I inform the Senate that I have received a copy of the opening speech which Her Excellency the Governor-General was pleased to deliver to both houses of the parliament.
Ordered that consideration of the Governor-General’s opening speech be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.
): by leave—I move:
That standing order 3(4) be suspended to enable the Senate to consider business other than that of a formal character before the address-in-reply to the Governor-General’s opening speech has been adopted.
Question agreed to.
): by leave—As we settle down to the serious business of the 44th Parliament, I am sure we will be remembering all those in the Philippines typhoon tragedy.
Mr President, I can inform the Senate that following the election held on 7 September 2013 in which the Liberal-National Party coalition was given the privilege of government by the people of Australia, Her Excellency the Governor General commissioned the Prime Minister, the Hon. Tony Abbott MP, to form a government. Ministers and parliamentary secretaries were duly appointed on 18 September 2013. For the information of senators, I will table a list of the full ministry. The document lists all ministers and parliamentary secretaries and the offices they hold; it shows those ministers who comprise cabinet; it provides details of representational arrangements in each chamber.
I can inform the Senate that the Prime Minister has deemed it appropriate to appoint me as Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator the Hon. George Brandis QC as the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Senator the Hon. Mitchell Fifield as the Manager of Government Business in the Senate. I congratulate in particular all of those of my colleagues who have received promotions, and I refer to Senators Cormann, Cash and Sinodinos. I also want to acknowledge the fine contribution of Senator Ian Macdonald whilst he served on the frontbench, and I am sure that he will continue to make representations with the normal vim and vigour that he provides in this place.
I can also inform the Senate that Senator Kroger will continue as the Chief Government Whip in the Senate and that Senators Bushby and Back will continue as deputy government whips in the Senate. In anticipation of announcements by other senators and party leaders in relation to positions, can I simply offer my congratulations to all those involved, especially Senators Xenophon and Madigan, who I am sure had very hectic party room meetings to determine their positions.
Mr President, I observe that you are a true reflection of the Australian political landscape, because I have just discovered that your right profile is a lot more attractive than your left. But I can assure you that we, as a coalition government, will seek to work with you and with all senators in ensuring that we devote ourselves to the peace, order and good government of the Commonwealth. I thank the Senate. I seek leave to have the ministry list included in the Hansard.
Leave granted.
The document read as follows—
ABBOTT MINISTRY
16 September 2013
Each box represents a portfolio. Cabinet Ministers are shown in bold type. As a general rule, there is one department in each portfolio. However, there is a Department of Human Services in the Social Services portfolio and a Department of Veterans’ Affairs in the Defence portfolio. The title of a department does not necessarily reflect the title of a minister in all cases.
): by leave—I inform honourable senators that Senator Bridget McKenzie has been appointed the Nationals whip in the Senate, Senator Nash has been reappointed as the Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate and I have been appointed as Leader of the Nationals in the Senate.
by leave—I advise the Senate that subsequent to the election I have been elected as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate for the Labor Party—on this occasion we are the opposition. I also advise the Senate that my Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate is Senator Stephen Conroy—well known to the chamber—and Senator Moore has agreed to serve as Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, for which we thank her most gratefully. I further advise the Senate that Senator McEwan will be continuing as our chief whip, ably assisted in the deputy opposition whip positions by Senators Urquhart and Bilyk.
We look forward as the opposition in this 44th Parliament to holding this government to account and look forward to what I am sure will be a robust debate in this place. I do, however, congratulate Senator Abetz and those who serve as ministers of the Crown. It is a great privilege to serve as a minister of the Crown for the Commonwealth of Australia.
I also seek leave to have incorporated in Hansard the full list of Labor's shadow ministry.
Leave granted.
The document read as follows—
SHADOW MINISTRY
18 October 2013
by leave—I wish to inform the Senate that subsequent to the election I continue as Leader of the Australian Greens, Mr Adam Bandt as deputy leader and Senator Rachel Siewert as the whip. For the information of the Senate, I seek leave to table a copy of the Australian Greens officeholders and portfolio list.
Leave granted.
Pursuant to standing order 12, I lay on the table a warrant nominating senators as temporary chairs of committees when the Deputy President and Chairman of Committees is absent.
by leave—I move:
That leave of absence be granted to Senator Back from 12 November to the end of the 2013 sittings on account of parliamentary business.
Question agreed to.
by leave—I move:
That leave of absence be granted to Senator Bishop for the period from 12 November 2013 to the end of the 2013 sittings on account of parliamentary business.
Question agreed to.
by leave—I move:
That the temporary order of the Senate relating to the open-ended adjournment debate on Tuesdays continue to operate as a temporary order until 30 June 2014.
Question agreed to.
by leave—I move:
That the Senate meet on Wednesday, 13 November 2013.
Question agreed to.
I present documents listed on today's Order of Business at item 15, presented to the President, Deputy President and temporary chairs of committees after the Senate adjourned on 28 June 2013.
The list read as follows—
(a) Documents certified by the President
1. Department of the Senate—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
2. Parliamentary Service Commissioner—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
3. Department of Parliamentary Services—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
Parliamentary Budget Office—Report for 2012-13 (received 1 November 2013).
(b) Committee reports (pursuant to Senate standing order 38 (7))
1. Environment and Communications References Committee—Protection of Australia's threatened species and ecological communities—
Interim reports (received 4 , 23 and 31 July 2013).
Report, Hansard record of proceedings, documents presented to the committee, additional information and submissions (received 7 August 2013).
2. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—Beef imports into Australia—
Interim report (received 5 July 2013). Report (received 12 July 2013). Erratum (received 8 August 2013).
3. Environment and Communications References Committee—Extreme weather events—Interim reports (received 10 and 23 July 2013).
Report, Hansard record of proceedings, documents presented to the committee, additional information and submissions (received 7 August 2013).
4. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—Sports science in Australia—
Interim reports (received 10 and 15 July 2013).
Report, Hansard record of proceedings, documents presented to the committee, additional information and submissions (received 23 July 2013).
5. Environment and Communications References Committee—Report—Regulatory arrangements in dealing with the simultaneous transmission of radio programs, additional information and submissions (received 12 July 2013).
6. Community Affairs References Committee—Report—Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of people with disabilities in Australia, Hansard record of proceedings, documents presented to the committee, additional information and submissions (received 17 July 2013).
7. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—Interim reports—
Fresh ginger import risk analysis
Fresh pineapple imports
New Zealand potatoes import risk analysis (received 19 July and 4 September 2013).
8. Environment and Communications References Committee—Report—Telstra licence conditions, and submissions (received 19 July 2013).
9. Treaties—Joint Standing Committee—Report 135: Treaties tabled on 12 March and 14 May 2013 (received 23 July 2013).
10. Law Enforcement—Joint Statutory Committee—Report—Spectrum for public safety mobile broadband, Hansard record of proceedings, additional information and submissions (received 23 July 2013).
11. Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit—Report 440—Annual report 2012-13 (received 26 July 2013).
12. Corporations and Financial Services—Joint Statutory Committee—Report—Statutory oversight of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission: the role of gatekeepers in Australia's financial services system (received 29 July 2013).
13. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—Australian citrus industry— Interim report (received 31 July 2013). Second interim report (received 27 September 2013).
14. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—Ownership arrangements of grain handling—
Interim report (received 31 July 2013).
Second interim report (received 30 August 2013).
15. Community Affairs References Committee—Impacts on health of air quality in Australia— Interim report (received 12 August 2013). Report, Hansard record of proceedings, documents presented to the committee, additional information and submissions (received 16 August 2013).
16. Community Affairs References Committee—Interim report—Care and management of younger and older Australians living with dementia and behavioural and psychiatric symptoms of dementia (BPSD) (received 12 August 2013).
17. Community Affairs Legislation Committee—Report—Social Security Legislation Amendment (Public Housing Tenants' Support) Bill 2013 [Provisions] (received 12 August 2013).
18. Community Affairs Legislation Committee—Report—Homelessness Bill 2013 [Provisions] and Homelessness (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2013 [Provisions] (received 12 August 2013).
19. Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee—Report—Telecommunications Amendment (Get a Warrant) Bill 2013, and submissions (received 20 August 2013).
20. Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee—Report—African Development Bank Bill 2013 [Provisions], and submissions (received 20 August 2013).
21. Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee—Defence Legislation Amendment (Woomera Prohibited Area) Bill 2013—
Report, and submissions (received 20 August 2013). Erratum (received 21 August 2013).
22. Cyber Safety—Select Committee—Report—Options for addressing the issue of sexting by minors, Hansard record of proceedings, additional information and submissions (received 30 August 2013).
23. Environment and Communications Legislation Committee—Report—Copyright Legislation Amendment (Fair Go for Fair Use) Bill 2013, and submissions (received 20 September 2013).
24. Community Affairs Legislation Committee—Annual reports (No. 2 of 2013) (received 25 October 2013).
Community Affairs References Committee—Report—Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia, additional information and submissions (received 25 October 2013).
(c) Government responses to parliamentary committee reports (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
1. Community Affairs References Committee—Report—The role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration regarding medical devices, particularly Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) breast implants (received 31 July 2013).
2. Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee—The performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services—
Interim report, dated July 2013 (received 2 August 2013). Report, dated July 2013 (received 2 August 2013).
3. National Broadband Network—Joint Standing Committee—Fifth report—Review of the rollout of the National Broadband Network, dated July 2013 (received 2 August 2013).
4. National Broadband Network—Select Committee—Second, third, fourth and final reports, dated July 2013 (received 2 August 2013).
(d) Government documents (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
1. National Environment Protection Council (NEPC)—Third review of the National Environment Protection Council Acts (Commonwealth, State and Territory), dated December 2012, and response to the report of the third review, dated April 2013 (received 1 July 2013).
2. Gene Technology Regulator—Quarterly report for the period 1 January to 31 March 2013 (received 3 July 2013).
3. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—Australia in the Asian Century: towards 2025— Country strategy:
China (received 29 August 2013). India (received 28 August 2013). Indonesia (received 5 July 2013). Japan (received 29 August 2013). South Korea (received 9 August 2013).
4. Australian Human Rights Commission—Audit report—Review into the treatment of women at the Australian Defence Force Academy, dated July 2013 (received 23 July 2013).
5. Department of Immigration and Citizenship—Access and equity in government services— Report for 2010-12 (received 26 July 2013).
6. Airservices Australia—Corporate plan 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2018 (received 31 July 2013).
7. Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 and Freedom of Information Act 1982— Review on the operation of the Acts Report by Mr Allan Hawke AC, dated 1 July 2013 (received 2 August 2013).
8. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare—Australia's welfare 2013—Eleventh biennial report (received 7 August 2013).
9. Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education—Australian vocational education and training system—Report for 2011 (received 7 August 2013).
10. Civil Aviation Safety Authority—Corporate plan 2013-14 to 2015-16 (received 16 August 2013).
11. Sydney Airport Demand Management Act 1997—Quarterly report on the maximum movement limit for Sydney Airport for the period 1 April to 30 June 2013 (received 2 September 2013).
12. Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy—Report for 2012-13 (received 6 September 2013).
13. Moorebank Intermodal Company—Statement of corporate intent 2013 to 2014 (received 6 September 2013).
14. Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997—Live-stock mortalities during exports by sea—Report for the period 1 January to 30 June 2013 (received 13 September 2013).
15. Productivity Commission—Report No. 63—Safeguards inquiry into the import of processed tomato products, dated 18 September 2013 (received 26 September 2013).
16. Productivity Commission—Report No. 64—Safeguards inquiry into the import of processed fruit products, dated 18 September 2013 (received 26 September 2013).
17. Commonwealth Ombudsman—Report for 2012-13 on the Ombudsman's activities under Part V of the Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (received 1 October 2013).
18. Defence Abuse Response Taskforce—Third interim report to the Attorney-General and Minister for Defence, dated September 2013 (received 4 October 2013).
19. Medibank Private Limited—
Report for 2012-13 (received 8 October 2013).
Statement of corporate intent 2013-14 (received 8 October 2013).
20. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care—Report for 2012-13 (received 15 October 2013).
21. Administrative Appeals Tribunal—Report for 2012-13 (received 17 October 2013).
22. Australian Federal Police (AFP)—Report for 2012-13 (received 17 October 2013).
23. Crimes Act 1914—Authorisations for the acquisition and use of assumed identities—Australian Federal Police—Report for 2012-13 (received 17 October 2013).
24. Crimes Act 1914—Controlled operations—Report for 2012-13 (received 17 October 2013).
25. Witness Protection Act 1994—Report for 2012-13 on the operation of the National Witness Protection Program (received 17 October 2013).
26. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
27. Australian Hearing Services (Australian Hearing)—Report for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
28. Australian Postal Corporation (Australia Post)—
Report for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
Diversity and inclusion report for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
Statement of corporate intent 2013-14 to 2016-17 (received 18 October 2013).
29. Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office—Report for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
30. Classification Board and Classification Review Board—Reports for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
31. Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS)—Report for 2012-13 (received 18 October 2013).
32. Commonwealth Grants Commission—Report for 2012-13 (received 22 October 2013).
33. Department of Human Services—Report for 2012-13 (received 22 October 2013).
34. Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)—Report for 2012-13 (received
22 October 2013).
35. Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS)—Report for 2012-13 (received
23 October 2013).
36. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)—Report for 2012-13 (received 23 October 2013).
37. Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC)—Report No. 121—Report for 2012-13 (received 23 October 2013).
38. Family Court of Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 23 October 2013).
39. Family Law Council—Report for 2012-13 (received 23 October 2013).
40. Health Workforce Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 23 October 2013).
41. National Gallery of Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 23 October 2013).
42. Australian Government Solicitor (AGS)—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
43. Australian Maritime Safety Authority—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
44. Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
45. Australian Research Council (ARC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
46. Federal Circuit Court of Australia (formerly Federal Magistrates Court of Australia)—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
47. Federal Court of Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
48. Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
49. National Water Commission—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
50. Reserve Bank of Australia—Reports for 2012-13—
Annual report (received 24 October 2013). Equity and diversity (received 24 October 2013).
Payments System Board (received 24 October 2013).
51. Screen Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
52. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet—Report for 2012-13 (received 24 October 2013).
53. Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 25 October 2013).
54. Inspector-General of Taxation—Report for 2012-13 (received 25 October 2013).
55. Private Health Insurance Ombudsman—Report for 2012-13 (received 25 October 2013).
56. Superannuation Complaints Tribunal—Report for 2012-13 (received 25 October 2013).
57. Australian War Memorial—Report for 2012-13 (received 25 October 2013).
58. Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry—Report for 2012-13 (received 25 October 2013).
59. Army and Air Force Canteen Service (AAFCANS)—Report for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
60. Australian Trade Commission (Austrade)—Report for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
61. Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)—Report for the period 3 December 2012 to 30 June 2013 (received 28 October 2013).
62. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare—Report for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
63. Australian Taxation Office (ATO)—Report of the Commissioner of Taxation for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
64. Cancer Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
65. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities—Report for 2012-13, including reports on the operation of Acts administered by the department, report of the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, and financial statements of the Natural Heritage Trust of Australia (received 28 October 2013).
66. Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
67. Tax Practitioners Board—Report for 2012-13 (received 28 October 2013).
68. Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency Limited—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
69. Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
70. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) —Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
71. Australian Institute of Criminology—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
72. Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
73. Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
74. Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
75. Bureau of Meteorology—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
76. CrimTrac Agency—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
77. Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs—Report for 2012-13, including the Aboriginals Benefit Account and Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services reports for 2012-13 and financial statements for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Account (received 29 October 2013).
78. Repatriation Commission, Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission and the Department of Veterans' Affairs—Reports for 2012-13, including financial statements of the Defence Service Homes Insurance Scheme (received 29 October 2013).
79. Veterans' Review Board—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
80. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission—Report for 2012-13, including report of the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) (received 29 October 2013).
81. Australian Human Rights Commission—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
82. Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
83. Companies Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board (CALDB)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
84. Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
85. Crimes Act 1914—Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity—Reports for 2012- 13—
Authorisations for the acquisition and use of assumed identities (received 29 October 2013).
Witness identity protection certificates (received 29 October 2013).
86. Department of Finance and Deregulation—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
87. Department of Immigration and Citizenship—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
88. Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
89. NBN Co Limited—
Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
Letter to the Chairman of NBN Co Ltd (Mr Switkowski) from the Minister for Communication and the Minister for Finance, dated 24 October 2013 (received 29 October 2013).
90. Productivity Commission—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
91. Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency—Report for 2012-13 (received 29 October 2013).
92. Australia Council for the Arts (Australia Council)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
93. Australian Information Commissioner—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
94. Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Limited (AITSL)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
95. Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
96. Australian Public Service Commission—Report of the Australian Public Service Commissioner for 2012-13, including report of the Merit Protection Commissioner (received 30 October 2013).
97. Australian Sports Commission—Report for 2012-13, including financial statements of the Australian Sports Foundation Limited (received 30 October 2013).
98. Commonwealth Ombudsman—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
99. ComSuper—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
100. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
101. Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate (Fair Work Building and Construction)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
102. Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia (Australian Financial Security Authority) —Report for 2012-13, including reports on the operation of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (received 30 October 2013).
103. International Air Services Commission—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
104. Remuneration Tribunal—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
105. Airservices Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
106. Attorney-General's Department—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
107. Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
108. Australian Crime Commission (ACC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
109. Australian Electoral Commission (AEC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
110. Australian National Maritime Museum—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
111. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
112. Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
113. Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education—Report for 2012-13, including reports of IP Australia and the Tuition Protection Service (received 30 October 2013).
114. Department of Infrastructure and Transport—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
115. Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport—Report for 2012-13, including report on the operation of the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 (received 30 October 2013).
116. Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, including report of Geoscience Australia— Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
117. Gene Technology Regulator—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
118. Moorebank Intermodal Company Limited—Report for the period 13 December 2012 to 30 June 2013 (received 30 October 2013).
119. National Competition Council—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
120. National Film and Sound Archive—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
121. National Health Performance Authority (NHPA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
122. Office of Parliamentary Counsel—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
123. Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
124. Public Lending Right Committee—Report for 2012-13 (received 30 October 2013).
125. Supervising Scientist—Report for 2012-13 on the operation of the Environment Protection (Alligator Rivers Region) Act 1978 (received 30 October 2013).
126. Australian Bureau of Statistics—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
127. Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)—Report for 2012-13 (received
31 October 2013).
128. Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
129. Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
130. Australian Statistics Advisory Council—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
131. Bundanon Trust Limited—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
132. Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
133. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
134. Fair Work Ombudsman—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
135. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
136. Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS)—Report for 2012-13 (received
137. National Archives of Australia and National Archives of Australia Advisory Council—Reports for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
138. National Blood Authority—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
139. National Health Funding Body—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
140. National Health Funding Pool—Report for 2012-13, including financial statements for state and territory State Pool Accounts (received 31 October 2013).
141. National Library of Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
142. National Museum of Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
143. Repatriation Medical Authority—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
144. Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission and Comcare—Reports for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
145. Seafarers Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Authority (Seacare)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
146. Sydney Harbour Federation Trust—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
147. Tourism Australia—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
148. Aged Care Commissioner—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
149. Auditing and Assurance Standards Board—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
150. Australian Accounting Standards Board—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
151. Australian Customs and Border Protection Service—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
152. Australian National Preventive Health Agency—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
153. Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
154. Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
155. Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
156. Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
157. Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
158. Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
159. Clean Energy Regulator—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
160. Department of Health and Ageing—Report for 2012-13 (2 volumes), including report of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority, Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee annual report on processes, and financial statements for the Therapeutic Goods Administration (received 31 October 2013).
161. Department of the Treasury—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
162. Director of National Parks—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013).
163. Financial Reporting Council—Report for 2012-13 on auditor independence (received 31 October 2013).
164. Future Fund Board of Guardians and Future Fund Management Agency (Future Fund)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
165. National Australia Day Council Limited—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
166. National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
167. National Mental Health Commission—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
168. National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
169. Professional Services Review—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
170. Takeovers Panel—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
171. Wine Australia Corporation—Report for 2012-13 (received 31 October 2013) .
172. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)—Report for 2012-13 (received 1 November 2013) .
173. Australian Rail Track Corporation Limited (ARTC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 1 November 2013) .
174. Climate Change Authority—Report for 2012-13 (received 1 November 2013) .
175. National Transport Commission (NTC Australia)—Report for 2012-13 (received 1 November 2013) .
176. Fair Work Commission (formerly Fair Work Australia)—Report for 2012-13 (received 4 November 2013) .
177. Road Safety Remuneration Act 2012— Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal—Report for 2012 13 (received 4 November 2013) .
178. Australian Strategic Policy Institute Limited (ASPI)—Report for 2012-13 (received 6 November 2013) .
179. Defence Housing Australia (DHA)—Report for 2012-13 (received 6 November 2013) .
180. Old Parliament House (Museum of Australian Democracy)—Report for 2012-13 (received 6 November 2013).
181. Private Health Insurance Administration Council—Report for 2012-13 (received 6 November 2013) .
182. Services Trust Funds—Royal Australian Navy Relief Trust Fund, Australian Military Forces Relief Trust Fund and Royal Australian Air Force Welfare Trust Fund—Reports for 2012-13 (received 6 November 2013) .
183. Royal Australian Air Force Veterans' Residences Trust Fund—Report for 2012-13 (received
7 November 2013) .
184. Customs Act 1901—Conduct of Australian Customs and Border Protection Service officers [Managed deliveries]—Report 2012-13 (received 11 November 2013).
185. Migration Review Tribunal and Refugee Review Tribunal—Report for 2012-13 (received 11 November 2013).
186. National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)—Report for 2012-13 (received 11 November 2013).
187. Communications—Australian Broadcasting Corporation—Audio description trial on ABC television—Pursuant to the resolution of the Senate of 21 November 2012, dated December 2012 (received 11 November 2013).
(e) Ministerial Statements (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
1. Approval of exemption to guidelines on information and advertising campaigns by Australian Government departments and agencies—Ministerial statement by the Special Minister of State and Minister for Public Service and Integrity (Mr Dreyfus) (received 24 July 2013).
(f) Reports of the Auditor-General (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
1. Report no. 1 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Design and implementation of the Liveable Cities Program: Department of Infrastructure and Transport (received 8 August 2013) .
2. Report no. 2 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Administration of the agreements for the management, operation and funding of Mersey Community Hospital: Department of Health and Ageing; Department of Health and Human Services, Tasmania; Tasmanian Health Organisation—North West (received 14 August 2013) .
3. Report no. 3 of 2013-14—Performance audit—AIR 8000 phase 2—C-27J Spartan Battlefield airlift aircraft: Department of Defence (received 15 August 2013) .
4. Australian National Audit Office—Report for 2012-2013 (received 24 September 2013).
5. Report no. 4 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Confidentiality in government contracts: Senate order for departmental and agency contracts (calendar year 2012 compliance) across agencies (received 26 September 2013) .
6. Report no. 5 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Administration of the taxation of personal services income (received 15 October 2013) .
7. Report no. 6 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Capability development reform: Department of Defence (received 30 October 2013) .
8. Report no. 7 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Agency management of arrangements to meet Australia's treaty obligations (received 31 October 2013) .
9. Report no. 8 of 2013-14—Performance audit—The Australian Government Reconstruction Inspectorate's conduct of value for money reviews of flood reconstruction projects in Queensland: Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (received 6 November 2013) .
Report no. 9 of 2013-14—Performance audit—Determination and collection of financial industry levies: Australian Prudential Regulation Authority; Department of the Treasury (received 7 November 2013).
(g) Tabling of guidelines pursuant to an Act (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
RETURN TO ORDER (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
1. Unproclaimed legislation—Document providing details of all provisions of Acts which come into effect on proclamation and which have not been proclaimed, including statements of reasons for their non-proclamation and information relating to the timetable for their operation, as at 30 July 2013, dated August 2013 (received 2 September 2013).
STATEMENTS OF COMPLIANCE WITH SENATE ORDERS (pursuant to Senate standing order 166)
Indexed lists of departmental and agency files (continuing order of the Senate of 30 May 1996, as amended on 3 December 1998):
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry portfolio (received 30 August 2013) .
Australian Electoral Commission (received 24 October 2013).
Comcare (received 1 August 2013) .
Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation (received 24 October 2013).
ComSuper (received 24 October 2013).
Department of Defence (received 28 August 2013).
Department of Finance and Deregulation (received 24 October 2013).
Department of Veterans' Affairs (received 27 August 2013) .
Future Fund Management Agency (received 24 October 2013).
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio (received 22 August 2013) .
Health and Ageing portfolio (received 13 September 2013).
Resources, Energy and Tourism portfolio (received 6 September 2013).
Safe Work Australia (received 4 September 2013).
Seacare (received 4 September 2013).
Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities portfolio (received 6 September 2013).
Lists of contracts (continuing order of the Senate of 20 June 2001, as amended on 27 September 2001 and 18 June, 26 June and 4 December 2003):
Attorney-General's portfolio (received 24 October 2013). Australian Electoral Commission (received 10 September 2013).
Australian National Preventive Health Agency (received 30 August 2013).
Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency [3] (received 30 July and 30 August 2013).
Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy portfolio (received 6 September 2013). Bureau of Meteorology (received 6 September 2013). Cancer Australia (received 2 October 2013).
ComSuper (received 10 September 2013).
Department of Finance and Deregulation (received 10 September 2013).
Department of Health and Ageing (received 30 August 2013). Department of Human Services (received 6 September 2013).
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities portfolio (received 6 September 2013).
Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs portfolio (received 28 August 2013).
Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio (received 4 September 2013 ). Future Fund Management Agency (received 10 September 2013). Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (received 6 September 2013). Immigration and Citizenship portfolio (received 29 October 2013). Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (received 30 August 2013).
Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education portfolio (received 30 August 2013) .
Infrastructure and Transport portfolio (received 2 September 2013).
Murray-Darling Basin Authority (received 6 September 2013).
National Blood Authority [2] (received 23 July and 30 August 2013).
National Health and Medical Research Council [2] (received 7 and 30 August 2013) .
National Health Performance Authority (received 13 September 2013).
National Water Commission (received 6 September 2013).
Organ and Tissue Authority (received 30 August 2013).
Private Health Insurance Ombudsman [2] (received 30 August 2013).
Professional Services Review [2] (received 30 August 2013).
Resources, Energy and Tourism portfolio (received 3 September 2013) .
Treasury portfolio (received 19 August 2013) .
Veterans' Affairs portfolio (received 10 September 2013).
List of departmental and agency appointments and vacancies (continuing order of the Senate of 24 June 2008, as amended):
Attorney-General's portfolio (received 6 November 2013).
Communications portfolio ( received 18 October 2013).
Department of Education (received 8 November 2013).
Department of Human Services (received 8 November 2013).
Department of Immigration and Border Protection (received 6 November 2013).
Finance portfolio (received 11 November 2013).
Industry portfolio (received 7 November 2013).
Lists of departmental and agency grants (continuing order of the Senate of 24 June 2008):
Attorney-General's portfolio (received 11 November 2013).
Cancer Australia (received 15 October 2013).
Communications portfolio (received 18 October 2013).
Department of Health (received 8 November 2013).
Department of Immigration and Border Protection (received 6 November 2013).
Environment portfolio (received 8 November 2013).
Finance portfolio (received 11 November 2013).
Human Services portfolio (received 8 November 2013).
Industry portfolio (received 7 November 2013).
In accordance with the usual practice and with the concurrence of the Senate, government responses will be incorporated in Hansard.
The documents read as follows—
Australian Government Response to Senate Community Affairs References Committee Report on The role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration regarding medical devices, particularly Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) breast implants
Government response to recommendations
Response:
The Australian Government notes the recommendation, and undertakes to bring it to the notice of the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) for consideration.
Codes relating to the conduct of medical practitioners are the responsibility of the MBA. The MBA Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia describes the ethical and professional standards that are expected to be met by all doctors registered to practise in Australia. It specifically covers informed consent (section 3.5).
Where a practitioner is believed to be acting outside the Code of Conduct, a notification can be made to Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The practitioner may then be subject to investigation or performance assessment by the Board so that appropriate action can be taken to protect the public.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with this recommendation, noting that in the context of the Report the recommendation refers specifically to high risk medical devices.
In 2010, the TGA implemented a process under which all annual reports required to be submitted by sponsors of Class III, Active Implantable Medical Devices and implantable Class IIb medical devices for the first three years of inclusion of the device on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods are audited and reviewed. All such reports have since this time been so audited and reviewed. Following the TGA's review of annual reports, appropriate regulatory action is taken where necessary.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
Since 2010, the TGA has had in place processes for monitoring requirements placed on the sponsors of high risk medical devices (see response to Recommendation 2). In accordance with this recommendation, the Department of Health and Ageing will seek to make information on these procedures available through its Annual Report.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation, and notes that the delegate is already required to document the specific reasons for their decision.
The Advisory Committee on Medical Devices (ACMD) is a statutory committee established under the Therapeutic Goods Regulations 1990 to advise and make recommendations to the Minister or Secretary about matters related to medical devices.
The ACMD may be asked for advice relevant to a decision to include a medical device on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). The delegate may take into account advice from the ACMD when making his or her decision. The Government agrees that the delegate should continue to document the specific reasons for that decision.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
Consistent with the Australian Government's commitment to transparency, the TGA will adopt a strong focus on improving its communication and engagement with the community.
The Government will ensure that the TGA focuses on the information needs of the community and other stakeholders to ensure that the right information is presented in a way that meets the varying needs of all stakeholders.
The TGA website will be continuously improved and updated to ensure that it provides high quality information about its investigations into the safety of medical devices. In relevant cases this information will include the type of evidence being pursued.
In August 2012, the TGA made the Database of Adverse Event Notifications (DAEN) available to the public through its website 1. DAEN provides information about adverse events to medicines that have been reported to the TGA since 1971. Further work will be
1 The database is available at http://www.tga.gov.au/safety/daen.htm
undertaken to provide the public with access to Australian and New Zealand adverse drug and medical device incident data.
Response:
The Australian Government notes the recommendation and consistent with its response to Recommendation 5 will ensure that every effort is made to provide stakeholders with more information.
In particular circumstances, it may not be possible to disclose information about the content of discussions that have taken place with international regulators. The Australian Government and the TGA have signed agreements with several overseas regulatory agencies. These international agreements may include provisions detailing the circumstances under which confidential information and documentation exchanged under the agreement cannot be provided to third parties and therefore cannot be published.
Response:
The Australian Government notes the recommendation and agrees to review the relevant processes.
The TGA's Medical Device Incident Reporting and Investigation Scheme (IRIS) has in place a process to request return of faulty devices to the TGA for testing as part of the investigation into an incident when circumstances require. However, under current arrangements the TGA is not able to mandate that explanted devices be returned. The TGA will review the clarity and effectiveness of existing processes to facilitate obtaining samples of explanted medical devices that have been reported through IRIS when laboratory testing by the TGA is deemed to be appropriate and necessary to the investigation.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation and will review the information on the TGA website in the light of this recommendation.
The Government will ensure that the TGA focuses on the information needs of the community and other stakeholders to ensure that the appropriate information is presented and that it includes a description of the limitations of the evidence and data provided.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
As part of the 2013-14 Budget, the Government will provide seed funding of up to $5.1 million over two financial years to establish and maintain two clinical quality registers for breast implants and cardiac devices before they move to industry cost-recovery arrangements in 2015. The Government agrees that an opt-out approach will be adopted by the new breast implant register in line with the recommendation of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care on this matter.
The Government notes that the National Joint Replacement Registry is a successful registry that can provide a model for other registries subject to necessary adjustments for different devices and medical specialties as appropriate.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
The PIP MRI initiative enables patients to access Medicare-eligible MRI scans to evaluate the integrity of the implants in all PIP patients and to detect implant rupture in patients who may have subsequently developed symptoms (whether or not they have previously had a normal imaging examination). The initiative has been extended for another 2 years from
11 March 2013 to 11 March 2015.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
In relation to Recommendation 13 of the HTA Review, the Government's response to Recommendation 8 of the Senate Inquiry into The regulatory standards for the approval of medical devices in Australia provides a response regarding the need to encourage greater reporting of adverse events from therapeutics (including medical devices).
In relation to Recommendation 14 of the HTA Review, the Government's response to Recommendation 7 of the Senate Inquiry into The regulatory standards for the approval of medical devices in Australia provides a response regarding the expanded use of post market surveillance data.
Recommendation 15 of the HTA Review is that registers for high risk implantable medical devices and/or procedures be established. This is addressed by the Budget measure outlined in the response to Recommendation 9 above.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation in principle, and undertakes to bring it to the notice of the Medical Board of Australia (MBA). The MBA may wish to work with professional associations to implement this recommendation.
Professional associations are independent bodies that guide the practice of individuals engaged in a profession and represent the interests of their members. It is a matter for them to determine the advice they provide to their members, noting their role in enforcement of professional standards and protection of the public.
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
The Chief Medical Officer, in consultation with the clinical advisory committee, provided advice regarding breastfeeding and PIP breast implants on 2 July 2012 (www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/PIP-breast-implants breastfeeding.htm).
Response:
The Australian Government agrees with the recommendation.
The Australian Government, through the Report of the Chief Medical Officer, has advised that currently available information cannot confirm or exclude the possibility that PIP implants rupture more than other implants but the number of reported ruptures in Australia to date is within an expected range. The TGA continues to review its advice in the light of further information as it becomes available, including information from the final report of the UK's expert committee convened to review the safety of PIP implants released on 1 February 2013.
The TGA will consider data obtained from the Government subsidised Magnetic Resonance Imaging when providing information to the public on the extent of ruptured PIP implants.
Government Response to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee Report
The Performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services—Interim Report
Recommendation
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government provide the Department of Parliamentary Services a one-off additional appropriation of $100,000 to be used, together with the existing Department of Parliamentary Services allocation of funds, for the completion of the document, The Architect's Design Intent for Parliament House, Canberra: Central Reference Document, by Ms Pamille Berg.
NOTED. Any proposal for this purpose brought forward by the Presiding Officers, in the 2014-15 Budget context, would be considered at that time.
Government Response to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee Report
The Performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services—Final Report
Recommendation 23
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth exempt the Department of Parliamentary Services from any future one-off, additional efficiency dividends.
NOT AGREED. Budget decisions are a matter for Government consideration at the relevant time.
Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network
Review of the Rollout of the National Broadband Network Fifth Report
Australian Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report of 17 June 2013
INTRODUCTION
In March 2011, the Parliament established the Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network (the Committee) to enable the ongoing parliamentary scrutiny of all aspects relating to the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN). The Committee is required to report to the Parliament on the rollout of the NBN on a six monthly basis until the completion of the project.
The Committee has been asked to provide progress reports on:
the rollout of the NBN;
the achievement of take-up targets as set out in NBN Co Limited's (NBN Co) Corporate Plan;
network rollout performance including service levels and faults;
the effectiveness of NBN Co in meeting its obligations as set out in its Stakeholder Charter;
NBN Co's strategy for engaging with consumers and handling complaints;
NBN Co's risk management processes; and
any other matter pertaining to the NBN rollout that the Committee considers relevant.
The Committee tabled its first report on the Review of the Rollout of the National Broadband Network on 31 August 2011, its second report on 24 November 2011, its third report on 25 June 2012 and its fourth report on 28 February 2013. The government's responses to the Committee's first, second, third and fourth reports were tabled in the Parliament on
1 March 2012, 16 April 2012, 9 October 2012 and 5 June 2013 respectively.
On 17 June 2013, the Committee tabled its fifth report, entitled Review of the Rollout of the National Broadband Network: Fifth Report. The Committee's fifth report was informed by public hearings and public consultation which attracted 20 submissions. The report made five recommendations ranging across: risk mitigation strategies related to policy change, performance reporting, particularly in regard to the regional fibre rollout, issues associated with interim satellite service, the potential of private equity to fund the NBN, and workforce issues associated with the NBN rollout.
BACKGROUND
The NBN is a telecommunications network that will provide access to high-speed broadband to 100 per cent of Australian premises using a combination of fibre to the premises, fixed-wireless and satellite technologies. NBN Co's objective is to provide 93 per cent of premises with access to a high-speed fibre network capable of providing broadband speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps) download and 400 megabits per second (Mbps) upload. Seven per cent of premises will be served by a combination of next-generation fixed-wireless and satellite technologies providing peak speeds of up to 25 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload.
The NBN will be Australia's first national wholesale, open access broadband network offering equivalent terms and conditions to all access seekers or service providers. The Australian Government has established NBN Co to design, build and operate the new high-speed NBN. NBN Co will roll out the network and sell wholesale services to inter -net and telephone service providers. In turn service providers will offer retail services to consumers. This is a significant structural change to Australia's telecommunications industry, aimed at encouraging vibrant retail competition.
On 7 March 2012, the Definitive Agreements between NBN Co and Teistra came into force. The Agreements pave the way for a faster, cheaper and more efficient rollout of the NBN. They include the reuse of suitable Teistra infrastructure, avoiding infrastructure duplication and for Teistra to progressively structurally separate by decommissioning its copper network . during the NBN rollout. The Definitive Agreements will mean less disruption to communities, less use of overhead cables and faster access to the NBN for Australians.
Planning and construction of the NBN is well underway. On 11 January 2013, NBN Co announced that it had exceeded its target to have construction commenced or completed in areas covering 758,000 premises before the end of 2012. The total number of premises in areas where construction had commenced or completed was 784,592 by year end.
On 21 March 2013, NBN Co reported that it had updated its short-term fibre rollout timeline expecting to pass 341,000 premises with fibre about three months later than the June 2013 target, with between 190,000 and 220,000 premises being forecast to be passed by fibre by end June 2013. NBN Co also assumed direct responsibility for the Northern Territory fibre rollout.
NBN Co advised that this short-term issue will not affect the long-term delivery of the NBN or the overall cost of the project. NBN Co remains on track to deliver better broadband to all Australians by 2021 as set out in NBN Co's 2012-15 Corporate Plan.
On 5 May 2013, NBN Co released an update to its indicative three year fibre rollout plan, which will see NBN construction either commence or be completed by mid-2016 for more than 4.8 million homes, businesses, schools and hospitals across Australia. This is an increase of over 1.3 million premises from NBN Co's 2012-15 fibre rollout plan.
The full list of locations included in the plan can be viewed on NBN Co's website at www.nbnco.com.aukollout/about-the-rollout/communities-in-the-rollouthtml.The three year rollout plan will be updated each year.
On 4 July 2013, NBN Co released its 30 June 2013 rollout figures, confirming that the company had achieved its revised end of financial year fibre rollout targets. The fibre network has passed more than 207,500 premises as of 30 June 2013, meeting NBN Co's revised forecast of between 190,000 and 220,000 premises. As at 30 June 2013, NBN Co had also covered 27,300 premises with the fixed wireless network and 250,000 premises with the interim satellite service.
There are over 70,000 homes and businesses using the NBN as of 30 June 2013, up from 13,600 premises at 30 June 2012. This represents an increase of more than fourfold in the total number of end users over the past 12 months. Additionally, the number of premises connected to NBN fibre services has increased sevenfold from 3,900 premises as at 30 June 2012, to 33,600 premises as at 30 June 2013.
AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
The government has considered the Committee's Fifth Report and provides the following response to the recommendations.
Performance Reporting and Regulatory Issues
Shareholder departments and NBN Co are implementing the government's policy to rollout and operate a National Broadband Network within the existing policy framework set out in the Statement of Expectations.
The six-monthly government progress reports to the Committee and NBN Co's 2012-15 Corporate Plan contain risk and mitigation strategies relevant to the existing policy framework.
Regional and Remote Issues
The government supports this recommendation.
The NBN will enable every community in regional Australia fair access to affordable high-speed broadband. This is underpinned by the delivery of uniform national wholesale pricing within the three technology platforms—fibre, fixed wireless and satellite—and across the platforms for entry level products and other products to the greatest extent where practicable. This means that wholesale broadband prices for comparable products can be the same for households and businesses regardless of where they are located, in the city, in regional Australia or in more remote parts of the country.
The government and NBN Co are committed to publishing as much information as possible on the NBN rollout to regional and rural Australia.
On 25 July 2012, the government released a list of regional towns across Australia that will be receiving access to the high-speed NBN fibre network. To date, the majority of construction and planning so far in the NBN project has been in non-metropolitan areas with more than 70 per cent of communities in NBN Co's 2013-16 fibre rollout plan located in non-metropolitan Australia. It is expected that more than 70 per cent of Australian premises in non-metropolitan areas will be able to access fibre to the premises by the end of the rollout.
NBN Co's 12-month national construction rollout plan and three year national fibre rollout plan lists the communities, in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas across each state and territory, where construction on the fibre network will commence, or be completed by mid-2016. NBN Co's rollout plans, interactive maps and detailed information on progress nationally is available at www.nbnco.com.au/industry/service-providersinetwork-rollout.html
The government has provided information to the Committee on the progress of the fibre rollout to non-metropolitan areas of Australia in past six-monthly NBN progress reports. The government has also included information on the NBN rollout to regional and rural areas in responses to the Committee's first, second and third reports on the Review of the NBN Rollout.
NBN Co's 2011-13 and 2012-15 Corporate Plans confirm that fibre will be built in regional areas as a priority and now that NBN Co has reached volume rollout, NBN Co is considering what additional information can be provided on an ongoing basis.
The government supports this recommendation.
As at 30 June 2013, there were over 34,600 customers with an active NBN interim satellite service (ISS) connection, with another 1,800 orders in the process of being connected.
At the Committee's hearing on 19 April 2013, NBN Co's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Mike Quigley, advised that once the 48,000 customer cap for the ISS is reached, NBN Co will not be able to provide satellite services to new customers. 1 NBN Co has investigated options for expanding the available capacity on the ISS, but at this time has not identified alternatives that would be economically viable. 2
Demand for the ISS has been extremely strong. As the former Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy outlined during the Senate Estimates hearing on 30 May 2013, `ISS services were expected to last until late 2014, but the popularity of the ISS means that the orders will reach capacity sometime in early 2014. So NBN Co is managing the remaining services to ensure that customers without
Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network, Public Hearing, 19 April 2013, Transcript (page 38). 2 Ibid.
existing access to affordable metro-comparable broadband services receive priority registration for the ISS' . 3
Additional Issues
The government does not support this recommendation.
Private equity funding prior to the completion of the NBN rollout was explicitly advised against in the NBN Implementation Stud?. The government remains committed to the sale of NBN Co at an appropriate time.
The 2012-15 Corporate Plan assumes that NBN Co will commence raising debt from FY2015 onwards. 5 Prior to this, as set out in the Statement of Expectations, NBN Co will be funded with government equity.
For more information on the Government's position on private equity engagement, refer to the government's response to recommendation 6 of the Committee's Fourth Report and recommendation 12 of the Committee's Third Report.
The government supports this recommendation.
As outlined in the government's response to the Committee's Fourth Report, NBN Co has developed and is implementing an overall workforce development strategy that involves:
identifying the gap between supply and demand of appropriately skilled resources;
determining relevant training programs and qualifications, providers, and funding to support skills development; and
3 Senate, Environment and Communications Legislation Committee, Estimates, Public Hearing, 30 May 2013, Hansard (page 110).
4 National Broadband Network Implementation Study, 2010, page 41.
5 NBN Co 2012-15 Corporate Plan, page 16.
a skills assurance program to confirm workers have the necessary regulated and required skills to perform work.
The workforce development strategy also recognises the dispersed nature of the rollout. This will allow for greater use of local recruitment firms and the local construction industry in the NBN rollout, in both regional and metropolitan areas.
The government expects to provide an overview of NBN Co's workforce development strategy in its annual statement to the Committee. In the interim, information can be found at NBN Co's website ( www.nbnco.com.au) which provides an outline of the workforce development strategy activities.
Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network
Australian Government Response to the Committee's Second, Third, Fourth and Final Reports
The Senate Select Committee on the National Broadband Network (the Committee) was established on 25 June 2008 to inquire into the government's initial National Broadband Network (NBN) proposal. The Committee published four interim reports dated
2 December 2008, 12 May 2009, 26 November 2009 and 18 May 2010 and a final report on 17 June 2010.
The Committee's interim reports and final report made 47 recommendations ranging across: the implementation plan for the rollout of the NBN; the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) report on the NBN proposals to the NBN Panel of Experts; the business plan for the rollout to mainland Australia and Tasmania; the governance and funding framework for NBN Co; the government's response to the Implementation Study; the rollout to regional and rural Australia; engagement with key stakeholders; workforce issues; and the commissioning of a cost-benefit analysis. A number of recommendations were replicated across the Committee's reports and some recommendations have been overtaken by the passage of time and the progress of the NBN rollout. As such the government has outlined those report recommendations which have been addressed by the public disclosure of information, legislative arrangements or formal agreements or actively canvassed through the work of other parliamentary committees.
The government notes that at least half of the Committee's report recommendations have been addressed by the disclosure of information on the NBN implementation, and the provision of rollout data and advice over time to parliamentary committees and the public. The government has responded to recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 from the second interim report, recommendations 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 11 from the third interim report, recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 20, 24, 27 and 28 from the fourth interim report and recommendation 1 from the final report, by publicly releasing detailed information on the NBN rollout, including:
a statement in Parliament on 23 October 2009 providing a progress report on the NBN Implementation
the Australian National Audit Office performance audit of the NBN Request for Proposal process on 3 February 2010
sections of documents relating to the terminated Request for Proposal process
the lead adviser's Implementation Study for the NBN on 6 May 2010
the government's response to the Implementation Study through the Statement of Expectations for NBN Co on 20 December 2010
partial content from the Interim Implementation Study Report on 24 December 2010
the National Digital Economy Strategy on 31 May 2011and update released on 12 June 2013
the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Review report on 4 May 2012
NBN Co's annual reports in respect of the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 financial years
NBN Co's Corporate Plans for 2011-13 and 2012-15
responses to parliamentary committee reports and tabled answers to questions on notice
information published, through NBN Co, on the progress of the fibre, wireless and satellite rollout
through NBN Co, release of the first three year national fibre rollout plan in March 2012 and an updated three year plan for 2013-16 in May 2013.
The government is committed to progressing the NBN. Since the Committee finalised its reports on the NBN, the government has established NBN Co Limited as a Government Business Enterprise and the Parliament has passed legislation which sets out the operational framework and company-specific requirements for NBN Co and the rollout. The government has responded to recommendations 1, 3, 8 and 11 from the third interim report and recommendations 1, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 and 28 from the fourth interim report, through its commitments or powers reflected under legislative arrangements or formal agreements entered into by the government, including the:
National Broadband Network Companies Act 2011
Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network Measures—Access Arrangements) Act 2011
Telecommunications Act 1997
Telecommunications (Low-impact facilities) Determination 1997
Telecommunications Code of Practice 1997
Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency Act 2012
Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Service Reform) Act 2012
Telecommunications (Industry Levy) Act 2012
Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency Regulation 2012
agreement between the government and Telstra for the delivery of the Universal Service Obligation and other public interest telecommunications services
agreement between the government and the Independent Members (Mr Tony Windsor and Mr Rob Oakeshott)
agreement between the government and Telstra, whereby public information on migration activities is undertaken by NBN Co in consultation with the government, Telstra and the wider industry.
In 2011 the government established a Joint Committee on the National Broadband Network (JCNBN), to report to the Parliament on the rollout of the NBN on a six-monthly basis until the completion of the project which demonstrates the government's commitment to openness and transparency for the NBN. The terms of reference for the JCNBN provides for the ongoing parliamentary scrutiny of all aspects of the rollout of the NBN including many of the issues raised in the Committee's reports.
The government has agreed to report to the Parliament, through the JCNBN, on the rollout of the NBN on a six-monthly basis. The government's progress reports on the NBN enable the JCNBN in turn to report to the Parliament and shareholder Ministers as required on the Review of the NBN Rollout.
The government's responses to the JCNBN's first, second, third and fourth reports on the Review of the NBN Rollout address some of the Senate Select Committee's report recommendations. Specifically, recommendation 6 from the third interim report and recommendations 25 and 26 from the fourth interim report which relate to the government undertaking a skills audit for the NBN rollout. The government has addressed these recommendations in its responses to recommendations 13, 14 and 15 of the JCNBN's third report and recommendation 8 of the JCNBN's fourth report on the Review of the
NBN Rollout.
Further to government responses to JCNBN reports on the NBN rollout, shareholder departments and NBN Co appear regularly before parliamentary committees and respond to a significant number of questions on notice around the NBN rollout. The government notes that several of the Committee's report recommendations have also been addressed by responses to questions taken on notice at Senate Budget Estimates and JCNBN hearings.
The government notes recommendation 12 of the third interim report was addressed by the Senate when it revised the Committee's terms of reference in 2009.
The government recognises the level of interest in the rollout of the NBN attracts
considerable inquiries from a range of parliamentary committees and the public. To the extent the matters raised in the Committee's report recommendations are not already addressed, the government considers the JCNBN would provide the appropriate process for any further review.
Ordered that the committee documents be printed.
by leave—I move:
That consideration of the committee reports and government responses be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.
Question agreed to.
(): I present responses to Senate resolutions as listed at item 16 on today's Order of Business.
The list read as follows
Responses to Senate resolutions:
Premier of South Australia (Mr Weatherill) – Nurses and midwives (agreed to 15 May 2013)
Premier of Western Australia (Mr Barnett) – Mental illness (agreed to 16 May 2013)
Minister for Indigenous Health (Mr Snowdon) – Renal services in central Australia (agreed to 24 June 2013)
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Bob Carr) – Small scale food producers and attachment (agreed to 24 June 2013)
by leave—I move:
That consideration of the responses to Senate resolutions be listed on the Notice Paper as an order of the day under consideration of committee reports and government responses.
Question agreed to.
I table Senate statistical documents listed at item 16 on today's Order of Business.
The list read as follows—
Senate statistical documents:
Business of the Senate: 1 January to 30 June 2013
Work of Committees: 1 January to 30 June 2013
Questions on notice summary: 28 September 2010 to 5 August 2013
Ordered that the Work of Committees be printed.
I present the report of the 44th Conference of Presiding Officers and Clerks, which was held in Canberra from 30 June to 4 July 2013.
I table reports and a statement of the Australian Human Rights Commission and seek leave to incorporate the statement in Hansard.
Leave granted.
The statement read as follows—
Statement by the Attorney-General for Australia, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC
Tabling of the Australian Human Rights Commission Reports
Behme v Commonwealth of Australia [2013] AusHRC 60
Ince v Commonwealth of Australia [2013] AusHRC 62
Paul family v Commonwealth of Australia [2013] AusHRC 63
12 November 2013
I hereby table the enclosed reports, Behme v Commonwealth of Australia, Paul family v Commonwealth of Australia and Ince v Commonwealth of Australia from the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, pursuant to my obligation under section 46 of the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (the Act). In discharging my obligations under the Act, I make the following statement on behalf of the Commonwealth with respect to the contents of the reports.
The Behme report concerns a complaint against the Commonwealth regarding the provision of free primary education in a public school in New South Wales. While the Commonwealth acknowledges the statutory functions and responsibilities of the Commission, the Commonwealth maintains the view that the Commonwealth has not engaged in an act or practice that would give rise to the Commission's jurisdiction to inquire into this matter under paragraph 11(1)(f) of the Act. In this particular case it was the Parliament of New South Wales that enacted the Education Act 1990 (NSW) and the Government of New South Wales that required a child of a temporary visa holder to be charged school fees to enrol in a State government school within New South Wales.
The Ince report concerns a complaint against the Commonwealth alleging arbitrary detention. Following on from this the Commission formed the view that the Commonwealth had breached articles 7, 9, 10, 17 and 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In this particular case Mr Ince's substantive visa was cancelled due to a conviction for murder. Mr Ince's case to be granted permission to reside in the community was personally considered in 2009 and 2010 by the Minister holding office at the time. On both occasions the Minister declined to intervene after careful consideration of the relevant issues.
The Paul family report concerns a complaint against the Commonwealth regarding the prospective removal of the parents of a minor Australian citizen. In this particular matter the Commission has made a recommendation for ministerial intervention. These ministerial powers are personal and non-compellable. Decisions to intervene are made on a case by case basis by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection when the Minister believes it is in the public interest to do so.
On behalf of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee, I present additional information received by the committee relating to its inquiry into the Social Security Amendment (Supporting More Australians into Work) Bill 2013.
On behalf of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee, I present additional information received by the committees relating to its inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy.
I present the 136th report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Treaty tabled on 14 May 2013.
Order! I have received letters from party leaders nominating senators as members of committees.
by leave—I move:
That senators be appointed to committees as follows:
Appropriations and Staffing—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Collins and Marshall
Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings—Joint Statutory Committee—
Appointed—Senator Stephens
Community Affairs Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Brown, Peris and Siewert
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Community Affairs References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Brown, Peris, Siewert and Urquhart
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Economics Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Marshall and Pratt
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Gallacher, Lines, Ludwig, Lundy, McEwen, McLucas, Moore, Peris, Polley, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart and Wong
Economics References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Dastyari, Marshall and Pratt
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Lines, Ludwig, Lundy, McEwen, McLucas, Moore, Peris, Polley, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart and Wong
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Lines, Rhiannon and Tillem
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, , Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Siewert, Singh, Stephens, Thorp, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Lines, Rhiannon, Tillem and Urquhart
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Siewert, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Environment and Communications Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Pratt, Urquhart and Waters
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Rhiannon, Siewert, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Environment and Communications References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Pratt, Stephens, Thorp and Waters
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Rhiannon, Siewert, Singh, Sterle, Tillem, Urquhart, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Lundy, Rhiannon and Tillem
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Siewert, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Finance and Public Administration References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Gallacher, Lundy, Rhiannon and Tillem
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Siewert, Singh, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Faulkner, Stephens and Whish-Wilson
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Siewert, Singh, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Wong and Wright
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Dastyari, McEwen, Stephens and Whish-Wilson
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Siewert, Singh, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Wong and Wright
House—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Collins, Marshall and McEwen
Human Rights—Joint Statutory Committee—
Appointed—Senators Lundy and Stephens
Law Enforcement—Joint Statutory Committee—
Appointed—Senators Furner and Singh
Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Marshall, Singh and Wright
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Siewert, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson and Wong
Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Ludwig, Marshall, Singh and Wright
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Lines, Ludlam, Lundy, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Siewert, Stephens, Sterle, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson and Wong
Library—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Thorp and Tillem
Privileges—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Collins, Faulkner and Urquhart
Procedure—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators McEwen, Polley and Siewert
Public Accounts and Audit—Joint Statutory Committee—
Appointed—Senators Gallacher and Lundy
Public Works—Joint Statutory Committee—
Appointed—Senator Gallacher
Publications—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Furner, Sterle and Thorp
Regulations and Ordinances—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Dastyari, Marshall and Peris
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee—
Appointed—Senators Lines, Siewert and Sterle
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Gallacher, Hanson-Young, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Singh, Stephens, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Whish-Wilson, Wong and Wright
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee—
Appointed—Senators Gallacher, Lines, Sterle and Whish-Wilson
Participating members: Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Brown, Cameron, Carr, Collins, Conroy, Dastyari, Di Natale, Farrell, Faulkner, Furner, Hanson-Young, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Marshall, McEwen, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Siewert, Singh, Stephens, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Wong and Wright
Scrutiny of Bills—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Lundy, Polley and Siewert
Selection of Bills—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Bilyk, Bushby, Fifield, Moore and Siewert
Senators' Interests—Standing Committee—
Appointed—Senators Bilyk, Bishop, Hanson-Young, Marshall and Thorp.
Question agreed to.
It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 30 September 2013, of Janet Frances Powell, AM, a senator for the state of Victoria from 1986 to 1993.
by leave—I move:
That the Senate records its deep regret at the death on 30 September 2013 of Janet Frances Powell, former Senator and Leader of the Australian Democrats, places on record its appreciation of her meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to her family in their bereavement.
Janet Powell lost her battle with pancreatic cancer on 30 September, aged 71. Former Senator Powell was not a traditional politician and her path to the Australian parliament was not a route taken by many of us in this place. From a small rural town in the Wimmera, western Victoria, the daughter of farmers, she graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Education. She worked as a secondary school teacher at Kerang and Nhill high schools. One of the founding members of the Australian Democrats in 1977, she became the first female Victorian state president in 1984. In 1986 she entered the Senate for Victoria, filling a casual vacancy created by the resignation of Democrats founder Don Chipp. The final paragraph of Senator Powell's first speech gave a clue to her style:
Political dogmatism will not remove inequity, put food on people's tables or find them jobs. The Democrats are not interested in dogma; we are interested in people. We will take up issues as they arise, making decisions as we see them in the light of our longstanding objectives and policies and in the interests of the community as a whole.
Indeed, Senator Powell was a strong role model for women in politics and I understand was always generous with her time and experience mentoring women. She was a passionate feminist. In 1989 she made history as the first woman of either house to have a private member's bill passed by both houses—the Tobacco Products Advertisements (Prohibition) Act 1989, which banned the print advertising of tobacco products.
Her successful amendment of the Disability Services Bill 1986 meant that the psychiatrically disabled were included in such legislation for the first time. Senator Powell was also instrumental in the establishment in 1988 of the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals, which investigated the use and impact of pesticides.
After a national ballot of Democrat members, she succeeded Janine Haines to become leader of the party in 1990, becoming only the second woman to lead an Australian political party. After the initiation of a petition to oust her as Democrats leader in 1991, Senator Powell lost the leadership challenge. One of the criticisms of her at the time was that she had canvassed the possibility of merging with the Australian Greens, a party that she later joined. Former Democrat leader and founder Don Chipp described this incident as the most tragic story to have hit the Democrats.
A year later in 1992 Senator Powell resigned from the Democrats to serve out her term, which ended in 1993 as an Independent. As Democrat leader, Senator Powell had opposed Australian intervention in the First Iraq War and had advocated cutting military ties with the US. It does sound very Green. In her valedictory speech Senator Powell's admiration of the Western Australian Green senators is apparent, and in 2004 she joined the Australian Greens.
Throughout her career her commitment to the community stood out. The life of a parliamentarian does not leave much spare time on the margins, but Senator Powell always managed to carve out a space to serve the community. After leaving parliament, Ms Powell continued to dedicate her energy to volunteer leadership roles in health, women's issues and services for the disadvantaged. In 2002 Ms Powell was made a Member of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to the parliament and community, particularly through the leadership of the YWCA. YWCA President Laura Hutchison paid tribute to Ms Powell's 'inspired leadership'. She also said:
Janet was a past president (1994-2000), rowing club patron and life member. She spearheaded a transformation that modernised the YWCA and ensured its survival. Janet drove systemic reform such as changing our constitution to enshrine young women in leadership roles and on a personal level she also mentored a series of younger presidential successors, training and new generation of female leaders. The YWCA continues to benefit from her legacy and is indebted.
Similarly, the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria praised Senator Powell's sense of community, and they did it with these words:
All of us at the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria are deeply saddened by the passing of Janet, a long-time member of the Epilepsy Foundation's patrons council.
I pass on my sincere condolences, on behalf of the government, to former Senator Powell's family, her four children—Katrine, Emma, Nick and Alex—her granddaughter, her friends and her colleagues over the years. They are all entitled to be extremely proud of their mother, grandmother, friend and colleague for her contribution to our community and our nation.
Today the Senate recognises the remarkable life of a remarkable woman. Janet Frances Powell was a senator, a leader for her community, a champion of women's rights, a feminist and a fighter for progressive causes.
As Senator Abetz has described, she grew up in a small farming community in Victoria and, like many women of her generation, ended up studying teaching. She attended Melbourne university, completing a Bachelor of Arts and diploma of teaching. Through teaching she became involved in community education, which led her on to becoming a founding member of the Australian Democrats in 1977. She became the party's first female Victorian state president in 1984 and then became the natural successor to former Senator Don Chipp when he stood down from the Senate in 1986. Ms Powell served the Senate until 1993, after being elected initially in her own right in the double dissolution election of 1987.
As has been described in many comments—including some that Senator Abetz referred to—she controversially canvassed the idea of merging the Democrats with the Australian Greens, which was a decision that many in her party opposed. As we look at Ms Powell's career, we can see a number of ways in which she really was a woman well ahead of her time. I will mention just a number of achievements. The first is that she was, as always, a tireless campaigner for progressing the rights of women and was the first to introduce a private senator's bill to strengthen affirmative action legislation. We have come a long way in some quarters and not in others since that time, but it does demonstrate the commitment that people in this chamber—particularly women in this chamber—have had for many years to progressing and advancing the representation of women in this place.
She became the first woman and one of the few members of parliament to introduce and pass a private senator's bill, which was the Smoking and Tobacco Products Advertisements (Prohibition) Act 1989, which banned tobacco advertising in print media. Her bill was the beginning of the fight to ban electronic advertising, including
television advertising, and which then culminated in the last parliament with the passage of Australia's world first legislation with plain packaging legislation. If you look at former Senator Powell's bill, you can see that was legislation that was probably 10 or 20 years ahead of its time. Through Janet Powell's leadership, the Democrats became the only party to oppose Australia's participation in the First Gulf War, and she has been credited for persuading the government to recall parliament to debate Australia's involvement in the war.
In her time as a senator she achieved many more great things: widening disability services legislation to include psychiatrically disabled people and advancing government policy on organic farming. She was also pivotal in lifting the ban on gay and lesbian Australians becoming members of our defence forces—an extraordinary achievement—and she fought to ensure a broader representation in media ownership.
She became the leader of the Democrats in 1990 and served in the position for a short period of time. She was ever the reformer, which is one of the ways in which one can understand her support for a merger between the Democrats and the emerging Greens. In her first speech she spoke of the beliefs of the Democrats, and her character can be discerned from this:
From the very beginning the Australian Democrats have been about reform, about new ways, new ideas, about bringing people into the decisions which affect their own lives; about a world which will survive and justice for the individual.
It has been said about Janet Powell that she never fitted the mould of a politician in Canberra. We are richer for that, and we are proud to say that she served in this chamber.
Her life was one dedicated to public service, whether to her rural community or here in the Senate chamber. Through all walks of life she was honest and forthright, and she was a champion of women's rights. I pause here to make this point: there are many women who owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the feminists who have gone before. If we do aspire—as I hope most of us, if not all, do—for our daughters to have the same opportunities as our sons, it is because of women like Janet Powell, and others, who fought to ensure there is a space for our daughters to have those aspirations fulfilled. She was also an environmentalist, a true advocate for equity and a pacifist. Our deepest condolences go to her four children and her family. We thank her and we remember her.
I rise today to join with others in the Senate to celebrate the life and pay tribute to the contribution of the late Senator Janet Frances Powell. Janet was an extraordinary woman, as we have heard, in her upbringing and her aspirations to do better things for Australia—for women, for the community and for the nation. That is what she set out to do from a young age, from country Victoria, in the work that she did to get to university at that time and then to return to country Victoria to teach. She took into country Victoria and into those schools enormous leadership and inspiration for young girls to go on in life and to do the best they could possibly do and achieve their full potential. Right to the end of her life, she mentored women in every place she went, whether it was in schools or in the parliament, and when she left the parliament she continued to mentor young women, as has been said, in terms of leadership roles. She was a member of the Patrons Council of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria and a life member of the YWCA. She was appointed to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. She was a Member of the Order of Australia, in recognition of her service to the parliament and the people of Australia and her leadership of the YWCA.
In terms of the Greens, as well, she invested a huge amount of time in helping young women through the party and talking to them about how to make way and how to continue to contribute both to politics and to strengthening the community. As has been said, she was a founding member of the Democrats in 1977 and then replaced Don Chipp as the senator for Victoria in 1986 and then won the seat in her own right the following year. Once she became leader of the Democrats in 1990, she aspired to merge the Democrats and the Greens, and at that time, in the early 1990s, the Democrats were a much larger and more established party than the Greens were. I was present at the meeting that we had in Launceston with Janet when she came down. Bob Brown and I went and met with her and talked to her there, and her aspiration was to merge the two strongest progressive forces in Australia so that there would be one stronger progressive force, in her view, and also she wanted to move beyond the Democrats' aspiration of, basically, a hand on the shoulder of government. She wanted to go beyond that and see the progressive side of politics form government, and you can see that in the kind of legislation that she introduced. It was more than just accountability that she was seeking; she was trying to implement a progressive agenda in a whole range of areas, as has been outlined.
She had a very difficult time of it and, as has been said, she resigned from the Democrats in 1992 after the leadership spill, but she remained in the parliament for the rest of her term as an Independent. The former Senator Gareth Evans said of her time in parliament that she:
… I think won a great deal of respect and admiration for the way in which she has withstood, with apparently infinite good cheer, the buffeting of what has been, on any analysis, a pretty tumultuous political career.
I think that is absolutely true, and she remained very even-handed, very kind and very positive in spite of all that had happened to her at that time. She joined the Australian Greens in 2004 and she stood as a Legislative Council candidate in the 2006 Victorian state election. She was unsuccessful in that but, as I have indicated, she made a big contribution to the Australian Greens and in particular the Greens in Victoria.
I want to go to some of her achievements in the parliament. As I said a moment ago, it was beyond accountability for the government of the day; it was actually progressing reform. Senator Wong spoke a moment ago about her private senator's bill on tobacco advertising, and both Senator Abetz and Senator Wong have also recorded her success in having psychiatric illness included in the definitions of disability for the purposes of disability services legislation. Her vocal opposition to the Gulf War was really courageous at the time. She was outspoken. Her pacifism was on show for all to see, and she made such a contribution that the Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, recalled both houses of parliament in January 1991 to debate Australia's involvement. I think the leadership and courage that she offered in the course of that debate were quite extraordinary, and I pay tribute to her pacifism. I also make reference to her work in trying to advance sustainable and organic agriculture. I think that, having been brought up in the country and having taught in the country, she had seen some of the impacts of the increasing industrialisation of agriculture, and she instigated the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals to have a look at that at the time.
She was always guided by a strong sense of social justice, and that came out particularly in relation to women's rights. You would have to say that she was not only a role model for women in politics but a pioneer for women in politics. The leadership that she offered was not only in the policy initiatives that she brought to the parliament but also in her sustained commitment for change and her courage in continuing to argue for that change regardless of the opposition that came before her. As has been said, her attempt to strengthen affirmative action legislation is really important, as are her attempts to end discrimination of all kinds on the basis of sexuality and her success with the Defence Force. But she went beyond that. She continued to argue to end discrimination right till the end of her life.
I want to particularly say to her children, Katrine, Emma, Nich and Alex, that they should be really proud of Janet for what she contributed, and I am sure they are. She mentored many of us, and in terms of environmentalism she was quite extraordinary for her time. I spoke to her before she died, and she showed enormous courage in the face of death. Interestingly, even then her whole concern was to stay with the course of action for a more progressive, more inclusive, fairer Australia. That is what she wanted, that is what she campaigned for and that is what I pay tribute to her for doing. On behalf of the Greens, I just want to say that she is an inspirational model of our party and I really admire the fact that she was prepared to take on the idea of a merger right in those early days, and right till the end of her life she stayed committed to a strong progressive movement in Australia to bring about change. I pay tribute to Janet Powell.
I ask honourable senators to stand in silence to signify their assent to the motion.
Honourable senators having stood in their places—
The motion is carried.
It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 13 October 2013, of the Honourable David Scott Thomson, MC, a former minister and member of the House of Representatives for the division of Leichhardt, Queensland, from 1975 to 1983.
by leave—I move:
That the Senate records its deep regret at the death on 13 October 2013 of the Honourable David Scott Thomson MC, former Minister and Member for Leichhardt, places on record its appreciation of his meritorious public service and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.
Today we pay tribute to a true Australian hero. As the newly elected member for Leichhardt, David Thomson was one of those disparagingly described by the then Labor leader, Mr Gough Whitlam, as a 'oncer', one of those members elected to parliament for the coalition in the 1975 double dissolution landslide election. Leichhardt in North Queensland was a seat the ALP had held for nearly 25 years. The former Prime Minister, Mr Whitlam, had no understanding of the new member's tenacity and courage.
Mr Whitlam believed that Mr David Thomson would last only one term, but he held his seat—the most marginal in the country—in the 1977 election and again in 1980 before finally losing it with a change of government in 1983. During this time he rose to become Minister for Science and the Environment in 1979 and Minister for Science and Technology in 1980.
David Thomson was born on 21 November 1924 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on his family's farm at Clydebank. He was educated at Melbourne Scotch College. His ancestor Robert Thomson was elected as a member of Victoria's first legislative council in 1856 and served until 1863. He attended the Royal Military College Duntroon and in 1943 was commissioned to serve in World War II. When David Thomson resigned his commission in 1972, he was a brigadier and had served in the south-west Pacific, Japan, Korea and Malaysia and, finally, as army commander of North Queensland.
Mr Thomson was a true war hero. As a young officer of the 2/16th Australian infantry battalion, he took part in the amphibious landings in Borneo in 1945 and was shot by the Japanese defenders. He was wounded again in the Korean War. He was awarded the Military Cross while serving as a company major of the 1st Royal Australian Regiment in the Korean War in 1952 for leading a successful raid on Hill 227 in Operation Blaze. There had been two unsuccessful raids on it, and he proposed a daytime attack because the Chinese would not expect it. According to his widow, he insisted that the bagpipe player accompany them on the raid and that he keep playing throughout it. He thought that the Chinese would think, 'Listen to the Australians playing their stupid music.' More seriously, Senator Scullion will be in his contribution detailing the citation for his Military Cross.
After commanding a battalion during the Indonesian Konfrontasi in 1966, David Thomson reluctantly retired in 1972 for family reasons. From 1972 to 1975, David and his family bought a motel at Palm Cove, just north of Cairns, and developed it as a popular tourist resort where visitors were treated as personal guests. The Brigadier's Bar stands there in his honour. Gough Whitlam wrote his 1974 election policy speech at Thomson's Reef House Motel and was going to hold his now-infamous 1975 meeting with Indonesia's President Suharto there until David informed Mr Whitlam that he had been chosen as a candidate for the then Country Party.
David's life was the Army, and in his maiden speech he made special reference to defence:
Everywhere I go throughout my electorate people express concern about our inadequate defences.
… … …
It is my firm conviction that the first duty of any government is the security of the nation, a duty dangerously neglected by the previous Government.
As a backbencher he spoke about the problems faced by his Indigenous constituents. His support for autonomy for the Mornington Island and Aurukun Aboriginal communities against the stance of the Queensland Nationals state government received strong support in usually very strong pro-Labor booths. While in parliament David served on the Standing Committee for Aboriginal Affairs and the Joint Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs and Defence. As minister he was concerned with the welfare of the Great Barrier Reef and its protection from drilling. He also campaigned for greater industry involvement in innovation in products and processes.
Throughout his life David exhibited the qualities of courage and loyalty: courage as a soldier, as a campaigner in his marginal seat and courage in dealing with health issues. He was also known as a complete gentleman and for his loyalty to his Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser. In all his endeavours he was ably supported by his wife, Judy, who has been variously described as 'vivacious', 'charming' and 'extremely capable'. The Nationals leader in the Senate, Senator Scullion, will appropriately amplify these brief remarks.
On behalf of the government I offer condolences to Mr Thomson's family: to his amazing wife, Judy; to his sons, Campbell, Andrew and Alistair; and to his grandchildren. May he rest in peace after a full life of service to our nation.
I rise also to support the motion of condolence. David Thomson grew up on a property outside Sale, and we have heard already that the date of his birth was during the Great Depression. I think most of his friends would reflect on his toughness. In almost any circumstance, he just did not seem to waiver from the course that he had chosen. Many people reflect that it was pretty tough during the Depression. His mum died when he was seven years old. His father returned from the Great War after serving with the Australian Light Horse. Sadly, he was affected by a debilitating illness. So, growing up basically without a mum and a father who was very limited in his capacity to assist his son, he grew up to be a pretty tough young bloke.
But he did get a break. His grandmother left him 100 pounds, and in those days that was like a small fortune. It was certainly enough to take him on his chosen road of getting an education. So he entered Scotch College in Melbourne. When he graduated from Scotch College, he decided that the military was his calling. He graduated from Duntroon in 1943.
I was reflecting on a number of quotes in the media earlier today. Quite clearly, this was a man who men would follow. He was already picked out in Duntroon as somebody who was going to make a real impact in his military career. Less than two years after stepping out of Duntroon in 1945, he was part of a force that embarked to take the beach at Balikpapan. Any people who are interested in history would know that this was a very, very nasty part of the world to be in and very heavily defended. He was shot as part of the advance, stayed on and continued to lead his troops through that particular period of time in Borneo.
His courage and leadership were already noted. It was unsurprising to many that in 1952 he was awarded the Military Cross while he was serving as a company major of the 1st Royal Australian Regiment in the Korean War. It has already been mentioned that this particular military event took place on a hill, sadly, with simply just a number—Hill 227—as many were named in that part of the world. It was nothing more romantic than that. But a lot of people lost their lives on that hill. This event was the third attempt. The convention was to take these places at night. There was not a great deal of cover, and these were the days when if you could not see someone it was pretty hard to shoot them. Nowadays of course we have far greater technology. So the conventional method of warfare was to go in at night. Normally, you would just count up your numbers and hope for the best. But in a very daring change he decided that this would be something that would take place during the day. As a distraction, he asked a band to play the pipes. It was quite a distraction, because on the day he was able to take Hill 227 and, despite being injured himself, was able to hold the day. He continued his military career by commanding a battalion during the 1966 Indonesian confrontation. After his very notable service there, he retired in 1972.
I would like to offer David Thomson's family and loved ones my heartfelt condolences. As a former member for Leichhardt, I would particularly like to note his contribution to the lives of Aboriginal and Islander people in his electorate. Senator Abetz has already mentioned the work he did around Mornington Island. I do not think that is so surprising, but, if you think about the times, he was a conservative individual and a member of the National Party. I think he went, particularly in those times, out of his way to simply represent the interests, the views and the values of all his constituents. It takes courage and bravery to do the things that are not easy, and I just cannot imagine how tough it would have been for David Thomson in that particular regard.
People should not have been surprised. He highlighted in his maiden speech on 24 February 1975 that at that time there were probably more than 20,000 Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders living in Leichhardt, which is about 16 per cent of the population. That is very high and is second only to one of our electorates in the Northern Territory. Unfortunately, after all this time, many of the issues that we knew about and were relevant then continue to be pertinent now. In his maiden speech he gave expression to the view that policies needed to encourage independence and empowerment of Indigenous people in all the decisions they make. Even today it has only been in recent history that we have understood that if particularly Aboriginal and Islander communities do not have some ownership in the process to deal with a decision that affects them then we are much less likely to get the outcome that we are all requiring. Back in 1975, Mr Thomson was articulating what we know now to be an absolute fundamental about moving forward in these areas.
He was very passionate about Indigenous people being consulted in matters that concern them. So rather than leave it to others, it was in fact David who used to sit down amongst the Aboriginal and Islander people in his electorate and around those areas and ensure that he spent time with them. Rather than allowing others and the department to consult, he made sure that he was a part of those communities and could genuinely reflect on the views of those communities. I think, while some things have not changed, there is much in the lives of Aboriginal and Islander people that has improved. I would like to honour the special contribution that Mr Thomson made in his role as the member for Leichhardt and to the National Party.
I think it is also useful to remind this place that it was because of his determination that the north of Australia and our Aboriginal and Islander people would not remain out of sight and out of mind and that moving forward would have to be in partnership with our first people as we shaped the future of that rich part of the world. He was a courageous and committed member and he had a true Australian entrepreneurial spirit. In his time as a minister he showed that he was happy to take on the big issues, as he was with Aboriginal and Islander issues, and particularly when it perhaps would not have been the most popular thing to do.
As a minister he was always concerned about the welfare of the Great Barrier Reef. He was one of the first at that time who said there should be no drilling on the Great Barrier Reef. He was the one who said, 'They will drill the Great Barrier Reef over my body'—
Senator Boswell interjecting—
A National Party person indeed, Senator Boswell. I am not so sure how far our opponents would say we have proceeded ahead on that matter, but he was certainly well in front of his time. Of course, when you are ahead on these issues and you are reflecting the values and the aspirations of your community, you get the support of that community. That is why he was so popular in his seat of Leichhardt. He also had a number of people in Leichhardt who were very keen to ensure that the ban on kangaroos was lifted. It was a very important issue for Australia then, particularly for people in the bush and for people who relied on culling kangaroos and selling them. He was a great advocate and he was definitely a part of the US decision to allow the import of kangaroo products into the United States and the lifting of a ban on native fauna.
While David was in parliament he served nobly on the standing committee for Aboriginal Affairs and on the joint committee for foreign affairs and defence. On behalf of the government, I offer condolences to his family. Vale, David Thomson.
I rise to speak on behalf of the opposition on the condolence motion moved by Senator Abetz. David Scott Thomson MC's career was defined by service to his country, first as a military officer and then as a member of parliament, and today we honour his life.
Mr Thomson's challenging childhood, growing up outside Sale in Victoria during the Depression, gave him an appreciation of the importance of education and of hard work. As has been described, David Thomson had an exemplary military career which began at Duntroon, and he then went on to enter the parliament in later years. He graduated from Duntroon in 1943 and went on to serve during the Second World War in the south-west Pacific. In relation to the landings in Balikpapan in Borneo, Senator Scullion said that those who observe military history would be aware of it; I was aware of it because my family at that time was in Sandakan on the other side of the border, in the Malaysian part of Borneo as opposed to the Indonesian part of Borneo. Balikpapan is one of those conflicts which is known not only to Australians but also to people who know their history of the war for the people of Borneo, both Malaysian and Indonesian.
As has been described, he went on to serve in the Korean War, where he earned the Military Cross for the successful raid on Hill 227 against the Chinese. I will not reprise the extraordinary story of the playing of the bagpipes during the third and successful attack on Hill 227 except to say that it is a reminder that the unexpected is often a good tactic—something I am sure that people in this place would recall. Mr Thomson went on to command a battalion during the Indonesian Confrontation in 1966, and he reluctantly retired after over 30 years in the military. He moved to Palm Cove in North Queensland and, as Senator Abetz has said, he stood in the 1975 election as the National Country Party candidate for Leichhardt. In his first speech he outlined his priorities when he said:
I will be a clear, firm voice in this House so that the far north and Leichhardt, although far out of sight, will not be out of mind. I urge all honourable members to go north and to see for themselves the problems imposed by the tyranny of distance and to see also the vast potential of the area.
In many respects, Mr Thomson was an unusual conservative, or an unusual member of the National Country Party. He was a minister for science—first Minister for Science and the Environment and then Minister for Science and Technology. When he was minister for the environment, as has been remarked upon, he stated that there would be no oil-drilling on the Great Barrier Reef—which again was unusual—and recognised the threat of the crown-of-thorns starfish. He was also in the sometimes challenging position of being a North Queenslander who supported regional development but nevertheless managed to hold a position and balance those concerns.
He was also a strong advocate within the Fraser government for the modernisation of Australia's industrial base through supporting high technology industries. But perhaps most notable was his continued advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, demonstrating the capacity of true representation of his community in being able to overcome what might otherwise be stereotypical images of people's political positions.
In 1983 his seat fell upon the election of the Hawke Labor government. The passing of David Scott Thomson has seen the loss of someone who has been described as a true gentleman, someone who spent his entire life dedicated to the service of our nation, whether in the military or in the parliament. On behalf of the opposition, I extend our sincere condolences to his family.
( Today I rise to join in the condolence motion moved by Senator Abetz. 1983, when I came into this parliament, was the time when David Thomson left the parliament. I knew him personally for many, many years. I knew him as a man who was not only a war hero but a person who came into the National Party and in those days people were mainly farmers who represented the National Party in this house. But he was not a farmer. He was a military hero, a Military Cross recipient and a person who went up to the North and the North became part of him and he became part of the North. And he loved it.
He had a particular affinity with Aboriginal people because he was a warrior and they looked up to warriors. He was a great warrior. I remember the talk going around the National Party: 'David gets on well with the Aborigines. He goes out camping with them and goes into the bush with them. They show him things and show him the sites and they respond to him.' People who know the Torres Strait know that around the villages there are big trees and some seats around there. They are known as trees of knowledge. He used to go out there, sit down and they would come and talk to him. He was a great advocate for the Aboriginal community.
I can remember in the management committee that often he and Joh Bjelke-Petersen did not share similar views, particularly on the Great Barrier Reef and putting World Heritage listing upon it. But he fought for the cause and he never took a backward step. It certainly made the management committee very entertaining when David and Joh set to and presented their different views.
I remember a couple of years ago that he was very active in McEwen House, the headquarters of the National Party in Canberra. He was president of McEwen House. We pulled down the old house and built a new one. He raised the money for that. He never forgot that he was a member of the National Party and he never forgot that he came from the North. He was a great advocate for the North and a great advocate for the Aboriginal people.
I referred to the Torres Strait Islands. They are very, very remote. In those days the only way you could get around the islands was by the big cruiser, the cargo carrier that the Queensland government had called the Melbidirand a few people met their Waterloo on the Melbidir! They are so remote and I can recall going up there in 1983. There was one telephone on one island. But David got telephones there in those days. People could not even ring up TI. There was nothing there. I do not know how you got a message across. I suppose it was by radio. But I can recall every island getting a telephone.
I can recall going up there and I acknowledge that David was held in high respect on the islands and in the community. He was a warrior, he was a fighter, he was a leader and he was a great representative of the National Party and, when he finished parliament, he still put in for the National Party through the management committee of the National Party and through the director of McEwen House. Only a couple of years ago he resigned that position. He had always been around the National Party and always at federal meetings. He retired to the south coast of New South Wales with his wife, Judy.
He led a great life, a life that many people would see as just exemplary. Whatever he did, he did successfully. I say to the family who are left, Judith and her grandkids, that you should be proud of him—proud of everything that he ever did because, to everything he ever did, he gave a 100 per cent and was successful.
I want to briefly associate myself with the comments and commendations that have been made today of the late David Scott Thomson. I had the pleasure of meeting David only a couple of times. I did not know him particularly well, but I knew him very well by reputation in the North. He was much loved, much respected in the Cairns and Far North Queensland community, in Cape York and in the Torres Strait Islands. As someone who regularly uses the Cairns Airport, I give David Thomson credit for the first lot of work that was done that really started the boom times in Cairns in the mid-1980s. It was during David Thomson's time, as the member for Leichhardt, that the upgrade of the Cairns Airport was commenced and Mr Thomson succeeded in having the government of Malcolm Fraser provide funding to the then Cairns Harbour Board, which then owned the airport.
Mr President, as you may recall, the upgrading of the Cairns Airport in that period of time was really the forerunner to the great boom period that Cairns experienced in the late eighties and early 1990s. Regrettably, more recent upgrades to the Cairns Airport have not, in my view, been quite as successful as those earlier ones but certainly Mr Thomson is well remembered for the boost that he gave to tourism and to the economy in Cairns.
As my colleagues have said, he was also well regarded in the cape and in the Torres Strait. As Senator Boswell mentioned, he worked with the then Minister for Post and Telecommunications in getting the first public telephones installed on the outer islands in the Torres Strait. I understand he took the then Minister for Post and Telecommunications, Eric Robinson, up into the Torres Strait. He was also responsible for taking Malcolm Fraser to visit Burketown, up in the gulf, for their Never Never Get Together function, and that was the very first time a Prime Minister had ever visited the small gulf community of Burketown. He encouraged the federal government to provide funding for the AUSSAT domestic satellite, which ultimately facilitated the broadcast of TV for the first time to remote Australia. He was, as others have said, a real gentleman and, as I say, much loved.
David Thomson's distinguished military career has been well commented upon, and I will not repeat that. He was, though, a soldier and was in the parliament, curiously, at the same time as the late RN 'Duke' Bonnett, who was the Liberal member for the Townsville based seat of Herbert. I remember, as a much younger person in those days, in North Queensland how proud we were of both the political influence of David Thomson and Duke Bonnett and, particularly, their very distinguished service records. I am sure that they would have had many a conversation about military campaigns in their joint time in the federal parliament.
My colleague Warren Entsch fondly recalls many times when David Thomson, in more recent years, would pop in and see him and give him some very helpful advice, which Warren was always very pleased to receive. David Thomson was well regarded in non-Labor circles as being the person to win the seat of Leichhardt back from the Labor Party after 24 long years of Labor rule in that Far North Queensland electorate. He is well remembered in political circles for that. He was a very distinguished Australian, a very distinguished soldier and a very distinguished parliamentarian. I extend to David Thomson's family my sincere condolences on his passing.
I ask honourable senators to stand in silence to signify their assent to the motion.
Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.
It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death, on 29 September 2013, of Michael John Bernard Maher OAM, a member of the House of Representatives for the division of Lowe, New South Wales, from 1982 to 1987.
Pursuant to standing order 12, I lay on the table a warrant nominating senators as temporary chairs of committees when the Deputy President and Chairman of Committees is absent.
It is good to be back. It is a great privilege to be patron of Coeliac South Australia and Northern Territory, because they do tremendous work on a very important issue. I have this information from the Coeliac Australia website:
Coeliac disease is an immune disease caused by gluten, a protein in wheat, rye, barley and oats. When people with coeliac disease eat gluten, an inappropriate immune reaction causes inflammation and damage to the small bowel (intestine). Untreated, coeliac disease can cause a range of symptoms and health problems. Treatment involves lifelong and strict avoidance of gluten in the diet and leads to healing of the bowel and better health.
This condition can be very serious if not diagnosed and treated, leading to something called 'villous atrophy', which:
… reduces the surface area of the bowel available for nutrient absorption, which can lead to nutrient deficiencies. Inflammation also results in problems that can affect the bones, joints, skin and other organs, such as the liver and brain.
It is a grossly underdiagnosed condition.
On 3 November, in Adelaide, I spoke at Coeliac South Australia and Northern Territory's AGM. It was an absolute pleasure to be there. They even laughed at my very bad joke, where I said that I was patron of the Coeliac society because I am a 'gluten for punishment'! I want to congratulate the president, Ms Catherine Russell, and the vice-president, Mr Dennis Fountaine, and their entire committee for the excellent work that they do.
One of the things that has struck me from my involvement with the organisation is how many people think that coeliacs are just fussy eaters, when nothing could be further from the truth. The information I gave from the Coeliac Australia website indicates how serious this condition can be. Most Australians do not realise that coeliac disease is much more prevalent than was previously thought, with more than half of our population at risk of developing the condition, according to new research. A report by journalist Bridie Smith just a few weeks ago indicates that, while overseas studies have suggested that between 30 and 40 per cent of people have the autoimmune disorder, results of the first study to assess the prevalence of the disease in Australians show that 56 per cent carry one of the two known genetic markers associated with the condition.
I am very grateful for the work of the Royal Melbourne Hospital's Dr Jason Tye-Din, which points out that, just because you have a genetic predisposition to the disease, it does not mean that you will get it, but, as Dr Tye-Din says, 'About one in 40 who carry the genetic markers will go on to develop coeliac disease.' A team led by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall institute in Melbourne and including scientists from Barwon Health and Deakin University have developed a new diagnostic test which is very accurate. It adds a genetic test which scans for the two key genetic markers carried by 99.6 per cent of coeliac patients.
The research by Dr Jason Tye-Din and others indicates that a very significant one in 60 Australian women and one in 80 men could develop coeliac disease, and this is something like 300,000 Australians with a condition that can cause so much misery and suffering but which can be effectively managed. I agree with David Sullivan, the National Business Development Manager at Coeliac Australia, that the study findings should serve as a wake-up call for the health sector. And I should make it clear that the figures from this research indicate that there are tens of thousands of Australians with this condition who are not diagnosed but who, if they had it diagnosed, could dramatically turn their lives around. A very good friend of mine recently told me that he was suffering a lot of terrible symptoms, of irritability and bloating and the like, and was diagnosed as a coeliac, and his life was turned around as a result of that diagnosis.
This is an important issue that must be dealt with. In terms of preventative health, it is important that the findings of the research serve as a wake-up call to the health sector for more people with this condition to be diagnosed. I urge this government and all my colleagues to make sure that there is appropriate research and education for people to be appropriately diagnosed if they have this condition which can be so well managed if diagnosed. The lack of diagnosis is a real issue, and I will do all I can to work with the coeliac society to increase the level of awareness of this disease.
I had the great privilege of attending yesterday's Remembrance Day ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in my capacity, for the first time, as the Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Shadow Minister for the Centenary of ANZAC. Yesterday's Remembrance Day service, held in the midst of driving rain, was a very moving ceremony and marked the 95th anniversary of the armistice and the 20th anniversary of the interment of the Unknown Australian Soldier. We laid poppies in the Hall of Memory at the base of the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier, and the honourable former Prime Minister Paul Keating fittingly delivered the 2013 Remembrance Day commemorative address, 20 years after his poignant eulogy at the funeral service of the Unknown Australian Soldier. His address from 20 years ago now sits proudly at the Australian War Memorial, just as it does in Villers-Bretonneux in France, and is rightly regarded as one of his finest speeches.
We are less than 12 months away from the anniversary of the commencement of World War I and less than two years away from the Centenary of the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli. Like many Australians, our thoughts turn to all of those Australians involved in Gallipoli and indeed in every war we have been involved in over the past 100 years.
My grandfather's first cousin Edward Farrell, who had the same name as my grandfather, from the South Australian country town of Balaklava, was one of those at the first landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He was a chemist by profession. Edward enlisted on 24 August 1914 and was a member of the 3rd Field Ambulance—as you will recall, Mr Deputy President, the same regiment as the famous English-born John Simpson Kirkpatrick, the national hero who rescued wounded men with the help of his small donkey.
Edward Farrell and Simpson disembarked at Gallipoli on the same fateful day—25 April 1915. Edward Farrell's total service spanned four years and 185 days. He thankfully survived the Gallipoli landing but was admitted to the Gallipoli Hospital in May 1915 for unknown reasons, and he was employed as a dispenser. In October that year he was transferred to the St George's Hospital in Malta suffering from pleurisy, which is an inflammation of the chest lining. Temporary Corporal Edward Farrell was transferred to France in 1916 and promoted to Staff Sergeant, and in 1917 was attached to the 2nd Battalion infantry division on medical detail. He later rejoined the 3rd Field Ambulance in France, but on 7 March 1918 he suffered wounds and the effects of gassing and was admitted to hospital in Birmingham, England. Despite these injuries, in July that year he returned to France and rejoined the 3rd Field Ambulance. On 21 February 1919, he was discharged due to the cessation of hostilities. Out of his four years and 185 days of service, Edward Farrell had spent four years and 65 days abroad.
I agree with Paul Keating that it is heartening that so many Australians find a sense of identity and purpose from the Anzac legend and from the brave men and women who have fought in wars for more than 100 years. It is also heartening that in Adelaide on Sunday, the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, officially dedicated a major war memorial honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been involved in every conflict and peacekeeping mission from the Boer War to the present day in Afghanistan. I represented the Leader of the Opposition at the event and, as a proud South Australian, I can attest that the memorial in Adelaide's Torrens Parade Ground is both magnificent and culturally sensitive and a fitting tribute to the significant role played by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
As an aside, it was also very pleasing to see our new Northern Territory senator, Senator Peris, attending the ceremony, along with Senator Fawcett, who I see is in the chamber, and a long list of Indigenous elders, dignitaries, military and veterans.
This is the most significant memorial in Australia to be constructed to honour the service and sacrifice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women, and the committee which drove its construction aspires for it to be the first to be granted 'National' status. It has a ceremonial centre, including a coolamon holding the ritual fire; the Rainbow Serpent, representing creation; and a granite boulder signifying connection to country. The centre is partially bounded by a beautiful granite wall with badges of the RAN, Army, RAAF and merchant navy. It features two bronze figures representing all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have served in the Australian Defence Force. I am proud to say that the former federal Labor government and the South Australian Labor government each donated $143,000 to this fine project.
As Frank Lampard, the deputy chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial Committee, said, the Torrens Parade Ground has 39 memorials—memorials to all manner of men and women who have served in peace and war. There is even a memorial to war horses. The lack of recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women is now at an end, Mr Lampard said. He added that the lack of recognition had been due in part to the fact that, in World War I, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were denied citizenship, which meant they were unable to leave Australia without government approval. As a result, they rarely declared their racial identity when signing up. It is a fact that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders served with distinction. They became prisoners of war, they were wounded and they were killed in action. They lie forever in foreign countries. Yet they have been largely invisible when it has come to recognition and commemoration.
As we approach the ANZAC centenary, this memorial is a genuine attempt to understand and recognise the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women. I personally pay tribute to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial Committee, which was formed in 2011 and is jointly chaired by Mr Bill Denny and Sir Eric Neal. The patron of the committee is His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, the Governor of South Australia. The vice-patrons are Robert Champion de Crespigny, Mr Bill Cooper, Justice Kevin Duggan, Mr Hugh MacLachlan, Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue and Mr Jock Statton. The committee comprises Justice Duggan, Andrew Fletcher, Perry Gunner, Jane Kittel, Di Laidlaw, Felicity-ann Lewis, Hugh MacLachlan, John Moriaty, Lew Owens, John Roberts, James Sarah, Ray Scott, Frank Seeley, Peter Seibels and Jock Statton.
Restrictions preventing Aboriginal Australians from enlisting were only abandoned in 1949, meaning that it has been very difficult to determine how many Aboriginal service men and women served in our armed forces. The lack of previous identification is the responsibility of us all. To rectify matters, the South Australian government has established the Register of Aboriginal Veterans of South Australia to identify Aboriginal South Australians who served our nation. The move is spearheaded by a team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal veterans and supported by the Council of Aboriginal Elders of South Australia, the Returned & Services League of Australia (SA Branch), Reconciliation SA and Veterans SA. I was very pleased to hear that this project has already identified 200 Aboriginal service men and women. It is expected to be completed in time for the Centenary of ANZAC in 2015. I encourage other states to follow the lead of South Australia and to look to identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service men and women in their states.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial in Adelaide and the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier at Canberra's Australian War Memorial are places to reflect on the noble sacrifices made by all service men and women of this nation. Both are places where we can be thankful for and in awe of their incredible bravery. As Paul Keating said yesterday:
In the long shadow of these upheavals, we gather to ponder their meaning and to commemorate the values that shone in their wake: courage under pressure, ingenuity in adversity, bonds of mateship and above all, loyalty to Australia.
It was a pleasure to be with Senator Farrell and Senator Peris at the unveiling of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial in Adelaide on Sunday morning. In a spirit of bipartisanship, I recognise the contribution that previous Labor governments have made to help establish the memorial. As has been said, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been serving the people for over 100 years. Generally, however, this has gone unrecognised, despite the fact that they have given, and in some cases given on multiple occasions, above and beyond the call of duty. I am glad to report, as did Senator Farrell, that that situation of no recognition has been remedied as of Sunday morning.
From the Boer War right through until current days, Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people have served with distinction in the Defence Force. Numbers are not certain, but it is believed that over 400 Indigenous Australians fought during the First World War. This is all the more incredible when you consider the barriers which were placed in the way of their enlisting. The Defence Act of 1909 specifically prohibited Indigenous Australians from enlisting to serve their country. Despite that, some of them managed, through using different names or even claiming different nationalities, to enlist and to serve the nation. It says something about us as a nation that it was only in October 1917—when volunteers were harder to find and by when the conscription referendum had been lost—that people decided they might start changing their minds about allowing Indigenous people to serve. The fact that so many people served when so many barriers were put in their way is, I think, a testament to their love of country—they actually wanted to serve their people and their nation.
I am sad to say that things did not improve in the period up to the Second World War. Many of those who had served report, and history tells us, that, while they were in uniform, they were actually treated very well—they were treated equally and they received the same pay and conditions. But when they returned they were not welcomed back into our society with the same standing as white Australians who had served in the forces. At the start of World War II, Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders were allowed to enlist, but in 1940 the Defence Committee decided yet again that the enlistment of Indigenous Australians was 'neither necessary nor desirable'. But history repeats itself. When the threat from Japan loomed, those restrictions were lessened because the need was there and people were prepared to allow Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders to enlist. In 1942, Torres Strait Islanders in particular were in the front line of some of the fighting in the defence of Australia.
As someone who has served in the military as an army officer and a pilot, I wish to identify two firsts to illustrate that we are not just talking about people who served as foot soldiers or who perhaps were doing some other duties. I want to talk about the first Indigenous Australian officer and the first Indigenous Australian pilot. Reg Saunders was the first Aboriginal Australian to be commissioned as an officer in the Australian Army. He was the son of a World War I veteran and in 1940 he enlisted in the Defence Force and was sent to the Middle East as reinforcement for the 2nd/7th Battalion. Having survived Africa, he went on to Greece and had to remain hidden in Greece for some 12 months after the German victory. He escaped Crete in 1942 and returned to Australia before rejoining his battalion in New Guinea as a sergeant. He remained in action in Papua New Guinea until 1944, when his commanding officer nominated him for officer training.
After a 16-week course, Saunders was finally commissioned in November 1944 and he returned to Papua New Guinea where he continued for the rest of the war, fighting as a platoon commander. He then returned to Australia, having lost his brother in action during the war. That was not enough. Having given that service, when the Korean War broke out he returned to the Army and he went to Korea serving as a captain in 3rd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, fighting at Kapyong, a famous battle. After the war he came back and for a while assisted with national service training before leaving the Army, eventually in 1967 joining the Office of Aboriginal Affairs as a liaison and public relations officer. He had 10 children, and he was finally recognised with the award of an MBE in 1971.
Leonard Waters, who had grown up admiring people like Charles Kingsford Smith and Amy Johnson, joined the RAAF in 1942. Despite the competition and the lengthy training involved in becoming a pilot, he was eventually selected to be a pilot and was assigned to 78th Squadron, situated in Dutch New Guinea, flying Kittyhawk aircraft. He later flew in Borneo. He named his Kittyhawk 'Black Magic', and flew 95 operational sorties. You would imagine that when somebody with those skills—flying 95 operational sorties—came back to Australia they would be recognised for their service and for their skills. Unfortunately, he was not able to find a career in civil flying and he ended up having to go back to shearing for a living.
These examples highlight that, given the opportunity and a fair go, people from any walk of life in Australia—any race or creed—can succeed and contribute to our nation. It is fitting that, now, there is finally an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial in South Australia. It has the aspiration of being a national memorial, and I was pleased to see Her Excellency the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, there to open it. Like Senator Farrell, I commend the memorial committee, chaired by Marj Tripp with Frank Lampard as deputy chair, as well as the fundraising group led by Sir Eric Neal and Bill Denny, who raised the funds for the memorial. There was a range of both government and corporate donors, and a number of us as private donors also had the opportunity to contribute. Thanks go not only to the committee but in particular I would also like to thank the Indigenous service men and women, and their families who released them, who have served this nation for well over 100 years, and I thank also those who are still serving the nation in the uniform of our Army, Navy and Air Force.
It is with heartfelt sadness that I participate in the adjournment debate to acknowledge the life and work of a great Australian, Jennifer Dowell. Jenni was an inspirational figure in the Australian and international union movement, a wonderful mother, a caring daughter and a loved sister. She was a comrade to thousands of workers, a fierce negotiator and a dear-friend. Jenni died on 16 October this year, in tragic circumstances.
I first met Jenni when we were a couple of new organisers with the Food Preservers' Union. We shared amongst many things the same passion for representing workers and this camaraderie grew into a friendship of over 25 years. Jenni joined the Food Preservers' Union in 1976 while working at the Batlow Fruit Co-op.
After being a vocal workplace delegate for many years, Jenni moved to Sydney in 1988 and took on a position as an organiser with the FPU. She soon became the New South Wales regional secretary and upon the FPU's amalgamation with the metal workers in 1994, Jenni became the Food Division's regional secretary in New South Wales. She then went on to become the national secretary of the Food and Confectionary Division of the AMWU in the late 1990s—a position she held until the day she died.
Jenni was not ambitious for herself; her drive came from a frightening commitment to the cause of justice. Jenni also had a tough early life as a single mother. She balanced raising Melinda, her daughter, who made her inordinately proud, with her increasing responsibilities in the union. Her greatest love and admiration was reserved for her daughter Melinda and son-in-law Jimmy.
We were foodies—a term that is hard to explain unless you have been one. We stuck together, we battled issues and we were tough. We had to be. In our industry female workers were traditionally only employed casually at peak production times across the year. The permanent jobs traditionally went to the men. We worked closely together, supporting one another whenever we needed it, laughing together often. In fact, I cannot remember a time when we talked that we did not have a good laugh at some stage.
Jenni had to overcome sexism both directly in the industry and, again, from across the union movement to reach her position. She beat the sexism by being the best and earning respect. She believed in justice and fairness. She hated hypocrisy, elitism and superficiality. Jenni challenged poor management but also challenged her members to be honourable and fulfil their responsibilities as skilled and committed workers. No-one was tougher than Jenni; she battled tirelessly for her members and was one of the best negotiators I have ever worked with. She was highly respected both by her members and by management because she worked with honesty and integrity, and demanded the same from others. She recognised that the industry was vulnerable because of international pressures but she did not become parochial or insular. She wanted fair trade, and full and complete lives for every worker on the planet. She was respected on the international union scene because she operated with those same values.
Jenni's passion for helping workers across the world saw her elected as a vice-president of the international union of food and allied workers in 2002. The IUF is the international body for over 12 million workers in the food industry globally, with some 388 trade unions in 124 countries represented. From its founding in 1920, international labour solidarity has been the IUF's guiding principle. As a member of the IUF's Executive Committee Jenni was instrumental in shaping and furthering the IUF's work on outsourcing and on precarious forms of employment. At the executive meeting in 2004, she described the AMWU's successful struggle, through organising and bargaining, against subcontracting and casualisation at Nestle and Simplot in Australia. The Nestle example found its way into the IUF manual called Outsourcing and casualization in the food and beverage industry: the threat to workers and unions and union strategies for fighting back, which was published in 2006.
As a member of the IUF women's committee Jenni served on the drafting committee of the IUF Action Program for Equality, which was ratified by the IUF in 2007. In 2007, she was also elected to be one of the two vice-presidents of the IUF women's committee. Through her advice, unionists across the world were able to implement strategies to put women's rights firmly on the bargaining agenda and in workplace policies in some of the key companies within the food industry, such as Nestle and Unilever. This has been of great importance not only for union members in Australia but for women workers around the world.
Jenni tackled with great determination gender inequalities such as job discrimination linked to maternity, the persistent undervaluation of women's work, and domestic violence. Well before the previous, Labor government introduced Australia's first publicly funded paid parental leave scheme, many workers in the food industry were in receipt of parental leave rights through their enterprise bargaining agreements—and, as I highlighted earlier, Jenni persuaded employers to re-evaluate women's jobs through a fairer job-classification system and recognition of their multiple skills, as well as developing further training schemes. These achievements were a source of inspiration to women and men trade unionists in other countries.
In preparation for the world IUF Women's Conference in May 2012, Jenni suggested that domestic violence should be included in the agenda as one of the aspects of violence against women. Her presentation of the program developed by the ACTU to assist workers who are victims of domestic violence was an eye-opener for many delegates and made people realise that it is indeed a workplace issue. A few months ago, the AMWU reached a collective agreement with the food company Heinz which included a clause on domestic violence. This campaign, and the subsequent agreement with a major multinational, serves as a model for other IUF unions who continue the difficult struggle against violence in all its forms.
Jenni won great respect within the IUF women's committee for her outstanding sense of justice and for her fearlessness in taking up the struggle. Her contributions were always thought provoking, and she transmitted her courage and her dignity to her sisters in the movement. Jenni focused her working life not only on improving conditions for workers but also on helping companies become as sustainable as possible. In recent years, she confided to me that she thought that she had failed. But the workers who have been touched by Jenni over the years would vouch for the fact that she had inspired and assisted thousands of them.
Food industry workers were for many years labelled simply as 'unskilled'. This term was used as an easy way to suppress the wages and conditions of workers. It also affected a worker's morale and future workforce opportunities. Jenni led the campaign to develop skills classification and training, helping many of her members gain overdue acknowledgement of the complexity of their work. This recognition empowered food industry workers and strengthened their performance. The campaign was not simple. She fought for many years for her members to have their skills recognised. She did this in such a way that members wanted to learn, and became proud of their skills, of their piece of paper, of their recognition.
Jenni also had to convince companies that the training and accreditation would increase the effectiveness of their workforce. She was proud of her members who participated in the programs. They may have been working at the factory for 30 years; so why did they need this certification, this piece of paper? This competency based training counted towards a trade qualification, providing evidence to employers of a worker's skill set. Through Jenni's persistent work with many across the food industry, many workers are no longer labelled 'unskilled'.
Jenni and I came from the factory floor to the role of union officials. This meant we lived the challenges our members were facing, and it was a tough gig. Jenni was proud to represent her members, those workers who placed their trust in her. She enlivened every meeting she attended, and I know that we will hear her voice in every factory and in every part of what we do for the rest of our lives.
We admired her courage, her wit, her perseverance and her faith in a better world. We grieve with her friends and her family, and with unionists across the world. We will miss her tremendously, but the world is a better place because of her.
I want to associate myself with that beautiful speech from Senator Urquhart about a truly remarkable woman. I would also like to put on the record my strong support for the unlimited adjournment debate on Tuesday evenings, regardless of when we have it—and, in that spirit, I always like to participate.
This evening I want to talk about a group of strong people, a small group of people, who have been on a hunger strike outside the DFAT buildings in Melbourne since 19 September.
These people are friends, family and supporters of the PMOI, the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran—and I can spell that later. The PMOI has had a long history of discrimination and horror. They have sought freedom and they have actually had a very destructive time since about 1986 when the PMOI moved a lot of their people from Iran, where they were living with discrimination under that regime. They moved to Iraq under a promise of freedom, and moved to a place which became well known as Camp Ashraf.
This camp was situated outside Baghdad, and since 1986 the people there had built up a real city. It was not just a camp, it was a city which had schools and generations of people working together. That particular city has been under threat from the current Iraqi government for several years. So whilst there has been ongoing debate and discussion, people from Camp Ashraf have been moved from their place of sanctuary under a promise from the UN that they will be protected. They have been taken to another location with the expectation that they would then be able to seek a new home elsewhere and given UNHCR protection, but being encouraged to move because they were no longer welcome nor safe in Iraq.
The situation continued to get worse because over a number of years, particularly since the Americans left Iraq, there have been a number of serious attacks on Camp Ashraf, and the people knew that they were not safe. Australian citizens of Iranian background who are living here have been fearful for their families' safety, and they have been persistent and strong advocates for our government, amongst many governments, to take some action to give safety to the people who were now clearly in danger. The people have been visiting this parliament and visiting parliamentarians for several years. I want to pay my respects to their strength, that they are prepared to come to talk to people from all parties to raise awareness of the situation and to talk about the fact that they feel as though they have been betrayed because they put their faith in the coalition that had moved through the Iraq war process and promised them that they would be safe.
They had received protection under the Saddam Hussein regime and that makes them very unpopular, because they were linked with that dictator. However, these people have always retained their independence. Personally, they would seek to return to a free and safe Iran; but as an illegal organisation they cannot do so. So we have the situation, which is well documented and which has been taken up by the UN, the lack of security and danger within the Iraqi state. The people were promised that they would have safety, and some of them wished to stay at Camp Ashraf for various reasons. But this camp has been bombarded several times, many people have been killed and the outrage has continued.
On 1 September this year a particular situation occurred which has caused greater urgency. The UNHCR has released a statement about the attacks on 1 September which reads:
According to reports reaching UNHCR, seven individuals formerly residing in Camp New Iraq disappeared from the Camp on 1 September, are being held somewhere in Iraq and may be at risk of being returned involuntarily to Iran. These seven are all known by UNHCR to be asylum-seekers, and the agency hopes to have an opportunity to interview them. In light of the numerous and persistent reports over the past week that these individuals may be at risk of forced return to Iran, UNHCR calls upon the Government of Iraq to locate them, to ensure their physical security, and to safeguard them against return to Iran against their will.
We know that these people have been found in various prisons in Iraq, all under immediate threat of being removed to Iran.
As a result of the fear, a series of hunger strikes have taken place across the world. Iranians in Camp Liberty, which is the new location in Iraq, and in five countries, including Switzerland, England, Germany, Canada and, from the middle of September, Australia, commenced a hunger strike, calling for the release of seven Camp Ashraf residents being held hostage by Iraqi forces. Among those on hunger strikes are fathers, mothers, families and friends of people who are now living in Iraq. They seek assurance that that their friends, their families and their people are safe, and that they will continue to be treated as real refugees, with hope of being able to find a new future.
The hunger strikers in Melbourne include Mr Janhangir Hosseini, his wife, Zeinab, Roy Adel and my friend Mohammed Sadeghpour. The protest has been taking place outside DFAT in Casselden Place on the corner of Lonsdale and Spring streets in Melbourne. The people are peaceful; they are not allowed by Melbourne council rules to erect any buildings or shelter. They are simply there making the statement. It is a number of days that these people have been on hunger strike. We believe that now people are deciding to move away from hunger strike. We do not know, because emotions are running very high. They are seeking support to have their international message heard.
A number of us have been raising this issue with the Australian government for years. But we think that the issue has created more urgency recently. I just want to note a quote from an email. Mr Sadeghpour, who has been such a good friend, says that he will continue his striking until the seven people are released. I quote, 'We are struggling to get them out as soon as possible because if they are deported back to Iran, they will face torture and execution'.
We know the history of human rights in Iran. We know that there is indeed a culture there which does have execution as a common result of any crime and, certainly, the PMOI are considered to be enemies of the state in Iran. So removing people from this organisation back to Iran is in effect signing their death sentences. The people who are taking hunger strike action in our city of Melbourne are Australian citizens. They care about their families back in their homeland, but they believe Australia is their home and they are turning to us to make sure that we are part of international spokespeople who can talk through the UN to commit to ensure that people are safe.
These people are brave, they are calling for our assistance, and I believe that we as Australians do have a responsibility to ensure that their friends and family are not subject to execution and torture. We know that we will continue to have discussions both at the national level here and internationally, but we do not have the right to turn our backs on my friend Mohammed and his friends, who are only trying to keep their families safe. I commend their actions. I do not know whether I would have that strength; in fact, I know I would not. But I do think we should listen, understand and keep this message alive.
This evening I would like to pay tribute to Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, who died on 30 August, aged 74. Seamus Heaney was a friend. He was the author of more than a dozen collections of poetry, as well as critical essays, translations and works for the stage, and he held lectureships at some of the world's foremost universities, including Oxford, Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, and the recipient of numerous other awards and accolades, he was admired throughout the world as well as in his native Ireland. At his funeral in Dublin, and outside the church, hundreds of people clapped for 15 minutes in memory not just of the poet but of the kind, generous and wise man that Seamus was. Fifteen minutes of clapping! I can imagine him making a little joke about that because, for all his fame and his serious work, he had a great sense of humour and he was not the least bit puffed up with his own importance.
Seamus was born the eldest son of a large rural family in Castledawson, County Derry, in Northern Ireland. A bright boy, he won a scholarship to boarding school and later attended university—a move that took him away from the rural circumstances of his inheritance, but he always remained grounded in the fields that bore him. His first volume of poetry, Death of a Naturalist, was published in 1966. He was a young man coming of age in Belfast at a time of sectarian strife and bitterness and he looked for inspiration to his own rural past. His father worked on the farm and, in a deep sense, Heaney also saw his own work as carrying on the tradition with a different instrument. As his poem Digging puts it:
By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.
… … …
But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.
And dig he did: into history and mythology, into legend and language, and above all into common experiences. He often alluded to the fact that, in the course of a lifetime, he had moved from a culture that was more or less medieval—well water, horse-drawn carts, blacksmiths, thatchers—to one that was postmodern.
He referred to poetry as when 'human experience comes to life' and, as well as insights into the local rural realities of ploughs and bogs and trees dripping with rain, his poems also reflected powerfully on politics, human rights, even terrorist attacks. One poem compares a mobile phone to a horse's pricked-up ears. His voice is distinctive. As the historian Roy Foster put it, a 'Heaney poem carries its maker's mark on the blade'.
By 1973 Seamus was a young husband and father living in Belfast and lecturing in English literature at the university. He had begun to have some standing as a gifted voice in his community, and in this period of sectarian bitterness and strife there were many calls for him to speak out on behalf of 'his' people. But who were his people? Catholics? Northern Irishmen? Writers in English? Republicans? Or maybe even his own family?
He was always a thoughtful man and saw the fatal error of reducing a complex situation to a simple black-and-white issue. So, even though the civil violence troubled and preoccupied him, he saw that taking a single side would be untrue to his lived experience and he absolutely refused to write propagandist poetry. But 'the troubles' did provide the backdrop or underpinning of his poetry. His poem The Other Side is about the divisions in his community but, importantly, it is also about the connections. It describes neighbours in rural Ulster: a Protestant farmer with his fields adjoining a Catholic neighbour, united in their common daily lot but peacefully acknowledging their essential cultural differences. Which was 'the other side'? Without being overtly political, the poem makes it clear that perspectives differ and explain a lot. But such indirect or oblique responses to the sectarian violence aroused criticism in some quarters, and when the young husband and father decided to move his family to a safer home in the south the decision was interpreted by some as a political act.
His new home turned out to be just across the road from my grandparents' farmhouse in County Wicklow. He slipped very easily into the life of the village, and since his death in August I have been remembering the countless quiet acts of kindness with which he enriched the lives of so many, including members of my own family. He had the same gentle regard and respect for everyone, regardless of status or position. He would joke and talk seriously about poetry and life just as readily with my 16-year-old cousin John, working after school in the village shop, as he would with the parish priest, or the doctor, or the gardener at the large estate, or the local guard's daughter. All of these people have treasured memories of their conversations with Seamus, as well as copies of his books dedicated to them.
He made the south of Ireland his home for the rest of his life, at his main house in Dublin and at the Wicklow cottage, which became his refuge and retreat—a place where he could work uninterrupted. He produced over 20 volumes of poetry, essays, translations and plays, his fame grew and, as it grew, his life expanded to include public performances around the world. With the award of the Nobel prize in 1995 came a huge increase in requests for his presence—to judge this prize, or sign that submission, or speak at a function, or recommend an author—and he rarely refused. His Nobel address manifested the poet's struggle in the face of intractable, bloody history. What 'always will be to poetry's credit', he wrote, is 'the power to persuade that vulnerable part of our consciousness of its rightness in spite the evidence of wrongness all around it'.
The poet TS Eliot called the Nobel prize a 'ticket to one's own funeral', and indeed it was very nearly so for Seamus, as the demands on his time and energy made massive inroads on his reserves. He looked on his talent as a blessing to be shared with others even when doing so made it harder for him to continue with his work. In 2006 he had a stroke, which brought him to a temporary halt. 'Blessed are the pacemakers,' he remarked with a wry smile when I inquired then about his health. After he recovered he became more judicious in his acceptance of these invitations, but that is not to say his conviviality or his generosity with his time and conversation decreased.
In 2008 on a visit to Ireland I spent a lovely afternoon with Seamus and Marie at their cottage in Wicklow. He was a little unsteady but mentally alert and animated. He talked about coming back to Australia—he had been here in the 1990s—and about how pleased he was by our apology to the stolen generations. It struck him as justice that had waited a long time to be served. He observed that 'its balm wasn't just an ingredient to ease the pain: it was part of the healing'. But he was not being pompous. In fact the whole family shared the self-deprecating humour that often punctured moments that might have been in danger of becoming inflated. As he was signing a copy of his Collected Poems for me to bring back as a present for Prime Minister Rudd, one of my companions remarked that this would be a very valuable gift, at which Marie chuckled and said he had signed and given away so many volumes that it would be the unsigned ones that would become collectors' items.
But in times of fear, suspicion and economic hardship, Seamus Heaney was always a very hopeful man. His work reminds us of the importance of never giving up on the possibility of transforming life for the better. It is vital for politicians to remember that whatever we are faced with—
Can always be reimagined, however four-square,
Plank-thick, hull-stupid and out of its time
It happens to be.
Former US President Bill Clinton, who praised Heaney as 'our finest poet of the rhythms of ordinary lives' and a 'powerful voice for peace', was infected by that poet's hope. When he chose Between Hope and History as the title of his book about his vision for the USA in the 21st century, he was paying tribute to Seamus Heaney's 1991 verse play The Cure at Troy.
History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and, although there is still conflict in Northern Ireland, it is nothing like the violence that pervaded in Heaney's time and a great part of his legacy is his contribution to the peacemaking process. He knew how important it is to keep trying, to keep on going, and to be true to yourself.
One of his poems from the sequence he titled Squarings, is a about not kidding ourselves, about squaring up to the truth, which is particularly relevant to our profession as politicians where even the temptation to tell the unvarnished truth can end up varnishing it. No-one knew better than Seamus Heaney the seduction and the betrayal of the nicely turned phrase. Here in his poem Squarings, xxxviii that came out of a visit to Rome and the stirrings evoked by the city's classical history and its contrast with the more humble and ordinary experience of a daily lives, he wrote:
We climbed the Capitol by moonlight, felt
The Transports of temptation on the heights:
We were privileged and belated and we knew it.
Then something in me moved to prophesy
Against the beloved stand-offishness of marble
And all emulation of stone-cut verses.
'Down with form triumphant, long live,' (said I)
'Form mendicant and convalescent. We attend
The come-back of pure water and the prayer-wheel.'
To which a voice replied, 'Of course we do.
But the others are in the Forum Cafe waiting,
Wondering where we are. What'll you have?'
Down to earth, that was Seamus! He never forgot that this is where we all belong. While he was serious he also had an enormous sense of fun and enjoyed the absurd moments of life. He told me a story about being a young teacher organising a discussion about birds and then setting his class to write a composition. Observing two little boys with their heads together, he deduced that the less able boy was being helped rather a lot by his more gifted friend so he separated them. After a few moments he wandered down to see how the little fellow was managing on his own, and read, 'The swallow is a migratory bird … It have a roundy head.' We laughed as we both recalled the many roundy heads we had encountered not just in our teaching days but also later on.
Seamus, Marie and their family have lived rich and interesting lives. They travelled extensively and met people from all walks of life. Last year when our parliamentary delegation visited Ireland I had dearly hoped to catch up with them, but Seamus was on a lecture tour in America so it was not to be. My cousin Sheila Clarke remembered not long ago passing their house in Ashford and being surprised to see a squad car and four guardai outside. She wrote, 'It flashed into my mind the price of fame—what could have happened? I returned with mounting concern and inquired if everything was all right.' Indeed it was. It was just that Emperor Akihoto and Empress Michicko of Japan had just dropped in for a cup of tea!
Generous, fascinating, gifted, modest and very good at quietly being a wise man, Seamus Heaney is sorely missed. At his funeral, which was broadcast live by the RTE and the BBC, Frank McGuinness, the Irish playwright, said:
During the darkest days of the Northern Ireland conflict he was our conscience: a conscience that was accurate and precise in how it articulated what was happening.
His poems are a brilliant record of what Ireland went through, and to produce it he must have gone through many trials. He carried enormous burdens for us and he helped us. He was a great ally for the light … He was the greatest Irishman of my generation: he had no rivals.
Michael Higgins, the President of the Irish Republic said:
The presence of Seamus was a warm one, full of humour, care and courtesy, a courtesy that enabled him to carry with such wry Northern Irish dignity so many well-deserved honours from all over the world.
Seamus is survived by Marie, his children Christopher, Michael and Catherine, and their granddaughters. Vale Seamus Heaney.
Earlier today in the pomp and ceremony of the opening of the 44th Parliament I wondered what the people out there would think—the people in the car industry, the component manufacturers in Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, Broadmeadows and Adelaide and the farmers in the Goulburn Valley, the Murray-Darling Basin and the Riverina. On election night with victory clearly evident Liberal leader Tony Abbott told his supporters that Australia is under new management and open for business. In almost every week since a story has emerged about a key Australian agricultural or manufacturing business either closing down or being targeted for foreign takeover. So when Mr Abbott said that Australia was open for business was he issuing an invitation for cashed up foreign companies and governments to come in and systematically pick and choose what strategic assets they would like to take control of?
I will start with the proposed $3.4 billion takeover of GrainCorp by American company Archer Daniels Midland. I am very much of the opinion that GrainCorp should stay in Australian hands, not least because there is already a high concentration of foreign ownership in the Australian grain market and if ADM takes control of GrainCorp it will mean that the vast majority of the Australian grain market will be in foreign hands. It will be just another example of a foreign company getting its hands on a strategic Australian agricultural business. What other country in the world would allow such a thing to happen?
There has been the usual rhetoric from the Nationals indicating their general opposition to the sell-off of Australian agricultural assets, including GrainCorp. Not long after the 7 September election the Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, said that Australians needed to make a big noise if they were opposed to such large-scale foreign ownership, yet since that time we have hardly heard a peep from Minister Joyce. I wrote to Minister Joyce on 1 October requesting a meeting to discuss his position, the National's position and that of the government. I have not received a reply and I am not holding my breath.
Today's Australian article entitled 'Don't just buy the farm, build it' quotes Mr Abbott as saying:
We do need foreign investment. Our mining industry, our motor industry, our agricultural industry wouldn't be as strong as they are without foreign investment, but it does have to be the right investment, not the wrong investment.
Mr Abbott said he understood the concerns about foreign investment because Australia wanted to maintain 'control over our own country' and to use foreign investment to advance the national interest. The much referred to term 'national interest' is something I will come to soon, but another agricultural issue I would like to raise today is the adverse effect that the flood of foreign orange juice concentrate into Australia is having on our country's citrus growers. This is an issue I have personal experience with given that the DLP's federal president Paul Funnell stood as a candidate for the Riverina in the recent election.
Aided and abetted by pathetic labelling laws, successive governments have been crucifying our farmers, their families, food processors and communities in rural, regional and urban Australia on the altar of so-called free trade. The government seems focused on Northern Australia whilst disregarding the plight of the Goulburn Valley, the Riverina, the Murray-Darling Basin, Mildura and northern Victoria. The Murray-Darling Basin and Goulburn Valley fiascos are testament to this, yet nothing seems to have been done.
To be better informed about agricultural issues I spent a considerable part of the last year travelling around Victoria speaking to people on the ground—farmers, food processors, manufacturers and tradespeople, to name a few—to gauge their thoughts and feelings on the array of issues associated with foreign investment and takeovers. The recurring theme across various sectors is that the level of disconnect between the policymakers and the people on the ground is greater than ever before. In late October, as part of my Australian manufacturing and farming program, Senator Nick Xenophon and I held a farming forum in the western Victorian town of Beaufort to provide local farmers with the opportunity to raise any issues they saw as important to the future viability of their industry. A common theme was that both state and federal governments are not doing enough to assist them.
They urgently want clearer labelling laws, a reduction in bureaucratic red tape, the supermarket duopoly of Coles and Woolies addressed, fair trade not free trade and a greater understanding of life on the land by citycentric government departments and bureaucrats. Of most concern was that many people on the day spoke about how their children have left the farm never to return because of the difficulty in making a decent living in a sector where successive governments of all persuasions have favoured multinational companies and supermarket lobbyists rather than local food producers.
I empathise with these people and can only just begin to imagine how frustrated they must be with politicians both state and federal. A fortnight ago I spent some time in Warrnambool speaking to dairy farmers about the proposed buyout of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter by Canadian food giant Saputo. I also conveyed to the WCB chairman Terry Richardson that I would like to see the company remain in Australian hands. Mr Richardson, whilst respecting my position, said that his priorities are with the shareholders. My priorities, however, are with all Australians and future generations of Australians. The vast majority of dairy farmers I have spoken to would much rather see WCB remain an Australian owned company.
Mr Richardson made a telling point during our brief meeting. If a Canadian company like Saputo identified such vast potential within WCB, why don't Australian investors recognise this same potential? Do we give more encouragement to foreign investors and foreign superannuation funds than we afford Australian investors and superannuation funds to invest in Australia's future? Why don't Australian superannuation funds look at investing in these world-class agricultural companies?
In the last 24 hours Treasurer Hockey approved Saputo's $450 million takeover offer with no conditions attached. Similarly, the Foreign Investment Review Board gave Saputo's offer the go-ahead—also with no conditions attached. Mr Hockey reiterated that Australia is open for business and that we welcome foreign investment when it is not contrary to the national interest. But who defines what the national interest is? What about the farmers' interests? What about their ability to pay off their mortgages? What about their ability to compete on an increasingly uneven playing field with inferior overseas imports?
Triggered by the WCB takeover bid, almost 300 dairy farmers attended a forum in Warrnambool last night to talk about what they want their future industry to look like. The meeting largely focused on the role of cooperatives in the global dairy industry which, if run successfully, would put the balance of power back into the farmers' hands. For far too long this has not been the case. Twenty-five years ago there was little farm debt, while today there is unprecedented national farm debt with no respite in sight.
Then we go to the issue of free trade agreements and the transpacific partnership. I do not think it would be right for me to finish my few words this evening without making mention of so-called free trade and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Our farmers, our manufacturers, our car component manufacturers are being crucified, and yet time after time after time we are told about how we are signing up to another free trade agreement. The fact of the matter is the rest of the world is getting tied up in free trade agreements too—they are between every man and his dog—and so in the end there will be nobody who has not got a free trade agreement with somebody or other, and then where are we? If you look, on balance Australia has not benefited from free trade agreements. We have rust belts throughout this country. Rural and regional Australia have been decimated. And as much as we have figures touted, time and time again, that our agricultural exports and our commodities are increasing, the fact is that on the ground our farmers and our manufacturers are in crisis.
Two weeks ago the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade held a public briefing on the TPPA. Invitations were extended to journalists—possibly in order to remove aspects of concern festering due to the lack of information about this agreement. However, if this was the reason for the public briefing, it certainly was not successful. DFAT rescinded its invitation to a number of journalists and left the vast majority of these people more concerned than they originally were. And there is good reason to be concerned. Leaked documents indicate the US is interested in promoting investor stake dispute settlement provisions, which will potentially make it more common for multinationals to sue our government when it is acting in the public interest. A foreign government suing the Australian government for protecting the interests of Australians—what has it come to? Time after time after time bureaucrats sign us up to agreements and nobody in this place or the other place has any idea what those agreements are about or what the hell is going on. And we wonder why people in the community are sick to death of it.
Critics will say I am a protectionist and I am antiforeign investment, but I would describe myself as unashamedly pro-Australian in that what is in the national interest is in the interest of Australians first and foremost. Why is it that we consistently think of ourselves as being incapable of competing on the world stage? New Zealand comes to mind: it has a fraction of the population that we have, yet we look to New Zealand for investment. New Zealand companies pick off asset after asset after asset in this country, yet with a fraction of the population that we have.
While I am opposed to large-scale foreign ownership of our companies, our resources and our wealth-producing assets, I do agree there is a place for foreign investment but that it should always be measured against the national interest. This is the key point: how do we define what is in the national interest, and how do we decide if the selling off of our assets, our land and our wealth-producing assets is in the nation's interests when taking into account that many Australians are affected, either directly or indirectly, by decisions made in this and the other place.
We as a parliament need to have a mature, non-partisan discussion that includes all of the relevant stakeholders—it needs to be held in the very near future; not six months, not 12 months, but now—about the selling off of our key strategic agricultural assets, our minerals and our wealth-producing companies. Instead of focusing on the short-term cash grab, the short-term gain and the long-term pain that quite often foreign takeovers bring, more focus and discussion needs to be had about the long-term effects on Australia as a whole. Australia is at the tipping point; our manufacturers, our farmers and our food producers are at crisis point. One only has to speak to the people on the ground to realise this. The pomp and ceremony of today is fine, but the crushing reality that people face in the real world is more important.
I would like to share with my fellow senators information about an outstanding Australian, Robert D Walshe. He is a resident of the Sutherland shire; he is an OAM. His work has brought great benefit to many people and he has done outstanding work on the environment. Bob is the only person to receive the Sutherland Shire Citizen of the Year award twice: once in 1995 for his work on the environment and again in 2001 for his writing and support for being healthy in mind, body and spirit as we age. These are values that he exemplifies in a most impressive and quite beautiful way. I think there are many lessons to be learned from him for all of us.
Bob had the opportunity to go to university in a generation and at a time when it was much harder to achieve that. From that time he was politically active, organising meetings, drafting motions, carrying out extensive lobbying and speaking at public rallies—I hear he was a fantastic public speaker. He was a beneficiary of Chifley's Commonwealth reconstruction training scheme and he gained entry to university and then went on to do honours in history at Sydney University. He continued with his studies and had a great passion for education and encouraging young people to develop their skills in a range of areas.
At this time his interest in the environment grew and he began to make some really important contributions that need to be on the record. He brought together about a dozen colleagues, including Milo Dunphy, in the early 1970s when we really had what many have called the first stage of the environment movement. This led to the establishment in 1972 of the Total Environment Centre, a centre that continues to do some excellent work to this day. It was actually Bob's idea to have the name Total Environment Centre. They were able to fund Milo as the first director.
Not satisfied with that contribution to environmental protection, Bob then went on to establish the Sutherland Shire Environment Centre. As we all know in this place, organisations come and go. Bob has just turned 90 or is about to turn 90 but, with his incredible energy and the way he inspires people and organisations he has got involved with, he has found the way to ensure that they are able to prosper and expand their activities, as is very much the case with this environment centre in Sutherland, where he and that centre have been active on a range of issues, including waste—the issue of nuclear waste is a big one for them, with Lucas Heights being in the Sutherland Shire. There are also airport issues, big marine issues with desalination, sandmining and overdevelopment, and particularly around the planning laws that were weakened under the former Labor government and we have seen that continue under the O'Farrell government. He has been right onto that issue, doing the analysis, talking to people and writing articles. Another issue that he has taken up very strongly is shooting in national parks. Through all this work he has developed an incredible network of people that he is on first-name basis with, including a number of key political figures. He has been able to not just do the campaigning work but to translate that into very effective lobbying of our governments.
There is another passion of Bob's I have been very pleased to see because we know that issues in our history are sometimes lost or the full meaning of them can just fade away. Bob has a real interest in the Eureka Stockade. A few years back he formed the Eureka Stockade committee and now he and his colleagues in that organisation host an annual Eureka Stockade dinner. I have been to a number of them. They have some excellent speakers and it is a great opportunity to catch up with many people. His interest in this area is reflected in one of the books he has written on Eureka and democracy, written in 2002. He was actually invited to speak at Melbourne University's and Ballarat's sesquicentennial Eureka celebration, something that I know was very close to his heart because of his interest and passion but also because of what Eureka has meant in Australia.
As I said, his work goes on. He currently chairs the First National Park Committee, which is lobbying to have Royal National Park listed on the World Heritage list. This is a passion I share with Bob. I did my own thesis when I studied botany in Royal National Park and I often revisit the park. I was down there with some of the people working on the First National Park Committee. This is a great campaign. They have got a book out about their submission for it to be World Heritage listed and they have already had one step forward in the continuing success I am sure will come to this important project with the New South Wales government supporting the call for this park and the associated park to the Royal National Park to be heritage listed.
Throughout this long life of activity Bob has been a passionate educationist and also a very prolific and well-published author. He writes in a number of forms. The digital age is with us all and I must admit I always enjoy when I open a letter seeing Bob's writing. We have still got the lovely handwritten notes from him. He writes notes to people and he has special Christmas messages to family and friends. He writes a range of articles and commentaries and he has been known to write plays and history books. This goes back to the time when he was an English and history teacher. At that time he formed a company that specialised in educational books. We are now seeing that this excellent skill is something he has continued. He has some regular columns, including being a regular contributor to the St George Leader. Often he has been printed in the Sydney Morning Herald and in Shire Life, where he has had a column on the Royal National Park and the World Heritage campaign and other environmental issues for five years. Many people often describe their messages and their notes and letters from Bob as treasures, and I certainly agree with that description.
In 2008 he received an OAM and he continues to be in regular communication on a professional basis with leaders across I think most parties, as well as with councillors, general managers of councils, business people and writers. I imagine not a day goes by without Bob sitting down and writing in detail suggestions, ideas and concerns about a range of social justice and environmental issues. So I very strongly congratulate Bob and all those involved in the committee that he is working with for Royal National Park to gain World Heritage listing and congratulate him for all the work he has undertaken.
On another matter I would like to speak tonight about the outstanding work undertaken by Vision 2020 Australia. Over the past 20 years the world has made great strides in reducing the number of people who are needlessly blind or vision impaired. This story really reminds us why we need an aid budget that is increased in size and not cut.
When it comes to the issue of vision impairment there are many statistics to remind us how important this is. The global prevalence of all forms of blindness in those who are 50 years of age has fallen by one-third from three per cent in 1990 to 1.9 per cent in 2010. Millions of people's lives have been improved by some of the simplest medical interventions available. But often the people who are doing it tough in life, who live in poverty, are not able to access this assistance. We know that reducing blindness and vision impairment can play a crucial role in reducing poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals that all countries, including Australia, signed up to. We also know that blindness in the developing countries often means decreased life expectancy and an even greater level of poverty that those people are exposed to.
So while it is right for us to celebrate the progress made, we clearly cannot be complacent or afford to believe that the problem has been solved because the number affected in this way is reducing. There is still much work to be done. The World Health Organization estimates that currently more than 220 million people worldwide are blind or vision impaired, and 90 per cent of those live in developing countries—live in countries where our aid budget is so important. That 80 per cent of all blindness and vision impairment is preventable or treatable is an unacceptable figure. We know that, so clearly these people need to be treated.
What I also find alarming is that we see when we look at so many aspects of poverty is that women are overrepresented in these figures. Studies suggest that nearly two-thirds of blind people globally are women. Yet in some countries they are only half as likely as men to be able to access eye care services. That is why Vision 2020 Australia, the peak body for the eye health and vision care sector, have come together to develop a comprehensive strategy to realise the right to sight where possible and freedom from discrimination where it is not.
I was fortunate to have a meeting with Vision 2020 Australia earlier this year. The strategy that they have developed to take this important work forward is very impressive. They are calling for a five-year commitment to take us closer to the end of avoidable blindness in Asia and the Pacific—something that clearly is achievable when you look at the advances in medicine. For a total of $167.8 million we could make a real impact on eye health and social exclusion in our region.
It is probably worth noting at this point that prior to the coalition taking government, when they were in opposition, one of their criticisms of the aid budget was that it should concentrate more on the Asia-Pacific region. If they actually looked at the figures, there is already a concentration in the area of, I think, over 80 per cent. But if they want to be true to that statement, if that is what where they want to put their efforts, this is a program to get behind. It is a program that needs funding and a program that should not suffer because of the cuts to the aid budget the coalition has said they are bringing in. That $167.8 million would be money very well spent. This is a program that has been thought out in great detail.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that for every $1 invested, $4 dollars was returned to the economy, a return on investment that even the most hard-nosed would find impressive. When that money is put in to programs in low-income countries—and I believe, in all countries—when you work to identify the programs that are needed to reduce blindness and vision impairment, the economic benefits are there, and that means it is there for all society.
For just $8.5 million we could eliminate trachoma, the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world. That is the money that is needed to eliminate trachoma from our region. Again, surely an objective that the government should take on in terms of our aid program. For $17 million we could introduce eye tests and treatments into schools and make a real dent in the number of children—currently 500,000, half a million children—who become blind each year. These are startling figures. But when you put those figures against the money that is needed you can see that it is money that would be very well spent.
There would be a knock-on effect here on school enrolment. The UN estimates that at least one-third of the 57 million children currently missing out on a primary education do so because they have a disability. Again, we know with targeted programs that that could change. Reducing avoidable blindness would help get these children through the school gate and ensure that those with permanent vision loss can be properly targeted with support.
Australia has a good reputation in eye health and we should build on this success—build on this success in our region as a starting point. I do urge parliamentarians from all sides of politics to come together to develop awareness of the work of Vision 2020's agenda to realise the right to sight and the right to participate for all. It is a program that is well detailed. I would again argue that this work underlines the need for the Australian budget to be increased in line with the commitment made in 2000 by Australia to raise our aid budget to 0.7 per cent of gross national income. Obviously I am aware that that is not going to happen under this government, but let us put it on the record that it was the former Howard government that made that commitment. Recognising the importance of the Millennium Development Goals, it was certainly linked with our budget increase. That is something that we must not lose sight of.
Question agreed to.
Senate adjourned at 19:36