Senate debates
Thursday, 13 August 2026
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Meeting (1 speech)
If there is no objection, the meetings are authorised.
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Selection of Bills Committee; Report (10 speeches)
I present Report No. 9 of 2026 of the Selection of Bills Committee. I seek leave to have the report incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The report read as follows— Selection of Bills...
- Notices (0 speeches)
- Presentation (1 speech)
(): On behalf of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, I give notice of my intention, at the giving of notices on the next day of sitting, to amend business...
- Withdrawal (1 speech)
On behalf of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, I also give of notice of my intention, at the giving of notices on 18 August 2026, to withdraw business of the...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
I move: That general business notice of motion no. 585 be considered during general business today. Question agreed to.
- Leave of Absence (1 speech)
by leave—I move: That leave of absence be granted to Senator Mulholland from 11 August to 15 October 2026, for personal reasons. Question agreed to.
- Notices (0 speeches)
- Withdrawal (1 speech)
I ask that general business notice of motion no. 594, standing in the name of Senator Colbeck, be withdrawn. Question agreed to.
- Business (0 speeches)
- Leave of Absence (1 speech)
I move: That leave of absence be granted to Senator Nampijinpa Price for today, from prayers till rise, for personal reasons. Question agreed to.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Rushy Lagoon; Order for the Production of Documents (1 speech)
At the request of Senator Colbeck, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, by no later than midday on Tuesday,...
- Prime Minister; Order for the Production of Documents (5 speeches)
At the request of Senator Paterson, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Prime Minister, by no later than midday on Monday, 17 August 2026, the following...
- Health Technology Assessment Review Implementation Advisory Group; Order for the Production of Documents (8 speeches)
At the request of Senator Ruston, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, by no later than 17 August 2026, the final report and...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Business (0 speeches)
- Consideration of Legislation (14 speeches)
I seek leave to move a motion relating to the consideration of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Removing the Widows and Spouses Tax) Bill 2026 as circulated. Leave not granted. Pursuant to contingent...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Senators (0 speeches)
- Cloncurry Airport (1 speech)
Enough is enough. Cloncurry Airport had the Prime Minister and Minister McBain stand on it and survey the damage from floodwater. They were promised money to repair and secure that important...
- Tertiary Education and Training (1 speech)
The cost of living is a priority for the Albanese government. We understand that Aussie households are under sustained cost-of-living pressure. That's why we brought in tax cuts. That's why we...
- Read, Dr Tim (1 speech)
I rise to honour my friend, Victorian colleague and the member for Brunswick, Dr Tim Read. In Tim's recent valedictory speech, he said: … for me, politics is the work you do to improve...
- Taxation (1 speech)
Labor's budget is an assault on aspiration, and it's taking a huge slice out of small businesses. Last week I met with Jason and Kelly from Banana Boogie Bakery in my home state of South...
- Workplace Relations (1 speech)
How good's a public holiday? It's time off from work to reflect on the importance of family, community and helping others. When we work during those holidays, we should be paid...
- Cancer (1 speech)
Cancer takes a huge toll on so many Australians and their families. Even with effective treatments, its effects can be long lasting. This is particularly the case when it comes to head and neck...
- Vietnam Grace Church (1 speech)
First, might I just associate myself with Senator Pocock's remarks. I wasn't aware of that situation. It is deeply troubling, and I'll certainly be raising it with the good Senator Anne Ruston,...
- Bronstein, Mr Jeff (1 speech)
I rise today to congratulate Jeff Bronstein, who has been named Glenorchy's 2026 Senior Citizen of the year. Jeff is the President of the Tasmanian Transport Museum, a much-loved institution in...
- Workplace Relations (1 speech)
Well, I want to talk about workers. Workers out there are suffering. They are suffering because their real wages are falling. The OECD has recently told us that Australian workers have suffered a...
- Indigenous Australians: Law Enforcement (1 speech)
Another day in the colony, another police bashing of an Aboriginal person—this time in a Canberra police watchhouse. An AFP officer beat an Aboriginal man while he was naked and handcuffed....
- Carnival Cruises (1 speech)
Imagine being paid $2.50 an hour, working up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, for up to nine months. Now imagine earning that little and still having to buy your own soap, your own sanitary...
- Clean Energy Finance Corporation (1 speech)
We all know the Albanese Labor government is obsessed with destroying productive Australian agriculture in the pursuit of their net zero obsession. The latest example of this, a tragic example,...
- McBride, Mr David William (1 speech)
My friend David McBride has finally walked out of jail. He's finally walked out and felt the sun on him and the sense of freedom. He can go about, catch up with his family and regain his life...
- Nepalese Community (1 speech)
One of the great things about Australia is that anyone can be an Australian as long as you subscribe to our institutions, and our great multicultural country has been enriched by people from all...
- Liberal Party of Australia (2 speeches)
I have to say that watching Senator Andrew Bragg's National Press Club address yesterday felt less like watching an alternative government and more like watching the Liberal Party have a very...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Prime Minister (12 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. The Prime Minister denied breaking his $275 power bill promise. He denied breaking his promise on superannuation. He...
- Tomago Aluminium (10 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. This morning, the Prime Minister joined the New South Wales Premier to announce the Albanese Labor government's plan...
- Prime Minister (15 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. In an awkward moment at a press conference this morning, the New South Wales Premier stepped in to shield the Prime...
- Woodside Energy (8 speeches)
It is. Everyone's been so friendly, President; I thought I might stay! My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt. Woodside's gas project around Scott Reef, off the...
- Aluminium Industry (13 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Industry and Innovation, Senator Ayres. This morning you and the Prime Minister announced the Albanese Labor government's plan to secure the future of Tomago...
- Taxation (16 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Yesterday, my friend and colleague Senator Dean Smith asked you about the impact of Labor's proposed trust tax on...
- Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Women, Senator Gallagher. Ending gender-based violence is a national priority for the Albanese Labor government. Tragically, women and children are still losing...
- Rushy Lagoon (20 speeches)
My question is the Minister for the Environment and Water, Senator Watt. Rushy Lagoon is Tasmania's largest farm and one of its most significant beef, dairy, sheep and cropping properties. The...
- Critical and Strategic Minerals Industry (13 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Resources, Senator Farrell. Australia is home to some of the world's largest deposits of critical minerals and rare earths, which are...
- Gas Industry (10 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Japanese energy companies are already signing major long-term LNG supply agreements with the United States, while...
- Wages and Salaries (16 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Watt. The Albanese Labor government is delivering real change for Australian workers by...
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Answers to Questions (6 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today. Today in question time, we have tested and exposed the Prime...
- Woodside Energy (2 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to the Browse project....
- Rushy Lagoon (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment and Water (Senator Watt) and the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science (Senator...
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- Gambling Advertising (1 speech)
by leave—I table a non-conforming petition from the community independent Jessie Price for Bean of over 700 Canberrans calling for a ban on gambling advertising. They are now calling on the...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Business (0 speeches)
- Consideration of Legislation (1 speech)
I move: (1) That— (a) where the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights has not reported on a bill's compatibility with human rights, immediately prior to the consideration of the...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Superannuation (1 speech)
Fighting for working Australians is the essence of the great Australian Labor Party: higher wages, better conditions, safer workplaces. But the Labor Party is equally committed to ensuring that...
- Cost of Living (1 speech)
This afternoon, I rise to speak about the issue dominating kitchen tables across Western Australia and the nation—not gambling reform, but the cost of living. After four years of the...
- South Australia: Marine Environment (1 speech)
I rise to speak on one of the most amazing natural wonders of our nation, the Great Australian Bight. For the Mirning people, the native title holders across the Nullarbor Plain and the Great...
- Diversa Trustees Limited (1 speech)
The average Australian holds around $350,000 in their superannuation accounts by the time they reach retirement age, and that sum will only grow as Australians who've had a longer working life in...
- Housing (1 speech)
Our housing market has, for too long, been treated as a means of wealth accumulation rather than the vital part of our society that it is—something which should exist to provide shelter and...
