravenes this subsection, a landholder may commit an offence against section 496C. (2) A person commits an offence if: (a) the person takes an action that: (i) may produce an actual or potential adverse effect which may occur from air or water pollution, or from exposures to pollutants in other media, which pollutants originate as emissions to the ambient air; or (ii) may affect the air and water quality in national parks, national wilderness areas, national waterways and marine parks and areas impacting other matters of national environmental significance; and (b) the action is taken for the purposes of trade or commerce: (i) between Australia and another country; or (ii) between 2 States; or (iii) between a State and Territory; or (iv) between 2 Territories. Penalty: Imprisonment for 7 years or 420 penalty units, or both. Note 1: An …
date: 2025-11-06T11:52:00+00:00

Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025; Consideration in Detail | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: by leave—I move amendments (1) to (6) as circulated in my name together: (1) Schedule 1, item 1, page 4 (lines 5 and 6), omit the item. (2) Schedule 1, item 3, page 4 (lines 10 to 21), omit...
encoded: by leave—I move amendments (1) to (6) as circulated in my name together: (1) Schedule 1, item 1, page 4 (lines 5 and 6), omit the item. (2) Schedule 1, item 3, page 4 (lines 10 to 21), omit the item. (3) Schedule 2, item 41, page 16 (line 18) to page 16 (line 24), omit subsection 15AD(6), substitute: Multiple requests (6) For the purposes of this section, the agency or Minister may treat 2 or more requests as a single request if: (a) the agency or Minister is satisfied that: (i) the requests relate to the same document or documents; or (ii) the requests relate to documents, the subject matter of which is substantially the same; and (b) the details given in relation to the requests in accordance with paragraph 15(2)(c) are the same. (4) Schedule 2, item 53, page 20 (line 4) to page 20 (line 11), omit the item. (5) Schedule 2, item 54, page 20 (lines 21 to 31), omit paragraph 15(2)(e), substitute: (e) if the applicant is seeking to access, on behalf of another person, a document containing personal information about the other person or information concerning the business, commercial or financial affairs of the other person: (i) state that the request is being made on behalf of another person; and (ii) include the full name of the other person; and (iii) be accompanied by all of the following that are provided in a form and manner specified by the agency or Minister for the purpose of requests under this section: (A) proof of the applicant's identity; (B) proof of the other person's identity; (C) proof that the applicant is authorised to access the document on behalf of the other person. (6) Schedule 7, item 3, page 61 (line 4) to page 61 (line 10), omit the item. (7) Schedule 7, Part 3, page 64 (line 1) to page 65 (line 5), omit the Part. The FOI Act enshrines a right to access information and protects individuals' rights by providing them access to the information held by government about themselves. The objects of this act are clear and they should not be qualified …
date: 2025-11-05T17:19:00+00:00