2025-09-04 3 1 0 House of Reps 0 1

Thursday, 4 September 2025

The SPEAKER ( Hon. Milton Dick ) took the chair at 09:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.

PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION 1 PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION Election Petition 1 STATEMENTS ON SIGNIFICANT MATTERS 1 STATEMENTS ON SIGNIFICANT MATTERS National Police Remembrance Day 1 09:01 Mr BURKE DYW Watson Later this month we'll mark National Police Remembrance Day. The date of 29 September is derived from the feast day of St Michael, the patron saint of police. This year marks the 36th National Police Remembrance Day, an important day where we pay tribute to the courageous officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. In remembering this day, I pay particular respect to the members of this House who have dedicated part of their professional lives to taking that risk, the members for Richmond, Tangney, Wide Bay and Cowper. Every loss of life is a tragedy; every loss of life gets felt by the community. But there's an even greater chasm left when we know that the person we've lost had chosen to put themselves in harm's way to protect the rest of us. At these moments, the risk that every officer takes is realised in the most awful way. When this happens, the grieving is not limited to friends or family; it belongs to the entire nation. The unspeakable violence which was committed against an officer in Tasmania, Constable Keith Anthony Smith, and most recently against officers in Victoria, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, has shaken us as a nation. Every day our police put themselves in the service of the community. They put themselves on the line. That's a spirit of courage and selflessness that is the mark of every man and woman from the moment they make the choice to enlist. And, as we keep being reminded, there will be times when that spirit is called on to a degree that is nothing short of extraordinary. Just last night I had the honour of presenting the National Police Bravery Award to two Australian Federal Police officers and three members of the NSW Police Force. Sergeant Aaron Cox and Inspector Peter Murphy of the Australian Federal Police were recognised for their incredible acts of bravery in response to a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Port Vila while stationed in Vanuatu. Both Sergeant Cox and Inspector Murphy repeatedly entered a collapsed building in which many people were trapped. They made the conscious decision to stay and treat casualties, apply makeshift medical aid and evacuate victims, all while they believed a tsunami was imminent. Their selflessness, courage and leadership under these extreme conditions saved lives. Sergeant Daniel Cooper, Senior Constable Adam Davis and Senior Constable Joshua Naughtin of the New South Wales Police Force were also recognised for their bravery in response to the Manning River in Taree in May of this year. These three officers rescued 38 people across multiple locations, and these rescues were nothing short of extraordinary. One man was rescued by Sergeant Cooper and Senior Constable Davis after spending four hours in neck-deep water. At another location, a family of five was rescued from the second storey of their home amid live powerlines in the floodwaters. Perhaps the most extraordinary of them all, in conditions so extreme that the State Emergency Service and PolAir were not able to assist, Senior Constables Davis and Naughtin launched their own flood rescue boat. They proceeded to rescue five people from two locations, including three elderly residents at the second location, one of whom was trapped in a roof cavity. Senior Constables Davis and Naughtin brought these five residents to safety in near darkness and worsening weather, against the current of the floodwater. They were presented with their National Police Bravery Awards in recognition of acting well beyond their duty by knowingly entering life-threatening conditions to save others and by conducting rescues when no other agency could. They undoubtedly saved lives and demonstrated exceptional bravery and commitment. This tenacity and commitment of police force members and law enforcement partners allow our policing community to continue to achieve substantial operational results, maximising their impact on the criminal environment. Our law enforcers work tirelessly in challenging situations to ensure the safety and protection of Australians and our way of life. Their work goes way beyond the ordinary concepts that we might have—which is still extraordinary work—of policing and community policing that, as local members, we deal with every day. There are also police officers every day, having to dedicate their work to look at some of the most horrific images that we could imagine. There are officers who are playing roles around the Pacific and around the world in helping to improve the police capacity of other police forces. There are police officers engaged in extraordinary work getting to the bottom of and working out how to deal with transnational, serious and organised crime, but the common thread through all of this is that they put themselves at risk to keep us safe. On 29 September, we pause to acknowledge those who have committed their lives to the service of our community and who died trying to make our country a safer place for all Australians and, as a parliament, we honour them. 09:07 Mr HASTIE 260805 Canning I joint with the Minister for Home Affairs in making a statement on National Police Remembrance Day. On 29 September every year, we pause to honour the service and sacrifice of our police officers who paid the ultimate price and lost their lives in the line of duty. We take this opportunity to honour the men and women who dutifully serve each and every day, willingly putting themselves in harm's way to protect their fellow Australians. On 16 June this year, Constable Keith Smith was tragically shot and killed on duty in Tasmania. Just last week, Australians were horrified when Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot and killed in the line of duty in Porepunkah in Victoria. Our deepest condolences go to their loved ones and colleagues, who have been devastated by this loss. We also remember and honour the detective who was injured and those the police officers working tirelessly in the cold, rugged Victorian countryside to bring the killer to justice. These tragic events are a sombre reminder of the dangers police face every day and the incredible courage it takes to serve our communities and country with that uncertainty. Every year on 29 September, we pay tribute to those officers who gave their lives while serving and protecting the Australian people—men and women who lost their lives for the betterment of ours. Every year on 29 September, we also recommit to providing solace and support to the partners, children, families and colleagues of our fallen officers who now carry their memory but also the scars of their loss. We also encourage Australians to pause and reflect on the extraordinary service our police give to our communities and country. I join the minister in acknowledging those members in this House who served in uniform as police officers prior to coming to this place. Every day, our police serve on the front lines, often in dangerous and difficult circumstances, sometimes at great personal cost and, all too often, unrecognised for their sacrifices. On behalf of the coalition and this parliament, I pay the deepest respect to our fallen officers. We thank all those who continue to serve. Their sacrifice and their service embody the great tradition of ordered liberty under law that makes our nation safe and free. 09:09 Mr BURKE DYW Watson I want to thank the shadow minister for those words and acknowledge that, while it's the police who we honour today, they're not the only members of this House who have previously put their lives on the line in a uniform. I move: That further statements on Police Remembrance Day, 29 September, be permitted in the Federation Chamber. Question agreed to. Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide 2 Reference to Federation Chamber 10 09:59 Mr KEOGH 249147 Burt I move: That further statements on the update on the implementation of the recommendations of the final report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide be permitted in the Federation Chamber. Question agreed to. BILLS 10 BILLS Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 10

Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025

Consideration of Senate Message 10 10:00 Mr RAE 300122 Hawke I move: That the requested amendments be made. We're delivering once-in-a-generation reforms to aged care that give older Australians more choice, dignity and safe, high-quality care. We've continued to listen to older Australians, the workers who care for them and our aged-care providers, and we're stepping up to deliver more home-care support now and under the new Aged Care Act from 1 November. We've engaged in positive, constructive negotiations with the opposition over this sitting period, and we're grateful for their genuine desire to help us build a better aged-care system. The existing Home Care Packages Program has almost doubled in size in recent years, growing to around 300,000 people compared to 155,000 people just five years ago. The new Support at Home program will help even more older Australians stay at home for longer, with a higher level of care available to support people to stay close to family and community in the comfort of their own homes. This is a responsible decision that will deliver more care, faster, to the older Australians who need it most while maintaining the medium-term fiscal save that was a key pillar of our aged-care reforms last year. To keep up with the increased demand, the Albanese government is fast tracking the release of more home-care packages. We'll make an extra 20,000 home-care packages available in the next eight weeks until the new Aged Care Act comes into effect. Once the new Support at Home program comes into place, we'll provide support to a further 63,000 older Australians in the first eight months, by 30 June 2026. This Labor government is committed to ensuring that older Australians get the care they need and the care that they deserve. The bipartisan passage of the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 is the latest milestone in our generational aged-care reforms. 10:02 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer I'm pleased to speak to this request for amendments to the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, received from the Senate. These are historic amendments for this parliament. It is a testament to the importance of being constructive when we can and critical when we must. This is an important moment in this parliament because this is a moment where an arrogant government has been brought to heel. It is important for the House that we understand how we arrived here today. After months of coordinated pressure and sustained questioning in parliament, the coalition has forced the Albanese Labor government to belatedly release tens of thousands of home-care packages for older Australians who've been left waiting for too long. Labor promised 83,000 new packages from 1 July 2025 but instead decided to withhold that support. They blamed the sector. They blamed the bureaucrats. This out-of-touch government blamed everyone but itself. Because of Labor's delays, not a single new home-care package has been released this financial year. As a result, the priority waitlist has blown out to more than 108,000—a 400 per cent increase in just two years—whilst wait times have tripled. These are not just statistics; these are Australians. Tragically, almost 5,000 older Australians died in the past year while waiting for care. Thanks to a coordinated pressure campaign from the coalition, led by the shadow health and aged-care minister, Senator Anne Ruston, in the other place, the government has caved. We forced Labor to make a choice in this legislation: listen to the coalition and release these packages early or vote against the coalition and deny vulnerable Australians the support they desperately need. As we can see today, they have listened to the coalition and they have listened to older Australians. The truth is it took the coalition to force this arrogant Labor government to listen to older Australians and to us. This situation should never have happened. The money was in the budget. The capacity was there. Only Labor stood in the way. It's a black mark on this government that it withheld support from tens of thousands of older Australians who desperately needed it. Neither the Prime Minister, the Minister for Health and Ageing nor the hapless Minister for Aged Care and Seniors has explained to Australians why it took the coalition holding their feet to the fire in the Senate to release this much-needed support. Given their performance this week, I'm not sure we should expect an honest explanation any time soon. But be under no illusion. These amendments represent a defeat for this government. This is not a deal, Prime Minister; this is a defeat. Labor has been forced into a humiliating backdown. But this is not about political wins or the government's backdowns. It never has been. This is a win for older Australians in desperate need of assistance. Australians who built this country died waiting for the packages they could have and should have accessed but were denied because of Labor's bad decisions. They're Australians like Clara. Clara is 91 years old. She lives with her husband, who suffers from Parkinson's. Clara has been assessed as needing home-care support to help her stay living independently with her husband, but she has been told that she will not receive her home-care package until July 2026. There's Elliot. Elliot is 86 years old and lives at home with his wife. He was approved for a level 4 home-care package in March this year but was told it will be more than 12 months before he receives his package. In the meantime, both of his daughters are having to provide the care their parents need. These are the Australians we have fought for, these are the Australians we pushed the government for and these are the Australians who have had a win today. This is a crisis of the government's own making. We are proud to have forced this government into providing an additional 83,000 packages this financial year, but there is still more work to be done, and the coalition will continue to fight for older Australians with one clear goal: no-one should have to wait for the care they have been assessed as needing. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 Before I give the call to anyone else seeking the call, the Leader of the Opposition, out of respect for her position, was given quite a bit of latitude in that speech, but I am going to remind any remaining speakers that at this stage of the debate you are required to speak to the amendments. 10:08 Ms WATSON-BROWN 300127 Ryan Today we as a parliament have delivered a significant win for tens of thousands of older people in need of aged-care support at home. The Greens and the crossbench are delivering for our communities, and it shows that, despite Labor's massive majority in this place, we can still encourage them into making real, meaningful change for regular people in the community. After months of pressure from the Greens and the crossbench, the government has announced it'll bring forward the planned 83,000 home-care packages and begin to release them immediately, with 20,000 released prior to 1 November. The government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this outcome. They had to suffer— The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 Member for Ryan, remember the introductory remarks and get straight to the amendments you are wanting to speak to. Ms WATSON-BROWN 300127 yes—to bring forward 20,000 new home-care packages. Amendments passed by the Senate have forced the government to urgently negotiate and bring forward that release of 20,000 home-care packages and front-load the release of the Support at Home program from 1 November. The Greens have for a long time been pushing the government hard to take action, chairing a Senate inquiry into the issue and putting forward amendments to the government's aged-care legislation. My Greens colleague Senator Penny Allman-Payne has worked very hard at this, and it is a credit to the work of her, to Senator David Pocock and to Senator Ruston that this reform has been achieved. This will begin the work of addressing the urgent needs of over 200,000 older Australians waiting 12 months or more for basic care like showering, cooking and cleaning. But there are still over 200,000 people on the waiting list for Support at Home, and this win will barely touch the sides. We're still seeing care rationed and older people treated, sadly, like commodities. This government is looking more and more out of touch and desperate after being forced to change policy by the Greens and the crossbench. What is particularly concerning is how this government is allergic to transparency. They hid that the waiting list was not 87,000 but actually well over 200,000. They've hidden modelling on the financial impact on older people. They've hidden the fact that, until we forced them to, they were releasing no new packages at all. Together, we've ended those pointless delays and started getting older Australians the essential care that they really need. Labor has resisted all calls to do that right thing, so now the parliament has had to force them to. That is the power of the Greens and the crossbench working together, and it has made a real difference for older people in this country. 10:11 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo It is an incredibly positive thing to rise and support these amendments. These amendments were hard fought, I think it's fair to say, and I want to talk to each of these amendments individually. The first amendment I would like to talk to is the 20,000 Home Care Packages that are going to be released immediately by the government, recognising that there are 106,000 people on the waiting list right now and recognising that there are 120,000 people waiting to be assessed. When I think about these 20,000 packages, I think about a gentleman called Cyril Tooze. Cyril was a carer until he was 82—a paid carer for a gentleman with a disability. Cyril was waiting for his package, and he very well needed one of these 20,000 packages that are going to be released. Cyril ended up being hospitalised because he couldn't get that care at home last year. He was a tall man; he was about six foot tall. Cyril ended up being hospitalised and ended up choosing voluntary euthanasia because the package never came for Cyril. The packages didn't come for thousands of people who died in the last year nor, as we found out, for nearly 5,000 people this year. These were older Australians who died while waiting for a package. Cyril held my hand before he died. We had a bit of a party for Cyril, to celebrate his life, before he died. He said, 'Rebekha, I'm going to make a difference.' Well, it took a long time, but, to Cyril and all of the other older Australians, I hope you realise that all of us in here are fighting to make a difference for you. The 20,000 packages are excellent. They are a drop in the ocean, and I'd like to acknowledge and talk to some of the other amendments. The rest of those 83,000 packages that were promised by the government last December—around the time that Cyril passed away—are now going to be released in this financial year. That's still going to leave many, many older Australians on the waiting list, but, hopefully, it will mean that we'll get to a position in this place where people are not waiting up to a year to be assessed and then up to a year, or even longer in some cases, to actually get their package. People are dying; people are losing hope; and people cannot understand why, when they can't even lift their husband to get them into the shower and when their husband can't even walk because of neurological disease, they are still just a medium priority—they're not even given high priority. I think that these amendments that have come down from the Senate are desperately needed by our nation, by our oldest people. We in here all enjoy the nation that we live in because of them. So I commend these amendments, which were very hard-fought and won. Let us hope that we never again in Australia get to a position where we have nearly 5,000 Australians in a year dying waiting for care. 10:15 Ms SPENDER 286042 Wentworth I rise in support of the amendments to the home-care packages that have been put through the Senate and have now returned to the House. I want to highlight why these are so important. It really comes back to my experience in my community in Wentworth. I was in Paddington recently at Five Ways, doing a pop-up office, and I had three people come and talk to me about their own experience of home-care packages and how they just could not understand—when they had been assessed as needing something, knowing that they needed something, doing their best as members of the community who wanted to stay at home—not being able to get the help that they needed to stay out of aged care. They could not understand why their packages were going to take months or up to a year or so, so they could get that support that they had been identified as needing. They felt that, once a need was identified, the help would be there. This disconnect between the need being identified and recognised and the help being delivered was unintelligible to them. I think it's unintelligible to most Australians. I want to say that this is a really important change that has been put through. I recognise that the government has been trying to make home aged care and care for older Australians more sustainable. That is a good thing. That is a very positive thing. But home care is really critical to that. Home care is both a good economic choice—if we can keep people out of aged care, it is better in terms of the cost—and, most importantly, a good choice for people's families and for people's own mental health. It is what they want. Both bringing the additional 20,000 packages and bringing forward those packages earlier in the year are really critical when we are seeing such a growth of people on the waiting list desperately needing help and not being able to get it. I also want to acknowledge everyone who has played a part in this. I wrote to the government last year about my concerns with home-care packages, based on the feedback I'd got from constituents. I was proud to work with Senator Pocock and others earlier, just after the election, when there was concern that the packages would be delayed, to say that they should not be delayed. I've been proud to stand up with other members of the crossbench and across the parliament to say: 'This is important. These changes are required, and it's time to put them through.' This is a positive day for the parliament. This is a good choice, and I'm proud to have been part of that. Certainly my community will be extremely grateful for the changes that have been made to this bill. 10:17 Mr GEE 261393 Calare I also rise to support the release of these 20,000 home-care packages. I believe it is an important step forward for the parliament and also for the nation. Most people in our communities know how important home care is to our seniors and the difference that it makes to people's lives. I think everyone was shocked that these packages were being withheld. The feedback from the Calare electorate, in the central west of New South Wales, is that the packages need to be released on the double and that we need to get help to our seniors to help with their amenity of life and the support that they need. I commend my crossbench colleagues, in particular, for leading the charge on this. The crossbench has been very vocal on this. It's an issue that is close to the hearts of many Australians. There are still about 121,000 people being assessed and 109,000 people waiting for packages. So this issue has not gone away. We, as a nation, must do much better to support our seniors and those in need. I commend everyone involved on the push for the release of these packages—in particular, my crossbench colleagues and Senator Pocock, who have been right in there from the very beginning on this, pushing for these important changes and for this vital support to be released. Question agreed to. Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Levy Amendment Bill 2025 15

Aged Care (Accommodation Payment Security) Levy Amendment Bill 2025

Returned from Senate 15 Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 15

Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025

First Reading 15 Second Reading 15 10:20 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The Albanese government is committed to further strengthening Australia's social safety net. The Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 is a significant step towards a fairer, more efficient social security system that better supports Australians when they need it most. The bill builds on the substantial investments the government has made since the 2022 election. These include: Raising the rate of working-age and student payments to help ease the cost-of-living pressures. We have increased the rate of JobSeeker by almost $4,000 a year since we were elected. Raising the age pension by almost $5,000 a year for a single person since we were elected, giving older Australians a better chance at a secure retirement. Helping people to manage rental pressures by increasing maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance by almost 50 per cent—so someone paying $250 a week in rent could now be getting up to $1,800 a year in extra support since we were elected. Providing more support through our changes to parenting payment single, which has expanded eligibility for the payment to around 103,000 single parents. Guaranteeing every new family 26 weeks of paid parental leave by 2026, with superannuation now paid on top of paid parental leave. That means parents are almost $12,000 better off than when we came to government for each child. We also established the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, ensuring expert advice on the social security system is delivered directly to our government. And we've improved the experience of engaging with the social security system, treating those needing support with dignity, transparency and respect. Under the leadership of the government services minister, Senator Gallagher, call wait times at Services Australia are down, and claims processing at Services Australia is up. We have worked hard to rebuild the system following the legacy of robodebt. The government accepted, or accepted in principle, all 56 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme and 75 per cent of those—three-quarters of those—are either already implemented or well progressed. And we're committed to implementing the recommendations that remain. This hard work has meaningfully improved the way we manage social security debts. The use of external debt collection agencies has ended. Individual circumstances are taken into account when recovering debts, including people's capacity to repay. Payment accuracy has improved, preventing people from getting debts in the first place. Services Australia has employed more social workers to better support people who are experiencing vulnerability. Community legal services now have a secure and streamlined channel to Services Australia to support vulnerable people who have a debt. But we recognise, of course, that there is more to do, and this bill is another important step by the government to reform the way we manage social security debts. It includes provisions that: make social security debt raising more proportionate and cost-effective for taxpayers secondly, enable victims of coercion and financial abuse to receive debt relief and, thirdly, resolves the longstanding, historic issue of income apportionment, in the most responsible and cost-effective way that we can. Debt r eform The bill will standardise and increase the threshold for waiving small social security debts for the first time in over 30 years, up from the current thresholds of either $50 or $200 to a single, unified amount of $250. Because we know that, often, the administrative cost of recouping small, accidental debts is higher than the value of the debt itself, making the process of debt recovery often uneconomical. As a result of this change, we will wipe almost half of Australia's social security undetermined debt backlog. This backlog has grown exponentially in recent years, including due to pandemic-era measures. But, through the amendments in this bill, around 1.2 million undetermined debts are expected to be waived or will no longer need to be raised in 2025-26 alone. It will mean that Services Australia does not waste time or resources chasing small debts that are uneconomical to recover, and it will spare Australians with these small debts from significant stress. Setting the new threshold at $250 recognises that people generally engage with the social security system in good faith, while continuing to ensure responsible fiscal management. As well as increasing the debt waiver threshold to $250, we will now index it annually in July, in line with changes to the consumer price index. This change means that people will no longer be disadvantaged by the decline in the waiver value over time. At the same time, we will strengthen existing safeguards to ensure the waiver system cannot be manipulated. This includes situations where someone is found to be cheating the system to regularly have debts waived in this way. The bill also includes amendments to help deliver on our election commitment to embed safety in our Commonwealth systems. Financial abuse and coercive control are serious forms of family and domestic violence, and these changes will better protect victims-survivors from coercive social security debt by expanding access to the special circumstances waiver. This will mean that the waiver can be applied more widely and more fairly in situations where a person has genuine limitations on their ability to comply with their reporting requirements. This includes cases of family and domestic violence, where a debt arises due to coercion or financial abuse. To give just one example—and, sadly, I have heard very many examples—a woman, who we will call Ashley, was receiving the disability support pension and family tax benefit while she was experiencing severe mental illness. During her illness, her former partner who was acting as her nominee incorrectly declared their family income, and a debt of $7,000 was raised against Ashley. Under the system as it exists at the moment, Ashley would be denied the special circumstances waiver because her former partner knowingly made a false declaration. But, under the change that we are proposing to this legislation, Services Australia staff would be given the discretion to take into account Ashley's illness as well as the controlling and abusive behaviour of her former partner, meaning she would be eligible for a waiver. This is a very significant and important change. The social security system should be there to assist vulnerable people when they need it most, not to punish them further. This change responds to calls from stakeholders and addresses a recommendation of the 2024 parliamentary inquiry into financial abuse. It also delivers on our commitment to support victims-survivors under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 and responds to recommendation 18.1 of the Robodebt Royal Commission, which called for the government to 'take each person's circumstances into account before commencing recovery action' and to 'respond appropriately and proportionately to cases of hardship'. Income apportionment The bill also includes provisions to provide legal clarity to the historic practice of income apportionment. Income apportionment was used to assess income earned between 1991 and 2020. This is a practice that has never been used by the Albanese government. Income apportionment was a practice that was used for many decades to determine social security debts for some income support recipients who also received some employment income. The method involved using evidence from the individual, such as payslips, to determine their entitlement to a social security payment as part of calculating a debt. In circumstances where it wasn't clear what a person's daily earnings were from their payslip, Centrelink would sometimes spread a person's reported income across the payroll period so that it better matched their systems. On occasion, when this income was spread, it overlapped to social security payment periods. Around 5.5 million social security debts, previously or currently held by around three million people and worth a total of around $4.4 billion, may potentially be affected by the practice of income apportionment—'potentially affected' because we can't know whether a debt is actually affected without an individual, manual review of every debt. The vast majority of these debts were paid off many years ago. We know that income apportionment was adopted in good faith, with the Commonwealth Ombudsman stating that it reflected a genuinely held incorrect understanding of the law. This was not robodebt. It's very important to remember that, based on sampling by Services Australia, in almost every case individuals still owed a debt, but the amount owing was slightly miscalculated at the margins. But we do need to deal with the legacy of income apportionment in the most responsible and cost-effective way we can. This bill will resolve the historic use of income apportionment with a twofold approach, including: firstly, validating the use of income apportionment for past calculations and embedding the method for decisions to be made in the future concerning entitlement periods pre December 2020. This approach puts past decisions on the same footing as future decisions and better accords with the way in which the social security system was administered. It also acknowledges that income apportionment was a reasonable method of assessment at the time, based on evidence provided by the individual, such as payslips. additionally, establishing an income apportionment resolution scheme for people with potentially affected debts. This both acknowledges the error of income apportionment and facilitates a pathway for compensation in a manner that is streamlined, fair and fiscally responsible. By validating the use of income apportionment, we will avoid the need to recalculate potentially millions of debts, many of which date back many decades. Reopening debts and manually recalculating them would cause distress and protracted uncertainty for the people affected. In many cases, the debts are decades old, they've been repaid, and people have moved on with their lives. It would also divert critical government resources totalling billions of dollars away from frontline services that are helping people who need support now. That's why we have to validate the past practice of income apportionment and embed it for future decisions that relate to debts from the pre-2020 period. Resolution scheme Alongside these amendments, the bill will establish the Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme. People with historic debts potentially affected by income apportionment from 20 September 2003 to 6 December 2020 will be eligible to apply for a resolution payment of up to $600, in recognition of the fact that we now know this method of calculating entitlements was not valid. Once established, the scheme will provide those affected a clear pathway to seek fair and reasonable compensation from the government. The bill provides that the minister may determine provisions related to the scheme in a legislative instrument following commencement of schedule 3. Operationalising the requirements of the scheme in a legislative instrument provides flexibility for dealing with historic debts and the different circumstances of individuals impacted by income apportionment. The instrument will detail eligibility criteria, how to apply for the resolution payment, how to accept an offer of a resolution payment, how much the resolution payment will be and other important administrative details to ensure the effective delivery of the scheme. The amount received will reflect the original size of the debt. The instrument will prescribe the amount of resolution payments. For debts under $200, the full debt will be repaid. For debts between $200 and $2,000, the payment would be $200. For debts between $2,000 and $5,000, the payment will be $400. And for debts above $5,000, the payment would be $600. No-one is obliged to participate in this scheme or prevented from exercising any legal right to pursue a claim relating to their debt. The Albanese Labor government believes in a strong social security system. We won't demonise people for needing support, but we'll also make sure that we are achieving value for every dollar of taxpayer money spent. Australia's social safety net should be there for people when they need it. This bill almost halves Australia's social security undetermined debt backlog. It extends supports for victims of coercion and financial abuse. It brings resolution to the long-running issue of income apportionment, with a pathway for compensation for those potentially affected. And it protects the integrity of the social security system. I commend the bill to the House. Debate adjourned. Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Financial Systems and Other Measures) Bill 2025 18

Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Financial Systems and Other Measures) Bill 2025

First Reading 18 Second Reading 18 10:37 Dr LEIGH BU8 Fenner I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill consists of measures designed to strengthen confidence in our markets, improve the way regulators operate, and support long-term economic growth. Its provisions span areas as diverse as corporate disclosure, the regulation of charities, oversight of financial regulators, energy market protections, and taxation. One measure of particular significance for productivity is the continuation of the $20,000 instant asset write-off until mid-2026. Its value lies in encouraging businesses to invest in new equipment and technology. Productivity is not only about working smarter, but also about working with better tools. When firms are able to expand and upgrade their capital stock, they achieve what's known as capital deepening—more capital per worker—which is one of the surest routes to higher productivity. By allowing immediate deductions, this measure reduces the barrier to making those investments and helps ensure that Australian workers are equipped to do their job more efficiently. Boosting productivity is a central focus of our government—reflected in the Treasurer's recent Economic Reform Roundtable, a valuable national conversation aimed at delivering higher living standards for all Australians. The bill also recognises that strong markets depend on transparency. In our corporate sector, greater clarity about who holds influence over listed companies supports fairer and more efficient decision-making and ensures that directors and investors can respond on the basis of accurate information. For the wider community, improved access to ownership information means that journalists, academics and others are better placed to shine light on potential concentrations of power. In civil society, too, openness matters. Allowing the charities regulator to speak more directly to the public where there are concerns of misconduct ensures that trust in the sector is not eroded by silence or uncertainty. In both domains—business and the non-profit sector—transparency provides the oxygen that accountability requires. Other provisions of the bill ensure that reviews of our financial regulators are conducted with sufficient depth, that consumer safeguards in the energy market remain in place during the transition, and that the law continues to operate as intended through a set of technical amendments. Together, these measures promote investment, transparency and accountability—the conditions on which stronger productivity and public confidence ultimately rest. I turn now to each of the seven schedules in the bill. Schedule 1 to the bill will improve the transparency of ownership and control of entities listed on Australian financial markets. Firstly, it broadens market disclosures to better capture interests arising through equity derivatives—closing a disclosure loophole and bringing Australia into greater alignment with many comparable international jurisdictions. It also strengthens the existing substantial holding and tracing notice regimes that govern the disclosure of interests in listed entities, while enhancing the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's regulatory enforcement powers and the penalties it can seek to help ensure compliance. Better ownership information will improve market efficiency, including by improving investors' ability to conduct due diligence on prospective acquisitions, supporting a more efficient allocation of resources. It will also give company directors and security-holders better visibility whenever someone may be seeking to build up influence over their companies. Schedule 1 of the bill further supports corporate transparency by providing greater access to beneficial ownership information to interested members of the public; including providing journalists and academics, who play a key role in initiating and encouraging public debate, with fee-free access to tracing notice registers. This measure builds on our government's corporate transparency achievements. Since 2022, Labor has implemented a suite of corporate transparency reforms aimed at curbing secrecy and strengthening accountability. Firms tendering for large government contracts are now required to disclose their country of tax residency. Australian listed and unlisted public companies must disclose the tax residency of their subsidiaries in their annual financial reports through a consolidated entity disclosure statement. Our government has implemented a world-leading public country-by-country reporting regime, requiring billion-dollar multinationals to disclose where they pay tax. Schedule 2 will allow the commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to make disclosures about new or ongoing investigations where the disclosure would prevent or minimise the risk of significant harm. Secrecy provisions currently prevent the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission from disclosing whether it is investigating alleged misconduct by a charity. This adversely impacts public trust and confidence in the sector and in the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission as an effective regulator. This reform will allow the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission to assure charities and donors that it is acting on issues of public concern and strengthening compliance, which will in turn boost public confidence that the sector is doing the right thing. By increasing public trust and confidence in charities and the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, this reform will help to ensure donors and philanthropists continue their support for the sector. This will contribute to the government's commitment to doubling philanthropy by 2030. This builds on our government's work to strengthen Australia's civic fabric. Since coming to office, we have created a new pathway for community foundations to gain deductible gift recipient status and streamlined deductible gift recipient applications for environmental, harm-prevention, cultural and overseas aid organisations. We appointed widely respected sector expert Sue Woodward as charities commissioner. We refreshed the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Advisory Board, chaired by Sarah Davies, to better reflect the sector, bringing First Nations, CALD and youth voices to the table. We have been clear that charitable advocacy is welcome, and we have worked with states and territories to harmonise charitable fundraising rules across jurisdictions. The Australian government has funded a new General Social Survey, adding questions on volunteering and cultural participation to sharpen our understanding of how giving, participation and purpose driven activity benefit communities. We've commissioned a once-in-a-generation Productivity Commission review of philanthropy and set about adopting its recommendations, including scrapping the $2-donation deduction threshold and consulting on increasing the minimum contribution for giving funds. We've begun work on the not-for-profit sector blueprint, whose recommendations span multiple portfolios across government. I thank the many charities and not-for-profits who joined Minister Plibersek and myself for a roundtable at Parliament House on 5 August to discuss boosting productivity in the charity sector. Schedule 3 changes the frequency of the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority review cycles. Increasing the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority review cycles to every five years will support the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority to deliver more comprehensive reviews of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulator Authority. It will facilitate the delivery of more considered recommendations than is possible under the current biennial review cycle, which will improve the effectiveness of our financial system regulators. Regulators will also have additional time to respond to recommendations between reviews, allowing future panels to assess implementation meaningfully and direct their focus more productively. Schedules 4 and 5 of the bill amend various laws in the Treasury portfolio to ensure those laws operate in accordance with policy intent, make minor changes to improve administrative outcomes and remedy unintended consequences, as well as correct technical and drafting defects. The Legislative and Governance Forum for Corporations was notified in relation to amendments in schedules 4 and 5 of the bill in accordance with clauses 506 and 507 of the Corporations Agreement 2002. The states and territories were notified in relation to amendments in schedule 5 of the bill in accordance with subclause 33(f) of the Intergovernmental Agreement on National Competition Policy 2024. Schedule 6 of the bill supports the Albanese government's ongoing efforts to improve electricity affordability and protect consumers in the energy market. The value provided by existing consumer protections in the energy market was recently reinforced by the review into the effectiveness of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Act 2019. The review examined retail and wholesale consumer protections embedded in part XICA of the Competition and Consumer Act. It found that the provisions in part XICA, created through the Treasury Laws Amendment (Prohibiting Energy Market Misconduct) Act 2019 had, on balance, likely been effective in constraining market misconduct and protecting consumers. To maintain those protections, the government is taking action to extend the sunset date of these provisions to 1 January 2031. This work is part of a broader strategy to support the energy transition while maintaining affordability and fairness. It complements other initiatives as part of the energy transition and ensures that consumers remain protected. The relevant provisions are outlined in schedule 6, which detail the legislative amendments required to extend the sunsetting date of the consumer protections to 1 January 2031. Schedule 7 of the bill amends the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to extend the $20,000 instant asset write-off until 30 June 2026, to improve cash flow and reduce compliance costs for small business. Up to 4.1 million small businesses, with aggregated annual turnover of less than $10 million, will be able to immediately deduct eligible assets costing less than $20,000 until 30 June 2026. The $20,000 threshold will apply on a per asset basis, so small businesses can instantly write off multiple assets. Assets costing $20,000 or more can be placed into the small business simplified depreciation pool and depreciated at 15 per cent per year in the first income year and 30 per cent each income year thereafter. Economic research into the benefits of accelerated depreciation dates back to the seminal work in 1967 of Robert Hall and Dale Jorgenson in the American Economic Review. Having studied under Dale Jorgenson, who died in 2022, it is a pleasure to be introducing a measure that follows in his intellectual legacy. By allowing an immediate deduction, the instant asset write-off provides a sharper incentive for small businesses across the economy to invest in new equipment and technology, helping boost their productivity. Full details of the measures are contained in the explanatory memorandum. Debate adjourned. Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025 20 First Reading 20 Second Reading 21 10:51 Ms WHITE 224102 Lyons I move: That the bill be now read a second time. The Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No.1) Bill 2025 makes important changes to legislation within the health portfolio to support our government's delivery of a stronger Medicare including more bulk-billing and thousands more doctors. Schedule 1 to the bill will amend the Health Insurance Act 1973 to make sure Medicare provider numbers can be allocated to new practitioners in a faster and more streamlined way. Amendments made by schedule 1 to the bill will enable the Chief Executive Medicare to approve the use of a computer program to make appropriate, non-discretionary decisions to allocate Medicare provider numbers. This will speed up the process of applying for a provider number, while all decisions to refuse a provider number would continue to be checked and authorised by the Chief Executive Medicare or their delegate. The bill will also validate previously issued Medicare provider numbers that were issued by a computer program. Overseas health professionals often face lengthy waits to receive their Medicare provider number. This delays them from commencing work in the Australian health system. In fact, the Independent Review of Australia's Regulatory Settings Relating to Overseas Health Practitioners, led by Robyn Kruk AO, reported that the wait time can be up to three months. Reducing the time it takes for Medicare provider numbers to be issued will help us grow our medical workforce sooner and start treating patients under Medicare quicker. Growing and supporting the health workforce is a priority for our government. Having the right workforce with the right skills in the right place is critical to the success of the government's agenda to strengthen Medicare. We are working with state and territory governments, education providers and regulators to implement the recommendations of the Kruk review. This will ease shortages in the health workforce by removing unnecessary barriers and expediting regulatory processes to bring more skilled health practitioners to Australia. The efficiencies that can be realised through implementation of this bill will lead to reduced processing times and allow health practitioners to provide services to the Australian community more quickly. Internationally qualified health practitioners currently supplement the domestic workforce and aid in addressing workforce shortages, making for a more sustainable health workforce overall. Schedule 2 to the bill will amend chapters 2, 5 and 6 of the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to support the process for claiming the private health insurance rebate under the premiums reduction scheme. The private health insurance rebate is an initiative designed to make private health insurance more affordable for Australians by funding part of their premiums. The premium reductions scheme allows eligible people to choose to get the rebate at the time they pay their private health insurance premiums, rather than pay the full cost of the premium, and then claim a deduction back through their tax return at the end of the financial year. Under the scheme, the insurer reduces the premium payable by the policyholder by the amount of the rebate and then claims reimbursement of that amount through a system administered by Services Australia. As a result of systems limitations, some elements of the registration and claims-processing system were being administered inconsistently with the requirements of the act. Schedule 2 of the bill will therefore amend the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to: align the registration process in division 23 with requirements of the system operated by Services Australia provide for self-assessment by participating insurers of the amount of rebate required to be reimbursed in division 279 require an insurer to provide information or documents to support their claim and ensure overpayments can be recovered despite any unintended system or process defects in division 282, and allow for computer assisted decision-making and the approval of forms and systems by the Chief Executive Medicare in division 333. A participating insurer will continue to be subject to regular post-payment compliance activities to ensure the integrity of the payment process. Schedule 3 to the bill will make essential changes to allow regulations to be made to modernise assignments of the Medicare benefits process. This process underpins Medicare bulk-billing. Last year, the parliament passed the Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Act 2024, providing for generational change to modernise and simplify how patients assign their Medicare benefits. These changes recognised that patients and healthcare providers are no longer using paper based processes that existed when Medicare was first set up over 40 years ago. This bill will build on these changes and remedy minor issues identified during the drafting of supporting regulations for the Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Assignment of Medicare Benefits) Act 2024. It will also extend the time available for software vendors to build and test new digital solutions, and for medical industry providers and patients to prepare for the changes. Bulk-billing is vital for timely and equitable access to health care. Access to bulk-billed medical care helps with cost-of-living pressures and ensures every Australian receives the best health care they deserve. This bill provides for regulations to specify the circumstances in which enduring bulk-billing agreements can be made. This will streamline the administration of MBS claiming, when services are bulk-billed by a preferred provider or organisation. The bill will also enable the minister to issue a legislative instrument to categorise professional services for application in bulk-billing assignment agreements. This will support the use of pre-assignment agreements, giving patients simple yet meaningful information to assign their benefits before services have been provided. The amendments will support simplified and streamlined billing for privately insured hospital systems, so they do not have to deal with bills from multiple providers. The bill will clarify wording to ensure that any eligible person covered under a private health insurance policy can assign their own Medicare benefits, not just the person in whose name the policy is held. It also amends mandatory notification requirements to reduce the administrative burden and cost for providers. The bill will delay the commencement of new assignment-of-benefit arrangements from 9 January 2026 to 1 July 2026. This will provide stakeholders with an additional six months to prepare before the new arrangements commence. Schedule 4 to the bill will amend part VD of the Health Insurance Act 1973 to ensure the consequences for bonded medical program participants who withdraw from the program or fail to complete their 'return of service obligation' are fair. The changes balance the personal circumstances of the bonded participant with the broader interests of the community. The bill provides capacity to make rules to ensure that past work completed by bonded participants—delivering health services in regional, rural and remote locations in Australia—can be fairly and consistently counted towards their 'return of service obligation'. I commend this bill to the chamber. Debate adjourned. Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025 22

Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025

First Reading 22 Second Reading 22 11:00 Ms WHITE 224102 Lyons I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The National Joint Replacement Registry is currently administered by the Australian Orthopaedic Association. The registry collects information from all relevant hospitals in Australia to define, improve and maintain the quality of care of individuals receiving joint replacement surgery. The Australian Orthopaedic Association receives funding to operate the registry through a Commonwealth grant agreement. The cost of the grant is efficiently recovered through the imposition of a levy on sponsors of joint replacement devices under the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Act 2009. The purpose of the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025 is to provide that the person responsible for payment of the levy under the act is the person specified in the rules made under section 8 of the act. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has always charged the levy consistent with the policy intent. That is, the person who is responsible for a medical device listed on the prescribed list of medical devices and human tissue products on the levy imposition day is responsible for paying the levy. Currently, the act only recognises the person responsible at the time of the listing of a device, and not any subsequent person who is responsible for that listing over time due to business or other changes. Specifying the responsible person in the rules will allow limitations in the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to be addressed. Provisions have been included to validate past levy collections. I commend the bill to the chamber. Debate adjourned. Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 23

Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025

Second Reading 23 11:02 Dr WEBSTER 281688 Mallee I rise this morning as the shadow minister for regional communications to speak on this bill. The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 primarily seeks to amend the Telecommunications Act 1997 to establish a mandatory carriage service provider registration scheme, make industry codes directly enforceable, increase maximum civil penalties and allow the Minister for Communications to increase infringement notice penalties. The bill complements other telecommunications legislation by strengthening consumer protections, providing the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, with greater enforcement powers and aligning with the broader goal of a consumer-centric telecommunications sector. The coalition supports this bill, which is a step in the right direction when it comes to enhancing consumer protections in telecommunications. However, this bill is not a comprehensive review of consumer protections in the telecommunications sector, something which the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee, RTIRC, called for in their December 2024 report, which the government has failed to respond to. There is a legislative requirement to respond to this report within six months. They are three months overdue so far. There are 14 recommendations, and we are yet to hear a peep from the minister. The coalition's form in government on responding to RTIRC reports within the legislative timeframe was far stronger than Labor's, and I hope the government's response to the RTIRC report is not waiting until the universal outdoor mobile obligation, or UOMO, legislation passes the parliament. UOMO is by no means a comprehensive solution to shortcomings in regional telecommunications. I moved on Monday that the Albanese government be held to account for failing to meet a legislated deadline to table its response to a key regional telecommunications report. This is yet another example of Labor's lack of focus on regional Australia and another demonstration of their ongoing lack of transparency. Regional people deserve better. While Australians wait for the government's late response to the Regional Telecommunications Review, they also want answers from Labor about when the UOMO legislation will be introduced. Let me take a moment to paint a brief picture of the experience of regional Australians when it comes to telecommunications. On that front, I can tell you that metropolitan Australians and regional Australians are not in the same boat. Just yesterday, I met with Rhys Turton, a proud farmer and Chair of GrainGrowers. He lives in York in the Western Australian wheatbelt. Rhys lives 17 kilometres from a Telstra tower and says that, while the mobile phone network is workable from Monday to Friday, come the weekend, he has to drive up the hill and stay in his ute. When 5,000 people drive out of Perth, he can't make a call or send a text, even with boosters. Rhys went on to tell me that data and connectivity are a big part of his agricultural business and, when they fail, the impact on productivity is huge. He says: 'If we have a vehicle breakdown, I go to the web and pull up a parts manual after driving to the top of the hill. If I call the service guy and the guy says he will ring me back, do I wait on the top of the hill to take his call?' How can people like Rhys be expected to run a productive business, one that drives our economy, while sitting around on the top of a hill waiting for a phone call? He also says: 'I am sick of spending money for a service that isn't a proper service. I feel my argument is so basic. I had better reception on CDMA.' It is ridiculous that regional Australians put up with such poor connectivity. Rhys's story illustrates the challenges country people face—Australians who technically do have coverage of some sort under our existing terrestrial mobile network. Regional Australians become digital lifehackers, experts in messing around to use the limited service that is available. But as soon as congestion builds up, service goes out the window. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, TIO, received 51,854 complaints from consumers living in regional, rural and remote Australia between 2021 and 2024. Regional Australians are indeed getting a raw deal. I don't need the TIO to tell me this. I know it to be true based on my own experience and the experience of constituents across Mallee. Constituent complaints range from system faults to poor service quality, poor mobile service coverage, outages and accessibility barriers. The TIO's report highlights that faults and service problems often take longer to resolve in the regions and that, often, mobile service coverage is poor or non-existent. For example, the ombudsman referred to cases where 'a regional customer may report faults over several years without any lasting improvements to their services'. I'd like to know how many people in metropolitan Melbourne or Sydney would tolerate that. Additionally, the TIO heard from consumers who signed up to a mobile service after being told that their mobile would work in their area, but, when returning home to a remote location, found they had no service. Regarding satellite services, the TIO's complaint data shows that regional consumers continue to experience unreliable connections and service quality problems. I have to highlight that, during a cost-of-living crisis, regional Australians pay the same price on their mobile phone plans as people in the inner cities who get far higher download speeds and service reliability. Returning to Rhys's experience, which I mentioned earlier, the RTIRC report talks to his exact issue, stating: …existing mobile networks in many regional areas are under pressure and facing congestion and capacity issues that require urgent attention— Urgent attention, I say to the government— to ensure reliable service. RTIRC reports that many people living in regional, rural and remote Australia remain dissatisfied with their mobile experience, citing issues such as unreliability, frequent call dropouts and slow data speeds. The committee reports: In many regional centres, the existing infrastructure struggles to cope with demand, particularly during peak usage periods or times of crisis. RTIRC suggests that 'attention must turn to improving the quality of services in areas with existing terrestrial mobile coverage'. This is important in the context of technology that is changing at a considerable pace, where low-Earth-orbit, LEO, satellite technology presents new opportunities for access to voice-capable broadband connectivity within fixed premises in the bush. It also presents opportunities to expand basic mobile phone connectivity in areas where there is currently none and in places where expanding the terrestrial network is simply not feasible. We cannot put mobile towers every 14 kilometres. It's just not going to work. The expense is enormous. For those who don't know, it's around a million dollars per tower. We must invest in up-to-date technology. We need to be realistic about the technology advances, what they look like and the timeframes involved; be aware of what industry is doing or likely to continue to do off their own bat because it makes commercial sense; and listen to the experience and needs of consumers in the regions, who are often most aware of what really makes a difference on the ground. When it comes to the experience of telecommunications for regional Australians on the ground, the 3G network shutdown is a prime example of the failings of the Albanese Labor government. The 3G network shutdown in Australia, completed by major telcos in 2024, aimed to repurpose spectrum for enhanced 4G and 5G services. However, the Albanese government's management of the shutdown of the 3G network was a complete mess. I called time and again for the former minister to prevent the foreseeable calamity of a rushed 3G shutdown, and the Albanese government was very slow to act. Even then, the 3G shutdown was marred by significant failings, widespread disruptions, a surge in complaints and ongoing service losses for some consumers, particularly in the regions. Despite promises of equivalent or improved coverage, 4G or 5G signals do not reach as far as 3G in some terrains, creating new black spots. This was particularly acute in rural areas with fortuitous 3G coverage—that is, unofficial signals beyond the mapped areas, which telcos did not commit to replicating. In regional or remote areas, consumers report 4G is unreliable or absent where 3G actually worked, resulting in phones dropping to SOS mode or having no signal at all, requiring them to drive up hills or climb towers for reception, as Rhys has to do. And I have to say I experience this on many of my Mallee roads. I have conversations going on the telephone while I'm driving, they drop out and they have to be called again and again. Thousands of consumers have been left with worse or no coverage at all, particularly in rural and remote areas. Farmers' agtech equipment has been rendered useless. There is no coverage on their properties to call triple 0 if there is an accident or emergency. People with life-saving health devices are having to charge them constantly because the device is searching for a signal that isn't coming, rendering the device useless because it isn't on them while it's on the charger. At their own cost, because of this government's failures, people are installing Starlink satellites for their homes and properties because the lack of access is quite literally threatening lives and livelihoods. There have also been reports of poor handling of consumer complaints about their loss of service post the 3G shutdown. It isn't good enough, and the Albanese government should be ashamed of their lack of response to help the people impacted. I hope I have done justice to the bleak nature of the regional telecommunications experience for consumers so far this morning. I would now like to draw the House's attention back to the consumer protections in regional telecommunications and refer again to the report of the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee. Recommendation 4 of this report is about consumer protection and service standards. Key findings of RTIRC's report regarding consumer protection and service standards include: The regulatory and consumer protection framework for telecommunications is extremely complex— due to multiple pieces of legislation, contractual requirements and industry codes. Other findings are: Consumers' expectations of consumer protections and telco providers' service standards are not being met. People in rural and remote areas experience faults and outages more frequently, and repair times are often extended compared to urban areas. RTIRC also discuss the need to modernise consumer protections to ensure relevance to changes in technology and models of service delivery and the need for a consolidated and streamlined framework of consumer protection to reduce duplication, streamline compliance and enforcement and improve effectiveness. The RTIRC report calls for a full overhaul of telecommunications consumer protection and service standard frameworks, suggesting the modernisation of the universal service obligation as a sensible time to do this. As the shadow minister for regional communications, I highlight that the Nationals are championing regional connectivity. As our highest priority, the Nationals are committed to working with consumers and the telecommunications sector to design an updated universal service obligation that ensures that regional Australians have the connectivity required to enable economic participation and maximise productivity gains and have access to high-quality educational content and virtual health care and meaningful social connection. I call on this government to lift their game. 11:16 Ms BRISKEY 263427 Maribyrnong The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 may appear to be about abstract regulation and technical changes, but in reality it is about fairness and keeping us connected. It is about making sure that families, small businesses and workers in communities like mine in Maribyrnong and right across the country get a fair go when it comes to the services we rely on every single day. We all know what it feels like when a phone line goes down, when the internet cuts out or when we're hit with an unfair bill and left on hold for hours. For a parent, losing connection may mean that their child can't finish their school project that's due the next day. For a small business, it might mean losing customers that simply can't wait. For an older Australian, it might mean not being able to call a loved one or a doctor when they need to the most. These are not small inconveniences; they are things that cause real stress in already busy households. They are the moments where working people lose time that they don't have and small businesses lose money that they can't spare. For families already juggling the rising cost of living and small businesses working hard to keep the doors open, these failures cut deep. They cost money. They cost time. They cost trust. And they leave people feeling powerless against the big corporations, who seem untouchable. That's why this bill matters. Telecommunications is the infrastructure of modern life. It's how kids do their homework, how parents talk to their families overseas, how local small businesses connect with customers and how workers earn their living. This bill gives Australians protections that they should have had a long time ago. It arms the regulator, ACMA, with the teeth it needs to hold dodgy telcos accountable. It lifts penalties for bad behaviour from $250,000 to nearly $10 million or more for the larger companies—no more shrugging off fines as simply a cost of doing business. It creates a register of service providers so dodgy operators can't hide in the shadows and rip people off. It makes compliance with industry codes mandatory so families and small businesses aren't waiting months for regulators to step in. That is fairness in action. That is Labor delivering. Let me pause on the carriage service provider, or CSP, register, because this is significant reform. Right now, there is no single comprehensive list of who is operating in the telecommunications market. That means a provider can set up, take people's money and, in some cases, cause real harm, all the while flying under the radar. For such an essential piece of social and economic infrastructure, this is not on. This bill fixes that. It creates a national register, a transparent list of providers who are operating legitimately. For families, this means confidence that the company selling you a phone plan is accountable. For small businesses, it means knowing that your internet provider is properly monitored. For industry as a whole, it means a level playing field, because those who do the right thing won't be undercut by dodgy operators who cut corners. And, importantly, the regulator will have the power to shut down providers who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers. That's not a power that will be used lightly, but it will finally give ACMA the power it needs to stop harm before it spreads. We've seen this work in the energy sector, where regulators can exclude retailers who fail customers. Bringing that same power to telecommunications is just common sense. Another vital part of this bill is the modernising of the penalty framework. For too long, the fines in telecommunications lagged behind other sectors, like in energy, banking and consumer law. That left telcos operating under weaker laws than in industries facing similar risks. This bill fixes it. It brings telecommunications penalties in line with those other sectors. That means, when a company breaks the rules, the Federal Court can look not just a flat fine but at the scale of the misconduct. Penalties can be tied to the benefit a company may have made from breaking those rules or to a percentage of their turnover. Why does this matter? It means that the punishment fits the crime. A giant multinational won't get a way with the same slap on the wrist as a small provider. The court can scale the penalty to the size of the business and the seriousness of the offence. That's fairness. That's consistency. And it means Australians can trust that the rules apply equally, no matter how big the company is. I think of the cafe owner in Ascot Vale, who can't serve customers if their EFTPOS goes down; the tradie in Keilor East, who relies on their phone to get the next job; and the logistics company in Tullamarine that loses money every time the internet drops out. Under the coalition, these businesses were left to fend for themselves. Under Labor we're making sure the rules work for them, not against them. For workers too, whether it's a transport relying on an app, a nurse swapping shifts or a teacher delivering lessons online, this bill protects their livelihoods by ensuring the services they depend on are reliable and fair. Let's be honest about how we got here. For nearly a decade, the Liberals and the Nationals had the chance to act. Those opposite had the chance to stand up to the big telcos, but they chose not to. They left penalties so low that the worst offenders could treat them as loose change and just a cost of doing business. They left regulators underpowered. They left families, workers and small businesses exposed. Let's not forget the NBN, a second-rate system built on copper that is still holding back households and businesses today. That was their choice. That is their legacy. The coalition like to talk about standing up for small businesses. But, when push came to shove, they were nowhere. They didn't their back, but we do. We are fixing the mess they left behind. This bill is part of a bigger story—a story of government putting fairness back at the heart of our economy. Since coming to office, Labor has backed people in financial hardship. We've made it a legal requirement for telcos to provide proper support for customers doing it tough. That means families in Maribyrnong who hit a rough patch are treated with compassion not given more stress. We've protected those experiencing family and domestic violence. Survivors can now safely and quickly manage their phone services without tipping-off an abuser—because everyone deserves safety, dignity and connection. We've cracked down on scams. By working across telecommunications, banking and digital platforms, we've helped stop Australians, including retirees and small businesses, lose their savings to criminal scammers. We've invested in regional and local connectivity. Through mobile blackspot programs, on-farm solutions and community pilots, we're making sure small businesses and workers in every corner of this country can compete, succeed and stay connected. What does this mean in practice? It means a small retailer in Kensington can stay connected to suppliers without outages cutting into their margins. It means a shiftworker in Gladstone Park can rely on their phone to organise care for their kids. It means a farmer outside Melbourne can use digital tools to grow their business. These are real protections, real investments and real changes that make life better for working people and small businesses. That's what a Labor government does. We put people first, and we put fairness first. In Maribyrnong fairness is not just an idea; it is lived every single day. It's lived by the migrant families in Flemington, who depend on reliable internet so their kids can keep up with their classmates and so they can stay connected to loved ones overseas. It's lived by the factory workers in Airport West, where a reliable phone network keeps production moving and shifts coordinated. It's lived by the small businesses in Avondale Heights and Strathmore, where the EFTPOS transaction matters and where a dropped connection can mean lost sales. It is lived by those parents and young professionals working from home in Moonee Ponds and Aberfeldie, who rely on fast, dependable broadband to reach new markets, engage with their colleagues and attend virtual meetings. And it is lived by older Australians right across our community, who deserve the peace of mind of being able to call their family, their doctor or emergency services without worrying that the line will fail. When telecommunications systems fail, it's not just a technical glitch; it's people in our community being disconnected, losing income and feeling isolated. That is why this bill is so important to my community in Maribyrnong and right across the country. It says to every person in my community, 'You matter.' It says to the cafe owner in Niddrie, 'Your business matters.' It says to the nurse in Essendon juggling shifts, 'Your job matters.' It says the family in Glenroy, 'Your connection to each other and the world matters.' The people of Maribyrnong expect fairness. They expect accountability, and, with this legislation, the Albanese Labor government is delivering just that. Australians had a choice at the last election between two very different approaches: the Coalition, with weak protections, dodgy operators running riot and corporate lunches, and Labor, with tough enforcement, fair rules and protections that put families, workers and small businesses first. To no-one's surprise, they voted for a fair go. This legislation is doing just that—bringing fairness to the forefront, building trust among consumers and providing much-needed accountability. It is about putting people back at the heart of the telecommunications system. That's what the Albanese Labor government is delivering, and that's why I stand here proudly to commend this bill to the House. 11:27 Mrs McINTOSH 281513 Lindsay The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 makes changes to the Telecommunications Act to strengthen consumer safeguards, something we should all agree is a top priority. The bill will create a register of carriage service providers, enable the direct enforcement of industry codes, amend the existing two-step process for the application of penalty amounts for infringement notices and increase the maximum penalty for breaches of the codes from $250,000 to $10 million. Schedule 1 of the bill will create a new carriage service provider registration scheme. This new registration scheme will require all telecommunications providers to apply to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for registration to operate in Australia. This will provide ACMA, as the regulator for the sector, with visibility of all operators in the Australian market, of which there are an estimated 1,500. This will ensure ACMA is able to educate, monitor and, where necessary, take swift enforcement action for breaches of any codes or standards. Should providers breach their obligations or pose a risk to consumers, ACMA will have the ability to cancel their registration to operate. These arrangements are similar to those in the energy sector, where the Australian Energy Regulator has the power to exclude operators from the market where there is a risk to consumers. As part of the scheme, providers will also be required to report all cybersecurity incidents. Where there is a cyber breach, the appropriate bodies must be notified and remedial action taken swiftly. Protecting people's personal data and information is of the upmost importance, so ensuring there is swift action when these incidents occur will ensure that Australians' private information is protected from fraud and scams. Full visibility of all operators will also ensure ACMA can target compliance and enforcement activities and, when necessary, take appropriate action. Schedule 2 of the bill amends the act to make registered industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA. The telecommunications industry has a co-regulation model by which industry is responsible for the preparation of codes which are then submitted to ACMA for registration. Once a code is registered with ACMA and enforced, the code must be complied with by the sector. In practice, what has been established under the act is a two-step enforcement process. If there is a complaint of wrongdoing or a breach of an industry code, ACMA will direct a provider to comply, essentially issuing a warning for them to correct their behaviour and to do the right thing. Should they not, ACMA's enforcement powers then become available. This enforcement action can include penalties through the Federal Court, enforceable undertakings or the issuing of an infringement notice. Currently, part 6 of the act says: Compliance with an industry code is voluntary unless … ACMA directs a particular participant in the telecommunications industry … to comply with the code. This phrasing has led to a misconception that compliance with industry codes is voluntary. As the explanatory memorandum to this bill states, while code compliance is technically voluntary, after ACMA issues a direction to comply or a formal warning to a provider, they can then take enforcement action if the provider continues the noncompliance. Since January 2024, ACMA has issued 19 formal warnings, one remedial direction, 16 directions to comply, four enforceable undertakings and infringement notices totalling close to $16 million. Some of these breaches relate to people's privacy and safety, which are of the utmost importance. For example, there were seven notices issued to providers in 2024 for breaches of the emergency call database rules. These rules require the telco providers to keep a person's telephone number and address updated so that, when the number calls triple 0, emergency services—police, fire or ambulance—are deployed to the correct address the first time. Adherence to this code is vital. People's lives depend on it. The requirement to monitor and report suspected spams and spoof numbers is another important one. If telcos aren't adhering to the code, the impact on people, financially, psychologically and emotionally, is significant. In 2024, of scam types, phone scams led to the highest overall losses, with more than $107 million lost by nearly 2,200 people. Since the start of 2024, ACMA has issued 10 directions to comply with the reducing scam calls and SMS code, but none of these resulted in a financial penalty to providers, because of the two-step process. The changes in this bill will strengthen ACMA's powers and the speed at which they can use them, to provide an even greater protection for consumers and ensure we have responsible operators in our telecommunications sector. The changes in this bill will make compliance with industry codes mandatory in the first instance, removing the requirement for a two-step process before ACMA can take enforcement action. There'll be no more warning shots, ensuring more immediate action can be taken for breaches of codes. I will note, given much scrutiny of the telecommunications sector over recent years, that this is a change the sector itself has called for. Notably, the Australian Telecommunications Alliance, which is a peak body for the industry, has been calling for these reforms since 2023. These changes will strengthen ACMA's powers to ensure the regulatory regime is as robust as it can be and that operators are held to the highest standards—as all Australians expect. Finally, the bill will increase penalties issued to providers for breaches of industry codes and standards from $250,000 to $10 million. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have long advocated for civil penalty reform to ensure penalties for breaches reflect the severity of the breach and the harm caused. The increase in the penalties will address this and align the telecommunications penalty framework to those in the energy and banking sectors, competition legislation and Australian consumer law. This bill makes important changes to strengthen protections for consumers and the integrity of the telecommunications industry. They are changes which the coalition will support, but let's not forget about the failures of this government when it comes to telecommunications. The Albanese Labor government's botched closure of the 3G network has left many areas right across the country with little or no telephone service. Their shutdown of the 3G network was a complete mess. Thousands of consumers have been left with worse coverage or no coverage at all, particularly those in regional, rural and remote areas. Our farmers have had their ag tech equipment, like soil monitors and weather stations, rendered useless. For years, we have been pushing our agriculture sector to upgrade their business operations with the newest and best technology. They have spent an absolute fortune doing so, and, after the 3G closure, many businesses had their equipment fail. Worse still, where these locations no longer have coverage, they can't call for help on their properties when they need it. People with life-saving health devices are having to charge them constantly because the devices are searching for a signal that just isn't coming. It renders the device useless because it isn't on them; it's on charge. At their own cost, because of this government's failure, people are installing Starlink satellites for their homes and properties because of the lack of access. It's quite literally threatening lives and livelihoods. It isn't good enough, and the Albanese Labor government should be ashamed of their lack of response to help people impacted by the closure of the 3G network. Notwithstanding the failures I have just highlighted, the coalition will support this legislation. It does provide stronger protections for consumers and strengthens the integrity of the sector. I commend the bill to the House and move the second reading amendment. I move: That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: "whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes the Government's telecommunications failure: (1) on the botched closure of the 3G network that has left many Australians without telephone services in peri-urban, regional, rural and remote Australia; (2) to respond to the 2024 Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee Report which was tabled in December last year to ensure regional communities have access to reliable telecommunications; and (3) to release the consultation paper on the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation, despite committing to legislate this by the end of 2025". The DEPUTY SPEAKER 249710 Is the amendment seconded? Dr Webster 281688 I second the amendment. 11:37 Ms STANLEY 265990 Werriwa I rise to make my contribution to the debate on the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. The introduction and passage of the enhancing consumer safeguards bill delivers on the Albanese Labor government's commitment to keeping Australians connected no matter where they live by strengthening telecommunication consumer protections. The enhancing consumer safeguards bill was first introduced into the 47th Parliament in February this year. It passed the House without amendment and was considered by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills but lapsed when the 47th Parliament was prorogued. It is for this reason we are, again, passing this legislation, because consumer protection is paramount, and I'm happy to speak on the bill again. This bill strengthens the compliance and enforcement tools available to Australia's telecommunications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA. This will enable the regulator to better protect Australian consumers from poor and harmful telecommunication practices. The bill increases the civil penalties that the Federal Court can issue for breaches of industry code and industry standards from $25,000 to nearly $10 million. The bill modernises the civil penalties framework so that the Federal Court has the option to issue fines for regulatory breaches which can include $10 million or three times the benefit gained for regulatory breach or 30 per cent of turnover. Currently, civil penalties for breaches of industry codes and standards are not commensurate with the harm caused or high enough to deter noncompliance. The bill amends the Telecommunications Act 1997 to increase the maximum general civil penalty for breaches of industry codes and standards from 25,000 to 30,300 penalty units. This is the equivalent of just under $10 million at the time of drafting, to align with penalties currently available for breaches of service provider determinations. It means that penalties for all these instruments will be aligned to the 30,300 penalty units. The amendment will also strengthen the penalty framework for industry codes, industry standards and service provider determinations to allow for penalties based on the value of benefit obtained from the conduct or turnover of the relevant provider. This will allow for penalties greater than $10 million. This penalty framework better aligns with those in other relevant sectors, like energy and banking, and under the Australian Consumer Law. It more adequately reflects the communications market and the varying size of the entities engaged in the market, ranging from small-to-medium businesses to large corporations. It allows the Federal Court to determine the appropriate penalty imposed on an entity for a breach. The bill also expands and clarifies the authority of the Minister for Communications to increase infringement notice penalties so that ACMA can issue for breaches of industry code, industry standards and service provider determinations. This will ensure the regulator remains flexible and responsive and can be adapted over time. The bill establishes the carriage service provider registration scheme to increase visibility of providers operating in the market and to stop the operation of dodgy carriage service providers, who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers. A carriage service provider has a broad definition under the Telecommunications Act 1997. However, in simple terms, it's an entity that uses a carrier's facilities to supply telecommunications services like phone or internet to the public. Currently, there's no comprehensive list of providers operating in the market. This hampers ACMA's efforts to proactively educate carriage service providers about their obligations and target compliance and enforcement activity. Establishing a carriage service provider registration scheme will increase the visibility of the market and provide ACMA and other government agencies the ability to educate providers, streamline complaints and compliance processes and create better overall market accountability. The amendments to the Telecommunications Act 1997 will also empower ACMA to stop providers operating in a market who pose unacceptable risks to consumers or who risk significant consumer harm. This will provide a deterrent for significant noncompliance and will increase the trust of consumers in the registered carriage service providers, including new or smaller providers. This is similar to the energy sector, where the Australian Energy Regulator has the power to exclude energy retailers from the market and has used this power to quickly prevent and stop consumer harm. ACMA's power to exclude carriage service providers from the market is expected to be used as a measure of last resort, with suitable arrangements for review of decisions, avenues for registration and maintenance of connectivity for impacted consumers. This reform means that the carriage service providers that are doing the wrong thing will face consequences, and consumers will be better protected. Furthermore, the bill makes the telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA, incentivising industry compliance and enabling the regulator to take swift action to address consumer harm. ACMA currently cannot take direct enforcement action for breaches of the industry codes it has registered under part 6 of the Telecommunications Act, no matter how egregious. Under the Telecommunications Act 1997, compliance with the industry codes is initially technically voluntary. For breaches found, ACMA could only direct a provider to comply with the code or issue a formal warning. ACMA can only take stronger enforcement action if the provider continues its noncompliance—that is, if it fails to observe the directions given by ACMA. This isn't good enough. Instead, this bill introduces amendments to part 6 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 to make compliance with the industry codes mandatory and remove the need for ACMA to direct a particular participant to comply with the code in the first instance. This is a measure that will make our laws stronger and more enforceable. Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor government has been working to deliver better telecommunications and to better protect the people who use it. These are just a few things that we've already delivered: a new industry standard requiring telecommunications companies to provide adequate support to consumers experiencing financial hardship and a new industry standard requiring telecommunications companies to support and assist consumers experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence. This came into force on 1 July this year. Earlier this year, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 was amended to introduce consistent obligations on the telecommunications, banking and digital platform sectors to prevent, detect and disrupt scams. The Albanese Labor government is also delivering a more connected Australia by investing in regional connectivity. The $55 million round 8 of the Mobile Black Spot Program is under assessment. There's been $50 million for Regional Roads Australia Mobile Program Pilot schemes, including $8 million for Victoria and Western Australia and $10 million for New South Wales. The pilot programs will test new and innovative solutions to increase mobile communications coverage on regional highways and major roads. Round 3 of the regional connectivity program awarded over $115 million towards 74 projects that respond to local priorities with the objective of maximising economic opportunities and social benefits for regional, rural and remote communities. This included $7.4 million towards seven projects targeting improved connectivity for First Nations communities in Central Australia from a dedicated Central Australia stream. Two successful rounds of the On the Farm Connectivity Program have provided over $30.4 million in rebates, delivering on thousands of connectivity solutions for primary producers. $20 million has been committed to round 3 of the program, which will open later in 2025. I was glad to have a chance to speak on the legislation earlier this year. I know how important this is to make this system more accountable and to stop companies from ripping people off. For too long, the regulator hasn't been given the necessary tools to make sure the telecommunications companies are doing the right thing. The Albanese Labor government has been working to improve our regulators, from strengthening the financial systems regulator to establishing the National Anti-Corruption Commission. We believe, in this country, that it doesn't matter how big you are or what wealth and power you have—no-one is exempt from consequences, no-one is above right or wrong, and no-one is above the law. I commend the bill to the House. 11:48 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein I'd like to start by acknowledging the previous speaker and the sentiment that she finished with, which is that the bill is focused on there being no standard, for an Australian, where anybody is above what is right or wrong. It's a point that we in this parliament, and those who have had the great privilege of serving in parliament, should all reflect upon and is perhaps something that the former premier of Victoria should be thinking about at this important moment in the context of his behaviour in Beijing in the past 24 hours. Getting to the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025, this legislation, on the surface of it, is not one that should necessarily quicken the blood or excite many of the members in this House. It's to do with ACMA regulations in the context of making sure there are appropriate standards in place and extending them beyond carriage providers, and I get that, for a lot of people, this may not be a very exciting or enthusing topic. Of course, it's very important. When legislation's drafted, particularly for telecommunications or technology—technology will always outpace regulation and the law. In one sense, that's actually a good thing. Technology is moving at a pace that is faster than government. Government should be slower because it is calm, it is methodical, and, when it seeks to impose a standard, it is universal, whereas technology, by its nature, is dynamic, it is exciting, and it seeks to move faster, because it's reflective of human need. That is why I've always been so excited about technology and excited about the potential not just of things like internet, of course, and telecommunications but also of what artificial intelligence can do. But we're also mindful of the human impact, and, of course, that's where law comes in to maintain standards and ethics but also to make sure that, where there's an overstep or a breach, government does its proper job to secure safety, dignity and security. And that's a constant balance for all of us. But another thing we have to look at is how law can be weaponised by government to seek to silence or censor people. So I look at this bill—and we're going to support it—but I do so, frankly, with caution. I'm old enough—and I'm not that old—to remember the last time we had a Labor government. There are members in this chamber who weren't here and are now, bright eyed and bushy tailed—some elected in 2025 and some that were elected before then—sitting on the government benches, proudly wearing the moniker of the Australian Labor Party— The DEPUTY SPEAKER 249710 Order! I give the call to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. Mr Rae 300122 I'm seeking a point of order for clarification. I understand that Practice is clear that, where a member has already spoken, they are not eligible to then second the second reading amendment. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 249710 That is correct, Minister. A way forward is if the person who did move the second reading amendment stands up and seeks leave to second the second reading amendment. Dr Webster 281688 by leave—I second the second reading amendment. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 249710 Thank you. You can proceed, Member for Goldstein. Mr TIM WILSON IMW Thank you, Deputy Speaker Chesters. But I'm sure you're going give me a whole 15 minutes all over again. I was in full flight! That's okay. I'm old enough to remember when there were former Labor members sitting on the benches of this parliament on the government side, during the last term of a Labor government, debating legislation. I wasn't here; I was but a member of the public concerned about the future direction of this country. I remember when Labor members were sitting on those benches, and what were they using telecommunications powers for? They were using them to shut down the media—to silence and regulate the media, look at pathways to introduce internet censorship and limit what Australians could see when they didn't like what Australians were searching for. They looked, particularly, to impose different pathways of internet censorship, because they wanted to control people's lives. I've said this in this parliament many times before: the objective of the Labor Party at every stage of your life is to control Australians. They want to control education so they can control what your children learn and how they see the world. They want to control the workplace so that unions can control you and your standards. They want to control housing so that you rent and they can control how you live and make you dependent. They want to control you on a salary so that you never have the dignity and independence of owning your own small business. They want to control your superannuation through an industry superfund so that you never have the independence and dignity of an SMSF to manifest and manage your own destiny. And, of course, when it comes to telecommunications powers, it is the most wonderful backstop for them to be able to go on and control the information you seek, how you can access it and, even with the wonders of mobile telephony and technology, stop you accessing the information that you seek. So I look at this legislation—I look at every piece of legislation in the context of telecommunications—and my starting position is that I look at the minister, I look at those at the table, I look at those on the opposition benches, and I go, 'I never start from a position of trust,' because I've seen what you've done before. I know your natural temptation to control the Australian people and how you weaponise this legislation to do so. You just need to look at their performance in the past week. We talked about it earlier in the week. Think about the gift that they have been given by the Australian people of a 94-seat majority and the trust that they have been given. What are they using—or abusing—that trust to do at the moment? Introduce a veil of secrecy and shut a curtain down over this parliament and Canberra to silence journalists, to limit their capacity to access information and to limit scrutiny of this parliament. They have made it harder for Australians to submit freedom of information requests to scrutinise decisions of government. They have introduced fees to make it harder for people to access basic information about how public servants and the government are making decisions. We've seen how they want to literally abolish pathways for reviews of decisions in the context of Defence medals. I have never thought that this was a priority of the Australian government, but, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis when people are dealing with the realities of financial stress and getting to the supermarket with a red basket, this is their priority. When it comes to the powers and the priorities they have, this is where it is. It is not based on how they empower the Australian people. When it comes to telecommunications and introducing standards, I always look with a high degree of scrutiny, because their focus has never been on how they empower the Australian people; it has been on how they control the Australian people. It doesn't mean there aren't important measures that need to be addressed through telecommunications powers. One of the biggest problems we face in this country right now—and it's a big challenge in the context of Victoria; you can speak to the member for Mallee—is the proliferation of crime. Crime is a massive problem, no matter where you go in Victoria. The failure of Victorian government to address the problems of crime—whether it's in the streets of Black Rock, Beaumaris, Brighton, Bentleigh, McKinnon or Ormond. Throughout the Goldstein electorate, there are violent home invasions, people breaking into people's houses, or scams and cybercrime, which is going on all across the country. That was why community safety and crime were such important issues in the Goldstein electorate at the election, including the proliferation of antisemitism, which was manifest both in the physical form and on telecommunications platforms. One of the things we also took to the election was the importance of having mandatory minimum sentences in the context of online sexual violence and crimes. That isn't the priority of this government. Closing FOI pathways for Australians is. Closing Defence medal review pathways is. Stopping the access of the opposition to be able scrutinise the decision-making government is their priority— Dr Webster 281688 Shame! Mr TIM WILSON IMW 'Shame,' says the member for Mallee, and she's right. Stopping violent sexual predators on online platforms probably should be a priority for this government, but it isn't. It's certainly one of our priorities. That's what we should be addressing through telecommunications platforms. Whether it is cybercrime, sexual violence, scams or violent home invasions with machetes—these are pretty important issues for this country, but they're not the priorities of the current government. Of course, the other thing we need to address through telecommunications platforms is access to basic services. This has been something that Labor has never been afraid of spending obscene amounts of public money on for low return. The problem is that they still leave so much of the country behind, because their focus has always been on how they use telecommunications as a mechanism for pork barrelling rather than for improving the basic infrastructure that Australians need with a sense of universal obligation. Members from rural and regional electorates can talk about that at length. I don't seek to project or represent their communities on those issues, but I know full well that it remains an ongoing problem, particularly to do with mobile telephony services. The member for Mallee, as I understand it, has previously raised issues where people are increasingly using Starlink installations because they can't get access to the services they need through the National Broadband Network. We also have, even in urban centres like the Goldstein electorate, massive problems around access to telecommunications services—basic things like mobile telephony. You've got the state government basically seeking to weaponise housing approvals and development. I'm getting more and more complaints in places like Highett, Cheltenham and even Brighton, where people are having increasing problems accessing telecommunications services, including mobile telephony services and even television services. When it comes to basic standards and safeguards in telecommunications powers, this fits as part of the communications framework that people expect to see from our nation's parliament and our laws. Only the other day, I got a complaint about minimum access to services for mobile telephony in Brighton, with someone explicitly saying, 'Can we see more effort from Telstra to be able to access basic 4G and 5G services?' The same has also been increasingly true around Hampton East, Cheltenham and parts of Moorabbin. More and more people are working from home, but, because of an increasing number of developments of high-rise apartments and increasing disruptions from 5G access to internet connections, they're not getting the basic services and standards that they reasonably expect. So there's an accountability gap about the information they need—and, of course, they need more and more assistance, particularly where there are activity centres. It's not just that they're facing it now; they're concerned that it will fall on deaf ears into the future with this government. People expect basic standards and basic services. That is not in dispute in telecommunications powers. But what they also expect is that the government is going to step up and meet those expectations, and they're not hearing it, they're not seeing it and they're living with the consequences. I'll just read out a quote from a constituent only the other day: 'Despite strong community opposition, a development has since been amended to increase from the original plan to eight storeys, with additional apartments. This construction has created absolutely chaos for residents—illegal parking, unsafe road conditions, but 5G disrupted internet disruptions, loss of free-to-air TV reception for residents opposite and numerous other impacts that council has been completely unprepared to manage.' Some of these sit within council and some sit within state government, but the one that sits within federal government responsibility is telecommunications powers. When we talk about safeguards and we talk about standards, this is the lived reality in urban Australia right now, and the government is completely asleep at the wheel. Of course we support the legislation's broad intention, what is seeks to achieve, but we are mindful. We have seen too many times that members of previous Labor governments, when they're given powers around telecommunications, weaponise them with the objective of seeking to use them to censor or silence opinions or views that they don't like—not ones that are criminal but ones they don't like. They've tried to regulate the media and tried to censor and silence those who have differing opinions. We still remember that era of the Rudd government—and there are some people from the Rudd government who are still around—who got their blood pumping at the idea that they might be able to close down dissenting voices. The Labor Party have never really liked diversity, except their own diversity, which is from the Left to the far left. We want a full diversity of Australian voices, and that's by making sure systems remain open and making sure telecommunications powers have a limit to ensure there's standardisation and the Australian people flourish—that those powers are not used as a weapon to control Australians, as the Australian Labor Party has a sad, shameful history of doing because that is in their core. It is in their DNA and what they seek to do when they gain the treasury benches. Debate adjourned. Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 33

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026

Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Reference to Federation Chamber 33 12:03 Ms RYAN 249224 Lalor I declare that the following bills stand referred to the Federation Chamber for further debate: Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026. Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 33

Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025

Second Reading 33 12:04 Ms TEMPLEMAN 181810 Macquarie This is the second time I've spoken on this bill, because it's one of those matters that we considered prior to the election, but it wasn't able to be dealt with by the parliament at that time. That's a shame, because this is about trying to bring in enhanced protections for consumers. I refer to the comment from, really, the peak communications consumer body, ACCAN, who have welcomed the fact that this bill is now being debated a second time—keeping in mind that it had passed through this place and it had landed in the Senate. As they say, it's time to finish the job of delivering long-awaited powers for the regulator to crack down on telcos that cause consumer harm. This is something that ACCAN and other consumer organisations have long called for. They wanted stronger powers and penalties to be available to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA. I note the comment of CEO of ACCAN, Carol Bennett: The legislation addresses persistent gaps that have left many consumers exposed to harm. She is absolutely right. This is a bill that really plugs some of the gaps that have allowed consumers to be very vulnerable to actions or the lack of action by the telecommunications businesses, and it provides more teeth for ACMA to be able to tackle those. Let's look at some of those things. We're talking about telecommunications, which is an absolutely essential connector that we all need. We need it for our families; when I was running a small business, I absolutely needed reliable telecommunications to run my business; and our communities need it, particularly when there are disasters. Goodness knows that my electorate of Macquarie—the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury—has experienced more than its fair share of natural disasters, where connectivity has absolutely been key. It isn't just during the crisis that it can be life saving to have connection; it's following the crisis, in the speed with which things are restored that can make such a difference. We know that Australians deserve of a telecommunications system that is fair, accountable and built on trust. Remember that most of our mobile phone and landlines—for those of us who still have a landline—and a big portion of our internet is privately owned and privately operated, underpinned by the NBN, a government-owned agency. All the mobile stuff we do is all in the private sector these days. This bill equips the telecommunications industry regulator, ACMA, with the tools and powers that it desperately needs to protect consumers from poor and harmful telecommunications practices. Significantly there are very big increases in the penalties that can be applied. For instance, it increases by 40 times civil penalties that the Federal Court can issue for breaches of industry codes and industry standards. We're not just doubling something. We're not just boosting it a bit. What we're saying is that this needs to be much bigger—40 times larger. The cap is now up from $250,000 to nearly $10 million. It's a shame that we need to have such a big stick there to make the telcos do the right thing, but our conclusion is that we absolutely need to have much stronger powers and much greater capacity to act when they do the wrong thing. This bill also modernises the civil penalties framework so that the Federal Court has the option to issue fines for regulatory breaches. The fines can be $10 million or three times the benefit gained for the regulatory breach—so there's a very clear connection between the breach and the financial gain that the telco received, and the penalty will relate to that—or a fine of 30 per cent of turnover. These are much more significant penalties. This bill also expands and clarifies the authority of the Minister for Communications to increase infringement notice penalties that ACMA can issue for breaches of industry codes, industry standards and service provider determinations. Another aspect of the bill is around establishing what we call a carriage service provider registration scheme. Right now, we don't necessarily know who all the carriage service providers are, and this is about increasing the visibility of the CSPs who operate in the market so that we can stop the operation of dodgy carriage service providers who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers. Registering them means we have visibility, which means we have the capacity to act much more effectively when issues arise. Another thing this bill does is make the telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA. Really, the aim of that is to incentivise industry compliance and enable the regulator to take swift action to address consumer harm. These reforms will ensure that ACMA is an empowered and effective regulator and that appropriate structures are in place to drive better behaviour by telecommunications companies. This is not something that has just suddenly been needed; this has been needed for some time. I think every member of parliament here would have dealt with constituents who've had issues with telcos where those issues have not been adequately dealt with and addressed by the telecommunications provider. I would hope this entire parliament realises that this is urgent, and I hope the Senate realises that too. Since coming to office, the Albanese government has focused very heavily on lifting the standards for this sector. There has been a new industry standard requiring telecommunications companies to provide adequate support to consumers experiencing financial hardship. We've also had a new industry standard requiring telecommunications companies to support and assist consumers experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence, which came into force on 1 July, and I just want to share some of the details about that. The sorts of things that are in that standard, which can make such a difference to a woman and her children who are escaping family violence, are things that will require the telco providers to be involved, to stand up and act and to keep victims-survivors safe, including reversing disconnection, suspension and restriction of services when a domestic and family violence safety risk is raised by a customer. It will also ensure that they're only contacting people using agreed methods and that they're hiding sensitive information, like calls to 1800RESPECT, and preventing those things from appearing on bills. That can actually save lives. The changes we've made also ensure staff are appropriately trained to recognise and support victims-survivors. People need that, because you don't automatically know what to do when someone makes a disclosure, and that training of telco staff is really important. The changes also ensure that victims-survivors will never be asked to engaged with the alleged perpetrator to resolve their telco issues. Again, that's about dignity. That's about ensuring you're not exacerbating a situation. There are a number of measures to prevent victims-survivors from being retraumatised, by not having to repeat their story multiple times or provide extensive evidence of abuse. Then what follows that is giving customers a greater say in managing the security and privacy of their accounts. So I'm very pleased that the first tranche of that came into effect from 1 July. That new industry standard fits with this piece of legislation as one of several things we're doing to lift the standards and to make our telecommunications sector responsive to consumer needs. Another area that we've focused on in telecommunications that aligns with the bill that we're discussing here today is in the changes to the Competition and Consumer Act, which we amended to introduce consistent obligations of the telecommunications banking and digital platform sectors to prevent, detect and disrupt scams. So we're not seeing the telecommunications sector in isolation from banking when it comes to scams. Many a time, people will find that it is a text message on their phone that can be the trigger or the first attempt of a scam. It might be something on their social media. It might be an email. It's coming through a carriage service provider. It's coming to them, and, at every step of the scam process where scammers use social media, phone or email, where they then get people to dip into their banking, all those sectors have to be responsible for it, and that's what our legislation has done. I referred earlier to ACCAN and its support for the changes that we are making today. I note that they've thanked the government for putting consumers first. In their view, the reforms better align telecommunications with other essential services like energy and banking by strengthening enforcement, lifting penalties and making industry codes enforceable. You can see the consistency of the approach that we're taking in this way. We're saying to the sectors, 'You all have shared responsibility here.' This bill, in particular, lifts those consumer standards so that they are consistent. I do note that ACCAN highlights that 'new powers are only as good as the regulator who wields them'. Like ACCAN, we fully expect ACMA to act quickly and transparently when providers fall short, and we are confident they will do that. As Australians, we rely very heavily on phone and internet services every day. When something goes wrong, it does need to be dealt with quickly. Previously, there has been a gap in doing that. We recognise that there are a whole lot of things we need to do to expand the access to telecommunications. One of our policies—I think it's important to be reminded of this—is to have a universal outdoor mobile obligation on the telecommunications providers. That's going to require the mobile carriers to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere in Australia. I'm particularly keen to see this because I represent an electorate that has mountains and valleys. It's got rugged, World Heritage terrain where it's easy to get lost and, if you do get lost, really hard to make a phone call. The universal outdoor mobile obligation, the UOMO—it's very catchy—will ensure that up to five million square kilometres of new competitive outdoor mobile coverage will come into existence, including more than 37,000 kilometres on regional roads. It is so important for people travelling through the regions or living in the regions to have coverage as they drive. Whether it's in national parks, out on the farm or out in quite remote areas, outdoor coverage will be accessible almost anywhere where Australians can see the sky. Our objectives in doing this are to expand the triple 0 access for all Australians right across the nation. My community is only about 95 kilometres from Sydney, but this will potentially save lives because people travelling on very challenging roads where it is difficult to get a signal, like Bells Line of Road or Putty Road, will be able to call for help. It will expand outdoor voice and SMS coverage into existing mobile black spots that are really challenging to tackle because of the geography. It will improve the availability of mobile signals during disasters and power outages. These are the sorts of things that we are prioritising, always putting consumers first. This bill looks at protections for consumers. We have separately looked at expanding access to services for consumers. We have got more protections for victims-survivors of domestic and family violence, and I am very proud to be part of a government that says the consumer comes first. The services exist to serve consumers, and how they are treated in the process is absolutely vital. I commend this bill to the House. 12:18 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina Janelle Ruggeri and Graeme Kruger just brought along to my office some very impressive young people: Nathan Crawley, Emily Marston, Sarah McCaskie, Thomas Hatty and Daniel Andreazza from Griffith and Tocumwal. They're not from my Riverina electorate per se, but they certainly are from the geographic area of Riverina. They are rice growers. You might wonder why I'm raising this—before I get a point of order on relevance from the minister at the table—as part of the debate on the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. Like the member for Macquarie, I appreciate that farming requires good telecommunications, and every place needs the very best telecommunications and the utmost safeguards for consumers. That is why the coalition supports this bill's second iteration. It has been enhanced by an amendment—an excellent one, at that—moved by the shadow minister for communications and shadow minister for women, the member for Lindsay. I acknowledge that she has put that forward, and I very much commend it to the House. These young rice growers, who are part of the Ricegrowers' Association of Australia's Next Generation Leadership Program, emphasised to me the importance of technology in what they do. They absolutely have to have the very best telecommunications as they do research into lowering emissions from their paddies and maximising every precious drop of water. They still call them paddies even though they're doing a flush method rather than a pond method on some of these modern rice farms these days out in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and in Coleambally. But they can't do their research, and they therefore can't be even more environmentally sustainable than they already are, unless they have good telecommunications to be able to pass on the data, the analytics, the knowledge and the updates. Then they can have it at one central point so that they can learn from their research and their farms can be more profitable, sustainable and progressive. I really commend the work that each and every one of those young farmers are doing, because they are the future. It doesn't matter whether you're growing rice, or whether you are indeed growing any sort of food or fibre, you need to have the very best of telecommunications. What we're seeing these days is farmers using groundbreaking GPS technology on their tractors and equipment so that they stay in line, each and every bit of valuable soil is utilised to its maximum benefit and each and every valuable droplet of water is used to its maximum benefit. That only happens when you've got the very best of technology, the very best of global positioning systems technology and good mobile communications. The member for Macquarie mentioned her electorate and the fact that the geography and topography of her electorate is wide and varied, which is very similar to the Riverina electorate that I now serve with the new alignment of boundaries of the Australian Electoral Commission, which came into effect at the May election this year. I've now retaken the Snowy Mountains, Kosciuszko and beyond. We've got hilly terrain. The high point of Australian politics is Kosciuszko. The mountaintop, the summit, is in the Riverina electorate. I'm very proud of that fact. The fact is that they are very prone to fires and very prone to having emergency situations. We need the best telecommunications to enable our emergency service workers to communicate, get help and save people's lives when things happen. If you think about it, at the moment, we've got Australia's largest manhunt happening in Porepunkah in north-east Victoria, and they no doubt need good telecommunications, too, as they search for the killer of those two brave police officers. When we have a rollout of telecommunications in the bush, we need to be fair about it. I know many members have come in and talked about colour coded spreadsheets. The sad reality is that the colour coded spreadsheets for the telecommunications towers, in the first term of this government, were all red. They claimed that they were, as part of the rollout of towers, simply honouring election commitments. But they need to be fair about this when it comes to the spread of telecommunications towers, because everybody needs good telecommunications not just Labor electorates. I would urge and encourage the new communications minister, to consider that when they are funding those towers, which not just provide convenience and data sharing but indeed save lives—they absolutely do. The member for Macquarie also mentioned an important part of this telecommunications bill we are debating—domestic violence and scams. I do want to commend that aspect of this bill and the fact that, if there is a partner who is being subjected to domestic abuse, particular numbers will not showing up on telephone bills. That's absolutely, vitally important. Anything that can be done to protect and safeguard particularly women in domestic violence situations, obviously, is to be applauded and encouraged. When we come to scams, I would urge and encourage people to avail themselves of a copy of The Little Book of Scams. It doesn't matter who's in government—I actually had the former member for Whitlam come to my electorate and run a very worthwhile scams seminar in Wagga Wagga, and he was fabulous. These days, the scammers are so professional and so adept at separating people from their money for their own graft and gain that it is quite remarkable. The Little Book of Scams is good reading. It's sobering reading. It's actually helping people spot and avoid scams. And, when it comes to scams, telecommunications are the preferred method of choice by a lot of these people who would steal people's money. It's white collar crime and it's on an industrial scale. These nefarious characters are coming in from overseas—they're operating from overseas bases. They're also very much operating right here at home. They prey on older people. They prey on vulnerable people. I would advise people to take heed of what the government says when it comes to text or SMS scams, email scams, phone scams and website scams. Because money's hard enough to earn in this cost-of-living crisis; you don't want to be giving it up to somebody who is not earning it but just wants to separate you from your hard-earned wealth. So I commend that particular publication to everybody. The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 before us does create a register of carriage service providers. It does enable the direct enforcement of industry codes and increases the maximum penalty amount from a quarter of a million dollars to $10 million. That might seem a lot of money, and it is, but corporations have an obligation to do the right thing and to put in place the provisions, the measures and the personnel to ensure that customers are safeguarded—that the consumers who use their services are kept as much as possible away from those activities and those people who would otherwise do them harm. It also amends the existing two-step process for the application of penalty amounts for infringement notices. I had a visit to my parliamentary office yesterday by Chris Taylor and Christina Cawkell from Telstra, and it was good to get an update. I commend Mr Taylor for the work that he has done in my electorate and others besides to ensure that he keeps members of parliament and moreover—very much moreover—members of the public updated with what the big telco is doing when it comes to services. Ms Cawkell is looking after the shires I've just taken over—Snowy Valleys, Yass Valley and Upper Lachlan shires. She has others in her care as well. I respect the job that they're doing, and I emphasised again that there are still communities that are hurting from the changeover from 3G. I know Telstra very much acknowledges that and are working on it, but there are people—the member for Macquarie mentioned people on landlines—who are relying on their landlines. I know that in my electorate there are people out Ardlethan way, in Ariah Park, Beckom, Kamarah and that district, who have to climb up on top of their silos, would you believe, to get a signal. You could imagine climbing up a silo, with one hand on the ladder and one hand on your phone, just to get a signal. That might be to be able to sell your grain, to be able to get the best price for your stock or whatever the case might be, but it might also be to get an ambulance. When it comes to getting help for these little communities and these farmers who do so much for our nation, just to try to get an ambulance is an exercise in itself—let alone having to climb a silo to do it. We need to remember that and we need to reflect on that. Particularly when the Minister for Communications is designating funding for vital telecommunications upgrades, that is so very important. The new carriage service provider registration scheme is going to require all telecommunications providers to apply to the Australian Communications and Media Authority for registration to operate in Australia. It should have always been the minimum, quite frankly. This will provide ACMA, as the regulator for the sector, with visibility of all operators in the Australian market, of which there are an estimated 1,500 at the moment. It will ensure that ACMA is able to monitor, to educate and, where necessary, to take rapid enforcement action for any breaches of any codes or standards. I know that this particular legislation passed through the House before. It lapsed, but it is good that it has been able to return. Should providers breach their obligations—or, indeed, pose a risk to consumers—ACMA would have the ability to cancel their registration to operate. This should be an absolute minimum in this day and age, because telecommunications are far too important to have people operating in the industry or the sector who could probably otherwise best be described as cowboys. People who are operating in this sector need to understand that there are minimum standards and that there are high fines now able to be imposed. They were high before; they've now very much got into the area of very severe, as they should be. These arrangements are similar to those in the energy sector, where the Australian Energy Regulator has the power to forbid operators from operating in a market where there is risk to consumers. They can't determine the price of power, unfortunately, but they're able to do that. This telecommunication amendment is good legislation. It's worthwhile legislation, but I do commend to the House the amendment put forward by the member for Lindsay. 12:34 Ms TRISH COOK 312871 Bullwinkel I rise today to speak on a matter which is critical to the lives of every single Australian, and it's a matter that goes directly to the heart of our government's values of fairness, accountability and trust. I am speaking in strong support of the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025. Enhancing consumer safeguards—that's what it's all about. As the federal member for Bullwinkel, I represent an electorate that stretches from the periurban fringes of Perth to the wheat belt, where, every single day, our families, businesses and emergency services rely on telecommunications to function. In today's world, connectivity is not a luxury; it's the lifeblood of our communities. It supports our kids' education, it enables small businesses to trade, and it connects us with our loved ones, especially in times of crisis. Australians deserve a telecommunications system that is fair, accountable and, most of all, trustworthy. For too long there have been many poor practices in the industry. This bill changes that. It's a comprehensive package of reforms that will equip the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, with the modern, effective tools it needs to protect Australian consumers from poor and harmful practices. The core of this bill can be distilled into three key reforms, and I wish to speak to each of them today. The first reform is that we are increasing maximum civil penalties. In the current framework, the maximum civil penalty for a serious breach of industry codes and standards is $250,000. For a multinational corporation generating billions of dollars in revenue, a quarter-of-a-million-dollar fine is simply a slap on the wrist. It is, as my colleagues have also said, simply a cost of doing business. It is an amount that does not deter harmful practices. It sends a message that it's more profitable to break the rules and pay the fine than it is to do the right thing by your customers. This is fundamentally wrong, and it erodes the trust that Australians place in their service providers. This bill dramatically changes that. It amends the Telecommunications Act to increase the maximum general civil penalty for breaches of industrial codes and standards to 30,300 penalty units, which, at the time of drafting, is just shy of $10 million. This is a 40-fold increase in penalties—a powerful statement that this government is serious about consumer protection. But we go even further. The bill modernises the penalty framework to give the flexibility for fines to be based on the benefit gained from such conduct—up to 30 per cent of the relevant provider's turnover. This means that, for a company with a very high turnover, the penalty can and should be significantly more than $10 million. This penalty framework aligns our telecommunications sector with standards that we see in other industries, like energy and banking, as well as the Australian Consumer Law. This is about creating a level playing field, where the penalty for the breach is truly proportionate to the harm caused and where no company, no matter how large, can treat consumer protection as an optional extra. It ensures that the Federal Court can impose a penalty that is a genuine deterrent. Effectively, it strongly encourages companies to prioritise ethical conduct over a quick profit. The second crucial reform of this bill is the establishment of a carriage service provider, or CSP, registration scheme. This was a longstanding issue for the previous Labor and coalition governments, and this lack of visibility is a black hole for regulators. The limited visibility of the carriage service provider has hampered ACMA's ability to actively educate providers on their obligations and to target compliance efforts. This bill changes that. By establishing a CSP registration scheme, we will increase the visibility of the market and give ACMA and other government agencies the ability to streamline complaints and compliance processes. It will provide a clear line of sight, ensuring that every provider is known and accountable. This means that dodgy providers will no longer be able to operate in the shadows, preying on consumers without being held to account. It also introduces a powerful deterrent. ACMA will be empowered to stop CSPs from operating in the market if they pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or cause significant consumer harm. This power will be used as a last resort, with suitable checks and balances in place, but it provides the regulator with the necessary authority to protect consumers from the worst actors in the industry. It means consumers can have greater confidence in the providers that they choose, knowing there is a system in place to ensure that they are held to account. This is a reform that will incentivise better behaviour and weed out those that are doing the wrong thing. This may sound like a technical change, but in fact the impact is profound. Under the current legislation, even if a telco is caught red-handed breaching a code, no matter how egregious the breach, ACMA can only issue a direction for them to comply with the code. It is only if the provider then fails to follow that direction that ACMA can take stronger enforcement action. This bill removes that clunky and time-consuming two-step process. It makes compliance with these codes mandatory from the moment they are registered. This gives ACMA the ability to take immediate and decisive enforcement action, providing a stronger incentive for industry compliance and ensuring that consumers are protected without delay. These are not standalone measures. The bill is a vital piece of our government's broader consumer protection agenda. Since coming to office, we have already introduced new industry standards to support consumers experiencing financial hardship, and we just saw recently the implementation of a new standard that requires telecommunications companies to support and assist consumers experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence. We also amended the Competition and Consumer Act earlier this year to introduce consistent obligations on telcos, banks and digital platforms to prevent and disrupt scams. This bill is a crucial pillar in that ongoing work. As the member for Bullwinkel, I know the important of connectivity, not just for consumer protection but for the economic and social wellbeing of our community. This is why the Albanese Labor government is also delivering historic investment in regional connectivity. A large part of my seat is considered regional. The $55 million Mobile Black Spot Program, which had applications close this April, will provide resilient mobile coverage in disaster-prone areas, and certainly Bullwinkel is a disaster-prone area with regard to bushfires. The $50 million Regional Roads Australia Mobile Program pilot programs, which also include an $8 million allocation for Western Australia, will test new solutions to increase mobile coverage on our regional highways and major roads, improving safety and connection. And, of course, round 3 of the Regional Connectivity Program awarded just over $115 million towards 74 projects, which also included a dedicated Central Australia stream to improve connectivity for First Nations communities. This bill is a testament to the Albanese Labor government's commitment to a fair, accountable and trusted telecommunications system. It is a win for consumers, a win for integrity and a win for a more connected Australia. I commend the bill to the House. 12:44 Ms PENFOLD 248895 Lyne The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 makes changes to the Telecommunications Act to strengthen consumer safeguards, something we should all agree is a top priority. The bill will create a register of carriage service providers, enable the direct enforcement of industry codes, amend the existing two-step process for the application of penalty amounts for infringement notices, and increase the maximum penalty amount for breaches of the codes from $250,000 to $10 million. Full visibility of all telecommunications operators will also ensure ACMA can target compliance and enforcement activities and, where necessary, take appropriate action. The changes in this bill will strengthen ACMA's powers and the speed at which they can use them, to provide even greater protections for consumers and ensure we have responsible operators in our telecommunications sector. This is an important step towards holding the telcos to account to industry standards, but I think what is missing from this legislation is a consideration of the standards themselves. As they currently stand, the bar is too low. We need to reassess the universal service obligation. The USO is the obligation for Telstra to ensure that standard telephone services are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business, and to ensure that payphones are reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis, wherever they reside or carry on business. Rather than being maintained or improved, the quality of landline phone infrastructure is noticeably deteriorating, especially in rural areas of the electorate. In times of emergency, the consequence can be life threatening. Not only is Telstra failing in its universal service obligation of providing reasonable standard telephone services via landline phone connection, but it is also failing to provide a reliable and cost-effective alternative. Many people are forced to go to the more expensive Starlink satellite in the hope that it will prove to be reliable. This government must negotiate new terms that better reflect advances in technology. Telstra and, indeed, all providers need to be held to account and made to uphold these new universal service obligations. This bill does nothing to improve mobile and internet services in my electorate, which has poor to non-existent mobile and internet service—one of the biggest issues, next to roads and health, that is consistently raised with me. Mobile and internet service is becoming increasingly unreliable in many locations across my electorate. Frustratingly, the service is worse now than it was just a few years ago. In rural areas of the electorate, loss of internet and mobile service for extended periods is becoming increasingly common. I'll give you an example. Residents within the town of Marlee have gone weeks and, on one occasion, well over a month without any mobile or landline service. In coastal areas of my electorate that experience a seasonal influx in tourist numbers, like Forster, Tuncurry and Harrington, internet either operates at snail's pace or simply drops out. I can give you an example from Harrington. A butcher there, only a Christmas ago, could not service any of his customers. His Square just simply could not work, because this small town—I know many of the MPs here, who often holiday in my electorate, would know that the population of Harrington can triple in a holiday season, but the bandwidth can't cope with the additional people and the 30 per cent natural increase in the use of data. Businesses in this town of Harrington—it's the busy time; it's when they're planning to hopefully make a bit of cash—simply cannot run their business unless people have cash in their wallet. This is a huge issue for small businesses in towns like Harrington and many of my other coastal communities. It's simply not good enough in a society that's increasingly forced to become reliant on technology. People in Nabiac struggle to access their online prescriptions. Pensioners are unable to access their myGov account. Hotels and restaurants are unable to take bookings online. People are unable to make medical appointments or receive reminders. They're unable to contact family and friends, and they're unable to contact emergency services in times of dire need. I've got a number of communities that are a single road in and a single road out—places like Pindimar and Bundabah and places like Pacific Palms that are surrounded by forest, and there is no escape. Having an internet or phone service that actually works when you need it is critical to them surviving in those difficult circumstances. I want to use an example from the Gloucester District News of the Area of a town called Barrington on the Thunderbolts Way on the other side of Gloucester. I'll just read the first bit because I want to put this on the record: LOCAL resident Shelley Faull has described the Telstra mobile phone service to the village of Barrington and its surrounds as being "woeful". According to Telstra's Network Coverage Map the whole village of Barrington is covered by its mobile service, and there is nothing to indicate that Barrington residents are likely to experience issues using their mobile phones. According to locals and visitors however, the map does not match their lived experience. "I have to stand on my verandah to get any mobile connection, and then I have calls that keep dropping out … …   …   … "The hall is an emergency refuge centre if there is a fire, flood or other disaster, and there is no mobile coverage at the hall. This is the lived experience of people in my electorate and the lived experience of people in regional Australia. We have to take these needs seriously. Recently, a gentleman—his name is Todd Barnes from Pappinbarra—who'd returned from South Africa emailed me and told me his story. He said: From Johannesburg we drove 650km south-west to the north cape province and not once did I not have phone service…I had the same service as the local guys. I could call, send pictures and videos in the middle of a paddock in the middle of nowhere … [At home] I can't even drive from Port Macquarie to Taree without the phone service dropping out multiple times. That's on the Pacific Highway, our national highway. He went on to say: Not good when Australia is supposed to be a first world country … The local African guys can't believe we can't drive between towns on a highway and not have mobile service. They thought I was pulling their chains. Again, are we being left behind in the regions? Why are we being left behind in the regions? I understand that geography plays a part, and I understand the geography in my electorate, but, surely, a modern Australia that cares about the regions can find a way to ensure that all Australians have access to mobile and internet services. I want to talk now about the poor assistance that many of my constituents have when they try to deal with telcos. I just want to remind the House that the Lyne electorate is in fact the oldest electorate of all here, so my constituents are particularly challenged by technology. Many of them have not grown up with it. They've come to have to use a mobile phone as much older people. Indeed, I know it is my own experience. I'm going to say that the first time I ever used email was when working in the minister for industrial relations's office in 1996. I remember the computer lab going in at school. I'm 54, and even I find the challenge sometimes difficult. I, myself, have come to it later in life, but I appreciate that, for much older Australians, it's more difficult. Constituents also report a very poor customer service experience when reporting issues to the telcos' call centres. They are firstly met with an extremely long wait time for either in-store visits or calls to the call centre, and then they are faced with a person on the other end having no understanding, appreciation or empathy for the situation or for the client. My constituents have informed me of numerous instances where a maintenance person scheduled to attend their property to fix the issue cancelled at the last minute. No-shows are a common experience, as are technicians failing to first confirm with the business or household that the scheduled time is acceptable. Better training is certainly required. I have to say I have raised this directly with the telcos. I have spoken even with the stores in my own electorate and the staff there to raise the issues of ensuring that the staff are trained, first of all, to be responsive and communicate and also to make sure that they understand who they're talking to and really try to help them. I do give credit to successive governments, also, for investing in the regional tech hub because that has also been a great source of support for many people in regional Australia, particularly farmers and older Australians, to go and get one-on-one support try—as I often say—to unscramble the bureaucracy and technology to try and make it work for them. Moving on to fee-for-no-service, there are also numerous examples of telcos charging fees for either no service or substandard service. If a customer experiences a loss of service for a substantial period of time, providers do not credit the customer unless the customer makes a request. Even then, they may not get a full credit refund for the time the service was not provided, or if only a substandard service was provided. What other business could get away with charging a customer when they have not received a service in return? Providers are failing to meet the customer service guarantee standard and are failing to proactively pay compensation if they are unable to meet timelines to fix landline services. I am looking forward to the telcos reporting on the levels of compensation that they provided to many of my constituents affected by the May floods. With the oldest electorate in the country, many of my constituents lack the skills and tech-savviness to be able to navigate jargon and technology. One of my constituents, John, a 92-year-old still living at home in Allynbrook, was sold a brand-new mobile phone. He was told that it would finally enable him to make calls. It has not. John and his wife must still rely on their fading landline. I've seen constituents encouraged to disconnect their landline but, when the mobile does not work satisfactorily, they are then charged a $250 landline reconnection fee. I think this is one of the issues, because the expectations of consumers are very different to the technical expertise of those selling the equipment. I know that the expectation of many consumers and many people in my electorate is that—when they know their landlines are failing and the copper technology is pretty much done and dusted—when they buy a mobile phone, sign up to a contract and give their home address, when they agree, the telco acknowledges that that service works at their house. I can't tell you the number of times that I've had constituents come to me, saying: 'I've been sold a phone. I bought it; I signed the contract thinking it would work at home, but it doesn't work at home.' But, then, Telstra, Optus or whoever it is, say: 'We don't guarantee. We will not guarantee that your service will work at home. It's a mobile phone; it's meant to work when you're roaming.' The expectations of the customer and the delivery by the telcos are not aligned, and that is a serious issue, particularly for older Australians. I also want to speak to some of the funding which, sadly, we are not seeing in the electorate. The Mobile Black Spot Program has not been extended beyond 2026-27, with zero dollars allocated. Furthermore, the government has not allocated any funding in 2027-28 to the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia. Like the Mobile Black Spot Program, there is no funding for these programs beyond 2026-27. There has been no announcement on another round for the Mobile Network Hardening Program. This funding is critical and important. The government needs to be supporting sensible policies that facilitate arrangements to ensure that the telecommunications infrastructure framework supports efficient, effective and equitable mobile telecommunications network delivery across Australia, including in rural and remote areas. 12:59 Ms CLUTTERHAM 316101 Sturt It's fair to say that, without telecommunications connectivity, living life would be very difficult. Telecommunications connectivity is required to participate in family and personal life, in education, in sport, in business and, importantly, in the community. Therefore, no matter where you live, connection is fundamental. Because of the widespread role telecommunications connectivity plays for all of us, a system that is fair, accountable and built on trust is critical for Australia. The Australian Communications and Media Authority is the regulator of this sector, acting to regulate communications and media with the purpose of maximising the economic and social benefits that communications infrastructure, services and content bring to all Australians. The authority of ACMA is the authority that makes decisions on matters of importance for ACMA, including with respect to telecommunications consumer issues. Covering the internet, telephones, TV, radio and content, spectrum and equipment compliance, the Australian Communications and Media Authority sets and manages rules about communications, media services and markets. It provides licences for people, organisations and products to operate in Australia. It plans and manages the airwaves to make space for new services and technology, such as 5G, and it also considers complaints and problems and takes action when rules are not being followed. These complaints and problems may relate to a number of different areas—firstly, broadcasting compliance and investigations, which are investigations into TV, radio and online content, and the rules about what broadcasters can show on TV and radio. Secondly, ACMA considers telemarketing and scam compliance and investigations, which, in very broad terms, relate to breaches of the law as they concern the sending of marketing emails or messages. Thirdly, with respect to radiocommunications and telecommunications compliance and investigations, ACMA investigates licensing, interference management device supply arrangements, customer equipment and cabling compliance, media control and ownership compliance and other investigations which also form part of ACMA's remit, which means, in broad terms, ACMA's power to require rectification in circumstances of breaches of statutory control, media diversity or directorship rules. These investigations may require the production of documents, the examination of witnesses or the holding of public hearings. In addition, ACMA also accepts enforceable undertakings under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, the Telecommunications Act 1997, the Spam Act 2003, the Radiocommunications Act 1992 and Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014. Then it issues infringement notices under several pieces of legislation, including the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, Spam Act, Telecommunications Act, Broadcasting Services Act and telecommunications and radiocommunications regulations. The remit is extremely large, and this regime is designed with purpose to facilitate compliance with these important pieces of legislation and regulations, because they regulate telecommunications connectivity, which all Australians need and which must be fair, trustworthy and accountable. The types of infringement notices ACMA has issued include where organisations have failed to undertake adequate identity checks when porting consumers' mobile numbers from other telecommunications companies. They also include where providers have sent marketing emails and SMSs without consent and without a functional unsubscribe facility and where they have failed to confirm that a person requesting a high-risk customer transaction was in fact the customer or customer's authorised representative, in that there was a failure to use an applicable identity authentication process prior to undertaking the high-risk transaction. There have also been infringement notices where organisations have failed to comply with billing accuracy rules as set out in the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code by not being able to provide, verify and demonstrate accuracy of bills to customers. There can be no reasonable argument against the proposition that Australians deserve for these types of infringements to be investigated, called out and then rectified. Finally, ACMA's remit also includes telecommunications compliance and investigations, the premise of which is that telecommunications companies must follow certain laws when delivering mobile, landline, internet and NBN services to the Australian public. These laws cover matters including the details and words that advertisements must and must not contain and how telecommunications companies must handle complaints when complaints are made to them. They include rules about customer identity authentication, rules about assisting law enforcement and security agencies with their work and rules for priority assistance services, which relate to landline services for people with life-threatening medical conditions. Telecommunications companies providing these services must meet the rules for the faster repairing of faults and the timeframes for connection of new services and must make arrangements for more reliable service. With respect to consumer protections, ACMA also takes action in relation to telecommunications to ensure that companies that are delivering mobile, landline and internet services follow laws that are applicable to them and that are directly relevant to the protection of consumers. In carrying out this function, ACMA collects information, consults about issues related to compliance and then assesses the level of risk. More specifically, in doing this, ACMA consults with consumer interest groups; analyses industry complaints data; commissions studies and publishes reports about telecommunications safeguards or the telecommunications consumer experience; provides compliance information to industry; undertakes compliance assessment; investigates serious, repeated and systemic noncompliance, which could be referred to ACMA by external parties or identified by ACMA itself; and takes enforcement action where warranted. Australians need and deserve for ACMA to have this remit so that they are protected when utilising essential telecommunications services. That's where we get to this bill. It is so important, in that it will equip the telecommunications industry regulator with the tools and powers it needs to protect Australian consumers and to carry out its remit, so Australian consumers do not fall foul of poor and harmful telecommunications practices. Some of the measures this bill proposes include increasing the quantum of civil penalties that can be issued by the Federal Court for breaches of industry codes and standards. This is being increased by 40 times, from $250,000 to nearly $10 million, because bigger deterrents are needed. The bill also modernises the civil penalties framework to give the Federal Court options in relation to issuing fines for regulatory breaches. This can include three times the benefit gained from the regulatory breach, $10 million or 30 per cent of organisation turnover. Currently the civil penalties for breaches of industry codes and standards are not a deterrent. They are not commensurate with the harm caused. They are not high enough to deter noncompliance. The amendments will also modernise the penalty framework for industry codes, industry standards and service provider determination to allow for penalties based on the value of the benefit obtained from the non-compliant conduct. This penalty framework better aligns with those in other relevant sectors like energy and banking and, under the Australian Consumer Law, more adequately reflects the telecommunications market and, in fairness, the varying sizes of the entities engaged in the market, which range from small to medium businesses to very large corporations. This is an appropriately described discretionary option for the Federal Court. The bill also establishes a carriage service provider registration scheme to increase visibility of carriage service providers operating in the market and stop the operation of unprincipled CSPs, who pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or cause significant harm. The amendments to the Telecommunications Act of 1997 will empower ACMA to stop CSPs who do pose this unacceptable risk from operating in the market. This will provide a further deterrent for significant noncompliance and will increase consumer trust in registered CSPs, including new or smaller CSPs. Importantly, ACMA's power to exclude CSPs from the market is expected to be used as a measure of last resort only, with suitable arrangements for the review of a decision, re-registration avenues and, critically, the maintenance of connectivity for impacted consumers, because we know that connectivity that is as uninterrupted as possible is necessary for everyone. This reform means that carriage service providers that are doing the wrong thing will face consequences and that consumers will be better protected. Importantly, this bill also makes telecommunications industry codes directly enforceable by ACMA, incentivising industry compliance and enabling ACMA to take swift action to address consumer harm. Currently, it cannot take direct enforcement action for breaches of the industry codes it has registered under part 6 of the Telecommunications Act, no matter how egregious the breach is, because, under this act, compliance with industry codes is initially technically voluntary. Part 6 of the act prescribes that bodies and associations representing sectors of the telecommunication industry may develop industry codes, that industry codes may be registered by ACMA and that compliance with an industry code is voluntary unless ACMA directs a particular participant to so comply. So, currently, if a breach is found, ACMA can either direct a provider to comply with the code or issue a formal warning. The bill introduces amendments to part 6 of the Telecommunications Act to make compliance mandatory, which removes the need for ACMA to direct a particular participant to comply with the code in the first instance. This bill also builds on the work that the Albanese government has delivered since coming to office in 2022, including a new industry standard requiring telecommunications companies to support and assist consumers experiencing domestic, sexual and family violence. This bill is designed to increase levels of public trust in Australia's telecommunications system by further empowering the regulator to take meaningful action in relation to specific and clearly defined instances of noncompliance. 13:13 Mr GEE 261393 Calare I support the Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 because I believe it can make a positive contribution towards holding telecommunications companies to account, and I think that aspect of it is supported. But I come from country Australia, and, in the Central West of New South Wales, mobile phone coverage is not what it should be. It is a serious problem for many of our local communities. I get many, many pieces of correspondence, phone calls and emails, from our local constituents, who are very concerned about the state of mobile coverage, and my concern is that the Mobile Black Spot Program, which the Australian government has operated for a long time, is no longer fit for purpose, because it's not clearing up all of these black spots. I'll return to that in a moment. Here are just a few examples of some of the constituents who've written in to me to raise issues about poor coverage. Geoff has written in about poor mobile coverage at Mookerawa, not far from Stuart Town. Ross has written in about poor mobile phone coverage at Marrangaroo, which is near Lithgow. Ines raises coverage issues at Frog Rock and is very upset about what's happening there. It's poor coverage; it's not where it should be. Ralph has written in about the lack of mobile coverage around Oberon. It is a serious problem around Oberon, especially around the Shooters Hill area and around Black Springs. I'm going to return to Black Springs in a moment. Judie out at Spicers Creek has issues with mobile connectivity out there. Ralph from Lyndhurst—again, there are serious issues of poor mobile service and reception around there. Then we have people like Julian, who's written in about the poor mobile coverage between Oberon and Bathurst. There are 'several blackspots on Telstra 4G', he writes, and he also points to areas like Wisemans Creek, Carlwood Road towards O'Connell and the area around the railway track in Rydal—and Rydal station itself. The coverage is not what it should be. Dave from Arkell, in our area, has written in, and he says there's been a problem with phone reception since 3G was turned off. He said: we used to have quite good reception until last October. Now reception is getting much worse even with a booster in the house. Essentially no reception most of the time or call last for maybe one minute. I have contacted Telstra many times and got the big run around. they want to ring me back all the time and when we dont answer they cancel the whole complaint process. Well if we havent got reception how can we answer. This is very frustrating … and means we have to go by car to another location to simply make a phone call. How can we make some progress on improving this situation? That's from David Rickards. Clint Anderson writes about issues of connectivity and mobile reception around Lower Lewis Ponds and in the Banjo Paterson Way area. Chris from Rylstone—around Narrango Road in Rylstone—has complained to Telstra about poor reception since the 3G shutdown and, unfortunately, did not get the answers that he was looking for and that we were all looking for from Telstra. That's why I believe that the Mobile Black Spot Program really does need an overhaul. I think it's fair to say that the telcos have picked all of the low-hanging fruit from this program—that is, they put in bids for the locations from which they can make the most money. But all of those locations have now been taken, and their interest in this program is clearly waning. We're not getting the results from it. There's a good example of this issue we've been having for a number of years at the village of Black Springs, which is not too far from Oberon. Telstra put in a bid a number of years ago for a small-cell tower to be placed at Black Springs, but, since then, it seems to me and the community that Telstra has been doing its level best to back out of actually delivering a small-cell tower at that site. We've had many, many conversations with the local community members and successive mayors of the local council out at Oberon, and I have to say we have been deeply unimpressed with the way that Telstra has handled this. Telstra really needs to have a good look at the way that they are operating their community relations, because in the way this has come about there has been delay after delay. Every time a solution is brought to Telstra to address the reason that they say this tower can't be put there, another excuse is found. Now Oberon Council have come up with another location, which is opposite the location where Telstra originally wanted to set up the tower, and, again, Telstra are delaying actually getting a small-cell tower for the people of Black Springs. It is very, very frustrating for Mayor Andrew McKibbin and the team at Oberon Council, and it's very frustrating for me, because this saga has dragged on for far too long. But it highlights the problems that we are having with this program and with getting telcos to commit not only to honouring their commitments but to continuing to deliver for country communities. Another good example is Shooters Hill, not too far from Black Springs, where the community has been fighting for mobile coverage for a long, long time. So I say to Telstra: you've really got to have a look at the way you're operating in these communities, because you're not winning any friends out there. A lot of us have misgivings about the way Black Springs has been handled. It does Telstra no credit. I urge the minister to have a look at the way the Mobile Black Spot Program funding is being rolled out. It needs to be made a lot more effective. Right around the Calare electorate, we have black spot after black spot everywhere you go, from places like the Castlereagh Highway between Lithgow and Mudgee to the Mitchell Highway heading into western NSW. From our larger communities to our smaller ones, mobile black spots abound. Mobile connectivity is an essential service. We need it for business, for tourism, for emergencies and to keep our communities connected. Government has a really important role to play here, and our communities should not be forgotten. This is a fundamental issue of fairness and equality between city and country. City people take these services for granted. They forget that there are people out in the bush who are making extraordinary contributions to the wealth and prosperity of this country that are being overlooked for mobile connectivity. It's not fair, it's not right and it must be brought to a close. The way the government could do it would be to make the Mobile Black Spot Program a lot more effective. I urge the government to have a really good, hard look at the program so that it better serves the needs of country Australia and the communities of central western NSW. I know I speak for everyone in our part of the world, where we demand proper access to mobile phone service and mobile connectivity. We're not getting that at the moment. You can put a lot of the blame at the feet of the telcos, but the government also has a very important role to play and, when programs are not effective enough, they need to be overhauled so that they serve the interests of our country communities. We demand nothing less. Debate adjourned. Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 43

Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025

Consideration of Senate Message 43 13:23 Mr RAE 300122 Hawke I move: That the amendments be agreed to. The Albanese Labor government is continuing to deliver generational aged-care reforms. This amending legislation before the House will get the system ready for the Albanese government's once-in-a-generation reforms to our aged-care system. The legislation paves the way for a smooth transition to the new Aged Care Act, making sure the new Support at Home program and strengthened aged-care quality standards operate effectively. Paired with the new act, the legislation continues our work, delivering 58 recommendations of the royal commission to create a fairer system that puts older Australians at the centre of their care. This latest step will give providers more clarity to prepare clients, support workers and ready systems for the act's historic changes. The government has consulted with older people, their families and carers, providers, workers peak bodies, union representatives, health professionals, academics and aged-care advocates every step of the way on these aged-care reforms. We've engaged in positive constructive negotiations with the opposition over this sitting period, and we are grateful for their genuine desire to help us build a better aged-care system. Our government is getting on with the job of delivering generational change to make sure that every older Australian can live with the best care, dignity and support. The passage of this bill brings the reform process one step closer. We're one step closer to bringing the key recommendation of the royal commission to fruition with a new rights based Aged Care Act that delivers the dignified care that older Australians deserve. 13:25 Mrs McINTOSH 281513 Lindsay I'm quite sad that I'm having to stand here and speak on this Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025; it shouldn't haven't gotten to this stage. I'm sad for those we have to protect. The No. 1 role of any government is to protect its citizens—our youngest citizens, those that are working so hard throughout their lives and into retirement, and our oldest citizens who need the greatest care; it is what they deserve. Unfortunately for 108,000 older Australians, they haven't got the care that they deserved. They have been on the waitlist, waiting while this government drags its feet, waiting while this government removes the promise it made prior to the election that there will be aged care in their homes. Any person who has older parents, all of us in here, know what I'm saying. They have grandparents or parents going through this. This is real life stuff. This isn't just about parliamentarians making decisions in this place; it's about parliamentarians making decisions for the good of our country, and there is no greater good than protecting those who have done so much throughout their lives. We dragged the government through the House, through the Senate, through the public sphere, through the media, to finally make a decision that 20,000 places will be released now. There are 108,000 on the waitlist, and 20,000 released now. Because of the pressure, another 20,000 will be released by the end of the year; 43,000 by the end of the financial year, in line with a promise this government made prior to the election, a promise this government made to every Australian family, to our older Australians, to families looking after parents and grandparents. I can just imagine the dismay people are feeling across our country right now that it had to get to this. It has had to get to the government being embarrassed in public to release these places. We've heard personal stories and anecdotes. The member for Mayo got up in tears and told the story of how she held a gentleman's hand in her electorate before she passed. The gentleman shouldn't have been in that position. He should have had that place. He should have had that package, but he didn't. He waited. Then he passed away. You can't want to be a parliamentarian that serves your community without feeling really deeply the hurt for so many thousands of Australians that have had to go through this. We are pleased—I don't know if 'pleased' is the word or if 'satisfied' is even the word. We accept that we are now in this position where the government has relented and agreed, through huge pressure that we've given on behalf of the Australian people, to make these amendments, to approve them, to bring them back here. It's an historic amendment for this parliament. It's a testament that, even though we may be small in opposition, every single member of parliament here is loud in the support that we have for our people right across Australia. Once again I say, as we have this win for Australians, it is with sadness that we have had to get to this place. We stood up for older Australians across this country when the Albanese Labor government abandoned them. This situation should never have happened. The money was in the budget. The capacity was there. It is only Labor that stood in the way. It is a black mark on the government that they were purposely withholding support from hundreds of thousands of older Australians who have given so much—hundreds of thousands of older Australians who desperately needed it. Quite frankly, people were dying while they waited—5,000 in the past year alone. This is a crisis of the government's own making, and we on this side will continue to fight for every single Australian. Question agreed to. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265979 It being 1.30 pm, the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 45 STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS Child Abuse 45 13:30 Ms 248895 Lyne PENFOLD () (): Today I call on this place to ensure that convicted paedophiles pay the price for their abuse. Today I call on this place to back amendments to the Bankruptcy Act to prevent convicted paedophiles and other serious criminals from escaping justice by avoiding civil judgement debts through declaring bankruptcy. This issue has been brought to my attention by a constituent, Mrs Carolyn Kelly, the grandmother of Edan van Haren. Edan was a victim of Maurice Van Ryn, who was sentenced to imprisonment in 2019 in relation to child sexual abuse offences against Mr van Haren and other children. Mr van Haren, in a civil judgement, was awarded a debt of $1.4 million by the New South Wales Supreme Court in July 2023. But Van Ryn, a corporate accountant, hid his money and later declared bankruptcy. Unless the act is amended, Mr Van Ryn will escape his debt. I am advised that child support debts awarded by family courts are not extinguished by bankruptcy. This principle needs to be extended to judgement debts for serious criminal offences, including child sexual abuse. It's a simple amendment to section 153 of the Bankruptcy Act 1966. I've written to the government, the minister, the Treasurer and the Attorney-General, requesting their support and action, and asked that the amendment be known as Edan's law to recognise Edan's— (Time expired) Cancer, Scolyer, Professor Richard, AO 45 13:32 Mr LAXALE 299174 Bennelong This is a government that cares about health care. We've passed legislation to make medicines more affordable, we're delivering new Medicare urgent care clinics across the country and yesterday we made an announcement that is personally very special to me. Back in April, I attended a brain cancer fundraiser hosted by Hunters Hill Rotary and organised by president Barbara Enright and Kerry O'Brien. My partner, Jo, lost her father to brain cancer, and we wanted to contribute to the cause. The guest speaker that night was a remarkable professor, Richard Scolyer, former Australian of the Year. That night his message was simple: Australia needs to invest more in brain cancer research. Historically, this work has been underfunded because, tragically, patients aren't alive long enough to be advocates for themselves. Richard Scolyer has been that advocate. Yesterday the Prime Minister announced $5.9 million to establish the Richard Scolyer Chair in Brain Cancer Research at the incredible Chris O'Brien Lifehouse. This funding will support a professorial chair, postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and scholarships. It will expand clinical trials, accelerate research and help translate discoveries into better patient outcomes. Importantly, this will acknowledge the incredible work that Richard Scolyer has done, and all those before him who have fought for brain cancer research to be properly funded. (Time expired) Lucas, Mr Alan 45 13:34 Mr PIKE 300120 Bowman Tomorrow my community will come together to farewell a great Australian. Alan Lucas was a titan of the local real estate fraternity; a man of faith, conviction and generosity; and one of the Redlands' most beloved sons. He gave his time, his energy and his financial support to countless causes across my city. He was the driving force behind the Redlands Easter Family Festival, which brought tens of thousands together to celebrate. He also founded the Redlands Christian Business Network, a fellowship that united men and women of faith to support one another and share the gospel in the marketplace. Alan also spoke of the Redlands as being 'the great Redlands of the Holy Spirit', and he meant it. His was an inspirational faith. For him, belief was never private or hidden. He was an evangeliser who wanted others to know the joy and freedom that comes from walking with Christ. Alan had a rare gift for seeing the best in people. For those of us striving to make a difference in our community, he was always ready with his time, advice, encouragement and, above all, his prayers. Many, including myself, relied on him as a constant source of encouragement. He was a true believer, a man of conviction, a man with a tremendous generosity of spirit, a man who never wavered in his faith and, to many, a true friend. On behalf of the people of the Redlands, I want to extend my deepest condolences to Alan's wife, Janice, his children and his family. Alan was an inspiration to all who knew him. Vale, Alan Lucas. Health Care 46 13:35 Ms DOYLE 299962 Aston Since the election, held in May, the Albanese Labor government has been committed to delivering its promise on building Australia's future. During the 48th Parliament's first four weeks the contrast could not be clearer. Liberals are fighting Liberals, Nationals are fighting Nationals and the Libs and Nats are having a crack at each other. Labor meanwhile is focused on building Australia's future by delivering on our election commitment to tackle the cost of living and to strengthen Medicare. One way we're helping Australians with the cost of living is through cheaper medicines. From 1 January 2026 the Albanese Labor government is expanding that further by making cheaper medicines even cheaper. Earlier this week we passed legislation that would mean a prescription on the PBS would cost Australians no more than $25. The last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25 was in 2004, 21 years ago. Back in 2004, I was mum to my toddler son, three-year-old Clancy, and had just become mum for the second time to my youngest, Lily. I was on maternity leave, sleep deprived with hair like a bird's nest, wearing tracky dacks day after day and loving every minute of it. Cheaper medicines are another key cost-of living relief measure delivered by this government that I know will help ease the financial stress of constituents in my community of Aston who rely on these vital medications every single day. While those opposite are busy infighting, we're busy out fighting for all Australians. Wentworth Electorate: Sport, Mental Health 46 13:37 Ms SPENDER 286042 Wentworth Right now on Bondi Beach in my electorate of Wentworth, something both exciting and exhausting is happening. The Tama Touch football group are attempting a world record for the longest continuous touch rugby match in history—34 hours of non-stop play. As of now, they've been playing for 31 hours and 37 minutes. This group of mates have been playing on the beach for 20 years. Their extraordinary attempt is about more than just sport; it's about raising awareness for mental health. With Beyond Blue as a charity partner, Tama Touch footy have already raised over $156,000 to support the vital work of this organisation. Addressing mental health has never been more urgent. The World Health Organization predicts depression will be the leading global health concern by 2030, and we see the impact of this challenge in every community, including mine in Wentworth. What Tama Touch footy are doing shows the very best of community spirit, looking out there for one another and taking action to help. Their effort would not be possible without the support of long-suffering families, friends, sponsors and Waverley Council. I want to pay tribute not just to the players but to everyone who has contributed to this extraordinary undertaking. I really wanted to be there to cheer them on, but I couldn't be, because parliament is sitting. I was very proud to play with them last Friday, and—my God—it was very tiring, even for five minutes! So I don't know how they will keep it up. But congratulations to Tama Touch footy for this inspiring effort to raise funds and awareness for mental health. Cunningham Electorate: Multiculturalism 46 13:38 Ms BYRNES 299145 Cunningham This year we celebrate 50 years of the incredible work that the Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra have done bringing people together. MCCI in 1975, with nine visionary community leaders gathering to give migrants a voice, has grown into one of our region's most respected organisations. From those humble beginnings, MCCI has played a central role in our community, supporting people from CALD backgrounds right across the Illawarra, the Shoalhaven and now the ACT and Queanbeyan. Over the past five decades MCCI has provided essential services in aged care, youth programs, community development, cultural training and settlement support. They have been there for new arrivals, strongly supported by the Albanese Labor government with $321,000 through the Strong and Resilient Communities Activity and more than $4 million to deliver the Settlement Engagement and Transition Support program. During the election I also secured a $5 million commitment to establish a new regional multicultural community centre in the Illawarra, and I look forward to delivering on that commitment. With around 300 staff and volunteers, speaking more than 50 languages, MCCI proudly reflects the diversity and strength of our community. On this golden anniversary, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to CEO, Chris Lacey; Chair, Ken Habak OAM; the board; and every staff member and volunteer, past and present, who have (Time expired) Mayo Electorate: Macclesfield RSL World War II Anniversary Dinner Dance 47 13:40 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo I'd like to talk about the special dinner that we had at the Macclesfield RSL last Saturday night. It was a dinner to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, which happened on 2 September 1945. Everyone was dressed to the nines or, you could say, dressed to 1945! There were kilts. There were victory rolls in hair. It was a fantastic night. We had the Army band serenading us, and many of us danced. In fact, the RSL even organised dance lessons for people so that people could feel confident getting on the floor. I'd like to acknowledge the president of the Macclesfield RSL, Dennis Oldenhove, and his wife, Kaye. Bev Slack, who is a member of the RSL, organised all of the catering. We had a massive country roast with turkey, lamb, all the vegetables and more desserts than you could possibly believe. It was a fantastic night for young and old. We even started the night in the RSL, where we ate bully beef, which I can tell you is something you wouldn't believe, and curried eggs. That was to really take us back to 1945 to think about those wonderful young men who went to war on behalf of all of us. I'd really like to say to would like to Macclesfield RSL: you are a fantastic group of people. Congratulations to you on such a wonderful and successful night. Medicare: Mental Health 47 13:41 Ms COMER 316551 Petrie Over the last two decades in this country nine lives have been tragically lost to suicide every single day. Too many people are struggling with wait times, expensive appointments and ongoing stigma that prevents them from reaching out for support. It is critical that we take a decisive approach to preventing suicide. That's why I'm proud to be part of a government that is laser focused on addressing this issue. The Albanese Labor government made a clear commitment at the last election to deliver 31 new and upgraded Medicare mental health centres across the nation. I fought for a centre in my electorate, and, with the tireless support of Assistant Minister Emma McBride, I'm proud to announce that the Redcliffe Medicare Mental Health Centre will be opening very soon. This centre will be free. It will be local, and it will be there when you need it most. Whether it's immediate help in a moment of distress, ongoing support for someone managing their mental health, guidance for carers and families, or connecting people to housing, employment and social supports, these centres are designed to make sure no-one falls through the cracks. Every life lost is one too many. By providing a safe, accessible place for people in crisis, these centres give people the support they need when they need it most, and that can save lives. For too long, mental health care has been hard to access, expensive and stigmatised. I'm proud to be part of a government that is changing that for my community and for all Australians. Taxation: Spare Room Tax 47 13:43 Mr REBELLO 316547 McPherson This government is failing Australians on housing. Rather than fixing what's holding builders back, the government abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission, piled on hundreds of new laws and thousands of regulations and are standing by while their mates at the CFMEU drive up costs. This is a prime minister who swore there would be no new taxes, yet all he has delivered are new taxes. Labor's latest idea is to come after your family home with a spare room tax. Instead of building more homes to fix the housing crisis, Labor wants to tax ones we already have—no new supply, no new solutions, just another desperate grab at your household. This thought bubble was thrown around at their three-day economic roundtable as a bid to fix the housing crisis, and now Labor have refused to rule it out. If you're a young family saving a spare bedroom for a future child, this government's coming after you. If you're a grandparent with spare rooms for the grandkids to visit, this government is coming after you. This is how far they've sunk—a government punishing Australians for their own failures and $43 billion wasted with fewer homes to show for it. They know they won't meet their housing targets, so they're coming after your household—a tax on the room your kids grew up in, a tax on the roof over your head or a tax on the home you worked for your lifetime to build. The government must rule out this shocking spare room tax. Albanese Government 47 13:44 Ms BRISKEY 263427 Maribyrnong It's been four months since the election, and we have not wasted a single moment in delivering for Australians. We have been steadfastly focused on delivering for all Australians, including in my community of Maribyrnong. And, while we have been focused on delivering cheaper medicines and cutting 20 per cent off student debt, those opposite can't even pull themselves together. Instead, they're focused on some random, fanciful 'tax on your room'—it's insane. Their only apparent agenda seems to be coming from the member for New England and his determination to take Australia backwards by abandoning net zero. It looks like the climate wars are there to stay in the coalition, but my community is taking advantage of 30 per cent cheaper batteries. Those opposite are divided. They're distracted. We're delivering for Australians. We've delivered the Commonwealth Prac Payments, supporting trainee nurses like those at Kangan Institute in Essendon. We've protected penalty rates while those opposite have tried to take them away. We're strengthening Medicare with more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines, while those opposite have spent the week barely hiding their hatred for bulk-billing. Wages are growing, unemployment and the gender pay gap are low, and interest rates have been cut for a third time this year. As I finish my first full month as the advocate for Maribyrnong in this place, the coalition would rather fight amongst themselves than fight for Australia. Labor is on the side of Maribyrnong. Labor is on the side of Australia. We've started as we mean to continue. We'll keep on delivering. Taxation 48 13:46 Mr SMALL 291406 Forrest It's not only my question that this government has continued to evade. My colleagues in the Senate have also struggled to receive a clear response as to whether or not this government will tax spare bedrooms. Labor has failed to get their own 1.2 million new homes program on track. They have failed to lower energy prices, as they promised more than 98 times. And they have failed to control migration. So I ask the government again today to officially rule out the spare bedroom tax. Tell Australians who have worked hard and are doing it tough that their spare bedrooms won't be taxed to fund this government's spending spree. You shouldn't have to pay for this government's mistakes. But this is always the problem with big-taxing, big-spending Labor governments: when they run out of money, they come after yours. Health Care 48 13:47 Mr DAVID SMITH 276714 Bean Labor has always been the party of health care—from the Curtin and Chifley governments' work establishing the PBS, to Whitlam's universal healthcare reforms, to Hawke's Medicare. Now, under the Albanese Labor government, we continue that tradition with the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025 passing the parliament this week. We believe that every Australian should be able to afford the medicine they need without worrying about the cost. That's why, from 1 January 2026, no Australian will pay more than $25 for a general PBS script. That is a cut of more than 25 per cent, saving Australians over $200 million every single year. Medicines haven't cost $25 in Australia since 2004—the same year Shannon Noll topped the charts with his cover of 'What About Me?' Yes, it was a cover. That was the same year that Senator Walker from the other place was born. For that little boy in the corner shop, for the last 12 months, Labor has delivered in Bean. We've delivered a Medicare mental health clinic in Tuggeranong, saved the Interchange Health general practice and Burrangiri, opened the tender for an urgent care clinic in Woden, and we'll be delivering a perinatal wellbeing centre in Tuggeranong. And now, from 1 January 2026, we'll be delivering cheaper medicines because we care about the cost of living and have always, always been the party of health care in Australia. International Relations 48 13:48 Mr TAYLOR 231027 Hume Australia faces the most dangerous strategic environment since the Second World War. Around the world, authoritarian regimes and leaders are flexing their muscles—whether it's Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, Russia with its illegal invasion of Ukraine, or the unprecedented military buildup of the Chinese Communist Party. History tells us that peace is only achieved through strength and deterrence. That's why it's deeply concerning that former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews is in China this week, celebrating a massive military parade that showcases the biggest expansion of Chinese Communist Party military capability in history, alongside authoritarian world leaders from Russia, North Korea and Iran—leaders who fundamentally reject the values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law. At the very moment when the Prime Minister should be strengthening our alliance with the United States, his former roommate Daniel Andrews is posing for a class photo alongside dictators and autocrats from around the world. We've heard nothing but silence from the Prime Minister on this. When will the Prime Minister stand up for Australians and call out Daniel Andrews? Even Annastacia Palaszczuk has said it is a bridge too far, alongside many other Labor luminaries. The first duty of every Australian government is to keep Australians safe. Labor Government 49 13:50 Mr MATT SMITH 312393 Leichhardt Tomorrow I will be home in Leichardt. The sun will shine. The ocean will lap the sun-kissed palm-tree-lined beaches. The reef will still be great and the Daintree mighty. And I will walk the chihuahuas. Along my walk upon Trinity Beach, when I grab a coffee off Michael, I will inevitably be stopped by someone. They will say, 'Big Matty, how was Canberra?' And I will say, 'Cold.' Then I will say: 'Mate, we have enshrined penalty rates. Beer is cheaper, as the excise is frozen. In 27 days, first home buyers will be able to buy with only a five per cent deposit. Food subsidies in remote communities for over 30 essential items are in train, bringing prices in line with the cities. The tax office is, as we speak, sorting out the necessary coding to ensure 17,000 people in Leichardt benefit from the 20 per cent reduction in HECS debts. Interest rates are on the way down. The 90th urgent care clinic has been opened, with another on its way for the far north. A total of 490 homes have been built at the old drive-in site at Woree. Medicine is cheaper. The Barron River bridge is being funded. Childcare centres are being opened in Napranum and Horn Island.' I'll say, 'We helped Gunggandji Aerospace, the first wholly Indigenous owned aerospace company meet the people they needed to see in this place to explain their vision for young Indigenous people and the industry.' I'll say, 'We supported people with FASD, and I worked with Warren Entsch to learn about TB and how I could help in seeking to eradicate this disease that runs riot a mere 20 kilometres from my electorate.' There is so much more, but I am practising this 90-second abridged version so tomorrow's walk doesn't take three hours, which would be a bit rough as the dogs have little legs. (Time expired) Petitions: Australian National Flag 49 13:51 Mr THOMPSON 281826 Herbert The Australian flag flies on the shoulder of the Australian Defence Force. I've fought under its colours on the battlefield. Mates of mine who have been killed in battle, died in training or succumbed to their war within have had their coffins draped in the Australian flag. More than 20,000 people have had enough, have signed a document and have said, 'We want this government to legislate to make burning the Australian flag a criminal offence.' It's about time this happened, because the Australian flag is not a bit of cloth; it's a fabric that brings this nation together. Here are 20,000 signatures of those people from around the country. I seek leave to table this petition. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 Has it been approved by the Standing Committee on Petitions? Mr THOMPSON 281826 It has not been through the committee. Mr Hill 86256 In this instance, leave will be granted, although, as the member knows, it is the proper form of the House where the petitions committee verify it is in the proper order. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 That is okay. The document will be forwarded, so you can notify your petitioners, member for Herbert, that it will now go to the petitions committee for consideration and will be accepted subject to confirmation that it conforms with the standing orders. WorldSkills Australia 49 13:53 Ms COKER 263547 Corangamite A TAFE course or an apprenticeship can be the ticket to a great career, higher wages, new skills and a better future. At the WorldSkills Australia National Championships, Victorians showed the nation just how strong our skills are. This week, I met two outstanding gold medallists from my electorate—both products of the Gordon TAFE. Arnold Shanahan won gold in mechatronics, and Charlotte Follett, an apprentice florist, also took up gold. Charlotte said of her experience: The competition was out of my comfort zone and pushed me to a new level with my skills. I'm proud to represent Geelong and Victoria on a national stage. Her words capture what WorldSkills is about—dedication to excellence, skills growth and pride in community. Charlotte and Arnold's achievements remind us that skills change lives. Yet, for over a decade, the former coalition government sidelined skills and left students and apprentices stranded. In contrast, the Albanese government is investing in TAFE and apprenticeships. From the $10,000 incentive for construction apprentices to free TAFE, we're giving Australians better access to training, nursing, trades, care work and clean energy. It's this investment that helps Australians like Charlotte and Arnold to reach their potential. Fairfax Electorate: Schools 49 13:55 Mr TED O'BRIEN 138932 Fairfax The decisions we make in this place will determine Australia for the future. Indeed, the bigger decisions will determine Australia for generations to come. This is why it's so vitally important that we listen to younger Australians. It is important for us to understand what they think is great about Australia today and that which needs to change and to hear what they envisage for Australia's future. That is why recently I was so excited to facilitate a workshop with 50 young 17-year-olds from across my electorate from all different schools to hear what it is they envisage for Australia's future. It's a reminder to me of the importance of the job we do in this place to protect that which is precious about Australia, to seek to change that which can be improved and, more than anything else, to set Australia up for future generations so that they can enjoy the same prosperity and freedoms which we have enjoyed over our own lifetimes. I want to say thank you to the schools across Fairfax and the students who participated. It is your contributions which inspire me to continue to work in this place for you and your families. Women's Health 50 13:56 Ms PAYNE 144732 Canberra It's Women's Health Week, and, this morning, I joined the new Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care at Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT, a critical service for our community here in Canberra, to discuss the Albanese Labor government's announcement of more training for practitioners for the placement and removal of IUDs and birth-control implants. This free training boost will make long-acting contraceptives more widely accessible on top of our previous commitment to make them more affordable. For far too long, women's health has been underfunded, underresearched and undervalued. Now, the Albanese Labor government has invested a massive $729.9 million into women's health to ensure that women have more choice and better outcomes for their reproductive health. I also want to acknowledge the former assistant minister for women's health, Ged Kearney, for her work in this area. We have put the first new contraceptive pills on the PBS for the first time in 30 years. We will open more pelvic pain clinics around the country, and we are training nurses to help support women through the non-optional hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause. And now, from 1 January, PBS scripts will cost no more than $25. They have not been that low since 2004. Labor is the party of Medicare, and we will always strengthen it, including for Australian women, because women's health is central to gender equality and gender equality is essential to the Albanese Labor government's agenda. Superannuation 50 13:58 Mr CONAGHAN 279991 Cowper Billions of dollars of everyday Australians' retirement savings are now at risk, lost in the collapse of dodgy schemes like First Guardian and Shield, all of them so-called managed investment schemes. Thousands of Australians are facing devastating losses and in too many cases they've lost their entire retirement nest egg. And what's the government's response? Nothing but silence. Back in the 2022-23 budget, the government promised a review into how these schemes are regulated. They gave themselves a deadline and missed it. That's right. They missed their own self-imposed generous deadline by 18 months. Since then, there has been no report and no explanation. What were the recommendations? Could implementing those recommendations have protected these investors? Could they have protected hard-working Australians who have done the right thing and now have lost everything? We simply don't know because this government has bizarrely buried its own report. Where is the government? Where are the Prime Minister and the Treasurer? Where is the help for everyday Australians who have lost everything? They deserve transparency and they deserve answers. I'm calling on the Treasurer to release the review, put the facts on the table and address this issue directly for the Australians caught up in this scheme. The government should be providing answers to everyday Australians, but, once again, Labor are asleep at the wheel. The SPEAKER 53517 In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 50 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Andrews, Hon. Daniel Michael, AC 50 14:00 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer My question is to the Prime Minister. Today, I, once again, unequivocally express the coalition's utter condemnation of former premier Dan Andrews' attendance at the CCP military parade where he stood with dictators, despots and war criminals, like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Will the Prime Minister show the necessary leadership to join with us and so many other Labor leaders in this condemnation? 14:00 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler At the same event, 10 years ago, Michael Ronaldson, a minister in the coalition government— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 53517 We're just going to have a bit of order in the House. Mr ALBANESE R36 Australian embassy officials formally represented Australia—a very different approach than the approach of the former government. I do note that, yesterday, I had the honour to meet here Yulia Navalnaya here in Parliament House, and I know that she met people from both sides of the House. We discussed her advocacy for democracy, freedom and human rights in Russia and our absolute unequivocal opposition to Vladimir Putin and his outrageous authoritarian regime. Tonight, I will join another meeting of the coalition of the willing, convened by President Macron. During the election campaign, this became a source of difference between the two political parties. We on this side have always been unequivocal about standing with the people of Ukraine, and I am pleased that the coalition appear—to the credit of the new leadership—to be backing the participation in the coalition of the willing this time. We stand, in this country, for democracy. In this country, we stand for human rights and liberty. We continue to do so in all of its forms. We continue to call out. Yesterday, we introduced new sanctions against Russia, as well as the position that we've had over a period of time with North Korea. I haven't and never will meet Vladimir Putin. I haven't and never will meet the leader of North Korea as well, and we will give every support to people fighting for democracy, right around the world. That's my government's approach. Emergency Services 51 14:03 Mrs ELLIOT DZW Richmond My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. In the lead-up to National Police Remembrance Day on 29 September, how is the Albanese government honouring police bravery, and why is strong leadership so important in supporting our police? 14:03 Mr BURKE DYW Watson I thank the member for Richmond for the question, and, in doing so, I acknowledge her service in the police force and also acknowledge the members for Tangney, Wide Bay and Cowper, all of whom have served. 29 September marks National Police Remembrance Day, an important day where we pay tribute to the courageous officers who've lost their lives in the line of duty. While loss of life is always a tragedy, there's a huge chasm left when we know that the person we've lost chose to put themselves in harm's way to protect the rest of us. The unspeakable violence committed against officers in Tasmania and Victoria—Constable Keith Anthony Smith, Detective Leading Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, as well as a detective who's still recovering from serious injury—has shaken us as a nation. Every day, our police put themselves in the service of the community. They put themselves on the line, and that's the spirit of courage and selflessness that is the mark of every man and woman from the moment they make the choice to enlist. Last night, many members of the House joined in attendance of the National Police Bravery Awards. Two AFP officers—Sergeant Aaron Cox and Inspector Peter Murphy—were honoured for their work in the Vanuatu earthquake, and three members of the New South Wales Police Force—Sergeant Daniel Cooper, Senior Constable Adam Davis and Senior Constable Joshua Naughtin—for their work in the Manning River floods. These officers all went above and beyond to save lives and have demonstrated exceptional bravery and commitment. I hope to be able to have them in the parliament today, but, true to form, they went straight back to work first thing this morning—back to Vanuatu, back to northern New South Wales. But I do want to acknowledge that we have in the gallery the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Reece Kershaw. By the time parliament resumes after today, the AFP commissioner will be Krissy Barrett, so this is our last chance to be able to acknowledge as a parliament the extraordinary work of Reece Kershaw. He retires on 4 October to spend time with his family, including his new granddaughter Tulsi and two-year-old grandson Jarrah. Commissioner, in your time in this role, you have overseen the work of the Federal Police in child protection, counterterrorism, transnational serious and organised crime, cybercrime, foreign interference, our engagement around the world and the Pacific and the personal protection role that is so significant to the members in this place. Today as a parliament, Commissioner Kershaw, we honour you. The parliament acknowledges that Australians are safer because of your leadership, and we thank you for your service. 14:06 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler on indulgence—Can I just join the minister in expressing my admiration and thanks to Commissioner Kershaw. I made some lengthy public comments when we announced his retirement. I say to the commissioner: thank you for the relationship, for the briefings, for your diligence and for your commitment to keeping Australians safe, and I say just two words—happy fishing. 14:07 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer on indulgence—Can I join with the Prime Minister and other members of the government in wishing Commissioner Kershaw all the very best. You have been a great friend, adviser, supporter and influence in much of what you have done over many years. We respect that. We wish you well, and we know that you leave a legacy of service. 14:07 The SPEAKER 53517 On behalf of all members of the House from across the chamber, I too would like to pay tribute to Commissioner Kershaw for his service to the House of Representatives, to the parliament and to the nation. I'd also like to add that the member for Hinkler also served as Queensland Police Service, and the member for La Trobe. International Relations: Australia and Iran 52 14:07 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer My question is to the Prime Minister. This month, the Prime Minister expelled the Iranian ambassador, an action the coalition has strongly supported. But what message does it send when the Prime Minister of this country doesn't have the spine to condemn his former flatmate, Daniel Andrews, for posing in family photos with the Iranian president, a leader whose regime has actively orchestrated attacks on Australian soil? The SPEAKER 53517 The member for Gellibrand is warned. 14:08 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler They are delulu if they are going to come here over an issue in which there was bipartisan support for the expulsion of the Iranian ambassador for at least 12 hours before there was criticism of the government's action. My government have taken decisive action. I am not responsible for what every Australian citizen does. What I'm responsible for is what our government does, and the former government was responsible for sending Minister Ronaldson to the previous event. We stand unequivocally in condemning the Iranian regime. What international affairs requires is for governments of purpose, with that sense of purpose, to engage diplomatically with our friends. We had yesterday people such as President Prabowo and a whole range of people attending there. My position is very, very clear. It is: we did not send any government representative because it wouldn't have been appropriate. None of my team would have sat in that position; it's as simple as that. There was no representative. What individuals do, very separate from the government, is a matter for them. I note that it certainly is not something that I would have even thought of doing, and no-one in my government would have thought of doing; it's as simple as that. But the idea that, on an issue such as opposition to the Iranian regime, you look for difference where there is none—it actually undermines Australia's position in international politics, as did the response from last Wednesday morning, which was to try and look for distinction and look for political difference for what was the first time that any government has expelled an ambassador since the Japanese ambassador was expelled during World War II. Albanese Government 52 14:11 Ms PAYNE 144732 Canberra My question is to the Prime Minister. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering on its commitment to build Australia's future? 14:11 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler I thank the member for Canberra for her question, and I note that this is her last question time before she takes a bit of leave, for obvious reasons, and I wish her all the very best—I'm sure, on behalf of the parliament—for the youngest addition to her family when they come along in coming weeks. This week marks four months since the Australian people put their trust in our government to keep building Australia's future, and every day since then has been all about delivering. We're cutting student debt by 20 per cent, benefiting some three million Australian students and apprentices to the tune of an average of $5½ thousand each. We're enshrining penalty rates into law to protect weekend and overtime pay, and fast-tracking five per cent deposits, making it easier for young Australians to get into their first home. Australians are about strengthening Medicare; if you know, you know. There have been over 1.8 million visits to the 90 Medicare urgent care clinics we have opened. The only thing they've needed was their Medicare card. We've made an $8½ billion investment into bulk-billing, tripling the bulk-billing incentive for 11 million pensioners and concession card holders last term, extending that to all 27 million Australians this term. We're making medicines even cheaper, and then cheaper again—the bill passed through parliament just this week—from $42 down to $30 and then down to $25, but freezing it for concession card holders for the entire decade at just $7.70. At the election, Australians voted for a government with the plans and policies to build Australia's future. Our government has been focused on that in the first four months since that election—going through commitment by commitment, passing legislation to deliver and providing funding to deliver on the commitments so that we restore faith in the political system in this country. We will continue, over coming months, to make sure that we tick off those commitments one by one, and it will certainly be a year of delivery. That's our focus as we go forward. Whistleblower Protection 52 14:14 Mr WILKIE C2T Clark My question is to the Attorney-General. Last week, Australian Taxation Office whistleblower Richard Boyle was sentenced after facing a lengthy prosecution for blowing the whistle on egregious wrongdoing in the ATO. His case was, of course, yet another demonstration that our whistleblower protections are deeply inadequate. Minister, exactly when will the government table the necessary amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act and the Corporations Act so that whistleblowers aren't the ones being punished? 14:14 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway I thank the member for Clark for his question and I acknowledge his ongoing advocacy, over many decades, in this important area. Last week the District Court of South Australia sentenced Mr Boyle in relation to four charges under the Commonwealth Taxation Administration Act 1953 and the South Australia Listening and Surveillance Devices Act 1972. I understand the court did not record a conviction, and imposed a 12-month good-behaviour bond. I will not otherwise comment on the specifics of Mr Boyle's case. The decision to prosecute Mr Boyle is a matter for the independent Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. What I can say to the honourable member is that the Albanese government is committed to delivering strong, effective and accessible protections for public-sector whistleblowers through reform of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013. That's why yesterday we announced that a public consultation process on exposure draft legislation will commence next week on a second stage of reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act. We want meaningful engagement on this. We want to bring forward a package of reforms that will improve the accessibility, operation and administration of the Public Interest Disclosure Act. The government's reforms will be designed to clarify and strengthen protections for whistleblowers, simplify the procedures for making and handling public interest disclosures, and strengthen the scrutiny and oversight of the system. In addition, the government proposes to establish a new whistleblower ombudsman within the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman, which would be the most significant addition to the federal integrity landscape since the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The whistleblower ombudsman would provide strong oversight of the Public Interest Disclosure Act to ensure disclosures are being made and responded to appropriately. The ombudsman would also have new dispute resolution functions and the power to investigate reprisals. These reforms will build on the government's significant improvements to whistleblower laws implemented in 2023 and provide a comprehensive response to the 2016 independent review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act by Mr Philip Moss AM. The government will also conduct a statutory review of the private-sector whistleblower laws, and we will consult with stakeholders on this in due course. I very much look forward to working with the honourable member for Clark as the government pursues these reforms, which he knows are critical to supporting integrity and the rule of law. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS 53 DISTINGUISHED VISITORS Australian Schools Plus 53 14:17 The SPEAKER 53517 Before I call the honourable member for Leichhardt, I am pleased to inform the House that we welcome a guest of the Minister for Education, a representative of the Australian Schools Plus, a national non-profit organisation dedicated to closing the education gap. Also in the Special Business gallery is Mr Barry Robson, who has served as president of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia for more than 20 years, and is retiring. We also welcome students from Kingswood College in Melbourne, and year 11 students from Monaro High School in the member for Eden-Monaro's electorate. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 53 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Employment 53 14:17 Mr MATT SMITH 312393 Leichhardt My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. How is the government delivering for Australian workers? 14:18 Ms HWA Kingston RISHWORTH (—) (): I thank the member for Leichhardt for that question and for his longstanding advocacy for working people in Far North Queensland. Isn't it great to have him join this side of the House? The Albanese Labor government went to the election with a commitment to protect penalty and overtime rates, and we are delivering. We made this commitment because there were cases under way at the Fair Work Commission that would allow, if successful, these entitlements to be stripped away from some of our lowest-paid workers. As a government, we will always back Aussie workers, including our low-paid workers, and, as a government, we refuse to sit by and see workers lose this critical part of their take-home pay. Penalty and overtime rates matter. They are a longstanding feature and a vital part of the modern award safety net. The modern award safety net supports some of our lowest-paid workers. Workers who rely on penalty and overtime rates are more likely to be women, work part-time, be under the age of 35 and be employed on a casual basis. Retail worker Emily, who was expecting her first baby, said to me that penalty rates give her the room to be able to save for her little bubba and to help her move to make sure that her new family has a roof over its head. It's for workers like Emily and many others who rely on penalty and overtime rates that we made this commitment. I am proud that in the first three weeks of this term of the new parliament, we passed our law to protect penalty rates as a priority. Since we delivered these protections to penalty and overtime rates, I have met with many, many workers who say they can sleep more soundly at night because they know their penalty rates are protected. I met with Cassidy, who works in retail. She told me that she now feels confident that her penalty rates and overtime won't be taken away. These protections build on our record of delivering better outcomes for working Australians. Our government has delivered reforms that have boosted wages, have closed the gender pay gap and are creating more jobs. We're now seeing real wages grow, with real wages growing for seven consecutive quarters. More than 1.1 million jobs have been created under this government's watch, and we continue to experience historic record-low unemployment. Of course, the gender pay gap is at a record low. As a government, we will continue to focus on delivering for Australians and working Australians, because that's what Labor governments do. National Security 54 14:21 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer My question is to the Prime Minister, and I refer to his answer yesterday, where he rejected reports that ISIS brides were coming to Australia. Last night, Sharri Markson revealed on Sky News that Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson— Government members interjecting— The SPEAKER 53517 I'm not sure why there was such a reaction, but I want to hear. We can't have a situation where we can't— Mr McCormack 219646 What's wrong with Sharri Markson? The SPEAKER 53517 Who was that? Mr McCormack 219646 Why are you laughing at a female journalist? Disgraceful! The SPEAKER 53517 The member for Riverina is warned. We are going to reset. There is not going to be commentary when someone is asking a question. When the House comes to order, the Leader of the Opposition is going to be given the opportunity—I can't hear the question, but then everyone will want me to make a decision on that. They'll say, 'Make a ruling,' and I can't. The Leader of the Opposition will start her question again. There is going to be silence. Ms LEY 00AMN My question is to the Prime Minister, and I refer to his answer yesterday, where he rejected reports that ISIS brides were coming to Australia. Last night, Sharri Markson revealed on Sky News that Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson had confirmed New South Wales police were 'working through that issue with the Commonwealth', and that New South Wales police will meet with the AFP next week in relation to this matter. Can the Prime Minister explain this contradiction? 14:23 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler There is no contradiction with my answer yesterday. It was absolutely correct. Aged Care 54 14:23 Mrs PHILLIPS 147140 Gilmore My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. How are the Albanese Labor government's generational reforms rebuilding our aged-care system and delivering better care to more older Australians? 14:23 Mr RAE 300122 Hawke I thank the member for Gilmore for her question. She is a tireless advocate for older people in her community. Australians have been waiting a long time for aged care to be done properly, and this Labor government is getting on with the job of delivering an aged-care system we can all be proud of. Our implementation of the new Aged Care Act is now less than two months away. Yesterday, Minister Butler and I announced the critical step that locks in our new Aged Care Act and the accompanying Support at Home program. The SPEAKER 53517 The member for Gippsland is warned. Mr RAE 300122 That means certainty for older Australians who are waiting for care, certainty for families who want their loved ones cared for and certainty for providers and workers who can now plan with confidence. These reforms are about reshaping aged care so it delivers more care sooner and closer to home. It's why we're fast-tracking 20,000 additional homecare packages in the eight weeks leading up to 1 November, before the new system begins. Once Support at Home is underway, we will roll out a further 63,000 packages by June 2026. I want to acknowledge the constructive engagement— The SPEAKER 53517 The minister is going to pause. Member for Cowper, that's unacceptable. You're going to leave the chamber under 94(a). The member for Cowper then left the chamber. The SPEAKER 53517 We are just going to listen to the minister. All that noise is not helpful to anyone. I'm just going to ask the minister to return to the question and be directly relevant. Mr RAE 300122 I want to acknowledge the constructive engagement of colleagues across the parliament, including Senator Ruston, whose contributions have helped ensure that these changes will endure for generations. Since yesterday's announcement, the sector has responded very enthusiastically. UnitingCare says: Older Australians deserve care that is timely, person-centred, and respectful of their rights. Today's announcement brings us a step closer to that vision. OPAN says: This is good news especially in advance of the new Aged Care Act commencing on 1 November. National Seniors Australia say: … older Australians waiting for care, and their families, will welcome today's news … But the new Aged Care Act is not the beginning of our reforms. We've already mandated 24/7 registered nursing, delivering more care minutes for older Australians. We've put a registered nurse on site in aged care more than 99 per cent of the time, delivering more direct care for over 250,000 older people in aged-care homes. We've delivered more than 6.8 million additional minutes of care every single day, compared to under the last government, and invested $17.7 billion to increase the wages of aged-care workers. Every older Australian should be able to live with dignity and independence, supported by the care they need. That's what our reforms are designed to deliver, and the passage of this legislation is the latest milestone in our relentless pursuit of aged-care transformation. National Security 55 14:27 Mr HOGAN 218019 Page My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the New South Wales police have publicly confirmed they are working with the Commonwealth on the return of ISIS brides to Australia. Are you calling the New South Wales police deputy commissioner David Hudson a liar? 14:27 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler That is an outrageous suggestion. I have respect for our police officers. The questions that were asked yesterday went to whether the Australian government was giving support to this cohort. I confirmed that the Australian government is not providing assistance to this cohort. Syria is an increasingly unstable region. Our security, as well as our intelligence agency—as you would expect—will continue to work to ensure they are prepared for any Australian citizen who comes home. But the Australian government is not providing assistance to this cohort. The report yesterday was wrong. I declared it to be wrong. And long may the opposition continue to get their questions from 'Sky after dark'. Defence Industry 55 14:28 Ms LAWRENCE 299150 Hasluck How is the Albanese Labor government supporting Australian defence industry and our Australian Defence Force through AUKUS and the government's landmark export reforms and investments in defence? What barriers has the government had to overcome to achieve this? 14:29 Mr MARLES HWQ Corio I thank the member for her question. In the 2023-24 financial year, our government spent $16.6 billion on procurement for the Australian Defence Force—more than in any year of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. In fact, it was more than in any other year, full stop, because, at the time, this was the largest amount that had ever been spent on procuring for the Australian Defence Force. And then, last financial year, we spent even more: $18.2 billion. So, as a result, we have the Rheinmetall facility in Brisbane, employing hundreds of people, building the armoured reconnaissance vehicles for our Army and, in fact, the German army. We have the new Hanwha facility at Avalon in Geelong, which in time will support 1,800 jobs, building self-propelled howitzers and the infantry fighting vehicles for the Army. And very soon we will have the Kongsberg facility at Williamtown, near Newcastle, building long-range missiles as a result of the more than $16 billion over the decade that we are investing in establishing a missile-manufacturing capability in this country. But, in addition to supplying the ADF, under the banner of AUKUS and through legislation that passed the US Congress at the end of 2023, the complementary legislation that passed our parliament at the beginning of 2024 and the reforms in the UK, barriers across our respective defence industries have been greatly reduced, and, in turn, what we've now seen is more than 470 businesses in Australia become licence exempt as they contribute to the defence supply chains of the United States and the United Kingdom. In that time, it has facilitated more than $130 million of Australian defence industry exports to the US and the UK, $110 million of which has happened just since February. This is a transformation. Australian defence industry is growing and, with it, the nation's sovereign industrial capability. That stands in such stark contrast to the lost decade that we saw from those opposite. When the Liberals were sitting around in their smoking jackets and slippers— Opposition members interjecting— Mr MARLES HWQ working out what they were going to put in their press releases and what songs were going to accompany their announcements, the fact of the matter is that Australian defence industry suffered. Well, all of that has now changed because this government is not about talking; it is about doing. And, in the process, we are building Australian jobs and we are keeping Australians safe. The SPEAKER 53517 That wasn't ideal—all those interjections. So the member for Fisher is going to take a break out of the chamber. Don't look surprised. You interjected nine times in one answer. The member for Fisher then left the chamber. The SPEAKER 53517 Order! The member for Herbert is not assisting this matter. Mallee Electorate: Bush Summit 56 14:32 Dr 281688 Mallee WEBSTER () (): My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister told the Bush Summit last Friday, 'I won't BS people.' But yesterday in the House he claimed he was the first prime minister in 40 years to visit Horsham in my electorate. Given former prime minister Tony Abbott visited Horsham in 2015 to announce $1 million to open an oncology unit, wasn't your answer just more BS? Prime Minister, isn't your BS the real reason you were chased out of Ballarat by a convoy of tractors? 14:33 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler They're on the big picture today! Indeed, Tony Abbott was elected in 2013, but he didn't make it to a two-year anniversary. So it depends when in 2015—because he didn't make it. I'm asked about the renewables issue in that part of Victoria and about the Bush Summit. I can quote from someone's first speech: Mallee is perfectly positioned for renewables, but the capacity of our existing grid infrastructure is making some promising options unviable. I look forward to working further to improve connectivity to the grid in Mallee. First speech! But don't think it stopped there. It wasn't a one-off, because this was in 2020: This is why we desperately need to prioritise projects that will increase Victoria's grid capacity, including the Western Victorian Transmission Network Project, which will install new power lines from Melbourne through Ballarat to Ararat as well as VNI West … …   …   … … in Australia's energy grid infrastructure … I will continue to support the development of related projects in my electorate of Mallee. But it didn't stop there. This is someone who was committed to renewables in that part of the world. On 7 October 2020, Dr Webster welcomed announcements she said would benefit the Mallee electorate. These included 'up to $250 million to accelerate major transmission projects, including VNI West, which will benefit Mallee in order to deliver reliable energy'. The member used a term. I'll tell you what the term is—the term is for someone who, in their first speech in this parliament, speaks about these projects and champions them; who backs it in 2020; who, when money is put in the budget—$250 million—puts out media releases saying: 'Woohoo! This is going to be of great benefit!' and then pretends somehow that they're against the very project that was given the tick by the coalition government and funded by the coalition government, and then tells people, 'Yes, no worries, get out there, bring along a noose to a public meeting,' as if that's appropriate. But it doesn't stop there, because a range of Nats MPs have form in backing in the electorate, and— The SPEAKER 53517 Order. The Prime Minister's time has concluded. Member for Goldstein! Mr ALBANESE R36 If the leader of the House wants to extend time, I'm happy to go on for a bit more, too. The SPEAKER 53517 The Prime Minister's time has concluded. Order. I'm just going to ask the member for Brisbane to resume. The member for Goldstein, yelling out 'time' constantly—there have been four questions on your side which had not been within time. If you would like the rules applied right across the board, I'm happy to do it. If you do that again, you won't stay. Economy 57 14:37 Ms JARRETT 298574 Brisbane My question is to the Treasurer. What is the Albanese Labor government's plan to sustain the progress we're making on the economy? 14:37 Dr CHALMERS 37998 Rankin Thank you to the member for Brisbane for the tremendous contribution she's already making to this place as a new, recently elected member. The national accounts this week were a really welcome reminder of the progress that Australians are making together in our economy and the stronger economy that this government is helping to deliver. We saw a substantial pick-up in economic growth, better than most economists expected. We saw more proof that the private sector recovery that we've been planning for, preparing for and hoping for is gathering pace. We also saw, as we heard in the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relation's answer a moment ago, that we're getting incomes up and seeing that reflected in consumption as well, and that's an important driver of growth. We got new data today showing there was also solid consumption growth in July. All of this puts us in good stead for the global uncertainty which surrounds us and the big economic challenges which confront us. We know that there's more work to do, that people are under pressure and that the global environment is unpredictable. We know our economy needs to grow more strongly, and, for that, it needs to be more productive. We've made good progress, but we know there's more work to do. In that context, I welcome—in the last 1½ hours or so in the Senate—the passage of the government's payments reforms. These payments reforms are all about modernising our payment system and making our economy more productive as a consequence. These changes are about a payment system which is seamless, safer, stronger and better suited for the times. That's a good example of us keeping the reform wheels turning. But also, tomorrow, I'll be convening the state and territory treasurers. That's all about advancing our economic reform roundtable consensus together and recognising that if we want a more productive economy, the states have got a big role to play. So many of the productivity levers exist in the states, and that is why we work so closely with them and why tomorrow's meeting is so important. Tomorrow, we'll be progressing our single national market policy and lifting the ambition of our national competition policy. A big focus will be cutting red tape and making it easier for skilled workers to go where they're needed most so that tradies can save time and money. Also on the agenda are faster approvals, harmonising regulation, boosting housing supply and taking the time to get road user charging right. The meeting's all about working together to make our economy more productive and more resilient, because we know that's the best way to lift living standards in every state and territory in the Commonwealth. I look forward to speaking with the state and territory treasurers tomorrow on all of these important issues. It's an important demonstration of the reform effort that is going on this side of the House to sustain the progress that we've been making together in our economy. Climate Change 57 14:40 Ms BOELE 26417 Bradfield My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. We need an emissions reduction goal. 'Go high,' said the science, 'That's your role.' Will the government have ambition, take a 75 per cent position or side with the sellers of coal? 14:41 Mr BOWEN DZS McMahon I thank the honourable member for the question, but I'll be answering in prose. I'm sorry to disappoint. I'll be answering in terms of the Climate Change Act, which this government passed with the support of the crossbench and is the world's best practice when setting a target. The Climate Change Act requires the government to receive the advice of the Climate Change Authority before setting a target. It's a matter of law. The law also requires the Climate Change Authority to have regard to the best available scientific knowledge and the global temperature goals under article 2 of the Paris Agreement, which are two degrees and 1.5 degrees. Under the act, I must take that advice into account in setting the targets, and I am also able to take into account other factors such as the economic and social impact of the target we set. The legislation makes this process clear and makes clear what we must consider in setting the target, and that is exactly what we will do. We will have regard to the science, as we're required to under the law and, frankly, as we are morally required to. The parliament and the government absolutely are. That is why we passed the Climate Change Act in the way we did. I note that the Federal Court has recently ruled on matters of target setting in the Pabai case. In the Pabai case, in the Federal Court, His Honour was particularly critical of the previous government's targets and said they 'paid scant if any regard to the best available science'. He considered the 2021 update to be 'political window dressing to distract attention from the retained 2030 target'. That's what he said about the previous government's approach. In contrast, His Honour said, in relation to this government's 2022 target, that it 'could fairly be said to be a target that was capable of realistically contributing towards limiting the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels'. That's what His Honour said about our 2022 target. When we set the 2035 target, it will be in accord with the Climate Change Act after I've received the Climate Change Authority's advice. It will set out, very comprehensively, this government's intentions when it comes to 2035, and that's as it should be. Social Cohesion 58 14:43 Ms RYAN 249224 Lalor My question is to the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. What is the Labor Albanese government doing to support multicultural Australia and social cohesion, and why is this so important? 14:43 Dr ALY 13050 Cowan I want to thank the member for Lalor and Chief Government Whip, who is an absolute champion for her diverse community. I am incredibly proud to be a member of a government where a child with a name like Ryan, or Soon, or Ng, or Ambihaipahar, or Abdo, or Smith, or France, or Albanese can look at this parliament and say, 'I belong there'; a part of a government that has a vision of an Australia based on fairness and equality, where everyone—no matter who you are, who your parents are or where you were born—feels valued. But we know that our social cohesion is fragile. As long as we treat people with a gritted-teeth tolerance instead of mutual respect, our social cohesion will remain fragile. This Albanese Labor government governs for all, because we believe that every Australian, whatever their race or religion, wherever they or their parents were born, should be able to feel safe and at home, without prejudice or discrimination. This should not be a partisan issue. Over this week I've spoken to members of our Indian diaspora and they've told me that they did not feel safe—and they did not feel secure—after the rallies that we saw on Sunday. They've also told me that comments by some political leaders have exacerbated their fear and shattered their sense of security. To Indian Australians, this is our message: you do not have to justify your belonging in this country. We know you. We value you. We thank you for everything you have contributed to Australia—to communities, to charities, to business, to politics, to our medical profession and to our economy. We stand with you as we always have. When the immigration of Lebanese Australians was described as a mistake, that was wrong. When the African Australian community were unfairly stereotyped, that was wrong. When the Chinese Australian community were accused of being spies, that was wrong. And the scapegoating of Indian communities, designed to undermine their sense of safety and belonging, is wrong. Every member of this Labor government stands by the communities that they represent, and we will always call out attempts to divide us because it is by calling them out that we will strengthen our social cohesion. Andrews, Hon. Daniel Michael, AC 58 14:46 Mr THOMPSON 281826 Herbert My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer him to former premier Daniel Andrews's significant and ongoing engagement with the Chinese Communist Party. Is the Prime Minister aware that Daniel Andrews has not disclosed his engagement on the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme register, and will the Prime Minister immediately write to his close personal friend, and former flatmate, seeking his immediate compliance with the register? The SPEAKER 53517 The Leader of the House? Mr Burke DYW The question has been framed in a way that is not with respect to what the Prime Minister is officially connected with, which has then led to imputation after imputation in the way that that question has been framed. The SPEAKER 53517 I raised this issue yesterday, of making sure that any question fits in with the direct responsibility. Simply because the person is an Australian citizen doesn't mean the question fits that bill. I am going to ask the member for Herbert to rephrase the question. The Manager of Opposition Business on the point of order? Mr Hawke HWO The question is in order because the Prime Minister was asked if he would write to his own government about his awareness of whether— Mr Hawke HWO You, as prime minister, can write to your agencies. You can write a letter. The SPEAKER 53517 That wasn't the question. Mr Hawke HWO That was the question. The SPEAKER 53517 The question was: will he instruct the individual to write to the Prime Minister—not the Prime Minister to write to himself. Mr Hawke HWO The Prime Minister is aware of Dan Andrews. He's aware of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme register, and he can write and ask for him to comply with the requirements of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme register. It's a serious issue, and the reason the Leader of the House wasn't confident in his point was that he didn't know what he was being asked to do by the Prime Minister—to cut off this question. That was what happened. So, he should answer this. The SPEAKER 53517 We're going to get the question right. We'll find a way. The member for Herbert has indicated that he is happy to rephrase the question, just to make sure that it's within the Prime Minister's responsibility. There's a way to loop it in that's quite simple to do. Mention the Prime Minister's responsibilities in that matter. Mr THOMPSON 281826 My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer him to former premier Daniel Andrews's significant and ongoing engagement with the Chinese Communist Party. Is the Prime Minister aware that Daniel Andrews has not disclosed his engagement on the Australian government's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme register, and will be Prime Minister immediately write to former premier Andrews to comply with the register? 14:49 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler Everyone should comply with the law; it's as simple as that. Everyone should comply with the law; it's as simple as that. That's my job. This is a rather bizarre line of questioning that they're going down. Everyone should comply with the law, whether it's someone who is part of selling a port and then goes on the board of that port or anyone else. Cost of Living 59 14:50 Ms TEMPLEMAN 181810 Macquarie My question is to the Minister for Social Services. How is the Albanese Labor government helping to ease cost-of-living pressures for Australians, including social security payment recipients? 14:50 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney Thanks so much, Member for Macquarie. Of course, we're a Labor government—we want people who can work to work. It's good for them and it's good for the economy. But, when people can't work or when they're retired, we need a social security system that supports them to live with dignity. That's why I'm so pleased that, on 20 September, more than five million social security recipients will see a boost in their bank accounts—up to almost $30 a fortnight for single age pensioners. That'll help with everyday costs like groceries and health care, and it includes more than 21,000 age pensioners and job seekers in the electorate of Macquarie. The changes on 20 September mean the full age pension will go up almost $30 a fortnight. That means that a full age pensioner will be about $5,000 a year better off since Labor came to government. JobSeeker will go up by around $4,000 a year since we came to government. Commonwealth rent assistance has increased by around 50 per cent, so someone paying, say, 400 bucks a week in rent now gets about $1,800 a year more in rent assistance. And, of course, there's electricity bill support. People on the minimum wage are $9,000 a year better off. Changes to paid parental leave mean more time, more people receiving it and more money. In fact, a parent is about $12,000 better off now with paid parental leave than when we came to government—for each child. There are tax cuts for every taxpayer, averaging $2½ thousand. There have been 650,000 fee-free TAFE enrolments. We've cut student debt by around 20 per cent. That's about $5½ thousand in relief on average. And, of course, the Minister for Housing's $43 billion Homes for Australia plan includes five per cent deposits that have helped, up till now, about 180,000 first home buyers enter into the market, and she's already built around 5,000 extra social and affordable homes. Cheaper child care means around a million families are better off, cutting out-of-pocket costs for a typical family with a child in full-time care by about $7,000 a year. Cheaper medicines have saved around $1½ billion so far—and counting. And, of course, there's more bulk-billing, and 90 Medicare urgent care clinics are open already, with another 47 to come. Our government is absolutely focused on the cost of living and making sure we deliver on our commitments, meaning more Australians earn more, keep more of what they earn and receive more if they're on the age pension. Cybersafety: Artificial Intelligence 59 14:53 Ms CHANEY 300006 Curtin This is a question for the Attorney-General. Frontline police are being overwhelmed by the increasing scale and depravity of child sexual abuse material driven by AI tools. Next week is National Child Protection Week, and the theme is 'Shifting Conversation to Action'. The government has announced a crackdown on 'nudify' apps, which is a start. We need action now. Will the government implement that announcement quickly and go further to support my bill to criminalise downloading AI tools specifically designed to create this horrific material? 14:54 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway I thank the member for her question and the very constructive engagement we have had on this matter. Of course, it is absolutely of great concern not only to the government but to all of civil society that some of the applications we have seen and some of the technology that we have seen developed is so harmful not only to people generally in our society but to young people in particular. And, of course, we know that the member has presented a bill which will, of course, be given due consideration by the government. But I will make three key points. This is precisely the reason this government, in the last term, brought forward the Statutory Review of the Online Safety Act 2021 by a year. We have now had the release of that review's report brought forward by the Minister for Communications, in terms of the government's response. My second point is that, as has been made very clear by this government, not only are we considering those issues very closely but also we have announced that we will take steps in relation to these apps, which have no place. There is no person who can justify having technology that causes a person to be nudified or otherwise denigrated and that causes that to be disseminated and to cause the harm that it is causing. The third point that I would make is that, when we consider criminal sanctions, they of course require careful consideration and discussion with states and territories. I can confirm to the member that this has been openly discussed at the first meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General, which met only a couple of weeks ago, and I can assure the member, the House and all Australians that this is a matter of bipartisanship for Commonwealth and state and territory attorneys-general. We are determined to put in place the right policy settings that are fit for purpose and forward looking, when we think about the danger of some of these technologies and the importance of ensuring that we have appropriate guardrails. That is why, in the previous term of this government, we announced significant measures that go towards the protection of young people, including the age restrictions on social media and including, as has only recently been announced, our decision to bring forward appropriate amendments to deal in the criminal context with some of these apps. So I look forward, and the government looks forward, to working with the honourable member and all like-minded members of parliament to make sure that we have these protections in place. Pensions and Benefits 60 14:57 Ms STANLEY 265990 Werriwa My question is to the Attorney-General. What has been the outcome of the robodebt class action, and what circumstances led to this? 14:57 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway I thank the honourable member for her question. Today the Albanese government reached an historic agreement to settle Knox v The Commonwealth, an appeal from the original robodebt class action settlement in 2020. Today's settlement demonstrates this government's commitment to addressing the harms caused to so many Australians by the former Liberal government through their disastrous and illegal robodebt scheme. When the unfairness, the illegality and the cruelty of robodebt became apparent, the approach of those opposite was to double down, to go on the attack against those who complained and to maintain the falsehood that in fact the system had not changed at all. But, when this government came to office, we established a royal commission which heard tragic stories of people being hounded by their own government to repay debts they did not even owe. None of us should forget former minister Alan Tudge saying to vulnerable Australians, 'We'll find you, we'll track you down, you will have to repay those debts, and you may end up in prison.' The royal commission's findings were damning. Commissioner Holmes found that robodebt was 'a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal' and 'a costly failure of public administration, in both human and economic terms'. The robodebt scheme has cost taxpayers over a billion dollars, and yet the most significant cost of robodebt cannot be measured in dollars and cents. It can only be measured in human terms, because the robodebt scheme destroyed lives. The Albanese government has been left to clean up this shameful mess left by those opposite, and that's exactly what we're doing. We have made significant progress in implementing the recommendations of the robodebt royal commission, and today the government has agreed to settle the Knox matter, which, subject to approval by the Federal Court, would see the Commonwealth pay $475 million in compensation. This would be the largest class action settlement in Australian history, the size of which reflects the harm caused to vulnerable Australians by the policies of the former government. This settlement would be additional to the compensation paid following the original robodebt class action settlement in late 2020. It allows the court to determine separate amounts for the applicants' reasonable legal costs and for the reasonable cost of administering the settlements scheme. While the objective of those opposite was to attack innocent Australians, this government's objective in settling this matter is clear: to get a fair outcome for the victims of robodebt. National Security 60 15:00 Mr HAWKE HWO Mitchell My question is also to the Attorney-General. I refer the Attorney-General to former premier Daniel Andrews's decision to attend the Chinese Communist Party's military parade alongside dictators Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Masoud Pezeshkian and Alexander Lukashenko. Is the Attorney-General aware of whether former premier Andrews has complied with the requirements of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, and can she report back to the House on the status of former premier Andrews's compliance with the scheme? 15:00 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway The answer is exactly as the Prime Minister said. Every person is required to comply with the law as it stands, including FITS. Renewable Energy 61 15:01 Mr BURNELL 300129 Spence My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How can households and communities benefit from more renewable energy and storage? What obstacles stand in the way of these benefits? 15:01 Mr BOWEN DZS McMahon I thank my honourable friend for the question. I'm happy to report to him and to the House that, as of today, 47,342 Australian households have installed a battery. I'm happy to tell the member for Spence that his outer suburban electorate in Adelaide has the fifth-highest take-up in all of Australia. Congratulations to the people of Spence. Indeed, it is a suburban and regional story. Take New South Wales, for example. The top electorates for take-up of cheaper home batteries are Gilmore, and Page, and Richmond, and Riverina, and Macquarie. The top five electorates in New South Wales are all rural or regional. Indeed, rural and regional people know that they stand to benefit from this transition, as households and as communities. The honourable member asks me what the obstacles are. One of the obstacles are people who used to support the transition who now engage in division and political pointscoring, who engage in hypocrisy. We heard earlier from the Prime Minister about the member for Mallee, who's been protesting against projects and transmission lines that she once lauded and celebrated when she was in office. But, to be fair for the member for Mallee, she is in reasonable company. We could start at the top, with the leader of the National Party, who's also been railing against renewables. You couldn't miss the leader of the National Party, who said of Maranoa: We actually want to become the renewable energy electorate. Western Downs shire is screaming at me to become the renewable energy shire of the country with solar and wind. Or perhaps I should have started with the putative leader of the National Party, the member for New England—my personal favourite—who couldn't resist claiming credit for renewable energy. He said in 2020: We've made massive investments in the New England into renewable energy, in fact we're one of the biggest renewable energy hubs in Australia. …   …   … I made sure it happened. Then, of course, we can't forget the current Leader of the Opposition, who said: 'My strong belief is that rural and regional Australia has lots to benefit from in the move to net zero, and I certainly hear that from my farmers and from my rural communities. So I'm excited for my rural communities and for the country as a whole for that future. I think that net zero by 2050 aim is perfect.' So says the Leader of the Opposition. The Australian people know when a government's getting on with a job, and they know when an opposition is engaged in hypocrisy. If coalition hypocrisy created energy, we would have gigawatts to spare. Energy 61 15:04 Ms LE 295676 Fowler My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, your government promised Australians that energy bills would go down. Yet, in my electorate, Reni's Bar and Grill has seen its quarterly gas bills jump from $7,000 two years ago, to $9,000 last year, and now to almost $12,000—not even counting electricity or insurance. Prime Minister, isn't it true that your government's approach to net zero is leaving almost zero dollars in the pockets of small businesses and families? And how exactly will the household battery rebate help them? 15:05 Mr BOWEN DZS McMahon I very much appreciate the question from the member for Fowler, and I appreciate the Prime Minister allowing me to answer it, because the member for Fowler has previously said that the Cheaper Home Batteries Program is of little use in her electorate. In fact, the take-up in Fowler is more than double that of the electorate of Sydney when it comes to cheap home batteries, because people in the outer suburbs understand that cheaper home batteries are one way they can reduce their bills permanently. Fowler, of course, has also been a beneficiary of this government's policies: 65,000 taxpayers have received an average tax cut of $2,160; 58,750 households have received energy bill relief; 23,000 people have had student debt relief through our HECS reductions; and there have been $5,525,000 in savings across PBS net threshold reductions, thanks to the Minister for Health and Ageing's policies. These are real policies that support the people of Fowler, because this government knows that cost-of-living relief targeted at people who have been doing it tough in Fowler is necessary. The member for Fowler raises Reni's Bar and Grill in the City of Fairfield, a business I know very well. I know the owner very well. I know that the owner sits on Fairfield Council with the member for Fowler. Reni's a good fella, and I'm sure he is concerned. The member for Fowler is very good at giving advice to other people about what they should do about the cost of living. She does that very regularly in the pages of newspapers and here—saying that other people should do more. The fact of the matter is, we all have responsibility when it comes to the cost of living, including councils. Some of us served on local government and, when we came here, decided to be full-time federal members of parliament. Other people have made other choices. The member for Fowler not so long ago wrote to the New South Wales government— Opposition members interjecting— Mr BOWEN DZS wrote to the New South Wales government—I'm still going to say it! The SPEAKER 53517 Order! When the House comes to order we shall hear from the member for Fowler. Ms Le 295676 I have a point of order on relevance and, I think, professionalism as well. This was a question to the Prime Minister and, as the Minister for Climate Change and Energy knows, Reni's Bar and Grill is actually struggling to keep its business alive. Please address the question. The SPEAKER 53517 The Leader of the House. Mr Burke DYW Speaker, there was plenty of commentary in the question, which therefore opens up the relevance in the answer. The SPEAKER 53517 Yes, and the minister has mentioned the business directly. He mentioned the home batteries scheme. He's mentioned the numbers in the member's electorate directly. So, if you've raised these issues, the minister is going to be directly relevant to all of the things that are mentioned in the question. We've got to make sure his answer is directly relevant, and he's been so far in actually addressing the elements that you've mentioned. I want to make sure— An honourable member interjecting— The SPEAKER 53517 Just let me finish this point of order. He'll be able to read comments or quotes, but, whatever he does, he must be directly relevant to the subject he was asked about. Does the member for Curtin still seek to make a point of order? I'd like to hear from her. Ms Chaney 300006 I'm seeking a ruling on whether the member for New England is breaching standing order 90 with the things that he was saying, which I don't want to repeat in front of the children upstairs here. The SPEAKER 53517 I couldn't hear because there was a lot of noise. But if the member for New England has made an unparliamentary remark or, as the standing order says, reflected on a member, I'm just going to remind the member for Curtin that you're entitled to raise that point. If the member for New England is reflecting on members, I'm going to ask him to cease and desist that. Perhaps to assist the House he'll remain silent for the remainder of this answer, and, if he persists, he won't be here. I warn him under the standing orders. I'm going to ask the minister to return to the question and make his comments or whatever he's doing directly relevant to the member for Fowler. Mr BOWEN DZS The member asked about cost of living in Fairfield City, which we both represent. I am reminded that the member for Fowler recently wrote to the New South Wales government, complaining about the entry fees for Prairiewood pool, for swimming lessons. The New South Wales government wrote back to her pointing out that those entry fees are set by Fairfield City Council, of which the honourable member is a councillor. We will continue to act on cost of living full-time with our full energy, not part-time. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 53517 Order! There was far too much noise in that question and answer. I'm going to ask everyone to show a bit more restraint for the remainder of question time. It's been a big two weeks, but we've just got to make sure that everyone is showing respect, also in the language that's used, including the minister's answers and the interjections. Medicare 62 15:11 Mr NG 316052 Menzies My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How is the Albanese Labor government strengthening Medicare? Why is it important to listen to a range of voices in shaping health policy after a decade of cuts and neglect? 15:11 Mr BUTLER HWK Hindmarsh Thanks to the member for Menzies, who is already such a strong advocate of our push to increase rates of bulk-billing not just in his part of Melbourne but right across Australia. Our first investments are already turning around bulk-billing for concession card holders and kids. That rate now sits above 92 per cent, with almost seven million additional free visits to the GP every year as a result of our investment to triple the bulk-billing incentive for those Australians back in 2023. But bulk-billing is still too low for Australians who don't have a concession card. That's why we're going to roll out bulk-billing incentives for those Australians for the first time from 1 November this year. Bulk-billing, as we know, was in freefall when we came to government, and it's no mystery why. After the Abbott government failed to get their GP tax through the Senate, of course they decided instead to freeze the Medicare rebate—and the backlash rightly was immense, absolutely immense. The health minister at the time, Mr Dutton, was shelved as health minister after barely two years in the job and replaced by the Leader of the Opposition. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition thought of trying to find a way out of the utter mess left by that disastrous Dutton horror budget or, to paraphrase that famous speech she gave to the LNP a couple of weeks ago, perhaps instead she thought of Peter often as she walked the corridors of the parliament as the new health minister. The SPEAKER 53517 The member for Herbert is warned. Mr BUTLER HWK She wondered what, would Peter say? What would Peter do? What examples can I draw from his time as the health minister? Well, it turns out that's exactly what she did, because, far from correcting course from that disastrous horror budget, the Leader of the Opposition as health minister instead doubled down on the Dutton agenda. She doubled down on the hospital cuts to our hardworking public hospital doctors, nurses and allied health professionals. She marked herself out as the only health minister in memory never to increase the Medicare rebate—not once. Even Peter Dutton managed to increase it once. She grabbed that Medicare rebate freeze and she made her own. In the 2016 budget, the Leader of the Opposition extended that Medicare rebate freeze right out to the rest of the decade. By contrast, we're strengthening Medicare. We're rolling out more bulk-billing, more urgent care clinics, more doctors and nurses, and cheaper medicines—and, in the meantime, fixing up the mess left by the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Albanese R36 Having had questions from this side about cost of living, wages, economic growth, AUKUS, social cohesion, robodebt, social security and Medicare, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper. And I'd suggest to those opposite that they go touch grass during the break and get in touch with what Australians are concerned about. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 53517 Order! Order! We're just going to make sure all the rules are—the member for Barker. Just to assist the House, we'll always follow the rules, and perhaps things will go a lot more smoothly. DOCUMENTS 63 DOCUMENTS Inspector-General of Aged Care, Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, Commonwealth Ombudsman, Presentation 63 15:15 Mr BURKE DYW Watson I thank the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police for staying the whole way through question time. That's going above and beyond. These documents are tabled in accordance with the list circulated to the honourable members earlier today. Full details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings. The SPEAKER 53517 Order! The Leader of the Nationals is lucky that I know it's his birthday today. MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE 63 MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE Albanese Government 63 15:15 The SPEAKER 53517 I have received a letter from the honourable member for Gippsland proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The government's failure to govern for all Australians. I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places. More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places— 15:16 Mr CHESTER IPZ Gippsland As the Prime Minister scurries out of the House after another display of hubris and arrogance, I want to pass on to the House a little-known fact. It's a little-known fact that it takes this prime minister twice as long to get to Parliament House from the Lodge than any other prime minister—twice as long as any other prime minister in history. Apparently, it drives his security detail crazy, and you might ask yourself, 'Why would it take the Prime Minister so long to get from the Lodge to Parliament House?' Well, it's because he forces his Comcar drivers to turn left at every intersection. It's a lifetime habit. Every time this prime minister, the member for Grayndler, has to make any decision, he just goes further and further to the left. He'll be in all sorts of trouble when he leaves parliament, doesn't have a Comcar anymore and has to drive his own car, because he'll never give way to the right. All the dad jokes aside, the career of the most left-wing prime minister in Australian history is summed up in just one quote, and that quote is: 'I like fighting tories; that's what I do.' This prime minister is like the Great Dividing Range of Australian politics. The Prime Minister has become the great divider. He has no interest whatsoever in building a consensus and views every issue through the lens of political opportunism. 'I like fighting tories; that's what I do'—that's the boast of our prime minister. It explains everything about his divisive approach to his parliamentary career and his failure, his complete failure, to govern for all Australians. There are numerous examples of the Prime Minister as the great divider. As a product of the Labor Left, his career before politics was working for Labor MPs and working for Labor Party officials. He never misses an opportunity to divide and to conquer for political advantage, because, 'I like fighting tories; that's what I do.' This prime minister divided Australians with the Voice. He's divided Australians with his decision to recognise Palestine. He has divided Australians by offending Israel and our most important strategic ally in the United States. He is dividing Australians with his 100 per cent renewables rollout, which is tearing families and communities apart in regional areas. The Prime Minister has widened the city-country divide by cutting regional programs. And he's even created more division in this place by cutting resources for the crossbench and cutting resources for the opposition, because he hates being called out. This prime minister hates being held to account. That's why we have a part-time parliament this year. We have a part-time parliament, sitting for just eight weeks after the election, because this great divider, this prime minister, doesn't want to be held to account. And the list just goes on and on. The Prime Minister divides Australians at every opportunity, between Labor and non-Labor voters. Regional Australians have been punished the most as the great divider has cut programs. Is it any wonder he was chased out of Ballarat by angry farmers on tractors? The Prime Minister says he won't BS people, but I wonder, did he tell the people of Ballarat about all the programs he'd cut in his first term as a prime minister? The Building Better Regions program is gone. Roads of Strategic Importance—it's gone. Not only is the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program gone but members opposite turned up to cut the ribbons and unveil the plaques for the projects they didn't fund. Regional Australians didn't vote for this Prime Minister, because he cuts the programs they need. It gets fractionally worse, if you can believe it. In cutting all the coalition-era programs, the Prime Minister decided he'd have his own program, called the Growing Regions Program. It sounds good, but he cut that as well. He cut his own program. Dividing Australians into those who vote for Labor and those who don't is the modus operandi of the great divider. It's shameless, it's disgraceful and it explains why Labor is loathed throughout most of regional Australia. Yesterday we saw a new low in this House, because the great divider, our Prime Minister, was at it again during question time. He sought to draw some parallels between the farmers in tractors in Ballarat and Neo-Nazis intimidating the Victorian premier. He tried to link the farmers in Ballarat with Neo-Nazis in Melbourne, and created this false parallel—it was a disgraceful slur. It was only when members on this side of the chamber—including the Leader of the Nationals—called him out that the Prime Minister backed away from that disgraceful slur. The Prime Minister is actually trying to link those two activities. That is his basic instinct: 'I like fighting Tories, that's what I do.' He instinctively tries to divide us, and he has no interest in governing for all Australians. Even after the election, the Prime Minister has continued to stoke division in this place. As the great divider, he has cut the staffing levels for the crossbench and the coalition. Now he's planning to cut speaking opportunities when members on this side of the chamber can raise matters of public importance. There was a motion on the Notice Paper this week that would force the Speaker to allocate three MPIs every fortnight to the government benches. He actually thinks he can have a one-party state in the parliament of Australia. He thinks he can have three MPIs every fortnight, effectively undermining the independence of the Speaker and snubbing years of parliamentary practice in this place. Nothing is beneath the great divider when it comes to pitting those who voted Labor against those who don't vote for Labor. He proudly boasts that he likes fighting Tories. He's going to take away opportunities for members on this sides of the chamber to raise matters of public importance in our own communities. This great divider is allergic to transparency. He's allergic to accountability. It's why we have had this part-time parliament throughout 2025. It's why he thinks he can change the rules of the MPI. The Prime Minister has no respect for the 65 per cent of Australians who didn't give Labor their primary vote at the last election, and instead voted for the coalition, minor party candidates or Independents. He has no interest whatsoever in governing for all Australians. At the outset I mentioned one of the great divisions created by this Prime Minister during his first term—the Voice. This was an ill-conceived and ill-informed waste of taxpayers' money, a self-indulgent vanity project that was all about the Prime Minister's legacy. On that side of the House, in the Labor Party, they like to mythologise about their former leaders. The Prime Minister just wanted his big moment. Gough Whitlam had Lingiari, Keating had the Redfern speech, Kevin Rudd had the apology—the Prime Minister just wanted his big moment. He didn't care at all that he was dividing Australians in the process. If the Prime Minister were actually interested in governing for all Australians, if he were actually interested in practical outcomes for Indigenous people, he would have channelled all that money and all his energies into practical projects that make a difference to the Closing the Gap targets around health, education and employment outcomes. Instead, the Prime Minister, the great divider, wasted more than $400 million of taxpayers' money on a referendum which just divided Australians even more. Sadly, his politics of division was there for all to see. The Prime Minister was at it again, dividing Australians and forcing Australians to make choices that they didn't want to make, all because he wanted his big moment and wanted the mythology of Gough Whitlam, Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd—the great divider, dividing Australians for base political opportunities. It concerns me. Australia has never been more divided in my lifetime than it is today. Social cohesion is being undermined every day, and this prime minister is still obsessed with his university-days passion of fighting tories. The lack of leadership by this weak prime minister on key issues has contributed to the violent protests that we've seen across our country. His lack of leadership has undermined social cohesion, and it is causing enormous unrest right across our nation. Our country is heading in the wrong direction under a leader who has absolutely no interest in governing for all Australians. The great divider just wants to keep fighting tories. 15:26 Dr MULINO 132880 Fraser I must say that speech was very high on political rhetoric, personal attacks and dad jokes. I want to put on the record that I will not criticise dad jokes, because, if I do so, my daughter, when she reads this Hansard down the track—which probably won't happen—will roll her eyes at me and my hypocrisy. I'm all for dad jokes. I'm all for a bit of political rhetoric, but, at some point in a 10-minute contribution, you've got to back it up with a little bit of substance. I must say this is a very strange topic for those opposite to bring. Saying that they want to bring a topic about governing for all Australians to this place, after their suite of policies at the last election, is quite a remarkable case of self-delusion. Let's look at what really matters to people in their lives, and let's look at which side of this chamber is governing for all Australians. Let's look at people's wages. Let's look at what really underpins people's quality of life. In the last term and this term—and, indeed, in the lead-up to coming to government—we backed in the widest possible set of strong institutional arrangements, whether it be supporting unions in their negotiating or supporting minimum wage cases. Right across the board, we've supported people having higher take-home pay. Every time we've done so, those opposite have pushed back. When we pushed for higher minimum wages, those opposite said that the sky would fall in. Those opposite said that it would lead to job losses. The exact opposite happened. What happened was that people's wages went up. What we're seeing right now is that people's real wages, right across the board, are increasing. This is governing for all Australians, providing them with the most foundational of supports for their standard of living. What's the other side of that? It's not just what you earn; it's what you take home, and this is perhaps where the contrast is just as great, if not greater. We went to the last election with a policy of tax cuts for all Australians, and it wasn't just one set of tax cuts. We've now gone to the Australian people with three sets of tax cuts which would benefit all taxpayers. In contrast, those opposite went to the last election with a policy of increasing taxes on all taxpayers. They come into this place with a motion asking who it is that's governing for all Australians. Where we've gone to successive budgets reducing taxes for all Australians, they've gone to the last election with a policy of explicitly rolling back tax cuts—of coming into this place after the election and increasing taxes on all taxpayers—and they want to come into this place with this MPI. It is truly ridiculous. Those opposite, with their rhetoric, are attacking us for being too left-wing. It's remarkable when you look at the actual performance over the last decade when it comes to economic management. Those opposite claimed there were surpluses just over the horizon—like over-the-horizon radar. They were almost here. 'Don't worry; they're almost here.' In fact, some of them were so close there were mugs printed. It wasn't just over the horizon; it was within grasp. There were dots on the radar. They never arrived. We had successive surpluses—successive surpluses delivered. So those opposite come in here with the rhetoric. The rhetoric's fine—this place is all about rhetoric—but the rhetoric from that side is not backed up at all by statistics. They claim the mantle of economic management, but they did not deliver in a shocking decade of fiscal mismanagement, of real wages going backwards and of the worst productivity growth in half a century. We're the party which has delivered tax cuts; they're the party which tried to unwind them. Another powerful example of where we are governing for all Australians and they are trying to unwind it is universal health care. We have been backing up Medicare for decades. In so many instances over many elections, those opposite come in here and try to undermine Medicare. We went to the last election with a policy supporting higher rates of bulk-billing. Bulk-billing is something we back in. Bulk-billing is so critical for universal access, because it's the best way of ensuring that everybody gets access to the core services they need. We went to the last election with a policy of more urgent care clinics, which I've seen in my own electorate, delivering critical services for people—people who are accessing them outside business hours and who can thereby avoid going to emergency departments. Those opposite, in the last election, were led by a person who had been a health minister, and yet, after three years of having the opportunity to deliver a health policy, when we delivered our health policy, the next day they said: 'Look, we'll do the same—we'll spend the same amount. Me too.' So, after three years of deep thought on health care, they added nothing, and that's exactly what was reflected throughout the campaign in so many policy areas. When it comes to health care and when it comes to service delivery right across our social safety net, we have been backers of Medicare, of the NDIS and of superannuation—and not just backers of them; we brought them in, and we have defended them against attacks from those opposite over decades. At the last election, the contrast when it comes to Medicare could not have been more stark. We backed in universality; we backed in governing for all. Those opposite had the most shallow and hollow of policies, which would have undermined Medicare. When it comes to housing, those opposite did so little for so long. We have invested billions upon billions in housing. We've invested in skills; we've invested in programs to help first-time buyers; we've invested in helping the upcoming generation to buy a home—to buy their first home. Those opposite spent almost all of the last term, in combination with the Greens, stopping our policies from coming through the parliament. They were blocking our policies and playing a negative game. We were governing for all in the last term, and we continue to, in the face of opposition from those opposite along with the Greens—a truly unholy alliance—and what we're seeing is that that policy is now paying off. Perhaps the worst example, though, where those opposite aren't governing for all—not just for current generations and not just the young now but also future generations—is climate change. We went to the last election having delivered so much in the first term when it came to climate change. We had delivered a legislated 2050 target. We had delivered a 2030 target—with those opposite, of course, opposing it and opposing any action. Those opposite had a decade of inaction, which put us in the worst possible position to achieve what we need to when it comes to climate change. When you think about not just the young people of today but future generations—about truly governing for all in an intergenerational sense—what are we seeing from those opposite? The most bizarre internal political charade, the most bizarre internal political infighting, and inward-looking approaches to policies after an election loss. That is the last thing that they or the country need. We've got senior members of those opposite putting private members' bills into this place, questioning the need to act on climate change. We've got a complete internal debate from those opposite on whether we need to do anything at all. It is truly bizarre. Let's have a debate about governing for all, because those opposite have had the most sectional, narrow minded, cynical approach to so many issues. That was reflected in how compelling their policies were at the last election! What we're seeing, unfortunately—both for them and the nation—is that they are doubling down on that, whether it be tax policy, whether it be housing policy, whether it be the social safety net or whether it be climate change. As I said, when it comes to climate change, they're just getting worse and worse, and it's going to be the future generations that suffer if some of the policies that they are putting forward in their internal party debates get back into the mainstream. Just about every one of our major OECD partners, just about every one of our trading partners, has moved well beyond debating whether or not climate change is happening. Many of those countries look at us and think it's bizarre that we are still debating this. Opposition members interjecting— Dr MULINO 132880 I take the interjections from those opposite—as if that's where we want to place ourselves! Those opposite want to put us— Dr MULINO 132880 That's an interesting frame, a really interesting frame. When it comes to all the things that matter to people the most—their living standards, their wages, their taxes, the social safety net and climate change—we are governing for all, and there's a sharp contrast with what's being offered by those opposite. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 I'd appreciate a lot less interjecting. So I'm going to give you the call and ask for quiet on this side, and I hope you'll respect the remainder of the debate. 15:36 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein The beauty of the morning is not just the rising of the sun but the opportunity of a new day. As I walk the streets of Goldstein, fresh after the night's rest, I meet Australians brimming with a sense of optimism—young families building their first home, retirees who gave their best years to this country, small-business owners taking a risk on their dream. What unites them all is a simple but profound desire: hope for the future—hope that tomorrow will be better than today and hope that their children will inherit a nation of not just wealth but wisdom, resilience and opportunity. But we all know hope doesn't sustain itself. I wish I could say that our current government are calling us to a common purpose or that they are encouraging us to lean into the future with optimism. But, around the kitchen tables of the nation, it feels like Australians have a better sense of the challenges for our nation than our current government does. They are asking hard questions: Can I afford to raise my family here? Will my business survive another storm? Do my children have a future in this country or must they seek it elsewhere? Hope must be grounded in reality, and the reality is that Australia faces challenges, from global uncertainty to rising costs of living to an economy in transition. Yet in every challenge lies opportunity and in every setback the chance for renewal. Hope for Australia isn't just naive optimism. It's the conviction that, when people are empowered, when the government serves rather than smothers and when enterprise is unleashed, we can transform adversity into achievement. Hope means a nation where small business is not burdened by red tape but lifted by opportunity. Hope means harnessing our resources and ingenuity to power the world not with fear of decline but with confidence in Australian innovation. Hope means that, no matter who you are or where you start, your children can dream bigger than you dared and achieve more. Our forebears understood that Australia's greatest asset is not coal or the abundance of sun, not even our beaches or bush, but our people—industrious, fair minded, determined, coupled with a sense of a fair go. The Liberal tradition has always believed in the dignity of the individual, in the community that supports them and in the responsibility that we owe each other. This government will end. There is hope. We can have an economy built on aspiration, where reward flows from effort and where every Australian can advance through their enterprise. We can have a society of unity, where diversity is celebrated not as a dividing line but as part of the great tapestry of our nation. We can have a resilient nation where we stand tall in the world, confident in our values, secure in our alliances and ready to shape our destiny. We cannot outsource this responsibility. It's the responsibility of every Australian and the duty of every parliamentarian in this chamber to lead with courage, to govern with humility and to restore the belief that the best days of our country are not behind us but ahead. Hope is not given; it is built. Together, we can build it—brick by brick, business by business, family by family. The story of Australia has never been written in despair; it has always been a story of hope, and so it shall remain. That is the great task of this parliament, but it is not what is being delivered by this government. What we have seen from the speeches we've heard during question time and the answers that have been given in this MPI today is a government that is simply uninterested in the focus of the issues and concerns of Australians right now. For the people in the suburbs all the way through to the rural and regional centres of this country, they've had a complete disregard for not just the urgency of the needs these people face but, more importantly, the need to take all of us forward together. Their job goes beyond just facing the immediate challenges but to inspiring us towards a better future, to give us a sense of hope about what we can achieve together to be able to realise a better future shared, because Australia can be a great nation. That is what it means to leave people behind, that is what it means when we have a country that does not appeal to our best selves and that is the challenge we face right now. This government will end, and there will be hope. 15:41 Ms PAYNE 144732 Canberra There's a lot of rhetoric coming from those opposite today about governing for all Australians, and I agree with the Assistant Treasurer that it's a very interesting topic for them to bring, given their record in government over nearly a decade compared to what we have achieved already in one term and just a couple of months of this term. There are obviously many issues in which we could contrast our record against theirs, where we are actually governing for all Australians and where they neglected Australians. I'm just going to pick one, and that's education because it's a really important one. Education is how you build the future. If you want to measure a government's priorities, we should start by asking: How we are governing for the youngest Australians? How are we investing in their education, their opportunities and their future? Nothing is more fundamental to fairness and nothing is more essential to national prosperity than ensuring that every child, no matter where they live and no matter their background, has access to a high-quality education. That's why this government has made huge investments in both schools and skills, investing in education at all levels so that all Australians, from the youngest through to older Australians pursuing new skills and training, have the best opportunities to take on the jobs of the future. In regard to schools, we are delivering the first ever national agreement that fully funds public schools to 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard. This is absolutely huge. This is a historic step. For too long, governments—specifically, the last coalition government—left public school students shortchanged, forcing teachers and principals to stretch resources while parents fundraised for the basics. Let's remind ourselves of the recent history in this space. In 2012, David Gonski released the report into Australia's school funding, recommending changes with the aim of reducing the impact of social disadvantage on educational outcomes. The key recommendation was introduction of the schooling resource standard, a base rate of funding per student which would determine the required funding needed for each school. When the coalition came to government a year later, they tore up that Gonski report. They directed funds to less needy schools and left public school students to endure substandard resourcing. That all changed with the change in government. We are ending that era of underfunding because we believe every child in every school deserves the same chance to succeed. I want to acknowledge the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and the incredible work he's done in this space. Our government has invested $16.5 billion in additional funding to fully fund all public schools. We've introduced paid prac for teaching students to help with the cost of placements. There are more teachers in the pipeline, with enrolments in teaching degrees up 11 per cent this year. I want to acknowledge too that in the ACT, the community that I represent, we were the only jurisdiction that was already at 100 per cent of the resource standard, and that is, in a big way, thanks to our ACT Labor government and Minister Yvette Berry. But this agreement that our government has delivered has actually further increased that funding for ACT schools. As a parent whose children attend public schools I know that that is much needed. It is really wonderful to see that every school around this country will now receive a 100 per cent of that resource standard and be able to invest in their future and give our teachers, who do such incredible and important work every day, the resources that they need to empower these young people to learn. There's a particular focus with the agreement on ensuring that teachers have the things they need to stop students falling behind before it is too late—things like the year 1 phonics test, which is critically important to ensure that students at that age are learning the things they need to continue that journey. So I'm so proud of this achievement of our government, this historic Better and Fairer Schools Agreement, which ensures that we back every student in this country—no matter where they live, no matter what their parents' income—and give them the opportunity for a great public education. 15:46 Mr BIRRELL 288713 Nicholls I say to the member for Canberra: all the best. I'm a member from regional Australia, as I think everyone knows by now. I want to talk, though, to the people of metropolitan Australia. Often, it is said, there is a divide, and there is. There are different experiences in the country compared to the city. But what happens in regional Australia and the policies that affect what people do in regional Australia affect people in metropolitan areas. If a government is not looking after the regions, then it's not governing for everyone. And it's not only affecting the regional people; it's affecting people in the cities as well. We all live in this great country together. Obviously, the thing we have in common, apart from the need to breathe and drink water, is the need to eat. Agriculture is critically important in this country. The people in places like my electorate, the food bowl of Australia, are incredibly proud of what they do, because they want to see people enjoying healthy, sustainably produced Australian produce. This government is making it harder for businesses to produce healthy, sustainable, Australian produced produce. Their changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the live export trade and the biosecurity tax that, thankfully, got scuppered in the Senate—all of these things, along with a raft of others including some renewable rollouts on agricultural land—make it harder for people to do that. I believe we will see an increase in food prices, because if you make it harder for Australian farmers to produce you see an increase in food prices. An increase in food prices is not good for people anywhere in Australia. If you damage food production, you're not governing for all Australians. The electricity grid transition is not going well. The Prime Minister promised all of these people a $275 reduction in their electricity bills based on some RepuTex modelling, which he's now running away from, at a rate that even the member for Canning couldn't catch him! Mr Hastie 260805 Andrew Leigh could. Mr BIRRELL 288713 Maybe. But $275 was promised, and it hasn't been delivered. You're not governing for people if you go and tell them something and then say, 'We've actually stuffed the policy up, and now we can't deliver it.' You're not governing for all Australians when you attack the historic dynamism of the Australian economy. By putting too much emphasis on Public Service jobs—and I completely respect what public servants do; we absolutely need them—that sector of the economy and the jobs market, then there's not enough emphasis and there's too much competition for the private sector, small businesses, to be able to do what they do. I think it's really important that governments appreciate the great responsibility that they've been given. Every one of the 150 of us in this place represents roughly 110,000 people. Some of those people vote for us; some of those people don't. We've got to represent them all. When we come into this place in question time, we ask questions and we represent the people in our electorates. People who do that deserve respectful, considered answers. They don't deserve attacks. They don't deserve theatrical flourishes. Today, the member for Mallee asked a question. It was a reasonable question about concerns that people in her electorate have. The member for Fowler asked a very reasonable question. It was a question based on the concern of a particular business in her electorate, but it's a concern that goes all across the people of her electorate and all of our electorates, which is gas prices. Those two women, who represent people in Australia and who have been elected to this place, deserve the respect of a reasonable answer. What I saw from where I was sitting was a pile on. It didn't look good, it was disrespectful, and it goes against the kinder, gentler parliament that the Prime Minister promised. He needs to be governing for all Australians— The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 The member for Moreton has the call. 15:51 Ms CAMPBELL 312823 Moreton As I have said in this place before, I'm incredibly proud to represent the most multicultural electorate, the most multicultural community, in all of Queensland. I myself have an ethnically diverse background. My family immigrated to this country from China in the late 1800s, my last name is Campbell—obviously of Scottish heritage—and my grandma on my dad's side was born and raised in Canada. What I have come to learn as an adult is that the diversity of my background is a strength and that the diversity that exists in the backgrounds of all of our communities continues to be a strength. It doesn't matter what the colour of your skin is. It doesn't matter what your faith is. It doesn't matter what your postcode is. It doesn't matter whether you are from the regions, it doesn't matter whether you are from rural Australia, and it doesn't matter whether you are from remote Australia. Every single everyday Australian plays a critical role in our society and plays a critical role in our economy. It doesn't matter who you are; we all do that. Labor stands up for every single one of those Australians. I want to take the opportunity to thank the member for Gippsland, because this is an incredibly important question. It certainly is, and it bears repeating because this question goes to the failure to govern for all Australians. I think it's an interesting question and, indeed, an ironic question, given that what we've learned about the coalition in the last few months is that they are completely incapable of governing themselves, let alone a country. It gives me the opportunity to talk about everyday Australians and to examine—not through their words but through their actions—what the opposition thinks about them. If you're a young person looking to get into your first home, the coalition does not want you to have a five per cent deposit. If you're an apprentice looking to start your trade, the coalition does not want you to be able to access free TAFE. If you're a manufacturing worker, the coalition does not want your job to be in this country. We know that the coalition has offshored again and again and again—the car manufacturing industry, the shipbuilding manufacturing industry, the train manufacturing industry—particularly those workers in regional Queensland. That is what the coalition's vision for manufacturing workers is. If you're an older Australian who relies on health care, the coalition does not want you to have better health care and cheaper medicines. If you are on a minimum wage, the coalition does not want you to have a pay increase. If you are a taxpayer, the coalition wants you to pay higher taxes. So, if you are any of those people—if you tick any of those boxes—what we know is that the coalition does not support you. But perhaps I've been a little too harsh, because I know that there are a number of groups that the coalition really does support. Are you a boss who enjoys a long lunch? Good news! The coalition will back you in. Are you not a fan of working on a laptop? Good news! The coalition doesn't want you to work from home. If you think climate change isn't real, it's good news, because they don't want net zero to be a policy of this government. All of those things demonstrate very clearly that this is an opposition and a coalition that doesn't care about everyday Australians. If you're a young person, if you're an apprentice, if you're a manufacturing worker, if you're an older Australian, if you're a person on a minimum wage, if you're a person who cares about the environment or if you are a taxpayer, this is a coalition that will not back you in. When it comes to this question, the member for Gippsland and the members opposite do not need an MPI. They do not need to go back to their offices and get out a pen and write out a question or a motion for this House to consider. What the coalition needs to do is take a long, hard, cold look in the mirror, because the only people who have failed to back in Australians at every turn are sitting right there. 15:56 Ms PENFOLD 248895 Lyne What about Taree? What has this government got against Taree, against the Lyne electorate and against regional Australia? As a new MP, I had hoped that the PM would live up to the comments he made on 3 May. He said: This is a time of profound opportunity for our nation. We have everything we need to seize this moment and make it our own. And we must do it together, all of us. Because for Australia to realise our full potential, for our nation to be its very best, every Australian must have the opportunity to be their best. To serve our Australian values—we must value every Australian and Labor will govern for every Australian. Well, let me tell you, this government, after just four months, is not governing for all Australians. Regional communities like mine are being left behind. I think the reception the Prime Minister received at the recent bush summit exemplifies the divide in this country and the feeling of being forgotten by this government. It's already clear that this government is playing favourites, and I've been around long enough to sniff a whiteboard in the air from that side. The Prime Minister's favouritism for his city-centric base and this government's neglect of the regions and regional Australia can be seen in my electorate in a myriad of ways. I know I've been in trouble this week in question time for being a bit too exuberant in my interjections. I do respect the fact that members should be heard in silence, but it's too much to expect me to sit silent while this government has gloated about policies that are hurting my electorate. During the election I called for an urgent care clinic in Taree. It's a policy and an initiative that will benefit my electorate. I'm here for outcomes, and that's why I support it. Bulk-billing rates in my electorate have fallen by 10 per cent in the last four years. It's only getting tougher to see a GP, and Manning base hospital gets slammed as a result. The question is: how many of the government's 137 urgent care clinics operate or will operate in my electorate? The answer is zero. Labor failed to match my election commitment and, despite writing to the minister and my persistent calls to the minister and the government in this place, I've been told no. There will be no urgent care clinic in Taree. There will be nothing to break the seismic service gap that exists between Coffs Harbour and Newcastle, which my electorate sits squarely in the middle of. This is not the government governing for all Australians. The government's response feels like partisanship on health, the last place where this should be played. Now, on energy, again, my electorate, like those of many of my colleagues on this side, feels the ire of the Albanese government. The Prime Minister and his minister for climate change and energy are recklessly driving Australians down a renewables-only path. Like I've said repeatedly this week, renewables are not reliable for base-load power, and they do not have a social licence. It's costing Australians today—and future generations—in their hip pocket and in their energy security. The Prime Minister expects my electorate to bear the brunt of this transition. His policy is riding roughshod over regional people. He expects my constituents, from Seal Rocks to Hawks Nest, to have their livelihoods, pristine waters and way of life jeopardised for the sake of his industrial wind turbines and his ideologically driven energy policy. He expects farmers across regional Australia to sit back as he installs thousands of kilometres worth of transmission lines through their prime, private agricultural land—land that our nation, and indeed the world, relies on for food and fibre security. He expects industry and businesses like Jamestrong—Taree's second-largest private sector employer, which produces over 100 million aluminium cans per year—and Tomago Aluminium, Australia's largest aluminium smelter, to pay exorbitant prices for electricity as the result of a rush to an intermittent, unreliable source of energy, placing them at a significant competitive disadvantage to their offshore competitors. This government says it governs for all Australians, but in Lyne we're not feeling it. Regional communities aren't asking for more; they're asking for a fair go. You can't call yourself a government if you don't govern for all Australians. (Time expired) Labor Government 70 16:01 Ms COMER 316551 Petrie It has been just four months since the Albanese government was elected for a second term, and we have hit the ground running in delivering for all Australians. Labor is united and focused on a commitment to build Australia's future not just for the privileged few but for all. Australians were in the back seat for almost a decade while the coalition fought over the steering wheel. Now Labor's driving, seatbelt on, fuel tank full. Where are we headed? To a future built for all of us, where support reaches every Australian in every city, every suburb, every town and every region. We're easing cost-of-living pressures, strengthening Medicare, protecting jobs and investing in a stronger, fairer nation. I want to highlight some of our recent achievements that are delivering for health care, workers and the economy. From 1 January all medicines on the PBS will be capped at $25. This will save millions of dollars for millions of Australians. For women, we are delivering more choice, lower costs and better access to health care. We're boosting the number of health practitioners qualified to provide birth-control implant services, particularly in regional, rural and remote locations, including Taree. For men, we're investing $32 million in initiatives that support men's mental health and wellbeing and break the stigma around seeking support. We believe that all you should have to take with you to seek medical support is your Medicare card, and we are taking decisive steps to make this a reality. We're building a healthcare system that works for every Australian. I challenge anyone on the other side to prove it and show they don't have a Medicare card. Australians know only Labor will keep Medicare strong, and we are working hard to prove them right every single day. We're also supporting Australian workers. As of 1 July, we delivered a 3.5 per cent pay rise for minimum and award-wage workers. We are finally seeing pay packets move in the right direction after almost a decade of wages falling behind under the coalition. From retail staff and hospitality workers to cleaners and carers—this boost means families can get ahead, pay bills and plan for the future. We're also strengthening penalty rates. Penalty rates are not a luxury; they are the difference between paying rent and falling behind. We legislated to protect penalty rates, supporting the retail and hospitality workers who keep our economy going. Labor is also supporting young people. Young Australians deserve opportunity, not a lifetime of debt. That's why we're cutting student debts by 20 per cent. This will make a world of difference for students and graduates right across the country, from regional TAFEs to city universities. Less debt means more opportunity to get ahead in life, go after your dream career and buy a home. Speaking of homeownership, every Australian deserves the security of owning a home. We're allowing first home buyers, especially young families and single parents, to enter the housing market with just a five per cent deposit, so they can pay off their own mortgage rather than continuing to pay off someone else's. Labor is also investing in multicultural communities, funding language services, supporting festivals and backing community centres that bring people together. We stand with every Australian who has built a life here and calls this country home. While Labor proudly stands with all Australians under our national flag and the flags of our First Nations peoples, the former opposition leader couldn't even bring himself to stand in front of them. That is a failure of leadership. That is a rejection of the very values of unity and belonging that our nation was built on, and that is something Australia firmly rejected on 3 May. Labor will never walk away from our flags, from our democracy or from the communities who have built this country brick by brick and generation by generation. I want to end on a lighter note and express my pride in how Labor is delivering for people like me—the beer drinkers of Australia. It may sound small, but for small pubs and breweries across the country, in cities and regional areas such as Taree, freezing beer tax has been a big win. It helps keep local businesses strong and keeps a cold beer at the end of the day—after a long day, actually—affordable. In just four months, the Albanese Labor government has done more to ease the cost of living, strengthen Medicare and invest in our future than the coalition did in nearly a decade. This is what delivering for all Australians looks like, and this is only the beginning. 16:06 Mr BOYCE 299498 Flynn I rise to support today's matter of public importance moved by the member for Gippsland regarding the Labor government's failure to govern for all Australians. Regional communities in my electorate of Flynn feel completely abandoned by the current Labor government. Since their re-election, the Labor government have utilised almost every opportunity to treat rural and regional Australia as a cash cow and as nothing more than an obstacle in the way of their high-spend and high-tax agenda. Let's first look at Labor's proposed new super tax. The Labor government is determined to push on and impose a 15 per cent tax increase on unrealised gains—paper profits—on superannuation balances worth more than $3 million. Under Labor's plan, earnings on self-funded superannuation balances above $3 million will be taxed at 30 per cent, up from the current 15 per cent, without indexation. This includes both realised and unrealised gains on small businesses, farms and shares held in self-managed retirement accounts. This superannuation tax carries enormous risk for farmers and young people in particular. In relation to agriculture, the Labor government doesn't care that, in Australia, many farmers own their farms through a self-managed super fund—$3 million doesn't buy you a lot of farm. With land values increasing, how can they possibly pay the proposed tax on an unrealised gain on that asset? Farms are businesses that face a lot of uncertainty and volatility in terms of weather, natural disasters, and land and global commodity prices. To tax unrealised gains at 30 per cent, when a farmer never knows what's in store for them in the next season, is just bound to hurt farmers' ability to plan for the next season. Labor's tax on unrealised capital gains means that Australians will be hit with a 30 per cent tax on the increase in book value on that asset, such as property, that hasn't even been sold. How is that possibly fair? Shamefully, taxing farmers in this way is unprecedented in the Australian tax system. For younger Australians, going forward, more and more young workers will ultimately be caught by the Labor tax grab. Critically, the proposed $3 million threshold isn't indexed to inflation, and who knows what inflation will be over the next 30 or 40 years? Right now, the electorate of Flynn is feeling the wrath of Labor's renewables-only approach, with over 90 proposed projects in the Flynn region I represent. This is tearing rural communities apart. Weekly, if not daily, my office and I are contacted by mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters who are at their wit's end. The terrible burden of fighting these solar, wind and battery projects, as well as associated transmission lines, is emotionally and financially destroying families. What does the Labor government say about these people? Let's hear directly from the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, Mr Tim Ayres. Last week, he said this in the Senate: We are building electricity generation hand over fist here, and the big obstacle to … transmission projects in the regions … is the silly billies wandering around, stoking fear, stoking resentment … You couldn't be any more out of touch than that. On 1 July, the Labor government's fuel efficiency standards commenced, and this new tax could add up to $17,000 to the cost of a new petrol or diesel fuelled car by 2029. Australian families and small businesses will now have to start paying Labor's tax every time they buy a new vehicle, and who is going to be worse off? It's rural and regional Australians. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, our nation does not need its own government penalising drivers of petrol and diesel or hybrid cars and utes with an additional tax. This will drive up the prices of new and second-hand cars and make life harder for families, again particularly in rural and regional Australia. Labor's tax is estimated to add up to $7,400 to the cost of a Ford Ranger in 2026 and up to $14,400 by 2029. A popular RAV4 hybrid family vehicle will incur almost $5,000 of additional cost by 2029. Under this Labor government, many Australians in rural and regional Australia are doing it tough. They're grappling with the cost-of-living crisis and a growing shortage of housing and have been bulldozed by overseas renewable developers that are profiting from Australian taxpayer dollars. To any ministers of the Labor government: I invite you to the Flynn electorate, where I can introduce you to real people that the Labor government is affecting with their crazy policies. 16:11 Mr HOLZBERGER 88411 Forde When I saw that I had an opportunity to address this MPI, I opened up the email and I couldn't believe my luck. I thought, 'You've got to be joking!' because, if the opposition reckoned that we're the ones not governing for all Australians, then they either haven't been watching what's going or have been watching their favourite television programs a bit too much again. But they certainly haven't been listening to people out in the regions, where I come from, and in the outer suburbs and suburbs, so maybe I could tell them what is going on. We've just opened our 90th Medicare urgent care clinic. That's 90 places where mums and dads and pensioners and battlers and everyone in between can walk in and see a doctor and walk out without paying a cent—bulk-billing, no drama. There's one in the northern Gold Coast in the suburb of Oxenford, and there's one in Logan at Browns Plains, which I hear is one of the busiest in the country, because it's our people that really need this sort of help the most. And there are more urgent care clinics on the way. Compare that to when the opposition were in government. They watched bulk-billing collapse. They starved Medicare. They abandoned Australians who were at most vulnerable. This government, though, stepped in. We tripled the bulk-billing rate for pensioners and for kids, and now we're extending it right across the board. That's governing for everyone. Health care is just one part of it. Let's talk about housing. I spoke about housing the other night in here, about how, back in postwar Australia—really, the foundation of the economic miracle that was postwar Australia was Labor and Liberal state and federal governments working together to build housing, create jobs and lay the foundation for this country's postwar miracle. They weren't mucking about with culture wars and cheap shots; they were rolling up their sleeves. In fact, I like to surprise people a bit when I say that one of my economic role models is actually Thomas Playford, the longest-serving premier in Australia and a Liberal. It's a bit of a surprise to some people I know. Playford understood something that the current opposition don't understand, which is that you build public housing not out of the goodness of your heart but to keep the cost of living down, to give workers a roof over their heads and to help business by keeping wages manageable. Housing is the backbone of productivity. It was inspiring to hear the housing minister, this week, talk about housing being the Labor project of our generation—from five per cent deposits to Help to Buy, where the government is going to share the equity to dramatically slash the cost of entry into the market; to supporting National Cabinet's ambitious but necessary plan to build 1.2 million homes, 100,000 of which will be earmarked for first home buyers; and to undertaking the biggest public housing program in a generation to build more homes, making it easy to buy a home and making it better for renters. It's the same story with energy. Back then, post war, governments built the energy networks. They made sure that power was cheap and reliable not just for households but for businesses as well, to help manufacturing and local industries. That's how manufacturing was built in Australia. Now we're investing in renewables, backing cheaper and cleaner power because it's good for the environment and it's good for business. Australians don't want yelling or finger pointing. They just want progress. They want a government that puts people first, and that's what we're doing. Whether it's free TAFE, the 20 per cent cut to HECS debts, cheaper child care, cheaper energy or backing in local manufacturing, we're not just governing for some; we are governing for all. Here's the bit that gets up the nose of Australians the most; it's the sheer negativity and the divisiveness. Every time we bring forward a policy, whether it's on health or whatever, those opposite just say no—no alternatives, no vision, just no. Well, guess what? You can't build a nation on no. I say this to the opposition: genuinely get involved, change tack, back in these policies and take a hint from the last election. The invitation is there. Let's work together, like we did in postwar Australia. If you're actually interested in governing and not just grandstanding, let's put Australians first, because all Australians want is results, and that's exactly what we're delivering—for pensioners; for parents; for apprentices; for the outback, where I come from originally; for the outer suburbs, where I'm privileged to live now; for the inner city; and for everywhere in between. Spare us the lectures. Take a good hard look in your rearview mirror at your own record. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 The time for this discussion has now concluded. Mr Tehan 210911 That's a relief! The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 Member for Wannon, it's getting late in the afternoon, but let's be nice. BILLS 73 BILLS Treasury Laws Amendment (Payments System Modernisation) Bill 2025 73

Treasury Laws Amendment (Payments System Modernisation) Bill 2025

Consideration of Senate Message 73 16:17 Dr MULINO 132880 Fraser I move: That the amendments be agreed to. Question agreed to. Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 1) Bill 2025, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2025 74

Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 1) Bill 2025

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2025

Returned from Senate 74 BUSINESS 74 BUSINESS Orders of the Day 74 16:18 Ms RYAN 249224 Lalor I declare that the following Federation Chamber orders of the day, government business, are returned to the House for further consideration: Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026. BILLS 74 BILLS Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 74

Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025

Second Reading 74 16:19 Mr BURNELL 300129 Spence For some time now, the world has been fundamentally underpinned by technology. For better or worse, an Australian now treats a mobile phone as an extension of themselves which now replaces even wallets, watches and televisions. The world our maths teacher told us about, where we'd never be able to have a calculator in our pocket, is simply not the reality.The average Australian today will, according to one estimate, spend close to 17 years of their life looking at a screen. That accounts for work, play, education, socialising—absolutely everything that a human does. That reliance reaches beyond how we engage with the world around us. It seeps into our actions and our emotions, leaving many of us to feel as though life itself is impossible without that technology. As a society, Australia, like all nations across the globe, carries that same reliance. Entire countries can be brought to a standstill without their technological systems and assets. When the internet slows or drops out altogether, it can cripple businesses, and it disconnects Australians from vital services and can block them from reaching loved ones, as we experienced in the nationwide Optus outage of November 2023. That single outage was estimated to have cost customers and the broader nation around $2 billion or more in lost economic activity. On an individual level, that one outage meant that 228 calls to triple 0 couldn't be connected. That means 228 emergencies could not be attended to—228 people in need, stranded. That outage lasted just 12 hours, and it affected just the one national network. So all that technology—the backbone of the Australian public at home, at work and even checking the footy scores and the engine that powers the Australian economy, supports our sovereign capacity and safeguards our nation's security—is reliant on the telecommunications sector to operate it. An Australian at work, making calls, sending emails—whatever it is—is now totally reliant on carriers like Telstra and Optus to complete their work. Beyond work, Australians, in their personal lives, are equally reliant on telcos to stay in touch with others, to send and pay their bills and to access essential services. So it's evident that Australia's telcos play a vital role in everyday life, shaping and supporting the Australian way of living. But with that level of influence on daily life, telcos must be held accountable by the Australians they serve. We've regrettably seen instances where the ACCC has alleged that carriers have acted improperly, where Australians who rely on a telco's services have instead been let down—for example, in being charged for services they didn't request, often without realising they were purchasing extra products. Worse still, in some instances, Australians targeted were said to have been financially vulnerable or living with mental disabilities. Consumers are being exploited by the service they depend on. This cannot be allowed to happen. That's exactly what the Albanese government is trying to address with this bill, because we are working to ensure that it does not happen again. The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025 achieves this in two ways. Firstly, it equips the government with greater authority via the Australian Communications and Media Authority to take swift action against telcos that breach their existing obligations. Secondly, it strengthens the penalty framework, ensuring appropriate consequences when a telco missteps while also encouraging companies to prevent such conduct from occurring in the first place. This bill is both reactive, providing a strong and meaningful mechanism to hold telcos accountable, and preventive, making sure providers understand their obligations, how to comply and the repercussions of failing to do so. This is exactly what a robust telecommunications sector requires in a modern Australia, and I'm proud to play a part in advancing this bill. The Labor government has already taken substantial steps to strengthen our communications sector and, importantly, to safeguard consumers. This is particularly evident in ACMA's financial hardship industry standard, introduced in March 2024 following direction from the Minister for Communications. This standard makes it mandatory for telcos to better support customers facing hardships to pay their phone and internet bills. This means telcos now have to prioritise keeping customers connected, as they always should, when their customers are struggling financially. It mandates that telcos provide targeted support to customers experiencing hardship, including payment plans, to ensure they remain connected. This is a standard that gives ACMA robust enforcement powers to ensure compliance. As well as ensuring Aussies are getting the fair go they deserve, this is another way the Labor government is taking pressure off families. It's particularly true in the north. The reality is that thousands of families in Spence have had that difficult conversation with a telco provider that they rely on, seeking an alternative way to pay their bills or trying to find a cheaper service. Labor is making policy with those conversations directly at mind. From 1 July 2025, the Albanese government introduced the domestic, family and sexual violence industry standard, ensuring that those seeking support via phone or online can do so safely, securely and reliably. Measures as part of this include minimum requirement for telco policies and staff training, prohibiting alleged perpetrators being connected to victims and tighter privacy rules. This standard also removes requirements for victims to tell their stories multiple times, removing the need to relive traumatic and stressful events. I return to cost-of-living measures. It requires telcos to recognise domestic and family violence as a possible cause of payment difficulties and financial hardship and to understand the serious impact disconnection can have on someone vulnerable. Consumers are being looked out for under an Albanese Labor government. Schedule 1 establishes a carriage service provider, or CSP, registration scheme. It is defined broadly under the Telecommunications Act 1997, but, simply put, it is an entity that uses carrier facilities to provide phone or internet services to the public. At present, there is no full list of CSPs operating in Australia, making it harder for ACMA to proactively educate providers about their obligations or to target compliance and enforcement actively or effectively. Introducing a CSP registration scheme will give the government a clearer picture of the market, allowing ACMA to educate providers, streamline compliance and strengthen overall accountability. Amendments to the Telecommunications Act 1997 will also empower ACMA to remove CSPs from the market if they pose an unacceptable risk or cause significant consumer harm, creating a strong deterrent against noncompliance and increasing trust in registered providers, including smaller or new CSPs. These powers will be a measure of last resort, with review processes and protections to maintain connectivity for consumers. With regard to schedule 2, at the moment, ACMA cannot take direct enforcement action for breaches of industry codes registered under part 6 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. No matter how serious the breach, compliance with these codes was initially voluntary. If a provider is found in breach, ACMA can issue a direction to comply or a formal warning but can only take stronger enforcement action if the provider continues to ignore that direction. This bill changes part 6 of the Telecommunications Act, making compliance with industry codes mandatory from the outset and removing the need for ACMA to first direct a provider to comply before taking enforcement action. Before this bill, it was as if telcos could do the wrong thing once and not get penalised if it occurred again. This bill fixes that. Telcos are powerful and, if that power is being misused, to protect consumers, it must stop the moment it is detected. That's exactly what this bill does. For schedule 3, although this may seem like an obvious thing to say, telcos are highly profitable organisations. We want to ensure that penalties for breaching industry codes and standards are proportionate to a telco's size and resources, which will provide a strong and effective deterrent. That's exactly what this bill does. It increases the maximum general civil penalty for such breaches from $250,000 to $9.9 million. These amendments will also modernise the penalty framework for industry codes, standards and service provider determinations, allowing penalties to be based on the benefit gained from the conduct or the provider's turnover and enabling fines well above $9.99 million. For example, if a telco were found to have done the wrong thing and gained $15 million from its conduct, this legislation allows for penalties to go higher in order to account for that profit—as it should. In the same way consumers are deterred from doing the wrong thing every day, via the law, telcos need adequate punishments should they do the wrong thing, in order to stop consumers from being taken for a ride. Schedule 4 complements the previous one by expanding the minister's power to increase any infringement notice penalty ACMA can issue for breaches of telecommunications rules. Debate interrupted. ADJOURNMENT 76 ADJOURNMENT Middle East 76 16:30 Dr RYAN 297660 Kooyong by leave—I table to the parliament and open letter from 4,030 Australian health professionals, calling on the government urgently to act on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 The member for Wannon, I'll explain later. The member for Kooyong would like to speak now. Climate Change 76 16:31 Dr RYAN 297660 Kooyong All of us in this place are representatives of our constituents, but we're also stewards of the future, our children, our economy and our environment. Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It's here now and it's costing us dearly. From the Black Summer bushfires to the devastating floods of Queensland and New South Wales, the bleaching of the coral reefs from the east to the west of the continent and the ongoing destructive algal bloom to our south, Australians are already bearing the brunt of extreme weather events which are intensifying in frequency and severity. The international panel on climate change has warned of the high risk of loss of ecosystems and biodiversity and of impacts on waterways, coastal systems and forests if we exceed 1.5 degrees warming. Our existing global climate targets are inadequate. The world has to step up and greatly reduce its emissions by 2035. The mounting evidence and the pleas form scientists, farmers, firefighters, young Australians and the business community all demand that the 2035 national targets for emissions reduction are strong enough to meet the scale of this challenge. Under the Paris Agreement, Australia is required this year to set a nationally determined contribution to the reduction of harmful greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. The science is unequivocal, the global momentum is undeniable and the moral imperative is urgent. Australia has to commit to strong credible and achievable emissions reduction targets for 2035. Strong emissions reduction targets are not a burden; they are an opportunity. They signal to investors that Australia is serious about clean energy, innovation and future-proofed industries. They create certainty for businesses; unlock new jobs in renewables, green hydrogen and sustainable manufacturing; and position us as a leader in the global transition. Let's be clear. The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of action. The Climate Change Authority reports that natural disasters have cost this country over $2 billion dollars in the first half of this year. That number is expected to increase to $8 billion a year by the end of this century. Insurance premiums are rising, homes are becoming uninsurable, agricultural yields are under threat and coastal communities face existential risks. Every year we delay, we compound these costs. That's why I'm calling on the Albanese government to set strong emissions reduction targets—targets which align with the science and with our international commitments, targets which aim for at least a 75 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035 and net zero well before 2050, and targets backed by robust policy frameworks, transparent reporting and accountability mechanisms. We are well supported in this endeavour by the more ambitious targets already set by the states and territories. We are supported by the millions of households who have embraced the energy transition by installing rooftop solar and batteries. Our ambition is achievable; we just need the vision. This is not a partisan issue; it's a national imperative. The decisions we make today will echo for generations. We can choose to lead, to innovate and protect what we cherish. We must set strong emissions reduction targets which reflect the urgency of the climate crisis and the promise of a better future. Let us act, not just for ourselves but for the next generation of Australians, who deserve clean air, a stable climate and a thriving economy. Bowel Cancer 76 16:34 Ms COFFEY 312323 Griffith This week, I was honoured to meet with representatives from the Never2Young campaign from Bowel Cancer Australia. Bowel cancer is not something many of us want to think about, especially when we are young and living relatively healthful, vibrant and active lives, yet it is the deadliest cancer for Australians aged 25 to 54. Each year, more than 1,700 Australians under 50 are diagnosed, and risk before 50 has more than doubled since 2000. Younger Australians are now two to three times more likely to develop bowel cancer than their parents' generation. Too often it is detected late, which means tougher treatment and greater impacts on health, wellbeing, fertility and everyday life. These statistics are real people—mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and colleagues, including in my electorate of Griffith. Kaz, from my community in Griffith, is one of them, and I was pleased to catch up with her this week as part of the Never2Young campaign. At just 36, she was diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer. With few symptoms, it was a routine blood test that revealed her illness. Kaz endured a gruelling nine-hour surgery and months of chemotherapy. Today, she is, thankfully, considered curative and on the path to recovery. Kaz told me without that blood test she may not be here today. Her bravery prompted me to book my own overdue colonoscopy appointment. I went doorknocking and campaigning last year, so I shamefully had put it off—eye exams, dental appointments and, yes, I'm sorry to say, my regular colon screening. But it was due to a catch-up with Kaz and hearing more about her experience as a friend and as a young person living in my community, that I knew this was one appointment I should not have delayed. My routine colonoscopy just a few weeks ago led to my diagnosis of serrated polyposis syndrome. At my follow-up appointment, I learnt that this condition significantly increases the lifetime risk of colorectal cancer, with estimates ranging from 15 to 35 per cent increase or higher, several times the general population risk. The great news is that consistent rigorous screening—for me, that will now continue annually forever—allows for the early detection and removal of polyps, which is crucial for preventing their progression to cancer. Amazingly, the likelihood of colon cancer developing when this screening is followed is less than one per cent. I want to thank Kaz not just for her advocacy and the work she is doing nationally to raise awareness about bowel cancer but for prompting me and enabling me to be diagnosed and receive phenomenal preventative treatment, which I am so thankful for. Too many still believe bowel cancer only affects the elderly. It does not. The truth is bowel cancer can be treated and it can be beaten if it's caught early, and Kaz's story is proof of that. Early detection saves lives. Ninety-nine per cent of cases can be treated successfully when detected in the earliest stage, but, unfortunately, fewer than 50 per cent of cases are detected early. Conversations about bowel cancer may feel uncomfortable, but they can be lifesaving. I certainly did not imagine standing in federal parliament talking about my colonoscopy. It was embarrassing enough when the wonderful orderly at the hospital recognised me in my gown and asked if I was his new federal member of parliament, to which I said yes. But these conversations are incredibly important for us as a nation. By breaking down stigma, talking openly about symptoms and encouraging people to see their doctors, we can change health outcomes for our communities. I thank all the advocates from Bowel Cancer Australia's Never2Young campaign, a group of young Australians with lived experience who work tirelessly to raise awareness. Their message is clear: no-one is too young for bowel cancer. I want to sincerely thank them for their work, their courage and their advocacy. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Parliamentary Friends of Bowel Cancer, co-chaired by the member for Adelaide, Steve Georganas, and the member for Nicholls, Sam Birrell, whose cross-party efforts keep this issue on the national agenda. Too often bowel cancer is seen as a distant or later concern in life, but Kaz's story and the story of so many young Australians show us otherwise. By raising awareness, supporting research, encouraging testing and speaking about our own experiences, backing campaigns like Never2Young, we can save lives. This is a message worth sharing, and it is something that I am deeply committed to continuing here in this place and in my local community of Griffith. Casey Electorate: Child Care 77 16:39 Mr VIOLI 300147 Casey In my community of Casey, childcare deserts and the cost of and access to child care is a significant issue for so many. I spoke in the last parliament many times about the importance of this issue and about how adding supply to child care is crucial. I want to thank, again, Belinda Young and the Mums of the Hills for their advocacy work and doing everything they can to ensure that mums and families in our community can access child care. One of the challenges is this supply—the deserts—but there's also the inflexibility of child care. If you work in the city, you need to travel for an hour-plus to get into the CBD. Unfortunately, as we know, one of the challenges with child care is that so many children get sick. This is a challenge that parents have to face—being stuck in the city, an hour-plus away—when their children get sick. I am passionate about making sure that every mum and every professional mum can be a great mum and have the flexibility and opportunities to work. That's why this week it was wonderful to meet with four parents and to hear from Amy, Jen and Cecilia and meet little George and hear their story and about their campaign wanting to drive more flexibility into the system. They're a volunteer led advocacy group established on 7 July 2025—this year—in reaction to the shocking allegations that we saw in my home state of Victoria and the offences there. We know that if you're with loved ones you are safer. I'm prepared to continue to work with them not just to make sure that our children are safe but to make sure that parents have flexibility, options and opportunities. My family lived it, and many families live it. It's heartbreaking when mums feel that they have to choose between being a mum and having a professional career. We, as parliamentarians, have to do everything we can to ensure that they're able to do both. I always say it is heartbreaking. It's hard for mums. When they're at work they feel guilty that they should be at home, and when they're at home they feel guilty that they're not providing financially for the family. We can't solve that challenge. What we can do is make it easy for them to do both. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with Amy, Jen and Cecilia and meeting little George again so we can provide positive options for all families and make sure families have choice to deliver the best they can in the circumstances that they see fit to their family. Housing 78 16:42 Mr GREGG 315154 Deakin One of the great honours of entering this parliament is the ability to engage in and work in a range of important and interesting policy areas with some incredible people in this chamber, in the community, in our local communities and, of course, in the business sector. But there's one policy area which I am particularly keen to ensure that we get right in the next three years, and that is housing. For too long, housing has had a bit of an on-and-off-again relationship with the Commonwealth. But, finally, we have a government that has moved from being a negligent bystander to one of the most—in fact, the most—active and engaged governments we've seen in the post-war years. We've got a $43 billion plan to build more homes, make it easier to rent and make it easier for people to buy. Since the Labor government was elected, 180,000 Australians have bought their first home under the five per cent deposit scheme. More than a million households have benefited, with an almost 50 per cent increase in Commonwealth rental assistance. We are also seeing a turnaround in the number of houses being built, with over 500,000 homes built since this government was elected. We're seeing new starts in housing construction go up by about 17 per cent. More than 25,000 social and affordable homes are now in planning and construction, with over 50,000 social and affordable homes completed. We're going to implement Help to Buy, which is going to open up the housing option for more Australians as part of a shared-equity scheme, but every single first home buyer is also going to have access to their first home with a five per cent deposit, with far more realistic guidelines reflecting the market price of housing in the modern world. Importantly, we are cutting red tape and improving planning through the National Planning Reform Blueprint. There's a lot of regulation often brought out of goodwill, but we've come to a point where we do need to take a high-level look and make sure that we are doing housing in the most effective and efficient way we possibly can. It has become an issue of intergenerational equity, and it's also become one where the most vulnerable in our society can no longer be ignored. So it is great to be part of a government that is grasping the nettle and taking a really ambitious approach to getting on with the job of addressing this housing crisis. In my electorate of Deakin, so far 686 people have bought their first home with a five per cent deposit, and that's only going to increase substantially once these changes are made, because the price of housing in Deakin has gone up to levels that are far higher than they once were. We're funding 62 homes in Mitcham in my electorate through the first rounds of the Housing Australia Future Fund. We've supported the delivery of 80 more social and affordable houses in Ringwood through grants and low-cost funding, and we've got 13 new homes dedicated to women and children escaping family violence. This is life-changing stuff for those families. The sense of security that you can get from having a roof over your head, one that you don't have to worry about losing tomorrow, a safe place to call home, is one of the greatest gifts we can give these families. More than 540 construction trades have already received $5,000 supports, and we continue to support the training of more tradies in our area with the $10,000 incentive program. We expect to see many more. Mr Albanese was one of the most popular people I'd seen in Deakin at the Swinburne Croydon TAFE, and we've got some fantastic new tradies in the pipeline. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them run their local small businesses in our area. Housing is going to be one of the great legacies of this generation of politicians if we get it right. I'm really not here to have fights about housing. This topic is too important. And, frankly, I'm yet to meet someone in politics on any level that says that we've done housing right to date. We've got work to do. It is important work. We've got to focus on what works and what helps. The progress we've made so far is incredible. I can only hope that we treat this with the seriousness it deserves. We've got a generation of young people who deserve to have hope and optimism about the future that lies ahead, and one of the keys to achieving that goal is to make sure that their aspiration of having their own home is realistic and achievable in the communities that they've grown up in, in the communities where they've built their social networks, in the communities that they've called home their entire lives. If we want to make sure that generational equity becomes a reality, housing has to be on the top of the priority list. And you'll find that it has benefits economic, social and even psychosocial. The fact that you have that stability in your life can help address many of the stresses in people's lives at the moment. It's also a cost-of-living measure. If less of your pay packet is going into rent or a mortgage repayment, your financial stability improves substantially. So I hope that we can work together on this generational challenge. It's one that deserves the utmost serious treatment of this parliament and all levels of government. We all need to work together. We know that there are forces that have genuine interests that might not be a big building next door, but we owe this one to the kids. (Time expired) International Relations: Australia and China 79 16:47 Mr THOMPSON 281826 Herbert It wasn't that long ago that our Navy clearance divers had sonar used against them by the Chinese PLA. I remember that at that time, when we were speaking about it, we didn't hear the Prime Minister go out and condemn these actions. We didn't see the Minister for Defence condemn these actions. And it was quite disappointing for those involved. Not too long after that, we saw a Chinese fighter jet fire its flares at an Australian aircraft, putting the people inside in danger and their lives at risk. We didn't hear too much from the government about that. Even though we saw the Prime Minister meeting in China, there still wasn't much communication about condemning such actions. Now we see a former Labor premier go over to China for their military display when it is clear that the CCP have not acted in good faith or as a friend to our military in the past. We haven't heard or seen condemnation from ministers in this government, but now we see a former Labor premier travelling overseas to see this military superpower demonstration. I think the former Labor premier Daniel Andrews must declare whether he has received any income, directly or indirectly, from the Chinese Communist Party. And who paid for this trip to China? Was any consular assistance provided, and did the Prime Minister facilitate any of that? Is the Attorney-General aware of whether Daniel Andrews has complied with the requirements of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme? The Attorney-General should report back to the House on the status of Daniel Andrews's compliance. The former Labor premier Daniel Andrews is on a taxpayer pension for life and is now undermining our national interests. That's why he has an obligation to answer the questions on whether he's on the payroll. That's why the Prime Minister must answer questions about his mate and former roommate Daniel Andrews. At the summit of the dictators, Dan Andrews posed in the family photo with the leader of China, Xi Jinping; the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un; the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin; the President of Iran; and the leader of the hardline regime in Belarus. This is not a place where you would think the former leader of a state, or anyone, should be attending. This family photo that former premier Dan Andrews was in undermines our national security. It undermines us as a nation, but I think it also undermines the military, who are looking for leadership from those who have served in this place and in other state areas to stand up and say that these things are wrong, not sit alongside while the Soviet-style military parade was happening. China was showing off its long-range nuclear missiles, its hypersonic missiles, it's submarine-launched ballistic missiles—all of which are capable of reaching and threatening the Australian mainland. China's military parade also included new stealth attack drones, AI and lasers that are designed to wear down our defences. I do not believe that former Labor premier Daniel Andrews should have been there, neither does former Labor premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. It should be condemned. There are questions the Prime Minister must answer and questions the Attorney-General must answer. Over the next four weeks, I hope that they can put together a statement to condemn this action. Plumsted, Ms Jess, University of Newcastle, Pitt, Mr Neil 79 16:51 Ms CLAYDON 248181 Newcastle Jess Plumsted has made history as Newcastle's first permanent female ferry master at the helm of the very ferry she once caught to school every day from Stockton. Jess followed her passion for the water from an early age. Starting as a deck hand at just 18, she worked her way up through the industry, before returning home to captain the Stockton ferry. Jess is breaking barriers in an industry that has long been male dominated, proving that opportunities on the water aren't just for blokes. She's not only steering a ferry; she's steering change, inspiring young women to follow careers they may never have considered. To Jess, thank you for showing everyone what is possible. Newcastle is very proud of you. I'd also like to give a shout-out to the University of Newcastle for their success at the Australian Financial Review higher education awards. These prestigious awards recognise the very best in higher education across the nation. The University of Newcastle claimed two of the eight categories, standing tall among 43 universities from across Australia. The Wollotuka Institute received the equity and access award for a decades-long commitment to Indigenous education. From humble beginnings in the 1980s with just four staff, Wollotuka now proudly serves a student body where five per cent identify as First Nations students. Wollotuka is a home away from home for so many, and its success is testament to the university's deep commitment to equity and excellence in higher education. The emerging leadership award went to Professor Matt Dun, one of Australia's leading brain cancer researchers. Matt's story is both heartbreaking and inspiring. After losing his two-year-old daughter, Josephine, to the most aggressive form of brain cancer, Matt pivoted his research from leukaemia to paediatric brain cancer. He has since led ground-breaking clinical trials to give children and families hope where there was none. To everyone at the University of Newcastle, our community thanks you for your exceptional work. I'd like to finish on a sad note but pay tribute to a very dear friend and much-loved member of our community, Neal Pitt. Sadly, this week, Newcastle Labor and the community of Carrington lost a true believer. Neil's warmth, loyalty and profound love for his community in Carrington will never be forgotten. He was a character, a stalwart of the Labor Party and someone who always stood ready to help, no matter what. He supported me on every one of my election campaigns, and I was so very fortunate to spend time with Neil on Carrington booths at this last election—an opportunity for which I'm so grateful. His good humour, his generosity and his steadfast belief in community and the strength of community shone through in everything he did. Neil was deeply community minded. Every morning, he walked down to the local shops, stopping off to each household along the way, dropping off items that were needed, checking in to make sure people were alright, asking: 'Do you need a lift to the hospital? Have you got your medications?' That was Neil. He gave so much of himself, even assisting in the aged-care homes, offering a listening ear and making sure that nobody was left aside or alone. Neil's passing is a great loss to all who knew him. We will remember him for his kindness, his service and his unwavering commitment to his community and to the Labor movement. My deepest condolences go to Neil's family and friends. To the Carrington community, who I know will be in deep mourning, he will be greatly missed, but his legacy will never be forgotten. Vale Neil Pitt. Personal Explanation 80 16:56 Dr WEBSTER 281688 Mallee I really appreciate this opportunity to correct the record. Yesterday, in answering a question, the Prime Minister asserted that I had organised protests—one in Horsham and one in Ballarat. I did not organise any protest. I stood with my community, who did organise those protests. I made a statement yesterday that I had been misrepresented and that I did not organise the protests. The Prime Minister, today, continued his untruths in the House, despite that statement of misrepresentation. He said that I tell people to get out there and bring a noose to a public meeting. The Prime Minister's aggression today to three women in the opposition says more about his character. As for his agenda for a kinder, gentler parliament, it's far to be seen. Not only can the Prime Minister not answer questions that he's asked; he cannot tell the truth. House adjourned at 1 6 : 58 NOTICES 80 NOTICES Presentation 80

Thursday, 4 September 2025

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Boyce ) took the chair at 09:30.

CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS 82 CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS Middle East 82 09:30 Dr RYAN 297660 Kooyong ():  I rise this morning with an open letter to the government from 4,030 Australian healthcare professionals—doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, paramedics, allied health workers, psychologists, dentists and physiotherapists—who've asked me to call on the Albanese government for urgent action on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. I speak as much for them today as much a member of their community as a member of this parliament. The letter reads in part: As medical professionals dedicated to preserving life and health, we cannot remain silent in the face of the ongoing blockade that is preventing vital medical supplies, food and humanitarian assistance from reaching over two million people in desperate need. The health system in Gaza has collapsed. Hospitals are operating without adequate electricity, medication, surgical supplies, or personnel. Children are dying of malnutrition and dehydration. Families are surviving without clean water, shelter, or access to basic care. The UN estimates that more than 1000 healthcare workers have been killed in the Palestinian territories since 2023. All healthcare workers in Gaza have been displaced. We recognise the urgent efforts of humanitarian and medical organisations such as the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA), who are working tirelessly under dangerous conditions to provide life-saving assistance. Their ability to operate is severely hindered by restrictions on movement, access and supply chains. With my medical professional colleagues, I call on the Australian government to immediately increase funding and logistical support to trusted humanitarian and medical organisations like PANZMA; apply sustained diplomatic pressure to lift the blockade and allow unimpeded delivery of essential medical supplies, food, water, fuel and shelter materials; increase advocacy at the international level, including through the United Nations, for an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire and for the protection of medical workers and facilities in accordance with international humanitarian law; and facilitate emergency relief corridors and allow for the coordinated large-scale distribution of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Health professionals are ethically bound to speak out when human life is threatened on such a scale. Bombing hospitals, targeting medical facilities and murdering medical professionals are war crimes. So the medical professionals of Australia ask this government to act with the urgency and compassion that this crisis demands. We have to act now—lives are depending on it. Bendigo Electorate: Agriculture and Community Services 82 09:33 Ms CHESTERS 249710 Bendigo I'm pleased to stand here today to share with the House that the Albanese Labor government, in July, announced $76 million in funding for projects across the country that will help farmers adapt to climate-smart, sustainable agricultural practices. The announcement included $1.8 million for the local North Central Catchment Management Authority, based in my electorate of Bendigo. This $1.8 million will help our local farmers to adapt and introduce more creative ways to manage the impacts of climate change on their farms. My electorate is home to some of the most innovative and creative farmers in Australia. They have embraced the fact that they need to adapt their farming methods and find new ways to ensure that their farms are not only adapting to climate change but also restoring soil quality and, at the same time, continuing to be productive farms. Where we are at the moment with this particular grant process is that our catchment management authority has called for expressions of interest and will soon advise the successful farmers of whether they will be able to proceed with their projects. I'd also like to note in the time that I have remaining that we've recently had Aged Care Employee Day, which is an opportunity for all of us to visit an aged-care facility in our electorate and to thank the amazing workers that keep older residents safe as well as care for them in a compassionate way. I had the opportunity of visiting Bupa Bendigo. They had cake available—the residents there are big fans of cake. It was an opportunity to thank the many workers at their facility, some of whom have worked there for more than 25 years. It was also an opportunity to thank them for their hard work and to recognise their dedication. Every day older Australians are living longer, and we want to make sure that they are living better. Investing in aged care is one way in which we can do that. Since coming to government, we have invested in ensuring that every residential aged-care facility has a nurse 24/7. We've invested in lifting the wages of people working as patient-care assistants and others in the sector, ensuring that our older Australians have the compassion and care that they need. Finally, I'd like to give a shout-out to all our early childhood educators. Early Learning Matters Week ran from 18 to 24 August. It was an opportunity to recognise not only our amazing early childhood educators but the importance of early childhood education. We have over 70 early learning centres in the Bendigo electorate, and they are doing their bit to educate the next generation. Migration 83 09:36 Ms LE 295676 Fowler In my office, I often hear of heartbreaking stories of families torn apart by distance, desperate to be reunited before it's too late. As the member for Fowler, home to Australia's most multicultural and multifaith community, I've witnessed firsthand how family and partner migration visas are amongst the most emotionally charged problems our community faces. These aren't just statistics or case files; these are real people facing moments of crisis. We've heard of stories of families desperate to unite with their loved ones after years torn apart. Every case is a reminder that for many the pain of isolation is deep and personal. One such story is that of my constituent Kim. Kim is bravely fighting a terminal illness. Her doctors have told her family her time is heartbreakingly short, yet Kim's father and younger brother are still in Vietnam. They remain separated not by choice but by red tape and visa backlogs. Despite our office's best efforts, writing urgent support letters and making phone calls, there are strict limits to what can be achieved on compassion alone. Even when it's a matter of life and death, visa processing for urgent cases can stretch for weeks or even months, robbing families of their chance for a final reunion. Sadly Kim's story is not unique. Another family I represent lost their wife before a compassionate visa decision came through for a loved one overseas. The grief was compounded first by tragedy then by bureaucracy. These delays are not hypothetical; they are happening now with profound emotional and mental health consequences for our constituents. I do understand that the department must maintain proper process and respect the need for strong borders and thorough checks, but the unfortunate reality is that even compassionate or medical emergency provisions are plagued by wide variability in timelines. As of this year, family and carer visas can take up to eight years for processing, and partner visas frequently require 12 to 24 months—sometimes longer. When someone is dying, any delay is a cruelty that the system should not inflict. There has been progress. In 2025, the government began to streamline certain parent visas, introducing online lodgement and moving towards single-stage applications. This is a welcome step, but it's not enough for families caught in crisis. Compassionate and emergency visa cases need to be truly prioritised with dedicated staff and fast-tracked decision-making, with clear guidance for everyone involved. No family should be separated by bureaucracy in their darkest hour. Let's act swiftly and humanely. I speak as a mother, daughter, wife and refugee. I know how deeply the ache of separation can run. Leichhardt Electorate: Multiculturalism 83 09:39 Mr MATT SMITH 312393 Leichhardt One thing people might not realise about the Far North is just how diverse the people who live there are. Obviously we are very proud of our two ancient and distinct cultures, those of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, whose languages and cultures inform our design and even our slang. We also have many locals, right across Far North Queensland, who represent the diversity of the world. We've got people who can trace their lineage back to the First Fleet. We've got descendants of families who came across eager to take part in the gold rushes or to start the sugar industry. We have people whose relatives fled to Australia after the world wars. And we have a wide range of newer migrants from across the world. One of the things I was most proud to do in the last year was attend citizenship ceremonies in Cairns and to be able to see the joy of those people who became Australian citizens. My beautiful partner, Renee, was one of them. This is what Australia is: it's hope and opportunity. And why wouldn't you want to come to the Far North? It's awesome. While we have seen some in Australia fighting against multiculturalism, I am proud to say that the Cairns community has embraced our new arrivals. Just this year we've had Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo, the Indian festival, the Italian festival, the Greek festival, the Filipino festival, the Thai festival—the list goes on and on. And at our recent Cairns Festival Grand Parade we had floats representing cultures from all over the world. I'm very proud of what we've achieved here in the Far North. Recent developments, though, have left some of my constituents from diverse backgrounds a bit worried about their safety. No-one should feel unwelcome because of who they are. Our residents of Indian descent in particular seem to have borne the brunt of this anger and hatred, and that is not okay. And, while Cairns was spared some of the ugly scenes we saw in the capital cities featuring Neo-Nazism, the Indian community did reach out to me for assistance. Prior to this, over the last few weeks, I've attended multiple celebrations of Indian culture in the Far North. On 17 August, I attended the Hindu temple to celebrate Janmashtami, the birth of Krishna. People spoke of love, of one people and of purpose in life being more than the search for material possessions. The following week I attended the Cairns Indian Festival hosted by Subash Chetry and the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin. This was a celebration of the diverse nature of Indian cultures and brought together around 10,000 people to learn, laugh and celebrate what the Indian community has brought to the region. When our region has faced natural disaster, GOPIO has always stepped up, providing food to volunteers, rescuers and victims. They did it during Cyclone Jasper, and in the more recent flooding events they headed down to Ingham. I was proud to stand with them and their community to celebrate. Last week I attended Onam, the southern Indian celebration of the harvest. It is a Malayali tradition that also celebrates the return of King Mahabali, who was so loved that the gods were jealous and banished him hell. But every year he returns to celebrate the harvest with his people. At each event I was struck by the care, the joy and the community spirit. I am overjoyed that they have chosen to call Cairns and the Far North home. They make Australia better. I say to those in my community who might feel scared or vulnerable during this time: please know you are welcome. Wright Electorate: Energy 84 09:42 Mr BUCHHOLZ 230531 Wright This weekend, when I return back to my electorate, I'll have the great pleasure of being part of the opening ceremony at the Beaudesert Show. Located in the middle of my electorate, Beaudesert is probably one of the larger communities. It's a great day out. There's cattle, transport, agriculture, show bags. Kids bring their photos to exhibit. There are honey producers, and the ladies bake. It's a typical outback regional show. What won't be typical about it this year will be the conversations I'll have with the people I represent. I'm confronted by it time and time again when they ask me: 'What are you doing about electricity prices? Why aren't you holding those guys on the other side of the chamber down there in Canberra to account? We were told that electricity prices were going to be cheaper.' And I'll have to apologise to them, because I know it's hurting their family budgets. I know that electricity prices have gone up 39 per cent, and I know that only 40 per cent of the retail market goes to households. The remaining 60 per cent of energy production goes into the manufacturing sector; that's the cost of fertilisers and the cost of tractors. When you go into Woolworths and you buy items on the shelf, like a tin of baked beans or a frozen food product, everything has a component of electricity tied to it. That has had an inflationary pressure on our economy which has inhibited the Reserve Bank and led to their decisions to not give rate relief as quickly as they would have otherwise. There is not an original farm in my electorate—of which the largest contributor to GDP is agriculture—that still does not have a windmill on it. Southern Cross Windmills are celebrating 150 years here in Australia. They're situated in my electorate. So I won't be told by the richest postcodes in our country that we need to have an environmental conscience, that we need to be doing more to accept renewables. We are the early adopters of renewables and, when those windmills collapsed, we replaced them with solar pumps. But we didn't do it because we had a burning desire to save the environment; we did it because we had a burning desire to save our wallets. It was the most efficient type of energy. Unfortunately, renewables are far too expensive at the moment. That's a conversation this place needs to have about helping the people of Wright. Mental Health: Youth 84 09:45 Mr BURNELL 300129 Spence Recently I had the pleasure of welcoming a young trailblazer into my office. Emma Britten-Jones—a year 10 student from Edmund Rice Flexi School, in Elizabeth. Emma joined my electoral office for a week and a half of work experience, and, if I'm right, they'll be listening right now to this speech. During her time with us I asked her to write a speech for me to present to parliament about something she considers important, and these are her thoughts on the importance of education and mental health for young people in the electorate of Spence: I would like to begin by saying that the future of Education faces uphill challenges. The way students learn is not the same as it was 10 years ago. Not all students learn the same way, and because of this, we need to help our teachers to be better equipped to educate students that receive information differently. I would like to add that phones or devices made for music should be allowed, under the right circumstances, in schools. For some young people it helps them focus and learn. Without these, students can find it hard to fully engage in the classroom and can fall behind in their learning. Furthermore, we need to maintain free mental health services for young people. Statistics show that 402 young people aged 15-24 die each year because of suicide. A number that we need to lower, and which these free services aim to do. Nearly 2 in 5 five young Australian experience a mental health disorder and 20% of teens experience depression before reaching adulthood. Our young people are crying out for help, and it should be the top priority of the government to support them… Emma, thank you for your thoughtful words and speaking on behalf of yourself and your peers. I hope the time working alongside us in my office gave you an understanding of the work of a member of parliament, like myself, in their electorate and an insight into the work you may want to do after school. Your contribution during your time with me has been invaluable—from helping with social media and speechwriting, like most of this one, and other tasks that keep the office moving to the bigger moments of engaging with the community, like welcoming many of my colleagues, such as the Speaker of the House and the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, to Spence. It was clear you approached each opportunity with curiosity, respect and a willingness to learn. I look forward to our future catch-ups and seeing how you are going with your schooling and your journey towards greatness. I hope you had a great time with us, and, with a little luck, you may consider joining Young Labor as part of your future journey towards politics. All the best and thank you. Aged Care 85 09:48 Mr BIRRELL 288713 Nicholls A week's a long time in politics, and we live in interesting times. After two days of sustained questioning in parliament, the coalition forced the Albanese Labor government to, very belatedly, release tens of thousands of home-care packages for older Australians who have been left waiting for far too long. Labor promised 83 new packages from 1 July 2025 but, instead, decided to withhold the support, despite the sector and the department being ready to deliver them. Because of Labor's delays, not a single new home-care package has been released this financial year. As a result, the priority waitlist has blown out to more than 108,000, a 400 per cent increase in just two years, while wait times have tripled. And, tragically, almost 5,000 older Australians died in the past year while waiting for their home-care packages. Thanks to a coordinated pressure campaign from the coalition, led by shadow health and aged-care minister Senator Anne Ruston in the parliament, the government has caved to pressure and will agree to the immediate release of 20,000 home-care packages. This is despite the government voting against this requirement in the Senate earlier in the day. It's a huge win for older Australians. These older Australians, who built this country, desperately needed this assistance and weren't getting it. We were asking question after question of the minister. He wasn't answering the questions. I was even disciplined for interjecting to try to get an answer out of him. But it was worth it because we forced Labor to at least start doing the right thing, which is to release these home-care packages. We expect the government's decision to now support the release of 20,000 home-care packages by the end of the year. We want the full 83,000 promised by the end of this financial year and we want them as soon as possible. When I say 'we' want it, I mean the people who represent and are fighting for these older Australians, who built this country. People ask, 'What can you achieve an opposition?' This week, the coalition achieved something in opposition. It helped the government to account, it called out a minister who was delaying what should have been released to the Australian people, to older Australians, and at least some of those aged-care packages are going to go out the door immediately. There need to be more. If we hadn't piled on the pressure, this government would not have released those compare packages until 1 November. It's a government that's very good at campaigning, not so great at government and needs to lift its game in implementation. Albert Park 85 09:51 Mr BURNS 278522 Macnamara If you know about Albert Park you know we are home to the Grand Prix and we put our magnificent electorate of Macnamara on show to the world. Thousands of people come and enjoy our wonderful parklands, but, for the local people of McNamara, of Albert Park, South Melbourne, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Middle Park and all the different surrounding suburbs, what we know about Albert Park is that that's the home for our community sport. That's where we go and spend our weekends playing basketball, football, soccer, baseball and rugby. Albert Park is the home of badminton, table tennis, swimming and gym. It is a place where people go, but is also home to sailing. We were so proud at the 2019 election to invest $5 million on upgrading community sport infrastructure in Albert Park. The way we did that was not based on political views of what we want to invest in but rather what the community needed. We partnered with Parks Victoria and, as part of their master plan, we identified all of the different projects that were really necessary to improve access to the park; to ensure that young girls and women can have better access to better, appropriate facilities; to increase participation; and especially to make sure that they are accessible for the entire community. We are in the process of finishing this fantastic set of works that is improving lighting for local sporting clubs, including the South Melbourne Women's Football Club. We're improving change room access. We're building women's change rooms in a couple of different spots around the park. We are upgrading facilities as well. I also had the absolute privilege of joining the Albert Park Yacht Club and the Albert Park sailing crew down at the Pontoon, where they joined the principal of Albert Park College for the launch of our new Pontoon. What this means, thanks to our investment in upgrading the Pontoon and the entry point into the lake, is that all of those public-school kids get to participate in this fantastic program of getting access to sailing on our beautiful Albert Park Lake. It now has disability access, so it's easier to get in and out of the water. It's safer, and more people can get in and out in a way that promotes more participation in this fantastic sport. I've been out on the water. It is absolutely magnificent to be there in the middle of Melbourne, but what's really important is that it's there for the community. Albert Park College is one of the major users of the sailing facility, and we are so proud to support the students to be able to access this upgrade. Whether it's new lighting, improvements to the Pontoon or new change rooms, we are upgrading the community infrastructure because the community of Albert Park and the surrounding suburbs is what really matters, and we want to make sure they've got the best facilities possible. National Disability Insurance Scheme 86 09:54 Mr CHAFFEY 316312 Parkes While those on the other side of the chamber were busy planning a trip to Sweden and the UK, one of my constituents, a 16-year-old I'll call Maddie, who is from Dubbo and has a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, will not get the support she needs to transition to her new school. Maddie is one of the real-life regional Australians whose life will be impacted because of the recent changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Changes to section 33 of the NDIS act that came into effect earlier this year mean that funding for each person now needs to be staggered across the year. But clearly, life doesn't work that way. Sometimes all of the expenses and the requirements come at once. While Maddie has enough sessions approved to assist her, she can't access half of her sessions until after she starts at her new school. That means no timely training for her support staff. This is an example of those changes being made behind a desk a long, long way away from rural, regional and remote parts of New South Wales and the homes of the people who desperately need these services. A trip to Narromine, Lightning Ridge or Dunedoo by a caring and qualified allied health worker seems a very small price to pay when funds are available for business-class trips to the cosmopolitan capital of Stockholm. These are children and adults who have no option but to rely on the NDIS. They don't have the services available locally. They would have to spend many sometimes-painful hours and considerable expenses to travel to visit a service. Some need a specially modified vehicle that's not available and, once there, they don't get the same tailored advice and assistance they would receive at home. Drastic cuts to the travel allowance have meant that dedicated service providers who have visited clients in rural, regional and remote areas for many years—who have helped children communicate at school, helped people access community services and generally made many more lives liveable—will have to stop. Some of them have told me they can't sleep at night, worried about the choice between a viable business and clients that need them. Already, some have made the difficult but necessary decision to cease services in some areas. In the city, where services are a short distance away, some of these changes might not mean much. But, to a parent in a remote western New South Wales area whose child already faces so many challenges, they are heartbreaking. These changes to the NDIS have been made without consultation with service providers and without consultation with the people who absolutely rely on their help. The NDIS is a vehicle—the only vehicle—that provides absolutely essential services to people in need. Those people deserve care, they deserve practical, affordable assistance and they deserve to be listened to before the decisions that weigh so heavily on their lives are made. Vietnam War 86 09:57 Ms BYRNES 299145 Cunningham Over the weekend, I had the privilege of joining our community in Corrimal for a commemoration of the Vietnam War and to pay tribute to the courage and sacrifice of our veterans. The arrival of two iconic 'Huey' helicopters at the Corrimal Rangers football ground was one of the most powerful moments of the day. For veterans, their sound and sight brought back strong memories of their service. These helicopters were a constant presence in Vietnam, transporting troops, evacuating the wounded and supporting operations in dangerous conditions. Their landing reminded us of what so many went through and gave the community the chance to connect more directly with that history. This year marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. It is an important milestone and one that asks us to pause, to remember and to honour the more than 60,000 Australians who served. They did so with bravery and commitment, in conditions that tested every part of them, yet, when they returned home, they did not always receive the recognition or the respect that they had earned. This commemoration also carried special significance for our region as it was the final event for the Vietnam Veterans Association of the Illawarra. For decades this organisation has been a voice for local veterans, providing mateship, advocacy and remembrance. Their contribution has been immense and, while this chapter closes, their legacy will continue through the Corrimal RSL sub-branch. We remember Warrant Officer Kevin 'Dasher' Wheatley, VC, MG. In Vietnam, when his mate was badly wounded, Dasher refused to leave him. He stayed at the cost of his own life. That decision remains one of the most powerful examples of Australian mateship and courage, and it is why he was awarded the Victoria Cross. It was an honour to acknowledge Dasher's wife Edna, his son George and their family, who have carried the weight of his sacrifice. Their story reminds us that service affects not only those who wear the uniform but also the families who live with it every day. Veterans, families, cadets, scouts, emergency services and local organisations all stood side-by-side on Sunday, and I thank the Corrimal Rangers Football Club, the Vietnam Veterans Association of Australia Illawarra sub-branch, the Corrimal RSL Club, the Corrimal RSL sub-branch, Corrimal Fire & Rescue 269, the New South Wales Police Force, the 1st Bulli Scout Group, the 1st Russell Vale Scout Group, Scouts New South Wales and the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society Aviation Museum at Albion Park. They all came together on the day, and each played an important role in ensuring the commemoration was safe, respectful and memorable. I also acknowledge the Vietnamese community in Wollongong for their leadership on the day and for their ongoing work in recognising their heroes and building remembrance in our region. Hinkler Electorate, Road Safety 87 10:00 Mr BATT 315478 Hinkler As the newly elected federal member for Hinkler, I will fight for all of those across my diverse electorate. As an election commitment I pledged to do everything in my power to deliver a Hervey Bay electorate office, an essential service for my community. The very first official correspondence I sent following my successful election was a letter to the special minister of state seeking permission for an office to be established in Hervey Bay. I'm excited to confirm approval has been granted and a location in Pialba has been locked in. There are 62,000 constituents in the southern area of Hinkler, from Aldershot to Torbanlea, Howard, Burrum Heads, Pacific Haven, Toogoom, River Heads and the major centre of Hervey Bay, and I very much look forward to an official opening of this office in the coming weeks. Too many lives are being lost on our roads. In my electorate, I'm sad to say the statistics are among the worst in Queensland. The Wide Bay district, which includes Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, has recorded the highest number of road crash deaths this year—31 lives lost. That is 11 more than the same time last year. Queensland's Road Safety Week was held in August, urging motorists to drive to survive. I spent 23 years as a police officer and I saw firsthand the unimaginable impacts of road crashes. Police are doing all they can with the resources they have, but driver behaviour must change. I commend the Queensland LNP state government for supporting the Road Safety Week initiative, and I acknowledge the state member for Burnett, Stephen Bennett, for working alongside me to spread the important message of road safety. My home of Hinkler is one of the most famous food bowls in the nation. Starting this Friday, for 10 days, locals and tourists will enjoy the annual Taste Bundaberg Festival. It will showcase the finest local produce from our farms, and freshly caught seafood, and will celebrate the world-class makers, processers, retail and hospitality businesses who put Bundaberg on a plate or in a glass. Taste Bundaberg offers a huge line-up of events, including the Mayor's Ball. The gala will raise funds for the Bundaberg Region Mayor Helen Blackburn's Christmas appeal, supporting some of our amazing local charities and those committee residents in need. I'd like to applaud the local media in my electorate of Hinkler for helping me spread the word about democracy and how civics works in all three levels of government, and for letting the people of Hinkler know what's happening in the parliament while I'm here in Canberra. A special mention goes to the eloquent and engaging Jacob and El from Triple M—they've even introduced the famous Batman theme to play when I'm jumping on the radio. I hope they're tuning in right now and invite me back on air very soon. Vocational Education and Training, Swan Chamber of Commerce Business Awards 2025 87 10:03 Ms LAWRENCE 299150 Hasluck TAFE is at the heard of skills and training in Australia, and in the parliament this week we've been celebrating our vocational education and the people who succeed in life as a consequence of their training and dedication in our vocational education institutions. Making it free has been a game-changer for so many more people who might otherwise have been locked out of further study. I want to share a message I received from a local constituent, Hudson Caust, who wrote to me: Dear Tania Lawrence, I hope you're well— Yes, I'm well, thank you, Hudson— I'm writing to sincerely thank you and the Australian Labor Party for your support in making fee-free TAFE available. Thanks to this initiative, I've been given the opportunity to pursue further education and build my skills without the financial stress that would normally come with it. It's made a real difference in my life, and I'm incredibly grateful for the chance to learn and grow. I truly appreciate your continued work and advocacy on behalf of our community. This kind of policy is a great example of how government can make a tangible, positive impact on everyday Australians. This is exactly why fee-free TAFE matters. For Hudson, it has removed the financial stress, and it's done that for literally tens of thousands of people across the country. It's creating opportunity and changing lives. We're seeing those results. We're seeing more people move into new jobs, upskilling and making career changes into jobs that are in demand right now, whether it be in the care and health sectors or construction, technology and clean energy. For local families, this is about the secure pathways into jobs of the future; for business, it means a stronger pipeline of skilled Australians they can count on and rely on, who will be there today and tomorrow; and, for our community, it means a brighter future based on fairness, opportunity and skills for all. I'm deeply proud of the commitment we're delivering on for fee-free TAFE. I'm seeing the difference it's making in my community and for people like Hudson. Recently, I attended the 2025 Swan Chamber of Commerce Business Awards. Thank you to the Swan Chamber of Commerce and the City of Swan for hosting this event. It was an extraordinary event—it was very flash—at the Sandalford winery. It's always nice to look the biz, and it was wonderful to be in the company of such diverse and extraordinary businesses in the Swan community, who employ so many people. A highlight of the night was hearing from the House of Honey, which is a unique family farm right in the heart of the Swan Valley. They took home the award for Tourism Excellence and Excellence in Access and Inclusion. Kim and Rupert Phillips founded the business in 2010 with a bold vision to create a revolutionary honey showroom. It offers not just exceptional food experiences, gifts and wonderful things, and a sanctuary to 50 million bees, but also a hub of education. As a fellow apiarist, I am deeply proud of what they've achieved, and being recognised for it is exceptional. I'm very proud of them. Blockey, Ethan, Lean, Mr John 88 10:06 Mr CONAGHAN 279991 Cowper I would like to take the opportunity today to recognise two inspirational members of my community for two very different reasons. The first is a young man at the start of an extremely promising Paralympic swimming career, Ethan Blockey from Macksville. At the age of 18, Ethan has racked up medal after medal at state and national competitions over the past few years. For those who know him, this comes as no surprise. Under the supportive watch of coach Daniel Bannerman, Ethan diligently trains six sessions a week and grabs every opportunity to compete and represent the Coffs Coast with both hands. His achievements have not only gained him local notoriety but also recently caught the eye of the Australian Institute of Sport, which selected him to participate in the prestigious Paris swimming nationals future program. Ethan was one of only 15 to be selected. Congratulations, Ethan. We can't wait to see you continue to thrive in the pool for many years to come. Your entire community is behind you. A small shout-out to the Nambucca Valley Rotary Club, who will be holding a fundraiser for Ethan on 23 September at the Bowra Sports Hub. I encourage everyone to go along and support this rising star. My second recognition today is made in tribute to a much-loved and much-admired member of the Dorrigo and Bellinger Valley community, John Lean. John, a national stalwart, passed away on 9 August as a result of complications following a fall while travelling in Norway. Born in Sydney in 1937, John attended Hawkesbury Agricultural College and found a love for the land early in life and took the reins of the family's generational property at Thora. A passionate historian, John understood the values in recognising and appreciating the driving forces that made our townships what they are today, including the contributions of his own family and through the generations, starting with his great-grandfather. From Aboriginal tribes to pioneers, convicts and politicians, John diligently chronicled the land settlement in the Bellinger Valley from the 1860s to the 1960s. He not only wrote one book; he wrote five. When asked by a local paper why he started the impressive chronology, he said: 'I started these books when I became aware that a lot of people thought the history of Bellinger started about 1970, when the land use changed from the large farmers to smaller lifestyle blocks and the refugees from the cities arrived. And I thought, hold it, there are another hundred years of people that have built up this valley, cleaned up the land and started it all, and unless somebody puts it together, they're going to be lost.' That was the kind of man he was: generous, reflective and diligent to a fault. Vale, John Lean. Moreton Electorate: Community Events and Organisations 89 10:09 Ms CAMPBELL 312823 Moreton Sewing, knitting, crocheting—these are all things that are most certainly not in my bailiwick. But I'm incredibly lucky, in my seat of Moreton in Brisbane, to have people who are experts at them. And they are experts because they are the CWA—a set of really strong community groups in my area, including the 99-year-old Annerley Yeronga CWA, the Oxley CWA, and the Sunnybank-Coopers Plains CWA. The reason that I raise these fantastic community organisations today is because these groups are working hard right now, as we speak, crocheting wreaths for Anzac Day, Remembrance Day, and any day where we commemorate, recognise and remember those who have served our country. They are putting those wreaths together so that, when I go to those ceremonies on behalf of the community, we can lay them, and they are a meaningful way to continue the community work that the CWA does every day in our community and to expand on the opportunities for connection and friendship that craft groups bring, particularly to older Australians in my electorate. I want to congratulate Endua. Endua is a local company in my electorate of Moreton, on the south side, and it does renewables and low-emissions technologies. They're experts in the field and they're in Archerfield. I want to congratulate them today because they have just received a $4.8 million grant for industry growth. It's called the AHEAD project. The AHEAD project does a few things: it advances proton exchange membrane electrolyser technology and onsite hydrogen production systems; it contributes to driving down the cost of hydrogen and improving production effectiveness; and it establishes strong capabilities in hydrogen technology innovation, advanced manufacturing and operational knowledge. It's a real shot in the arm for sustainability, a shot in the arm for hydrogen, a shot in the arm for my community, and a shot in the arm for jobs. Well done. On Friday, 15 August, I had the great pleasure of attending Griffith's 'Con'. The Con is a place where so many fantastic musical performances take place every single day. I was there because MacGregor State High School's a cappella choir, MACappella, was in the finals for the Choral Fanfare 2025. It's part of the Queensland Department of Education's biennial state schools festival for vocal ensembles. It was wonderful to see them represented in the top five in the state. Congratulations to the teachers and the students. Albanese Government 89 10:12 Mr JOYCE e5d New England Isn't it a marvellous privilege to be in this building and to deal with the liberties and freedoms offered by Australia in a Western democracy based on Judeo-Christian principles? You might not be Christian—you don't have to be—but those are the principles residing underneath our democracy. So it's of massive concern that we saw the display of military might at the recent anniversary parade in China. It was a display of military might for projection and offensive purposes. Of course, we must take into account what that means for us. Of massive concern was the assembled coterie of people from totalitarian regimes and dictators. We see, with Premier Xi Jinping, the instrument that has brought about such things as the takeover of the South China Sea, the removal of rules based law, incursions against the Philippines, disputes with Japan and spies in Australia. This is the new world order. Vladimir Putin was there—Vladimir Putin, who is of course responsible for the invasion of Ukraine and the arbitrary moving in of forces, for which thousands have now died dead. Kim Jong-un, also supporting Vladimir Putin, puts his own people into destitution as he develops nuclear weapons. This is a very bad coterie. There was Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran. We've had the Iranian ambassador deported from Australia for what was, in essence, a terrorist attack on a Jewish synagogue. Another major concern at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was the disgraceful attendance of Antonio Guterres in the midst of all this. He talked about principled leadership; what he expecting to find it there? At the parade, there was also the disgraceful appearance of Dan Andrews. What is also a massive concern is where Australia is. Our prime minister has not yet met the US president. AUKUS is still under review. In terms of the Quad, the attendance of Narendra Modi at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation does not augur well for us. Our debt is now $961.4 billion. Australian government securities outstanding is heading towards $1 trillion. And what is our focus in Australia in the midst of this? We're focused on the weather. We're focused on net zero. We're focused on climate policy. We have seriously lost our way, and we have lost our political mind. If we don't pull ourselves back into gear, we have the potential to be put under the stress of the loss of our nation. Esber, Mr Pierre 89 10:15 Dr CHARLTON I8M Parramatta I rise today to pay tribute to Pierre Esber and to place on record this parliament's recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the City of Parramatta. Pierre Esber is in every sense a true son of Parramatta. Born in Parramatta hospital, raised in North Parramatta, educated at Parramatta Marist and raising his own family there, his story is woven into the fabric of our city. With entrepreneurial skill, he built a successful business and created jobs and apprenticeships. He carried that same spirit into public life. Elected to Parramatta City Council in 1999, Pierre went on to serve for 25 years. He was re-elected again and again because of his deep commitment to the people he represented. Along the way, he served as deputy lord mayor and in 2023 he became the lord mayor of Parramatta. That achievement capped a quarter of a century of tireless service to his community. Pierre's mantra as lord mayor was 'All roads lead to Parramatta'. He believed profoundly in the potential of our city to be the true heart of Greater Sydney. Under his leadership, Parramatta grew in confidence and in reputation as a place to live, work, raise a family and build a business. He championed diversity, creativity and opportunity, and he never wavered in his commitment to making Parramatta the best place it could be. His background in construction gave him insight into the city's growth. He worked with vision to create a river city that is internationally recognised for resilience, regeneration and recreation. He was a passionate advocate for sustainability, proud of the six-star green rating for the civic hub PHIVE and the carbon-neutral certification of Parramatta Square. With the Parramatta 2050 vision, he laid the foundations for the city's economic transformation. Beyond elected office, Pierre has given more than three decades of service to the labour movement. Chairing the Dundas-Rydalmere branch for over 30 years, his contribution to our party, our city and our people has been immense. Few individuals have shaped the City of Parramatta as profoundly as Pierre Esber. His dedication, vision and unwavering belief in our community have helped build the vibrant and dynamic city we know today. On behalf of this parliament and of a grateful community, I thank him for his service and commend him for his achievements. Western Australia: Health Care 90 10:18 Mr HASTIE 260805 Canning Deputy Speaker Small, it's great to see you in the chair, particularly as a Western Australian, representing the great seat of Forrest, because this speech is about the WA health system. This is the 15th time I've stood in this place to speak about the state of health care in Western Australia. And I'll keep speaking about it because the situation is getting worse. WA's health system is in a death spiral. Last month, WA Labor broke its own record again, with more than 7,000 hours of ambulance ramping. That's two months in a row. Nine years ago, then Labor opposition health minister and now WA premier, Roger Cook, called 1,000 hours of ramping a crisis. If 1,000 hours was a crisis, 7,000 hours is a catastrophe. Yet the Premier continues as if nothing is wrong—no urgency, no accountability, no plan. The Premier is disconnected from reality. Behind every one of those hours is a person: an elderly patient in pain, a paramedic stuck outside a hospital unable to help, a nurse stretched to breaking point or a doctor doing their best in a system that is failing them. People in WA know the truth. They live it in waiting rooms and in ambulances in perpetual crisis. My community's local hospital, the Peel Health Campus, is a clear example. WA Labor has been promising upgrades for more than eight years, and still we wait. Just this Monday, the average triage wait time at Peel was 100 minutes, the second-worst in the state. That's not just a number; that's a mother with a sick child, a pensioner in distress or a family waiting for answers. The Peel region is growing rapidly, but our hospital hasn't kept pace. The result is longer waits, more pressure on staff and compromised care. Despite all this, Roger Cook claims our health system is world class. I've said this many times, and let me be clear: our health professionals are world class. Our doctors, nurses and paramedics are doing extraordinary work under almost impossible conditions, but the system they're working in is broken. Seven thousand hours of ramping is not world class. A broken morgue door at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital is not world class. Flying to Canberra to beg for federal funding is not world class. WA has a $2.4 billion surplus in the state coffers. There is no excuse for this level of failure. The people in my state aren't asking for much. They're asking for a health system that works, leadership that listens and promises that are kept. This is about more than just statistics; it's about trust. The WA Labor government has broken that trust. This is about whether this government is willing to face the truth and fix what's broken. WA Labor must be held accountable for the promises it's failed to keep and the lives it continues to put at risk. I will keep rising in this place until this government stops making excuses and starts delivering results. My community and all Western Australians deserve better from the Cook Labor government. Maribyrnong Electorate: St Columba's College 90 10:22 Ms BRISKEY 263427 Maribyrnong Recently I had the privilege of visiting St Columba's College in Essendon, where I met with their exceptional student engagement team, an incredibly impressive group of leaders from every year level. In meeting with the student leaders, I was struck immediately by the fact that this team is much more than a formality; they are an active, influential voice in the school's planning and governance. They are already making a tangible difference to the lives of their fellow students. Their current projects are impressive: a homework audit to better balance workloads, the development of a purpose built student leadership program, ongoing reviews of school policy and a refresh of the college's website. These are practical, forward-thinking initiatives that will leave a real legacy. Last year, they championed a more flexible school uniform policy, taking into consideration the evolving needs and desires of the broader student body. That's proof of what happens when young people are listened to and trusted to lead. We spoke about their goals for the year ahead, the paths that they're looking forward to embarking on, pathways to civic leadership and my own journey into parliament. We also discussed the barriers that still hold women back from public life and why breaking them down matters. It was inspiring to see so many bright, capable young women in the room, ready to lead, to serve and to shape the future. We know that, when young women can see leaders that look like them, they can imagine themselves in those roles too. I thank Principal Rita Grima, Deputy Principal Brigitte McDonald and the students who took the time to meet with me. Thank you so much for your warm welcome and for sharing your insightful perspectives. You have my full confidence that your leadership will extend well beyond the school gates. Helping young people grow as leaders is one of the best investments we can make, and, at St Columba's, as in so many of the incredible local schools right across Maribyrnong, that investment is already paying off. I can't wait to see where these remarkable young leaders go next. It really was an incredible opportunity to meet with these young women, from the early years of high school right through to the seniors—year 7 to year 12. These women are going to have a remarkable impact on their community, and I wish them, especially those seniors who'll be finishing up very soon, all the very best for the years ahead. Page Electorate: Woolgoolga High School, Page Electorate: Clarence River Fishermen's Co-operative, Reynolds, Mr Jim 91 10:24 Mr HOGAN 218019 Page I'd like to acknowledge an outstanding achievement by Woolgoolga High School at the 2025 New South Wales School Merino Wether Challenge. Over four days in Dubbo, the high school's agriculture show team worked tirelessly, caring for 420 sheep from 70 schools, preparing them for judging and partaking in workshops with industry leaders. Despite heavy rainfall and other challenging conditions, the students represented their school with exceptional dedication and professionalism. I'd like to congratulate Macee Harris, Amelia Morrell, Ayla Eggins, Theo Backman, Townes Evan-Wood, Gurjaap Singh, Taj Cruise, Archie Tobin and the agricultural teacher, Gavin Whitburn, for they won the award for Best Presented School in New South Wales at the challenge, taking out the title among 78 competing schools—a great achievement and great recognition of the hard work, skill and teamwork of the team. Congratulations to all the students, staff and families involved in this. I'd like to acknowledge the Clarence River Fishermen's Co-op, which this year celebrates 80 years. Since 1945, the co-op has been an icon of the Clarence Valley, supporting generations of local fishermen, providing employment and delivering high-quality seafood across Australia and, indeed, the world. The co-op has a deep connection in our region, with retail outlets in Maclean, Yamba and Iluka, along with the Prawn Shack, all being local landmarks. I'd like to congratulate the current general manager, Dee Zahra, and the chair, Tim Small, and acknowledge all the current and former members, directors and staff. I'd like to specifically recognise a few people—namely, the two longest current members, Peter Anderson and Noel Everson, who have both been members of the co-op since 1958 and are still fishing, and also current staff Kevin Ellem and Sandra McGrath, who've been there for over 50 years. Congratulations on over 80 years for this wonderful business in our community. I'd like to acknowledge one of Woolgoolga's local legends, Jim Reynolds, and the remarkable contribution he and his family have made to the community through their family business, Woolgoolga's Finest Butchery. For more than four decades, Jim has been more than just a butcher; he's been a mentor, an employer and a supporter of countless community initiatives. At 82, Jim is still behind the counter, sharing his wisdom, hard work and community spirit with his customers and the community. Jim's children and grandchildren have all worked behind the counter after school. Jim often says: 'You learn a lot working with your family. You learn how to work hard, show up, take pride. I reckon we need more of that again.' Even after selling one of his shops in 2013, he was soon back behind the counter, because, as Jim said, it's more than just a business; it's part of who he is and of Woolgoolga itself. So thank you to Jim and to his wife Brigita; his daughters, Ruth and Karen; his grandson, Stephen; and team members Arthur and Declan. Enjoy your retirement, Jim. Housing, WorldSkills Australia 91 10:27 Mr KHALIL 101351 Wills Last week I visited the opening of LIV Albert, a build-to-rent apartment complex in my electorate of Wills. I was accompanied by my good friend the member for Macnamara, Josh Burns. We toured this $330 million project, which sits in the heart of Brunswick, which is in the heart of my electorate of Wills. The complex boasts 498 new apartments and is designed specifically for renters. Build-to-rent sites bridge the gap between buying and renting in the Australian property market, creating a viable option for those who don't, or choose not to, own a home. While we were there, I met Nicole and Esteban, a young couple from Chile who have decided to call Australia home. They will be among the first residents at the site. Nicole and Esteban explained to me how they absolutely love the committee and lifestyle of living in Brunswick and how being able to rent at this site will allow them affordable access to a suburb and a part of Melbourne that they know and love. That's what build to rent is all about—allowing people to make communities they love their homes, with the security and stability for longer lease lengths. Since we formed government, over 5,000 social and affordable homes have now been completed with federal government investment. This is a stark contrast to the chronic shortage of social and affordable homes built under the previous coalition government. In nine years, the previous government managed to build—wait for it—373. We have made a $43 billion commitment to our housing agenda, with $20.7 billion now committed to projects that lock in lower rents for decades to come. This all builds on another huge week for housing investment in this country, where we have cut red tape for more homes, brought forward the five per cent deposits for more first home buyers and made more progress on social and affordable housing. Earlier this week in Canberra I had the pleasure of meeting one of my constituents, Joshua Seymour. Josh travelled to Canberra for the launch of the 2026 Team Australia training squad. He will represent Australia at the 48th WorldSkills International Competition in China next year. WorldSkills Australia is an important social enterprise in this country which is dedicated to identifying, demonstrating and promoting skills excellence across the nation. When we were elected in 2022, the Albanese government faced the worst skill shortage in 50 years. Meeting this challenge has been, and remains, a high priority for our government. As part of our National Skills Agreement, over $34 billion in combined investment with state and territory governments will strengthen and transform the VET sector. This includes the establishment of 12 TAFE centres of excellence to provide the vital skills we need in critical parts of our economy. I wish Josh and the entire Australian team the absolute best of luck. He's going to be doing refrigerating, cooling and air conditioning; I reckon he's going to win his competition. Go Australia! The DEPUTY SPEAKER 291406 In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members' statements has concluded. STATEMENTS ON SIGNIFICANT MATTERS 92 STATEMENTS ON SIGNIFICANT MATTERS National Police Remembrance Day 92 10:30 Dr HAINES 282335 Indi I rise to speak on National Police Remembrance Day, ahead of the 29 September commemoration time. Across Australia, thousands of people don the blue uniform in a commitment to the safety of our communities. They take an oath to protect us, putting the safety of others above themselves. This is a courageous pledge; this is a selfless pledge. In regional communities such as mine, you'll often find the local police taking an active role in the community, both in uniform and out of uniform. They visit day cares and schools and stop by local sporting and community events to bring visibility to their work and forge long-term relationships with locals. Local police are often footy coaches or netball coaches. They're out and about; they're part of us; they are our friends. In my former life as a nurse a long time ago, I worked in the emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital, and there I forged many friendships with the police who came in, in the most difficult of circumstances. Those police officers stood by me as a young nurse; they stood by my other nursing colleagues, the junior doctors and all of the support staff in what was a very hectic and difficult situation at St V's in Fitzroy. Then, some years later, I was working in a tiny rural bush nursing hospital. There, the local policeman, who lived in Chilton, where I did, became a firm friend and a valued colleague—someone who was always there at the end of the phone when I needed him. I have to say, unfortunately, I often needed him. In communities such as mine, local police, as I'm showing you, are very much a part of us. The work of police can be gruelling. It can be complex and, as we know, too often it can be risky. It requires not just the highest level of training, discipline and physical resilience; it takes mental resilience too. It's not just the police officers themselves who need to have this resilience but also their families. Police officers are often the first responders to tragic events. Again, in rural and regional communities such as mine, all too often the events that they're responding to are events that involve people that they may well know. As we learn too often, and as we will commemorate on 29 September, too many times our police officers are the victims of tragedy themselves. On 29 September, we will remember members of the police force who have passed away over the past 12 months. Their names, tragically, will be added to the memorial roll, and across the nation Australians will stand in solidarity in their honour. Most tragically, and so close to home, two new names will be added to this memorial honour roll. In the coming days, the families, friends and colleagues of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart will pay their final respects and farewell two fine members of the Victoria Police. It's been a little over a week since an unspeakable tragedy unfolded in my electorate, in the beautiful, idyllic alpine town of Porepunkah—a town that was forever changed by an unspeakable event that no-one could ever have possibly imagined. The communities across Indi, particularly across Wangaratta and the Alpine Valleys, are in mourning. They're in shock, and they are experiencing deep sadness and disbelief. It's brought into sharp focus, for me personally and for the people I represent, the extraordinary risk our police face every day to keep us safe. Really it's a risk that we take for granted as we go about our lives, but it came into stark relief for us just over a week ago. Over the past week, we've seen the community respond with love and solidarity for our police officers. Countless people have visited the Wangaratta and Wodonga police stations. They are coming in droves. They're laying flowers in memory of these two members. They're bringing food, their friendship and their solidarity. Even if they did not know these police officers, they know the police. Emergency services and SES crews, firies and ambos stood the other night in the pouring rain. They stood in silence; they stood in honour of their fallen friends and colleagues. Right across Australia, and indeed all across little towns in my electorate, we've seen buildings lit up in blue. We've seen the water towers of Wodonga and Wangaratta shine brightly in blue, at the same time that 480-plus police officers and emergency services crews comb the mountainous terrain around Mount Buffalo to seek the person allegedly responsible for the heinous crime that happened in Porepunkah. As the police operation continues, I say to police officers all over Australia and most especially to the police officers in my own patch—on behalf of my community, we stand in solidarity with you, and we will always stand in solidarity with you. We will stand with you on 29 September on National Police Remembrance Day in memory of all the lives lost, and we will stand with you on 29 September, in particular, with Neal and Vadim's names so firmly in our minds. So to all police officers and their families—and I note the member for Riverina is here, who is a family member of a serving police officer, and I thank him and his family for the way they support their son and for the sacrifice that they make in holding the anxiety that comes with being not only a proud parent of a police officer but one who knows all too well the risks that their son or daughter has taken on behalf of us. I thank you and so many like you. To all police officers: thank you for what you do. Thank you for standing before us, with us and amongst us and thank you for standing in situations that not one of us would ever have to face. I honour you and I respect you. I pledge that my solidarity and support are with you always. 10:38 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina Thank you, member for Indi. They were beautiful words eloquently spoken, as were your words the other day prior to question time. Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart and Queensland constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold are sadly seared into the consciousness of a bereaved nation for they have been the victims of recent tragic events where nutters, sovereign citizens and terrorists—call them what you'd like—took their lives in a burst of bullets. This is not right. This is not the way Australia should be. We live in very volatile times. But, when our police officers leave home to go and serve, they should be able to, at the end of the shift, come back home safe and sound. Police officers, like other emergency service personnel, run to danger when others, most of us, would run in the other direction. They are the bravest of the brave, and Australia is very, very well served by our police officers, by our Australian Defence Force personnel, by those who don a uniform and go and fight the good fight for and on behalf of us, by those who serve, by those who protect and by those who save. We should never forget that. Never, ever should we forget that. I really take exception when the New South Wales police and, indeed, the New South Wales government make a request that is then ignored by an unelected judge, and I refer to Justice Belinda Rigg. Despite the fact that the brave men and women in blue and the leader thereof, the police commissioner, no less, applied for a prohibition order against an individual by the name of Josh Lees, an organiser from the Palestinian Action Group, a professional stirrer, professional protester, who wanted the Sydney Harbour Bridge used for a protest, Justice Belinda Rigg, a faceless unelected official, for whatever reason, decided that she knew better than police. And what did we see? We saw signs of hatred. We saw actions of hatred. We saw the New South Wales police have to call just about every officer they had on duty and others who should've been enjoying a day off, to monitor that particular protest. Now what have we got? We've got the floodgates open. Everyone wants to protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge because it's iconic, because it's internationally famous, because it's renowned. And the police are the poor ones who will have to monitor and protect and save and do what they usually do—and they'll do it without complaint. They'll do it because that's what they do in the line of duty. The likes of Justice Belinda Rigg and Lees—I'm not going to say 'Mr' because he doesn't deserve it—should not be running the show. When Premier Chris Minns and the New South Wales police commissioner, the person acting in that role, ask for a determination, they should be listened to. The four constables I mentioned before, their lives are no different than the lives of Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Constable Thomas Lonigan, Constable Michael Scanlan, Constable Samuel Nelson, Senior Constable Ed Mostyn Webb-Bowen and Sergeant Edmund Parry. Those names, in one sense, will never be lost to history either. They were killed by bushrangers. In Australia, we sometimes romanticise the outlaws of the 19th century. Ned Kelly and his gang killed three Victorian police officers at Stringybark Creek. Samuel Nelson lost his life at Collector, killed by John Dunn. Senior Constable Webb-Bowen lost his life in the battle at Wantabadgery, where the Moonlite gang was holed up. And Sergeant Edmund Parry was shot dead by Johnny Gilbert near Jugiong way back in 1864. They lost their lives in the long line of duty. As we've heard from the member for Indi, there is a long line of blue that stretches all the way to the Australian National Police Memorial. We will remember them near the end of this month, 29 September. Not only will we remember the service and sacrifice of those who gave their lives; we will reflect upon the dangers of those who go out each and every day to ensure the safety of society, not helped by judges who turn a blind eye to the requests—the decent requests, the honest requests, the sensible demands of the New South Wales Premier and the person tasked with leading the New South Wales Police. That is a great shame. That is to the detriment of society. I don't understand why—particularly in a society which at the moment is very fractured and volatile. No-one denies people have the right to protest, but, when they are protesting, they do not—absolutely do not—have the right to take placards and pictures of the person responsible for the deaths of those two police officers at Porepunkah, an alpine town in north-east Victoria which at the moment is mourning. I very much adhere to the words of acting South Australian police commissioner Linda Williams, who told ABC radio Adelaide of the charge against the individual who put himself in it for holding a placard showing the alleged police killer. It will now be tested before the courts. Here is the challenge for those courts: make good on what you should be doing when you took the oath to serve justice, just like our police officers. This individual who held up that placard at the time of volatility in society should be thrown behind bars. Will that person be? There's the test for the courts. There are a few test for the courts at the moment. There's one more local which I won't refer to. People don't have to do much of a Google search to find it. But these are tests for the courts, and we shouldn't be promoting sovereign citizens. They are terrorists. We shouldn't be promoting Nazism. We shouldn't be promoting people who kill our police, our brave officers. I say that as the father of a brave officer. I can remember one day when Scott Morrison and I had done something particularly noteworthy during a time of crisis in this country. We were reflecting upon it, and my son on that occasion had talked a very vulnerable person out of doing themselves in. I told the then prime minister, and he said, 'That will be far greater than anything we do today or perhaps ever.' That's what police do all the time. It's in their DNA. As parliamentarians, we should be very proud of our police officers. I commend those parliamentarians now who were serving officers in the past. I know that they are now representing and doing their duty in a different space in a different phase of their lives. I thank each and every one of them. I sit beside one of them, the member for Wide Bay. Thank you to everybody who pulls on a uniform. We honour you, we pay tribute to you and we will always do our very best to uphold what you do for us, and that is to save lives. 10:48 Mr WOOD E0F La Trobe I too am very saddened by the murders of two police officers who very tragically were taken from us. Detective Senior Constable Neal Thompson served an amazing 40 years with Victoria Police, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart—they were both doing their job in protecting and upholding right. I know about upholding right, because I served 18 in the Victoria Police force. What's happened for these members and their family is very tragic. This is really hurting the brotherhood and sisterhood of Victoria Police at the moment. One thing I do know is that Victoria Police will not give up. As the search goes on, they will continue and continue until they get their man. Sadly, we saw in some protests—and I note what the member for Riverina said—people holding up placards trying to somehow honour the alleged police murderer. I'm hoping the courts take tough action against that, especially at a time when Victorian police members and their families are grieving, because it is a very close community. I joined the Victorian police force and graduated in April 1987. Just 12 months before that, we had the most awful bombing, the Russell Street bombing, in March 1986. That was outside the Russell Street police station. Tragically, Constable Angela Taylor was walking past and was killed in that explosion. Minutes beforehand, they had two groups of schoolchildren walking past, and, miraculously, they were spared. It was amazing work that the detectives did at the time. In actual fact, it was a stolen motor vehicle squad. A member went down to Dawson Street, I believe. He was investigating stolen cars on a racket, and he walked past the car which was actually the remains of the car used for the Russell Street bombing. He noticed the serial number had been drilled out in the same way as in his investigation, and that eventually led the police onto charging those responsible. I don't name them because they don't deserve to be named. But, again, it was just to go after the authority of Victoria Police. As I said, I graduated from the Victoria police force in 1987. In my sister squad, there was a really nice young man by the name of Steve Tynan. Sadly, and again very tragically, in 1988 on Walsh Street, Steve Tynan was murdered along with Damian Eyre. Steve Tynan was 22 years of age and Damian was 20 years of age. They were ambushed, and their firearms were used against them. Steve was a really nice guy and so was Damian, and it really sent shock waves through all those who had graduated and the wider Victorian police force. I'll just say this actually impacts police members right across the country and across the world because it is a very tight-knit family. Then, in 1998, we had a series of pizza shops being targeted. At the time I was seconded to Boronia's criminal investigations branch. I think it was the Pizza Havens being targeted. One night, the armed robbery squad arranged for every Pizza Haven restaurant to be surveilled. Surveillance units were there, and police members and detectives were ready in case the pizza shops were hit. So we were there—me, the detectives and Senior Constable Robert Baker—on the Friday night. We waited there all night, and nothing happened. The operation was called off, and the following night that pizza shop was actually hit. It ended up being the same offender who tragically took the lives of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller again by setting off a restaurant. The Victoria Police detectives did an incredible job hunting down those involved. I've actually spoken to undercover police officers involved in that operation. One of their targets was on a building site, and, by the end of it, every worker on the building site was an undercover police officer. The police did incredible work to get their man at the end of the day. When it comes to serving, police members uphold the right. As we were told years ago at the academy, criminals don't have to decide what force they need to use and they don't need to think about internal investigations. Especially in this awful murder recently and these other ones I'm talking about, when police members are ambushed there's pretty much nothing they can do. They're not prepared for that. In the raids I've done in my day in Victoria Police, especially with the organised crime squad, we were always very much armed and ready to go, firearms drawn. Most police members, especially in the regions, aren't like that, because they're not used to dealing with the most violent offenders. That's a good thing but also a bad thing. The good thing is that the public see the police go in there without firearms drawn. The danger is that, if they need to draw them, the offender has the upper hand. I say to my former Victoria Police colleagues and especially all those new recruits going through that this is a very tough time for the Victorian police family and all police. They'll stand firm, they'll work together and they'll get their man. We just hope the police get a lot more support. I note the comments of the member for Riverina when it comes to the judiciary. We need the Victorian state Labor government to very much stand with Victoria Police and take very strong action against those who take on the police and assault police. Sadly, I've been told in recent times by my friends in Victoria Police that, whereas in my day you'd be in a police pursuit and the person or the group of youths would take off and you'd abandon the pursuit and let them get away, these days they actually turn around and ram the police car. When you've seen some of those riots and you have so many people, including youth gangs, attacking Victoria Police, there need to be very strong penalties. We need to uphold the law. 'Tenez le droit' means 'Uphold the right'. Victoria Police uphold the right, but we need the courts to uphold the law for those who target and attack our police. Again, may all those fallen members rest in peace. When it comes to Police Remembrance Day and Police Legacy, I've been to Police Legacy events. Don't think that the tragedy and the pain just diminish every year. The partners go along there—the former wives or the former husbands. It's very sad. You see the kids. I will just make one final point: there have been way too many members taking their own lives. They need all the support. It's what they've seen, especially those in the child exploitation units. They see the most ghastly things. I was very lucky; I never worked in that area in Victoria Police. For the members who have, what they tell me they have seen—I was speaking the other day to a member who contacted me after, believe it or not, he was arrested by Victoria Police for arresting a person committing graffiti in Upwey. The police member was arrested, but not the guy doing the graffiti. It was good the case was eventually withdrawn, but, as that member told me, he went out sick simply because of the awful child abuse material he used to see. Again, may all those former members rest in peace. Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide 96 10:58 Ms MILLER-FROST 296272 Boothby One of the particular honours that I've experienced since being elected in 2022 is the opportunity to get to know so many defence personnel and veterans living in my electorate of Boothby. As well as the Warradale Barracks, we have a number of RSLs in Boothby and also the statewide Vietnam Veterans Federation of Australia South Australian branch. We also have the Veteran Wellbeing Centre at the Repat Health Precinct in Daw Park. The centre was established by the Plympton-Glenelg sub-branch of the RSL and in particular the late Bill Hignett. It is under the auspices of SA Health but consists of a number of agencies, such as Open Arms and Military Advocates, and it provides free services, including advocacy for DVA claims. They are always generous with their time and their insights, and I greatly enjoy visiting them. It's a fairly uncontroversial statement, I hope, to say that in Australia we respect and honour our serving defence personnel and the veterans for their service and sacrifice in our name and for our protection. It is no small thing to put your life on the line to serve your country. It is part of our Australian way of life that we know that we have the Australian Defence Force there to protect us. It was while I was campaigning in 2021 that I first started hearing from veterans and their families seeking assistance with their claims. Their stories were remarkably similar. They had submitted their total and permanent incapacity claims usually around 18 months or so earlier, and they'd heard nothing, and when they contacted the department, they couldn't get any information about where their claim was up to. What we know about veterans is that they have a tendency to not put their TPI claims in until things are pretty dire. They don't put them in when they're just a bit wobbly. So these veterans were in dire circumstances when they finally put their TPI claims in, and then the department and we as a country left them sitting for 18 months or more with no response. Of course we have since discovered that there were close to 42,000 TPI claims sitting in the department that had not even been allocated to a staff member to look at them. I'm pleased to say that, during the last term of this government, addressing this backlog was a priority for the minister and for the government, and that backlog has now being addressed. TPI claims submitted now are allocated to a staff member to assess within two weeks, and the majority of claims are finalised within a matter of a few months, depending on their complexity. This is as it should be. People are our most important defence capability. They need to be respected. We want Australians to choose to serve their country and be confident that they and their families will be well supported by their leaders, the broader defence organisation and their country. Every member of the ADF should be safe in the knowledge that, whatever may happen in service, they and their families will be looked after and acknowledged by a grateful nation. It is our nation's duty to empower and support the mental health and wellbeing of our defence and veteran community. There is an expectation that they will be looked after. For too long, this was not the reality. When the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established in 2021, it heard from thousands of current and former serving defence members and families, particularly families of those who are no longer here to speak for themselves. I'd like to particularly acknowledge Julie-Ann Finney, the mother of the late David Finney, who was in the chamber earlier to hear the minister's statement, and thank her for her unrelenting advocacy. We heard of systems that were broken, of a culture that was toxic, and that not enough was being done to support our personnel during and after service. We've heard those calls, and we have acted. The royal commission released an interim report in 2022 containing recommendations they deemed the most urgent. We have acted, and we will continue to act on them all. We've legislated the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025 to simplify the veteran compensation system. These changes begin next year, and they will replace the current complex system that causes confusion and frustration, which the royal commission identified as a contributor to suicidality among our veteran community. This will mean all veteran claims will be assessed for compensation and rehabilitation under a single piece of legislation that will be simpler and faster to process. This is the most significant reform to how we support veterans in a century. As a result, we will be better able to provide the services and supports the veteran community needs when and where they need them. The final Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide report was released in September 2024—seven volumes, 122 recommendations, harrowing reading. It showed a way forward and once-in-a-generation opportunity for cultural change and reform. The government has agreed or agreed in principle to 104 recommendations, noting 17 for further work. As at the beginning of August, nine recommendations had been fully implemented, and a further 110 are under way. Changes to date include the establishment of the royal commission implementation taskforce within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to focus on the implementation and the establishment of a new statutory oversight body, the Defence and Veterans' Service Commission, with a dedicated and sustained focus on suicide prevention, which will be up and running at the end of September. This was considered by the royal commission to be the most significant action the government could take to address defence and veteran suicide. We're currently recruiting the inaugural defence and veterans services commissioner through a merit based recruitment process. This commissioner will have significant independent investigation powers into veteran supports and progress on the implementation of the royal commission's recommendations. We will introduce standalone legislation for the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission to ensure its independence and enhance its oversight of the implementation. The royal commission identified the need for a holistic approach to wellbeing when supporting Defence personnel, veterans and their families. Today we have released the Defence and Veteran Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. In addition to early intervention and comprehensive care, it prioritises wellbeing from the day a person signs up for our ADF until well after they have hung up their uniform for the last time. This ensures veterans who are transitioning to civilian life and their families don't fall through the gaps during a time that we know is of particular risk. We will introduce a mandatory obligation to consider mental health issues during involuntary separation processes. Defence is working closely with the Department of Veterans' Affairs on establishing a comprehensive brain injury pathway to improve prevention, early detection and treatment for current and former ADF members with neurocognitive issues. The royal commission's final report also contains several significant recommendations related to sexual violence in the ADF, which are being actioned as a priority. There is now an updated central policy on sexual misconduct that provides clearer, more consistent guidance for commanders and managers. It outlines when to engage the Joint Military Police Unit and how to determine whether conduct may constitute a criminal offence, and introduces structured return-to-work protocols for those impacted by misconduct. Commanders and managers must now consider suspension from duty and involuntary separation of members alleged to have engaged in serious misconduct, including sexual offences, sexual harassment, intimate image abuse and stalking. Defence has now completed the work to support the implementation of a presumption of discharge in circumstances where ADF members are convicted of sexual and related offences. This will be in place by the end of the year and supported by further legislative change. These reforms represent a critical shift. They send a clear message that sexual misconduct has no place in our Defence Force. Further work is being done to ensure the military justice system balances the need for military discipline with the protection of individual rights and minimises adverse mental health impacts on those who engage with the system and to ensure that support mechanisms available to members involved in the military justice processes are effective at meeting their needs and preventing harm. This includes an independent inquiry into potential weaponisation of the military administrative system, examining whether the system has been or could be misused in ways that cause harm to ADF members. The establishment of the military justice assurance branch will strengthen coordination of governance, assurance and policy functions within the military justice system. The royal commission was an important, groundbreaking, sobering and necessary exercise, but it is the implementation of change that really matters. A year on from the final report, we're making good progress, and we are seeing more people choose to stay in the ADF longer as a result, but there is a lot more work to do. The royal commission's task for us as a government is no small feat, but implementing these reforms from the royal commission is vital to ensure that Defence personnel, veterans and families receive the care, services and supports they not only need but deserve. I'd like to finish by thanking any current or former serving members who might be listening for their service. (Time expired) 11:08 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina Little badge, big impact. That's the message being put out there by Legacy. This week is Legacy Week, and it's important in the context of the update on the implementation of the recommendations of the final report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide because it's not just about currently serving Australian Defence Force personnel or veterans; it's also about their families. Their families are very much impacted by the service and the former service of our ADF and our veterans. This week, as I said, is Legacy Week.The Legacy Week appeal has been running since the 1940s. It's a time for all Australians to show their support for the widows and children whose loved ones have served our country. The Legacy badge, as the website says, is a special emblem of support for our veterans' families, symbolising our nation's greatest values of mateship, compassion and fairness. Legacy badges may be small, but the funds they raise make a big impact on the lives of our veterans' families. Legacy Week is a time to give back to the families of those who have given so much. That's what the Legacy foundation says—and it is so very true. When you take those words and listen to them, they are very much aligned with the service of our veterans. I see the member for Spence entering the chamber. I thank him for his service. I thank each and every person who has ever worn a uniform for and on behalf of our nation, for and on behalf of our flag. They have kept us safe. They continue to do so. Not every veteran is broken. That's an important distinction to make. When we talk about our veterans, sometimes we think of them as a bit of a mess from their service, and they are not. Many—in fact, most—are contributing mightily to the nation. In fact, all are. Some are incapacitated, absolutely. Some of them carry the mental and physical scars of their service. That is why, on 8 July 2021, the former coalition government announced the formal establishment of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, which cast a light on some of the harrowing experiences of current serving personnel and our veterans. The royal commission's inquiry concluded on 28 August 2024. It came to Wagga Wagga. It took evidence, and some of the evidence presented at those Wagga Wagga hearings was horrific. It examined the systemic issues and common themes in past deaths by suicide of ADF members and veterans. This included suspected suicides and lived experience of suicide risks. The royal commission delivered its interim report on 11 August 2022. By that stage, the government had changed. But this is and should always be above politics. The final report was delivered on 9 September 2024. I thank the minister for his update today. Defence welcomed the royal commission as an opportunity to learn and bolster the department's approach to mental health and welfare, and I would say that, if there are veterans out there who have not sought help and need it, please do so. There's not just the Department of Veterans' Affairs; there are many wonderful organisations to help their mates and comrades. Please avail yourselves of that opportunity if you need help. There are many veterans who do not seek the assistance of DVA for whatever reason, and they are entitled to do that, but help is there if it's needed. Defence thanks those serving and ex-serving personnel and their families who bravely shared their stories with the commission. In many instances, it opens up old wounds. It's hard for veterans to talk about their experiences, whether they saw combat or whether they were in bases and never left Australia. They all shared different experiences; they all shared similar experiences. The government's response, announced on 2 December 2004, outlines significant reform. This will hopefully have a positive impact on the defence community. Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs are implementing the agreed recommendations. There are 122 recommendations—104 are very much in the process of being followed through. I appreciate that 17 of those 122 were noted. I know it's a difficult task being the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, but that person is representative of those who have served and are serving, insofar as they're also Defence personnel. The stories that came out of the commission were very difficult for normal, average, everyday citizens to comprehend. The hurt, the experiences—if they lead to better outcomes for those who wear the uniform, then that absolutely is worth it. The Chief of the Defence Force, the Secretary of the Department of Defence and the Secretary of DVA all made statements on the release of the government's response. A task force was established to support the functions of the royal commission while the inquiry was still underway. The number of documents and volumes that ended up leading to those 122 recommendations were voluminous—as they needed to be. I represent an electorate which has all three arms of Defence in my hometown of Wagga Wagga. The colonel of the 1st Recruit Training Battalion, Colonel Gerard Kearns, takes his job very seriously. I've said on a number of occasions that I believe he has the most important job in Defence. I appreciate that the CDF probably think they do, but I think that if you are in charge of the base where they are recruiting people and turning ordinary, everyday Australians into something quite special—continuing that tradition of the long line of khaki—then you are the most important person in Defence, and I stand by that belief. We also have RAAF Base Wagga. We have, with the Forest Hill airbase, a Navy presence of around 80 officers. That's significant, given we're a long, long way from the nearest drop of sea water. But Wagga Wagga is a garrison city, and it's very proud of its Defence roots. May that heritage lead to the longevity of those bases, which, I appreciate, we are very much updating with nearly $1.5 billion of infrastructure investment at the moment. The government is to be commended for continuing that investment that was announced and initially funded by a coalition government. It's important because our Defence people have to have modern support bases, modern infrastructure and modern equipment. I also commend Bob and Gladys Bak at Bethungra. They run the Integrated Servicepeople's Association, helping veterans. Anybody who helps veterans is a good person—good of heart, well-intentioned. I do thank those two, who have been deservedly recognised with OAMs in the past for the work that they do. We say 'TYFYS'—thank you for your service. Those words should not be meaningless; they should be words with purpose, meaning and impact. That's what, hopefully, will occur with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. I don't want to make too much of a political point about this, but I am, again, disappointed by the Defence Amendment (Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal) Bill 2025 passing through the House of Representatives last night. I think that disrespects our service people. They should have longer for that medallic recognition. They don't go out to serve to win tin that they can wear on Anzac Day or Remembrance Day, as proud an experience as that is. They do it for the country, and that piece of legislation should never have passed the parliament. But, again, thank you for your service to all those veterans, and I commend this update. 11:19 Mr MONCRIEFF 316540 Hughes There is no more important task assigned to the federal government than ensuring the safety and security of the Australian people, and there's no more important element of Australia's defence capability than the people who serve in our Defence Force. Every member of the Australian Defence Force should be safe in the knowledge that, whatever may happen in service, they and their families will be looked after and acknowledged by a grateful nation. Australians expect them to be looked after. This is evident in the turnout we see each year at the Anzac Day dawn services. I've been going to the Engadine Anzac Day dawn services since I was a kid, and it's always amazing to see how many people turn out and how many people are passionate about ensuring our veterans are acknowledged each year. But the expectation that they are looked after is not one that's always been met. It is our nation's duty to empower and support the mental health and wellbeing of our defence and veteran community. During the world wars, my family served in the defence forces. Sidda Black, my great-grandfather, was injured on the Western Front during the First World War. Sidda came back with physical scars that stayed with him for the rest of his life. Of course, we now have a better understanding of the other forms of harm that are inflicted upon our Defence Force personnel during their service. In my electorate of Hughes, 3,640 people had served in the Australian Defence Force as of 2022. I want to honour and acknowledge that service and thank them for all they have done for our country. I am privileged to represent in this place the Holsworthy Barracks, covering almost 20,000 hectares and comprising one of the Army's major defence presences in New South Wales. It's home to a number of Army and tri-service training institutions as well as various regular and reserve Army units, and it's also the staging location for domestic operations in New South Wales. In June I was lucky enough to attend the barracks and celebrate some of the newest graduates of the Army's School of Military Engineering with the Deputy Prime Minister. These young people represent great hope for the future of the Australian Defence Force. It is no small feat for them to put their hand up to serve their nation. We want Australians to be attracted to serving our nation in the Australian Defence Force and confident that they and their families will be supported by their leaders, their mates and the broader defence organisation. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established in 2021, and it heard from thousands of current and former serving Defence members and families, particularly the families of those who are no longer here to speak for themselves. It heard of systems that were broken, of a culture that was toxic and of not enough being done to support our personnel during and after service. We've heard those calls, and we've acted. The royal commission released an interim report in 2022 containing recommendations they deemed the most urgent, and we acted on them. This government has cleared the unallocated compensation claims at DVA so that new claims are reviewed within 14 days. We've legislated the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2025, the VETS Act, to simplify the veteran compensation system that will kick in next year, overhauling the complex system that causes confusion and frustration and which the royal commission identified as a contributor to suicidality among our veteran community. This will mean all veteran claims are assessed for compensation and rehabilitation under a single piece of legislation that will be simpler to use and allow faster processing. This is the most significant reform of support to veterans in a century. As a result, we are able to better provide the services and supports the veteran community needs when and where they need them. In September last year, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide released its final report. It contained seven volumes and 122 recommendations. It was harrowing reading. This government was tasked with effecting a once-in-a-generation opportunity for cultural change and reform. By December, the Albanese government responded, and we agreed or agreed in principle to 104 recommendations, noting 17 for further work. In my first speech in this place I noted how proud I am to be a part of the government that has agreed to these. The royal commission's final report contains several significant recommendations related to sexual violence in the Australian Defence Force. Defence is taking decisive and immediate action to strengthen the way we respond to sexual violence within the ADF. I have spoken to women within the service who have been directly affected by this, and for whom the effects of it are ongoing. Recommendation 15 from the report has been implemented through an updated central policy on sexual misconduct. It now provides clearer, more consistent guidance for commanders and managers. It outlines when to engage the Joint Military Police Unit and how to determine whether conduct may constitute a criminal offence, and it introduces structured return-to-work protocols for those impacted by misconduct. While the military justice system serves a distinct function, ADF personnel are also subject to civilian law, and Defence's policies must reflect that accountability. In the same month as the release of the final report, we established the royal commission implication taskforce within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to oversee the development of comprehensive and considered advice on implementing the response to the royal commission. We listened to our service members and the veteran community, establishing an independent taskforce to drive implementation rather than offering empty platitudes. At the beginning of August, nine recommendations had already been fully implemented, and there are a further 110 on the way. There is of course still a lot of work to come to implement the recommendations of the royal commission, but, a year on from the final report, we're making good progress. However, the government has not limited itself just to the work coming from the royal commission. We set about improving supports for defence personnel, veterans and families before the work of the royal commission was complete. We're better supporting people in service, and we're seeing more people choose to stay in the ADF for longer as a result. We've also expanded our network of Veterans' and Families' Hubs, so people can access support close to home. A common theme throughout the royal commission was discussion on difficulties engaging with both the Department of Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs, in relation to information access. While the implementation of recommendations 9 to 13 of the interim report has significantly improved this, there is still more to do. Engaging with the Department of Veterans' Affairs has also not been as straightforward as it should be for the veteran community, and mechanisms like the DVA website were perhaps more of a barrier to providing useful information than a useful tool. I am really pleased that today the new and improved DVA website has gone live. It's more user-friendly, and includes a first of its kind for the federal government: an AI search tool that will actively answer questions from veterans on the supports and services they can and should receive. The royal commission's task for us as a government was no small feat, but we have no doubt that its delivery will ensure the most comprehensive reforms to the systems, processes and culture that support defence personnel, veterans and families ever undertaken in Australia. The implementation of these reforms from the royal commission is not a nice-to-have; it is vital in ensuring that defence personnel, veterans and families receive the care, services and support that they not only need but deserve. We will continue to take actions that are not easy but that are right and essential. We'll take action on the royal commission as quickly as we can. It's our duty to those who have answered the call to defend our country. It's the least we can do to repay their commitment and sacrifices for Australia. I want to thank all of our veterans who might be listening to this today, and listening to us discuss these matters, and I acknowledge all their service and their commitment to this country. 11:27 Ms WATSON-BROWN 300127 Ryan The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide received nearly 6,000 submissions and conducted 900 private sessions. It's a once-in-a-generation opportunity; it cannot gather dust. It cannot be treated the way other recommendations and reports have been, with their reform efforts quashed by Defence. I must express profound gratitude for the advice and time that so many in the veteran community have given to this commission, and to subsequent related bills and inquiries, in helping us understand the complex and interconnected challenges faced by veterans and their families. I am also very grateful for the work of veterans and advocates in the Ryan community, many of whom I've met. Ryan is home to the Army's Enoggera Barracks, and a large ADF and veteran community. Many in this community have shared moving stories with me of their experiences. Some remarkable veterans in my community—I'm very, very proud of this—are working tirelessly to seek support and justice for their very deserving comrades. One absolutely non-negotiable recommendation that must be implemented is for a standalone statutory entity that oversees and drives the systemwide reform that this report calls for. I'm pleased that there is now support for standalone legislation for a truly independent commission, and the Greens are ready to work with the government on that. The commission, its report and those who contributed to it deserve more than just lip service. We need to be honest about the challenges, and continue on the path of respect and deep listening for this community. That is how we can change the lives of veterans for the better, and that must be our collective goal. We know there are deep cultural issues in the ADF that are contributing to these tragic outcomes. The culture of silence and military values are fuelling suicide risk, and Defence leadership must be held accountable for failures to address that culture. These cultural issues ripple across our society, particularly for families and veterans. After losing loved ones or dealing with the fallout of a cruel system, families are often forced to navigate a cold and careless system and set of processes. It's a real credit to the veterans community and the families of veterans that this commission was secured in the first place. We owe it to all of those involved, and the loved ones that they have lost, to implement the recommendations. Finally, I want to highlight that the goal of the commission must be no more suicides. I'll quote Julie-Ann Finney: … we have to go for zero suicides because, if we don't, we're not doing our best. It's as simple as that. It doesn't matter what the answer is to that. We have to go for zero. 11:30 Mr BURNELL 300129 Spence It gives me great pleasure to stand and speak today not just as a veteran but also as one of the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Veterans. I want to go back to a moment in time I shared with the Deputy Prime Minister just recently at the Mark Oliphant College. I got asked a question by some students about what shaped me and my journey to politics. I sat there and thought about the question that had been posed to me. After much reflection since I've been elected to this place, I realised my time wearing our nation's uniform really formed the basis for everything I've done following enlistment. For, me my enlistment happened in December 1996. It was an extremely joyous period in my life. I'd just finished high school. My mates, who I'd been through primary school and high school with, were all sitting down, and we made a decision to enlist together. In January and February of 1997—maybe not so smart—we headed off to Puckapunyal and completed our basic training as enlistees to the Australia Army Reserves. And it started a learning process for me that helped shape me into the person that I am today, something that I'm extremely grateful for. The reason why I want to start there, and start with that explanation, is, as rightfully the member for Riverina said earlier, not all veterans are broken. We must see through the scars and see the skills that our veterans have. There are some fine contributions that have been made by veterans, not just in this chamber but across our great country, post service. But the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide did uncover a lot of alarming facts. I am one of those people who have had good mates that I served with commit suicide on discharge or not long after. I have watched some of my mates really struggle with PTSD after their service overseas. And, unfortunately, they had been left waiting when they most needed support. That's why I'm so buoyed by the support that's now being put in place ensuring that we talk about veteran wellbeing from the day you enlist. When I enlisted, your discharge was never talked about; it was far off in the distance. It was a never-never. 'It's not going to happen to me.' I discharged after three years of service. I had friends who discharged after one year of service under medical reasons. It's when you discharge—when you least expect it—that things start to come down on top of you. And that's when we see things spiral out of control, often because it's never been a realisation that we need support. So I'm extremely encouraged by the fact that we are going to start talking about the process to civilian life following your time in uniform, as a key focus of the findings from the royal commission. I do want to take special note of a very special person, who was sitting in the chamber, in the House of Representatives, earlier this morning whilst the minister gave his address—and that is Julie-Ann Finney, who is a remarkable South Australian, with a remarkable son, David. She really has been a shining light in ensuring that this royal commission got off the ground, and she has seen it through. She has turned up time and time again in this place to make sure that this royal commission delivered outcomes to prevent suicide and a lack of support from being the norm for our ex-service personnel. I want to say to Julie-Ann Finney: thank you for everything you've done, thank you for being here today and thank you for everything that you will do in the future, because I know that you are not going to stop. You are making a huge difference and it does need to be acknowledged in this chamber. I have the very great pleasure of being in a chamber with quite a number of ex-serving personnel on both sides of the chamber and on the crossbench. I think it does help when we have these types of discussions to have that type of experience from all sectors of the chamber to ensure that accountability and delivery of the findings happen. One of those findings was the backlog of claims—approximately 41,000 when we came to government in 2022. To hear today that we have cleared that backlog completely and are reviewing claims within 14 days sends a really clear signal to our veterans that they are valued and we are providing all the right levels of support to make sure that their claims matter and are of the highest priority for this government. The Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act will also go to assisting this process. It helps simplify what has been an extremely complicated rehabilitation compensation scheme for veterans. When we go out to our RSLs across our electorates, the first thing we hear is about a veteran who has gone through delay after delay after delay to get the help that they need. They haven't been able to get a decision to be able to move forward and get the treatment that they desperately need, or they have had to go into significant financial hardship to get treatment just so they can stay on their own two feet and carve out a living. The simplification of these rehabilitation acts is massive—it will make a huge difference for so many veterans moving into the future. I can't wait for next year when this new act goes live. It's going to make life so much better for our veterans—and so it should. When the final report was handed down last year—seven volumes, 122 recommendations, a lot of work—we agreed in principle or agreed to 104 of the recommendations, noting 17 for further work. We established in December the Royal Commission Implementation Taskforce within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to oversee the development of comprehensive and considered advice on implementing the response to the royal commission. At the beginning of August this year, nine recommendations were fully implemented, and there are a further 110 under way. We are making headway—we're getting there—but we've got a lot more work to do. The new Defence and Veterans' Services Commission will be up and running by the end of September, a significant step in the right direction. We are recruiting the inaugural Defence and Veterans' Services Commissioner. This appointment will drive systemic change, and champion the wellbeing of serving and ex-serving ADF members across government and the ex-service community. It will also introduce standalone legislation to ensure its independence and enhance oversight of implementation. I want to talk about defence and veteran mental health wellbeing briefly in the limited time I have left. This is such a big subject matter that it's hard to fit it into 10 minutes. When I think about veteran mental health and wellbeing, I think about my family and veteran wellbeing hub that we've just recently opened in my electorate of Spence at the Playford health precinct. It has been an absolute game changer for my community. We have RAAF Base Edinburgh, which sits right at the heart of my electorate. It has brought out ex-service organisations together. It has given us the ability to provide critical services to veterans and their families when they need them most. It really is making a huge difference. When I met with the team from Lives Lived Well down there two weeks ago, the information was clear: this is working, this is helping veterans and it is making a huge difference for their families. 11:40 Mr ROB MITCHELL M3E McEwen This is a very important day for our broader nation and what's happening with the defence royal commission. We know that people who are in our Defence Force and their families are so important. We owe a lot to them, and we can never say thanks enough. It's important that, when we bring people into the ADF, we make sure that they are looked after. We make sure that they get everything they need. Particularly on finishing their service, we should make sure that the right thing is done by them. We know that this has been an issue in the past. We know that veterans went through a long period of time during the former government where at one stage over a thousand claims were sitting on the minister desk unopened. We know that veterans came to us saying that the problem they were having was with DVA in the previous government. The words that really haunt me still are the veterans' view when it comes to DVA and supporting veterans was 'delay, deny, die'. That was what veterans believed was happening. They believed that they were constantly being delayed and denied, and some took the worst-case scenario out. It was something that we had to fix, so we worked extremely hard to push for the royal commission into veteran suicide. We know the issues, and I've met Julie-Ann Finney myself a few times—lovely lady. She is suffering quite a lot with what's happened to her, and she is not alone; there are lots of others like that. When you talk to people through the veterans community, you know that, for a range of reasons, this is not uncommon. It's why governments need to act and do the right thing. If someone put their life on the line to defend our nation, our values and everything we believe in, you have an absolute obligation to make sure that, if they're broken, you look after them. You make sure that, if they've got problems, you fix them and you give them the support that they need. As I said, this was something that never happened, and I was a bit miffed this morning listening to the shadow minister talk. I think about what issues were caused during the time that he was minister. Why were things not done quicker and faster? Why were these things that we all stand here and say we should address not addressed? It's not the right thing. Now we have taken the royal commission and we are going through all the different recommendations, implementing them in principle and actually committing to seeing outcomes done that actually help our veterans and their families, because it is important. You can't speak enough of the importance of what veterans should expect from us. We heard of systems that were toxic and broken and heard that not enough was being done to support personnel during and after their service, and we have acted on those calls. With the many thousands of people that we've spoken to about this when we go to RSLs and talk to them, the No. 1 thing that keeps coming back is that we are just getting nowhere. We are really just pushing it uphill, but no-one is listening. Well, we listen. We made the commitment that we would listen, and we are acting on that and getting things done. In September last year, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide released its final report. It was seven volumes and had 122 recommendations. I know that when I went to the Doreen RSL, they wanted a copy of it. They wanted to see what was there, because so many of their members have issues that they have faced from their time in service and the problems that happened with that. I took this quote from former minister Gee, who was the Minister for Veterans' Affairs in the Morrison government: when he asked for more money, he threatened to resign because he believed we needed to do more. And he was right. But the response from the former government was the government was only prioritising funding to those that had a political advantage, and they're words that should turn everyone's stomach. That's what he said, on 29 May 2024. It should not have happened. It's not about prioritising funding; it's about doing the right thing. I know from my own time being in this place working with the DART, the Defence Abuse Response Taskforce, the problems that have happened there. I've had veterans come to me with tonnes of paperwork showing the abuse they had in the Defence Force. They've sat in front of DVA and been told, with the minister—of both colours—that it never happened. But, when you produce the military medical professionals reports and the military police reports that all show it did happen, two weeks after that meeting—this is after veterans have been fighting for 12 or 18 months—suddenly DVA says, 'Oh, yes, it did happen. We will do that; we'll pay to take you to a psychologist because you've been abused. But we won't pay the psychologist.' The idiocy of that had to stop. I know that some of my friends have been more brave and courageous than I could imagine by bringing forward their sexual abuse in the Defence Force. Hearing their harrowing stories and what that's done to their lives is phenomenal. This is why what we're doing today and what we're doing with the royal commission is so important. We have to stop this from happening again. We can't have these situations happen. Men and women go into the Defence Force to serve our nation, and they do it well. They don't need to be keeping an eye on their backs the entire time. That's why it is so important we do these accommodations. That's why it is important that we have these systems in place—to make sure that, when they put on that uniform, they know their government has their back and they know they're going to be safe. They put themselves in harm's way enough without having to worry about what's behind. We know that for a lot of the situations we deal with there are issues in the way of the tribunals working. These things have been overcomplicated and made very difficult. I really congratulate Minister Keogh for doing something that no-one else has done. He has worked excessively hard to make sure that our veterans' entitlements are paid in a timely manner and that they get what they're entitled to. Again, I go back to those harrowing words: delay, deny and die. No more should that happen. When you look at how we've been working through this in the 12 months since the royal commission report, you see we are continually working to improve the situations for veterans and our defence personnel. We made a commitment that we would fix these things when we called the royal commission. I give credit to Senator Lambie, who was very vocal as well. To get this done is so important. What it shows is that we do value our veterans, we do value our defence personnel and we're actually stumping up to show that. They're not hollow words. They're not words about trying to find a political advantage. It's about actually doing the right thing. I think about when my grandfather came back with shell shock. He got the hard nut: 'You'll be right. Out you go.' Like many veterans of World War II and many veterans of Vietnam, he took the hard way out through the bottom of a bottle, and that's not right. We've all got to pull our socks up and really work hard to get this done, but we've taken these first steps on the journey to fixing that. No more should we hear of the Julie-Ann Finneys of the world. I want to give a big shout-out to Jeb Summers, a young bloke from the seat of Hawke. He was in McEwen, but, unfortunately, the AEC downgraded him to Hawke. He runs Save our Services. He stood at an Anzac Day ceremony and threatened to hand back his medals—that was shocking—because he couldn't get the support. Now he gets that. He's running these great programs for veterans refusing to deal with mental health and he's supporting people. But veterans threatening to give back their medals because they feel their country isn't helping them is not on. It's got to be stopped. That's why I've continued to push and fight to get as much done as we can as quickly as we can to help these people. As I said at the beginning, when we ask them to put on a uniform to do things for our country, it is our obligation to make sure that, when they return and finish their service, we look after them. 11:50 Mr GOSLING 245392 Solomon Australians mostly understand that service and sacrifice are the hallmarks of our ADF veterans, their families and community. As a fourth-generation veteran, I had the great honour of being appointed by the Prime Minister as the Special Envoy for Defence, Veterans' Affairs and Northern Australia. As a result of that, I have many opportunities to meet with ADF members, veterans, their families, ex-service organisations and other people that come into contact with this community of outstanding patriotic Australians. To give you an example, this morning I was honoured to represent the minister at the Australian War Memorial to lay a wreath with the Australian Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex Service Men and Women. I was there with the Chief of the Defence Force and Matt Anderson, the Director of the Australian War Memorial. I thank them for facilitating the wonderful event in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and then to see the names that have been added in recent times to our honour roll to mark those who were killed on operations. Before that, I attended the launch of Bravery Trek, a national fundraising challenge held every year by Bravery Trust. It was wonderful to see my good friend and former not-quite-classmate—she was a second-year when I was a first-year at the academy— Lieutenant General Susan Coyle. It was great to walk with her this morning and Khalil Fegan, our repat commissioner. I want to say well done to Steve Patrick and the whole team at Bravery Trust, who are raising vital funds through Bravery Trek to provide a financial safety net for current and ex-serving members facing hardship. They also do longer term financial counselling and proactive financial literacy programs. Also, this morning I attended a launch of the strengthened partnership between Invictus Australia and the University of New South Wales. I'm continually impressed by the way Invictus is leading the world in terms of its programs. I want to give a shout-out and thank the chair, Glenn Keys, and the whole Invictus team. It was great to talk to the vice-chancellor at UNSW, my alma mater. It was great to understand more about how they're recognising current competencies and prior learning in the military and helping defence members to move as they transition—or a long time after they've transitioned—with that commitment to lifelong learning and with the skills that are inherent in anyone who's served in the military by way of the values that are instilled and the passion to get after it, whatever it may be. I encourage all veterans, wherever you can, to look for mentoring opportunities where you can assist those who are working through that period of transition, so we can have more veterans working across the various sectors of our economy, including the Public Service, and so you can share your leadership with them. Tomorrow morning I'll be attending the Royal Australian Navy Recruit School graduation at HMAS Cerberus down in chilly coastal Victoria. I'm looking forward to that. My brother, Xavier, graduated from HMAS Cerberus about a quarter of a century ago. I look forward to the opportunity to talk to those naval recruits becoming sailors tomorrow morning—after talking to Admiral Johnston, the Chief of the Defence Force, at the Australian War Memorial this morning—and learn more from them about how our ADF is positioned to take on the challenges that we ask them to take on. Serving is the greatest purpose one can have in life, in my view. Serving the family, serving the community and serving the nation. We want Australians to be attracted to serving our nation in the Australian Defence Force, in our national intelligence organisations, Australian Border Force and, for that matter, our first responders—anywhere there is a need for good people serving the common good. I am also always talking to families so they understand that we pushed for and eventually had a royal commission, which is the subject of this morning's speech. The cultural deficiencies that were there and that led to unnecessary and unavoidable suffering by members of the ADF and veteran community are being addressed. It is with confidence that I say to families that you can be assured that the ADF of today and of the future is much more about supporting the individual to be a team member and to complete the mission, but also to be set up for a happy and successful life. That is my main message to family members and to those thinking about serving in the Australian Defence Force. We needed a royal commission, and we fought for it so hard and are now getting after those recommendations, because anyone who serves in the ADF should know their nation will do everything it can to provide the conditions for success, for one, and it will also provide the support that is only fit and proper for a grateful nation. It's our nation's duty to empower and support the mental health and wellbeing of our defence, veterans and families communities and to look after them. Many others have said this, and I acknowledge all those who have contributed to this debate. There was an interim report of the royal commission in 2022 containing recommendations, and we started getting after those recommendations when we came to government. There was a backlog at DVA that we've acted to fix. We've legislated around the overhauling of complex systems and harmonised legislation. We're at a year now since the royal commission was handed down, with seven volumes and 122 recommendations. It's really important that we have a continued sense of urgency in the implementation of those recommendations. We've established an implementation taskforce within PM&C. At the beginning of August, nine recommendations had already been fully implemented, with a further 110 underway. The establishment of an oversight body is important. The new Defence and Veterans' Services Commission will be up and running by the end of September. It will provide—as I'm sure many others have mentioned—oversight and evidence based advice that drives systematic reform to improve suicide prevention and wellbeing outcomes for the Defence and veterans community. We are currently recruiting for the inaugural Defence and Veterans' Services Commissioner through a merit based recruitment process. The commissioner will have significant independent investigative powers into veteran supports and the progress of implementation of the recommendations from the royal commission—and that is important. Today we released the Defence and Veteran Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. That is important as well. We're doing everything we can, as we should. 12:00 Ms COFFEY 312323 Griffith As we approach World Suicide Prevention Day next week, it's important to reflect on what we have learned from the recent Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide and the progress we, as a government, have made. On 8 July 2021, the Australian government established the royal commission. The inquiry, which concluded on 28 August last year, examined systemic issues and common themes in past deaths by suicide of Australian Defence Force members and veterans. Importantly, this included suspected suicides and the lived experience of suicide risk. The royal commission delivered its interim report on 11 August 2022, and the final report was delivered in September last year. I sincerely thank those serving and ex-serving personnel and their families who bravely shared their stories with the royal commission. Anyone who has read the report has encountered heartbreaking and devastating stories of anguish and loss. I say to those who spoke up that your courage and your commitment have provided us all with an opportunity to learn and strengthen how we, as the federal government, approach the mental health and welfare of current serving members, veterans and, as importantly, their families. Last year, the Albanese government released the Defence and Veteran Family Wellbeing Strategy. This delivers on Labor's commitment to identify ways to better support the families of Defence personnel and veterans, and it will further assist in responding to the royal commission. Delivering the strategy will help families to access appropriate housing solutions, offer greater certainty around locations for Defence Force personnel and their families, and provide better support during and after transition for ADF families. I listened with great interest—and, to be frank, quite a bit of pride—this morning as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs, the Hon. Matt Keogh, updated the House on the progress that has been made since the royal commission and its final report. I'm fortunate to have some unique insight into the impact of Defence life on children and families. Before running as a candidate for my electorate of Griffith and stepping into this place as a member of parliament, I was the CEO of the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation. Kookaburra Kids was founded by Dianne Madden more than 20 years ago to support young people impacted by family mental illness, with the aim of empowering them to build resilience and lifelong knowledge and abilities so that they can reach their potential. Kookaburra Kids also supports the children of currently and formerly serving Australian Defence Force personnel through the Defence Kids program. The Department of Veterans' Affairs funds this foundation to deliver Defence Kids across Australia. The organisation provides camps, activity days and age-appropriate mental health education, focusing on coping skills and resilience, while allowing children to bond with peers who are facing similar challenges. For Defence families, challenges can be vast. Relocation challenges and, for children, the challenges of making new friends, changing schools, parental absence—missing mum or dad—and, sometimes, dealing with the impacts of mental ill health within families, which might look like depression, anxiety or PTSD. Through camps, activity days and online programs, these young people find connection and community. They meet peers who understand the challenges of relocations, deployments, or having a parent affected by service. This unique program is supporting the unique needs of children from serving and ex-serving ADF families, and it has been made possible by the Australian government. The most impactful story that I encountered in my work with the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation involved two little boys, not much older than eight years old. I was at a camp where these boys were participating in a chat group, which is where mental health literacy is taught to young people. One of our supervisors was sharing information about different mental health conditions to raise these children's awareness of them, and they started to speak about PTSD and what that can look like for somebody experiencing it. One of the symptoms that was shared with the young people was an aversion to and a sensitivity to loud noises. One of the little boys was very distracted. He was playing with little fidget toys and was very much focused on something else, I thought. Another little boy spoke up and said, 'When my dad's home, we have to be really, really quiet. We can't make any noises,' and this other little boy who I thought wasn't paying attention looked up, as sharp as anything, and said, 'Me too.' It's those connections that children form with Kookaburra Kids and the knowledge that they gain about mental health that really empower them to go on and understand their family dynamics and how we can break cycles of mental ill health. Our service men and women willingly stand ready to protect our nation, sometimes far from home, with their families adapting to frequent moves and managing everything that comes with the deployment. They contribute so much, and families carry hidden sacrifices every day. It's only right that we stand beside these families, not just with gratitude but with tangible, meaningful support. In my own electorate of Griffith, I see firsthand the extraordinary work being done to support our veterans and their families. Gallipoli Medical Research is based in my electorate of Griffith and is leading world-class research into the mental health and wellbeing of our veterans. I want to acknowledge the work of Miriam Kent, their fabulous CEO, and her team. Their work on PTSD, transition and long-term health impacts is giving us insights that shape policy and improve lives. I've had the privilege of visiting the foundation multiple times over the last year, once with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and again with my colleague and good friend Luke Gosling OAM, the member for Solomon, who just addressed this place. He's a fourth-generation veteran and also special envoy for defence and veterans. Each visit to the Gallipoli centre has been a reminder of the commitment and compassion that drive their work, and this year it was my great honour to commemorate Anzac Day at a very wet dawn service at Gallipoli Medical Research. The service reinforced just how deeply their research is connected to the stories, the service and the sacrifice of our defence community. I want also to pay tribute to Legacy Brisbane, headquartered in South Brisbane, in my electorate. Legacy Brisbane supports almost 4,000 family members of fallen and injured veterans across South-East, Central and western Queensland. They work to make a tangible difference to children, partners and ageing parents, ensuring that no-one is left behind. I especially want to thank Legacy Brisbane CEO Brendan Cox and his whole team for their tireless service and relentless advocacy. The compassion, respect and practical support that they provide is extraordinary. We know there is so much more work to do. Too many families still struggle to access timely, appropriate support, but we are making progress. Veterans claims are being processed faster, more people are choosing to stay in the ADF for longer and our veterans and families hubs are expanding so that support is closer to home. The royal commission tasked us with nothing less than a once-in-a-generation reform, and that is exactly what we are delivering. As the minister outlined this morning, we are not limiting ourselves to just the work of the royal commission. We are already seeing more people choose to stay longer as a result and we have expanded our veterans and families hubs so people can access their support close to home. We're working hard to ensure we achieve the most comprehensive reforms to the systems, processes and culture to support Defence personnel, veterans and families ever undertaken in Australia. Implementing these reforms from the royal commission is vital to ensuring that Defence personnel, veterans and also families receive vital care, services and support. I stand here not just as a parliamentarian but as someone who has walked alongside families in this space in my career prior to coming to this place. I have found it an enormous honour in my career to have been able to work with those families and with those children and their parents. I see everything that they give up to support our country, and it is right that we support them in return. I know the difference that that support can make, and I have also seen firsthand the cost when it is absent. Our task is clear: to serve those who serve, to honour those who sacrifice and to ensure that no family ever feels alone. Together, with the voices of lived experience guiding us, we will continue this vitally important work for our Defence personnel, for veterans and for their families. As our minister said this morning, it is not just what they need; it is what they deserve. 12:09 Mr THISTLETHWAITE 182468 Kingsford Smith On the one-year anniversary of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide's final report, I wish to pay tribute to the families of those who lost their lives in the service of our nation and to veterans for their commitment to putting on the agenda the plight of those who served our nation and unfortunately took their own lives. Those that campaigned for the royal commission deserve our recognition today. We, of course, remember all of those who have passed, and we think about their loved ones. There's an expectation from the Australian community that we look after our Defence Force members and veterans, but, for too long, that wasn't the reality. We were tasked by the royal commission with effecting once-in-a-generation cultural change and reform, and our government has been working at pace to implement the royal commission's recommendations that will ensure the most comprehensive reforms to the systems, processes and culture that support Defence Force personnel, veterans and families ever undertaken in Australia. We're doing this not only because it's the right thing to do but because our Defence Force personnel and veterans have risked their lives in the defence of our nation and deserve better. It's also a crucial component of building a defence force that people want to join, want to serve in and want to stay in. We've already legislated for the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission, an independent oversight body that the royal commission deemed their most important recommendation. That will be formally up and running later this month. Where changes were able to be made immediately, we've done so. Our priority is to improve the wellbeing of our people from the day they sign up to long after they've hung up their uniform for the last time. We want to strengthen suicide prevention and drive better outcomes for current and former serving personnel, making sure we're supporting them in ways they not only need but deserve. I'd like to outline some of the outstanding work that's been done by Open Arms, the veterans and families counselling service, and also point out that people can contact Open Arms at any stage if they're struggling and need support. Our veterans make sacrifices in the service of their country, and they put their lives on the line to protect the rest of us. I want to thank Open Arms and their staff for their unwavering support to veterans and their families. Specialist staff are trained to provide military aware and trauma informed care at Open Arms, and many Open Arms staff are veterans themselves or from veterans' families. Open Arms was established by Vietnam veterans as the Vietnam Veterans Counselling Service. That conflict was a lengthy conflict and a contentious one, and many of those who returned to Australia from Vietnam struggled. From that experience, a dedicated group of Vietnam veterans banded together to lobby for a dedicated support service that's now grown into Open Arms and is doing fantastic work. Since 1982, Open Arms has provided millions of free mental health sessions for more than 300,000 veterans and their families. I also want to congratulate the family advocate that works in the Defence Force as well. We recently appointed Annabelle Wilson as the Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner for five years. This is an important role. Ms Wilson is the widow of a veteran and a respected champion for the veteran community, recognised for her empathy, drive and evidence based approach. The job of a veteran family advocate commissioner is a vital one which continues to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The commissioner is tasked with giving voice to veterans and their families, providing strategic policy advice and fostering cooperation between government agencies and the veteran community. The Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner is a member of both the Repatriation Commission and the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission, which oversee and administer the veteran and family entitlement schemes. I want to pay tribute to the former veteran family advocate commissioner, Gwen Cherne. I want to thank Ms Cherne for her steadfast determination and her work on behalf of veterans. When I was the assistant defence minister, I worked very closely with Ms Cherne. She's a person who has a deep understanding of the plight of families that have been wracked by suicides of Defence Force members, given that her own husband, unfortunately, took his own life in the wake of his service. Gwen has devoted her life to assisting those veterans and their families to cope with service and ensuring that they get the best support and mental health services, which they deserve and require. I want to thank Gwen for her steadfast commitment to veterans and their families throughout this country and her sterling job in that role. Earlier this year, the government reappointed Kahlil Fegan as Australia's Repatriation Commissioner for another five years. Kahlil is also someone I worked very closely with as the assistant defence minister. Since his appointment in 2023, he's lent his voice to fellow veterans, ensuring that they're heard on issues that matter to them. In that role as the Repatriation Commissioner, Kahlil, working with the RSL, has established the Middle East Area of Operations Scoping Study to look at the impact of service in the Middle East since 2002 on our veterans and their families. For each major conflict that Australia has been involved in, there has been some form of study or investigation into the effects that that service has had on veterans and their families. We did it after World War II, we did it after Vietnam, and it is the right time for us to do this again to ensure that the government, the Defence Force and veteran support organisations are responsive to the needs of veterans who served in the Middle East since 2002. It's important to point out that the needs of veterans change through the generations. The needs of Vietnam veterans will be very different to the needs of this generation, and the purpose of this scoping study is to make sure that we understand what those needs are and we can deal with them into the future. As Repatriation Commissioner, Kahlil will continue to engage with and advocate for veterans to ensure that they receive high-quality services from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. I also want to thank, and highlight the unbelievable advocacy of, Julie-Ann Finney, whose 38-year-old son, Royal Australian Navy Petty Officer David Finney, died by suicide in 2019. Ms Finney played a crucial role in the establishment of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. She campaigned day in, day out, hour after hour, to ensure that her son's service and memory meant something and that our government responded. She also shared her deeply personal story when the royal commission's public hearings opened in May 2023. In my previous role as assistant minister, I worked quite closely with Ms Finney, and I pay tribute to her again for her advocacy. She is a wonderful Australian, and she deserves our praise. The royal commission's task for us as a government is no small feat, but we have no doubt that delivery of this task is vitally important and will ensure the most comprehensive set of reforms to the systems, the culture and the processes of the Defence Force and our veteran support organisations. Implementing these reforms from the royal commission is a priority for our government and will ensure that our Defence Force personnel and veterans and their families get the service and support that they deserve for serving our nation. 12:19 Ms BERRY 23497 Whitlam I have a strong personal interest in this issue. My maternal grandfather fought in the Borneo campaign towards the end of World War II, an operation conducted to liberate British North Borneo, as it was then called, from occupation by Japanese forces. My great uncle also served in World War II, including as part of the Kokoda campaign fought in Papua New Guinea. For both these men, particularly my grandfather, the scars left by those experiences affected them and their broader families for the rest of their lives. Tragically, the pain and anguish my relatives suffered, mostly in silence, after they returned home was similar to the internal battles faced by so many other veterans. In more recent times we have recognised that we have a duty to support the mental health and wellbeing of our defence and veteran community. The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established in 2021, and I note the substantial contribution of Senator Lambie, who joined with us to secure its establishment. The royal commission heard from thousands of current and former defence members and families—importantly, this included the families of those who were not there to speak for themselves. These stories were frequently heartbreaking. It was clear that systems were broken and not enough was being done to support our personnel both during and after their service. The royal commission released an interim report in August 2022, and this contained a list of urgent recommendations. I am pleased to say that the Labor government acted on all of them. We have cleared the unallocated compensation claims backlog, which included 41,000 cases that had been waiting to be actioned. We have ensured that new claims are now being looked at by someone in the Department of Veterans' Affairs within 14 days of being submitted. We are making good progress speeding up the system, with new liability claims under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 being processed in around 100 days. We engaged with a range of stakeholders, and after hundreds of discussions we were able to pass the Veterans' Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Act 2024 in February this year. This legislation simplifies the complex veteran composition system that too often causes confusion and frustration, and which was identified by royal commission as a contributor to suicidality amongst veterans. The new legislation means that all veterans' claims will be assessed for compensation and rehabilitation under a single piece of legislation that will be simpler to use and faster to process. In September last year the royal commission released its final report with 122 recommendations. Within three months, the Albanese Labor government agreed or agreed in principle to 104 of those recommendations, and we are committed to conducting further work on the other recommendations. In December 2024 we established the royal commission implementation taskforce to oversee the development of comprehensive and considered advice on implementing the response to the royal commission. Significantly, this taskforce sits within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The royal commission recommended that the most significant action the government could take to address defence and veteran suicide was to establish a new statutory oversight body with a dedicated and sustained focus on suicide prevention. We have taken action to establish this as a priority. The new Defence and Veterans' Services Commission will be up and running by the end of this month. It will provide independent oversight and evidence based advice to drive system reform to improve suicide prevention and wellbeing outcomes for the defence and veteran community. In addition, this government has announced $44.5 million in funding over four years for the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission, and we are currently recruiting the inaugural Defence and Veterans' Services Commissioner. The commissioner will have significant independent investigative powers into veterans' supports and progress on implementation of the royal commission's recommendations. This appointment will drive systemic change and champion the wellbeing of serving and ex-serving ADF members across government and the ex-service community. We will also introduce standalone legislation for the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission to ensure its independence and enhance oversight of its implementation. The royal commission identified a need for a holistic approach to wellbeing when supporting defence personnel, veterans and families. Today we have released the Defence and Veteran Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Defence have been working together since 2023 to develop the strategy, together with the mental health and wellbeing action plan and the suicide prevention action plan. The strategy complements the Defence and Veteran Family Wellbeing Strategy 2025-2030, and the Veteran Transition Strategy. These are all key foundational documents for the new wellbeing agency. The strategy unites Defence and the Department of Veterans' Affairs to foster a culture of wellbeing and mental health care. I note that we've provided $4.5 million to the Department of Veterans' Affairs to commence a codesign and consultation process with the veteran community on both the wellbeing agency and an ex-service organisation peak body. A national roadshow has been held throughout this year, and more than 600 people have been consulted. We are now working to finalise the wellbeing agency operating model so that it can be established by the middle of next year. Another important initiative being pursued by the Department of Defence includes a range of preventive measures to minimise exposure to activities with a link to brain injury. Defence is working closely with the Department of Veterans' Affairs to establish a brain injury program to improve prevention, early detection and treatment pathways for current and former ADF members with neurocognitive issues. The royal commission highlighted disturbing failures in the treatment of women across defence and veterans systems. These failures need to be acknowledged with honesty and addressed with urgency. The Albanese government is committed to addressing these failures through the development of the Women Veterans Strategy, a comprehensive plan to ensure both current and former serving personnel are valued and properly supported at every stage of their service and transition to civilian life. This strategy will, either directly or indirectly, implement 52 royal commission recommendations and is being shaped by the voices of the women who have served. It will address core areas such as health care, mental health, financial security, housing and family support, all through a gender informed lens. I note that recommendation 15 has been implemented through an updated central policy on sexual misconduct, which now provides clearer and more consistent guidance for commanders and managers. It outlines when to engage the Joint Military Police unit and how to determine whether conduct may constitute a criminal offence and introduces structured return to work protocols for those who may be impacted by misconduct. Defence is also reviewing and updating key frameworks, including the Defence complaints and resolutions manual, to ensure definitions of sexual offences and reporting pathways are clearly articulated and in line with equivalent civilian provisions. Importantly, ADF prosecution councils are now required to invite impact statements to be considered by a service tribunal during sentencing, aligning military practice with longstanding procedures in civilian courts. In November last year, the Chief of the Defence Force issued a directive that commanders and managers must now consider suspension from duty and involuntary separation of members alleged to have engaged in serious misconduct, including sexual offences, sexual harassment, intimate image abuse and stalking. Overall, these reforms send a clear message that sexual misconduct has no place in our Defence Force. There must be a culture that does not tolerate abuse, that acts decisively when harm occurs and that places the dignity and safety of all members at the centre of our actions. One year after the final report was released, we've made good progress, but we are fully aware there is more important work to do. We want to deliver the most comprehensive reforms ever undertaken in Australia to reform the systems, processes and culture to support defence personnel and veterans and their families. The Albanese Labor government will continue to act on the royal commission's recommendations as quickly as we can. 12:28 Mr CALDWELL 306489 Fadden I rise briefly today to make a contribution on this matter. I want to, firstly, pay tribute to the contributions that have been made on both sides of the chamber on this issue. It's one that I think has been taken extremely seriously by all sides of politics, and there is a genuine and deep recognition of the issues that needed to be resolved. I rise particularly to pay tribute to some local residents that I've got to know very well: John and Robyn Halloran. John and Robyn lost their son, Tom, who served our nation. There was an enormous amount of pain for them and for Tom's sister, Annie, with his loss. The family first came to my attention when the local RSL at Runaway Bay approached me in my capacity as the local councillor to put a small plaque in memorial of Tom at our cenotaph at Runaway Bay. I was moved at the time by the story and by the family's efforts to not have lost Tom in vain. I supported that small gesture. Within a very short period of time, Anzac Day rolled around, and John, Robyn and Annie were there. In that moment, the realisation of their pain hit me quite deeply. I was extremely proud to have played some part in ensuring that Tom's loss was never going to be without a lasting legacy. John, Robyn and Annie, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to you because you have gone and turned your pain into a positive message that we can use as a nation to redirect what happens in the future. This royal commission has played a role in ensuring that the legacy that Tom and you as a family have put forward will not be lost and will not be in vain. Thank you so much. BILLS 109 BILLS Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 109

Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026

Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Second Reading 109 12:32 Ms PAYNE 144732 Canberra I rise in support of the package of appropriation bills. Budget management is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of government. It's about ensuring the resources and the wealth of this nation and its people are managed well. It's about ensuring that the services that Australians rely on and expect and deserve are funded and delivered. It's about protecting our people and our nation, whether from the global challenge of climate change or from other threats in an increasingly uncertain world. Most importantly, budget management is about priorities—the priorities that reflect the values and choices of the Australian people when they cast their vote. Since coming to government in 2022, this government has delivered meaningful reform and real progress for our nation. We are a government that acts, whether it's action on climate change after a decade of denial and delay; whether it's the introduction of the National Anti-Corruption Commission that is restoring accountability and integrity into public life; whether it's more affordable early childhood education, cheaper medicines or cheaper home batteries; whether it's the ambition to build 1.2 million new homes and help young Australians achieve the dream of homeownership; or whether it's cutting student debt or the introduction of fee-free TAFE and paid prac placements. At every step, the Albanese Labor government has been guided by the core Labor values of fairness, opportunity and support for those who need it most. We have delivered these reforms while maintaining strong fiscal discipline under the leadership of the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance. In the last term, we delivered the largest nominal budget improvement in a single parliamentary term. We delivered the first back-to-back budget surpluses in nearly two decades because, for all the bluff and bluster about surpluses from those opposite when they were in government, it took Labor to actually deliver one. That is the harsh reality for those opposite. This is responsible economic management in action, and it's what we are continuing to deliver in this second term in government. When Australians went to the polls, they voted for a government that would tackle the big challenges, invest in the services they rely on and build a stronger, fairer future. These appropriation bills reflect that choice. They give effect to the commitments we took to the people, commitments we are proud to deliver, commitments to reduce the cost of living and fight inflation, including more relief on energy bills, tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, cheaper medicines and a 20 per cent cut to student debt. We are strengthening Medicare, including funding so that, by 2030, nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed; a huge issue in my community. There'll be more investment in our public hospitals; more urgent care clinics—with 137 right across the nation, including a new one right here in Canberra; more doctors and nurses in the system; and lower costs, more choice and more accessible health care for women. We're also making it easier to buy and rent a home. We're building more homes faster, using modern construction methods and expanding the Help to Buy scheme. We're providing up to $10,000 for apprentices in housing construction to ensure we have the tradies we need to build the homes Australians need. We're expanding the five per cent deposit scheme to all first home buyers, so the once insurmountable burden of saving for a deposit is less of a hurdle. We've invested $43 billion in our Homes for Australia plan, as we work towards our 1.2 million new homes by 2030. We're fast-tracking the approvals of 26,000 homes that have stagnated, and we're freezing changes to the Construction Code so that builders can get on with the job of building. Alongside the Housing Australia Future Fund, build-to-rent, our shared equity schemes and other initiatives, this government is by far the most ambitious when it comes to housing policy in a generation. On education, we're investing at every stage. We're guaranteeing access to at least three days a week of subsidised early childhood education and care. We're fully funding every public school. We've made free TAFE permanent, and we're delivering reform to the university sector through the Universities Accord. We're building a stronger, more resilient economy through our new National Competition Policy, the Future Made in Australia plan supporting green metals production and clean energy manufacturing, and through expanded funding for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. I also want to talk about some of the commitments we made at the election specifically for the people of Canberra. Our flagship announcement at our campaign launch was game-changing for our city. Labor announced a $200 million investment to green-light a new national convention and entertainment precinct and a new aquatic centre in Commonwealth Park. This is something that I have advocated for the whole time I have been in parliament, because this new convention centre will be befitting of a national capital. It's so important that our city can host the sort of events that we need to play our part on the world stage. This will be a game changer for our local economy as well. The joint project with the ACT government will create jobs, boost our local economy and give Canberra the modern facilities the national capital deserves. It will deliver a new convention and entertainment precinct capable of hosting major summits, conferences and events befitting a national capital, as well as a new aquatic centre to replace the ageing Civic Pool. This investment is about building Canberra's future, supporting local business, tourism and hospitality, and ensuring our city has the infrastructure it needs to grow. It shows the difference a federal Labor government makes when it works hand in hand with an ACT Labor government to deliver for Canberra—a government that's not ashamed of our national capital and that doesn't engage in cheap pointscoring, as the former opposition leader did with his attacks on the public service, which clearly backfired in the last election. We're also backing our local sporting community with $1.5 million for Hockey ACT to upgrade and replace the ageing Carter Field at the National Hockey Centre in Lyneham. This is another project I was very proud to advocate for on behalf of my community, and I'm very pleased that we can deliver. The Carter Field is Canberra's premier hockey pitch, home to the Canberra Chill and the large Canberra hockey community. Everyone who plays hockey in Canberra plays at the Lyneham fields. But, after nine seasons, the playing surface has deteriorated, posing a safety risk to players and falling below international standards. I was very proud to run a petition which saw over 1,000 Canberra hockey players and fans show their support for an upgrade to our hockey centre. With this strong community support, I was pleased to secure a commitment from the government. Our commitment will deliver a full pitch replacement, including a new international category 1 surface—the same as what was used in the Paris Olympics. This investment will also upgrade irrigation, fencing and other essential infrastructure. The new surface will reduce water consumption by 45 per cent and will support over 10,000 community fixtures and training sessions over the next decade. Our commitment secures the future of hockey in Canberra and ensures that players at all levels, from juniors through to elite athletes, have access to a world-class facility. Our government recognises the specific challenges Canberrans face when seeing a GP. Our city has some of the lowest bulk-billing rates in the country and Canberrans pay some of the highest GP fees. It's simply not good enough. That is why, on top of our national commitment to make nine in 10 GP appointments free by 2030, we're investing $14.3 million to directly boost bulk-billing GP rates in Canberra. This funding will go towards funding three new fully bulk-billed GP practices across the city and will guarantee the ongoing operation of Interchange Health Co-operative in Tuggeranong. We're also delivering new training initiatives, including the first metropolitan trial of the single-employer model, to attract more GPs to Canberra and keep them here. This is a game-changing investment for our city. It will mean more choice, better access and more affordable health care for Canberra families. Labor has also committed to delivering a new Medicare urgent care clinic in Woden, which is much needed. This clinic will be open seven days a week, over extended hours, with no appointment needed, and every patient will be fully bulk-billed. It will provide urgent medical care close to home without the stress of going to the emergency department. The Woden clinic will also take pressure off Canberra Hospital and make sure that families in Woden and across the city can see a doctor when it really matters. It will build on the five existing nurse led walk-in clinics already operating in the ACT, which have seen more than 236,000 presentations since opening, and it shows once again the difference a Labor government makes when it invests in the health of our community. We're also investing an extra $10 million into respite services here in Canberra to ensure that people who need a bed in a respite centre will get one, because the health and wellbeing of Canberrans matters to our government. We are also helping Canberrans electrify their homes and reduce energy bills through the Albanese government's suburb-wide electrification programs. Building on the success of early pilots like Electrify 2015, we are expanding this approach here in Canberra and working with communities such as Giralang to help households transition from gas to electric heating, cooking and hot water. These programs provide funding support, expert guidance and practical solutions to make upgrades easier and more affordable for families. Early results from similar pilots have been very encouraging. Households have cut energy use, lowered bills by thousands of dollars a year and reduced emissions, all while improving comfort and efficiency. By bringing this program to Canberra, we are giving residents choice, saving families money and building the renewable energy infrastructure that will power our city into the future. We're also contributing $5 million to stage 2 of the Garden City Cycleway through the inner north. Stage 1 has been an absolutely massive success. I'm looking forward to seeing the cycleway extend to Watson. I was thrilled to join the minister for infrastructure, the Chief Minister and the ACT transport minister to turn the sod of the light rail stage 2A to Commonwealth Park. It is a great example of our two governments working together. The government is also investing in the roads infrastructure that Canberrans need. We're providing $53.5 million to support key projects, including completing stage 1 of the Monaro Highway upgrade, planning for stage 2 and finishing the duplication of Gundaroo Drive. These upgrades will improve safety, ease congestion and make daily commutes faster and smoother for Canberran residents on these key arterial roads. The Albanese government is also backing Canberra's local defence industry, and building Australia's future through this. It was great to join Defence Minister Richard Marles and Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy in the last term to announce a $272 million investment in CEA Technologies in Fyshwick, supporting 720 local Canberra jobs and delivering 14 world-class active phased array radars to the Australian Army's long-range fire capability. CEA is a Canberra success story, producing cutting-edge radar technology that strengthens our Defence Force, and has exported globally. This project highlights how the Albanese government is creating high-tech Australian made solutions while boosting local employment and capability. It was wonderful to tour this facility and hear about the Canberra history of this major employer in our city. They are a great example of Canberra punching above our weight when it comes to innovation and incredible capability in our city that is exported to the world. Many in Canberra who commute through or around State Circle would also know our government is building a brand new national security precinct in Barton which will employ around 10,000 people. The multiplier effect will be major, with this project providing a huge economic boost to our city. Just this week, we are one step closer to setting up Australia's Centre for Disease Control, which will be headquartered right here in Canberra, something I and the other Labor representatives—the members for Fenner and Bean, and Senator Gallagher—were very keen to see. The Minister for Health and Ageing has introduced legislation to establish the agency which will deliver $251.7 million to set up the CDC and ongoing annual funding of $73.3 million in 2028. These bills deliver for Canberra and deliver for Australia. They are about keeping faith for the Australian people, delivering on the commitments we have made, strengthening the services that Australians rely on and building a stronger, fairer future for our economy. They reflect the values of this Labor government—fairness, opportunity and responsibility. I commend them to the House. 12:46 Ms WITTY 316660 Melbourne I rise today in strong support of these appropriation bills because at their heart are fairness, opportunity and building a future that works for every Australian. Appropriations may sound technical—it did to me when I first heard it—but what we are really talking about today is the way this government chooses to invest in people, in communities and in the shared future of our nation. These decisions shape whether students can afford to study, whether families can buy their first home, whether communities can celebrate their culture and whether our children can look to a future with hope. I think nowhere is this more evident than in the electorate of Melbourne, a community rich in history, diversity, creativity and aspiration. Any investment in Melbourne is an investment into one of the beating hearts of Australia. While the appropriation legislation itself is about allocating the funding that keeps government services running, I also want to highlight one of the biggest changes, which is easing the pressure on students and graduates through HECS. This reform will have one of the biggest impacts on people in my electorate, giving them more breathing space and helping them plan for their future. Melbourne is home to some of the largest concentrations of students in the country. We have the University of Melbourne, RMIT, Victoria University, ACU and countless TAFEs, other university campuses and training institutions. Every year tens of thousands of students come here to learn, to innovate, to prepare for the future. For too long those students have been saddled with debt that weighed them down before they even had a chance to stand on their own feet. This government has listened and has acted. The Albanese Labor government has cut HECS debt by 20 per cent across the board. That is an average saving of over $5,000 per student. In Melbourne, where so many young people carry this debt, it is life changing. We are also lifting the repayment threshold so that graduates will not begin paying their debt until they earn above $67,000. That means young teachers, nurses, hospitality workers and creative professionals in Melbourne can focus on starting their careers, saving for a home and building our lives without the immediate pressure of a repayment system that bites too soon. This is not just a theory. It's about the young woman in Carlton who told me she put off applying for a postgraduate degree because her HECS debt was crushing her. It's about the young graduate in Docklands who said they were paying more in their HECS than their groceries each month. It's about the single mum in Abbotsford going back to study teaching who will now have more time to stabilise her income before repayments begin. This measure recognises that education is an investment, not a burden. It recognises that the future prosperity of this country depends on giving young people the best possible start. It recognises that Melbourne, as a hub of universities, TAFEs and innovation, will feel these benefits most strongly. Of course, helping young people into a secure future is not just about education; it's also about housing. Something that I heard from voters right across the electorate is that, for too many in Melbourne, the dream of homeownership feels out of reach. We all know the story. Housing prices are rising far faster than wages, and young families are locked in rental stress, unable to break into the market. In an electorate like Melbourne, where demand is high and affordability is stretched, this has been one of the most pressing concerns I have heard from my constituents. That is why I am proud that this government delivers on Labor's strong commitments to first home buyers. Of course, these measures do not sit inside the appropriations bill itself, but they are central to the economic and social impact of the appropriations bill. They show how this government is focused on the cost-of-living pressures that matter most. We are expanding the first home buyers grants so that more buyers can purchase a property with as little as a five per cent deposit without the added burden of lenders mortgage insurance. That is tens of thousands of dollars saved upfront, making the difference between years of waiting and actually owning a home. Importantly, that is backed up with Labor's commitment to build 100,000 new homes for first home buyers. This is not just about numbers; it's about making sure that homes are available for people to live in. In Melbourne, I hear from constituents who are desperate for this help. I think of the young couple in Fitzroy who came to me. They are both working hard and doing everything right. They are saving every cent they can for a deposit for their first home, but, at the same time, they are paying high rent to keep a roof over their heads. The single parent in Collingwood working two jobs but still unable to get a foothold in the market is not a one-off example; it is a story I hear all too often. I hear examples of someone who gets up before dawn to go to a cleaning shift, then rushes across the city to put hours behind the counter. I hear of workers doing shifts in offices and then in hospitality, only to return home late at night exhausted, barely able to spend time with their children before they need to go to bed. These are parents who work hard so their kids will not go without, who take an extra shift to cover school expenses and, while they are doing all that, are still expected to find the time to help with homework, show up for sports days and keep the family together under pressure that most of us would find overwhelming. When you are saving for a house deposit, every week can be a balancing act. After rent, after groceries, after petrol, there can be very little left. This is not about a lack of aspiration or a lack of discipline; it's about a system that has been stacked against ordinary people who are simply trying to give themselves and their children a better life. Alongside that is another story: the graduate in Carlton who until recently believed that owning a home was a dream reserved for others. This is someone who worked hard at university, took on casual jobs to pay their way and then graduated, only to be hit with high HECS debt and insecure work. For years they resigned themselves to the idea that buying a home was out of reach, that they would always be renting, always on the move, never able to put down roots in the community they loved. This government is delivering real change in housing, and that was something that my community told me they wanted. They were loud and clear. They told me that they did not want empty words or political spin. They wanted real, practical solutions that make a difference in their lives. This is Labor acting to ensure that the next generation of Melburnians can build their lives in the city they love, close to their work, close to their families and close to the community that gives them their strength and identity. It is about making sure that Melbourne remains a place where opportunity is possible not just for those who already have wealth behind them but for every young person who is willing to put in the effort. Education and housing are vital, but what makes my electorate of Melbourne truly special is its culture, its creativity and its community spirit, and this appropriations bill recognises that. One of the highlights before the election was visiting Melbourne's Hellenic Museum with Senator Jana Stewart to announce the Albanese Labor government's pledge of $400,000 to spend on a landmark exhibition, Rituals: Gifts for the Gods. This brought over 100 rare artefacts from Greece, many never seen before outside of Greece, to our city. For Melbourne's vibrant Greek community, the largest Greek-speaking population and the largest Greek community in a single city outside Greece, this is about honouring heritage, deepening cultural ties and celebrating identity. We are investing in the transformation of Melbourne's arts precinct, including support for The Fox: NGV Contemporary gallery, which will become the largest gallery of contemporary art in the Southern Hemisphere. I'm so proud of the NGV in my electorate. It's not just one of Victoria's treasures; it's also one of Australia's. I enjoyed visiting the French Impressionist works on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and I'm looking forward to visiting the Vivienne Westwood and Rei Kawakubo exhibition in December. Thanks to the Albanese government's investment, announced by the Minister for the Arts, more Australians will have the chance to experience the same spark of inspiration. A whole new generation will have an opportunity to fall in love with the arts, just as I do every time I visit the NGV. This investment in arts and culture not only enriches Melbourne and Australia's cultural life but brings millions of visitors and billions in economic benefit. It cements Melbourne as Australia's cultural capital. Labor is supporting the African music and cultural festival at Federation Square, a joyful celebration of one of the fastest-growing communities. Every year, this festival brings people together with music, dance and food. It showcases the contribution African Australians make to our country and gives young people from diverse backgrounds a chance to shine. By supporting this festival, Labor is investing in inclusion, in belonging and in the multicultural future of Australia. Just as we invest in the arts, we also recognise sport as a culture in its own right, and the Albanese government has done exactly that. In Melbourne, we know that sport is more than just a game; it's a pathway, a community and a chance for young people to find a place in the world. That's why I'm so proud that the Albanese Labor government has supported Play Our Way and is backing Melbourne Storm's Breaking Barriers initiative. Breaking Barriers is opening the doors of Rugby League to women and girls in Victoria, not only as players but as referees, coaches and leaders. Already we have seen female participation grow by 50 per cent last year and by a further 32 per cent this year. Twenty-eight new female referees have been trained and 40 new female coaches are stepping forward. This is the kind of change that lasts, and it is paying off. Just this season, the first female Storm team proudly ran out in purple at AAMI Park, a historic moment for our city and a glimpse of the NRLW's future that we are building in Victoria. With the government's investment, Breaking Barriers is not only growing the game but breaking down stereotypes, creating real opportunities for women and girls in Melbourne. When we look across these appropriation measures and the impact they have on delivering services, we see HECS relief, housing innovations and cultural investment, and a clear story emerges. It is the story of a government that is listening to people; it is the story of a government that recognises the struggles young people face with debt, housing and cost-of-living pressures; and it is the story of a government that understands the importance of culture and community in making Australia a great place to live. For my constituents in Melbourne, these commitments mean hope—hope that education is affordable, hope that buying a home is possible, hope that heritage and creativity are valued, and hope that sport, music and culture will continue to thrive. Appropriation bills are about what we choose to focus on. The focus of this government is clear. We value education because every young Australian deserves a fair start. We know that access to secure shelter is essential for human dignity. We support culture and community because they are the threads that bind us together. In my electorate of Melbourne, these investments will make a real difference. They will ease the burden of debt, they will open the door to homeownership and they will enrich our cultural life and strengthen our community spirit. That is what this bill delivers. That is why I'm proud to support it. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265980 It being 1 pm, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. ADJOURNMENT 114 ADJOURNMENT Australian National Flag 114 13:00 Mr PASIN 240756 Barker Over the past few weeks, Australians have watched in disbelief as the Australian flag—our national symbol, our shared inheritance, our unifying emblem—has been desecrated and burned in the streets at so-called peaceful rallies. These are not acts of peaceful protest; these are acts of contempt. These are acts that cut at the very fabric of who we are as a nation. I want to say plainly that burning the Australian flag is not an act of free expression. It's not a part of spirited debate; it's not our democracy at work. It's a brazen insult to our history and our people and to every man and woman who has worn the uniform, defended and died for our flag on battlefields across the globe. We tell our schoolchildren to treat the flag with respect. We teach them to stand tall during the national anthem and to recognise that the flag is more than fabric. It's the story of Australia stitched together in courage and in sacrifice. Yet, while we instil this respect into our children, we allow adults to torch that very flag in public and in front of cameras without consequence. That's not freedom; that's a disgrace. Other nations, including allies we admire, treat the desecration of their national symbols as serious crimes, and rightly so. Yet, here in Australia, shockingly there exists no law that directly prohibits the burning of our national flag. There are none. It's an appalling gap in our legal framework and is one that demands correction. To those who will leap to their feet and lecture me about free speech: you must know that freedom of speech is not freedom to desecrate. George Orwell reminded us: If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. But that doesn't allow you to trample on the very symbol of our liberty. Burning the flag is not speech. It's not dialogue. It's not even descent. It's contempt. Therefore, I want to announce that I intend, at a forthcoming sitting, to introduce a private member's bill into the lower house, a bill that will make the burning of the Australian flag a criminal offence. The bill will impose penalties for those who wilfully desecrate our national symbol. Respect for the flag is respect for the nation. If we can't defend our own flag, then what are we defending? The Australian flag belongs to no political party, no single group and no ideology. It belongs to every single Australian, including those who were born here and those who choose to make this great nation their home. It's the emblem that unites us when so much else is around to divide us. If we allow it to be torn down, burned and mocked with impunity, then we weaken not just that symbol but the unity it represents. The time for silence has passed. The time for excuses has passed. The time to act is now. So I say to those opposite: will you stand idly by while our national flag—the flag that binds us, the flag that's draped over the coffins of returning diggers—is reduced to ashes in our streets, or will you stand with the Australian people and defend it? This is not about politics, or at least I hope it's not. This is about patriotism, this is about principle, this is about whether we as the elected representatives of the Australian people have the courage to say enough is enough. The Australian flag is not just fabric. It's the story of Gallipoli, of Kokoda, of Long Tan. It's the story of migrants who came here seeking freedom and opportunity. It's the story of our farms, workers, teachers, volunteers and factories, and of how we built this nation together. I'm not going to stand by while that story is set alight by those who despise it. I say in this place again, if you can't defend your flag, you can't defend your country. Let us rise above division. Let us rise with courage and come together and support that bill and send a message loud and clear to the Australian people: the Australian flag will be defended, it will be honoured and it will never be burned again in public without consequences. Workplace Relations 114 13:06 Ms CAMPBELL 312823 Moreton In November 2024 the Macquarie Dictionary, the standard reference on Australian English, awarded an honorary mention to a new term, 'right to disconnect', with the definition: a law which grants employees the right to not work or be contacted about work during non-work hours. It's one year since Labor implemented the right to disconnect for employees of large- and medium-sized businesses, and that right came into effect on 26 August for employees of small businesses. Last month and today, we celebrate the anniversary of the right to disconnect. It is an important milestone for working people, an important milestone for those whose labour should be recognised, an important milestone for our economy and an important milestone for Australia. It's a simple premise: if you're not being paid to work 24/7, then you shouldn't be on call 24/7. We have always acknowledged the importance of a person's right to be paid fairly and their right to be acknowledged for the work that they do. If you are a carpenter going to a worksite and you are told, 'You shouldn't clock in because we're not going to pay you for today'; if you are a fitter and turner going to the shop floor and you are told, 'Today we're not going to send you your cheque; we're just going to off this one today, and you're not going to get your wage'; or if you are a nurse checking in at the hospital to do your shift, we would not cop you having to work without pay. But that is what has been happening to many workers across our economy in this country. Your time off should be your own. You shouldn't have to read a monitor. You shouldn't have to respond to contact unless it would be unreasonable not to. The coalition wanted to overturn it. What is clear about the coalition's position when it comes to working people is that they do not believe that working people's dignity at work or working people's right to be paid for their labour is something that's particularly important. There is no other reason that they would vote against these important reforms. On 3 May Australians spoke, and they spoke loud and clear. They supported that right to disconnect, they supported that right to unplug, and they supported that right for their wages to reflect the work that they do. Labor governments have been standing up for working Australians since Labor's inception. Working Australians drive our economy. Working Australians are the beating heart, making sure that services critical to our economy continue to grow and move forward. We've just passed new laws to protect penalty rates. If you're on minimum or award wages, your penalty rates are here to stay and your penalty rates are protected. Labor has consistently supported minimum wage increases at every annual wage review since May 2022. The minimum wage increased 3.5 per cent from 1 July. That's direct cost-of-living support for three million workers including cleaners, retail workers and early childhood educators. Annual real wages have grown for 18 months in a row under Labor. Under the former government, wages fell for five quarters leading up to the 2022 election. It doesn't end there. With same job, same pay, we have delivered pay increases for workers across the country, ensuring labour hire workers are not paid less than permanent employees when they are doing the same job. If you are working next to a coworker doing exactly the same thing, you should not be paid differently. It's about fairness in work, it's about supporting working Australians and it's about making sure that everyone has dignity in the workplace. Labor will always stand up for the importance of helping Australians improve their work-life balance. We believe that not only should you be fairly compensated for your work but family is a really important part of our community. More than one million jobs were created during the government's first term. That's a record for a parliamentary term. Thanks to Labor, workers in these jobs will be paid fairly, keep their penalty rates, and, when they clock off for the night, their time is their own. Middle East, Antisemitism 115 13:11 Mr REBELLO 316547 McPherson Earlier this week, I met an Israeli hostage who endured horrors whilst being held captive by Hamas. Eli Sharabi, a husband and father, sat before us to recount the horrific murder of his wife and two teenage daughters as he was captured and held hostage for 491 days by the listed terrorist organisation Hamas. During this time, Eli and other hostages were starved while Hamas seized the aid meant to keep captives and civilians alive. His kibbutz lost over 100 people in a single day. He was released on 8 February this year, only because he was over the age of 50. Many of his friends remain underground. He said something none of us will forget: 'I can't let myself cry all day. I don't think I have that privilege.' That testimony should sober every member of this House. Instead, the Albanese government has sprinted towards recognition of a Palestinian state outside a genuine peace process, while hostages remain in tunnels and while a listed terrorist organisation still wields power and steals aid. This is reckless recognition, symbolism over statecraft. It signals to the world that terror and intransigence can be traded for diplomatic rewards. When terrorists cheer your foreign policy, a responsible prime minister would hit the brakes. Those opposite have slammed their foot on the accelerator. The coalition's position is simple and principled. We want the hostages released, Gazans fed and the war ended. We will not recognise a Palestinian state while hostages are still being held. We will not recognise a state governed, formally or informally, by Hamas. We will not recognise a state that hasn't arisen from a credible two-state process with enforceable security arrangements, and we will not recognise a state that refuses to live in peace with Israel. That is not hardline; that is the minimal foundation for a durable peace. Those opposite say recognition of a Palestinian state will leave no room for Hamas. How? What happens when Hamas refuses, or when a successor militia fills the vacuum? If recognition is conditional, state the conditions and who verifies them. If it's unconditional, admit it and own the consequences. When Eli spoke with us, he described begging for scraps while Hamas consumed the aid. That is not a logistics hiccup; it is a governance reality. You don't fix a terror pipeline with a press conference in Canberra. You dismantle the pipeline before you hand out the prize of statehood. Against that grim reality abroad, there is a related and shameful reality at home. Antisemitism is rising in Australia. We see it in hateful graffiti on synagogues and cemeteries, in Jewish schools forced into lockdowns, in students and staff harassed on campuses, in small businesses targeted and families intimidated on public transport. Too many Jewish Australians tell us they're scared to display their faith, hiding school uniforms and thinking twice before attending community events. No Australian should have to choose between their safety and their identity. During Eli's meeting with us this week, he did not ask us for pity. He asked for leadership. He urged this parliament to stand up, speak plainly and act, to call out antisemitism wherever it appears, to press for the release of every hostage and to ensure that aid reaches civilians rather than the terrorists who starved him. His appeal was simple: moral clarity backed by practical action. That is why tomorrow I will proudly attend the Australian Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism. Its purpose is straightforward: to tackle the rising threat of antisemitism in our suburbs, our streets and our schools. This summit matters because it's focused on unity, not division. Antisemitism, like every form of racism, threatens the safety and cohesion of all Australians. The summit will convene diverse voices, Indigenous leaders, interfaith partners, multicultural organisations, human rights advocates and civic leaders from across the political spectrum. This is not about foreign agendas; it's about Australian communities, Australian safety and Australian decency. Our constituents expect us to reject hate and strengthen inclusion. That is exactly what this summit is designed to do. I'd like to close by thanking Eli for his courage—his absolute courage—in sharing his story. Let us take on his pleas to confront antisemitism wherever it surfaces. Nicholson, Dr Aunty Barbara, South Coast Portuguese Association, Gravitas Technologies 116 13:15 Ms BYRNES 299145 Cunningham Since being re-elected in May I've had the privilege of attending a wide range of events across my electorate. Each of these moments reflects the rich culture, strong community and innovative spirit that define the Illawarra. I would like to wish a very happy 90th birthday to an incredibly inspiring woman, Dr Aunty Barbara Nicholson. Earlier this month I had the pleasure of celebrating this milestone with Aunty Barb and many others whose lives have been touched by her extraordinary work. Aunty Barb is a proud Wadi Wadi elder whose lifelong dedication to education, storytelling and justice has left a lasting impact on the Illawarra and far beyond. She spent decades teaching at the University of Wollongong, sharing her deep knowledge of history, culture and law with generations of students. Through the Black Wallaby Project, she has empowered Aboriginal men and women in the justice system to express themselves through poetry and creative writing. This project has published over a dozen books, each filled with powerful and deeply personal work. It has earned national recognition, including a lifetime achievement award for First Nations literature. Not only this, but Aunty Barb has been a fierce campaigner for justice for First Nations Australians. She has been the driving force behind Link-Up, reuniting and supporting those affected by Australia's forced removal policies. She has shown a true commitment to tackling the overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system. In 2014, Aunty Barb received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wollongong, and in 2024 she was named Wollongong's Citizen of the Year and was the first Indigenous person to receive this honour. Despite these accolades, she always remains humble and is always focused on how she can continue to uplift others. Aunty Barb teaches us that strength comes from service, that education is a powerful tool for change and that every story matters. A very happy 90th birthday, Aunty Barb, and thank you for everything that you've done and continue to do for our community. I am so lucky to have the South Coast Portuguese Association in the Illawarra, who are celebrating 50 years of service to our region. For half a century this association has brought together generations of Portuguese Australians living in the Illawarra to honour their heritage, share their culture and support one another. They have created an incredible place where traditions are passed down, language is preserved and community truly feels like family. I was proud to arrange a signed certificate from the Prime Minister to mark this really important occasion and acknowledge the association's outstanding contribution to our region. The Portuguese community has added so much to the Illawarra's multicultural identity, from the vibrant colours of traditional clothing to the incredible food, music, dancing and stories passed down through generations. This 50-year milestone is a testament to the dedication and generosity of countless volunteers, committee members and families who have kept the Portuguese culture alive. Among them are current president Jorge Ferreira, secretary Patricia Laranjeira and former president Joe Alves, who this year completed his 27th World's Greatest Shave and has collectively raised over $338,000 for the Leukaemia Foundation. To everyone involved, past and present, thank you for your dedication and contribution. Congratulations on a remarkable 50 years, and here's to many more. Right now in Coniston, a local company is turning innovation into opportunity and showing what a future made in Australia really looks like. I was proud to join the team at Gravitas Technologies in July to officially turn the first sod on their new facility right in the heart of the Illawarra. Gravitas is at the cutting edge of critical minerals processing. Their team has created an incredibly innovative material called Vulloy that's built to perform in extreme heat and tough environments. It has real potential in industries like defence, aerospace and green steel. The Albanese Labor government has supported Gravitas with $1.5 million under the Industry Growth Program to build a facility that will help boost our sovereign capability, strengthen supply chains and create highly skilled local jobs. This is what the Future Made in Australia agenda is all about: backing Australian ideas, investing in regional jobs and putting local manufacturing back on the map. I want to congratulate Sam, Charlie, Shane, Danny and the entire Gravitas team for the incredible work that they've put in to reach this point. They're building more than just a facility; they're helping to build the future of advanced manufacturing in this country. Migration 117 13:21 Ms PRICE 249308 Durack On Monday I spoke about the frustration many Australians feel towards the Albanese Labor government's policy of mass migration. In 2022-23 Labor estimated net overseas migration would be 235,000. The real number was 528,000. In 2023-24 those opposite estimated 235,000. Again the real number was significantly higher, at 446,000. Despite ongoing concern about housing availability and thousands taking to the streets over the weekend, we see Labor doubling down. Labor went to the May election promising to reduce the number of international students. But last month, Labor abandoned this pledge, instead committing to increase the cap by 25,000 students per year. This was all done in the name of sustainability. I struggle to see how relying on consistent increases is a model for sustainability for our universities, let alone for our environment, infrastructure, housing and hospital system. This week the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Immigration and Citizenship also confirmed that the Albanese government would not cut annual permanent migration from 185,000 per year. Let me be very clear. I do not seek to demonise migrants who want to come to our country and make a positive contribution. But this country desperately needs to debate whether the migration program is working for Australians. In just 10 years, the population of my home state of Western Australia has increased from 2.5 million to three million people. This growth has primarily been driven by overseas migration. I read yesterday that the Centre of Population has predicted WA will reach 3.5 million people over the next decade. Before we commit to another such rise, shouldn't we at least reflect on whether Western Australians benefited from the last increase? Remember, bigger does not necessarily mean better. Ask our younger Australians whether they are better off right here right now. The average age of a first home buyer is now around the mid-30s, and, as house prices increase, it is going to become increasingly hard to pay off a mortgage without two full-time incomes. Think of what this has done for family planning. It is no wonder the fertility rate sits at 1.5 births per woman, which is the lowest rate in Australia's history. This is also a compounding problem because a low fertility rate in turn makes us even more reliant on migration going forward. We know Labor won't meet their target of 1.2 million new homes being built. This was a target set, by the way, with budget projections outlining significantly smaller numbers of net overseas migration. Supply of housing is not keeping up, but, even if it could, let's consider what this type of housing would look like. In Perth, we already have serious concerns about urban sprawl and developments encroaching on important habitats. I ask the member for Bullwinkel about a development proposal that she doesn't agree with in her electorate, which was approved only last year by the environment minister. Don't projects like the North Stoneville development become inevitable with the government committed to mass migration? And, if we say no to urban sprawl but continue with the policy of rapid growth, is the solution instead much greater levels of higher density housing? Again, I raise the issue of family planning. High-density housing is not always suitable for families. Why should we accept that younger generations shouldn't be able to have the same opportunities to raise a family that myself and yourself, Madam Deputy Speaker Sharkie, enjoy. Of course, it's not just housing not keeping up; neither is our infrastructure system nor our health system. In terms of health system, WA set a new ambulance ramping record last month, at 7,074 hours. This coincides with record demand, paired with the state government's failure to increase the number of beds. State government, you've got to do much better! I want to refer to comments made by the member for Cowan, Minister Aly, just recently. On Monday, the minister said that those who marched on Sunday 'weren't protesting immigration from white Western countries; they were very clearly protesting immigration that has brown people.' I was very disappointed to hear the minister say those words. Labor lectures about social cohesion and division. What do we think statements like that do? I call on Minister Aly to apologise unreservedly. For the first time, young adult Australians' quality of life is worse. (Time expired) Menzies Electorate: Volunteers 118 13:26 Mr NG 316052 Menzies I rise today to speak about the volunteers in Menzies, who are the lifeblood of our community. So much of what we enjoy and rely on in our neighbourhoods exist because of their generosity, time and commitment. From our sporting clubs and schools to community services and environmental groups, volunteers from the backbone of civic life in Menzies. Over the past few months, I've had the privilege of visiting a number of these organisations, each of which reflects the vibrancy and diversity of our electorate. Thanks to the support of the Albanese Labor government, we have been able to assist many of these groups through the Volunteer Grants program. These grants make a very real difference, giving community organisations the tools and resources they need to keep operating and recruiting volunteers. I must admit something. Although I try to do a bit of exercise and keep myself fit, I'm pretty bad at sport. This has not stopped me, however, from embarrassing myself and getting involved in our local sports community. In fact, it has been a pleasure to spend time with so many of our clubs, seeing firsthand the way volunteers make sport accessible and enjoyable for people of all ages. I was delighted to visit the at the Koonung Comets Basketball Club, who received a grant of $3,000. I was fortunate to visit during a training session and see firsthand the enthusiasm, fun, and community amongst the players and volunteers. In Warrandyte, I had the privilege of popping down to Warrandyte Reserve and meeting with the Warrandyte Sporting Club. There, I met with the Warrandyte Netball Club, who received a volunteer grant of $1,000. I even tried some shooting, although I confess that I have a new appreciation for the difficulty of shooting without a backboard. I missed a lot more shots than I got in—so many. What was impressive were the volunteer coaches and players who keep the club running week after week. The Warrandyte Football Club received $3,000, and I was fortunate enough to be present for their last game before the finals. They won that match and were successful in their semi-final matches. I wish them luck in the upcoming finals. Go Bloods! Clubs like theirs bring families together, and their success on the field keeps the community spirit alive. I also met with the Warrandyte Cricket Club. I was almost roped into fielding practice, as they prepared for their season. I can assure you, I would not have lasted long in the slips. Still, it was as joy to see how cricket continues to thrive locally, with volunteers dedicating countless hours to training, fundraising and mentoring the next generation. Sport is only one part of the volunteer landscape in Menzies. Beyond the playing fields and courts, I also want to acknowledge the extraordinary work of our community services. Carenet provides essential support in the area of food security and access. Their volunteers are on the frontline, ensuring that no family goes without when times are tough. I was blown away by the scale of their operation, the enthusiasm of the volunteers and how they can do so much with so little. Last weekend I was again at Warrandyte sporting club, this time to attend an event organised by some local leaders, the Pink Ladies. In the last few years the Pink Ladies have raised more than $100,000 with the McGrath Foundation to fight breast cancer. Last Saturday they held a fantastic fundraiser concert to raise awareness of testicular, prostate and lung cancer. Survivors played music and shared some classic tunes, and also share their stories to encourage men to better look after their health and get themselves checked. Well done to the Pink Ladies. Doncare are an essential part of our community that bring a unique, local, holistic approach to providing social supports. They provide counselling, emergency relief, family violence services and social supports for seniors. Crucial to this are their volunteers, particularly in their wonderful community op shops. We should also celebrate the parents who volunteer on school councils, at fates, on kinder committees and at weekend sports days. Whether in primary or secondary schools or in kinders, these parents make their schools and communities stronger, their children's experiences richer and their communities more welcoming. I was also fortunate to join a local plant-a-tree day alongside the Friends of Wurundjeri in Whitehorse and Manningham. It was a reminder that volunteers are not only building a community here but also safeguarding the future of our environment. (Time expired) Federation Chamber adjourned at 13 : 31