The SPEAKER ( Hon. Milton Dick ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring in relation to proceedings on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023:
(1) on Tuesday, 23 May the order of the day relating to the second reading debate on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 being immediately called on following the conclusion of the matter of public importance, and any division or quorum deferred under standing orders 55 and 133;
(2) the second reading debate on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 continuing without interruption until the commencement of the adjournment debate at 7.30pm;
(3) notwithstanding standing order 31, if the second reading debate has not concluded earlier, at 8 pm on Tuesday, 23 May, the bill being called on for further consideration, with the second reading debate continuing until either:
(a) no further Members rise to speak; or
(b) 10pm;
at which point, debate being adjourned and the House immediately adjourning until Wednesday, 24 May at 9am;
(4) on Wednesday, 24 May when the order of the day relating to the second reading debate on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 is called on following the conclusion of the matter of public importance, the second reading debate on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023 continuing without interruption until the commencement of the adjournment debate at 7.30 pm;
(5) notwithstanding standing order 31, if the second reading debate has not concluded earlier, at 8 pm on Wednesday, 24 May, the bill being called on for further consideration, with the second reading debate continuing until either:
(a) no further Members rise to speak; or
(b) 10 pm;
at which point, debate being adjourned and the House immediately adjourning until Thursday, 25 May at 9 am; and
(6) any variation to this arrangement being made only on a motion moved by a Minister.
Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Protecting Worker Entitlements) Bill 2023
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2022-2023
Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2022-2023
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2022-2023
Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 2) Bill 2023
Defence Legislation Amendment (Naval Nuclear Propulsion) Bill 2023
National Security Legislation Amendment (Comprehensive Review and Other Measures No. 2) Bill 2023
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2022-2023
Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2022-2023
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2022-2023
Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 2) Bill 2023
Defence Legislation Amendment (Naval Nuclear Propulsion) Bill 2023
AUKUS is a national endeavour. This is not just about expecting the Commonwealth to provide—state governments have to step up as well. SA is the defence state—we always have been, and we always will be. It is an honour and a responsibility that we do not take lightly, and we are already stepping up.
National Security Legislation Amendment (Comprehensive Review and Other Measures No. 2) Bill 2023
The Attorney-General's Department did not consult with or advise non-government parliamentarians on the proposed changes to the membership and composition of the Committee.
This measure was a recommendation of Government.
That Part 3 of Schedule 1 of the Bill be amended to ensure that:
That Part 3 of Schedule 1 of the Bill be omitted and the issue of the composition of the Committee referred to a further, broader inquiry into the operations of the Committee itself as dictated by the Intelligence Services Act (2001); consistent with the unanimous and bipartisan recommendation of the Committee in its annual report in 2020-21; or
Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023
All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history and eternity.
… my heart is heavy. I worry for my children and my grandchildren. I worry that what has proven to be a stable society, which now recognises my people as equals, is about to be replaced.
How dare you? I repeat: how dare you? You told my people that your system was best. We have come to accept that. We've come to believe that. The dispossessed, despised adapted to your system. Now you say that you were wrong and we were wrong to believe you.
A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?
In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them.
These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness .
… to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country.
Well, we need to get our international students back, we need to get our working holiday visa maker visa holders back. We've got to … get all those people back as soon as we can.
The Government pausing and cancelling infrastructure projects at the same time as bringing 1.5 million more people to Australia.
This project is a great example of what the LRCI Program is all about—supporting locals to deliver projects with a great importance to the community.
The Australian Government is proud to have funded this expansion project, making it a reality for Eden. Now bigger, better and more accessible than ever, the Eden Killer Whale Museum is a real treat to visit and learn about the town's whaling history.
I am thrilled to be here today to see this fantastic space and what our investment in critical regional tourism infrastructure means to the communities it benefits.
Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice) 2023
I don't want to see my family divided along the lines of race because we are a family of human beings and that's the bottom line.
I'll be voting 'no' because this will not unite us, this will divide us.
No … way. It's just going to be a layer of bureaucracy filled by all these … people pushing it.
It will probably cost a billion dollars to administer it. Why don't [we] build houses for black fellas with that? Why don't we try to help raise the standard of living? We have the lowest state of living in the whole country—why … aren't they doing something about that?
I see the Voice as effectively reversing the 1967 Referendum, entrenching race and segregation in the constitution and bringing it back.
It will enshrine a monolithic bureaucracy to end all bureaucracies in the constitution and a permanent and enduring part of Aboriginal lives. Like a great, big new protection board.
The boomer readership of this paper is of course antipathetic to recognition. They are mostly obscurant and borderline casual racists in their views.
The change that is needed to secure recognition of Australia's First Peoples is happening beyond that group of boomers who want this to be about the culture wars. The problem is that too many party activists and parliamentary candidates and members of the Liberal and National parties want to recreate America in Australia.
In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives should not be counted.
The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Commonwealth with respect to:
… … …
(xxvi) The people of any race, other than the aboriginal people in any State, for whom it is necessary to make special laws.
This is a fundamental test of our social goals and our national will: our ability to say to ourselves and the rest of the world that Australia is a first rate social democracy, that we are what we should be—truly the land of the fair go and the better chance.
… there is nothing to fear or to lose in the recognition of historical truth, or the extension of social justice, or the deepening of Australian social democracy to include indigenous Australians.
There is everything to gain.
We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.
The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.
A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
Do you approve this proposed alteration?
(i) there shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;
(ii) the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples;
(iii) the Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to matters relating to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.
Fear is a tremendous and dangerous weapon, and its use is as old as the hills of this, the oldest continent on the face of the earth.
… seeking for a continuing city … where it can never be found: in a fluid world.
… the fear we have to conquer if we seek wisdom—is the fear of change.
… I feel like kneeling down daily and praying to be delivered from this shameful fear of change, and praying that my country may be delivered from it.
The Victorian Criminal Bar Association supports the proposal to amend the Australian Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of Australia by the establishment of the Voice.
As the Uluru Statement from the Heart recognised:
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people o n the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.
The unacceptable over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody persists notwithstanding that more than 30 years have passed since the landmark final report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. That report examined the many ways in which our criminal justice system failed to deal justly with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. It also examined the disadvantages that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons confronted, disadvantages that frequently continue to inform the prevailing circumstances when First Nations persons come before our criminal courts.
Whilst criminal justice primarily falls within the province of State legislatures, it does not do so exclusively. Moreover, the Commonwealth has wide scope to make laws on matters relating to, or which affect, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. The Voice would provide a mechanism by which First Nations persons could communicate their views on such matters. The Victorian Criminal Bar Association—whose membership consists of barristers who prosecute criminal cases, barristers who defend persons charged with criminal offences and barristers who do both—considers that mechanism to be a fair and proportionate measure which has the very real potential to address injustices that are so often seen by those of us who practise in criminal law.
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.
Well, I actually have responded to Darren, so I'm not sure where those letters have gone astray, but I have signed letters, I've seen them across my desk and I've signed them. So, we'll chase that up for him today.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Ananda-Rajah) took the chair at 16:01.
Infrastructure Australia Amendment (Independent Review) Bill 2023
This is a government that doesn't have a plan for long-term infrastructure investment, that hasn't produced a pipeline of projects, that has gutted Infrastructure Australia and, therefore, will damage Australia's future economic growth and prosperity.
… if you want to make a gutsy painting, you just look at John Olsen's stuff. There is so much aliveness in the work …
When rock stars die, everyone's so connected to them even though they've never met them. But you feel it.
Seize the day and don't waste your life. Take a lot of memories with you, when the curtain closes. … this is the only life you'll have … in a free country like Australia, no matter what circumstances you're born in, ultimately life is what you make it.
That business intervening before order of the day No.5, government business, be postponed until a later hour this day.
I am down right now, I am, but I will get back up and you can come at me again and I'll meet you with the love of my people. My people can teach the world to love. As Martin Luther King Junior said of his struggle, 'we will wear you down with our capacity to love.' Don't mistake our love for weakness, it is our strength. We have never stopped loving and fighting for justice and truth, the hard truths to speak in our land.