Gabriel Ng's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Translating and Interpreting Services Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
I rise today in support of the Translating and Interpreting Services Bill 2025. The Translating and Interpreting Service, or TIS National, is an absolutely essential service that ensures that all...
I rise today in support of the Translating and Interpreting Services Bill 2025. The Translating and Interpreting Service, or TIS National, is an absolutely essential service that ensures that all Australians can fully participate in our civil life, our communities and our economy. It allows Australians from diverse backgrounds equal access to public institutions and services, and it allows the private sector to reach new domestic markets. TIS is an indispensable piece of infrastructure for modern, multicultural Australia. The last census showed that over 5.5 million Australians speak a language other than English at home. In my electorate of Menzies, we're fortunate enough to have the proportionally largest Chinese Australian population of any electorate across the country. We have the largest Iranian population. We have established Greek and Italian communities and emerging Indian communities—people from almost every country on earth. It's an incredibly diverse community, and I'm honoured to represent it. I have had extensive experience with TIS, particularly when I worked with the then Department of Immigration and Citizenship and later the Department of Home Affairs. In some roles, it was a service I used almost every day. For those who haven't used it, you can call TIS on 131450, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to request an interpreter. You can also book interpreters in advance. Hopefully, everyone in this place knows that our offices have access to TIS client numbers, and we can use them to make sure that we are reaching out to all members of the communities we represent. Of course, government departments and other public institutions are major clients but so are other essential services. When I worked in refugee and migrant settlement services, we ensured that new arrivals were aware that they could request an interpreter. Let me give you a couple of examples of how vital this is. Imagine going to a hospital or GP and being unable to communicate what your symptoms are. Imagine if a doctor was giving you advice, advice that might preserve your health or even save your life, and you could not understand them. Thankfully, the TIS Doctors Priority Line is available to GPs, specialists, nurse practitioners, endorsed midwives, pharmacy staff and approved health practitioners. This means they can provide all Australians with the care they need when they need it. Without this, people would suffer and illnesses and diseases would worsen. Where health professionals did not offer or accede to requests to use an interpreter, sometimes the children of clients would have to act as interpreters—sometimes for very sensitive matters. I believe we've had a few members of the chamber talk about how this becomes a necessity sometimes, but, thankfully, TIS is there and is a much better service in terms of being able to preserve the privacy and dignity of people, particularly when they're accessing health services. I also saw the essential work of TIS when I was working as a judge's associate at the County Court. Imagine if you were a victim of crime and had to give evidence before a court but could not understand, let alone respond to, the questions that were put to you. Imagine if you were accused of a crime but had no way of understanding the proceedings. Imagine if you were pursuing civil relief but were unable to understand the complex legal procedures that were happening and that would determine whether or not you get compensation for, say, a personal injury matter or damage to your property. I saw firsthand the work of highly skilled TIS interpreters who were able to provide professional and accurate interpretation so that all of those involved in the legal process—judges, lawyers, plaintiffs, defendants, victims and the accused—could participate equally. I also saw the work of TIS when I was volunteering at community legal centres. We had many clients from migrant and refugee backgrounds come in seeking free legal advice when I volunteered at the Fitzroy Legal Service. A large number of those clients came seeking support for family violence issues and property issues, and the only way they were able to communicate their problems and receive advice from the lawyers there was through TIS. There might be some people who say that people immigrating to Australia should learn English. Of course, this is something that we not only encourage but also support people to do. Most skilled and student visas have a requirement that people pass a test demonstrating a high level of English, and we have the Adult Migrant English Program, which provides free English language tuition to people with migrant and refugee backgrounds. But you don't need to speak perfect English in order to be a proud and fully participating Australian. We're talking about highly technical areas sometimes—health, law, government services—that people who even speak English as a first language struggle with and that can be very difficult to understand if your native tongue is not English. TIS ensures that all Australians can communicate with each other and provides equal access and participation. TIS has existed in one form or another since World War II. It fosters understanding, community and engagement. It is an essential pillar of social cohesion. Our tabling of this bill reflects this government's commitment to social cohesion. We are one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world. Nowhere is this more evident than at our local citizenship ceremonies, at which many of us have the honour to represent the parliament in our elected roles. Like many of us here, I attended a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day, at Manningham Council. As always, it was one of the most uplifting parts of the job, seeing the happiness and the pride of all the new citizens fully joining our great nation and being able to share that special day with them. On Australia Day, I also attended an event in my electorate, in Box Hill, held by the Federation of Chinese Associations (Vic). It was a wonderful reflection of modern multicultural Australia, a celebration of both our national day and Chinese New Year. Those in attendance enjoyed a traditional welcome to country and musical performances from Indigenous Australians as well as traditional Chinese performances, such as a face-changing performance. In my electorate of Menzies, we are demonstrating our commitment to multiculturalism and social cohesion with a $200,000 commitment to multicultural festivals run by the very hardworking Asian Business Association of Whitehorse, who represent a number of small businesses as well as medium-sized businesses in my electorate. This includes the Manningham Chinese New Year Festival, which will take place this Saturday, 7 February, at Doncaster Reserve. This is the second year the festival will be held, and our support means more people in our community can celebrate and experience Chinese culture. There will be food stalls, rides and cultural performances. Then on 21 February we'll have the Box Hill Chinese New Year Festival. This has become a real highlight not just of our local cultural calendar but of Melbourne's cultural calendar, and it now attracts over 100,000 people per year. Growing up in Melbourne's east, we always had to go into the city to celebrate Chinese New Year, so it means a lot to me that we can have these cultural celebrations in our local area and with our local community. The sharing of culture and fostering of understanding is so important to maintaining social cohesion. I contrast this approach of bringing people together, which we are committed to, with the divisive approach of those opposite. We have not forgotten that, during the election campaign, one of their senators—the campaign spokesperson no less—accused Chinese Australians who were getting involved in the democratic process of being Chinese spies. After the election, their former attorney-general George Brandis said that they were 'running out of people to offend'. Well, they found some more. Another one of their senators accused Indian Australians of voting as a monolith and used her platform to spread disinformation about our migration system. More recently, at a time when we have been focused on eliminating antisemitism and maintaining social cohesion, former prime minister Scott Morrison, backed in by Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg, called for all Muslim religious leaders to have to register and be accredited by the government—this, from the party that apparently stands for individual rights and small government. Now, of course, we know that the evidence points to the two men who carried out the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi being motivated by an adherence to Islamic State, a perverted form of Islam. But the idea that the 813,000 Australian Muslims should be held collectively responsible for the actions of two men who perverted their faith is, to be frank, offensive. It would be like saying: 'All Australians should be held collectively responsible for the actions of the person who carried out the Christchurch massacre.' They should not be, and they are not. Islam is a religion of peace. It was put to me perfectly by one of our local Muslim leaders: the actions of Ahmed Al Ahmed, one of the heroes of Bondi, better represent the values of Islam than the actions of the two men who carried out the atrocity at Bondi. This weekend, our local mosque, the United Muslim Migrants Association, will be having an open day for all members of the community to come and learn about Islam. I attended last year, when our local religious leaders welcomed people in and gave as much of their time as was needed to answer any questions people might have had. Sometimes these questions would have been challenging for them. Sometimes the questions relied on very outdated stereotypes and misinformation. But the Muslim leaders answered them with perfect graciousness and patience. That is what we need in our communities—not division, but building understanding, dispelling misinformation and reaching over cultural divides. We stand with all Australians, embracing people of all faiths and backgrounds—Chinese, Indian, Jewish, Muslim. We want to bring Australians together and maintain social cohesion, and that is exactly what we are doing with this bill. This bill creates a strong legislative framework to underpin TIS. It follows advice from the Australian Government Solicitor that says TIS National requires express legislative authority. It also considers the findings of the robodebt royal commission. We understand the importance of having proper legal foundations for government action. We also respect the advice of our independent public servants and legal counsel, unlike those opposite. TIS is staffed by dedicated public servants who connect people who need interpreting services with the language experts they need—accurately, quickly and professionally. It is also staffed by highly skilled interpreters, accredited at different levels, who are able to interpret a wide range of areas, from the everyday to the highly technical health and legal areas. When I was a public servant with the Department of Home Affairs, I was proud to be a CPSU union delegate. Towards the end of my time there, after the Albanese Labor government came to power, the then minister for home affairs, Clare O'Neil, came to announce that jobs in TIS that had been outsourced—jobs where people were working on insecure contracts—would be brought in-house. Dozens of people were given secure public service jobs, giving them certainty about their future and the ability to have a career path within the department. It's so important that we recognise their hard work and the vital role that TIS plays in providing these services, because, without them, many people would be disenfranchised from the economic and cultural opportunities that come from being able to fully understand the language and the matters that they need to, to engage with government, engage with health care and engage with legal services. I commend this bill to the House.
Warrandyte Pink Ladies | Statements by Members | House debates
I rise today to acknowledge the amazing work of the Warrandyte Pink Ladies—Katie, Sandra and Nicole. Every year for the past five years, the Warrandyte Pink Ladies have been bringing our...
I rise today to acknowledge the amazing work of the Warrandyte Pink Ladies—Katie, Sandra and Nicole. Every year for the past five years, the Warrandyte Pink Ladies have been bringing our community together to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation and awareness of cancer, and, every year, their efforts get bigger and bigger. This year, they have raised over $200,000 for care nurses for people experiencing cancer. But what's truly extraordinary is the way that they're able to get more and more of our local businesses and organisations involved in the Pink Up Warrandyte campaign, from our local pub, the Grand Hotel Warrandyte, to the Donvale Bowls Club. Last Saturday I had the privilege of joining the ladies at Pink Stumps Day at the Warrandyte sports club, where over 160 people attended and over $15,000 was raised. Now, there aren't many people that can get me to put on a bra in public, but, when the Pink Ladies called me up to the stage and presented me with a bra embroidered with my initials in diamantes, how could I refuse? It's always an honour to support my community, and I certainly felt well supported too! I'm also glad to hear that the Pink Ladies are getting the recognition they so richly deserve. They were honoured at the Pink Test in Sydney and were even invited to dinner at Admiralty House by the Governor-General. Her Excellency clearly has great taste in fine dinner companions. Congratulations again to the Warrandyte Pink Ladies.
International Relations: Australia and Iran | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. How have the Australian government expressed our support for the Iranian people and taken action against the Iranian regime?
Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
On behalf of my electorate of Menzies, I stand today to recognise the 15 innocent Australians who were murdered in the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025. We...
On behalf of my electorate of Menzies, I stand today to recognise the 15 innocent Australians who were murdered in the horrific antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025. We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. To those who have lost a child, a parent, a sibling, a grandchild or a grandparent, a partner, a friend, a rabbi: I cannot begin to understand, let alone express, the grief and loss you must be feeling. I can only say that we stand with you, we grieve with you and we commit to uphold the safety of the Australian Jewish community and all Australians. I acknowledge, too, all those who have been affected by this atrocity, particularly in the Australian Jewish community—those who are wounded, those who have been traumatised and those who have lost their sense of safety and security. We have returned to parliament early to show our unity and solidarity with the loved ones of the victims and the Australian Jewish community. I thank all those across the parliament who have expressed their condolences and support. I'd particularly like to acknowledge our Jewish parliamentarians—the member for Isaacs, the member for Macnamara, the member for Berowra and the member for Macarthur—for their contributions and for the grace and courage they have shown at such a difficult time. The member for Isaacs sharing a Jewish prayer with the parliament was a moving reminder of the promise of our modern multicultural society. The member for Macarthur highlighted the long and significant contribution of Jewish Australians to our country. The terrorist attack in Bondi was made all the more egregious by the fact that it occurred on one of our most iconic beaches on the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. As the member for Macnamara shared, Chanukah by the Sea was an event that brought ancient tradition to modern Australia and opened it to the wider community. That people can come here and continue to freely practice their faith and share their culture is at the very heart of what it means to be Australian. That is why this attack was not just an attack on our Jewish community but an attack on the fabric of our nation. I'd like to thank the Jewish community leaders and members of our Jewish community in my electorate of Menzies for taking the time to share your experiences with me, and particularly during a period of grief and mourning. I understand that this has not just been an attack on your community and faith but that the losses you have suffered have been personal—that some of those killed in Bondi were friends and loved ones. I understand that this has been a deeply traumatic time and that there are those in the community who are angry. I say to all Jewish Australians: know that you are a cherished part of our country and community. Our government is committed to action and to ensuring that the Jewish Australian community are safe and protected; that we come together as a country and that, out of this atrocity, our nation is not weakened but strengthened; that we can restore trust, reinforce social cohesion and send a clear message that antisemitism, hatred and extremism have no place in our country. In the Bondi terrorist attacks we saw the worst of humanity, but we also saw the very best of those who would call Australia home. We saw it in those who engaged in astonishing acts of heroism: Boris and Sofia Gurman, Ahmed al-Ahmed, Reuven Morrison, Jessica Rosen and many other everyday Australians; in the lifeguards, police and other first responders, who ran towards danger; in the paramedics and health workers who tended the wounded and saved lives. May they serve as an example to all of us here to be brave and loving and to stand together against hate. In closing, I would like to again offer my condolences to those affected by this attack, particularly in the Jewish community. We stand with you. We hear you. We honour the memory of those lost, and we commit to action so that atrocities like this never happen again. I commend this motion to the House.
Menzies Electorate: Youth | Constituency Statements | House debates
I rise today to speak about the extraordinary young people in Menzies. Over the past few weeks, I've been very fortunate to visit some of our local secondary and primary schools and even...
I rise today to speak about the extraordinary young people in Menzies. Over the past few weeks, I've been very fortunate to visit some of our local secondary and primary schools and even childcare centres as well as to host some young activists in my office. I'd like to thank the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, for visiting Box Hill High School with me and speaking with some of the school leaders from years 8 to 11. These young people had a particular interest in our under-16 social media ban and the implications of artificial intelligence. I was particularly impressed by how articulate and informed these students were and by how nuanced their views were on these complex issues. I also had the privilege of hosting a youth roundtable in partnership with the Centre for Multicultural Youth and the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network, together with my good friend the member for Deakin. I would like to sincerely thank Carmel, from the Centre for Multicultural Youth, and Rana, from the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network, for their commitment and tireless work in the multicultural youth space. Now, I'm sure that, like a lot of my fellow parliamentarians, if I had to do a media appearance, I would anticipate some of the questions and prepare accordingly. But there is no preparing for the questions a group of year fives will throw at us. Some went right to the heart of why we are here, like, 'If you could change one thing about Australia, what would it be?' Others went to how our democracy works, but I was also asked probing questions like: 'What is your favourite colour?' 'What brand of microwave do you have?' 'Can you share your salary with me?' I even visited some of my youngest constituents, at Creative Play Early Learning Centre in Bulleen, with Minister for Early Childhood Education and Minister for Youth Jess Walsh. I'd like to thank the minister for coming out to Menzies to visit these young constituents. There I met with the director, Georgina, a passionate childhood educator who has been working in the industry for over 25 years. I was very happy to celebrate with her and her team the 15 per cent pay rise that will come into place on 1 December, delivered by the Albanese Labor government. For too long, our early childhood educators have not been properly compensated, and it was wonderful to see them recognised for the essential and skilled work that they do. When we arrived at the childcare centre, we found a small whiteboard with some questions three- and four-year-olds had prepared beforehand. Two that stood out were, 'How did you become an important person?' and 'How do you grow more bones?' I'd like to thank all the young people and children in Menzies for your engagement and curiosity. You are our future, and our future is in good hands.
Universities | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to help Australians with a student debt? What has been the response?
Racial Discrimination Act 1975: 50th Anniversary | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
I rise today to recognise that it has been 50 years since the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act, Australia's first antidiscrimination law. For most in this place there would now be...
I rise today to recognise that it has been 50 years since the introduction of the Racial Discrimination Act, Australia's first antidiscrimination law. For most in this place there would now be broad agreement that we need laws to prevent racial discrimination. However, the Racial Discrimination Act is like many progressive reforms that are now such fundamental parts of Australian society that they are sometimes taken for granted. Reforms like Medicare and superannuation required sustained effort and a deep commitment to principle to get the legislation passed—the kind of effort and principle that only Labor governments show, in this case the Whitlam Labor government. Like other important Labor government reforms, it was opposed by the then Liberal Country Party coalition. And, like other important Labor government reforms, it has required us to show that same effort and commitment to principle to protect it from attacks from the coalition to weaken and undermine it. The act codified into Australian law our international obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, ratified in September 1975 by Australia. It showed a commitment to international law, to our international obligations to being responsible members of the international community that continues to this day. The act made racial discrimination unlawful in Australia through federal legislation. This historic legislation came only two years after the Whitlam government abolished the final vestiges of the White Australia policy. The coalition's shadow Attorney-General, on speaking in the second reading debate, stated—with a myopia that mirrors that of the current federal Liberal Party—that 'we in Australia have been singularly free of racial discrimination'. Sadly, that wasn't true then and it isn't true now. There is still racism of both the overt and the covert kind. The Racial Discrimination Act is just one tool to combat it, but it is a crucial one. Going to the specifics of the act, it includes a general provision making racial discrimination unlawful as well as specific protections to prevent discrimination in areas including employment, the provision of goods, housing and access to public places. This means that when someone goes to purchase a product in a store or to visit a restaurant or tries to access services like their local GP they must be treated the same, regardless of their race, ethnicity or national background. When someone applies for a job or a promotion or asks for leave, they will not face discrimination, under the provisions of this act. But the act goes further, preventing indirect discrimination, where a person requires another to comply with a term or condition that is not reasonable and that requirement is discriminatory. It goes to that fundamental principle of the rule of law—that all people are equal under the law. Not surprisingly, the act has a significant legacy. It influenced the states and territories to legislate their own antidiscrimination laws. Section 10 of the act, which provides for rights and equality before the law, influenced the decision in Mabo v Queensland (No. 1) to invalidate legislation which would have retrospectively abolished native title rights. Of course, the subsequent decision in Mabo (No. 2) rejected the fiction of terra nullius in Australian law. But most importantly the act made clear to the community, to employers, to businesses and to services that they must treat people the same, regardless of race, and that, where this doesn't occur, there will be consequences. Vital to the administration of the act is the Australian Human Rights Commission, who are responsible for receiving complaints and attempting to mediate them. The most common type of complaint received are those related to discrimination in the provision of goods and services, followed by discrimination in employment. The AHRC also play a vital role in educating the community about their obligations under the act as well as implementing the national antiracism strategy, commissioned by the Albanese Labor government in 2022. It is not just the AHRC that plays that vital role of combatting racism within society. There are also many organisations within my electorate of Menzies that play this vital role. We have the Migrant Information Centre in Box Hill, which supports migrants and refugees to settle in the community, links them with essential services, informs them of their rights and their responsibilities as members of the community, and holds a number of functions reaching out to the broader community. We have AMES, who deliver the Adult Migrant English Program to ensure that recent migrants have a level of English that allows them to communicate with businesses and employers and helps them settle successfully in Australia. But our local schools, kindergartens, childcare centres and businesses all play a role in combatting racism. I'm lucky enough to visit a lot of schools around my electorate, and I know that they all have strong antiracism strategies so that all the children from diverse backgrounds should, as much as possible, feel safe attending school, knowing that they won't face racism or discrimination. Menzies has a higher-than-average proportion of people born overseas and a higher-than-average proportion of people who speak a language other than English at home, and it's really important that all of our services, especially those that support young people, are sending that message that racism is not acceptable under any circumstances. We also have some great local festivals that play an important role in building bridges and celebrating and sharing cultures in our local community. On the weekend just past, I was lucky to attend the Persian Fair at Box Hill Town Hall, which was organised by the House of Persia and the Australian Iranian Society of Victoria. I was fortunate to be able to watch their amazing performances with dancing and music. The food was really incredible as well, and I was very grateful to the community for being so welcoming but also for providing the opportunity for members of the wider community to experience the richness and the colour of Iranian culture. Next year we will have the Box Hill Chinese New Year Festival, which is one of the highlights of our local calendar and one of the biggest Chinese New Year festivals in Melbourne. It attracts over 100,000 people, and it's a real staple of our calendar. I was proud to advocate and secure an election commitment of $150,000 to support the Box Hill Chinese New Year Festival. We will also be holding the inaugural Manningham Chinese New Year Festival. It was held for the first time last year and was a huge success. I'm looking forward to seeing it back in the northern part of my electorate next year and seeing how it benefits our local traders around Jackson Court and in Doncaster East. We have been able to support that as well with a federal election commitment of $50,000. Both of those events are run by the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse. We're very active in our community in running these local festivals and advocating for small businesses. In 1995 the Racial Discrimination Act was strengthened by the Keating Labor government, following a number of inquiries into racist violence in Australia as well as in response to a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. One of the more debated amendments to the act is section 18C, which provides that 'it is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if the act is reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people' due to their race. Now, there are some in this place, some on the opposite side, who believe that people have a right to be bigots. That is something we in the Labor Party will never support. The Racial Discrimination Act is more important than ever. As much as we would like to believe that the arc of justice bends towards history, this is not something we can take for granted. Anti-immigration rallies organised by neo-Nazis have been held in our major cities; foreign narratives and conspiracy theories spread on social media erode our trust in democracy; and conflicts abroad have tested our social cohesion here. The Labor Party will always stand up for modern multicultural Australia. We are the party that enacted the Racial Discrimination Act, we are the party that acted to address apartheid and we are the party that will always back modern multicultural Australia.
Menzies Electorate | Grievance Debate | House debates
I rise today to speak about the way that my electorate of Menzies was, for far too long, neglected as a safe Liberal seat since it was created in 1984. Sadly, being a safe Liberal seat meant that...
I rise today to speak about the way that my electorate of Menzies was, for far too long, neglected as a safe Liberal seat since it was created in 1984. Sadly, being a safe Liberal seat meant that the people of Menzies were taken for granted. I have seen first hand, growing up in Doncaster and raising a family in Donvale, how much our area has been left behind and ignored by successive Liberal governments. Ultimately, this is one of the things that drove me to put up my hand. I knew our area deserved better and I remain honoured and humbled that the people of Menzies supported me to represent the area that I grew up in and that I love. I say to the people of Menzies: I will never take your vote for granted. I will never stop listening to you. I will never stop advocating for you and I will do everything I can to deliver for you. That is why, as often as I am able, when I am in Menzies I attend community groups, schools, sporting clubs and citizenship ceremonies. That is why I knock on people's doors, call them on the phone and stand around on the street at places like Blackburn Market and Macedon Plaza. That is why, whenever I'm here, I take the opportunity to meet with ministers and other members of our caucus to raise the issues that my community raises with me and advocate for better services. For too long, successive Liberal governments treated the families of Doncaster, Doncaster East, Bulleen, and Templestowe, Warrandyte and other areas in my electorate as if they were safe political assets—an electorate to be banked, not to be invested in. When an electorate is viewed this way, neglect is inevitable. It creates a culture of arrogance—a belief that the community is not worth engaging with, listening to or advocating for. Consider, for example, our local infrastructure. Anyone who spends time on Ringwood-Warrandyte Road near the Warrandyte Five Ways intersection, or on the crowded corridors heading towards the Eastern Freeway, understands what long-term neglect looks like. For decades, locals have raised concerns about the Warrandyte five-way intersection. Over 8,000 cars go through there every day, but there are blind corners and near misses all the time. They raise concerns about safety and school drop-off congestion. They complained about more time spent in traffic than at home with family. Local Liberal MPs heard these concerns, acknowledged them and then did nothing. That is why this Labor government, with my advocacy, has committed $25 million for upgrading the five-way intersection at Warrandyte for planning and early works and committed $5 billion for the North East Link project. This will ensure that local trucks are taken off roads, and the widening of the freeway will make sure that local families can get home quicker and safer, and spend less time in traffic. That is what actual investment is and actual action looks like. That is what delivering for Menzies is all about. Congestion punishes parents on the school run. It drains productivity, and it costs tradies time and income. There has been a lack of investment in public transport as well, which forces people into cars even when they would rather use alternatives. Manningham in the northern part of my electorate is the only electorate in metropolitan Melbourne that doesn't have a train station. That is why we are investing $2.2 billion in the Suburban Rail Loop East and why in recent weeks when the Prime Minister visited Melbourne he pledged further support for the Suburban Rail Loop, to be detailed in the upcoming budget. Consider as well our local sporting infrastructure. It has been a privilege to get to know our local sporting clubs better—to meet their volunteer committees and see how much their members, young and old, get out and participate in sport. Yes, there are health benefits, but more important are the benefits of being part of a community united around a shared love of footy, soccer, cricket, basketball or netball. Speaking with these clubs, I heard time and time again how the growth in these sports meant that clubs were straining against the constraints of ageing infrastructure. There was increased interest from women and girls in participating in sports but no change rooms to accommodate them. Netball and soccer are absolutely booming in Melbourne's east, but the pitches couldn't meet the demand for training sessions and for matches, so people have had to travel far away in order to play a game. That is why I'm so proud to have been able to secure meaningful investment in our local clubs, including $3.5 million for key facility upgrades for the Bulleen Templestowe Basketball Club, which will mean that they can have female-friendly change rooms and upgrade their facilities to meet regulations—go Boomers! We also committed $3.9 million at the election for upgrades to RHL Sparks Reserve for their Box Hill United Football Club, which will mean that they can upgrade one of their pitches to a synthetic pitch, play and train more of the year, and have to play fewer games away. Planning is already underway with our great local councils on delivery of these commitments. Consider as well our arts community. We have a fantastic local arts community. Recently I've been able to attend the Box Hill artist association's exhibition, Box Hill South Neighbourhood House art show and the Box Hill Rotary art show. But again our arts infrastructure has been neglected, and there was no better example of this than the Warrandyte arts' old firehouse. It was literally eaten by termites and falling apart so that, if you were walking around, you'd worry that your foot would fall through the floor. I'm proud to have been able to deliver $187,500 to repair this iconic local building and make sure that the pottery group can continue to use this space to grow their group and all the benefits that come from artistic expression as well as the community that it brings. Take as well our local health providers. Under the coalition government, Medicare rebates failed to keep pace with the cost of care, and bulk-billing declined. When I'm knocking on doors, local families, retirees and young people complain to me that they found themselves paying more out of pocket to see a doctor. We know that primary health care is not a luxury. It is a foundation of a healthy society, yet those opposite froze the Medicare rebate for almost the entire time that they were in government last time—first under the previous opposition leader and then for six years under the current opposition leader. People across Menzies watched as public health funding was cut nationwide while they waited longer for GP appointments and sat on waiting lists for specialist services. Our government is turning things around. On 1 November our tripling of the Medicare bulk-billing incentive kicked in. We know that 17 GPs across Menzies have expressed interest in becoming fully bulk-billed, and that means that local families will be able to get the health care that they need when they need it, without out-of-pocket costs. What about education? In Menzies we pride ourselves on the schools across our suburbs. They are full of dedicated teachers and students who want to excel, and families move into the electorate for high-quality education. We have some of the top-performing public schools, in terms of VCE results, in the entire state. But this kind of excellence doesn't come without the necessary investments. For more than a decade, schools across Australia, including those in Menzies, were left underfunded. Liberal governments treated public education as an afterthought. We have delivered increased funding for every single public school in Menzies, closing the gap and increasing the proportion of federal funding to 25 per cent. With full and fair funding for every single school in Menzies on an as-needs basis, we're finally delivering on the promise of the Gonski model. Neglect also extended to our local jobs and economic growth. The eastern suburbs should be a powerhouse of innovation and enterprise, yet little was done to cultivate new industries, to support our local retail and hospitality sectors or to attract high-value research and technology. Many small business owners— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 13:21 to 16:06
Mental Health Month | Statements | House debates
I rise today to speak on Mental Health Month, which, of course, occurred in October. Like most people in this House, I have family and friends who have been impacted by mental health issues. I...
I rise today to speak on Mental Health Month, which, of course, occurred in October. Like most people in this House, I have family and friends who have been impacted by mental health issues. I understand the day-to-day impacts of mental health—how it can sap the joy from everyday activities, like spending time with family and friends, and how severe mental illness can be just as life threatening as a physical illness. Mental health is rarely the first issue that people raise when I speak to them, when I'm out doorknocking, at a street stall or visiting schools. But it is an issue that comes out regularly over the course of a conversation or when I tell people about our investments in mental health, particularly when it comes to young people or adolescents. Maybe the reason it is not at the forefront of people's minds or they are reluctant to raise it is stigma. We've come a long way in a short time in reducing stigma. When some of my mates—women and men—were younger, they might have been reluctant to talk about seeing a counsellor or psychologist or needing medication. They are now much more likely to talk about their troubles openly. But across Australia too many people still face stigma when they speak about their mental health. Too many believe that seeking help is a weakness rather than a strength. Too many young people hide their struggles, fearful that others will not understand. If we are to build a more compassionate and resilient country, we must challenge that culture of silence and replace it with one of openness and support, where mental health is treated the same as physical health. Over recent years, the demand for services has grown sharply. The causes are complex. The pandemic, social isolation, housing stress and financial pressures have all left a mark. Young people face new pressures from social media, climate anxiety and disrupted education. Parents and carers are watching their children struggle too, often unable to find the right support. For too long, services were underfunded, fragmented and difficult to access. The system has not kept up with the level of need. The Albanese Labor government is changing that. As part of our plan to strengthen Medicare, we've made a $1.1 billion commitment to deliver new and expanded mental health services across the country. This is the most significant investment in community based mental health care in a generation. It recognises that prevention and early intervention are just as vital as treatment. This investment will support Australians across every stage of life. We are establishing 91 Medicare mental health centres across the nation, including one in Box Hill, in my electorate. These centres will be free, will be open for walk-ins and will not require a referral or a mental health treatment plan. They will be staffed by multidisciplinary teams of psychologists, social workers, nurses and peer support workers who can provide immediate, practical and compassionate care. We are creating 20 perinatal mental health centres to support new and expectant parents during what can be a very vulnerable period. For many Australians, parenthood can bring loneliness and anxiety as well as joy. These centres will be providing counselling and support close to home, helping parents care for both their children and themselves. We're also rolling out 17 Medicare mental health kids hubs to help children and families with behavioural, emotional and social wellbeing challenges. Early support in childhood can prevent more serious mental health issues later in life, and these hubs will provide that early family centred care. At the same time, we are expanding 203 headspace services across the country to support young people aged 12 to 25. A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 12:43 to 12:53 I recently visited headspace in Box Hill alongside Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Emma McBride. There I met the dedicated staff who are providing essential support and tirelessly reaching out into the community, including our multicultural communities, to increase awareness of their services. I also met their youth consultative committee, committed young advocates who are taking time out between exams to ensure the voices of young people are heard in designing services. Headspace has long been one of the most trusted youth mental health services, and this expansion means more young Australians will be able to access support in their own communities, rather than waiting months or travelling long distances. From early next year the government will introduce a national early intervention service. It will provide free phone based and online mental health support delivered by trained professionals. It is expected to assist more than 150,000 people every year. It will give Australians a way to seek help wherever they are, day or night. Together these initiatives will help reduce pressure on the private psychology service system and ensure that cost and location no longer determine who gets help. We are also building the workforce that will deliver this care. We know there is a shortage of mental health workers. It can often take too long to get an appointment once people take the brave step to reach out for help. We know there are not enough services to help people with acute mental health issues and not enough beds that people can go to, and we know that there is a missing middle in terms of the support that's available for people with serious mental health issues. The government is funding more than 4,000 psychology scholarships, internships and training places to attract and retain qualified professionals across the country. We also recognise that clinical expertise is not the only form of knowledge that matters. Lived experience plays a vital role in recovery. At Box Hill headspace I met a peer support worker who was drawing on her own difficult experience and professional training to provide support to others. Sometimes it is only someone who has been through the same experience who can understand and who you can feel comfortable leaning on. That is why we are professionalising the peer workforce, establishing a new national peer workforce association and conducting the first ever census of peer workers next year. These changes are practical and far-reaching. They mean Australians will no longer have to wait for a crisis before accessing care. They will be able to find help sooner in their own communities from people who understand. The government is also improving navigation. The Medicare mental health phone line, which is 1800595212, and website will help Australians find the best service suited to their needs—whether that is walk-in care, a telehealth appointment or a local peer support worker. Accessibility and early support saves lives. For someone in crisis the difference between being seen immediately and waiting weeks can be the difference between despair and recovery. For families these reforms mean hope and relief—knowing that help is nearby, free and available without stigma. This is what leadership looks like. It is about meeting Australians where they are and ensuring that no-one is left behind. Through new perinatal centres, kids hubs, expanded headspace sites and community based Medicare mental health centres, the Albanese government is creating a comprehensive national network of care that supports Australians from early childhood through to later life. We know there is still work to do. I want a society and a system where mental health is treated with the same priority as physical health. But this investment—backed by record funding, a growing workforce and a renewed focus on lived experience—is a decisive step forward. Mental health is not a marginal issue; it is a national priority. We are tackling stigma, we are improving access and we are investing in the workforce, and, most importantly, we are giving Australians the confidence to seek help and the support they deserve when they do. This is the leadership in mental health our country has long needed. A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 12:58 to 17:00 The House of Representatives having adjourned— Federation Chamber adjourned at 17:00
Labor Government | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering on its commitments to the Australian people to make a positive difference to their lives?
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
In Menzies, the electorate I am honoured to represent, we are blessed with a beautiful natural environment. The mighty Yarra River forms the northern boundary of the electorate. It runs through...
In Menzies, the electorate I am honoured to represent, we are blessed with a beautiful natural environment. The mighty Yarra River forms the northern boundary of the electorate. It runs through Warrandyte, where you can swim in the river or hike on the Goldfields Track. It runs around the beautiful Westerfolds Park, around the gardens of Heide Gallery and Banksia Park. We've got great tracks for cycling and jogging like the Koonung Creek trail and Gardiners Creek trail. We also have fantastic green spaces, like Ruffey Lake Park, Box Hill Gardens and Wurundjeri Walk, that are well loved by the community. People in Menzies care deeply about the environment and the climate. Every Wednesday, people stand outside my electorate office holding signs and calling for stronger action on environmental protection. Groups like Menzies for Climate and the Australian Conservation Foundation Eastern Rosellas have become familiar faces in Menzies. They care deeply about the land, the rivers and the future we will leave behind for our children and grandchildren. During the election campaign, you would see people like Sally, from Menzies for Climate, everywhere. She fights the good fight because she believes in protecting the environment. For her, it's personal. It's about the generations that follow, about her children and grandchildren. That is why I've always welcomed her and her group into my office to share their concerns and ideas. I've invited them to meet with the Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience, the member for Jagajaga, Kate Thwaites, so their voices can be heard at a national level. While we might not always agree, we have a shared commitment to the future of Australia's environment. That is why it's important to make sure that people like Sally know that the Labor Party is the party for the environment. Every major environmental reform in Australia's history has been led by the Labor government. It was Labor that created Landcare, Labor that saved the Franklin, Labor that protected the Daintree and Kakadu, Labor that built the largest network of marine parks in the world and Labor that took real and measurable action on climate change. And once again, it is a Labor government that is taking the next great step to reform our national environment laws so that we protect nature for generations to come. Our current environmental laws are outdated, inefficient and ineffective. They do not work for nature, they do not work for business and they do not work for communities. This was made clear in the Samuel review delivered five years ago to the then minister for the environment—who is now the opposition leader. The review laid out a comprehensive set of recommendations to fundamentally reform how environmental impacts and approvals are managed in this country. The coalition government sat on the review. Then they teamed up with the Greens and the Liberals to block reform when we brought it in the last term of government. We know that reform is needed—and we're acting. The Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and six associated bills are not just about protecting the environment; they're about safeguarding Australia's future and creating a system that can protect nature while supporting the economic projects that our nation needs. This package of bills remains faithful to the spirit of the Samuel review. It is built around three key pillars. The first pillar delivers on the central recommendation of the Samuel review: enforceable national environmental standards. The minister will be able to set clear, legally binding standards for matters of national environmental significance. These standards will apply to every decision under the EPBC Act. The goal is consistency, certainty and continuous environmental improvement. Businesses will know the rules, communities will know their rights and the environment will have guaranteed protection under law. To make sure the standards are never watered down, these bills include a 'no regression' rule. The bills also make it clear that some damage is simply unacceptable. Projects that cause unacceptable harm to protected matters will not be approved. These impacts cannot be traded away or offset. They must be avoided or mitigated before approval is granted. For those who ignore the law, there will be consequences. The bills introduce higher criminal penalties and a new civil penalty formula based on corporate law models. They establish new environmental protection orders that can be issued in urgent situations to prevent or remedy serious harm. They expand audit powers to allow both compliance and directed national environmental audits, and they strengthen the ability of courts to impose proportional and meaningful penalties. The bills also introduce a new principle: projects must deliver a net gain for the environment—not just 'no net loss', but real improvement. Proponents with residual environmental impacts must compensate those impacts to a net positive outcome. They can do so by either delivering their own offsets or paying a restoration contribution into a new Commonwealth fund. That fund will be used to deliver large-scale restoration projects that achieve the best outcomes for the environment. This approach is better for nature and it's more efficient for business. It allows for strategic and pooled investment in areas that most need restoration. The second pillar focuses on fixing a system that has become slow, inconsistent and confusing. Under the current EPBC Act, project assessments can take too long, with duplication between Commonwealth and state projects. These delays hold back investment in housing projects and in renewable energy projects, and they do not deliver better environmental results. These bills introduce large-scale bioregional planning. Instead of assessing projects one by one, we will map entire regions to identify development zones, conservation zones and areas in between. In development zones, projects will be able to proceed after registration with the minister. In conservation zones, projects will be prohibited unless a specific exemption is granted. By working in close partnership with states and territories, bioregional plans will provide faster approvals and better outcomes at a landscape scale. These reforms will also streamline assessment pathways. Six outdated pathways will be replaced with one modern and efficient process supported by a simplified environmental impact statement pathway. The new system will reduce the approval timeframes by up to 20 days, cutting the statutory period from 70 days to 50 days or fewer. This will save businesses time and the economy an estimated $500 million each year. The bills will also provide flexibility for urgent national interest projects. This includes emergency situations, such as natural disasters like bushfires, when land clearing may need to take place to protect further destruction. It may also be used in rare circumstances where a project is clearly in the national interest and the minister provides a public statement of reasons. Approval can proceed even if all environmental standards are not yet met. It maintains accountability for the minister, but it ensures there is some flexibility for exceptional circumstances. The third pillar delivers one of Labor's central election commitments: the creation of Australia's first National Environmental Protection Agency. I was out doorknocking in Surrey Hills on the weekend just past in my electorate of Menzies, talking to people about the need for an independent EPA. Again and again, people agreed it was a reform that Australia needed, a reform that was overdue. This new, independent regulator will be responsible for compliance, enforcement and oversight across key environmental laws. The EPA will have statutory authority to issue permits, licences and enforcement actions. It will act independently of governments in its regulatory functions, ensuring that decisions are based upon law and science, not politics. For the first time, Australians will have a national watchdog focused solely on protecting the environment. The EPA will also play a proactive role in helping businesses and the community understand their obligations. It will provide education and guidance, ensuring that compliance is achieved through support as well as enforcement. The EPA will also oversee the implementation of national standards under bilateral agreements with the states and territories, ensuring consistency across all jurisdictions. The bill also strengthens First Nations engagement in environmental decision-making. Traditional owners will be incorporated into environmental assessment and conservation planning. The Indigenous Advisory Committee will be formally consulted on the development of national environmental standards relating to First Nations engagement. This package of bills is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform our environmental laws. It builds on decades of Labor leadership and responds directly to the Samuel review's call for comprehensive reform. The Greens and the coalition have a choice about whether to play a constructive role in protecting the environment and improving efficiency for projects of national significance. The Albanese Labor government is getting on with the job of reform. I commend the bills to the House.
Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
I rise today to speak in favour of the Freedom of Information Bill 2025. The Freedom of Information Act is over 40 years old—even older than me, and that is saying something! In 1982, when...
I rise today to speak in favour of the Freedom of Information Bill 2025. The Freedom of Information Act is over 40 years old—even older than me, and that is saying something! In 1982, when the Freedom of Information Act was legislated, the first computers were just being invented, there were no electronic records, and we were on the cusp of entering the first glorious years of the Hawke government. This bill creates the necessary and overdue reform to our freedom of information laws, which are a cornerstone of a transparent and accountable government. Since its election, the Albanese Labor government have demonstrated time and time again our commitment to restoring trust and integrity in government. We understand that governments must be willing to be open to public scrutiny and answerable to public accountability. The freedom of information regime is vital to the functioning of our democracy. It allows members of the public to better understand government. It provides people the opportunity to obtain personal information held by government agencies, including decision records from Centrelink and immigration and other government services, so that they can understand and, if they feel the need, appeal decisions that have profound effects on their lives—for example, whether or not they are allowed to access family tax benefits or be granted a visa to remain in Australia or be granted access to disability supports. The freedom of information regime also provides an important tool for the press to scrutinise government. However, our freedom of information laws are no longer fit for purpose. Their outdatedness risks creating an unsustainable impost on public services and public resources as well as on the budget. The sheer volume of electronic records generated by public sector agencies would have been unimaginable for the drafters of the FOI Act. Some requests for freedom of information can be large and complex. There are also increasingly vexatious or frivolous requests. This is exacerbated by the fact that the current FOI laws allow requests to be lodged anonymously, creating the risk that this could be exploited by offshore actors and through the use of Al. We now have agencies like the Department of Home Affairs holding close to one billion records in a single system. In 2023-24, the Commonwealth spent $86.2 million processing FOI requests, which was a 23 per cent increase on the year before. Public servants spent more than one million hours on FOI processing in that year alone. We cannot continue on that trajectory. That is one million hours that these public servants could have spent delivering services to people. This was one million hours not spent on assessing payments, helping veterans, helping migrants, processing visas or helping a business or a community organisation. When every request, no matter how broad or vexatious or repetitive, must be treated the same way, the system is pulled away from genuine applicants. We also know—and it is time to say this plainly—that FOI is not always being used in the public interest. It is sometimes used as a political tool to tie up agencies. It is sometimes used to harass or contact public servants in unacceptable ways. It is sometimes used anonymously, which creates a serious integrity risk in a world where hostile actors can automate requests on a large scale. The current act did not anticipate any of that. Our job is to fix it. The bill does not walk away from transparency; it restores it. It restores it by making the system workable again so that real requests can be answered in a reasonable time. It restores it by making sure public money is spent on access to information that Australians actually need, not on administration generated by automated systems or by repeat applicants. It restores it by protecting public servants, who should not have their names and personal details published in ways that expose them to abuse. The bill does four important things: it modernises the framework, it streamlines access requests, it protects the integrity of cabinet-level decision-making and it implements longstanding recommendations from the 2013 Hawke review that every government since has been told to deal with. First, in regard to modernisation, we are making the foundations of the freedom of information laws fit for purpose. This bill will update the objects of the act so that it is clear that FOI is about both accountable government and effective government. It clarifies what is and is not a document of an agency. If something on a government system is purely personal and has nothing to do with the conduct of public business, it should not be dragged into FOI. This protects staff and keeps the act focused on government work. Second, it streamlines access. This bill deals with the practical reality that agencies are being swamped. It modernises how FOI and review applications can be lodged with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. That will allow early triage and better digital processing. It ensures that employee-identifying information does not have to be published in every notice or release, except where there is a proper reason. That protects the safety and privacy of staff, which is increasingly important when requests are used to target individuals. We are also tackling abuse of process. Agencies will be able to decline requests that are vexatious, frivolous, harassing or simply an attempt to swamp the system. That power will itself be reviewable by the Information Commissioner so that accountability is preserved. The bill also ends anonymous FOI applications. An applicant will have to provide their name, and, if they are acting for somebody else, they will have to say so. This is a sensible reform. It prevents misuse, including by offshore actors, and it allows agencies to identify where one person is lodging multiple related requests to overwhelm public services. The bill deals with practical refusals and the use of public resources. We are clarifying how the existing practical refusal provisions operate and how the Information Commissioner should handle reviews of those decisions. More importantly, it introduces a discretionary 40-hour processing cap, as recommended by the Hawke review. This is a real balance point. Applicants retain the right to seek information and agencies retain the obligation to provide it. However, where a single request would take days and days of an officer's time, the agency can limit it, explain why and then get on with the other important work they do in serving the public. Forty hours is a pretty reasonable amount of time to be able to spend on a single FOI request. This is good administration. This legislation will also improve the review processes. It stops concurrent internal and Information Commissioner reviews, which only create delay and confusion. It streamlines extensions of time. It confirms that an agency still has to make decisions, even if the deadline has passed, so applicants are not left in limbo—they're not left waiting too long. It also moves timeframes from calendar days to working days, reflecting how the Public Service actually operates. These are small-sounding changes but, together, they remove friction from the system, increase productivity and make the system more efficient. We are also improving the operation of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. The bill gives the Information Commissioner the power to remit matters back to agencies with directions. That means a matter can be fixed where it started, instead of sitting in a long queue. It allows matters to be resolved by agreement, which is faster and cheaper than a full written decision. It limits automatic parties in a review to the applicant and respondent, which removes unnecessary complexity while still allowing affected third parties to apply to join. All of this will allow the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to focus on real disputes and systemic issues instead of procedural clutter. Another important question is regarding fees. Schedule 6 of the FOI bill allows an application fee to be set in regulations for FOI requests, internal reviews and Information Commissioner reviews. Every other Australian jurisdiction except for the ACT already has some form of fee. The Commonwealth is the outlier here. A modest fee helps to deter frivolous or automated requests that chew up time and money. At the same time, the bill is crystal clear that requests for a person's own personal information will not attract a fee. I'll say that again because I think there has been misinformation on this point: the bill is clear that requests for a person's own personal information will not attract a fee. In 2023-24, around 72 per cent of FOI requests were for personal information, so those requests will not attract a fee. Three out of four requests will still be free. There will be a provision for fee waivers, including for financial hardship. The principle of access is preserved and the principle of responsible use of public resources is also preserved. I want to turn to cabinet documents, because some on the crossbench and in parts of the community have been raising this. When the FOI Act was first introduced, Senator Durack said, 'The general right of access must be limited for the protection of essential public interest.' That was true in 1981 and it is still true now. Cabinet confidentiality is really important to the proper functioning of government. Ministers must be able to test proposals, disagree, change their minds and finally reach a collective position. If every step of that process is exposed in real time, cabinet becomes performance not deliberation, advice becomes cautious, and collective responsibility weakens. Schedule 7 therefore clarifies the cabinet exemption so it protects what it is meant to protect and only that. It responds to the 2023 royal commission into the robodebt scheme, which identified that simply putting the word 'cabinet' on a document is not enough. This bill makes that plain. The content and the purpose of the document determine whether the exemption applies, not a label. That is a fair outcome. It protects cabinet where necessary and it prevents the misuse of the exemption. This is an important clarification of a term that has been ambiguous for a long time. Finally, this bill deals with what happens when a minister leaves office or changes portfolio. There has been uncertainty since the recent Federal Court decision. The bill sets out practical processes so outgoing ministers can facilitate access and so incoming ministers are not put in the position of deciding on sensitive material from a previous government. That respects long-standing convention and it gives applicants certainty. This bill is not about making it harder for Australians to get information; it is about making it possible for Australians to get information in a system that is being overwhelmed by claims that do not reflect the genuine needs of members of the community to have access to documents regarding personal information, that do not reflect the genuine needs of the press to properly scrutinise government and that do not reflect the genuine needs of members of the community and community organisations to better understand government decisions. As I said before, for the number of requests we receive, the amount of resources that are going into meeting these requests is not sustainable. It is increasing at a significant rate, and we want to make sure public resources are used for what they are supposed to be used for. It's also about protecting public servants, keeping up with technology and making sure that FOI in 2025 and the years to come looks like a tool of democracy and not a tool of disruption. Transparency must work in practice, not only in theory. The bill delivers that. It modernises the act, implements the Hawke review, future-proofs the system against automated abuse and keeps personal access free for the vast majority of applicants. It makes reviews faster. More importantly, it puts genuine applicants back at the centre of the FOI system. That is what good government looks like. It's transparent, accessible and effective. I commend the bill to the chamber.
Jackson Court Traders Association | Statements by Members | House debates
I rise today to congratulate the Jackson Court Traders Association on a very successful Halloween Spooktacular. I popped down to Jackson Court in Doncaster East on Friday with my kids. My...
I rise today to congratulate the Jackson Court Traders Association on a very successful Halloween Spooktacular. I popped down to Jackson Court in Doncaster East on Friday with my kids. My daughter was dressed as a little witch, my youngest was a little grim reaper and I had a Mario hat. It was clear from the moment I arrived that the event was a roaring success. Jackson Court was absolutely packed with kids dressed up as werewolves, superheroes and aliens. There was a little dog dressed as a pumpkin. The court had been decorated with cobwebs and skeletons. There were dinosaurs roving around, animatronic monsters and face painting. All the stalls were open and giving out sweets to kids and giving them stamps to encourage them to visit all the traders and finish the trick-or-treat trail. It was heaps of fun, but I know that it took a lot of work on the part of the Jackson Court Traders Association. It wasn't just about providing a great event for children. It was about promoting local businesses and connecting the community with some of those local businesses, like Sportsafe mouthguards, Royal Stacks hamburgers, Three Monkeys Place and all the traders in Jackson Court. I say thank you especially to Con, the president of the Jackson Court traders for playing such a big role in organising everything. We are really lucky to have an entrepreneurial and innovative but also community-minded business sector in Menzies.
Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
I rise today to speak on the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025. I stood for election and became involved in politics because I believe government can be an enormous force for good. Good...
I rise today to speak on the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2025. I stood for election and became involved in politics because I believe government can be an enormous force for good. Good government encourages the flourishing of society, community and the individual. It is focused on serving members of the community and on being accessible and accountable. Good governments make good regulations, achieving the big picture by paying attention to the details to disincentivise negative behaviour and incentivise good outcomes. That is what this bill is about at its core: making sure that governments are working for individuals and working for business. My purpose has always been to make sure that people can rely on the systems that have been built to serve them, because trust in government is built through access, accountability and fairness. I was recently at a Halloween celebration at Jackson Court in my electorate, in Doncaster, and somebody came with a pretty clever costume: they had a couple of pieces of cardboard; the front said 'myGov' and the back said, 'You have a message from myGov,' because that was supposed to be a scary costume! We don't want people to have that experience of government. We want government to be a helping hand, not a bureaucratic labyrinth to navigate. In an age when there's declining trust in government, this is more important than ever. As a former public servant, I know how important it is that Australians can depend on services that are reliable, fair and trusted. People regularly contact my office—just as, I know, they contact the offices of the other members here—asking for assistance to access government services. It's a role that I'm happy to play, and it's an honour to be able to serve my constituents. But government services shouldn't be so hard to navigate or understand that people need an interpreter in order to be able to access them. Every interaction with government should leave people feeling supported, not frustrated. It should be designed with empathy and efficiency to make life easier. This bill builds on the work that the government began following the economic reform round table, which focused on streamlining services, getting investment flowing and boosting productivity. The bill delivers better regulation, less red tape and higher productivity, while keeping the focus on people. I thank the member for Wentworth for her contribution talking about reduced regulation, and the member for Wentworth would be happy to hear that this bill contains 60 measures across 28 acts, it repeals two acts entirely and it affects 13 agencies. These are reforms that cover a broad range of areas, from health care to citizenship, from digital identity to child care and social security, all to make things easier. This bill simplifies information-sharing across government, taking an important step towards the implementation of a tell-us-once approach across government. For too long, Australians have had to repeat their details across Centrelink, Medicare, child support and paid parental leave, and this reform ends that duplication. It saves time for the public, like the members in the gallery, and for staff. It means less time and stress standing in line or being on the phone or entering details into government forms. So, for example, when someone updates their bank details with Centrelink, that information will be automatically shared with Medicare. This will have tangible flow-on effects beyond just efficiency and saved time. Around 980,000 Australians—so almost a million Australians—are owed $270 million in unpaid Medicare benefits; many may not even be aware that they are owed these entitlements. Thanks to these changes, someone owed, say, unpaid Medicare benefits can have those funds deposited into the same verified bank account used for family tax benefit payments. A person escaping family violence will have to update their relationship status, address or bank details only once and authorise these changes to apply securely across programs. It reduces the burden on people during some of the most difficult times in their lives, and it reduces the risk of them having to recount difficult details repeatedly. When a person moves from one payment type to another, verified information can now be reused, instead of requiring a new claim. This means faster processing and less frustration. Older Australians who lose their Commonwealth seniors health card due to temporary overseas travel will have it automatically reinstated upon return, if they're still eligible, sparing them unnecessary paperwork. Each of these reforms—while, admittedly, pretty technical—builds a government that listens, adapts and respects people's time. Each reduces barriers, simplifies access and restores confidence that government services can be fast, fair and reliable. I recently visited the Services Australia office in Box Hill with Assistant Minister for the Public Service Patrick Gorman. There I saw dedicated public servants focused on supporting people who came to them for assistance. I saw client-centred innovations, such as recruiting staff with language skills like Mandarin, or Farsi, that were appropriate to the community. I saw the co-location of services such as NDIS. I'm pleased to see the government is matching the dedication of our frontline staff with reforms which will make their lives—and, more importantly, their clients' lives—easier. We're also amending the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 and the Electronic Transactions Act 1999. Australians currently rely on paper certificates that can be lost or misplaced. This amendment is for anyone who has dived into a desk drawer or ruffled around in a filing cabinet to dig out a birth certificate or a citizenship certificate. We know, too, that these documents, particularly the older ones, do not have the security features that we would expect in modern life. My birth certificate looks like it could have been typed up on any computer, with a font that looks like a typewriter's. This will clear the way for secure digital proof of citizenship. It will make it easier to confirm identity when applying for jobs, passports or government services. It will reduce costs, strengthen privacy protections and increase reliability. Home Affairs will be able to build a secure system that issues digital certificates while safeguarding personal data and preventing fraud. Our government is about making modern reforms to keep up with technology and risk. We are a government that will always invest in health care. It is always looking for ways to make our system better. This bill modernises healthcare information systems. The Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010 will be updated so healthcare providers automatically appear in the national Healthcare Provider Directory unless they choose not to. This opt-out model ensures a complete and accurate directory, making it easier for doctors, pharmacists and allied health professionals to connect, coordinate care and use secure digital tools such as electronic prescribing and referrals. The secretary of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing will be given new authority to set national data standards after consulting with state and territory governments. Health information across Australia is currently fragmented and inconsistent. National standards will enable secure, accurate data-sharing so healthcare professionals can access what they need when they need it. This will lead to faster diagnosis, safer treatment and better health outcomes. The bill also doubles the timeframe for diagnostic imaging referrals from seven to 14 days. This is an important reform that will reduce the burden on GPs and their patients. We know people have busy lives and it can be difficult to make time to see a doctor—let alone if you need to have multiple scans or appointments. This strikes the balance between ensuring people attend vital diagnostic scans and making sure that there is not too much burden on them. It gives people a bit more breathing room. People won't have to return to their GP for a new referral if a week passes, and, in that way, it will reduce costs, save time and keep the focus on care rather than on paperwork. It also addresses non-operational pathology collection centres. If a centre is closed, inaccessible or no longer collecting specimens, the minister will have the power to revoke its approval. Pathology centres play an important role in health care for diagnosis, treatment and management of medical conditions. This ensures that new functioning centres can open and patients can access services when and where they are needed. The legislation authorises secure information-sharing between the department of health, Services Australia and other integrity bodies, implementing the recommendations of the Philip review. This will strengthen Medicare's integrity, allow earlier detection of fraud, protect public funds and maintain confidence in a system that millions of Australians rely on every day. This legislation improves access to health and child care by making the rules simpler and more practical, but also kinder. The Additional Child Care Subsidy now replaces the phrase 'child at risk of abuse or neglect' with 'child in need of wellbeing support'. This small change removes stigma and encourages families to seek help. It keeps the same eligibility rules but uses strength based language that supports dignity and supports trust. The reforms confirm that healthcare identifiers can be used in insurance or employment settings only to support ongoing treatment not to make adverse decisions about a person's care or work. This protects patients from discrimination, while ensuring their care is continuous and properly recorded in the My Health Record system, ensuring better sharing of health information. These are just some of the reforms under this bill. The bill will help increase government efficiency and improve productivity in a range of ways. Taken together, these reforms represent a government that values inefficiency, integrity and fairness. They are about more than a process; they are about putting people at the centre of what we do. They mean a single mother can update her details once instead of five times, they mean a pensioner can get their healthcare card re-issued without having to fill out another form and they mean a doctor can access accurate patient information without delay. This shows that good government is not just about cutting services; it's about improving them. Those opposite often argue that cutting departments, cutting government services, will make them work better. We reject that. You do not improve the Public Service by hollowing it out. You improve it by designing systems that work for the people that use them. This bill is proof that smart reform can deliver better outcomes without cuts. It demonstrates that regulation, when done properly, can empower rather than constrain. It can make government more human and more efficient at the same time. At its heart this bill is about trust. Australians should be able to trust that, when they deal with their government, they will be treated fairly, their time will be respected and their information will be secure. They should be able to trust that their government will help them, not hinder them. We are building a government that talks to the Australian people and that listens to the Australian people so that Australians do not have to tell their story twice and that information is shared across services. We are building a government that connect programs and systems so people can move through life's stages without getting lost in bureaucracy and a government that understands that every form filled out, every call made and every appointment delayed is time taken away from what really matters: spending time with friends, working, playing sport, getting involved in the community and spending time with family. These are the sorts of things that we want Australians to be able to focus on, not having to spend time filling out forms and navigating government bureaucracy. This is what a Labor government does. We make a government that works for people. Those opposite will talk about deregulation as if it were an end in itself. We understand that regulation is about fairness and function. It must protect the vulnerable, it must safeguard public funds, it must safeguard people's privacy, it must safeguard people's identity and medical records and it must enable innovation. This bill does that. It supports faster services, stronger integrity and a fairer economy. It does that by making sure that information is shared across government services, across health services, and that people's digital records—whether in health or if their bank account details are needed for government services—can flow freely between departments, reducing the amount of time that people need to spend online, filling out forms or filling out paper forms or standing in line at Services Australia offices or waiting on the phone to Centrelink. This is why I commend this bill to the House.
Albanese Government | Private Members' Business | House debates
I thank my friend the member for Banks for moving this motion to mark six months since the re-election of the Albanese Labor government. While those opposite cherrypick facts and only look at the...
I thank my friend the member for Banks for moving this motion to mark six months since the re-election of the Albanese Labor government. While those opposite cherrypick facts and only look at the negatives, we haven't wasted a day delivering what we promised at the election. As members opposite would know, on the Saturday just passed, 1 November, we delivered on our commitment, with the largest investment in Medicare in its history, to triple the bulk-billing incentive to address exactly the kinds of declines in bulk-billing rates the member opposite raised. We do things about the issues facing Australia; those opposite just complain about them. We know our reforms will mean that there's more bulk-billing and that, by 2030, nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed. This includes 17 clinics in my electorate who have expressed interest in going fully bulk-billed—more free GP visits for people across my electorate in Box Hill, Blackburn and Doncaster. We're continuing to roll out our other reforms. We delivered 87 Medicare urgent care clinics in our last term of government, and we're slated to open 50 more across the country in this term. We're delivering cheaper medicines as well so that Australians will save on out-of-pocket costs, with PBS listed medications costing only $25 per script to fill. Not only are we delivering, but we've moved forward some of our commitments so that from 1 October we're helping Australians buy their first home with only a five per cent deposit. This will cut waiting times in saving for a deposit and, importantly, save on expensive mortgage lenders insurance. It will get first home buyers into their first home sooner and give them a leg-up over investors. Nationally, over 190,000 first home buyers have taken advantage of this scheme, including 300 in my electorate of Menzies. I'm so glad that there are more people buying their first home thanks to our support. We've also rolled out the solar home battery program. It has been a huge success. Over 100,000 people around the country have taken up our 30 per cent rebate, that price point providing a real incentive for them to get a solar home battery. It's good for the environment. It's good for the hip pocket. When I've been out doorknocking in my electorate, in Warrandyte, so many people expressed interest in getting in on it. This included Glen in Templestowe Lower, who was really proud to show us his solar home battery system and talk about how it's going to save him hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars per year on his power bills. In Menzies, 536 people have got themselves a solar home battery—again, thanks to our reforms. Last Friday, we introduced the environmental protection biodiversity and conservation bill into this parliament, delivering on our election promise that we were going to prioritise the environment and that we were going to make sure that we're protecting Australia's beautiful natural environment and unique biodiversity. This will, importantly, create an independent environmental protection agency. Again, it's because we listen to our voters and we listen to the Australian people. I was out doorknocking in Surrey Hills on Saturday, a part of my electorate that cares deeply about climate change and cares deeply about the environment. Again and again, I heard from people who said: 'Yes, we need an independent environmental protection agency. We don't want the Liberals and the Greens to team up to block this important legislation again.' The message was really clear—we need to get this done. We're also getting on with delivering election commitments in Menzies. In the election campaign, we committed $1.1 billion to mental health support. It's a really important area of health care. This includes new and expanded Medicare mental health centres, which will include one in Box Hill in my electorate of Menzies and a further 31 around the country. We're also supporting organisations to get their paperwork in to deliver on our election commitments. That includes for Box Hill United soccer club to resurface Sparks Reserve for a synthetic pitch so that they can play more of the year and practise more of the year. Soccer is absolutely huge in Melbourne's east, so we want to make sure that more people can get out and play. We've committed $3.5 million for Bulleen Templestowe Basketball Club for female-friendly change rooms and $187,500 for Warrandyte Arts to upgrade their pottery centres, and there are many more election commitments that we're delivering for the people of Menzies and for Australia.
Acquired Brain Injury | Constituency Statements | House debates
I rise to speak about acquired brain injury, also known as ABI. I recently met with a constituent, Nicola Harris, who bravely and generously shared her story with me, to advocate for better...
I rise to speak about acquired brain injury, also known as ABI. I recently met with a constituent, Nicola Harris, who bravely and generously shared her story with me, to advocate for better awareness and support for people with ABI. She gave me permission to share her story here today. Nicola was nine years old when she was run over and sustained a brain injury. Later, when she was working at a hospice, she was groomed by the head of pastoral care. The abuse continued for 15 months and left her deeply traumatised. She disclosed the abuse to a friend. Two weeks later, she was dismissed. For many years, she believed it was her fault that she had been dismissed; she thought she was not good at her job because of her injury. It was only when she saw a psychologist 30 years later that she learned she had been groomed and that her dismissal was related to concerns that she might have reported what had happened. This is her story, and she continues to live each day with the challenges that come from having something invisible to others but which has a profound impact. Her story is one of frustration at being constantly misunderstood, but it is also a story of incredible strength. Nicola not only shared her story but also strongly advocated for better understanding of her condition. One in 45 Australians live with an ABI. It can result from trauma, stroke, infection or substance abuse. Yet, despite how common it is, awareness and understanding remain very low. ABI is often called a silent injury. There are often no signs or symptoms on the outside. Because there may be no visible signs, this can lead to misunderstanding and stigma. Unlike conditions such as autism or ADHD, ABI does not have the same recognition or public profile. Many people with ABI spend their lives trying to appear normal. Every day is spent managing fatigue, confusion and mental overload. It is exhausting, and yet they are too often judged as lazy or unmotivated. In reality, ABI can reduce executive functioning, making it harder to plan, to remember and to control emotions. For many, nothing feels automatic anymore. Every task requires effort and concentration. ABI also increases vulnerability. People with ABI are more likely to be taken advantage of, manipulated or abused. Inspired by Nicola, I stand today to raise awareness. ABI deserves to be better recognised in our national discussions on disability and neurodiversity. Awareness would reduce the social and emotional costs of exclusion and misunderstanding. We need education, training and public awareness, so that employers, teachers and health professionals can better understand ABI. Thank you, Nicola, for sharing your story and for your advocacy.
Young Australians | Statements by Members | House debates
This week I had the privilege of meeting Hasmik and Hrug, youth advocates from the Armenian National Committee of Australia's Job Shadow Advocate Program. We spoke about the challenges facing...
This week I had the privilege of meeting Hasmik and Hrug, youth advocates from the Armenian National Committee of Australia's Job Shadow Advocate Program. We spoke about the challenges facing young people today, and I learned more about their community's proud history. They told me that the cost of living continues to rise, noting that even a simple bottle of water can now cost $5. They said it feels like their money does not go as far as it once did. They told me that, as young Australians, they feel shut out—working hard, studying and saving, but still worried they will never own a home. Yet they also said they had not lost hope. With smart decisions and leaders who listen, they believe the future can still be fairer and brighter. A better future is exactly what the Albanese Labor government is delivering. We are delivering for young people. We've halved inflation from what we inherited from those opposite. We've introduced a five per cent home deposit discount to help first home buyers and reserved 100,000 homes just for first home buyers. We've had three interest rate cuts as a result of our responsible management of inflation. We've cut student debt by 20 per cent for students and graduates, and increased the threshold at which student debts are repaid. We've made fee-free TAFE permanent so more Australians can gain practical skills. These are just some of the ways the Albanese Labor government is investing in the future for the next generation of Australians like Hasmik and Hrug.
Administrative Review Tribunal and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
I rise today to speak on the Administrative Review Tribunal and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. As some of the members of this House may know, I used to be a public servant. In my last job...
I rise today to speak on the Administrative Review Tribunal and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. As some of the members of this House may know, I used to be a public servant. In my last job I worked at the Department of Home Affairs, assessing protection visa applications. Because of this, I understand the importance of having a trustworthy, efficient body for reviewing government decisions. I saw firsthand the consequences of the stacking by the previous coalition government of the previous body, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, with unqualified political appointees. The consequences were poor-quality decisions that undermined government programs and delivered unjust outcomes. That is exactly why this government created the Administrative Review Tribunal, the ART. The ART, as did the Administrative Appeals Tribunal before it, performs an important function. It provides de novo, or fresh, reviews of government decisions in areas like the NDIS, Centrelink, taxation and immigration. The reality is that government decision-makers don't always get it right, and it's important that the public be given avenues for review of decisions that can have a profound effect on someone's life, such as whether they'll have access to disability or veterans supports and whether or not they'll be given a visa to study in Australia or remain in Australia. The ART is more accessible than a court. It's not subject to complicated rules of legal procedure and evidence. Without going into a second-year law degree lecture, to successfully appeal a decision in court under administrative law it's necessary to prove legal, factual or discretionary error. This is a very technical area and a high bar which would generally require legal representation. Whatever the administrative review body is, it is vital that the Australian public have confidence in the integrity and capability of its members. This brings me back to my role as a protection obligations decision-maker. Assessing protection visas also requires a degree of skill and knowledge. Legal training isn't necessary but it helps. You're determining if someone has 'a well-founded fear of persecution'; this is one of those phrases that is dense with legal meaning. Protection visa decision-makers must elicit an asylum seeker's account of why they require protection, and they must determine if they're telling the truth and assess any evidence that someone is able to provide to support their claims. Where someone's claims are accepted, they can be assessed against information from their country of origin to see if there is a real chance that they would be harmed if they returned. All of that is to say they are complex decisions. Decision records could stretch to anywhere between three and 50 pages or more. There is no visa area that required more training or where staff received more ongoing support and mentoring. At that time, our decisions were subject to review from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Where the AAT disagreed with our decisions they would send them back to the department. Sometimes genuine problems with the initial departmental decision were identified. But, too often, the AAT also sent back decisions that made no sense. It was clear that the AAT members did not have the proper training, did not have the proper expertise and did not have proper oversight. Poor decisions undermined trust in the AAT but, worse, undermined government policy. I am a strong supporter of Australia's refugee program, but protection visas have criteria, and it's important that those criteria are applied fairly. This is the result of the previous coalition government stacking the AAT with failed candidates and political operatives. Worse, underresourcing and poor performance by AAT members meant that backlogs grew for decisions in reviews of protection visas and other visa categories. Long wait times incentivised international migration syndicates who helped people come to Australia on a tourist or student visa and then would submit bogus protection visa applications, sometimes without the applicant even knowing—migration fraud on an industrial scale, incentivised by cronyism. Worse, people with genuine grounds to remain in Australia would be delayed because of the sheer volume of cases waiting for a decision. My electorate of Menzies, like that of the previous speaker on our side, the member for Gorton, is incredibly diverse. Over 60 per cent of people in the electorate have at least one parent who was born overseas. So migration decisions will be incredibly important to them. For those with genuine grounds to study in Australia—with genuine grounds to remain in Australia—it's incredibly important that, again, they have avenues for review where decisions have been made that don't reflect their grounds for a visa. So it was clear that the AAT could no longer act with efficiency and integrity. That is why the Albanese Labor government acted decisively to restore public trust in the system of administrative review and establish the ART. The difference with this new body is that we have introduced governance processes that prioritise merit based applications and appointments: no more jobs for mates, no more hacks, and decision-makers who are experienced and who can be professional and independent. We as a government are committed to rebuilding confidence in public institutions by ensuring that fairness is matched with confidence. Our work did not end with the establishment of the ART. While the new tribunal represents a significant improvement, it faces real operational pressures. Currently the ART has very limited flexibility to determine matters without holding an oral hearing. It's required to conduct a hearing even in situations where issues are straightforward, wasting time and resources. For instance, many student visa cases depend entirely on very straightforward documentary evidence, such as whether an applicant has submitted the correct form or proof of enrolment. In these situations a full oral hearing provides little value but consumes considerable time and resources. Allowing such matters to be reviewed in writing would streamline the process and reduce inefficiencies across the system. The current inflexibility, combined with a surge in applications, particularly student visa refusals, has placed enormous pressures on the tribunal. In 2024-25 nearly 40 per cent of all applications before the ART related to student visas, up from 22 per cent in the previous year. This sharp increase has stretched resources and again created long wait times. As I know all too well, this creates unintended incentives for non-genuine applicants, who may exploit lengthy wait periods to extend their stay in Australia. This in turn undermines fairness for genuine applicants, whose education and future depend on timely decisions. Such challenges highlight the need for reform that will allow the ART to operate efficiently while maintaining fairness and accountability. That is why the Albanese Labor government has brought forward this bill—to ensure that timely and efficient decisions are made. This bill responds directly to those challenges through targeted amendments to both the Administrative Review Tribunal Act and the Migration Act. These proposals are informed by the experience of the tribunal since its commencement, as well as the recommendations of the 2023 Rapid Review into the Exploitation of Australia's Visa System, also known as the Nixon review. The bill introduces a new discretion, allowing the ART to decide matters on the papers, without an oral hearing, where appropriate. This can occur if the issues can be resolved without the parties present, and if it is reasonable to do so. Safeguards are built in to preserve procedural fairness. The tribunal must give parties the opportunity to make submissions, and it must consider those views before proceeding. The reform will help the tribunal manage its workload more intelligently, focusing its hearings on complex cases while resolving simpler matters faster. It is not about limiting access to justice; it is about improving it, by reducing delay and unnecessary bureaucracy. The second major reform in the bill focuses on migration reviews, particularly student visa refusals. Under the amendments to the Migration Act, the ART will be required to determine all student visa refusal matters on the papers, without an oral hearing. This change responds to the unprecedented surge in student visa appeals, which now make up nearly 40 per cent of the tribunal's case load. Requiring oral hearings for every case is unsustainable and has contributed to growing backlogs. The Nixon review found that temporary visa categories, such as student visas, are well suited to written review because they rely mainly on documentary evidence and objective facts. Applicants will still have the opportunity to make written submissions, respond to adverse information and provide supporting material. The tribunal will make decisions based on written records. This reform will deliver faster outcomes. It will reduce misuse of the review process and ensure that genuine student visa applicants are assessed fairly. It will also allow the tribunal to focus its resources on complex or sensitive matters. The third reform in the bill gives the minister the power, through regulation, to apply similar on-the-papers review processes to other categories of temporary visas in the future. This provides flexibility to respond to emerging pressures in the migration system while maintaining parliamentary oversight. I know that international migration syndicates can adapt their business models with alarming speed. Importantly, this power does not apply to protection visa matters. As I said, these cases often involve complex humanitarian issues and vulnerable applicants, and the government recognises that these cases require the full procedural safeguards of an oral hearing. This bill delivers broad benefits across the administrative justice system. It will make the ART a more modern, capable and trusted institution. Firstly, it increases efficiency. Allowing matters to be determined on the papers means decisions can be made more quickly, reducing wait times for applicants. It frees up tribunal members and staff to focus on cases that require oral hearings. Secondly, it improves fairness and accessibility. Applicants will continue to have the opportunity to present their case and respond to any adverse information. Written procedures are often less intimidating, less costly and more convenient for applicants, especially those overseas. Thirdly, it strengthens integrity within the migration system. Faster and more proportionate decision-making discourages misuse of the appeals process and reduces the incentive for non-genuine applicants to exploit procedural delays. It also ensures that genuine applicants are not disadvantaged by those who seek to manipulate the system. Finally, the bill reinforces public confidence in Australia's administrative review system. It demonstrates that fairness and efficiency are not opposing goals but complementary ones. The Albanese Labor government believes that justice must be timely, accessible and proportionate. This bill achieves that balance. As a government, we act because Australians deserve institutions that are fair, efficient and accountable. As the saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied. Our reforms will allow genuine applicants to have their matters considered quickly and fairly without being caught in unnecessary delays. This bill is about getting the fundamentals right. It ensures that Australians and those who choose to study, work or build a life here can have confidence in a review system that is fair, efficient and well administered. In an age when people have declining trust in institutions, it's incredibly important that Australians can have confidence that, where they have doubt that a government decision has been made fairly, they have those avenues for appeal and those appeals will be heard by people who are suitably qualified, who have suitable experience and who have suitable oversight to be able to make the right decision in those cases. The bill also prepares the tribunal to handle future challenges. It embeds balance and helps prevent the return of large backlogs that can weaken public trust and undermine government programs. It is important that things such as visa applications are assessed not just correctly but also quickly so that we avoid some of those unintended consequences that can arise through delays in processing. We are committed to restoring faith in institutions and ensuring those institutions are fit to adapt to new challenges. This bill provides the flexibility to extend on-the-papers review to other visa case loads, because we recognise that international migration syndicates can adapt their business models quickly to exploit loopholes in the visa system. So this is an important provision in this bill. For these reasons, I commend the Administrative Review Tribunal and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 to the House.