Senate debates

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

  • New England By-Election, Bennelong By-Election (1 speech)
    Last Saturday, the people of New England returned Barnaby Joyce to his rightful place as for member of New England. It was a huge victory and all the Labor lies about selling off Medicare and...
  • Workplace Relations (2 speeches)
    I'd like to do a quick shout-out tonight to the workers and unions that I met today in Parliament House. I had a fantastic meeting with a bunch of fellows, and Ruth from the ETU, who came to talk...
  • Law Enforcement (1 speech)
    Decades ago, when I was hosting the eponymous Hinch current affairs program on television, I nicknamed Adelaide 'suppression city', because their magistrates and judges seemed to issue more...
  • Broadband (1 speech)
    To speak of the National Broadband Network is to speak of an infrastructure tragedy the likes of which we have not seen in this country in many years. It is to speak of an entire...
  • Asylum Seekers (1 speech)
    I want to speak tonight about the terrible and heart-wrenching case of Arash Shirmohamadi. Arash is an Iranian refugee. He's currently held in Australia's offshore detention system on Nauru....
  • Bennelong By-Election, Inequality (5 speeches)
    I rise to make some remarks about the inequality that exists in Australia and concerns that the gap between the rich and the poor is at a 70-year high. Hardworking Australian men and women are...
  • Family Matters Report 2017 (1 speech)
    I rise tonight to speak about the escalating crisis of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care. Last week in the Great Hall, the National Voice for our Children...
  • Aged Care (1 speech)
    I rise this evening to speak yet again about the Turnbull government's blatant disregard and disrespect for the care of older Australians. Here we are at the end of another year—it's now...
  • Organ and Tissue Authority (1 speech)
    Tonight, I want to highlight some interesting points raised by the Australian government Organ and Tissue Authority. One organ and tissue donor can transform the lives of 10 or more people....
  • Garment Industry Workers (1 speech)
    On 25 December, many Australians around the nation will come together to exchange gifts, love and delight, and the delicious tastes of the season. Australians love this time of the year and fully...
  • Select Committee on Red Tape (1 speech)
    I rise to speak about a 24 November article in TheAustralian by Adam Creighton, which reports that a trio of anti-smoking health nannies, led by Simon Chapman, provided a 'series of factual...
  • Queensland State Election (1 speech)
    Tonight I rise to talk about the increasing likelihood that Labor will be re-elected to govern the state of Queensland with a majority of 47 seats. I don't want to jinx it, but we're getting...
  • Human Rights (1 speech)
    In May this year, the High-Level Working Group for Health and Human Rights of Women, Children and Adolescents launched its report—the first of its kind, presented to both the World Health...
  • Capitalism (1 speech)
    When our transitory Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, announced a royal commission into banking, whose terms of reference he has since rorted, he added, 'It will not put capitalism on trial.' Maybe it...
  • National Security (1 speech)
    I rise to speak about aspects of Australia's national security, including parliamentary oversight of our intelligence agencies—an issue I briefly referred to in my first speech in the...