Senate debates

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

  • Western Australia: Agriculture (1 speech)
    I've often noted during previous contributions in this chamber the importance of our regional industries to the economic strength of our nation. Nowhere is this truer than in my home state of...
  • Cooper, Professor David, AO (2 speeches)
    It is with deep regret and sadness that I rise to pay tribute to the late Professor David Cooper AO, who passed away last Sunday. I do so as someone with deep respect for David Cooper but also as...
  • Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017, Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Bill 2017, National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017 (1 speech)
    With its package of bills on foreign interference introduced on 7 December last year, it is clear the Turnbull government is determined to undermine civil society, to hamstring it. In fact, the...
  • Goodwin, Dr Vanessa (1 speech)
    It is a privilege for me tonight to rise to pay tribute to a wonderful Tasmanian whose life, sadly, was cut far too short, and that's the late Dr Vanessa Goodwin, who was the Tasmanian...
  • Commonwealth Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse (1 speech)
    I was at an emotional and very informative public hearing of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee in Melbourne recently. We were hearing evidence about the bill officially called the...
  • Regional Queensland (1 speech)
    I want to talk about regional Queensland, federal Labor and federal Labor leader Bill Shorten's ongoing commitment to ensuring that we are representing the interests of regional Queensland. I...
  • Human Trafficking (1 speech)
    I speak tonight about alarming recent media reports on the surge in paedophile live streaming, also known as cybersex trafficking. In June last year the Senate passed the Passports Legislation...
  • First Nations Women's Forum (1 speech)
    Tonight I want to briefly report on a women's forum we held last week. I'm immensely proud to stand in the Senate and do this, and I'm even more pleased that Senator McCarthy is here with me....
  • Video Game Industry (1 speech)
    Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to tour the Melbourne based collaborative video game development space known as The Arcade. Guided by the Game Developers' Association of Australia's Tony...
  • Charitable Organisations (1 speech)
    Charities play a valuable role in Australian society. From the Adelaide Fringe Artist Fund to the Australian Council of Social Services and from the Women Lawyers' Associations of South Australia...
  • Hands Off Our Charities (1 speech)
    A few weeks ago, the Labor Party, together with minor parties and crossbenchers, met with Hands Off Our Charities, a group representing organisations as diverse as the Uniting Church, Oxfam and...
  • New South Wales: Bushfires (1 speech)
    In the time available, I'd like to report to the Senate some impressions of recent events on the South Coast of New South Wales. The Prime Minister and Minister Angus Taylor, the minister...
  • Home Care Packages (1 speech)
    I rise this evening to speak about another of the Turnbull government's train wrecks that are unfolding before our eyes: the aged-care home-care package waiting list crisis. Today in the Senate...
  • Environmental Conservation, Infrastructure: Housing Acquisition (1 speech)
    In the 1980s, with the help of AusAID—the Australian government's former aid agency—the scientific community, indigenous activists and people from Ecuador and abroad, the Los Cedros...
  • Tropical Cyclone Marcus, MJD Foundation: 10th Anniversary (1 speech)
    I would like to speak in the Senate tonight about Cyclone Marcus, which impacted on the cities of Darwin and Palmerston and rural areas on Saturday. I just want to point out to the Senate the...
  • Defence Facilities: Chemical Contamination (1 speech)
    Recently, the New South Wales state government, through New South Wales Health, conducted a study into whether a cancer cluster existed in the Williamtown area as a result of PFAS contamination....
  • International Day of Forests (1 speech)
    Tomorrow is International Day of Forests. While we celebrate the beauty of forests across the globe, it's also a chance for us to have a sober look at what we're doing to the forests of...
  • Turnbull Government (1 speech)
    The Turnbull government is in terminal decline. This is a government incapable of addressing the key issues facing Australians. This is a government that lacks cohesive policies on economics,...
  • Donations to Political Parties (1 speech)
    The late, great John Clarke once joked that, having defeated Labor in the semifinals, capital was set to take on democracy. 'It'll be an absolute cracker,' he said. 'You won't be able to get a...
  • World Down Syndrome Day (1 speech)
    In 2012, the UN decided to designate 21 March as World Down Syndrome Day and called on people across the world to use this day to work together to raise awareness of people with Down syndrome and...
  • Gold Coast: Black Swan Lake, Iraq War, Queensland Teachers' Union (1 speech)
    I'd like to try to cover a few different topics in my 10 minutes this evening. I'd firstly like to particularly note and pay tribute to a whole range of people in the community on the Gold Coast...