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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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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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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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 – 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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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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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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Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No. 2) Bill 2017
...In the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No. 2) Bill 2017 the measures are, of course, part of the broader range of measures reflected in the government's National Innovation and Science Agenda that the…
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Aged Care and Fairfax Seniors Advisory Committee
...On the Sunshine Coast, where my electorate of Fairfax is based, we have a disproportionately large population of mature-age Australians - 19% of the population. It is why I decided earlier this year to establish…
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Private Members’ Business – North Korea
...When it comes to dealing with North Korea and ensuring the peace and stability of our region, I say to China: the United States and her allies, including Australia, are your real friends, and we…
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Private Members’ Business – Renewable Energy
...The climate is almost certainly changing, and we should do what we reasonably can to reduce emissions; however, the level of emphasis that has been placed on renewables in Australia and in other largely Western…
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Member Statement – Queensland Schools
...A form of restrictive censorship was recently recommended to the Queensland state Labor government, whereby children were not to speak about Christianity in the school play yard...'
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Matters of Public Importance – Turnbull Government
...I felt so desperately sorry for the Leader of the Opposition when he tried to present this MPI (matters of public importance) today. He struggled to characterise what the Labor Party stands for. Finally, he…
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Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Enterprise Incentives No. 1) Bill 2017
...This bill is part of a suite of measures reflecting this government's core commitment to the future of Australia's smart economy as contained in the National Innovation and Science Agenda. That agenda embraces a future…
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Condolence speech – Concetto Antonio AO
...I say from this side of the House, but probably more personally just from me and maybe also from those whom I went to school with, that we send our greatest sympathies to the Sciacca family.…
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Strengthening Requirements for Australian Citizenship
...Australia is bound by a common set of values and we need to ensure that those values are upheld and respected, just as we must ensure the rule of law. What is being proposed in…
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