Mary Aldred's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Tobacco Control | Adjournment | House debates
Inverloch is one of the most beautiful parts of my electorate. It's where Australia's best soil meets jewel encrusted seas. But, like many parts of Australia right now, Inverloch has an illegal...
Inverloch is one of the most beautiful parts of my electorate. It's where Australia's best soil meets jewel encrusted seas. But, like many parts of Australia right now, Inverloch has an illegal tobacco and vape outlet in town. I've had local residents reach out to voice their concerns. Despite being raided by federal authorities just days ago, this outlet continues to allegedly sell vapes to children. Members of the Therapeutic Goods Administration raided the outlet in late January and removed hundreds of vapes from the shelves, according to the Herald Sun. While the TGA continues to consider what to do next, the outlet remains open for business. This is not an isolated incident. Despite the tobacco wars terrorising our community for years now, it only occurred to the Victorian government last week to do something. The 14 inspectors from the Tobacco Licensing Victoria agency are expected to cover the entire state to dish out fines but not shut down illegal shops. When the Victorian Labor government minister was asked why, he said the government was still considering whether such laws were even possible. What he should have said was, 'We're going to roll out new laws to pull down the shutters on illegal tobacco shops, give lease termination powers to landlords and stop them selling illicit products.' That would have been the responsible thing to do. Gangland thugs like Kaz Hamad are directing their cartels from here and abroad, terrorising small-business owners, assaulting retail staff and short-changing the tax office. Hamad was arrested in Iraq last month, where a court declared him to be one of the most dangerous men in the world. He has been named by the gangland taskforce, looking at a spate of violent home invasions and arson, as directing those crimes from overseas. Martin McKenzie-Murray has written very thoroughly on Hamad in the Saturday Paper. He has noted the AFP's identification of Hamad as a national security risk. I quote: The AFP's interest in Hamad intensified when it began to suspect his involvement, on behalf of the Iranians, in organising the torching of a Melbourne synagogue in December 2024. Since 2023, there have been around 200 firebombings of grocers and tobacco shops that are related to this. The retail industry estimate they have lost $2 billion in legal sales to the illegal racket over the last four years. A growing number of legal retailers are now not selling cigarettes at all. Just a few days ago, a machine that can produce up to 3.6 million illicit cigarettes a day was seized by Australian Border Force. Australian Border Force data for the final quarter of last year reveals that officers seized more than 467 tonnes of cigarettes and tobacco before it entered the country. The black market cigarettes and vapes would have been worth more than $1 billion in evaded excise that would have gone towards funding roads, schools and hospitals in Australia. It's time for radical reform at a federal level. Up another five per cent last year, government price increases on cigarettes are driving up crime and smoking. That effectively taxes $28 out of every $50 pack of smokes. Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission wastewater statistics show that more nicotine was consumed by Australia last year than eight years ago, with an illegal pack of smokes now at around $12. One of the biggest losers has been the ATO. Since 2013, under the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, the excise started to rocket up and has since then increased by 282 per cent. New South Wales Labor premier Chris Minns has consistently called out his federal Labor colleagues for not doing enough and not addressing the excise issue. To those who argue that reducing the excise encourages smoking, the Laffer economic curve disproves this. It demonstrates that, by driving taxation of tobacco beyond a reasonable level, it actually encourages people to a black market of illegal tobacco. This is where we see an uptick in smoking. Taking the excise back to 2018-19 levels would help to address this. I also think we need to look at an AFP taskforce, with teams in each state, particularly Victoria, where the illegal trade is flourishing. We should combine that with landlord termination powers, licensing and a fit-and-proper-person test, and then Australia would have a plan that works. Illegal tobacco is putting all Australians at risk. It's about time the federal government and this minister got serious about addressing it.
Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It's always a pleasure to follow my colleague and my 2025 classmate, the member for Forde. I rise to speak on the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill, which on face value is...
It's always a pleasure to follow my colleague and my 2025 classmate, the member for Forde. I rise to speak on the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill, which on face value is presented as a technical amendment but in reality also exposes a serious failure of legislative drafting, regulatory oversight and accountability that's gone unchecked for 14 years. This bill seeks to correct a drafting error, made under a Labor government in 2011, relating to the indexation of ASIC company review fees. The opposition will not oppose the bill in the House; however, we will not give it a free pass either. We will be seeking to refer this bill to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, and we will reserve our final position until that scrutiny has occurred. On behalf of a lot of small businesses that I represent in Monash and have engaged with across the country in different roles prior to coming to this place, I think that is a good thing. The approach here is not obstructionist; it's responsible—because, while drafting errors can occur, the scale, duration and impact of this mistake demand serious examination. In 2011, Labor introduced indexation for ASIC company review fees. The policy intent was clear. This is where unintended consequences can arise. Fees would rise over time in line with inflation. However, due to a drafting error, only the main annual review fee was properly captured in the legislation. Several other fees were not. These included late annual review fees, 10-year review fees and special-purpose company fees paid by charities, not-for-profits and superannuation trustees. Despite this, ASIC continued to apply indexation across all of these fees for the next 14 years. I'll repeat that: 14 years. There couldn't be a better example of 'set and forget' than what has occurred here. As a result, ASIC collected an estimated $150 to $200 million in fees that were not technically authorised in law. Those fees were paid in good faith by Australian businesses and organisations that had absolutely no reason to believe the charges were unlawful. They paid them in good faith. This issue was not uncovered by whistleblower. It was not uncovered by a court case. It was not uncovered by a parliamentary review. It was only identified in late 2024 during an internal ASIC legal audit, more than a decade after the regulation first took effect. This is not good enough. That fact alone should have given all of us in this place pause. ASIC fees are not incidental charges. They're not, in effect, a tax on doing business. Every company in Australia must pay them in order to exist in our regulatory system. When those fees are unlawfully charged, that matters. It matters not just legally but morally. This error may well represent the largest retrospective tax validation exercise in Australia's history. ASIC currently collects around $1.8 billion each year in fees and levies. That's more than a billion dollars from registry fees paid by Australian businesses, many of them small businesses, many of them mum-and-dad operators who work really hard to be able to afford those fees and levies. ASIC is known for its strict enforcement; it issues penalties for late payments, cancels registrations and applies late fees without hesitation. Small businesses know that missing a payment, sometimes as small as a few hundred dollars, has serious consequences. ASIC don't muck around. I've previously sat as a member of ASIC's small business and industry roundtable. I've raised the plight of small-business people directly with ASIC, with its most senior executive members, and on occasion they've listened. But, on the whole, ASIC are not Robinson Crusoe here. Government bureaucracies are well behind the benchmark of where they should be when it comes to treating small-business people with respect, fairness and understanding. You can uphold the law and act with decency at the same time. When the shoe is on the other foot, there are a number of instances where ASIC is slow out of the gates in seriously considering the complaints of small business, and I'll raise a few examples. A 2024 parliamentary report by the Senate Economics References Committee suggested that ASIC had often failed to protect small businesses by dismissing reports of corporate misconduct too quickly or by focusing only on minor enforcement measures. Key findings from the report regarding ASIC's failures include the dismissal of misconduct reports, with ASIC having taken no further action on approximately 66 per cent of reports of alleged misconduct received from the public; automated no-action emails, with the report highlighting that most statutory reports submitted by liquidators regarding insolvent companies are met with an automated no-further-action email, sometimes within 40 seconds of a submission; underenforcement and inadequate penalties, with the committee finding that, for matters where ASIC does take action, civil penalties are often at odds with the scale of offending and few criminal sanctions are achieved; the failure to use its full powers, with ASIC accused of not using the full extent of its powers to tackle serious misconduct such as illegal phoenix activity, which, as we all know, heavily impacts small-business owners; and its 'lighter' approach, with the committee noting that the express investigation approach adopted during the pandemic, which prioritised cooperation, resulted in insufficient enforcement. I've had a little bit to say previously about the officiousness of regulatory bodies recently in their treatment of small businesses, and I'll give one example. Last year I wrote to Treasurer Jim Chalmers on behalf of drought impacted farmers in my electorate of Monash. They had had a very dry winter, which had been preceded by further dry conditions. So financially stretched were a number of these farmers that they were forced to sell off stock early, and, of course, that was going to affect their tax bill at the end of the financial year. I asked the Treasurer, on behalf of those farmers, to request that the ATO show fairness and leniency when those drought impacted farmers put their hand up and say, 'I'm struggling here.' I got a pro forma fact sheet back not addressing the issue, which demonstrated what I think is an enshrined contempt for, and sometimes wilful ignorance of, the plight of everyday regional Australians trying to keep their head above water right now. It's a good example of how bodies like ASIC and the ATO employ a double standard of expectation on these issues. It's why it is extraordinary that the same regulator that fines a business for missing a $310 payment has been charging unlawful fees for more than a decade. This arose from an honest drafting error, but fairness demands the same legal standards apply to government agencies as those that apply, in my view, to small-business owners. The rule of law cannot operate in only one direction. The Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 retrospectively validates 14 years of fees that ASIC had no legal authority to charge. In practical terms, it retrospectively legitimises more than $150 million in revenue. Retrospective legislation is something the Liberal Party would ordinarily oppose. We are intrinsically wary about it as a general legislative principle, particularly where it shields government from legal exposure. Retrospective laws undermine certainty and trust in the system. They change the rules after the fact. Now, there are some special cases in instances of national security where retrospective legislation is required. However, we also recognise the serious budget implications if refund claims were allowed to proceed unchecked. This is a difficult balance that this parliament must now confront, and that is precisely why scrutiny matters. This bill cannot simply be waved through on the basis that it's just a technical issue. It's not a technical issue. There are some profound principles at play here that demand scrutiny. It's not a minor error, and it's not narrow. It affects millions of entities across the Australian economy. Around 1.56 million currently registered entities have paid the affected fees. Approximately 795,000 deregistered entities were also charged. A further 440,000 active entities have been invoiced but have not yet paid. The sheer scale underscores why this issue cannot be dismissed as a footnote. The Senate committee process must examine how this drafting error went undetected for 14 years. It must examine whether concerns were raised earlier by ASIC or Treasury legal teams, and, if so, why were they not acted upon? It must also consider whether affected businesses should be entitled to refunds, credits or offsets. It must look squarely at which accountability mechanisms failed and how they can be strengthened to ensure this never happens again. Australians expect government to get the basics right. To understand the real-world impact, it is worth looking at how these fees increased over time. The late annual review fee rose from $70 to $93 for payments 28 days late, and from $292 to $387 for payments more than three months late. The 10-year upfront review fee for small proprietary companies increased from $2,200 to $3,100. Special purpose company fees rose from $43 to $60. These are not abstract numbers for small businesses and for not-for-profits that survive on the smell of an oily rag; these dollars are consequential. They represent hard work, risk, blood, sweat and tears. They represent real costs borne by businesses and organisations who assumed, quite rightly, quite reasonably, that the law was sound. Regulations made on 11 March 2025 have fixed the problem prospectively. This bill is required to apply that fix retrospectively, back to 1 July 2011. Without it, ASIC could face refund claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars, despite the fact that these fees reflected longstanding policy intent, relied upon by both government and business. But intent is not the law. This issue began under Labor. It remained hidden for 14 years, and it reflects a broader pattern of poor drafting and weak quality control that undermines confidence in our regulatory systems. The Liberal Party's position is clear. We will not oppose this bill in the House, but we will not support it without proper scrutiny. We will push for a Senate inquiry to examine the full scope of the mistake and ASIC's accountability. This is about fairness, integrity and consistency. It's about doing what is right, because Australians expect and deserve better. If small businesses are expected to comply with every letter of the law—and they are—then government and regulators must be held to the same standard. My drought-stricken farmers in Monash have not been given fairness, leniency or understanding by the ATO or indeed through my representations to this government. They deserve better. All Australians deserve better.
Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It's a privilege to follow the member for Hasluck, and I thank her for her service to our nation. In commencing my remarks on the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures...
It's a privilege to follow the member for Hasluck, and I thank her for her service to our nation. In commencing my remarks on the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 2) Bill 2025, I follow the member for Herbert in his contribution. In my short time in this place, I've been inspired by his veteran story. He served in East Timor and Afghanistan, and he talks about his 'alive day', where he was very badly injured by an improvised explosive device, and about his journey to recovery and also his lifelong dedication to helping and supporting veterans in his community. In fact, he's the recipient of an Order of Australia medal for that service. So I think we could have no finer speakers than the two members that I follow in making my remarks. It is an absolute privilege to represent the veteran community in the Monash electorate. I've worked very closely with a number of RSLs and ex-service organisations, and I just want to acknowledge the outstanding contribution that they make, like Ben Vahland and Lynn Mizen at the Warragul RSL. I had the great privilege of attending the West Gippsland Veterans Welfare Centre opening just a couple of months ago, where Ben Vahland, particularly, has really dedicated a huge amount of time to getting that up and running. In my work with veterans across the region, there have been Christine Thompson, Lindsay Guerin and Kevin Walsh from the Inverloch and Wonthaggi RSLs; Steve Mayes from Moe RSL; and Richie Cunningham and Rod McNabb from Drouin RSL. I acknowledge their service and look forward to continuing to work very closely with them in the pursuit of improving veteran welfare. I've got my colleague the member for New England, who, of course, is a former veterans affairs shadow minister, and I just want to acknowledge two points he drove very strongly in that time. He made the point that veterans affairs should be a cabinet portfolio. It shouldn't be subsumed into the broader Defence portfolio. Veterans have a unique set of needs and they deserve to have a strong voice around the cabinet table. I also acknowledge his work in putting pressure on the government to progress the implementation of the veterans royal commission's findings and recommendations. I represent a large number of constituents in Monash who have previously served—in fact, it's 3,560 constituents. As of September last year, we had 1,761 DVA clients in my electorate, 1,294 veterans and 474 family members or dependents. Every one of them relies on the system to work properly. I go to great lengths to assist constituents—whether it's with a Services Australia, Centrelink, issue or any other issue—but one of the greatest privileges is being able to pick up the phone and assist a veteran who has been waiting 18 months for assistance. While it's a great privilege to be able to get something to happen quickly, it really shouldn't take that long. For the remainder of my time in this place, I want to make sure that, as a parliament, we do a better job to recognise the needs and expediate the support that veterans deserve for the sacrifice and the work that they've done in serving our country. I've met with members of nearly every RSL organisation across the Monash electorate and the message that I consistently hear is that it's never been harder to access services through the Department of Veterans' Affairs. In the short time of about nine months now, I've had over 20 veterans come to my electorate office in Warragul seeking assistance and seeking support because they cannot get the answers that they need or the support that they are seeking through the department. In that context, I want to touch on a couple of things in this bill which should be considered. The coalition supports the passage of this legislation because it is necessary to progress from the VETS reform framework and ensure the transition to a single, simplified rehabilitation system from 1 July 2026. We supported the royal commission's recommendation to simplify veterans compensation arrangements because having multiple different acts of parliament is complicated enough for bureaucrats, lawyers and politicians. It is so much more confusing and difficult for veterans and their families to try and navigate that, so we support the simplification of narrowing it and making it more user friendly. The Liberal Party—and the National Party as well—support the objective of a single framework under the MRCA that reduces duplication, improves consistency and makes entitlements easier to understand and access. I've had particular feedback from the West Gippsland veterans welfare group and other veterans, like Rod McNabb, who does an absolutely amazing job. Many of them are volunteers. The Drouin veterans welfare centre was operating for 30 years and had a very small but dedicated army of volunteers that would painstakingly go through veterans claims. But it is incredibly difficult to navigate, and I think anywhere that we can reduce duplication, improve consistency and make entitlements easier to understand and access is a good thing. This bill contains largely technical and consequential amendments, but they do matter, and my colleague the member for Herbert has made a number of observations. While, at a broad level, the Liberal Party are supportive of this passage, I do think the observations that he's made matter and should be on the record. The technical amendments relate to the ability to clarify and review appeal rights, protect dependent compensation, ensure funeral benefits and education assistance continue seamlessly, preserve non-liability health care and establish clear transitional rules so that veterans are not caught in a legislative limbo, as is too often the case. However, this is now the second miscellaneous measures bill that's been required to fix or complete the government's original reform package, which has taken way too long. They're not new policies; they're operational details that should have been resolved far earlier. I say to veterans in the Monash electorate that you deserve far better. The Liberal Party will also move an amendment to remove the mandatory notification of the Chief of the Defence Force when a serving member accesses non-liability health care or lodges a Veterans' Review Board application. Care seeking should never feel like a career risk. My colleague the member for Herbert spoke eloquently and empathetically about the balance in making sure that, if there is a serious issue, such as a drug or alcohol dependency issue, the Defence Force is notified for safety and other deployment reasons, but not to the extent that that would act as a deterrent for members of our Defence Force seeking help and mental health assistance. I think there are also some very sound privacy concerns that have been raised in this context. If we're serious about wellbeing and suicide prevention, we've got to be able to reduce those barriers. We will support this bill because veterans across Australia, particularly those in Monash, who I want to do my very best job for in this role, cannot afford delay. I support the bill but also associate myself with the remarks of the member for Herbert and my other Liberal colleagues. I thank the chamber.
Pearce Electorate: Health | Constituency Statements | House debates
I understand the member for Pearce would like to present a copy of their speech for incorporation into Hansard in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.
Housing | Constituency Statements | House debates
Economy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
It might be a new year, but Australians are still lumped with the same hardships inflicted upon them by this government as they were last year. As families in my electorate of Monash sent their...
It might be a new year, but Australians are still lumped with the same hardships inflicted upon them by this government as they were last year. As families in my electorate of Monash sent their kids back to school last week, on top of the school supplies and new uniforms, they continued to get slugged with the cost of economic mismanagement by this government. Inflation is a homegrown problem, as the former governor of the Reserve Bank Philip Lowe has said. It's a homegrown problem because, as he noted as well as many others, government spending continues to grow. As the MPI says, the government's reckless spending is now at the highest levels in 40 years outside of a recession. This is a primary driver of inflation, and the Treasurer's continued revenue ram-raids are driving this—so much so it's known as 'Jimflation'. 'Jimflation' is an invisible tax on the financial security of every Australian. Australians work bloody hard for the tax that they contribute, and this government's got complete disregard for those efforts. Australians deserve to know that their hard earned taxes are going to be spent in the most effective and efficient way possible. This government disrespects the tax that they work hard to pay. Australians deserve better than a government that continues to channel Paul Keating's 'you've never had it better' every time our economy goes backwards, every time we see someone struggling to get ahead. Today we've seen the 13th interest rate rise under this government, and it's important to note that the minutes provided by the RBA today have left the door open for further rises. Meanwhile the Treasurer, again, tells us the budget is in better nick. He refuses to see that government spending is making inflation worse. Now, here are just a couple of examples, which Judith Sloan put forward in the Australian earlier. According to MYEFO, real government spending will increase by 4.5 per cent this financial year. It grew 5½ per cent last financial year. Government payments, as a percentage of GDP, are close to 27 per cent—another record outside of COVID and several years in the early 1980s. The Treasurer cannot continue to hide behind these figures, because government spending is driving inflation. Just today, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman released a report on the health and wellbeing of Australian small businesses. He says: The December 2025 quarter marked the end of another demanding year for— Australian— small and family businesses that saw rising input costs, squeezed margins— and— new regulatory demands … I note that the government continues to fail on its word to reduce red tape. Small businesses have never worked harder for less and faced more risk and red tape than under this government. And it's not just small businesses; it's households too who are at the coalface of this government's inflation crisis, which went up to 3.8 per cent in December last year. This is at the worst possible time for families, heading into a Christmas and into the new year. When the coalition was last in government, inflation averaged just 2.1 per cent—nearly half the four per cent Australians are seeing under Labor. Everywhere I go across my electorate of Monash, people are telling me that they're struggling to pay their bills. Community groups are telling me they're struggling to keep their heads above water. Insurance has gone up. Energy has gone up. Rent has gone up. We have a prime minister that loves to wave his Medicare card around, telling us that's all you need to see a GP, when in reality health has gone up 18 per cent. Education is up 17 per cent. When I was at a listening post recently, I had a lady come out of the supermarket holding two bags of groceries, saying, 'Mary, I cannot get my groceries—these two bags of groceries—for under a hundred dollars.' People are struggling. They deserve a government that cares, they deserve a treasurer that is going to be real with them about the economy and they deserve a prime minister that will face up to the challenges that we have instead of continuing to mislead them.
Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
I cannot support this legislation, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026, which punishes responsible gun owners, sporting shooters and farmers in...
I cannot support this legislation, the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Firearms and Customs Laws) Bill 2026, which punishes responsible gun owners, sporting shooters and farmers in my electorate of Monash. It is bad legislation and it does nothing to address the real issues that, as a federal parliament, we should be focused on.
Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
I rise to speak on a motion that seeks to give sorrow words. There have been many fine contributions today. In particular, I want to acknowledge the words of my colleagues and friends, the member...
I rise to speak on a motion that seeks to give sorrow words. There have been many fine contributions today. In particular, I want to acknowledge the words of my colleagues and friends, the member for Berowra and the member for Macnamara. My heart breaks for both of them. I want to acknowledge the presence in the gallery today of members of the Jewish community. I saw the former ambassador Amir Maimon there earlier. We met early in my term, last year, to discuss the rise in antisemitism across Australia. I spoke in my maiden speech about antisemitism as a stain on Australia's good character. It is now a permanent stain on the nation's heart, as Josh Frydenberg remarked recently. Australia makes a special, sacred compact with those who come to our shores. To those who seek refuge in our beacon of hope, in our harbour of freedom, we give a promise that we will keep you safe. For Jewish Australians, that word has been broken. As the Leader of the Opposition said in her contribution, Jewish Australians have been telling us they haven't felt safe for some time. Since 7 October, over two years ago, hate has stalked fear that has now metastasised. Antisemitism is a cancer on our nation's soul, and we have now witnessed the unfettered evil it feeds. Those 15 souls taken on a balmy Sunday evening at Bondi were not the only thefts on that December evening. From that night—now seared into the soul of our nation—there are families who will never share in completeness again. Anniversaries, birthdays and graduations have been stolen—from a 10-year-old girl who will never turn 11, Matilda Bee, to Alex Kleytman, who survived the greatest horrors on earth to find refuge in our sandy beaches, sunny skies and wide open spaces. He should have passed peacefully, as an old man in a warm bed surrounded by loved ones. That, too, was stolen from him. It was stolen from his family. The innocence of our nation has been stolen in our worst ever terror attack. The notion that something like that doesn't happen here—not in Australia, not us, not the Lucky Country, she'll be right—won't cut it now. And if we don't act on antisemitism it will happen again. And, for all of the things that have been stolen from the victims, their families, the Jewish community and the Australian nation, that would be the greatest crime out of this tragedy: to chance another attack through inaction. We need to have some hard national conversations: about antisemitism on our university campuses, about casual references in restaurants and cafes, and about what it means for Jewish Australians not to feel safe. Actions need to have consequences. My privilege is to represent a federal electorate named in honour of Australia's greatest ever citizen, General Sir John Monash. His brilliance and bravery on the battlefield helped win a war. He was the first soldier to be knighted on a battlefield by a British monarch in over 200 years. His fidelity to Australia continued after the war when he was back home in Melbourne. Monash helped set up the Latrobe Valley power stations as inaugural chair of the State Electricity Commission. That really set Victoria up as a manufacturing powerhouse. Having fought for this country as our greatest citizen-soldier, Monash's eternal gift was to bestow economic prosperity on generations of Australians, some still yet to come. An engineer by training and a Jewish man of faith, Monash built bridges in Australia, literally and figuratively. He would despair at the rampant antisemitism that has infected the Australia he so loved. One of my favourite quotes is by Martin Luther King, and it goes something like this: 'Men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don't know each other. They don't know each other because they can't communicate, and they can't communicate because they are separated.' Australia is separated right now, and it is our responsibility, from this place, to put our nation back together.
Colvin, Mr Trevor, AustralianSuper | Constituency Statements | House debates
Trevor Colvin was a lion of the Trafalgar community. Trevor was passionate about journalism and rose to serve with distinction at the Age newspaper. In 2023 Trevor relaunched a local paper that...
Trevor Colvin was a lion of the Trafalgar community. Trevor was passionate about journalism and rose to serve with distinction at the Age newspaper. In 2023 Trevor relaunched a local paper that had fallen silent, the Traf District News. With every edition, he restored a voice to the town and provided a historical record for its generations to come. Trevor also volunteered at the Traf market, organised music events in the town hall and supported men's mental health. He was a valued member of the Great Latrobe committee. I saw Trevor only recently at the Warragul premiere of Just a Farmer, a film that spoke to the struggles of rural Australians—struggles Trevor genuinely cared about and worked to illuminate. Trevor will be missed by his daughters, Inga and Nareeda, and his wife, Susie, in whose arms he passed just days before their 39th wedding anniversary. Trevor's legacy lives on through his family and the Traf District News. Helen is a nurse from Warragul who cares for people with cancer at our local hospital. When her husband, Alan, passed away from a long and painful terminal illness last year, it took 256 days for Helen to receive her husband's death benefit from AustralianSuper. After many requests from Helen, AustralianSuper offered her $50.75 in compensation. That's $50.75 for holding over $200,000 for over eight months. Imagine the returns Helen could have received, the interest if she'd stuck that money in the bank. Worse still, Helen's husband Alan wanted to access the terminal illness early payout on that super before he died to gift to his children in person. The emotional toll inflicted on Alan in his final weeks fighting to access his own money is an absolute disgrace by AustralianSuper. Helen has since appealed the $50.75 compensation and been sent another letter from AustralianSuper avoiding any clarification or acknowledgement or the disastrous and distressing handling of her late husband's superannuation. I have sent letters on behalf of Helen to AustralianSuper. The cold arrogance, the defiance of human decency, is astounding. I have the question if there is a mandated minimum time in which superannuation companies need to pay beneficiaries after a death. The answer from ASIC is no. There is not a mandated minimum. It is as soon as practicable. I believe this should be reviewed. I am pleased that the Minister for Financial Services is in the Chamber to listen to Helen's story. To Helen: I will continue to fight on your behalf, because you deserve so much better.
Energy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
We have a crisis in this country. We have a crisis in this country on energy affordability, and we're staring down the barrel of a reliability crisis too. There are families sitting round the...
We have a crisis in this country. We have a crisis in this country on energy affordability, and we're staring down the barrel of a reliability crisis too. There are families sitting round the kitchen table right across Australia right now, from Berwick to Brisbane, from Melbourne to Mallacoota, and they are staring at an energy bill stuck to their fridge, wondering how they are going to pay that bill right now. This government has promised nearly a hundred times that we will see a $275 cut in yearly energy bills. They have not been good to their word. There are 200,000 Australians on energy hardship plans as we speak. I spoke to one energy retailer about a week ago, who said they're getting around 150 phone calls every day from people across their database seeking energy bill relief. They are seeking hardship plans. They cannot pay the bills that they have in front of them. And that is a crisis. It is a crisis for our food banks. It is a crisis, as the member for Cook said, for charities and volunteer groups that are set up to help people at very, very difficult points in their lives. This is an avoidable situation. Labor have induced a crisis that we're seeing in pricing Australian businesses out of the game internationally. It is hurting blue-collar workers in regional jobs. It is putting our manufacturing base so far behind the eight ball that they've got to work extra hard and extra smart just to catch up. We've got an energy minister who very kindly came back to the parliament this week. He's been traversing the globe, lecturing other countries. Given Minister Bowen's track record in Australia, you'd think he'd be best placed to talk to other countries only about how to flatline their decarbonisation efforts, only to pontificate about skyrocketing energy bills or maybe to share a few hot takes on how to use taxpayer funds to prop up a couple of select technologies while flatly resisting calls to put every available option on the table. I do hope, though, that, while clocking up carbon miles, Minister Bowen might take the time for a sideline chat to listen to what representatives from a few other countries, like France, Canada, Japan, India, Turkiye—I could go on—might be able to share with him on how to achieve energy reliability, energy affordability and energy sustainability. Minister Bowen might learn a few things, like how you can achieve all of those objectives on the table without shutting down coal early and while putting your foot to the floor on gas and making sure all options are on the table. That last bastion of conservatism, the Starmer Labour government in the UK, has seen under its watch what will be one of the largest nuclear power stations built in Europe. Meanwhile, in Australia, our businesses are struggling to keep their heads above water. I went to a major meat-processing business in my electorate last week. They employ 140 local people. This business is part of a sector that plays a critical economic role nationally. It is essential to my region. I met with this business, and the first thing they talked to me about was their energy bill. It's out of control. Over the last 12 months alone, electricity costs for this business have increased by 22 per cent, and they've increased by 27 per cent across the last 24 months. Gas prices have escalated even more significantly, rising 27 per cent in the last year alone and 46 per cent over the last two years. Combined gas and electricity costs for this business have surged by 24 per cent over the last 12 months and an extraordinary 35 per cent over the last 24 months. This is outrageous. This business is not Robinson Crusoe with its energy pain. It is an epidemic of escalating costs, and the government keeps telling Australians that we've never had it better. There's no news on when this government is going to deliver on their broken promise of $275 bill relief. Blue collar workers are hurting. Regional Australians are hurting. Working Australians are hurting. They deserve so much better than this government.
Northern Australia | Ministerial Statements | House debates
I thank the member for Leichhardt. That was magnificent. I understand that the member for Solomon is on his way. We're going to take a short recess and then I'll resume the chair. Sitting...
I thank the member for Leichhardt. That was magnificent. I understand that the member for Solomon is on his way. We're going to take a short recess and then I'll resume the chair. Sitting suspended from 17:15 to 17:17
Anderson, Mr Keith John | Statements by Members | House debates
West Gippsland has lost a favourite son. Keith Anderson was proud to be born and raised in Drouin. Keith loved the art and craft of feature writing. He was a keen student of journalism. At the...
West Gippsland has lost a favourite son. Keith Anderson was proud to be born and raised in Drouin. Keith loved the art and craft of feature writing. He was a keen student of journalism. At the tender age of 20, Keith started at the Warragul & Drouin Gazette before learning that, through a ballot, he had been selected for service that would send him to training in Puckapunyal and to the jungles of Vietnam as part of the Anzac battalion. This young Gippslander was straight of limb and clear of eye. Last year, in Nicholas Duck's excellent Warragul gazette article on Keith's service, Keith was asked if he were proud of what he had contributed. 'Proud?' Keith responded. 'I don't know if that's the right word. I think it comes down to your appreciation of the people you were with and all those who have gone before you in similar or worse circumstances.' I know that editor Yvette Brand and her colleagues are mourning his loss deeply. The last time I saw Keith was only a few months ago. I was walking past the clubroom at the Drouin footy club, and Keith was standing inside, smiling with a glass of beer in hand while watching his beloved Drouin Hawks. To his family and friends I say, on behalf of the people of Monash, today we honour Keith and everything he gave our community and country. Vale, Keith Anderson.
VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
Unfortunately we don't have a quorum, so I have to suspend proceedings. The chair will be resumed when a quorum is present. Sitting suspended from 18:21 to 18:24 (Quorum formed)
Commonwealth Parole Board (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
Is there anyone that wishes to speak? As there are none, the question is that this bill be now read a second time. Question unresolved. As it is necessary to resolve this question to enable...
Is there anyone that wishes to speak? As there are none, the question is that this bill be now read a second time. Question unresolved. As it is necessary to resolve this question to enable further questions to be considered in relation to the bill, in accordance with standing order 195 the bill will be returned to the House for further consideration.
Commonwealth Parole Board Bill 2025, Commonwealth Parole Board (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
The question is that this bill be now read a second time. Question unresolved. As it is necessary to resolve this question to enable further questions to be considered in relation to this bill,...
The question is that this bill be now read a second time. Question unresolved. As it is necessary to resolve this question to enable further questions to be considered in relation to this bill, in accordance with standing order 195 the bill will be returned to the House for further consideration.
Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
This is a really important issue for Australia and a really important issue for regional Australia. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to focus on a number of priorities for my local electorate...
This is a really important issue for Australia and a really important issue for regional Australia. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to focus on a number of priorities for my local electorate of Monash. Whether it's in the Latrobe Valley at Latrobe Regional Hospital, where I've previously served on the board—which does a great job under very stretched resources—or at South Gippsland Hospital in Foster or Leongatha, or at West Gippsland Hospital, which is absolutely bursting at the seams, our health services and facilities in the Monash electorate deserve far better. This flows through to the affordability and availability of GPs in our local area, many of whom do an incredible job. Many of those I speak to are exhausted. They take their duty of care to all of their patients, and to the broader community, very seriously. But we cannot ignore the fact that bulk-billing rates under this government are getting worse, not better. On the West Gippsland Hospital—I want to make this point because it does address broader health concerns within the community, not just at a GP level but more broadly. I want to take the opportunity to address the shocking incident only a few days ago of a 91-year-old grandmother, Lois Casboult, a resident of Drouin in my electorate, who broke her pelvis and had a brain bleed. An ambulance was called. They are so stretched to capacity because of the Victorian Labor government's complete mismanagement of our health system that, instead of them taking her for a nine-minute drive to West Gippsland Hospital, her daughter had to come and pick her up and take her. That is the sort of thing we are seeing not just in my community but in regional communities Australia-wide, particularly in Victoria, where the Victorian Labor government has really done a lot to hurt health outcomes across our community. We've had the Prime Minister write a letter to state premiers in the last week or so, effectively saying, 'Please stop spending money on public health', as if people can stop getting sick or avoid going to emergency. We have a GP shortfall. We have GPs trying their best under very, very hard circumstances to do all that they can. But the reality is, at a state and federal level, our health services are not keeping pace with demand. Patients, particularly in regional Australia, are not getting the care and attention they deserve. Our healthcare workers—our doctors, our nurses—are absolutely magnificent people. I was at a citizenship ceremony at Baw Baw Shire only a few weeks ago, where 12 of our new citizens were doctors who work at the West Gippsland Hospital. They are part of the fabric of our community, but they are being sorely let down by this Labor government. When you raise affordability, when you raise availability, the Prime Minister's response is, 'All you need is your Medicare card, not your credit card', and that's just blatantly not true. I've got people coming up to me at listening posts and mobile offices saying that it's never been more expensive to see a doctor. For serious ailments they're waiting weeks to get in to see their GP, in many cases, and, of course, that is proliferating other comorbidities and other health ailments they have. I passionately believe that your postcode shouldn't determine your potential. I passionately believe that regional Australians should not be treated like second-class citizens in accessing the health care that they deserve and that they need. This federal Labor government is sorely letting them down. The Prime Minister needs to do better on this. The health minister needs to do better on this. I want to commend my state Liberal colleague Wayne Farnham, the member for Narracan, for standing up and doing everything he can to fight for a new West Gippsland hospital. I'll work with him and anyone else that wants to improve regional health outcomes.
Mental Health | Private Members' Business | House debates
I rise to speak on this motion because it's something I deeply care about, and I think every member in this place deeply cares about the mental health and wellbeing of their community and across...
I rise to speak on this motion because it's something I deeply care about, and I think every member in this place deeply cares about the mental health and wellbeing of their community and across our nation. This comes from my time as a member on the board of Latrobe Regional Hospital, looking at how stretched and strapped our public health facilities are in dealing with mental health crises in our community, right through to my time as a member on the board of Lifeline Gippsland. Across Gippsland we would take calls on that 131114 number from right around Australia. Since my time on that board the need for Lifeline and their services has not diminished. Last year they had about 1.4 million contacts, from phone calls to text messages, and over a million phone calls to that phone line. They do a tremendous job, and in speaking on this motion I want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of many of those volunteer telephone counsellors, who take very difficult and challenging phone calls from all over Australia every day. We've got a youth mental health crisis in my community. It's something where we need all hands on deck and all resources available. I want to commend a forum that I attended in Warragul recently, at the Village Mental Health Clinic. There was some really good coverage in the Warragul Gazette by journalist Bonnie Collings, who has taken this issue very seriously. I want to commend the Village Health practitioners and the parents and caregivers who turned up and talked really candidly and honestly about some of the things they're grappling with—wait lists, availability and visibility. When a parent is dealing with a child in crisis, knowing where to go for help in an emergency is a big challenge. I listened to stories of parents sleeping on the floor of their children's bedroom, such was their concern about their child making it safely through the night. It was a very sobering discussion that I attended with my state Liberal colleague the member for Narracan, Wayne Farnham. I know both of us will continue to do everything we can to support what is coming out of those discussions at a local level. For me, that's calling for a new headspace facility in West Gippsland. Many young people live in more remote parts of my electorate and cannot get to the headspace facilities, as fantastic as they are, across Bass Coast and in the Latrobe Valley. We desperately need those additional resources. I was absolutely dismayed to see the Albanese Labor government cut, from 20 to 10, the number of Medicare subsidised mental health sessions. That has really impacted people in my community, across the board, who desperately need those facilities. At the last election, the coalition committed to bringing those back up to the full 20 psychology sessions and to having them subsidised on a permanent basis because that has been a very, very important part of supporting people experiencing mental health challenges in our community. But it's not the only part, and that means making sure that we've got the proper resources and resourcing for people in my area. One in four young Australians experience a mental health condition in any given year, and that is particularly so for people in regional Australia. I note the comments from the National Rural Health Alliance that said in August that mental health is at a crisis level in regional areas on a per capita basis. They have spoken of that being twice as high as what it is in city areas, and chronic underfunding is a big part of that. I know all members approach this issue in a very genuine way across this parliament, no matter what part of Australia we come from. But, as I always say, your postcode shouldn't determine your potential, and in this instance I really worry for regional Australians and their capacity to access the mental health support they need under this government. I urge the federal government to revisit its approach on this issue.
Small Business | Private Members' Business | House debates
I rise to support the member for Goldstein with this motion because, like me, the member for Goldstein grew up in a family-run small business. He knows what it's like to see his parents answer...
I rise to support the member for Goldstein with this motion because, like me, the member for Goldstein grew up in a family-run small business. He knows what it's like to see his parents answer phone calls at all times of the night and put their customers and their staff first, before they look after themselves. My parents and his parents had small businesses like 2.6 million other small businesses right across Australia, which represent 44 per cent of our workforce. And that's a really important workforce because, for a lot of young people in our community, particularly in regions like mine, small-business employers represent their first shot at a job. They represent their first opportunity to learn processes, teamwork, feedback and resilience—all of the things that you get to learn in a small business that help set you up for life. But, right now, it's never been harder to be a small-business person in Australia. The facts really back this up. MYOB, the accounting business, put out a survey in October that showed that energy was the No. 1 challenge that the majority of small-business owners were grappling with, where they've got high costs and unreliability. This federal government is not doing anything to address that. The next biggest challenge was inflation, which is affecting consumers and families right now, coupled with, of course, interest rates remaining high. That's affecting consumer confidence. It's affecting small businesses and retailers in communities like mine, where this should be a bumper season right now, heading into Christmas. Unfortunately, the economic conditions visited upon us by this federal Labor government are impacting small businesses right across Australia. ACCI, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, put out a survey just a couple of weeks ago, and that shows that half of small businesses are suffering from high levels of stress because it's so hard to be a small-business owner in the Anthony Albanese Labor government's Australia. It's actually impacting the mental health of a lot of people who run a small business and causing them significant amounts of stress. Together with energy, inflation and the economic environment that we're in, red tape is also significant, with 30 per cent of people surveyed worried that their businesses might be forced to close over the next 12 months. This government has never met a piece of red tape that it didn't like. There are many examples that I could cite to support this. But, to pick one, the recent Franchising Code of Conduct reforms have lumped on a huge amount of unnecessary red tape for small-business owners. Disclosure documents will now have to be printed out—you're talking about 100 pages to be printed just to be given to prospective franchisees when they're looking at entering into a new business. Now, you don't print out an entire copy of the Corporations Act when delivering a share prospectus, to provide another analogy. But this is just one example of the onerous amount of red tape and regulation that is suffocating many small businesses across Australia. I now want to give a shout out to a few fantastic small businesses in my electorate. We've got the Waterboy Cafe in Cowes. Their coffee is gold medal-worthy. We've got Froyo in Cowes, which is a new startup. They just opened in Leongatha a few years ago and have now expanded to open a second site in Cowes. We've got Coastal Bulkfoods in Wonthaggi; it's an incredible business. We've got the Fig and the Bay in Corinella. I love grabbing a coffee there. There is Sth Drop in Wonthaggi. Greener Life in Inverloch is an amazing nursery, and I am a huge fan of their work. When times are tough in small business, you cannot underestimate the importance of businesses like Greener Life and people like Monique, who runs that amazing business. We've got Mookah in Inverloch and Warragul, cafes like Lyon & Bair and Number 9 Dream in Leongatha, Leongatha Garden Supplies and the Foster Pharmacy—just to name a few. The coalition backs small business. I back small business. Small business needs a better go from this government.
Medicare | Constituency Statements | House debates
Cost of Living | Questions without Notice | House debates
(): My question is to the Prime Minister. According to Anglicare's 2025Cost of living index, single-parent families on minimum wage are left each week with $1 after covering essential...
(): My question is to the Prime Minister. According to Anglicare's 2025Cost of living index, single-parent families on minimum wage are left each week with $1 after covering essential expenses like rent, transport, and food. Foodbank's Hunger report 2025 states that nearly 68 per cent of single-parent households are now going hungry. Prime Minister, in light of these disturbing figures, why are more Australians going hungry under Labor?