Senate debates

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

  • Road Safety (1 speech)
    Nineteen years old: that is the age of the latest victim killed on our roads, right here in Canberra—a life lost too soon, a young life which has now joined more than 1,170 people killed on...
  • Ipswich: Waste Management (1 speech)
    Today I stand up for the people of Ipswich in relation to the New Chum landfill site, which has been an environmental disaster for the people of Ipswich. I stand up for the people of Collingwood...
  • Tertiary Education (1 speech)
    Today I rise to speak about the urgent need to tackle the student debt crisis. Each year we send thousands of students out into the world with a burden of increasingly large, crushing debts that...
  • Road Transport (1 speech)
    I'm going to quote words today from a very good friend of mine, Mike Williams. Mike Williams is a long-distance truck driver, very well-known in the trucking industry, and is also a co-host of...
  • National Disability Insurance Scheme (1 speech)
    Today over 4.3 million Australians live with a disability. Since its implementation in 2013, the NDIS has grown to transform the lives of over 540,000 Australians with significant and permanent...
  • Workplace Relations: McDonald's Australia (1 speech)
    [inaudible] tiring work in hot, often dangerous conditions and too often dealing with difficult and impatient customers. In recognition of that fact, fast-food workers are entitled to a paid...
  • COVID-19: Vaccination (1 speech)
    I would like to speak about the vaccine rollout, and, in particular, the number of COVID cases we've had in the last nine months. Effectively, Australia opened up from its lockdowns in December...
  • Australia (1 speech)
    Although I was born in India near the Pakistani border, and spent my formative years there, as a senator I am a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia. I normally finish my speeches...
  • Shark Nets (2 speeches)
    There is certainly only one Senator Malcolm Roberts! So far this season in Queensland, we've seen 12 federally protected humpback whales entangled in shark nets. Twelve federally protected whales...
  • Atrial Fibrillation Awareness Week (1 speech)
    Composer Irving Berlin wrote 'My heart beats so that I can hardly speak' in the song 'Cheek to Cheek' for the musical Top Hat. While this No. 1 song depicts love, there are other reasons for a...
  • Asbestos (1 speech)
    This week we have seen the last resident of the infamous asbestos-riddled WA town of Wittenoom move out. This closes the door on what has been a very dark chapter of Western Australian history,...
  • Workplace Relations: Southern Cross University (1 speech)
    I rise, as I have many times before, to speak about the plight of higher education workers—specifically, in this case, the staff at Southern Cross University. Following reports about...
  • Geelong Football Club (1 speech)
    It's my great pleasure to rise and pay tribute to an extraordinary footy club, the mighty Geelong Cats. I was so proud to be there on the weekend, watching a magnificent club underpinned by...
  • Galiwin'ku Women's Space (1 speech)
    I was pleased to be able to visit leaders in Galiwin'ku in far north-east Arnhem Land earlier this year with Senator Jenny McAllister and Marion Scrymgour MP to listen to the community about the...
  • Australia (1 speech)
    As we return home to our families this weekend, I am reminded of the reason many came to this chamber in the first place. We are here for our families, our children. With my first grandchild on...
  • Macneil, Mr Angus, AM (1 speech)
    Today I would like to take the opportunity to mark the life and mourn the passing of Angus Macneil, and celebrate his life. Angus was a stalwart of the Liberal Party in New South Wales, coming...
  • Aviation Industry (1 speech)
    Just when you think Qantas can't sink any lower, it outdoes itself again. It is not enough that Qantas has illegally sacked 2000 ground staff, dangerously understaffed its engineering workforce,...
  • Pensions And Benefits (1 speech)
    Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, we know that millions of Australians are just scraping by on meagre income support payments that are well below the poverty line. How can...
  • Tasmania: Australian Football League (1 speech)
    A couple of weeks ago I spoke in the chamber about the Tasmanian bid for the 19th standalone team in the AFL and questioned the demand from the AFL for a new stadium as a part of that bid. My...
  • Tasmania: Child Care (1 speech)
    There's a group of people in Tasmania who I really admire: grandparents raising grandchildren. These grandparents have stepped up to raise their grandchildren in really tough circumstances....
  • Emmanuel Christian Community School (1 speech)
    Emmanuel Christian Community School in Girrawheen, close to my electorate office in Perth's northern suburbs, celebrated its 40th anniversary on 14 August this year. Past and current students,...
  • Cannabis (1 speech)
    Forty per cent of Australians have used cannabis. But it's not the wealthy, the privileged or politicians who go to prison for smoking a joint. Do you know why? Because the war on drugs isn't...
  • McDonald's: Workplace Relations (1 speech)
    Over 250,000 current and former employees of McDonald's right across this country may be eligible for compensation as part of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association's latest...
  • Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (1 speech)
    Today I acknowledge 40 years of remarkable work from a small and highly effective agency in my portfolio. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research was established by...