Tom French's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
type: channel
language: en-gb
creator: OpenAustralia.org, mprss.php script
date: 2026-02-08T22:05:14+00:00
items: Economy | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Copyright Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
items: Wages and Salaries | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Albanese Government | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Small Business | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Coleman, Ms Joy, Pring, Ms Kim | Constituency Statements | House debates
items: Labor Government | Adjournment | House debates
items: VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: g99.1
items: Energy | Private Members' Business | House debates
items: Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Mining Industry: Critical Minerals Strategy | Questions without Notice | House debates
items: Repeal Net Zero Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
items: Workplace Relations | Statements by Members | House debates
items: Climate Change | Private Members' Business | House debates

Economy | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Treasurer. How is the Albanese Labor government helping with the cost of living and strengthening the budget? How does that compare to other approaches?
encoded: My question is to the Treasurer. How is the Albanese Labor government helping with the cost of living and strengthening the budget? How does that compare to other approaches?
date: 2026-02-05T14:17:00+00:00

Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to support the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025. This is a significant piece of legislation. It's not flashy and it doesn't chase headlines, but it does...
encoded: I rise to support the Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025. This is a significant piece of legislation. It's not flashy and it doesn't chase headlines, but it does something far more important. It brings clarity, accountability and confidence to a part of our economy that has grown rapidly, often noisily and, until now, too often without the protections Australians rightly expect. Digital assets are no longer a fringe interest. They are not the preserve of early adopters, hobbyists or speculative traders operating on the margins of the financial system. Digital assets and the platforms that support them are now firmly embedded in the global economy. Australians are using them to invest, to transact, to build businesses and to experiment with new models of value creation. With that growth comes opportunity. Blockchain technology and tokenisation have the potential to reduce transaction costs, speed up settlement, expand access to capital markets and enable new forms of innovation across the economy. If Australia gets this right, we can be a serious player in the digital economy. But with opportunity comes risk, and for too long those risks have fallen disproportionately on consumers. We do not need to speculate about what happens when fast-growing financial activity is allowed to operate without clear rules; we've already seen it. Consumers have experienced frozen withdrawals, lost access to assets they believed were held in trust and discovered, often too late, that their assets were co-mingled or inadequately protected. In some cases, digital asset platforms failed not because of market volatility but because of basic governance failures that would not be tolerated anywhere else in the financial system. These events have had real consequences for people. Australians have lost savings set aside for first homes, retirement or small business investment. Confidence has been shaken not only in individual platforms but in the broader promise of dig…
date: 2026-02-04T16:11:00+00:00

Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill represents a careful and deliberate reform to Australia's health...
encoded: I rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill represents a careful and deliberate reform to Australia's health system. It strengthens Medicare, improves access to affordable medicines and ensures that our health workforce is better supported to meet rising demand by enabling professionals to work to their full and appropriate scope of practice. It is a reform grounded in evidence, consultation and an understanding of how health care is delivered on the ground in communities across Australia. At its core, this legislation amends the National Health Act 1953 and the Insurance Act 1973 to allow appropriately qualified and endorsed registered nurses to prescribe certain pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Importantly, it does so within a clearly defined regulatory framework that includes professional oversight, prescribing agreements and established accountability mechanisms. This legislative change reflects a broader shift in how health care is delivered in Australia. Contemporary care increasingly relies on multidisciplinary teams, continuity across settings and the effective coordination of skills, and yet our legislative and funding frameworks have not always kept pace with these changes. In the many parts of the health system, professionals are trained to undertake responsibilities that existing settings prevent them from exercising fully. This creates inefficiency, duplication and frustration both for patients and for providers. Addressing these barriers is essential if Medicare is to remain responsive and sustainable. This bill takes a targeted approach to reform. Rather than restructuring the system wholesale, it removes a specific constraint that has been well identified through policy review and professional consultation. It enables appropriately qualified registered nurses to contribute more fully within defined clinical and governance arrangements. By…
date: 2026-02-04T12:47:00+00:00

Copyright Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to speak in support of the Copyright Amendment Bill 2025. This is a measured, practical and overdue reform to Australia's copyright framework. It modernises the Copyright Act 1968 to...
encoded: I rise to speak in support of the Copyright Amendment Bill 2025. This is a measured, practical and overdue reform to Australia's copyright framework. It modernises the Copyright Act 1968 to reflect how Australians learn, create, preserve culture and share knowledge in the 21st century. It does so without undermining the legitimate rights and interests of creators, authors and rights holders who rely on copyright protection for their livelihoods. At its core, this bill responds to a simple reality: the way Australians access information, participate in education and engage with cultural materials has changed profoundly, yet key elements of our copyright law have not kept pace. This bill closes that gap carefully and responsibly. The bill does three principal things. First, it introduces Australia's first statutory orphan work scheme. Second, it clarifies that copyright exemptions for educational instruction apply consistently across physical, online and hybrid learning environments. Third, it makes a small number of technical and administrative amendments to improve the operation of the Copyright Act, including in relation to the Copyright Tribunal and the duration of Crown copyright. Each of these reforms has been developed following extensive consultation. They reflect years of policy work, including multiple ministerial roundtables convened in 2023 with stakeholders from the creative industries, the education sector, collecting institutions and rights holder organisations. The result is legislation that is balanced, proportionate and grounded in evidence. Copyright reform is rarely straightforward. It sits at the intersection of competing but legitimate interests: creators seeking fair reward for their work, educators and students seeking access to knowledge, cultural institutions seeking to preserve and share our collective memory and governments seeking to ensure the law keeps pace with technological and social change. The ministerial copyright roundtables, held…
date: 2026-02-03T18:01:00+00:00

Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to speak in support of the condolence motion following the horrific and deliberate terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025. This was not a random act of violence but a...
encoded: I rise to speak in support of the condolence motion following the horrific and deliberate terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025. This was not a random act of violence but a deliberate attack, intended to cause death and injury and to spread fear by targeting Jewish Australians. It is for that reason that I begin by extending my deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of those who lost their lives. Nothing said in this place can ease their grief, but it is right that the Parliament of Australia pauses to acknowledge their loss and place on record our collective sorrow. For the injured, for those who witnessed the violence and for the broader Bondi and Sydney communities, this event has left an enduring mark. What should have been an ordinary day—people enjoying the beach, meeting friends and spending time with family—was shattered by an act of calculated hatred. And that rupture to everyday safety is itself a source of trauma that must not be understated. From Western Australia, Bondi may feel a long way away geographically, but moments like this collapse distance very quickly. Australians understand beaches and public spaces as places of openness, shared civic environments where people of all backgrounds move freely and without fear. And when violence intrudes into those spaces, particularly violence motivated by hatred toward a specific community, it resonates across the country. This was not just an attack on those present that day. It was an attack on Jewish Australians as a community and on the values of safety and inclusion Australians rightly expect. Jewish Australians should never be made to feel unsafe in public places, at cultural gatherings or in the simple act of living their lives. Antisemitism, whether expressed through words, symbols or violence, has no place in Australia. And terrorism driven by that hatred must be condemned unequivocally. In the midst of the chaos, however, we saw extraordinary courage and decency. M…
date: 2026-01-19T21:03:00+00:00

Wages and Salaries | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering higher wages for Australian workers, and are there any risks?
encoded: My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering higher wages for Australian workers, and are there any risks?
date: 2025-11-26T15:05:00+00:00

Albanese Government | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: Australians expect parliament to focus on outcomes, not theatrics. The Albanese Labor government has approached its work in that spirit—steady, practical and aimed at improving people's...
encoded: Australians expect parliament to focus on outcomes, not theatrics. The Albanese Labor government has approached its work in that spirit—steady, practical and aimed at improving people's daily lives. The government has legislated tax reductions for every taxpayer. Bulk-billing has been strengthened through the largest increase to Medicare incentives in decades. Childcare costs have been reduced for over a million families to help parents stay in work. Fee-free TAFE has supported hundreds of thousands of Australians to train in critical industries, including construction, manufacturing and care. The National Reconstruction Fund is beginning the long-term task of rebuilding sovereign capability. National energy infrastructure has been modernised through Rewiring the Nation so the grid is fit for the coming decades. Aged-care standards have been lifted by ensuring nurses are onsite and improving nutritional and clinical care. PBS reforms have reduced the cost of many common medicines. And the housing agenda, through the Housing Australia Future Fund, has begun expanding the supply of social and affordable houses. None of this is transformational overnight, nor is it claimed to be. It is careful, incremental work that good government undertakes. It reflects a belief that policy should be evidence based, fiscally responsible and aimed at long-term benefit. It demonstrates that parliament functions best when it focuses on solutions rather than conflict. Australians deserve that approach, and this government intends to continue it.
date: 2025-11-25T13:59:00+00:00

Small Business | Private Members' Business | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to oppose the motion moved by the member for Goldstein. We all know that the member is never short on rhetoric, but today he is desperately short on facts, and small-business operators...
encoded: I rise to oppose the motion moved by the member for Goldstein. We all know that the member is never short on rhetoric, but today he is desperately short on facts, and small-business operators deserve better than that. Labor is and always has been the party of the real economy—the workers who power small businesses and the small businesses that power our communities. That's not just talk; that's our economic record. When Hawke and Keating modernised the nation they laid the foundations that every small-business owner relies on today. They floated the dollar. They cut tariffs and opened markets. They deregulated financial systems to expand opportunity. They introduced compulsory superannuation, creating the multitrillion-dollar national capital pool that underpins Australian investment, including the lending capacity that small businesses rely on. And let's be honest: the coalition fought Hawke and Keating on every major economic reform—the float, the tariffs, superannuation and deregulation—and they were wrong every single time. Those reforms created a competitive, stable, modern economy that allowed millions of small businesses to thrive. The Albanese Labor government continues in that tradition. We back the 2.66 million small businesses that contribute $596 billion to our economy and employ 5.16 million Australians. Small businesses keep our suburbs vibrant. The cafes, the gyms, the clinics, the tradies and the retailers make my northern corridor a great place to live. And when small businesses thrive, Australia thrives. This government actually acts on that belief; we don't just talk about it. This government has delivered energy bill relief to around one million small businesses. We backed that with $56.7 million in energy efficiency grants that help small businesses to permanently lower their power bills. The member for Goldstein talks about being pro small business, but his party's record tells another story. The coalition opposed Labor's tax cuts that benefit …
date: 2025-11-24T11:25:00+00:00

Coleman, Ms Joy, Pring, Ms Kim | Constituency Statements | House debates
type: item
description: I rise today to recognise two extraordinary local legends from my electorate of Moore—people whose service shows, in very real terms, what community leadership looks like. First, I want to...
encoded: I rise today to recognise two extraordinary local legends from my electorate of Moore—people whose service shows, in very real terms, what community leadership looks like. First, I want to pay tribute to Joy Coleman, whose remarkable legacy lives through the Spiers Centre in Heathridge. Back in 1980, when Heathridge was still new, still isolated and still finding its identity, Joy opened the doors of her own home to around 40 local women. What began around her lounge room grew very quickly into the Heathridge/Beldon Women's Community Group, a place to gather, support each other and build the foundations of a stronger community. Over the years, the group moved into what became known as the Granny Spiers Community House, honouring Frances 'Granny' Spears, whose generosity and community spirit in the early 1900s set the tone for service in our region. The house grew, the programs expanded, and in 2009 it became what we now know as the Spiers Centre, a vital community hub offering support groups, financial assistance, family and parenting programs, a creche, Foodbank services and mental wellbeing support. In the words of Mullaloo resident and Spiers Centre volunteer Marilyn Krueger: 'It's not just about food, clothing or financial help. It's a welcoming place that encourages you to join in, meet people and become a contributor in making other people's lives brighter.' Joy passed away in August at the age of 85. Her daughter Michelle continues to serve the community through the centre. Moore is better because of Joy's kindness, her persistence and her belief that no-one should face hardship alone. Second, I want to acknowledge Kim Pring of Hillarys Yacht Club, an organisation I am proud to serve as vice-patron. Kim is the club's training and development manager, and her contribution to local young people and families cannot be overstated. Under her leadership, Hillarys Yacht Club has opened the world of sailing to hundreds of kids and community groups, giving them confid…
date: 2025-11-24T10:57:00+00:00

Labor Government | Adjournment | House debates
type: item
description: Australia doesn't replay its history in a loop, but we do see a pattern every time the political pendulum swings. When Labor are in government we build the institutions that give ordinary people...
encoded: Australia doesn't replay its history in a loop, but we do see a pattern every time the political pendulum swings. When Labor are in government we build the institutions that give ordinary people security and opportunity, and, when the Liberals return, their instinct is to wind those gains back. Understanding that pattern tells us exactly what's at stake here today and exactly why this moment matters. The real wealth of this country is not the markets or the forecasts. It is our land, our resources and our people. For most of our history, working people have had little control over that wealth. The rights we now enjoy were won by shearers, miners, maritime workers, suffragettes and migrants, people who organised because no-one else would fight for them. After the Second World War, Australians learnt something important: if we can mobilise the entire economy to win a war, we could mobilise to build a fair peace. From that came full employment, public housing, Medicare's early foundations, TAFE, universities and compulsory superannuation. These were deliberate choices that recognised what Australians want: a secure job, a decent home, health care when they need it, education that opens doors and dignity in retirement. From the 1980s onwards a different ideology took hold. It weakened unions, privatised essential services and insisted that markets alone should rule. Its sharpest impact has been on housing. Government once built homes, and now homes are treated as speculative assets. Tax concessions reward investors. Young Australians take on life-shaping debt just to get a foothold, and, the more debt people carry, the less power they have at work. That is not an accident; it is the consequence of political choices that have treated shelter as a commodity rather than a right. When conservatives promise efficiency, discipline or reform, we must ask: better for whom? Margaret Atwood wrote: Better never means better for everyone … It always means worse, for some. Privatisa…
date: 2025-11-24T19:45:00+00:00

VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: Every now and then a bill comes before this House that doesn't spark headlines or hashtags but quietly makes the system fairer. This is one of those bills. At its core, the VET Student Loans...
encoded: Every now and then a bill comes before this House that doesn't spark headlines or hashtags but quietly makes the system fairer. This is one of those bills. At its core, the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025 is about trust in the law and our institutions and trust for the students and providers who rely on them. It fixes an ambiguity that should never have existed. It confirms that the people administering student loans did so lawfully and in good faith. And it future-proofs privacy protections, so the same uncertainty can never happen again. That's it. There's no spin and no sleight of hand. It's just the kind of measured repair work that good government does quietly and well. When Australians apply for a VET student loan, they must include their tax file number. That's what ties the loan to their tax record and ensures repayments are made correctly through the Australian Tax Office. It's a safeguard that keeps the whole scheme honest so that the person who borrows the money is the person who pays it back. But here's the issue: the technology that made this possible moved faster than the legislation that governed it. While the law required the tax file number to make the system function, it never clearly authorised providers to handle it. For years, approved training organisations were doing exactly what the system needed them to do, entering data into secure government portals and reconciling loan information. But the authorising words in the statute weren't there. No-one acted improperly. No-one misused data. There were no complaints, no breaches and no scandals—just a gap between what the law said on paper and how the system worked in practice. This bill closes that gap. It makes clear that everything done in good faith since 1 January 2017 was and always had been lawful, and it confirms that, from 1 October 2025, providers no longer need to handle tax file numbers at all. Earlier this year the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations f…
date: 2025-11-05T13:06:00+00:00

Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I rise in strong support of the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025. It's a bill that brings one of our most important democratic laws into the modern age. At its heart freedom of...
encoded: I rise in strong support of the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025. It's a bill that brings one of our most important democratic laws into the modern age. At its heart freedom of information, FOI, is about trust. Governments act on behalf of the people and the people have a right to see how those decisions are made. It's how citizens hold power to account—whether it's pension decision, a visa application or a policy made in Canberra. When people see how government works, they are more likely to trust it. When they can't, suspicion fills the gap. The purpose of FOI is simple: to put information and therefore power back into the hands of the public. But the FOI system we rely on today is not fit for purpose. It was built for a world of filing cabinets and fax machines, not for cloud services and automated data. The Freedom of Information Act 1982 was passed over 40 years ago. Back then a big data problem meant someone had lost their floppy disk. The scale of modern government could not have been imagined. The Department of Home Affairs alone now holds nearly a billion records. Across government, agencies processed over 43,000 requests in 2023-25, which is the highest number on record. The cost of handling them was almost $98 million—a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, which itself had risen 23 per cent the year before. Public servants spent more than one million hours on FOI work. That's one million hours not spent improving schools, hospitals or community safety yet, despite all that effort, delays keep growing. Applicants wait months, sometimes years, for information that should be routine. The system is creaking. It is expensive, outdated and increasingly exploited by those who use FOI not to shed light but to throw shade. Freedom of information is meant to strengthen democracy, not to be weaponised against it. But that is what has begun to happen. We now see automated bots generating hundreds of requests in a single day, coordinated campaigns desi…
date: 2025-11-04T18:59:00+00:00

g99.1
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; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
description: I rise in strong support of the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and the six associated bills. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix laws that are failing the environment, our...
encoded: I rise in strong support of the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and the six associated bills. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix laws that are failing the environment, our economy and our communities. These bills are about balance and progress—protecting the natural heritage that defines us as Australians while enabling the clean energy industries, homes and infrastructure our nation desperately needs. The truth is simple: the environment and the economy are not at odds. If we get this right, they grow together—cleaner energy, stronger regions, more jobs and a healthier planet. Labor has always been the party of the environment—as the member for Bennelong said, from saving the Franklin River and protecting the Daintree and Kakadu to building the world's largest network of marine parks and leading the national effort to tackle climate change. Today, Labor is leading once again, modernising our environmental laws to meet the urgency of the climate crisis and seize the opportunities of the clean energy transition. The current Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is not delivering. Professor Graeme Samuel's independent review said it plainly: our laws are failing the environment, business and the community. Five years after that review was handed to the then environment minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, the environment is still in decline and major projects still take too long to get approval. That's why these reforms matter. They're about ensuring our environmental protections actually protect and our approval system actually works. These bills deliver on the three pillars recommended by the Samuel review: stronger environmental protection and restoration; more efficient and robust project assessments; and greater accountability and transparency in decision-making. It's a balanced, pragmatic package—better for business, better for the environment and better for the Australian people. We can't build a future made in A…
date: 2025-11-04T16:57:00+00:00

Energy | Private Members' Business | House debates
type: item
description: Those opposites certainly have short memories, don't they? I rise to oppose this motion by the member for Wannon. Before I came to this place, I worked as an electrician. My work on the tools...
encoded: Those opposites certainly have short memories, don't they? I rise to oppose this motion by the member for Wannon. Before I came to this place, I worked as an electrician. My work on the tools taught me a lesson I value to this day: you can't keep patching over faults and expect the system to hold. The truth is simple. A decade of delay and denial under those opposite left Australians with a broken energy system that was outdated, unreliable and far too expensive to run. So let's be clear: Labor is cleaning up their mess. For 10 years, the coalition refused to listen to experts. They blocked investment and they allowed ageing coal stations to be run into the ground. Now, they have the gall to lecture this parliament about affordability. It was their neglect that made power unreliable and left households exposed to global shocks. Since coming to office, this government has taken action at every level to fix what the coalition broke. We delivered three rounds of direct energy bill relief for homes and small businesses—relief those opposite voted against every single time. We've acted to cap coal and gas prices, shielding Australians from the worst of the global energy crisis. And we're reforming the market itself. This includes new rules that ban sneaky price hikes, late payment fees and card surcharges and that force retailers to put hardship customers on their best available offer. That's real reform that makes a difference to the lives of everyday Australians, like people in my electorate of Moore. We're helping bring their power prices down for good. We're expanding access to rooftop solar and cheaper home batteries. We're investing in energy efficient homes and we're building a modern renewable grid that doesn't rely on expensive, unreliable coal. And the results are coming through. According to the Australian Energy Regulator, wholesale prices have been falling since late 2020 thanks to increased renewables and government action. The Australian Energy Market Comm…
date: 2025-11-03T12:06:00+00:00

Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: To that I say, 'That's fine,' because this is exactly the kind of measure that should have bipartisan support. It's practical, it's proportionate and it's temporary. It helps the people who get...
encoded: To that I say, 'That's fine,' because this is exactly the kind of measure that should have bipartisan support. It's practical, it's proportionate and it's temporary. It helps the people who get up early, work hard and keep our communities humming. This is not about some sweeping deregulation of alcohol taxes. It doesn't undo the public health settings that have kept Australians safer. In fact, this pause is not anticipated to increase consumption. Prices aren't going down; they're just not going up every six months. We're not talking about cheaper beer. We're talking about stability for businesses. As a government we believe in responsible enjoyment, fair taxation and vibrant communities. This bill sits squarely in that tradition. Some have questioned whether pausing beer excise might conflict with health obligations under international law. But this bill clearly meets every test of legitimacy, connection and proportionality. This bill meets all three tests. It serves a legitimate objective, it is rationally connected to that objective and it's proportionate. The objective is to support small businesses and regional tourism, not promote consumption. In other words, it's a measure to keep pubs open, not to pour more pints. In Moore, you can see why this matters. In Joondalup, small bars and local breweries are part of the city's new energy, creating jobs and giving young chefs, baristas and brewers a start. In Mullaloo and Sorrento, the local surf clubs rely on social functions and bar takings to fund lifesaving equipment. In Duncraig, Padbury and North Beach, community clubs are places where people gather not just to drink but to connect, to celebrate milestones, to mourn losses and to raise money for good causes. When those venues struggle, the ripple effect hits everyone, from the brewer who supplies the kegs to the musician who plays on a Friday night. As someone who once ran a pub, I know how easily margins get eaten up—by electricity, wages, insurance and, yes,…
date: 2025-11-03T18:14:00+00:00

Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: I rise to speak in support of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, which accompanies the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. This is a bill that, if you forgive...
encoded: I rise to speak in support of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, which accompanies the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. This is a bill that, if you forgive the pun, goes straight to the taproot of Australia's hospitality culture. This bill does something simple, sensible and overdue. It pauses the indexation of the customs duty on draught beer for two years, from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2027. It means that, for the first time in a long while, pubs, clubs and breweries across the country will get a breather from the automatic six-monthly CPI hikes that have been hitting them like clockwork every February and August. I know this might seem like a small change in the grand scheme of tax law, but for venues that are at the heart of our communities, for the small-business owners, for the shift workers, for the kitchen staff and for the locals who rely on them, it matters a lot. And I can say that with a bit of personal authority, because before I stood in this place I ran a pub myself. I know what it's like to watch your margins shrink every time you get an excise notice in your inbox. I know the pain of seeing the price of a pint edge up, not because of better wages or better hops but because of automatic indexation tied to the CPI. This bill gives some breathing space to those who've been gasping for it. This is a measured, temporary and responsible pause for an industry that's been doing it tough. In Moore, that means pubs and clubs, from Joondalup to Mullaloo and from Kingsley to Duncraig—family-run venues, where staff know your name, where the kitchen serves a proper parmi and where community sport teams celebrate a win on a Saturday night. Paddy Malone's in Joondalup, Whitford's Brewing Company and Carine Glades Tavern—they're not just places to have a drink; they're employers, they're training grounds, they sponsor the local footy club, they host charity raffles and they give apprentices a start. When you help a pub stay aflo…
date: 2025-11-03T18:14:00+00:00

Mining Industry: Critical Minerals Strategy | Questions without Notice | House debates
type: item
description: My question is to the Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia. How is the Albanese Labor government diversifying the global supply chain of critical minerals and rare earths...
encoded: My question is to the Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia. How is the Albanese Labor government diversifying the global supply chain of critical minerals and rare earths and boosting Australia's resource sector here at home?
date: 2025-11-03T14:15:00+00:00

Repeal Net Zero Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
type: item
description: There was a time when the member for New England stood for something. He was a country maverick who crossed the floor more than anyone else, a man who wouldn't take a script from anyone—not...
encoded: There was a time when the member for New England stood for something. He was a country maverick who crossed the floor more than anyone else, a man who wouldn't take a script from anyone—not the press gallery, not the suits in Canberra and certainly not his own party. He was loud, but it came from conviction and from a genuine belief that the bush needed a fighter, and for a time he was that fighter. He still stands for something, but it's no longer the people he once championed. The conviction remains, but the compass has spun. The fight that once came from the soil now comes from the studio light. The bill before us, the so-called Repeal Net Zero Bill, is the product of that drift. It tears down; it doesn't build. It looks backwards, not forwards. It scraps the Climate Change Act, abolishes the Net Zero Economy Authority and deletes every reference to net zero it can find, as if deleting the words will stop the weather. There is no courage in it, just confusion. It's a long way from the plain-spoken pragmatism of the farmers, workers and small-business owners who actually keep the regions running. I represent Moore, a coastal electorate where people know the value of hard work and fair reward. They know when someone is offering a fair go and when they're just selling nostalgia. The people of Moore don't want another round of arguments from last century; they want cheaper bills, steadier jobs and a government that treats clean energy as a tool, not a target. In Joondalup, small firms are cutting costs with solar. In Kingsley, retirees are counting every dollar. In Mullaloo, apprentices are wiring up industries of the future, not patching up the past. When they talk about the past, it's in words like 'shutdown' or 'decommission'. The member for New England says net zero is pointless. He says we'll be stronger if we walk away from the world. He says renewables are future landfill. But, while people suffer through droughts, tariffs and the embarrassment of being a cent…
date: 2025-11-03T10:35:00+00:00

Workplace Relations | Statements by Members | House debates
type: item
description: I rise as a proud ETU member and qualified electrician. I know what it means to work long hours in tough conditions away from family, building the infrastructure that powers our economy. I know...
encoded: I rise as a proud ETU member and qualified electrician. I know what it means to work long hours in tough conditions away from family, building the infrastructure that powers our economy. I know the pride in that work and the frustration when the cost of living keeps rising but the wages don't. Across Western Australia, workers are doing it tough. Rent, groceries and fuel are all up while too many employers still treat fair pay and safe conditions as optional. That's why Labor's same job, same pay reforms matter. They have restored balance, ensuring employers can no longer ignore their workforce. But sometimes, even with fair laws, workers must stand together and use every lawful tool available, including protected industrial action, to make their voices heard. That's what ETU members are doing at Bechtel's Pluto Train 2 near Karratha. They're building a project worth billions, yet too often people who build our prosperity are the last to share in it. They're only asking for fairness, safety and respect, to be paid for every hour worked, for super to reflect real hours and for rosters that let them get home safely to their families. Those are modest, reasonable claims grounded in dignity, not excess. Industrial action is never taken lightly, but sometimes standing still costs more. ETU members are united. They are strong, and they have my full support in their fight for a fair and safe modern agreement, because a strong economy depends on workers who are safe, respected and fairly paid.
date: 2025-10-28T13:47:00+00:00

Climate Change | Private Members' Business | House debates
type: item
description: I rise proudly to support the motion moved by the member for Griffith. As a member of the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, I know how critical this decade is....
encoded: I rise proudly to support the motion moved by the member for Griffith. As a member of the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, I know how critical this decade is. As the dad of two young boys, I know exactly who will live with the consequences if we fail to act. We've accepted the independent advice of the Climate Change Authority and set a responsible, science-backed 2035 target to reduce emissions by 62 to 70 per cent below the 2005 levels. That is the right call, the call demanded by Australians who understand what is at stake, and who want us to seize the economic opportunities ahead of us. Our government is grounded in reality. The national climate risk assessment spells it out. Climate change risks are cascading, compounded and concurrent. No community, not one, is immune. From heatwaves to coastal erosion, from bushfire threats to biodiversity loss, we are already seeing the impacts in Western Australia and across the country. Treasury's modelling reinforces this message. If we delay, or we adopt a disorderly transition, our economy could be up to $2 trillion worse off by 2050. That's lower wages, higher power bills, fewer jobs—a profound failure to plan. The global shift to clean energy is the biggest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution, and Australia is uniquely placed to win. We have the sun, the wind and the minerals to turn those natural advantages into prosperity. Our plan is to do exactly that. I am a former electrician, so indulge me while I run through the technical numbers. Since May 2022 we've added over 18 gigawatts of wind and solar to the grid, a 45 per cent increase in capacity. That's enough to power six million homes. We've helped drive the installation of over 100,000 home batteries, helping households cut bills and strengthen our grid. We're backing renewables not only with storage but with firming capacity so that, when the wind drops or the sun sets, the supply keeps flowing and our fami…
date: 2025-10-27T18:57:00+00:00