Senate debates

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

  • Same-Sex Marriage (1 speech)
    Tonight I rise to speak with both a sense of hope and a great deal of disappointment. I speak with hope because, as we heard last night in the debate on the report of the Senate Legal and...
  • Defence Procurement (1 speech)
    I rise tonight to talk about defence acquisition and one area which has been constantly raised during the Senate inquiry into defence acquisition in terms of Australia's ability, capacity and...
  • Rio+20 (1 speech)
    It is good to be back in the chamber after spending last week on the other side of the world, on a self-funded trip to Brazil for Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. It was held...
  • Palliative Care (1 speech)
    The introduction of contemporary palliative care services, not just in Tasmania but across Australia, is a cause I have been wholly committed to supporting. Recently in Launceston we held a...
  • Mackell, Mr Austin (1 speech)
    I rise to make some brief comments about the situation faced by an Australian citizen in trouble overseas. Senators would be aware that I have taken up the cause of Julian Assange with some...
  • Australian Army Nurses (1 speech)
    On 7 August 1900, a 36-year-old woman from country Victoria died of pneumonia in an army hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Also known as Fanny, Sister Frances Emma Hines travelled to the other side...
  • Wheat Industry (1 speech)
    I rise to make just a few comments tonight about the wheat industry and where the industry sits at the moment. I do have to say that, having been a very strong supporter of the single desk, I see...
  • Ostrom, Professor Elinor, Lawrence, Mr Steve, AO, Bell, Mr Graeme, AO, MBE (1 speech)
    I know it is late, but this evening I would like to pay tribute to three people who each, in their own way, have profoundly influenced the way we think about the world. The first, Elinor Ostrom,...
  • Black Caviar (1 speech)
    History was made on Saturday, 23 June 2012, when the world witnessed the making of a racing record that will endure for decades to come. It was at 3.45 pm London time, 12.45 pm Melbourne time, in...
  • Aung San Suu Kyi (1 speech)
    by leave—On 1 April this year, a politician was elected to her nation's parliament. Divorced from its context, this is an unremarkable event. This year, thankfully, many thousands of...
  • Victorian Power Industry (4 speeches, 1 comment)
    by leave—With the catastrophic collapse of the Morwell River diversion in the TRUenergy Yallourn mine three weeks ago and related escalating problems, now is the right time to ask: what...
  • Refugees, Nuclear Energy, Palestine (2 speeches)
    by leave—There is a view that one hears from time to time that local government should remain the domain of rates, rubbish bins and gutters, and that there is no role for council staff or...
  • Carbon Pricing (1 speech)
    by leave—The Commonwealth government has a bewildering array of policies to force emission reductions. Just look at the Labor policies such as the carbon tax, which is a market based...