Member Statement – Sam Dastyari
...Any senior official who undermines the interests of the nation that they represent is not worthy of office, and the Leader of the Opposition should have the courage to remove the senator from this parliament...'
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Marriage Amendment (Definition & Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017
...Changing the definition of marriage is more than a legal issue; it's a social issue—a social issue that holds great cultural significance. This is why I have been, from the get-go, so supportive of a…
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Cashless Debit Card Bill
...The operating mechanism of the cashless debit card is simple enough: having 80 per cent of welfare payments to recipients quarantined to be spent in the best interest of welfare recipients and their dependants, and…
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Member Statement – Day For Daniel 2017
...As much as each and every one of us loves our children, so too did Bruce and Denise Morcombe love their child, Daniel, who in 2003, at the age of only 13, was abducted and…
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Private Members’ Business – Illicit Drugs
...I rise in the chamber today in enthusiastic support of the member for Tangney's motion acknowledging the commitment of the Turnbull government and the hard work of our law enforcement agencies, health workers and support…
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Matters of Public Importance – Employment
...the coalition government has created the environment for 825,500 extra jobs. Under the Labor Party's six years in office, do you know how many they created or enabled to be created? It was the opposite.…
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Housing Tax Integrity and Vacancy Fees Bill
...There are three key reforms in this bill. The first two seek to strengthen the integrity of the tax system, while the third goes to boosting the supply of rental properties in key markets. The…
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PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Climate Change
...This motion, unfortunately, seems to be more mindless nonsense from the Labor Party. They simply cannot face the reality when it comes to meaningful, sensible, responsible action on climate change or the delivery of secure and affordable…
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PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Mental Health
...Today I join with my colleagues to congratulate the government on its highly focused and targeted approach to mental health funding in the 2017 budget to broaden the scope and accessibility of mental health services and…
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PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Coral Bleaching
...There is no environmental ground to be opposing the Adani mine, as those opposite like to claim. At the end of the day, we should also be reminded the Great Barrier Reef has periodically faced challenges,…
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Fair Work Amendment (Ensuring Integrity) Bill
...This bill will help restore such principles by bringing back the faith and trust that all Australians should have in their workplace representatives. Unions are often said to be fighting for the integrity of their members,…
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Customs Amendment (Anti- Dumping Measures) Bill
...There are few more contentious issues to be had around the topic of international trade than the issue of dumping and the measures governments right around the world have exercised for a century or more to…
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Adjournment speech – Lottoland
...there's a new entrant that has come in the online gambling space of the lottery: Lottoland. And it concerns me. I started hearing about this player earlier in the year. A petition has since been…
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Higher Education Support Legislation Amendment (A More Sustainable, Responsive and Transparent Higher Education System) Bill
...The Labor Party seem to not understand that when money goes up, when you get more of something, that's actually not called a 'cut'. Nevertheless, does the government need to ensure that universities are more efficient? Absolutely,…
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Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Amendment Bill
...To the vast majority of us, nuclear science can seem incomprehensible. Say the word 'nuclear' in Australia and thoughts of nuclear weapons will be immediately invoked in many people's minds. It will immediately trigger debate…
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Member Statement – over-reaction to the Prime Minister holding and beer and a baby
...I did want to stand up today and make comments regarding the reaction that a photo posted by the Prime Minister when he was at a footy match triggered last Saturday. He was watching the…
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Private Members’ Business – Defence Industry
...As we all know, the world today is in a situation of increased volatility. The uncertainty that is gripping us both politically and economically is throwing up a set of challenges that have led to…
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Australian Border Force Amendment (Protected Information) Bill
...Today, the task of maintaining our national security is even more complex and more demanding of vigilance and specialist skills than ever before. There are more people on the move right now, globally, across national…
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Matters of Public Importance – Energy
...How about the Queensland state Labor government? It is another Labor government that has a 50 per cent renewable target. This is the Palaszczuk Labor government, which continues to price gouge consumers so that it…
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Member Statement – Bloomhill Cancer Care
...Bloomhill Cancer Care has been operating in Buderim on the Sunshine Coast now for 20 years. For 20 years they have been helping to care for and support people who are suffering from cancer...the federal…
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Welfare Reform Bill
...The Australian welfare system has for decades, ramping up over time, achieved an enormous redistribution of wealth to provide a level of support for the welfare of individuals and families courtesy of the Australian taxpayers…
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Electoral & Other Legislation Amendment Bill
It is essential that the authorisation of any and all electoral campaigning material is clearly labelled as such. Lobbyist agencies, including unions, should not be able to trick the Australian people into thinking they are…
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Member’s Statement – Father’s Day 2017
Today I am wearing a tie that my five-year-old daughter gave me for Father's Day. While I was flying to Canberra yesterday, Father's Day, it had me thinking. Here we are in Parliament, all of us…
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Member’s Statement – Buderim Foundation
The Buderim Foundation is a community philanthropic, not-for-profit up in my seat of Fairfax on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Its operating model is simply this: it receives donations and bequests; it invests those funds, generating income; it then…
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Fairfax Annual Report 2016/17 – video and full report
I am pleased to present you with my 2016/17 Annual Report for Fairfax. My first year as the Federal Member for Fairfax has been both challenging and rewarding. While I am proud of the achievements…
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GRIEVANCE DEBATE – Environmental Organisations
...Australian taxpayers deserve much greater accountability and transparency concerning the subsidies they provide to politically active environmental organisations than often, and in some cases habitually, engage in criminal behaviour. In this grievance debate, I am calling…
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Private Members’ Business – Energy
...The problems in South Australia and Victoria are well known, but the issue for resource-rich Queensland has to be: how has it come to this? How has the NEM state with by far the richest…
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Private Members’ Business – Queensland Employment
...Queensland ought to be the powerhouse of job creation. We should be, but if you look at the latest data, only South Australia had a higher unemployment rate, of 7.1 per cent to Queensland's 6.3…
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Member Statement – Fairfax Electorate Rural and Regional Services
...While almost seven million Australians live outside large metropolitan areas, of the 20 federal electorates with the lowest household incomes in Australia, 18 are located outside our capital cities. We need real solutions to rural…
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Member Statement – Sunshine Coast Lighting Netball Team
...I want to talk about last Saturday night, when nearly 9,000 screaming netball fans descended on the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for the climax of the Suncorp Super Netball competition with the Sunshine Coast lightning delivering…
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