Senate debates
Tuesday, 15 September 2026
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Statements by Senators (0 speeches)
- Moon Festival (1 speech)
Next Friday, the rising of the full moon brings the Moon Festival across Asia and, with it, an opportunity to celebrate family, harvest, ancestors and the next generation. The Moon Festival, also...
- Cybersafety (1 speech)
My child isn't old enough yet to play video games, but that day isn't far off, and it's already playing on my mind. Now, for most parents, gaming is exactly what it should be: kids having fun,...
- Data Centres (1 speech)
AI is bad for our neighbourhoods, bad for our climate and bad for our wallets. In terrifying headlines today, the world may end, thanks to an AI takeover. But here's the kicker: we also get to...
- Working Holiday Maker Program (1 speech)
I have risen in this place before to speak on the importance of working holiday-makers to regional communities, and I will continue to rise and talk about this issue for as long as this Labor...
- Langby, Dusty, Little Wings (1 speech)
This is a good news story, which is something we don't hear often in this chamber. This morning, I was actually able to meet a young man by the name of Dusty, who's from out west in Warren. I see...
- Invasive Species Management (1 speech)
I rise to speak about rabbits. There are hundreds of rabbits on the lawns around Parliament House. Colleagues may have seen them on the way in and out of this building. What's happening here in...
- National Security (1 speech)
Regrettably, Iran has become a pariah in our world and here in Australia. Given it was the architect of the attack on the Adass synagogue in Melbourne, we know how active the Iranian regime is in...
- Manufacturing Industry (1 speech)
This is a difficult time for the people of Whyalla. The announcement by the administrator of the steelworks that the efforts to restart the blast furnace over recent months were unsuccessful will...
- Gender and Sexual Orientation (1 speech)
At the last election, one in three Australians gave their first preference vote to the coalition. One in three also happens to be the number of queer Australians who've attempted suicide in their...
- Early Childhood Education and Care (1 speech)
I'm extremely fortunate to be able to bring my daughter, Aaliyah, to Canberra with me. Having her here means I don't have to choose between serving my family and my constituents. Most Australian...
- Exclusive Brethren (1 speech)
At the last election the Liberal Party worked hand in glove with the Exclusive Brethren to influence, coerce and intimidate voters and candidates across the country. The Exclusive Brethren...
- Housing (1 speech)
The Australian newspaper has confirmed the disaster that this Labor government has brought down on any Australian looking for a roof over their head. According to the Housing Industry...
- Discrimination: People with Disability (1 speech)
Uber enables the discrimination of disabled people. Uber enables disabled people to be discriminated against every single day in this country. Now I want to be really, really clear. These...
- Prime Minister (1 speech)
The Prime Minister is incompetent, and Australians now know that his word is not his bond. He told Australians over 90 times that they would get $275 off their power bill. They didn't. He told...
- Australian Football League, Western Australia: Goods and Services Tax (1 speech)
I thought this would be a good opportunity to remind senators that Western Australia is the best state in this country. We have the best beaches, the best sunsets and, of course, the best footy...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Manufacturing Industry (18 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. The blast furnace at Whyalla has been permanently shut down. Up to 500 workers will lose their jobs. This follows a...
- Economy (13 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher. It is clear the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are creating a challenging environment and challenging global economic...
- Taxation (20 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. Yesterday, Whyalla closed their blast furnace—yet another example of the deindustrialisation campaign that your...
- Waste Management and Recycling: Plastic Packaging (41 speeches)
My question is for the Minister for the Environment and Water, Minister Watt. Minister, Labor has spent years promising stronger federal plastics packaging regulation. In 2023, Minister Plibersek...
- Medicare (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator McAllister. Labor created Medicare because we believe every Australian deserves access to quality and...
- Defence Procurement: Submarines (8 speeches)
My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, Minister Watt. The Australian Federal Police has been tasked with providing the protective security framework for the...
- Artificial Intelligence (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Attorney-General, Senator Farrell. Minister, I note reports in the media today that OpenAI has issued an ultimatum to your government saying that...
- Migration (23 speeches)
My question goes to the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs, Senator Watt. Minister, the Prime Minister's handpicked economic reform expert, Professor Robert Breunig, says that...
- Apprenticeships (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Skills and Training, Senator Watt. The Albanese Labor government wants Australians to have access to secure, well-paid jobs, and...
- Housing (14 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Minister Wong. New analysis by Aussie Home Loans shows that 20 per cent of Australians who bought a home in the past three years...
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Answers to Questions (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by coalition senators today. What we have with Labor's housing policy today, explained to us...
- Waste Management and Recycling: Plastic Packaging (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the Environment and Water (Murray Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to Labor's monumental...
- Defence Procurement: Submarines (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to AUKUS. Not a...
- Migration (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Home Affairs (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to migration....
- Artificial Intelligence (2 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Special Minister of State (Senator Farrell) to a question without notice I asked today relating to consultation on artificial...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Artificial Intelligence (38 speeches)
Senator Pocock, you need to seek leave again, because that was a hard marker. We're done and dusted with that.
- Business (0 speeches)
- Leave of Absence (1 speech)
At the request of Senator Liddle, I move: That leave of absence be granted to Senator Liddle for 16 and 17 of September for personal reasons. Agreed to.
- Notices (0 speeches)
- Postponement (1 speech)
If there is no objection, the business is postponed.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Reporting Date (1 speech)
If there is no objection, the extension is agreed to.
- Business (0 speeches)
- Rearrangement (1 speech)
I move: That consideration of the business before the Senate on Wednesday, 16 September 2026 be interrupted at approximately 5 pm, but not so as to interrupt a senator speaking, to enable Senator...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Veterans; Order for the Production of Documents (1 speech)
I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, by midday on Thursday, 17 September 2026, the final report titled 'Women Veterans'...
- Base Services Transformation Program; Order for the Production of Documents (1 speech)
At the request of Senator Collins, I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) on 2 July 2026, the Senate agreed to order for the production of documents no. 552, relating to the Base...
- Major and Local Community Infrastructure Program; Order for the Production of Documents (1 speech)
At the request of Senator McKenzie, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, by...
- Aviation Services; Order for the Production of Documents (1 speech)
At the request of Senator McKenzie, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, by...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Waste Management and Recycling; Order for the Production of Documents (2 speeches)
I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister for the Environment and Water, by no later than 5 pm on Friday, 23 October 2026, copies of all ministerial submissions, briefing notes,...
- Executive Remuneration; Order for the Production of Documents (5 speeches)
I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister for the Public Service, by no later than 5 pm on Monday, 19 October 2026, anonymised copies of all responses and submissions made to the...
- Cybersafety Legislation; Order for the Production of Documents (2 speeches)
I move: That— (a) the Senate notes that: (i) on 8 September 2026, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (the department)...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Consideration of Legislation (2 speeches)
I move: 1. That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent this resolution having effect. 2. That the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Restoring Common Sense and Recognising...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Matters of Urgency (0 speeches)
- Superannuation (7 speeches)
Senator Payman has submitted a proposal under standing order 75 today. It is shown at item No. 13 on today's order of business: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of...
- Economy (9 speeches)
The Senate will now consider the proposal, under standing order 75, from Senator Collins, which is also shown at item 13 of today's Order of Business: That, in the opinion of the Senate, the...
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- Gaza (1 speech)
by leave—I table a non-conforming petition signed by 124,665 supporters of Amnesty International in relation to the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Economics References Committee; Reference (6 speeches)
At the request of Senator Bragg, I move: That the following matter be referred to the Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by 7 June 2027: Mortgage offset accounts, with...
- Bills (0 speeches)
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- Dementia, Tasmanian Football Club (2 speeches)
Once again I'm speaking about dementia and the impact that it has on the Australian community. Tomorrow we have an event here. As the co-chair of Parliamentary Friends of Dementia, I want to...
- Victoria: Roads (1 speech)
In the not too far distant past, Victorian roads were the envy of Australia. By virtue of its geography and a deliberately well-maintained road network, there was a noticeable difference in...
- Artificial Intelligence, Red Lines Package (1 speech)
This week, people building the most powerful AI systems have warned that, within six to 12 months, they could become powerful enough to pose an existential threat to humanity. Yet the Albanese...
- Income Tax (1 speech)
Sixty-five billion dollars—that's how much poorer working Australians have become during the last four years of this Labor government, and that's only when we're talking about income taxes....
- Men (1 speech)
I'd like to acknowledge the work of Kristie Johnson in preparing and presenting a petition to the House of Representatives calling for the establishment of an office for men. The point of this...
- Marine Sanctuaries (1 speech)
I am here to protect our oceans. It must be done, it must be done right and it must be done right now. Australia is responsible for managing one of the largest ocean estates on the planet. It is...
- Defence Properties (1 speech)
The government's proposed Defence estate sell-off raises some very serious questions it has not yet answered. It is a real hammer blow to my home state of Western Australia. Earlier this year,...
- John XXIII College (1 speech)
I rise tonight to acknowledge the year 6 students and teachers from John XXIII College in Perth who visited Parliament House earlier this year, and to reflect on why school visits to our national...
- Avian Influenza, Renewable Energy (1 speech)
I advise the chamber of a very serious matter that's occurred in my state. South Australia has confirmed the first bird flu infection of an Australian sea lion, found at Seal Bay on Kangaroo...
- Cost of Living, Housing, Waste Management and Recycling (1 speech)
Do you know who benefits from people believing that immigrants are to blame for an unaffordability crisis that almost all of us are experiencing? It's the massive private corporations who are...
- Climate Change, Energy, Trade (1 speech)
The coalition has set a very simple ambition for Australia. Our plan will reward hard work, restore homeownership, secure Australia's future and put Australians first. Those words mean something....
- Social Cohesion (1 speech)
I got pretty angry last week, and, as often happens, it was my electorate office that had to wear the abuse. Thank you, guys, once again for being so stoic as you always are. I received lots of...
- Whyalla Steelworks, Indigenous Australians (1 speech)
Well, there was devastating news from my home state of South Australia this week: 500 Whyalla steelworkers will lose their jobs, and there are so many more contemplating what that also means for...
- COVID-19: Vaccination, Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Migration (1 speech)
In the week since I spoke about the huge volume of scientific papers on the COVID scandal, more new papers have been published. After years of censorship, Dr Yaakov Ophir from the University of...
- Housing (1 speech)
For a generation of Australians, homeownership is becoming less a dream and more a distant prospect. House prices are now around 8.9 times the median household income, and young Australians are...
