2022-07-27 2 1 0 Senate 0 1

Wednesday, 27 July 2022

The PRESIDENT (Senator the Hon. Su e Lines ) took the chair at 09:30, read prayers and made an acknowledgement of country.

 

DOCUMENTS 1 DOCUMENTS Tabling 1 COMMITTEES 1 COMMITTEES Meeting 1 09:31 The PRESIDENT 112096 I am advised there are no proposals for committees to meet and I remind senators that questions may be put on any proposals at the request of any senators. GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH 1 GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH Address-in-Reply 1 09:32 Senator PAYMAN 300707 Western Australia I move: That the following address-in-reply be agreed to: To His Excellency the Governor-General MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY— We, the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia in Parliament assembled, desire to express our loyalty to our Most Gracious Sovereign and to thank Your Excellency for the speech which you have been pleased to address to Parliament. I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal and Ngambri elders and knowledge-holders who have paved the way for those here now, those following proudly in their footsteps and those yet to come as custodians and owners of country. I acknowledge the lands in Western Australia of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation, who I am honoured to represent. Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands. I recognise the resilience and strength of all First Nations peoples of Australia and appreciate their knowledge sharing and stories that influence the lives of new Australians like me. My name is Senator Fatima Payman, and I stand here proudly as a Western Australian, as a dedicated citizen, as a compassionate daughter, as a caring sister, as a fun aunty and as a loyal friend to many. We find ourselves paving the annals of history, taking part in a parliament that is starting to reflect true diversity of our community—the true Australia we know it to be. I welcome this opportunity to move that the speech given by his Excellency the Governor-General at the opening of the 47th Parliament be agreed to. This nation has an incredible Indigenous heritage that dates back over 70,000 years of tradition, stories and wisdom. The rest of us, who do not identify as a First Nations person, have at some point immigrated here from another country. That is what makes Australia such an amazing place, and this parliament symbolises that coming together of so many different cultures and communities. Australia is a better place, and this parliament is a better place, when we truly represent the backgrounds of the Australian communities that elect us. I want to wish my new colleague Senator Jana Stewart well for the safe birth of her child in the coming days. It is so great that a senator can now take maternity leave—another symbol that this chamber and this parliament continues to reflect more and more of our community than the mostly male senators that sat in the red benches 100 years ago. A hundred years ago, let alone 10 years ago, would this parliament have been as accepting? A hundred years ago, let alone 10 years ago, would this parliament accept a woman choosing a hijab to be elected? I will have more to say about this in my first speech in September, but, for those who choose to advise me about what I should wear or judge my competency based on my external experience, know that the hijab is my choice. I want young girls who decide to wear the hijab to do it with pride and to do it with the knowledge that they have the right to wear it. I won't judge someone wearing boardies and flip-flops across the street. I don't expect people to judge me for wearing my scarf. We have all heard the adage 'it takes a village to raise a child'. This truly hits home for me. I'd like my first gratitude to be expressed to my late beloved father, whose sacrifices will never be forgotten and who I dearly wish were here to see how far his little daughter has come. Honourable senators: Hear, hear! Senator PAYMAN 300707 I'd like to thank my mum and my siblings, who've joined us here today, for their unwavering support, love and patience. Thank you to all my extended family members, supporters, friends and mentors—those who know me and those who are yet to get to know me. I want to specifically thank all the officials and organisers of the United Workers Union for being my second family. Carolyn Smith, thank you for taking me under your wing of guidance and support. And thank you to the people of Western Australia. You elected four new, brilliant representatives in Tracey Roberts for Pearce, Zaneta Mascarenhas for Swan, Sam Lim for Tangney and Tania Lawrence for Hasluck. You also elected a third Labor senator—the first time since 1984. I am truly honoured to represent my beautiful home state. Who would have thought that a young woman born in Afghanistan and the daughter of a refugee would be standing in this chamber today, knowing the sacrifices that my dad went through as a taxi driver and security guard to ensure that he had saved up enough money to make ends meet to support his family and to ensure that my siblings and I had the future that he wasn't able to secure for himself? I am young, I am progressive and my family were born overseas. I am a representative of modern Australia. And Australia has spoken. They have elected the Hon. Anthony Albanese as their Prime Minister and the most diverse parliament in the nation's history. In his first speech in 1996, the member for Grayndler and future Prime Minister said: Multiculturalism provides Australia with a unique opportunity to be a microcosm of the world—to show that cultural diversity and respect can lead to a more peaceful, equitable and fulfilling life for all. Truer words were never spoken before. He is the Prime Minister who will bring the country together, end the politics of division and be the exemplar of compassion, integrity and hard work, leading a government that is focused on tackling the spiralling cost of living that is making life tough for too many Australians. We must get wages rising again and make health care, child care and housing more affordable while we grow the economy and maintain its stability. To those who expect immediate results, please allow me to remind you that the previous government left us an economy a trillion dollars in debt, declining productivity, wages going backwards and the highest level of inflation in 20 years. This was the result of a decade of deliberate decisions and bad policies from a government that lacked vision, was full of excuses and never took responsibility. These problems were a decade in the making, and we won't solve them overnight. However, may I indulge you in outlining the key achievements of the Albanese Labor government in the last 10 weeks since our election. We have included the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in press conference backdrops. We have restored Australia's international reputation by re-establishing relations with France, rebooting negotiations on the European Union free trade agreement and repairing ties in the Pacific. We have introduced legislation to deliver climate change targets of reducing Australia's emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, aged-care reform, and paid family and domestic violence leave. We acted fast and provided immediate disaster support to flood-affected areas in New South Wales. We are standing up for women. We have established the women's economic equality task force and held the first face-to-face meeting of federal, state and territory ministers responsible for women and women's safety. We have brought a new energy in the fight against COVID by extending funding to support hospital systems. We have also reinstated the pandemic leave disaster payment, ensuring anyone unable to work because they were isolating without paid sick leave is supported. We have seen a much-needed increase in the minimum wage. We released the report on the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, which the former government had refused to release and, of course, we have returned the Nadesalingam family back home to Biloela. I would go on but I only have 15 minutes. We have achieved more in 10 weeks than the previous government within 10 years. A better future we promised, and a better future we shall strive to deliver. The Albanese Labor government will strengthen Medicare by making it easier to see a doctor. We will restore integrity in politics by establishing an anticorruption commission with teeth. We will create secure local jobs by investing in fee-free TAFE, and make jobs more secure with better pay and conditions. We will make child care cheaper so that it is easier for working families to get ahead. We will make more things here in Australia by working with businesses to invest in manufacturing and renewables to create more Australian jobs. We will implement the Uluru statement in full—voice, treaty and truth—and work towards closing the gap. We will create jobs, cut power bills and reduce emissions by boosting renewable energy. As mentioned earlier, aged-care reform is very important to me. Organising in aged care showed me how the previous government neglected our elders and workers. I remember Jude Clarke, who has been a carer for 48 years, saying that she still loves her job but she is just exhausted. She recalls stressful nights where she used her tea breaks to spend quality time with residents. Another carer, Emma Bowers, shared with me one of the most horrifying incidents that resulted in blood gushing from her forehead. A high-care dementia resident hit her with an object as she was tending to him all by herself. She believes that if there were more staff rostered on that night, her health and safety would not be at risk. Understaffed, overworked and underpaid, they deserve better—and Australians know they deserve better. That is why they elected an Albanese Labor government—to clean up the mess and return care back into aged care. We will ensure older Australians receive the aged care they deserve, from registered qualified nurses on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to more carers with more time to care. We will mandate that every Australian living in aged care receives an average of 215 minutes of care per day, as recommended by the royal commission—more time for not just essential medical treatment but basic, important things like helping people take a shower or helping people get dressed and helping people eat a nutritious meal. Labor will also back a real pay rise for aged-care workers at the Fair Work Commission, because, if we want higher standards of care, we need to support higher wages for our carers. Labor has a plan to put security, dignity, quality and humanity back into aged care. If you are watching this from home, from work, from your device or in the years to come, know this: Australia is a land of opportunities—a land of opportunities for all, and under a Labor government no-one will be held back and no-one will be left behind. No matter where you were born, no matter which state or territory you are from, no matter what you choose to wear, no matter who you choose to believe in, no matter who you choose to love, know that Australia is a place where you are welcome and where you can be a part of a united collective. Whilst today we find ourselves in the most diverse of all parliaments so far, I know—we know—that this parliament, this very Senate, will continue representing Australians with integrity and with a great deal of responsibility—a responsibility I am honoured to have bestowed upon me. By the way, this isn't my first speech! Senator Stewart 299352 I second the motion and reserve my right to speak. This is not my first speech. 09:47 Senator VAN 283601 Victoria With the Governor-General's address yesterday we heard a long speech and a lot of words, but so far we've seen a government that is low on action—if any. It's taken them over two months to recall parliament, and it's only going to sit for eight weeks this year. To anyone, that shows a government that is just not prepared to govern, except in very few circumstances. But the Labor Party is now in government and they have been charged with governing Australia and being a government for the people. The Labor Party's true colours are already beginning to show, and it is clear that, with this government, you have to look not at what they say but what they do. The Labor Party say one thing but do another. Prime Minister Albanese said recently he wants to lead a government that does things. However, the only thing this government has done so far is backflip on policy and support their vested interests. Since the Labor Party has to power, we have seen backflip after backflip. In fact, I think this government should be heading to the Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games to compete in gymnastics, with the number of backflips they have already done in such a short period of time. Look at their approach to COVID-19. As we are in the midst of an outbreak, one of the worst since the pandemic began, I think it is important to revisit the Labor Party's plan to beat COVID-19. It is interesting that this government has been so silent on their four-point plan. For two years, we had them carping on from the side of the chamber about the handling of COVID. Yet, here we are; they are now on those benches, and they have nothing to say. Given their silence, I will remind them of their four-point plan. First, 'We're going to fix the vaccine rollout'—despite over 95 per cent of Australians aged 16 and over being fully vaccinated. Their second point: build dedicated quarantine facilities. No wonder they have backflipped on that one, seeing how the Queensland Labor government are currently paying $300,000 a day to a medical company to provide healthcare services at its almost empty Wellcamp quarantine facility. Senator Scarr 282997 Shame! Senator VAN 283601 Big shame, Senator Scarr. Their third point: have an effective public information campaign. I am hearing crickets—crickets about information on COVID. I understand why they are trying not to compete with the last government on this, seeing how the coalition's campaign was so successful, evidently seen in the vaccination rate that we achieved. Finally, their last point was: start making mRNA vaccines in Australia—again, a process already started by the coalition government. We worked very hard to make sure that we build an mRNA vaccine facility in Victoria, the state I proudly represent, but Labor have been silent. The government have been so quiet on COVID-19. Their plan is null and void. COVID is rampant in the community, and they don't have the slightest idea what to do about it. Do you guys over there remember saying across the chamber that we only had two jobs? Well, now you are in for a rude shock about how complex governing Australia actually is. Almost 5,000 Australians have passed away from COVID since 31 May this year. As of 22 July, there were 9,537 active COVID-19 cases and 1,013 active outbreaks in residential aged-care facilities across Australia. There have been 2,187 reported deaths in 2022 in aged-care facilities. And what is this government doing? Nothing. They should reflect on everything they said from this side of the chamber over the past two years and take a good hard look at themselves. I cannot be the only one in this chamber to remember the Labor Party inaccurately betraying the coalition government's performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 8 February, Senator Gallagher said in this chamber: There are problems in aged care, where the situation is so dire, with thousands infected with COVID, hundreds dying and staff not able to perform their jobs. On that same day, Senator Watt, who we heard an awful lot from over the last two years on this topic, said that an aged-care facility was: … in complete meltdown, with the deaths from COVID of 15 aged residents, and 182 residents and staff testing positive for COVID. I read out the numbers before. They are a lot worse under this government, I can assure you of that. And I could go on. I could pull out of Hansard the records over the previous years and find any Labor senator from the previous parliament commenting on how bad the COVID outbreak was and how much more needed to be done. However, the fact of the matter is that there are currently more cases, more deaths and more outbreaks in aged-care facilities than before. And what are the Labor Party saying about it? Again, at the risk of being repetitive, nothing! The Prime Minister is silent, the health minister is silent and the aged-care minister is silent. In fact, the whole Labor Party are silent. Now that they actually have to try and solve the problems rather than just carping on, all they can come up with is silence and hope that no-one notices. I assure you that we are noticing. This is what happens when you have a government who carry on in the chamber but do not have the slightest idea about how to actually govern. In fact, it was only in January this year that Mr Albanese was posting on social media saying: Rapid antigen tests should be free and available. We are in a pandemic. Everybody needs access. Then, even after the health minister warned that millions of Australians would be infected with COVID over coming weeks, the Prime Minister doubled down on his backflip to not make rapid antigen tests freely available to Australians, with the Prime Minister labelling the decision as a 'legacy of the coalition government'. This shows the Australian people one thing: the government have no idea of what they are doing. Now it might be a bit of a newsflash to Mr Albanese, but you're in government now; you can extend the free RATs if you wish. Even after the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners asked for an extension of the program—and they weren't the only professional body to do so—saying that it would put vulnerable people at greater risk if it were not continued, the Albanese government decided that they were not going to listen to the experts and went ahead and cut the program. Despite campaigning for a pandemic leave payment, the Prime Minister backflipped on his original stance and attempted to axe the payment at the first chance he got, claiming that it was not needed because all workers could just work from home. He was backed up by the Treasurer, claiming that they could not afford it. This was despite them constantly calling for more spending and increased payments while in opposition. However, once again we saw the Labor Party backflip and continue the program after pressure was applied to them by the state governments. Now I, like many of you, watched Prime Minister Albanese as opposition leader criticising the government for not implementing mask mandates by saying: That just shows a Prime Minister who's been prepared to play politics, as he is during this period whereby, he's too frightened of upsetting some of the hard right, who are so obsessed by not having any rules in place … So now you're Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, what are you frightened of? It means one of two things: either Prime Minister Morrison was doing the right thing and, as opposition leader, Mr Albanese was just playing politics, or Mr Albanese is just playing politics now. Which one is it? You can guess. But what we do know is that while those opposite don't know how to govern they do how to dance when their puppetmasters in the unions and big super funds pull their strings, because the only action the Labor Party have taken so far is to remove legislative oversight from their biggest donors. During the last parliament— Senator McKenzie 207825 So much for integrity and transparency! An honourable senator interjecting— Senator VAN 283601 Yes, some very good points. For three years I listened to those opposite talking about the importance of accountability. It is fascinating then that one of the Labor Party's first acts is to start working on reducing transparency and accountability for super funds. The Your Future, Your Super legislation introduced by the coalition government was vitally important and was widely welcomed for increasing transparency so that everyday Australians would be empowered with respect to their retirement savings. Now the Labor Party are disempowering everyday Australians and giving the power back to the $3 trillion industry super fund sector. Now it might be my view—and we'll have to wait for the returns—but I'm pretty sure that we'll find that they were some of the biggest donors to the Labor Party campaign. Labor truly are the party of vested interests. It is really an embarrassment for the government that, while we were experiencing a third wave of COVID-19, instead of directing the Treasury to look at how government could support Australians, the Labor Party was directing the Treasury to look at how it could support industry super funds get away with poor performance and mismanagement—and, also, continue to pocket their millions of dollars in donations. And now, just this week, we've heard that the government plans to remove the ABCC's powers to an absolute minimum, all so that unions such as the CFMMEU can get away with bullying, sexist and thuggish behaviour. Industry groups and business have widely condemned this move, as it only seeks to disempower actual workers in the construction industry. What happened to the Prime Minister's promise, I ask you, to work with business and industry groups to increase productivity? It's only week one of parliament, and that has already gone out the window. Continuing the theme of transparency and accountability: Mr Albanese has made another backflip on national cabinet secrecy, opting to continue to prevent the release of documents related to meetings of the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders despite being such a harsh critic of the practice while he was in opposition. Mr Albanese confirmed that he would not be ending the practice despite his accusation that Prime Minister Morrison was obsessed with secrecy while Prime Minister. So it is also interesting to see that Mr Albanese has not fulfilled his promise of including local government in those meetings of national cabinet. What is most amusing is that the Labor Party campaigned on accountability, yet you only have to look at what they do and not at what they say because the two could not be further apart. This government has shown that their interests lie in standing up for their political puppetmasters and not for everyday Australians. They have shown absolutely no interest in trying to improve the lives of Australians beyond chanting a mere slogan, and Australians are beginning to pay for their mistakes. Australians need to look at what the government do and not at what they say because, after only such a short time in government, they have shown that their actions do not follow their words. 10:01 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland Yesterday this parliament was welcomed to country with a powerful speech about the ongoing fight for First Nations justice. All around Australia we live on stolen and unceded land. The grave injustices inflicted upon First Nations people since colonisation continue, with deaths in custody, poverty, ongoing dispossession and persistent gaps in health, education and employment outcomes. We must tell the truth about our past in order to start to heal, and I am proud to be part of a party that's deeply committed to the work for First Nations justice, to truth-telling, to treaties and to voice. Yesterday we saw the opening of a parliament with more women, with more people from diverse backgrounds and with more members and senators from outside the two big parties. It's also now a parliament with the largest number of Greens ever. Our now 16-strong Greens party room is majority women, and women of colour have taken up positions of authority. Muslim, migrant and fantastic feminist Senator Mehreen Faruqi is our Greens deputy leader, and grassroots activist and DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman Senator Lidia Thorpe is our Senate deputy leader. I'm also particularly proud that my home state of Queensland became 'Greensland', and I'm now joined by four wonderful friends, Senator Penny Allman-Payne; the member for Ryan, Libby Watson-Brown; the member for Griffith, Max Chandler-Mather; and the member for Brisbane, Stephen Bates, who gives his first speech in the other place tonight. Many Australians shared on election night the elation that, after nine long years, we had seen the back of an embarrassing, incompetent, rampantly self-interested and desperately archaic Morrison government. But what was clear was that the vote for both the coalition and the Labor Party went down. The vote for the Greens and Independents surged. People want change. They want choice, and they don't just want two parties who frequently agree with each other and often lack courage. People want a democracy that works for them, not just delivers for big political donors and vested interests. They want universal services, like fully funded hospitals and schools. They want affordable housing. They want dental and mental health included in Medicare. They want student debt abolished, and uni and TAFE made free again. They want free child care and fair wages at work. They want integrity in government and they want real climate action that looks after our current coal workers as we transition to 100 per cent clean, cheap, renewable energy. And they understand that if we make the billionaires and the big corporations pay their fair share we can actually afford to fund those universal services that make people's everyday lives better and reduce the cost of living. The Greens will push for all of these things in this parliament, and this is a parliament with a real opportunity to change the future. There is hope again. But the new government just being better than the past nine years will not be enough. We need brave, strong action to address the climate crisis, the housing crisis and the inequality crisis. I want to acknowledge the brave young people who gathered in parliament and on the lawns yesterday as part of the Tomorrow Movement. Those young people, like so many people I spoke to during and since the election, are worried about their future. They understand the science; they know that we can't keep digging up coal and gas. Every year of their lives is hotter than the last. They have seen their communities burnt, flooded, suffering through drought; they have read the State of the environment report; they have struggled to find any work, let alone secure work; their rents keep going up and they are burdened with student debt. These brave young people are fed up. They are sick of politicians who listen to their big donors and not them, who care more about their own interests than the future of their communities. Those young people voted for change and they are demanding that everyone in this place thinks about them when they are making decisions. They are the ones who will carry the burden of our choices and our inaction. Last night on 7.30 on the ABC, the Prime Minister said that not opening up new coal and gas would have 'a devastating impact on our economy'. But do you know what has a devastating impact? Floods, fires, droughts; keeping emergency services ready to respond to the latest crisis; loss of agricultural land; and coal communities left high and dry by changing global markets that the government has refused to plan for. The CSIRO says that extreme weather caused by climate change, including new coal and gas, will cost Australia $39 billion each year by 2050. Despite this marriage to the fossil fuel sector by both of the big parties, young people in the Tomorrow Movement still have hope. They find strength in their solidarity, their shared purpose and their determination to turn things around. They know that a rapid transition to a renewable future is possible. They know that transition offers sustainable job opportunities, stronger communities, better services and a healthier environment. They just need us to act. Along with my Greens colleagues, I will be working tirelessly in this parliament to channel their hope into action. It is what the people of Australia voted for, and we intend to push this government to deliver. We are pleased that in relation to the climate target legislation the government is at the table in negotiations with us and the crossbench to improve its tepid bill. We are having productive discussions about improving that bill but we will continue to push to make sure that we don't open new coal and gas mines in this country. Any target that is legislated will be totally undermined if the 114 coal and gas projects in the pipeline proceed. The Greens will push for rapid decarbonisation and a transition to 100 per cent renewables that the science says is needed to not just keep our habitat liveable but to protect the Great Barrier Reef and minimise species loss. And we will look after coal workers and affected communities while a transition happens, with jobs guarantees and future planning. We can tax billionaires and make corporations pay their share so that everyone can access the services that they need to live a good life. This government could and should drop the $200 billion stage 3 tax cuts and redirect that money into things that improve people's everyday lives—free child care, wiping student debt, more affordable housing. This government wouldn't need an austerity budget and the cuts that it is flagging if it axed Morrison's stage 3 tax cuts. Throughout the election campaign I heard a lot from voters about what would improve their lives. It is clear that we are in a housing crisis. The waiting list for social housing in all states is out of control and growing, with some people waiting years to get a home. Every night, thousands of people are sleeping rough, couch surfing. They are in crisis accommodation or tenuous housing situations and are at real risk of becoming homeless. Older women are among the fastest-growing cohort of people facing homelessness, and tonight 400,000 women over the age of 45 will be without home. We are a rich country. There is no excuse for a single human being not having a home. We need to build one million social homes, we need to give renters more protection and we need to fix the perverse and inequitable tax settings that make it cheaper to buy your fifth investment property than your first home. And we need to raise the rate of income support above the poverty line so that people are not choosing between paying the rent or putting food on the table. On dental: each year, over two million Australians avoid going to the dentist, not because they don't like the dentist but because they can't afford it. In the papers today, the dentists are saying that they're worried that two-thirds of Australians who've put off making an appointment risk minor issues becoming major problems. People who avoid going to the dentist face higher costs and higher risk of things like heart disease, and they can face social isolation. The Greens recognise that getting dental care into Medicare for everyone would relieve a significant cost-of-living pressure, it would address inequality and it would lead to better health outcomes. We also need to get mental health care into Medicare. The ABS National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, which was released last week, found that 40 per cent of Australians aged between 16 and 85 have had a mental health disorder during their lifetime, and that one in six has had suicidal thoughts or behaviours. Almost half of all young women and 30 per cent of young men suffered an anxiety, depression or substance abuse disorder last financial year. These are horrifying statistics, and we need to work to end the financial insecurity, the housing stress, the gender inequality and discrimination, and the persistent existential threat of a changing climate and an uncertain future that is driving that epidemic of anxiety in our young people. But we also need to make sure that people experiencing mental health issues have accessible, affordable support for as long as they need it. No-one should have to suffer because they can't afford mental health care. We need to invest in increasing the mental health workforce, making mental health care available to everyone under Medicare and removing the stigma that, sadly, still persists around addressing mental health. I've got the portfolio for women for the Greens, and the women of Australia just voted out, in my view, the most sexist government in decades, and they expect real progress from this parliament. We welcome the government's plan for more affordable child care—although we think it should be free. We welcome the measures to address the gender pay gap—again, we think it should go further. We're interested in the plans for a national gender equality strategy. We have long supported paid family and domestic violence leave. We desperately need that positive duty on employers to provide a safe workplace, as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner recommended, and we need a strong plan to address violence against women and their children. They're positive reforms that the Greens have pushed for, for many years. Sadly, this year 25 women already have been killed by violence, and countless more have been abused, assaulted and live in fear. Family, sexual and domestic violence is a national crisis. It's still a national crisis; it has been for a decade or more, and it's incumbent upon this parliament to do the work to fix it. Now we welcome the government's decision to delay the introduction of the next national plan to get it right, but getting it right means having ambitious targets in the plan and it means actual funding to achieve those targets. The Greens are backing the calls from the women's safety sector for $1 billion each year for frontline support services so that no-one is turned away when they reach out for help. Short-changing the national plan will see more women killed. We need to listen to the voices of victim-survivors and experts, and we desperately need full investment in prevention, in education and in trauma recovery. We need a standalone plan developed by and for First Nations women. We need specialist services for older women, for young women, for LGBTQIA+ people, for migrant women and for women with disabilities. And we have to address the financial insecurity that can make it difficult to leave abusive relationships and start new lives. I want to briefly mention the US decision to overturn Roe v Wade. It has shown that hard-won rights for women can be eroded unless we are vigilant, but it has also highlighted the inequity in access to reproductive health care in our country. Some people are having to travel for many, many hours and spend hundreds of dollars to get an abortion. Many people can't afford the travel costs or the costs of securing an abortion, and I was very disappointed to hear our new Prime Minister walk away from the Labor Party's 2019 commitment to say that people could and should be able to access abortion through public hospitals. We will push the new government to revert back to that original, good position, because abortion is health care and it must be available to everyone, no matter where you live or how much money you have. Let us not become America. On integrity, which is my other portfolio of democracy for the Greens: Australians voted resoundingly for more integrity in politics. People are thoroughly sick of the culture of entitlement and rorting and jobs for mates. They're sick of the donations from the dirty industries that buy policy outcomes to boost corporate profits—from the fossil fuel sectors, big pharma, defence, gambling. They buy the outcomes that work for those sectors, and they work against the long-term interests of the community. People are sick of political donors and government friends getting government grants, subsidies and handouts while so many other people are doing it tough. Now, we're really pleased that the government has publicly committed to establishing an independent integrity commission, and we will hold them to account on that commitment. Obviously, a bill passed this place from the Greens several years ago, and we look forward to finally having a federal corruption watchdog. That watchdog has to have broad powers. It needs to have genuine transparency and it needs adequate resourcing to do its job properly, and we need to punish the rorters and the grifters and protect the brave whistleblowers that call them out. We need to end that jobs-for-mates culture—the lobbying, the revolving door between government and industry—and we need to get big money out of politics once and for all so that politicians act in the public interest, not their own. Lastly, on electoral reforms: this election delivered the most culturally and gender diverse parliament in Australia's history, but there is still such a long way to go before our parliament truly looks like the community it represents. We need to remove those barriers for people running for parliament, including that archaic section 44 restriction on dual citizens and public servants. We should be proud of our multicultural community, and they should be in this place. We desperately need to end the influence of big money on our parliament by putting in electoral spending caps and having donation reforms and truth-in-advertising laws, and we desperately need that Set the Standard report legislated. The election sent a clear message: Australians are sick of a political system that doesn't listen to them, that does not look like them and that doesn't fight for them. We've got so much work to do to restore Australia's confidence in politics in this place, and the Greens are here for it. 10:16 Senator GROGAN 296331 South Australia I stand here in what is the most diverse parliament that Australia has ever seen, and that makes me so proud. I also wish to take this opportunity to pay my deep and abiding respects to the First Nations people of Australia. This is a parliament that is beginning to look more like the Australia that we purport to represent, and that makes me very proud—proud of an Albanese Labor government for its approach of progressive, consultative and respectful engagement in running this parliament. With the strong agenda that we intend to deliver—a strong agenda that includes strengthening our health care, improving aged care, delivering on a First Nations voice to parliament, a strong and transparent national anticorruption commission, action on climate change and so much more—we are a government committed to workers' rights in all forms. We're investing in creating jobs, in creating educational opportunities and in protecting workers' rights. We will start that with Jobs and Skills Australia. We've committed to the creation of this independent body, and it will tackle the current skills shortages and get more people into meaningful work. We've committed to a range of educational policies that will drive that. We will target the current skills shortage and promote educational opportunities, and that includes fee-free TAFE. It is not exclusively about having a job but also about fostering safe workplaces and enabling new investment and new development to build our economy and provide more and better opportunities. This is why we have a range of policies that will deliver on that to help strengthen workers' rights, including 10 days paid domestic violence leave, enshrining job security in our legislation and making wage theft illegal. The Albanese government is committed to creating jobs. While we are currently experiencing a skills shortage, we are also in a situation where we have 1.3 million people unemployed or underemployed and many more struggling on low wages and in insecure work. A skills focus is essential to the wellbeing of Australians in our economy. We must address the disconnect between unemployment and the skills shortage, and that's exactly what we intend to do. To appropriately deliver on this, it is essential that we get a better understanding of the skills we require to drive our national skills policy and our industry development. We will take immediate action to address the skills crisis affecting our workforce. The Jobs and Skills Summit on 1 September is the first major step. There are various consultations to shape that summit, and that summit will come up with immediate actions, mid-term actions, and a longer term plan. We have a plan to create and strengthen the workforce, and Skills and Jobs Australia is a central part of that. It is an independent agency that will engage with state and territory governments, as well as industry, unions, training providers and employers. We will not be excluding anyone. We will not be preferencing anyone. We will be consulting with all of those interested groups that can help build a stronger future. This will operate as a genuine partnership, foster discussion and ensure that we have a shared understanding of the issues, not just of today but of the emerging issues for our workforce. It will work to investigate the adequacy of our vocational training system and address those skills shortages in conjunction with the available training across the country. As I travel around my home state of South Australia and meet with training providers, TAFEs, universities and employers, I hear about opportunities and initiatives that have languished. Our plan will change that. We will drive change to connect those together. We will work to ensure that Australia's training systems will deliver on the skills necessary for workers and provide them with job opportunities. It is clear that, through our commitment to Jobs and Skills Australia, an Albanese Labor government is dedicated to creating educational opportunities. We know that one of the biggest factors in our skills make up is how many Australians we educate and provide opportunities, and that our education system is not exclusive. We have also committed to introducing fee-free TAFE. So, if you're looking for training, your current income, or lack of it, will not influence that; you will be able to access training and build your career. There will be 465,000 fee-free TAFE places for Australian students. They will be predominantly reserved for those industries of national importance, industries that are impacted by COVID-19, industries that are facing skills shortages and industries that are going to shape the future of this country and our economic prosperity. We will also increase university places. There will be up to 20,000 university places in areas such as engineering, nursing, technology and teaching. These commitments will help to build a bigger workforce and create educational opportunities. We know that urgent action is required, and we will deliver. These initiatives contribute directly to our plans for a future made in Australia. We will provide up to $15 billion of capital to invest in job-creating projects through the National Reconstruction Fund. We have opportunities in Australia that are vast. We can build the strongest renewable energy sector. We can revise our entire energy system to be better, cheaper, and more efficient and drive industry development because of the efficiency and effectiveness of that energy system. We will maximise the use of Australian goods made here. We will rebuild our proud manufacturing industry. We will support new and emerging industries and commercialise innovation and technology. We will supercharge national productivity and fix the NBN. There are so many initiatives; we need to ensure a comprehensive approach. So, while we are building the skills system and investing in the industries, the employment opportunities and the businesses of the future, we will also be delivering on cheaper child care and creating a skills culture that will build us into the future. In addition to that, we need to improve our workplace culture. We cannot just focus on building the skills; we have to focus on the culture as well. As I have said, I'm very proud to be part of an Albanese government that is dedicated to workers rights in all forms. Creating safe workplaces and helping to provide protection for workers will improve the quality of jobs in our country. All workers in Australia deserve the right to be safe at work. They all deserve the right to be safe at home and they should never have to choose between their safety and their income. This will be addressed through a range of commitments, one of which is introducing 10 days domestic violence leave. In this country, one in four women over 15 has experienced domestic violence by an intimate partner. On average, one woman is killed by her partner or former partner every 10 days in Australia. Paid leave is absolutely essential to help these women leave violent relationships, access critical services and look to the future. Our commitment to paid family and domestic violence leave will give workers the means to escape these circumstances without sacrificing or risking their job or an opportunity for an income. Leave is particularly necessary for casual employees, who are even more marginalised in these circumstances. Nobody should be put in that kind of precarious situation. Nobody should have to choose between being safe and an income. This is key to economic equality. Other measures that we intend to pursue and to deliver on include the 'same job, same pay' commitment, which outlines that, if you do the same job as somebody else, you should be paid the same amount of money. Around Australia we have worksites where workers do the same job, with the same hours and the same conditions, but they get paid less. That's got to stop. We also have a commitment to tackling insecure work, with a particular focus on the gig economy and short-term contracts. We will ensure that job security is at the heart of decision-making and we will ensure that wage theft is made a crime at the national level. Wage theft currently rips off more than $1 billion from Australian workers each year. This has got to stop, and we intend to stop it. It is clear, I believe, that the Albanese Labor government is committed to workers' rights in all forms. We respect all workers and we will work to protect all workers. We have a comprehensive plan to tackle Australia's skills shortage and we will do that through a range of measures, including the Jobs and Skills Australia plans. We will invest in fee-free TAFE and increase university places to help create job opportunities and address training shortages in those vital industries that are going to build a stronger future, both economically and socially and in every single workplace across the country. We will rebuild our proud manufacturing industry. It is an area that has suffered so much but gives us so many opportunities, not just to make things at home, not just to build our own sovereign resilience, but for export purposes and to build an economy that we can all be proud of. We will protect workers—overwhelmingly women—experiencing family and domestic violence. We will protect them from having to choose between their safety and their income. We will protect vulnerable workers by tackling insecure work and wage theft. In short, we intend to build our future on respect and on fairness and on a shared opportunity. As I travel around South Australia, I see so many opportunities, particularly at the moment in the hydrogen industry, where we will start to see the fruits of the work of the South Australian government supported by the plans of the Albanese Labor government to develop a hydrogen industry that we can all be proud of. The interest in this was proven in a recent call for expressions of interest put out by the South Australian government which resulted in over 60 businesses putting in an expression of interest to be part of that hydrogen future. It is an exciting time, and I know that the South Australian government is bolstered by now having a federal government who will commit to these important industries that not only help us build our future economically but help us address climate change and help us build an industry that is cleaner, that is more effective and that provides more jobs into the future. 10:30 Senator SCARR 282997 Queensland Can I just say before I start how much I was moved by the first contribution from our new senator, Senator Payman—not her first speech, but her first contribution—in this chamber. As someone who has worked extremely closely with our wonderful Australian Afghani community since the tragic fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban last year can I say to you that your presence here today is a testament to the wonderful contribution that community has made to Australia, and it is an extremely significant milestone that you are here today. I am sure your father, were he with us, would just be so proud of you, and rightly so. We gather here today in light of the last federal election campaign, and I must say at the outset that in my home state of Queensland the Liberal National Party holds 70 per cent of all the federal lower house seats. The Queensland Liberal National Party now holds approximately 40 per cent of all coalition seats held across Australia. So my home state of Queensland did not vote for change at the last federal election, and that needs to be recognised at the outset. Senator McKim JKM They voted for the Greens. Senator SCARR 282997 They did not vote for change, Senator McKim. I would like to acknowledge the wonderful work that was done by a whole series of great Queenslanders to contribute to that result in my home state of Queensland. First, to the Liberal National Party grassroots members, you are the heart, the soul and the backbone of the Liberal National Party in Queensland, and none of us would be here—none of us would have the opportunity to make our contributions to this Senate—but for your efforts. So to each and every one of you I say thank you. I would also like to pay tribute to my colleagues Trevor Evans, Julian Simmonds and Amanda Stoker, who unfortunately lost their seats at the last federal election. They could not have worked harder for their constituencies and for the state of Queensland during the course of the last parliament. I congratulate them on their efforts and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. I would also like to congratulate all of the other unsuccessful Liberal National Party candidates in the state of Queensland. In my first speech in this place I recognised the special contribution, and I called them the heroes of Australian democracy, of those who stand for their party and stand for their beliefs in seats where there is little prospect of victory but every prospect of demonstrating the commitment to their values and participating in our democratic process. In particular I pay tribute to Sam Biggins, our wonderful candidate in the federal seat of Blair; Olivia Roberts, who has stood twice for the party in the difficult seat of Griffith; Bryce McDonald, who achieved an outstanding result in Kennedy in Far North Queensland; Vivian Lobo in the seat of Lilley; my dear friend Stephen Huang in the seat of Moreton; and Kyle McMillen, who arrived on the electoral landscape like a knight on a white charger at the eleventh hour, two minutes to midnight, after our candidate had pulled out of the race something like an hour before nominations closed. Kyle rode in on his white charger and did an absolutely fantastic job representing the party and its values in the seat of Oxley. I should also acknowledge that the member for Oxley, Milton Dick, MP—we cover the same patch in many respects—has had the honour of achieving the post of Speaker in the other place, and I am sure he will do an outstanding job in that regard. Lastly, Paul Darwen in the Treasurer's seat of Rankin, another seat where it is difficult for our side of politics to secure victory, again did a wonderful job. To the Senate candidates, in addition to Amanda Stoker, who were unsuccessful—Nicole Tobin, Andrew Cripps and Fiona Ward: thank you. Thank you so much. And to the new colleagues who come to this place—Henry Pike, representing the constituency of Bowman; Andrew Willcox, Dawson; and Colin Boyce, Flynn: you will all make outstanding contributions to this place, as your predecessors did. Having dealt with the preliminaries, I'd like to get straight into it and talk about the ABCC, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, and the outrageous, unlawful, recidivist behaviour of the CFMMEU. One of the first actions of the Albanese federal government was to gut the powers of the ABCC, but we saw no reference to the CFMMEU in the Governor-General's address to this place yesterday. In fact, when the industrial relations minister, Mr Tony Burke, put out his three-page press release called 'Restoring equal rights for construction workers' on his website, in three pages he could not bring himself to mention the recidivist, unlawful activities of the CFMMEU. The whole reason why the Australian Building and Construction Commission was established was the unlawful behaviour of the CFMMEU, and he couldn't bear to mention it once. I'll be listening very carefully to the contributions made by other senators in this place during this debate as to whether or not they've got the gumption— Senator Pratt I0T You never talk about the good work of the CFMMEU either! Senator SCARR 282997 as to whether or not they've got the gumption, Senator Pratt—to talk about, head on, the recidivist behaviour of the CFMMEU. And it's not just me who says that. After the writs for the last election were issued, the High Court brought down a judgement, a unanimous judgement, in the case of Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Pattinson. This case involved the unlawful activity of the CFMMEU with respect to using unlawful measures to promote their business strategy of no-ticket no-start on construction sites across this country. And what did the highest court in our nation say? Not Senator Scarr, not someone from the coalition—certainly, don't wait for Tony Burke to refer to it in his media releases on the CFMMEU. It doesn't exist to him. It's the elephant in the room that doesn't exist. But what did our High Court say? Let me quote from paragraph 43. I'll be very interested to hear what the Greens have to say about this, as well, because I'm going to talk about an issue dealing with occupational health and safety and women on our website shortly. This is what the High Court said at paragraph 43—not a Liberal coalition senator; the High Court: … the Full Court's approach in this case is apt to undermine the primacy of deterrence as the objective of the civil penalty regime in the Act is amply demonstrated once regard is had to the failure of previous penalties to have any deterrent effect on the CFMMEU's repeated contraventions of s 349(1) of the Act— their repeated contraventions of section 349(1) of the act. What do those opposite say to that? It goes on: The circumstance that the CFMMEU has continued to breach s 349(1), steadfastly resistant— steadfastly resistant—the High Court's words, not mine— to previous attempts to enforce compliance by civil penalties fixed at less than the permitted maximum, is a compelling indication that the penalties previously imposed have not been taken seriously because they were insufficient to outweigh the benefits flowing unlawfully— this is our High Court— to the contravenor— the CFMMEU— from adherence to the "no ticket, no start" policy. To the contrary— our High Court's saying this— the CFMMEU's continuing defiance— continuing defiance, snubbing their nose at the rule of law of this country— … indicates that it regards the penalties previously imposed as— and I quote the High Court, Senator Pratt— "an acceptable cost of doing business". That's what our High Court said. Subsequently, in the election campaign the Hon. Justice Logan, in the case of Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (the Titan Cranes Case), referred to unlawful activity conducted by the CFMMEU in accordance with its standard business practices, as referred to by the High Court. This is what the Hon. Justice Logan said—not my words, not the words of an ideologically driven Liberal coalition senator, but the judge's words: The time when enough was enough in relation to compliance with the law by this union— by the CFMMEU— its immediate predecessor and, for that matter, others in history, and its officials— no doubt this refers to the BLF— has well and truly passed. That is what the Hon. Justice Logan said in this case. There is no mention of this case in Minister Burke's media release, put out on Sunday, and there will be no mention of this case in the speeches which we are going to hear about workplace health and safety on our construction worksites around Australia—absolutely none. It's the union that dare not speak its name. It is the union whose name they dare not speak: the CFMMEU. When they are found out in photographs with senior officials of the CFMMEU, they can't scamper quick enough in the other direction to say: 'I didn't know such and such was subject to all of these penalties and engaged in all this unlawful activity. I didn't know; he just turned up at the May Day party and was in the parade wearing a big CFMMEU T-shirt. I didn’t know the history of that member of the CFMMEU Michael Ravbar'—who sits around the National Executive of the Labor Party—'in terms of his unlawful activity. No, I don't know.' We will not hear the term 'CFMMEU' contributed in this debate from the Labor Party. I am absolutely certain of that, because you are embarrassed by them. You're embarrassed. It's your dirty little secret. You're trying to keep it secret from the Australian public, and it's pathetic—absolutely pathetic. What did we hear from the industrial relations minister, Tony Burke, in relation to the exercise of the rule of law with respect to these industrial relations powers? This is what Tony Burke said: 'We're going to move it to the state workplace health and safety agencies. They can look after this. There's no need for an ABCC.' I see senator Roberts is here, from my home state of Queensland. The issue we had in Queensland in 2019 is that the Together union, representing public servants in Queensland, had to take industrial action to protect their workplace health and safety inspectors who were members of the Together union from the CFMMEU. How ironic and how pathetic that the Together union—a public service union—had to take industrial action so that their own members—workplace health and safety inspectors—could not be forced to attend 17 construction sites around Queensland, because they were in fear of their own safety on those construction sites. Senator SCARR 282997 That's a nice quip, Senator Pratt, but what's your answer to that going to be? Are you going to defend the CFMMEU? Workplace health and safety inspectors in Queensland had to take union action to protect themselves from the thuggery of the CFMMEU. What is your response to that, Senator Pratt? You don't have one, because there is no response. It's your dirty little secret. You want to keep it your dirty little secret and keep it secret from the Australian public. I can assure you of this, Madame Acting Deputy President, we will shine a bright light— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 252157 Senator McAllister, a point of order? Senator McAlli 121628 In this chamber, it is not courteous to accuse other senators of failing to respond. Senator Scarr knows full well that, without the call, Senator Pratt may not respond to his speech which imputes a range of observations about Senator Pratt and her position on certain questions. I think you might ask Senator Scarr to cease harassing Senator Pratt in the way he is doing at the moment. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 252157 Senator Scarr, I notice that you've only got 50 seconds remaining. If you could try to return to the Governor-General reply and improve your tone, that would be appreciated. Senator SCARR 282997 Absolutely. It'll be interesting to see if Senator McAllister is actually interested in relation to the harassment that occurs on our construction sites in terms of the activities of the CFMMEU. I have spoken to construction site employees who have had the numberplates of their personal motor vehicles photographed by members of that union with a view to personally intimidating them and causing them great stress. That is harassment, Senator McAllister, not what I said in a rhetorical flourish with respect to Senator Pratt, and I don't appreciate the imputation. Please rest assured we will shine a bright light on the Labor Party's dirty secret and the role of the CFMMEU all the way to the next election. 10:46 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, this is One Nation's address-in-reply to the Governor-General's opening speech for the 47th Parliament—a speech on behalf of his government. The reviews on social media were underwhelming. Everyday Australians struggling with cost of living were looking to the government for a real plan to bring inflation under control. None was forthcoming—no plan. The truth is: we have a new government that has a long list of sponsors that it needs to placate. Everyday Australians, sadly, are not on the government's list. One Nation is ready with bold nation-building ideas to deliver breadwinner jobs, lower inflation and energy security. So let me start where all good governments should start: with the people. If everyday Australians today feel like they're working harder and going backwards, it's because people are. This month's Treasury financial data shows the share of our GDP going to people—that's wages and salaries—is at an all-time low, yet the percentage going to corporate profits is at an all-time high. Over the last 30 years education, health care and housing have increased 300 per cent, far outstripping wages growth. Next: One Nation continues to pursue its commitment to workers' rights across the course of this parliament. Today we reintroduce our Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022. This bill ensures casuals and labour hire contracts in industries that do not have provision for casual employment receive the same pay as the full-time worker alongside them doing the same job. Our bill covers black coal, airline crew and stevedoring. In anticipation of any future exploitation of workers, the bill is worded to allow additional awards to be added. Next: energy. It's unbelievable that a nation as resource rich as Australia has plunged its people into an energy crisis. Our governments should be able to guarantee affordable and reliable energy, yet in 2022 state and federal governments are failing. I remind the Senate that Australia has enough coal and uranium reserves to last hundreds of years, yet we have the highest electricity prices in the world—the highest in the world. We are the world's largest exporters of energy—No.1 in gas, No. 2 in coal—yet, due to government subsidies for unreliable wind and solar, we have the world's highest domestic prices of gas and electricity. Australian families bear the cost of the unreliable wind and solar fairytales, with our living standards declining and electricity bills climbing. The inefficiencies and consequences of unreliable and expensive wind and solar are breathtaking, devastating and totally unchecked against reality. Small and medium-sized businesses are struggling to keep the doors open in the face of frightening electricity bills, causing supply chain inflation. Large corporations with dominant market power are able to simply pass on higher energy prices. Small businesses are not. Small business employs 4.7 million Australians who are struggling because their employers are struggling. The government have signalled their intention to use unreliable wind and solar—or, more accurately, unreliable, unstable, unscientific electricity—to lead an attack on the living standards of everyday Australians. Let me break it down for you. It is simply impossible to build the volume of wind and solar and batteries needed to meet the 2030 deadline. Wind and solar constructed so far in Australia operate at just 23 per cent of rated capacity because relying on nature's variability gets you just 23 per cent, not 100 per cent. To meet the Prime Minister's 43 per cent target, for every one megawatt of reliable baseload coal power that's shut down, Australia will need to build 4.3 megawatts of unreliable wind and solar power. For example, replacing the 2,000 megawatt Liddell coal-fired power station will require 8,600 megawatts of wind or solar. Even this will only deliver power reliably if matched with a big battery having a similar capacity—absurd! So to build the volume of unreliable wind and solar and batteries needed by 2030 is simply impossible. The 2030 carbon dioxide reduction target of 43 per cent is not a target for the construction of unreliable wind and solar energy generation. We know that is impossible. Rather, it is a sneaky target for reducing electricity usage. In 2010, Australia's electricity consumption was 213 terawatts. It had already fallen in 2021 to 188 terawatts—an 11 per cent decrease—despite Australia's population going from 22 million to 26 million, which is an increase of almost 24 per cent. At 10,071 kilowatt hours per capita, Australia ranks 14th in per capita electricity consumption. It's a legitimate argument to say that Australia should reduce our electricity consumption further only once the rest of the world reduces theirs. Anyway, why should we reduce electricity consumption? High prices are not an unintended or transitional outcome of unreliable energy. High prices are designed to deliberately reduce electricity consumption. That's why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already abandoned his campaign promise to cut electricity bills. That was never real. It was hollow tokenism—a deliberate lie. Parliamentarians, corporate leaders and their media mouthpiece in protected ivory towers live in a parallel reality where cost-of-living price hikes like fuel and electricity are a mild inconvenience, not the bloody choice between eating dinner or staying warm that confronts many people in Australia today. Destroying baseload power with reckless abandon is hurting the people who must make the choice between food and warmth. Where is the humanity in that? Where is the care? The fairy-tale climate contradictions making electricity production dependent on nature's variable wind and solar is a nightmare; there's no happy ending. Increasing numbers of businesses are failing, jobs are vanishing, families are being torn apart and communities, especially regional centres, are being destroyed. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that there are currently 24,000 people directly employed in unreliable energy. To contend that these same unreliables will cause an increase in jobs of 600,000 is the lie of the century. It will never happen. Indeed, the reverse will be true, because studies overseas show that for every unreliable wind and solar job there are 2.2 jobs lost in the real economy. They are facts. One only has to understand the inherent inefficiency of wind and solar, the low energy density and their high consumption of resources in being built. That is basic. However, baseload power and jobs go hand in hand. The Prime Minister and the Labor Party, after nine years in opposition, have admitted that they have no idea how to create jobs for everyday Australians. Instead the Prime Minister will host a stage managed talkfest on job creation. Why? Where's his plan, which we heard so much about before the election? The Albanese plan is revealed to be a plan to ask other people what the plan should be! One Nation, though, does know how to create jobs: get back to basics. Today, the biggest cost in manufacturing is electricity. It's not the cost of employing workers—not the labour cost. High energy prices have destroyed jobs and, with that, gutted workers' power. What drives wages? Supply and demand drives wages. Australia has significant reserves of iron ore, bauxite, copper and rare earths, yet we import our electronics and our white goods—finished products made from these same materials. If Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is serious about job creation, he only needs to safeguard our base-load power through coal and nuclear. That will bring down energy prices and supercharge our manufacturing sector. A One Nation government will do that—get back to proven common-sense basics and fundamentals. Why has the Albanese government agreed to increase immigration when the Prime Minister has admitted to having no idea how to create the jobs for these people? High immigration without addressing jobs, housing and energy sells out workers. It sells them short and creates disadvantaged groups. It's that simple. Let's turn to infrastructure. An ambitious infrastructure program will deliver the jobs growth needed to restore workers' rights and restore secure employment—real infrastructure, not the Green fairytale that we've heard from the government and the previous government. One Nation will advocate for a national rail circuit; north-west Queensland's CopperString 2.0 high-voltage power transmission; the Tully-Millstream hydro project; Urannah Dam; the Bradfield scheme, conditional on the business case; and many more nation-building projects. Let's turn to the Reserve Bank. During COVID, the Reserve Bank admitted to conjuring up $500 billion using electronic ledger entries. It's called quantitative easing. The Reserve Bank's words were 'electronic journal entries'. We now have, as a result, the highest inflation since the 1980s. Quantitative easing is undoubtedly related to the current spike in inflation—it's driving it. Money conjured out of thin air and spent on recurring expenses rather than nation building is inflationary. Both sides of this chamber took the decision to conjure so much money and spend it on economic sherbet. The Albanese Labor party, while in opposition, were complicit in this economic catastrophe, so they inherit the consequences of their complicity. But don't point fingers across the chamber on this; work together. If this parliament gets this wrong, everyday Australians will suffer through inflation—or worse, stagflation—for decades. Instead of working together to push Klaus Schwab's World Economic Forum plan, based on United Nations policies, work together for our country. Klaus Schwab's 'life by subscription' is really serfdom. It's slavery. Billionaire globalist operations corporations will own everything—homes, factories, farms, cars and furniture—and everyday citizens will rent what they need, if their social credit score allows. The plan of the Great Reset is that you will die with nothing. To pull off this evil plan, Klaus Schwab's World Economic Forum will need to take more than just material possessions from Australians. Senators in this very chamber today who support the Great Reset threaten our privacy, freedom and dignity. Yes, they're in this Senate chamber. One Nation vehemently opposes the Trusted Digital Identity Bill 2021; theft of agricultural land use, forcing farmers off their land; and all of the Great Reset. One Nation has a comprehensive plan to bring our beautiful country back to sustainable prosperity, and in the months ahead we will be rolling that plan out. Instead of Lib-Lab pushing Klaus Schwab's Great Reset with the tagline, 'You will own nothing and be happy,' One Nation advocates the 'Great Resist'. We stand for a world where individuals and communities have primacy over predatory globalist billionaires and their quisling bureaucrats, politicians and mouthpiece media. One Nation accepts the challenge to provide a better future for everyday Australians. We have one flag, we are one community and we are one nation. 10:59 Senator PRATT I0T Western Australia I rise today to address the address-in-reply motion in response to the Governor-General's speech about our plans as a Labor government and our plans to deliver on the responsibility entrusted to us by Australia's people. It's been a very long nine years of dangerous coalition leadership, but thankfully we're past that now because the Australian people shouted for change and they shouted loudest in Western Australia. They demanded that their parliament be a more progressive, more representative and kinder place, and our government does not take this responsibility lightly. As the Governor-General outlined so well last night, we have a lot on our agenda. Importantly, as he said, we have a renewed ambition as a nation to reconcile with our past, to tell the truth about our history and to place First Nations voices at the heart of our democratic processes, and you can feel the nation changing for the better, day by day, as we really come to grips with who we want to be as a nation. Yesterday I was chatting with my son, who is seven and who had the privilege of coming to the opening of parliament. We were enjoying the welcome to country, and he said with great pride, 'We do this every day at my school.' So you can see that we've come a long way from the omnipresent institutional racism of the past and a long way towards a national identity where the symbolic things we do culturally create a new sense of nationalism and pride that puts First Nations culture at its heart in a way that makes us feel like we all belong. But we still have so many truths to hear and to tell about the history of genocide and dispossession of Australia's First Nations people. We need a voice to this parliament and a treaty for us to progress as a nation towards justice and to reconcile our history as a people. I'm excited by this work, and I'm keen to get to work using my knowledge of our parliamentary systems to work with others to make a voice as effective as possible. Speaking of a voice, one of the first pieces of business of this new government will be to abolish the coalition's cruel cashless welfare card. I've travelled the Kimberley and Western Australia where the cashless debit card was unfairly forced on people. I heard their opposition loud and clear—opposition that the last government refused to listen to. It was unjust and racially discriminatory, whether intentionally or otherwise. There's something so deeply wrong when private, for-profit companies control people's welfare and income support payments. That is something that, indeed, we will have to look at in the context of the role of the companies in Workforce Australia that have those contracts too. We've seen millions of dollars go to companies while those on payments lived in poverty. If the very same money had gone into services or into the pockets of card recipients, those people would have been tens of thousands of dollars better off over the time of this program. It was nearly impossible to get off the card; it wouldn't matter how well you were doing. And I can certainly say that the promised services to support people struggling with addiction never eventuated. It's also evidenced in the fact that the card has not been shown in any meaningful study to have prevented alcohol or other drug abuse. People weren't put on the card because it had been assessed that it would have an important role to support them. They were put on the card simply because of where they lived, and the communities that were put on the card are where a majority of First Nations populations live. So make no mistake: this can only be seen as racially motivated. I've spoken with people who've had to carefully plan out how and when they were going to the store, which could be hundreds of kilometres away, and budget for the insane price of fuel that it would cost them to get to a store that would even accept the CDC to get basic food essentials. It breached every principle of good policy, including evidence and, most importantly, that important principle of 'nothing about us without us'. First Nations people were not included in these policy decisions. They told us that this card would not help, and indeed it did not. I've got great confidence that, with a voice to parliament, we can stop this parliament from being racially blinkered in the future—or, at the very least, it will be called out loudly and clearly by a First Nations' voice before it happens. I can already see the difference that elected First Nations people have made on this issue over the last few years and how important it is to have a critical mass of First Nations representatives who have seats in both chambers. We can already see what an incredible difference it makes to how these policy issues are debated and changed. And, indeed, they have been critically important in the leadership of the Labor Party in bringing it to this decision to abolish the card. I'm extremely excited that we're doubling the number of Indigenous rangers. I've seen the incredible success of this program in addressing what have been the often devastating impacts of colonisation on Australia's landmass—feral cats, rabbits, invasive species, land clearing and so much more. As a nation, we have to continue to value, both economically and culturally, the incredible work of Indigenous communities in caring for country. This is such a significant asset to Australian culture and identity, and their relationship to country is an asset to us all. That brings me to talk now about climate change. The Australian public has called for action on climate change, after a decade of denial and delay—not to mention all the disruption that those now in opposition caused in Labor's time in government preceding that. Labor will give workers, their unions, industry, energy investors and the wider community certainty that we're headed in the right direction, and we're looking to do it quickly and swiftly. An emissions reduction target of 43 per cent before 2030 puts Australia back on track for net zero before 2050. We must do this. This certainty is critical to ensuring that Australia is positioned to revive Australian manufacturing and turn our country into the renewable energy superpower that we know it can be. Importantly, though, we know this means doing the hard work of organising in the local communities that are already at the coalface, literally, of this change. You can see this in my home state of WA, where we are working towards not only building our nation's capacity as a renewable energy technology manufacturer but also moving along the path of a just transition for workers and their communities—a future that moves towards secure jobs in our economy. The South West Western Australian town of Collie is a very long, long way away from Canberra. But if you wanted to see what climate change action looks like—action that puts workers and their communities first—you would look to Collie. Since 2019, this small coalmining town has been undergoing a major economic shift. It has two coalmines and three coal-powered fire stations. For 100 years, Collie's miners, plant operators, sparkies and fitters have provided energy to Western Australians and powered our economy. Think of all those beautiful Western Australian stories made and told under the lights powered by Collie coal workers. But Collie knows—and we know—that the world is changing, that our climate is changing in dangerous ways because of fossil fuels and that coal cannot power our future. A few weeks ago the state government announced that all publicly owned coal-fired power stations in the state would be shut before 2030, and this is because of the work done by unions, the Collie community and the WA Labor Party. Since 2019, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, other unions, community groups and the state government have met every six weeks as the Collie Just Transition Working Group. They've developed and implemented a worker- and community-led strategy that is transitioning Collie from an economy built around and for coal to something more diverse and economically sustainable. We are, for example, under state Labor, moving bushfire operations to Collie. A zero-carbon magnesium plant is planned. Other processing operations are being considered for manufacturing of renewable technologies. A key part of the state's future is going to be made in Collie. It has been made from Collie in the past and it will continue to be in the future. So, if you want to know what a just transition looks like, how real action on climate change is achieved and what a Labor government can do, go and see the work that's being done there. It's not without its difficulty or without debate and conflict, but we are making incredible progress and we are doing that hand in hand with the local community. We as a government also know that reducing transport emissions will be pivotal to making our cities and towns cleaner and healthier places to live. Electric cars need to be more affordable and more available to families and businesses that want them. They're cheaper to run, they're better for the environment, and because they've got fewer moving parts they have less wear and tear and need to be serviced less often. But the issue remains that they are far outside the price range of regular Australians. It's why our government has already moved this week to remove the fringe benefits tax from electric cars and to make them affordable to working people across the country. Making electric cars work for Australians also means covering our big distances. Unlike the opposition, which has historically negated the feasibility of charging stations and electric cars, our Labor government is committed to building a network of charging stations across the Kimberley in WA. There are already stations spanning Broome to Kununurra, which is over 1,000 kilometres, so we can support Australians with a new, cheaper and cleaner transport system. I'll end by mentioning how proud and honoured I am to welcome my new Western Australian colleagues to this exciting place, including, in the lower house, Tania Lawrence in Hasluck, Tracey Roberts in Pearce, Sam Lim in Tangney and Zaneta Mascarenhas in Swan—the latter of whom I congratulate on her incredible and rousing first speech last night. I also sincerely and deeply welcome and congratulate Senator Fatima Payman on her election to the Senate. It's such an honour to have you here and to have you move the address in reply, and I'm so excited for all the work we'll now get to do together to make Australia a better place. 11:14 Senator DAVEY 281697 New South Wales I found the Governor-General's speech yesterday quite enlightening, at outlining the new government's agenda. Despite, in the lead-up to the election, the government claiming that they will govern for all Australians regardless of where they are and where they live there is concern that there are big cuts coming to a lot of infrastructure investments, particularly in regional areas. We've now read reports about the abolition or the pause of the modern manufacturing investments that our government put in place, particularly looking at clean energy and food security issues, which the government has said were priorities. As a nation facing many challenges, cutting infrastructure funding to key regional areas should not be an option. Cost of living is another major issue facing our communities, and it's one that is increasingly being highlighted by the public, recognised by the Labor Party in the lead-up to the election with a promise to cut power bills by $275 a year, yet there was not a mention of that figure in the Governor-General's speech. Within two months of getting into government that promise seems to have been forgotten. It's no wonder that recent polling, by Essential polling, done for the Guardian, which is not necessarily a right-leaning publication, found that just one-quarter of voters think Labor is handling the surging cost-of-living pressures. The poll of other 1,000 respondents indicates that the majority of Australians believe—even in an era of deregulation—governments can exert influence over a range of economic factors, including debt, unemployment rates, inflation, fuel prices, workforce supply and interest rates. At the moment, while the government likes to pretend it's hit the ground running, much of its election commitments are low on details and how it plans to implement the campaign promises on the ground. And what we heard yesterday in the Governor-General's speech was that real action is being supplemented by a plethora of new reviews, strategies, task forces, summits, white papers, plans to have plans, a policy to have a cultural policy, committees, councils, changes to the machinery of government and inquiries announced to give the impression of action. But what I see is more bureaucracy, more red tape and more talk. Last time Labor was in government they failed to plan for emergencies. They then introduced a one-off tax levy to help fund and pay for flood damage. This contrasts with the coalition's action in government. We established the nearly $5 billion Emergency Response Fund. We've established systems to put in place disaster recovery payments and disaster allowance payments within days of a disaster. With the state governments, we've put in place systems around the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, which the government very swiftly implemented following the recent floods in Western Sydney. But had it not been for the coalition government's actions and the coalition government's preparedness, that wouldn't have been able to have been rolled out as swiftly and efficiently as it was. Our communities have every right to be concerned about Labor's plans for helping during a crisis. After nine years in opposition and five years of drought, fires, floods and pandemic, the best that they can come up with for their emergency management policy is to re-badge our Emergency Response Fund into the Disaster Ready Fund. There are no details about any other changes with it. They're also going to restructure the agencies. They started by sacking the National Resilience and Recovery Agency coordinator-general, the Hon. Shane Stone AC QC, and they're now merging this agency's functions with those of Emergency Management Australia. And they've got a new acronym to go with it: the NEMRRA, or the National Emergency Resilience and Recovery Agency. But, not just content with sacking the independent, arms-length commissioner, they've now announced a new role for one of their own, appointing Senator Tony Sheldon as Special Envoy for Disaster Recovery. But we don't yet know what the special envoy will do, what his responsibilities will be, what his accountabilities will be and, importantly, how much extra resources he gets in terms of staff and salary. As a public servant, the NRRA commissioner and, before him, the Coordinator-General for Drought, were accountable to the senate estimates processes. We don't know yet who Senator Sheldon will be accountable to. And, as far as the people on the ground are concerned, they're more concerned about action than seeing another politician get a title. The people of Lismore are still waiting to see what support there will be for commercial landlords and what the industry-specific support packages will look like. Much was made of this in the lead-up to the election, but the detail post then has been scant. We acknowledge there's a time and place for envoys, but we also acknowledge that when they're used there needs to be clear terms of reference and proper accountability. We need to understand how a politician, in this instance, will be better than an independent commissioner. And while Labor can outdo themselves when it comes to longwinded agency titles and departmental names, they also fail when it comes to delivering services to our communities on the ground. Since Labor formed government we are seeing more concern about where bureaucratic offices will be than helping the Australians most in need. We need to get back in business. Another aspect that I found very concerning in the Governor-General's speech was the statement: The government will also deliver on water commitments under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, including 450 gigalitres for South Australia. Since when has the Basin Plan been purely about one state? The entire point of the Basin Plan was to get away from the interjurisdictional fights. The Basin Plan was about the entire Murray-Darling Basin. None of the targets in the Basin Plain were for a specific state, not even the 450 gigalitres which was for the basin. Senator DAVEY 281697 If you'd let me continue, Senator McAllister, I will get to the point. As former Prime Minister John Howard said on Australia Day in 2007, when he announced the creation of the Water Act, which spawned the Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Rivers do not recognise those lines on the map that we call state borders … Yet the Governor-General's speech showed that Labor is again prepared to turn state against state and play politics with one of the most contentious reforms this country has ever undertaken. On 29 June 2012, the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council, at the instigation of the South Australian government, requested the MDBA model and assess the benefits of further water recovery and what extra water for the environment would do if key constraints were relaxed. The authority's subsequent report, released in October 2012, showed that the combination of relaxed constraints and an additional average of about 400 gigalitres of water could increase environmental benefits, with many more flow indicators being met for the Murray River, and that it could provide capacity to water mid- to high-level parts of the floodplain in the lower Murray. However, the same report also made it clear that undertaking detailed assessment and analysis to identify whether any of the constraints tested in the study could actually be relaxed was not within the scope of the report, and the modelling also did not include explicit environmental demands for the lower Darling River and the Anabranch. In plain English this meant that the MDBA and the Labor government at the time had a model but had no idea whether, in the real world outside of the model world, constraints identified could be relaxed, and, worse, the model made no allowance for the lower Darling environmental needs. So unless we acknowledge that the lower Darling has environmental needs we will continue to see fish kills. As it was, the constraints strategy, if it was delivered, would cut the Darling Anabranch and two key wetland lakes from the lower Darling River to try and get higher flows from Menindee Lakes into the Murray River for South Australia. If we don't want fish kills, if we don't want the drying of the lower Darling to become a regular occurrence then we need to accept the cries of the communities and now the New South Wales government that the Menindee Lakes water-saving project needs to be completely rescoped to make sure we look after the environment of the lower Darling, the environment of the Anabranch and also look after the communities. For too long we have ignored what the communities have been telling us, particularly when it came to making sure there are no social and economic downsides. The Gillard government, in announcing the 450 gigalitres of environmental water, said it would be obtained through projects to ensure there would be no social and economic downsides for communities. But report after report since then has shown that water recovery has already had a negative impact. The state governments acknowledge this and that is why, in December 2018, the ministerial council agreed to a set of socioeconomic assessment criteria, to ensure the neutrality of efficiency measures in projects proposed as part of the 450 gigalitres. Those criteria are still on the department's website. And it should be noted that it is still very much the Victorian Labor and the New South Wales coalition governments' intention to maintain those criteria. I also want to note that the 450 gigalitres were to be recovered proportionately across states. That means there would be about 56 gigalitres to be recovered from South Australia, if this target was going to be pursued. There is nothing stopping the South Australian government bringing forward projects to be approved and pursued under that project. I also want to note that, contrary to the negative picture painted by the new water minister about supposedly failing the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, recent reports from the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water—another long name—say that native fish are fighting back. We have recovered over four million megalitres of water entitlements since 2004 under various water reforms and they are working. Our environmental water managers have learned since that time how to better use infrastructure available and how to target their environmental water management. So this year, in a year with full allocations, farmers' crops are going gangbusters; we have birds breeding, fish flourishing, and wetlands being watered. That is what a good Murray-Darling Basin Plan can lead to. On that note, I thank the Senate for its time. 11:29 Senator WHISH-WILSON 195565 Tasmania Firstly, Deputy President, congratulations on your appointment yesterday as Deputy President of the Senate. We're all human beings in this place. As hard as it might be for some of the general public to believe that, we are, and I just wanted to make a personal reflection to begin with and to say how positive, optimistic and happy I am to be coming back to the Senate and getting on with the job. I know many others in the chamber are feeling the same way—and so are the Australian people. There are a lot of messages we could take away from this election and the result of the election and the change of government, but I think the most important one is that Australians have voted for doing politics differently in this country. They have voted for a more caring, a more considered, and a more collaborative and constructive parliament. I've got that everywhere I've gone, and, believe it or not, I've gone to a lot of places in the last month. I've driven 8,000 kilometres and seen a lot of the country and talked to lots of people, and I've even had some people say to me they really feel like they're living in a different country right now. I share that enthusiasm for change and for achieving great things in this 47th Parliament. They've also voted for a more representative parliament. In the 2019 election we saw nearly one-quarter of Australians vote for third voices in this place: the Greens, Independents and other minor parties. That's jumped to nearly one-third of Australians now, following the last term of parliament, and it will continue to grow. Mark my words: it will continue to grow if this government and this Senate—this parliament—don't work constructively on facing the great challenges of our time, like tackling climate change and tackling the inequality crisis that we all know exists and urgently needs our attention. It will continue to grow. I'm also happy to put on record today that I do believe that we are witnessing the continued decline and destruction of the two-party system in this country. I have no doubt that within two or three parliaments time—I won't be around in two or three parliaments time; I can assure you of that. Perhaps some in this chamber will be—we will see a much more representative parliament as more young people get to the polling booths and demand that we as decision-makers in this place listen to them about their concerns about their future. To juxtapose those two things, about people wanting to see a more collaborative approach to politics, a more constructive approach, and a kinder parliament, let me say this: it's not kind for this parliament to delay further climate action. It's not kind of this parliament or this government to approve new fossil fuel projects that are only going to continue to pour petrol on the fire of climate change. It's not kind to ignore the public housing crisis in this country or the millions of Australians who need to get mental health and full dental care into Medicare. If we want to be a kinder, more collaborative and more representative parliament then we need to move away from the state capture of politics that we've seen in recent decades, and we need to represent the people that voted for us. We'll be having a debate in this chamber very soon on a significant piece of legislation, the government's climate bill—let's just call it that. I haven't seen the full title of it yet—and there'll be a lot more time to talk about what an adequate target for climate action is and what a blueprint, a transition, to what real climate action looks like. I look forward to contributing to that debate, as I know many of my colleagues do, after campaigning so hard to get elected to this place. I congratulate all my new colleagues in this chamber and in the other place but also those of us who've been here for the last nine years, during the swamp years and the desert years, who've come in here every day and fought for climate action and for representation. There's nothing kind about the pressures that climate change is adding to the costs of living in this country. Have no doubt: the climate crisis that we are in, which will only get worse if we don't act, is a cost-of-living crisis. Inaction on climate change is going to continue to build the cost-of-living crisis in this country. Last night on the TV I saw our new Prime Minister—and congratulations to Mr Anthony Albanese on his election as Prime Minister. He may not remember it, but I was on a panel with him three years ago at Splendour in the Grass, and I said to him, 'I hope you're our new Prime Minister in three years time, Albo, but you need to grow a spine on tackling Adani and stopping new coal and gas projects in this country.' He's there, and I'm glad about that. The next bit concerns me, because last night on TV he talked about the 'devastating economic impacts' of saying no to new coal and gas projects, the economic impacts of not continuing to ramp up fossil fuel production. Somehow that was going to cause economic pain. What about the pain that's caused by burning more fossil fuels and exporting more fossil fuels, adding to global warming? Ironically the comments by the Prime Minister last night were followed up this morning by a new report from CSIRO that they've been working on for many years that shows that the costs of climate inaction will top $39 billion annually by 2050, complete with chronic hits to Australia's food supply chain. That devastates the economy. That qualifies as a devastating economic impact. Globally it's estimated that 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil and 12 million hectares of productive farmland capable of producing food for the world—20 million tonnes of grain—is lost to desertification and land degradation every year from climate impacts. So farmers are going to do it tougher. We know droughts and floods are part of the history of this country, but we know the science tells us that they're getting worse. I think every farmer understands that they are custodians of their land and they need to live off that land—and they do a great job of feeding us. They know what climate change is and they understand the costs of climate change and the costs of inaction. Australian farms, it is estimated, are losing—and I asked questions about this at estimates earlier in the year—on average $30,000 per year due to the impacts of climate change. How's that for a cost-of-living crisis if you're a farmer? How do you feel if you're a farmer in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales who's lost your third crop in 18 months, thanks to flooding? Why do you think lettuces in this country were selling for around $11? Why do you think avocado prices have gone up? How's that for a cost-of-living crisis? What about insurance premiums that have been turbocharged by climate impacts? By the way, that's if you're lucky enough to be insured in some parts of this country now. As of 2020, if you lived in northern Australia, home and contents insurance was costing about 1.8 times more than it was in the south of Australia because of the off-the-charts weather events that we have witnessed in this country. The climate crisis is a cost-of-living crisis, and the sooner we understand that the better off we will be. The sooner we act on that, the better off this nation and its people will be. I'd like to point out that this has all happened, the science tells us, on around one degree—some say 1.1 degree—of warming above pre-industrial levels. The target we're about to vote on in the climate legislation is a 43 per cent reduction of 2030 emissions based on 2005 levels. The science tells us that the ambition embedded in that will lead to a two-degree warming. If the rest of the world complies, this planet will warm by two degrees Celsius. That is a 100 per cent increase on what we've already seen in our system. If you want to talk about the three bleachings of the Great Barrier Reef in five years, including in a La Nina year; the loss of Tasmania's giant kelp forests and the devastating impacts that has had on our fisheries—the most productive and valuable fishery in the world, for example, our abalone fishery; the loss of sea grasses; droughts, hundreds and thousands of hectares of land burnt from fires—unprecedented fires in just about every state of this country; and floods, that's all happened on one degree of warming. Imagine a doubling of that? I'm happy to say here on record that the Greens' 75 per cent emissions reduction target on 2030 levels that we took to the election puts us in line with the Paris agreement. That's still a 1.5 degree warming, still a 50 per cent increase on what we're seeing in the system now. That's achievable, that's a pragmatic stance by the Greens. We know we need to get it back to 350 parts per million to have any chance of reversing the kinds of climate impacts we've seen, even for 50 or 100 years time. So I just want to put on record my personal view that even a 75 per cent emissions reduction is still potentially catastrophic for this country and for the planet. But it's achievable if we all work together. Forty-three per cent: do you know what that is? That is surrender: 43 per cent is surrender. And as far as net zero by 2050: when we get to 2050—none of us will be here, by the way, in 2050; hopefully, we'll all still be alive, but, I tell you what, younger generations like the young people we saw out on the parliament lawns will be here, they'll be alive and they'll be inheriting it—what's the point of having net zero emissions by 2050 if the Barrier Reef as we've known it is dead? If it is gone? If our world is irrevocably changed, what's the point, when we can act now and save those volumes of carbon emissions going into the atmosphere and act on it immediately—do something meaningful? We can all do it. I just want to finish by making a few personal thanks, because it would be wrong for me not to thank today some of the people in my own electorate in Tasmania as a Senate candidate. We had a great result in Tassie. Tasmanians, as they did for Senator McKim in 2019, the Greens saw a big swing to us in Tasmania, as we did, by the way, around the country. The Greens in Tassie achieved the highest Senate vote across the country, nearly 15.5 per cent, so over quota. I would like to thank, in particular, the candidates and I would like to thank all the people that voted for the Greens—all the thousands of supporters and volunteers who were out there on polling booths, who did all this amazing work because they cared about acting on climate change and they cared about tackling the inequality crisis. I would particularly like to thank my two Senate candidates, Vanessa Bleyer, who is based in Launceston, and Tabatha Badger, who is down in the south. They worked tirelessly to help and support me in my Senate campaign. I would also like to thank Cecily Rosol, our candidate in Bass, and Liz Johnstone, our candidate in Lyons. I thank Jade Darko, our candidate in Franklin; Janet Shelley, our candidate in Clark; and Dr Darren Briggs, our candidate in Braddon. There were lots of great people within the party, but special thanks should go also to Deb Rees, our party manager, who texted me yesterday and told me how happy she was to see me swearing in as a senator again. Thanks for everything you've done, Deb, we absolutely couldn't have done it without you. And of course, there are the other party organisers, Danny Carney, who I first started campaigning with back in 2004 when he was a 17-year-old student at university; Bridget Ferrier, Steve Wright, Nina Hamasaki and Ebony Campbell. There were many, many other people that contributed in Tasmania and indeed right around the country. I wouldn't be standing here today without you and, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for backing us in. I pledge to you, as I'm sure my fellow party room colleagues will also pledge, that we will do everything we can—everything we can—in in this parliament, as we have done since the Greens were first elected into this place, to fight for climate action, to fight to tackle the inequality crisis and to fight for your future. 11:44 Senator McCARTHY 122087 Northern Territory Mr Deputy President McLachlan, I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your election to the position of Deputy President. I rise today to respond to the Governor-General's, His Excellency General the Hon. David Hurley's, address, and I acknowledge this government's commitment to improving the lives of First Nations peoples and, indeed, all Australians. It's incredibly important to me, as the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians and for Indigenous health. It's also important to me as a Yanyuwa Garrwa woman who grew up in the Gulf Country of the Northern Territory. I am honoured and humbled to again be elected to represent all people of the Northern Territory and Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and indeed it is an honour to stand here in the Senate for a third term to represent all Australians. It's important to recognise our government will be working to the betterment of all Australians in these two important portfolios that I hold. Our nation cannot move forward if our First Peoples cannot, or if anyone else, for that matter, is left behind. His Excellency reminded us, and reminded the parliament, that our new government has pledged to govern for all Australians, whoever they are, wherever they live and whoever they voted for. I travelled thousands of kilometres in the lead-up to the federal election campaign, but I continually travel thousands of kilometres because that's just what we do in the Northern Territory, because we need to understand what the views and feelings are of people on ground, whether they live in major towns and cities or in remote and regional areas of Australia or the homelands. There's certainly a lot of sad stories that come out of our communities. A child born in a remote community today already has a lot of the odds stacked up against them, and they will have a lower life expectancy, a higher burden of disease and fewer opportunities for jobs and a good education. It's something I carry very deeply, not only as the assistant minister with these portfolio responsibilities but also as a woman in Australia who wants to see something better for our fellow Australians, and this is the real challenge here. We have sat in opposition for nine years. We are now in government. And the real challenge here is how we can turn this around. And how do we turn this around? All of the policies that we've taken to the Australian people we do want to bring to the Senate and to the lower house, to push through in legislation and to debate and discuss with fellow senators and fellow members. But we are sincere in wanting to see those policies delivered. Labor will work every day to close the gap that still exists between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians, across a range of life outcomes. We will start with investments that will include improving housing in remote communities and homelands. That is a message that has been consistent throughout the last decade: the need to be able to revitalise our homelands and provide opportunities for families to live on country, to be able to care for country, work on country and preserve and protect what has been valued in their system. This weekend we head to the Garma Festival, to Yolngu country, and again we will hear that consistent message: 'What about our homelands? What about our ability to grow and raise our children and our families in environments that we believe are safe for our families?' This is what we want to do in working with First Nations people—to offer those opportunities and options. Not everyone will want to live on a homeland, but what about those that do? And this is what our government wants to pursue in providing these opportunities. We're also looking at training 500 new First Nations health workers—500—and working to eradicate rheumatic heart disease and other diseases of poverty. I'm incredibly passionate about these areas in terms of health. For way too long, as we've travelled across our country, we've seen too many First Nations people on those dialysis machines in renal centres. They travel from their communities, from their towns, to go into hospital and live there three days a week on dialysis. Now, I know this is not a disease that impacts First Nations people, but I recognise that, with my role as Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health, I will have to focus on that, and I will do that. Better lives, though, start with better housing. Thousands of First Nations people live in overcrowded and run-down housing, with major impacts on health, economic and social outcomes. This issue has been reinforced to me so much across the Northern Territory by those who live this reality every day. It was raised with me again recently during my visit to East Arnhem Land, and we know that we are going to invest $100 million in housing and essential services on those Northern Territory homelands and $200 million from our Housing Australia Future Fund in improvements and upgrades to remote housing across Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland, as well as the NT. All Australians deserve a decent home no matter where they live. Strengthening the First Nations health sector is something I am absolutely passionate about. Aboriginal health services work tirelessly to keep their communities safe, but many do this with limited equipment, facilities and staff, and we all know the impact that COVID has had, and continues to have, on staffing in our sector across the country. We are desperately feeling that shortage in the Aboriginal health sector and Torres Strait Islander health sector, so being able to have a look at this and see what we can do to assist those organisations, whether they be the Aboriginal community health organisations or whether they be the clinicians, doctors and GPs who need to get out there and our hospitals who require that support in assisting First Nations people to get through this time, is an absolute priority for me—also, as part of our parliament's push to closing the gap. Our government will invest in long-overdue capital upgrades in Aboriginal community controlled health services around the country. To create jobs, expand local services and, we hope, to save lives, we are going to invest in training up to 500 First Nations health workers. It gives our health workers an opportunity to provide better tailored care and a chance for them to live and work on country—or elsewhere, should they so choose. His Excellency noted that, at the centre of the government's determination to close the gap, there is the belief that First Nations people, like all other Australians, should be made to feel that they have some sense of empowerment over their lives. We know that all Australians deserves the opportunity to have a job, to make a living and to feel a strong sense of purpose, but it's not always an easy feat to find a job in the bush, and, certainly, across remote communities I'm always reminded of the desire for people to find meaningful work and to have dignity in work—to have satisfaction, to have dreams and ambition of what they would like to see on their country, in their communities and with their families. We are working to abolish the punitive Community Development Program, because it just does not work. And I'm just acknowledging very strong voices in the gallery, in terms of a voice to parliament, and I acknowledge Thomas Mayor and Vicki and the team, who are here in the parliament this week to ensure that we follow through on our commitment to a voice to parliament. And I will get to the voice; I've still got five more minutes, which is good. What I'd first like to say is that where we want to go with the Community Development Program is to have a new program that pays real wages to ensure people have access to superannuation, other leave and other conditions and to give more control to communities to determine local projects that support economic development. It will be similar to the old community development employment program, but I'd like to see what else we can do in that space. A very long time ago, I was actually on the CDEP when I was living in a community in Borroloola, and I know that program worked. We were able to establish the first radio station in Borroloola while I was on the community development employment program, so I've seen what kinds of federal policies can work on the ground. The current CDP does not do that, so I am looking forward to being able to work with Minister Linda Burney and with special envoy Pat Dodson to see what we can do about jobs. We are so conscious that our country is screaming for workers, and we want to have a look at this program. There are 40,000 Australians on this program and there is nothing to show for it, really. There is very little to show for it. So we need to have a look at what we can do, firstly, to re-engage people with the workforce and to see what we can do for those who do want to have dignity in work and a future and who have some ambition for themselves and their families. I'm excited about that. I believe we can do it. I think the Prime Minister's job summit in September will be an incredibly good opportunity to see that we can think outside the square, do things differently and dynamically, and do something that gives our country as a whole more hope about what is possible and what we can do and achieve together. Other areas that I have responsibility for, as assistant minister to the Indigenous affairs minister, are food security and the social and emotional wellbeing and redress for stolen generations survivors. These are also critical areas. At the moment we're seeing across the country the impact of high food prices for all Australians. The price of a box of lettuce has gone up exponentially. We're seeing high prices for fresh fruit and veggies. If we're seeing the rise of those food prices in our capital cities, just for a moment have a think of the extra challenges that are being faced in regional and remote Australia. Again, this is where our country will really have to dig in and link arms and say it is absolutely essential that, for all Australians, wherever they live, we are doing what we can to ensure food security. That will be my responsibility. It is my responsibility in terms of First Nations people. In terms of the stolen generations survivors, most survivors from the Northern Territory and also Jervis Bay and areas of the ACT will be coming under this redress scheme. It's a journey that I've followed very closely for a very long time both on a personal level but also as a parliamentarian, and I've recognised the court cases that have occurred as far back as the late 1990s and in 2000, in which people have fought for justice in the removal of themselves or their parents, as children, under an Australian policy that, thankfully, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd acknowledged with the apology in 2008. But there is still unfinished business there, and I will be working closely with those survivors and their families to ensure that they receive the appropriate responses that they need to hear and see. As I said at the outset, this weekend we'll be at Garma working with the Yolngu people and with all those who attend. Our government and First Nations caucus is very, very clear on our position on a voice to parliament, and we will work wholeheartedly and inclusively with all parliamentarians and, indeed, all Australians so that there can be overwhelming support in a referendum that we wish to take to the Australian people in this term of the parliament, asking for a voice to the parliament for First Nations people. 11:59 Senator McDONALD 123072 Queensland I rise to speak about a topic which is near and dear to the heart of every representative of particularly northern Australia, members and senators alike. It is on this topic that we rise above the petty politics of party politics and we talk about the future opportunity of this nation. I'm delighted to speak after Senator McCarthy, who is one of those other northern Australian representatives. Many of the topics she touched on, I think, are critical to us investing in the future of our country. After nine years in opposition, on the very first day of parliament, one of the first actions of this new government was to scrap the northern Australia agenda. They scrapped the northern Australia committee, the only committee in this parliament dedicated to exploring the very important cross-portfolio and cross-jurisdiction issues to develop 51 per cent of our land mass. There are 1.3 million people living in northern Australia, 16 per cent of those Indigenous—over 200,000 Indigenous people—and we removed the very, very small advantage that northern Australia had in that place. Senator Scarr 282997 How much wealth does it create? Senator McDONALD 123072 The wealth that's created from northern Australia—11 per cent of the nation's GDP, you'll be impressed to hear, Senator Scarr, from only three per cent of the population living in the north. Not only did they axe the committee on northern Australia; they axed the Office of Northern Australia. They've melded that into some other part of the department, never to be seen again. They've axed the modern manufacturing initiatives that we were rolling forward. They've frozen the Hells Gate Dam; it will be death by consultant to that project. They're delivering uncertainty on the future of mining and resources in the north. Northern Australia is being short-changed by a short-sighted Labor government. This part of the country has the most opportunity for irrigated agriculture, the critical development for food security both for Australians and our region. We have the resources, critical minerals and rare earths that allow Australia to take part in the new economy that we have been talking about. And most importantly—the most important thing that we do is that we take advantage and give opportunity to the 1.3 million people speaking in the north and living in the north. We give opportunity and, as Senator McCarthy just described, meaningful work, purposeful work and connection, and we can only do that by developing the very part of the country where those people live. Under the previous government, we had committed $6.2 billion to developing the northern Australia agenda and all 51 measures under the first five years of the 20-year Our north, our future white paper on developing the north. I can't go on without acknowledging the work of a member in the other place, Mr Warren Entsch—the work that he did on that very bipartisan northern Australia committee as they examined opportunities for the north, for the people, the industries and the resources. We committed $189.6 million to developing northern Australia. That included $9.3 million to pilot the regions of growth. You cannot talk about 51 per cent of the nation without identifying the areas that can best be targeted, that can be divided up, and allow us to truly make change, to make those investments worthwhile and sticky. There was $68.5 million for mobiles and digital connectivity. We extended the northern Australia infrastructure fund from $5 billion to $7 billion, and I will be holding this government to account that they do not axe any more of the funding that goes into this critically important part of the country. We developed the priority regional master plans—Mount Isa to Townsville, Beetaloo Basin to Katherine to Darwin, Broome to Kununurra to Darwin, and the next priority region-of-growth corridor is Cairns to Gladstone. As I went across northern Australia consulting with stakeholders—with the councils, local community groups, the RDAs and businesses—the passion and the intention that people had to commit into the north was fascinating to see. Yet the first action, day one, of this government, was to completely abolish the northern Australia agenda. Infrastructure, roads and water: this is a long-term commitment to build roads and to seal roads into northern Australia. Did you know that there are still roads in the north that not only are not sealed but are dirt and which are cut off for five months of the year? That is unacceptable in a part of the country where, if a road goes out for a day, it is a matter of mass inconvenience. Yet that is what northern Australians live with, at the same time as delivering 11 per cent of the GDP of the country. We have invested $700 million for 38 projects for beef roads in northern Australia and 31 investment decisions under the NAIF for $3.4 billion in northern infrastructure investments. I could go on with the specifics of the projects, but I want to touch on the Outback Way, a critical piece of infrastructure that connects Winton to Laverton in Western Australia. Did you know that there is only one sealed road connecting Queensland to the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory to Western Australia? We have been plugging away at that for the last 10 years, and yet yesterday Labor pulled the rug out from under the feet of northern Australians by removing the focus, the competition, that we need to continue investing in the north. The Savannah Way, which joins up the Top End of the country, the Burke Developmental Road and the Peninsula Developmental Road are all critical pieces of infrastructure. We committed $7.5 billion to the National Water Grid for northern Australia infrastructure and resource assessment projects and $18.9 million for five northern Australia water projects through the Water Grid Connections Funding Pathway. What will happen to those now? Last week I was in the Bowen region. Most of Australia's tomatoes come from the Bowen region during the winter months. Huge numbers of those tomatoes have been wiped out due to the unseasonable rain events. Where are we going to grow our crops if not in northern Australia during the winter months? We had money for the Hells Gate dam business case and for the Urannah dam business case and approvals. I have already touched on the blackspot program and the Regional Connectivity Program. All of these are now in question. Soon after the election campaign, I speculated that we had seen the sun set on the northern Australia agenda, and I remain completely worried that this is the end. Senator Scarr 282997 An eclipse. Senator McDONALD 123072 Yes, an eclipse, Senator Scarr. Thank you; I'll take that. We committed $75 million through the CRC for developing northern Australia. This is thought leadership in the north, into crops, into other projects that are using technology and innovation to create greater food production, to expand the cotton development in Western Australia and for sugar cane products in Queensland. One of the things I was most proud of was the reappointment of the Indigenous Reference Group. This group, chaired by Mr Colin Saltmere, from Camooweal, is a revelation, with the sorts of practical commitments they have to improving the lot of not just Indigenous Australians but primarily Indigenous northern Australians with real, purposeful, connected work. This cannot happen if you don't have that kind of prioritisation of agenda and focus. I am desperately worried about the one northern Australia representative on the Infrastructure Australia Board. Will that position remain, or will that too be scrubbed as some sort of political rhetoric, as the Labor government goes through and sacks everybody on committees that are in place at the moment? The Indigenous Reference Group has two representatives from each of the states and territories, in addition to the chair. It is talking about really exciting work, and I would be devastated to see that not continue. We have had record export earnings from our resources sector. We had smashed all previous records, in 2021 and 2022, to bring in $425 billion in resources. It is those royalties and taxes that grow the Australian economy, that secure our energy and secure our national security. It employs, directly, around 280,000 people in Australia and, despite COVID, 40,000 new jobs since the start of the pandemic, all of those being paid at double the rate of most average Australian jobs. This growth trajectory was expected to continue, but, of course, now we have doubt cast over that by the green tail wagging the Labor dog as we see the agenda being set under this new government. We were committed to securing our gas supply with the strategic basins policy, our gas-fired recovery, the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan in the Northern Territory, the North Bowen and Galilee basins plan, and the Cooper and Adavale basins plan—all of these critical resources not just for energy production but also for the manufacture of urea, for AdBlue, critical components for our agriculture and transport industries. If the thing you have in your hand is not made of steel it's made in a factory made of steel, and we know that coal is critical in the manufacturing of steel. We invested money into carbon capture and storage, modern technology, to allow us to achieve our carbon neutral emissions target by 2050. There's our critical minerals industry, much of which is in northern Australia, the geosciences research plan and exploration plan. We invested $2 billion into a critical minerals facility. Will this government continue with those works or will that too be cast under the shadow of a brave new government that talks a lot about rhetoric but forgets the practicality of how it actually makes a difference, of how it actually invests in industry that improves Australians' lives, whether it be the high-paid resource salaries, whether it be how that spreads across our nation through royalties and taxes, whether it be our world-leading agricultural industry that feeds not only Australia but a good part of our regional sector? Northern Australia is a critical part of ensuring that we secure our food security. We hold much of the phosphate reserves and potash from Western Australia. These are all minerals that need to be developed for food security, to secure agricultural supply chains for Australia and for our near neighbours. With the threat of foot-and-mouth and lumpy-skin disease in Indonesia and Bali, we are looking at a food security problem for those people. Sri Lanka is working its way through a catastrophe with the removal of much of the fertilisers in that country. And Indonesia is down to 50 per cent of milk production in East Java. These are our near neighbours who are struggling with food security. They are struggling with disease. Australia and northern Australia will have to hold our own biosecurity line in that part of the country. Yet what has Labor done? The first action on day one of this parliament was to cancel the northern Australia committee, to remove the office of northern Australia. I call out to the government to reinstate those important tools of government, but, most importantly, I call out to— An honourable senator interjecting— Senator McDONALD 123072 I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Would you like to speak next? Would you like the call next? Senator Scarr 282997 Oh, please, No! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Honourable senators. You're not assisting, Senator Scarr. I ask senators to restrain themselves. You have 36 seconds, Senator McDonald. Senator McDONALD 123072 So it is without the particular focus on northern Australia that we threaten the future prosperity of our country. We threaten the future severity of city dwellers who don't have the ability to grow food, to mine for energy and other resources. Without northern Australia, the resources sector, I fear for what our future, for ourselves and our young people, will look like and I will be endeavouring to hold this government to account along with my other northern Australia counterparts. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 I shall now proceed to senators' statements. STATEMENTS BY SENATORS 24 STATEMENTS BY SENATORS Hocking, Ms Debra Ann 24 12:15 Senator BILYK HZB Tasmania Senator McLachlan, I congratulate you on becoming the Deputy President. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Thank you. Senator BILYK HZB I rise today to speak about a very dear friend of mine, Debra Hocking, who passed away recently from throat cancer. Deb is not a household name, but she certainly deserves to be for all that she achieved in life and for the challenges she overcame to get there. I think that over 14 years this is the speech I've edited the most. I started off with an hour's worth of speech, with funny stories and things to say about her, and you'll understand as I get into my speech why I did that. But I've got limited time. I know I'm going to miss something, but 50 years of friendship—let alone Deb's amazing achievements—are really hard to get into 10 minutes. Deb was never one to trumpet her own successes or take credit for her work. She was quiet. She was a humble achiever. But she did have—and this is probably why we were such good friends—a very colourful vocabulary. Deb believed in forgiveness but not in forgetting, and that was critical to a change in Deb's life and what she went on to do. We've all heard of the stolen generation, and it's to this country's great shame that Aboriginal children were removed from their families as late as the 1960s. Deb was a member of the stolen generation, removed from her family at the age of 18 months in 1961. Growing up, she faced incredible adversity. At primary school she was bullied and referred to as 'the gutter child', even though she was fair skinned. At home she was discriminated against and physically and sexually abused by members of her foster family. At least when she got to high school—which is where I met Deb—she established some valuable lifelong friendships, but it wasn't until we were adults that Deb actually opened up to us about her former life and the issues she had gone through. There are about 10 of us who have kept in contact for over 40 years, and she did tell us that school was her safe place. She felt safe at school, and I'm really honoured to have been part of the group that helped Deb to feel safe. There are a couple of funny stories that I'll tell before I get on to what an amazing person she was. Deb loved music. She could play the guitar, and my lasting memory of Deb involves three songs that I don't think will ever get out of my head. In high school we'd get to school early and grab the guitars, which were locked up. Because Deb was only this high and quite petite, we'd send her over the wall—there was a gap like this—she would unlock the door and we would be able to get the musical instruments. By grade 10 the staff had decided we were probably pretty safe with the instruments and gave us the keys, but this is what we did until then. A lot of us would sit around singing or doing whatever, and Deb was one of the guitar players. The three songs are 'House of the Rising Sun'—which shows my age—'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and 'Everything I Own', by Bread. I will never be able to hear those songs without thinking of Deb. Although Deb felt safe at school, she was unable to escape the abuse. The welfare authorities would check on her and she would lie and tell them she was happy because if she didn't—if she reported otherwise—she was physically punished by her foster parents. She also accepted her treatment at home as the norm because she didn't have anything else to compare it to. Deb made repeated requests to see her biological family but she was told they didn't want her. After 15 years in a foster home, Deb ran away and lived on the streets. She survived by scavenging for food out of skip bins so she didn't starve. It's quite a serious issue, obviously, but she would tell us lots of funny stories about how, because she was so small, she was the one who had to get into the skip and was left there when the police came around. But Deb eventually decided that wasn't the way to live, so she walked into one of the banks—this is what you could do back in the seventies—she asked for a job and she got a job. All through her life Deb was tenacious in seeking information about her family, and when the authorities refused to give access to her file she staged a daily sit-in in the department. Eventually a public servant felt sorry for her and gave her access to her file illegally. She was given half an hour in a room with her file, a notepad and a pen, and amazingly it turned out that her mother lived not five minutes away from her and there were letters in that file from her mother, begging to get her back. Her other siblings went back to her mother eventually; Deb never did. Deb's mum was really ill when she found her. She had a visit with her mother—obviously it was hugely emotional; you can just imagine what it was like—and didn't get to have a real proper dialogue through all the emotion and tears, and just shortly after that visit Deb received a call from hospital to say her mum was dying. Her mother died two minutes after Deb arrived to see her, so twice she saw her mother since she was 18 months old. Deb searched out other members of her biological family. But she had been separated from them for 20 years by then, so it was a hard adjustment for her. She told me that she suffered this kind of identity crisis that a lot of members of the stolen generations experience—that of existing in a space between two worlds but not feeling like you fully belong anywhere. Despite all of this—you would think it would be very easy for Deb to give up on life—Deb worked hard to connect with her Aboriginal culture and ancestors and to reclaim her identity as an Aboriginal woman. Deb's life experience motivated her to take a strong interest in Aboriginal affairs, and after the end of her first marriage, after more than 20 years—she had worked in the family business but predominantly been a stay-at-home mum to four beautiful kids—Deb enrolled at university to pursue her interests. She had left Tasmania. She studied Aboriginal health, which gave her an insight into the disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal people in not just areas such as health, housing and economic participation but the loss of their spiritual and cultural identity. Deb's life featured in the 2018 documentary Risking Light, which followed three people from around the world as they explored the journey from grief to compassion to forgiveness, and I attended a screening of Risking Light in the Hobart Town Hall a couple of years ago and was deeply moved by all three stories but particularly by Deb's, given the friendship I have with her. On 9 August there's going to be another screening of that documentary as a memorial to Deb in Hobart. Despite the turmoil of Deb's upbringing she achieved incredible success in education, work and life. Shortly before her death Charles Sturt University offered her an honorary professorship, so she was Professor Hocking. She put extensive energy into helping and representing Aboriginal people and was a driving force behind progress towards truth-telling and reconciliation in Tasmania. Deb served as the chair of the Stolen Generations Alliance, an organisation which liaises with stolen generations survivors around Australia to advance their issues, and this organisation also helped reunite families that had been torn apart by the removal of Aboriginal children. She led the committee that organises Sorry Day events in Tasmania, and in this role she also travelled around visiting schools to explain to schoolchildren the importance and significance of Sorry Day and saying sorry. Over the years Deb formed strong, productive relationships with political leaders, including with former Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and in 2006 Mr Lennon delivered an apology in the Tasmanian parliament to the stolen generations and established a redress scheme. Deb was very involved in the discussions with the Premier about the wording of the apology and details of the redress scheme. She also participated in discussions with the Commonwealth around the wording of the National Apology delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008, and earlier this year when Deb was dying, when she was actually in palliative care, I spoke to Kevin and he sent her a personal video to thank her for all her hard work. I've got pages of what Deb did. I've adlibbed and I've missed the plot. I've lost a lot of time with that, so I might continue this in the adjournment next week. But I do just want to say that Deb made an incredible contribution to the task of reconciliation, and I know that she would have been ecstatic to see the election of a federal Labor government that's committed to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart. We still have a long way to go. Deb, I haven't finished with you yet. I miss you. I'll come back and finish another time. Australian Regional Leadership Initiative 25 12:25 Senator DAVEY 281697 New South Wales I rise to speak about my experience on a recent Australian Regional Leadership Initiative tour, hosted by Save the Children and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which I undertook to Fiji. These tours are an initiative of Save the Children Australia and their aim is to educate politicians from all parties—or Independents, minor parties; it doesn't matter—on where Australian support, regional development funds and Australian aid is going and the benefits that are achieved from that. I can't speak highly enough about my experience on this tour. It was an absolute eye-opener for me. Obviously, I'm very aware of the money Australia provides to overseas partners and nations to support their development, to support their growth and to also support them in their times of need following crisis and emergency. I've never begrudged that funding. I believe that it is important as a global citizen to be very active in that space. But to get to witness firsthand the results of this expenditure was incredibly humbling, and I want to talk about a few of the experiences we undertook. One of the first stops we had was to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva—and we saw the Pacific Islands Forum the week before very much front and centre of the news. We got a presentation about the development and the adoption of the 2050 Blue Pacific strategy, which is a strategy that brings together the Pacific Islands Forum nations to recognise that the region, encompassing the oceans, the lands, the landscapes and the environment, needs to work together to not only see continued peace and harmony but also recognise opportunities in the region and to work together to maximise those benefits instead of working in silos. It was a very good initiative, and I look forward to watching how that strategy is implemented. We also got to spend time with the Australia Pacific Training Coalition, who are currently training a cohort of aged-care workers to come to Australia to work under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme. I know, from my experience in agriculture, that the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme is widely applauded, widely supported by employers in Australia, and to see this young cohort ready and raring to get into the regions to work in our aged-care sector was very exciting indeed. These students from all over Fiji—and there were 30 of them—undertake 12 weeks of theoretical learning there in Suva. Then they come to Australia to jobs that have already been identified to undertake their 12 weeks of on-the-job training, and then they're a qualified aged-care worker. They come out with a cert III. But under the PALM scheme they can stay in Australia for three years and earn money. They send some of their earnings home. It supports their home communities. It supports their families. It supports them. They go home with a qualification and life experience, and each and every one of them was so excited about the experience before them. During the trip, the Australian high commission also coordinated for the female politicians on the trip—me; the member for Indi, Helen Haines; and fellow Victorian Senator Jess Walsh—an opportunity to meet with female candidates for the upcoming Fijian election. It has been identified in Fiji that they would like to see more women in politics. For these candidates to see a bipartisan approach from the three of us and to hear our experiences in politics and how important it is that we strive to attract more incredibly qualified and smart women into that area—I thank the high commission for coordinating that. It was a really good opportunity. My only complaint was that we ran out of time, unfortunately. I also met with incredible women in business over there, like Kata from Kaybee farms outside Suva. She is the only female aquaculturalist in Fiji. She breeds tilapia for commercial markets, but she's also an integrated farmer. She's got her aquaculture with the tilapia, she grows taro, she grows cassava and she grows pumpkins. She's got an outstanding operation on only five hectares. With five hectares of land, she is a fully commercial operator, employing local people and also empowering other women and training other women to be businesswomen in Fiji. We then travelled up to Vanua Levu, where we got to meet some of the victims of Cyclone Yasa and hear firsthand from them about their experiences at—I'm probably going to pronounce it wrong—the Nabavatu settlement, which is still a tent village. These people's village was absolutely flattened as a result of Cyclone Yasa a couple of years ago. They're currently living in tents provided by Australian aid, and they're very grateful for those tents. The sense of community in this village was absolutely beautiful. The people are living the simplest of lives out of necessity, because they're in tents. They no longer have a power supply, because the generator they were provided was needed for the next emergency that came up, but they are making the most of being together and being in that circumstance. Save the Children also established a $300 grant to the victims of Cyclone Yasa, and we heard firsthand from these people what a difference just $300 made to them. We saw their excitement at seeing a delegation of Australian politicians who'd gone off the tourist track—who'd gone out of the way into this village to actually meet with them and to shake their hands and to break bread with them. They were absolutely thrilled. They had just three asks, which I was totally humbled by. They asked if we could potentially support them to get some solar panels so they could get power to the village. They asked, if at all possible, if they could get a couple of new tarpaulins for some of the tents that were in decline, and they asked for our support to help advocate. They have all the building materials they need, which they collected following the cyclone. They have the will and the want to rebuild their village, and they've even located a site. They're just waiting for the final sign-off from the Fijian government, and then they will proudly re-establish their community. We also met a young boy in Lekutu who was also a recipient of the $300 grants. Young fellas—if I'd given my children $300, it would probably be spent in a matter of days! This kid set up a business. He recognised that the closest barber shop was a two-hour trip away, so he took his $300 and established a very successful business. Now the men of his village can get their hair cut without having to travel days. The work Australia is doing in the Pacific, the work the Save the Children foundation is doing in the Pacific and the work other aid agencies are doing is phenomenal. I don't call it aid. I don't call it welfare. I call it partnership. I call it development. And I encourage everyone who gets invited to go on one of these trips to take the offer. Environment 27 12:35 Senator HANSON-YOUNG I0U South Australia I rise today, in this time for senators' statements, to make some comments in relation to the state of Australia's environment. Of course, we know that last week the minister for the environment, Tanya Plibersek, finally released the official State of the environment report, a report that has been hidden from public view since December, a report that, under the previous government, was hidden from Australians on the eve of an election. Why? Well, it's pretty clear, when you look at the report, why the former government, the Morrison government, did not want the Australian people to know what a dire situation Australia's environment is in. It is code red for nature. That is what this report shows—an extinction crisis looming so large it is becoming more and more difficult to halt. It's a crisis that is fuelled by the climate crisis and global warming. It is compounding the very real impacts of extinction loss, habitat loss and, of course, the climate crisis itself. The report details, in page after page after page, a litany of failures of successive governments, who, under their watch, refused to do what was needed to protect the environment and to ensure that no more species, no more native animals, no more of Australia's environment is lost unnecessarily. Land clearing, this report shows, is out of control. Native forest logging is pushing some of our most precious species to the brink of no return. All of these, of course, then compound the very real and devastating impacts of climate change and global warming. Between the years 2000 and 2017, 7.7 million hectares of land was cleared in Australia, 93 per cent of which did not even require sign-off by the government of the day. It was simply: 'Out of our hands. Out of our sight. Out of our mind.' And now that habitat is lost forever. This is putting real stress on our animals, on our wildlife and on our environment at large. Australians are aware. They can see the fact that our environment is under such stress, and they want the government of the day to do better and to do more. It's not good enough just to have an environment department or a minister for the environment; we must have a government that protects the environment. We must have politicians who are willing to stand up and say no to an application for a new coalmine or a big housing development on critical habitat which is going to push our wildlife to the brink of no return. The big looming issue in this report is the compounding nature of climate change and global warming and the fact that they are making it harder and harder for Australia to reverse the extinction crisis. The report shows that our environment laws are not fit for purpose. It is nonsensical that in 2022 we have a set of rules in this country which allow the environment minister of the day to have an application for a new coal or gas mine on their desk and to make a decision about whether that mine should go ahead or not, whether it should be given environmental approval, yet, before being given the green light, there is no need for information on the climate impact that project is going to have. So, when you hear successive ministers, members of this place and the other, say that a particular project is okay because it's been given environmental approval, remember that none of that approval has required a thought about the impact that the climate pollution will have on the environment or on the species that call that area home. We drastically need a change to our environment laws. We need laws that are fit for purpose, that are there to protect the environment, not the interests of the big mining corporations, not the interests of big developers. The laws should be there to protect our environment and to stop species loss. We need environment laws that are written to protect the environment and that are enforced. What the State of the environment report shows, and what Graeme Samuel's report two years ago showed, is that even the weak laws that we have are being undermined every single day—overlooked, bargained off, not enforced. We need to put a stop to that. We need a watchdog, a cop on the beat, to make sure that the rules that are in place to protect nature, to look after our wildlife, are actually being upheld and implemented. We need an independent environmental watchdog to enforce those rules. We need an immediate halt to any more critical habitat destruction. Australia is being asked by the rest of the world to take the state of our environment seriously, to hear this code red warning and act. We're being asked to match what other countries around the world are doing, to pledge to stop any further extinction and to protect land and sea, and we need to do it seriously. This report reveals just how many of our precious Australian animals and other species are on the brink of extinction. It is just devastating and a national shame that the koala is on that list. If we don't change the way we are protecting our environment, we are going to lose the koala. We are going to lose the greater glider. We are going to lose the masked owl. We're going to lose species after species after species until we stop allowing their homes, their habitat, to be destroyed. So we need a moratorium on the destruction of habitat immediately, until we have the right rules in place to put the environment first and not the interests of big corporations and developers. There's been a lot of talk over the last few days in this building, as the parliament has recommenced, about how seriously this new parliament is going to take the climate crisis. Australians voted overwhelmingly, across all states, across cities, suburbs and regions, for climate action. Part of taking climate action means we need to stop making things worse. We need to stop making pollution worse. We've got a big job ahead of us to reduce the amount of pollution currently being created. The last thing we should be doing is giving the green light to more projects which are going to make pollution levels grow. A climate trigger in our environment laws, forcing the minister of the day to look at and assess projects on the basis of their climate pollution, and how climate change is going to impact and damage the environment, is a no-brainer, and I look forward to working with people on all sides in this new parliament to garner support and momentum and to get that job done. If we don't, it's not just a report that warns code red; it will be happening, and it is happening, before our very eyes. And it will be on our watch. We are losing time, and we are losing the battle against extinction and the battle against the environment crisis. We have to act now, and we need to work together to do that—a climate trigger, a moratorium on habitat destruction and an independent watchdog to make sure there is a cop on the beat looking after our environment and holding those who destroy it to account. Biosecurity: Foot-and-Mouth Disease 28 12:45 Senator CICCONE 281503 Victoria Acting Deputy President Polley, it's good to see you and my other colleagues here again, in the 47th Parliament. Today I decided to make a contribution in the Senate on the topic of foot-and-mouth disease, which is obviously a very serious issue impacting the agriculture industry but also our economy nationally. Foot-and-mouth disease has been getting a lot of attention in the media, and for good reason. But there has also been a lot of attention in our political debate. It presents a very huge and devastating threat to one of our most significant components of the Australian economy—our ag industry. The estimated initial cost of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, if it were to occur here in Australia, would be around $80 billion—that's been recent estimates—not to mention the immense personal cost on individuals in agriculture, particularly our farmers. Australians are already intensely aware of the supply chain disruptions of the past two years during COVID. There is a lot of valid concern out in our community about the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak that is currently being seen, and the Australian government is working very closely with our friends in Indonesia. This outbreak does require a very serious but mature response, and that's why the Albanese Labor government has taken several measures to date to strengthen our biosecurity on our border. I'll run through just a few for the benefit of the Senate. First, we've increased screening in our airports and mail centres. Second, we've reviewed the import permits for Indonesian products that are at risk of carrying foot-and-mouth disease. Third, there's been specific advice about biosecurity responsibilities that has played on every plane coming into Australia from Indonesia. Fourth is direct support to the Indonesian government to purchase vaccines to control the outbreak. Fifth is additional funding for Meat & Livestock Australia to coordinate industry's response to the disease. And sixth is the deployment of sanitation foot mats. It is these mats that have been delivered to all of our international airports. They are operational in Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Sydney, Adelaide, Cairns and Brisbane for passengers entering from Indonesia, and there will be other airports that will soon also receive these mats. In another step in the strongest biosecurity response Australia has ever seen, the Albanese government is also screening every single piece of mail that is arriving from both Indonesia and China. We are serious about combating the biggest risk of foot-and-mouth disease coming here: imported and infected meat products. This has never been done on such a scale by any previous Australian government, despite past outbreaks. It's all part of our strongest biosecurity response in history. But what has been disappointing is how the National Party have played politics with this outbreak, especially the one recently broken out in Indonesia. Senator Scarr 282997 Oh, come on, Raff! Senator CICCONE 281503 Without talking to industry or experts, the Nationals have seized on the news of foot-and-mouth disease infections in Indonesia with delight and have immediately called for the closure of the border between our two great nations. This is an extraordinary call from the opposition, particularly those in the National Party. It has received no response and has also received no support from experts in the industry. Industry groups have rightly called for calm, and acknowledge the government's response has been very reasonable and been measured to prevent the disease from entering Australia, and have stated our border should remain open. I know there were interjections across the aisle, but I do say, thankfully, the Liberal Party did not join the Nationals in calling for the borders to be closed. Take, for instance, Meat & Livestock managing director Jason Strong, who recently described the federal government's approach to date as very coordinated and collaborative, adding that the cooperation has been outstanding. He further characterised some of the recent commentary by those opposite, particularly the National Party, as unnecessarily alarmist. AgForce Queensland deputy president John Baker was also reported in the media recently as advising his members that they should be cautious about foot-and-mouth disease but that he had faith in Australia's biosecurity measures because they 'were doing their job'. Further, he went on to say that there was all this hysteria with people saying that we should ban travel to Bali but we haven't banned travel to any other country where there has been foot-and-mouth disease in the past. Other farm leaders, like those in the National Farmers Federation, have said that the biosecurity measures to combat the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Australia are actually working. The united foot-and-mouth disease effort by Labor and industry is crucial to maintaining confidence in our $80 billion agriculture industry. So seriously has this government taken the issue that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Murray Watt, travelled to Jakarta recently. He was accompanied by the National Farmers Federation President Fiona Simson and Australia's chief vet for talks with the Indonesian government on how we can help with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. I want to commend the minister for taking such action. On top of this, the minister has provided not one but two briefings to the opposition—specifically, to the Leader of the Nationals, at his request—by the ag department's biosecurity team, so that we collectively in this place can all work together to protect our ag industry. Indonesia is a key trading partner, and nurturing our trade relationship is incredibly important, particularly for agriculture. But, for weeks now, members of the opposition—particularly those in the National Party—have been dramatically calling for the border to be shut, again with no support from experts or industry. What we saw on Monday was quite mind-blowing. We saw the extraordinary attack from the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, on the National Farmers Federation for daring to question his record on biosecurity and his border hysteria. Unlike the opposition, we will work with the industry to keep foot-and-mouth disease out, but we don't want to play politics, and on multiple occasions we have said to the opposition that we want to work with them on this issue. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Mr Littleproud has attacked farm groups for daring to question him. In March this year, he called such groups—particularly the NFF—ignorant and he sidelined critics over the coalition government's then lacklustre response to lumpy skin disease. That kind of arrogance and refusal to listen is what has created the cracks in our biosecurity wall that we are now trying to fix. The NFF President Fiona Simson responded to these attacks by the Nationals leader on Monday with a tweet. For the benefit of my colleagues, I will read what she tweeted: He— that is, Mr Littleproud— seemed to think we were representative a couple of months ago (except when we were pushing for the national bio-security strategy or more $$ for bio-security, that is…) So, unlike the Nats, Labor has listened to farmers and we've listened to many farming peak bodies, and I've been personally contacted by many in the industry who are deeply concerned about the impact of the media storm that the Nationals have been drumming up about the insecurity of our borders. The debate has undermined confidence in Australian consumers and retailers, who are starting to feel that maybe we should stay away from Australian beef, despite the controls that we have in place. The controls are working. There has been no human health concern to date. I've heard concerning reports that international consumers are already asking which other countries they can source their beef from because the media debate is undermining confidence in Australia's ability to keep foot-and-mouth disease out, despite our controls working. The NFF has been very clear that it does not think that the border should be shut. They've also been very critical of the previous coalition government's ad hoc approach to biosecurity. For almost a decade, biosecurity funding has been inconsistent and patchy, which is the opposite of what you need if you are to keep biological threats out of Australia. So it's completely hypocritical for the Nationals to be talking down the Albanese government's approach and ability to manage biosecurity, when they have been criticised for years for their inadequate and inconsistent management. What did Nationals Leader David Littleproud say in response to criticism of his party's approach to biosecurity and the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak? Well, he doubled down: he claimed the NFF doesn't represent everyday farmers. That's right—they don't represent everyday farmers, apparently. Apparently, farmers shouldn't collaborate and raise their voice on issues that matter to them; they should just sit down and listen to what the Nats tell them to think. Well, that is not the approach of this government. That is not the approach of an Albanese government and how it will work with our farming community. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT e5x Thank you, Senator. Senator Smith. Her Majesty The Queen: Platinum Jubilee, Myanmar 30 12:55 Senator DEAN 241710 Western Australia SMITH () (): I rise to highlight a meaningful, historic opportunity to pay tribute to the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen. It's an opportunity that is in real danger of being missed, unless the new Albanese government acts quickly. But let me begin with a short anecdote that demonstrates powerfully Her Majesty's commitment to the Australian people and her lifelong mantra of 'service before self'. On the eve of the funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, our Queen telephoned her Australian representative, the Governor-General, David Hurley. His Excellency had previously written to Her Majesty to express Australia's sorrow as a nation at the Duke's passing. The Governor-General had also arranged for a phone call with Her Majesty, thinking it would take place after the funeral. Little did he expect to hear from the Queen only hours before the service. After the Governor-General had passed on his condolences, the first question the Queen had was for the welfare of the people in the town of Kalbarri, in my home state of Western Australia, after the shocking destruction of Cyclone Seroja. Amid Her Majesty's own grief and great personal loss, her first instinct was to ask about the welfare of others. It's a heartwarming tale of an Australian head of state who truly cares for her Australian people. As I mentioned earlier, it's one of countless examples of her keeping her promise of service and duty to us. As the Commonwealth celebrates Her Majesty's 70 remarkable years on the throne, her Platinum Jubilee offers an opportunity not only to recognise her service and duty, but, importantly, those of others who have also dedicated their lives to the greater good. In this spirit, a magnificent commemorative medal to mark the 70th anniversary of the Queen's accession has been created in the United Kingdom. The criteria for receiving the medal in the United Kingdom have remained the same as for all jubilee medals. Serving members of the armed forces that have completed five full years of service qualify; volunteer reserve and ex-regular reservists qualify; frontline emergency services personnel qualify; prison services personnel qualify; members of the royal household with one year of qualifying service also qualify; and living individual recipients of the Victoria and George crosses also qualify. And, to provide some context, recipients in the United Kingdom number into the hundreds of thousands. It's a wonderful way of sharing this landmark occasion. Some of these recipients were present at the official jubilee events in London, and those watching would have noticed the beautiful silver medal with its blue, red and white ribbon. The Platinum Jubilee has not gone unnoticed in Australia. There have been some wonderful celebrations, with major public buildings illuminated in purple; beacons lit; and even an island here, in Lake Burley Griffin, renamed in our Queen's honour. But, sadly, Australia has not taken up the opportunity to award a Queen's Platinum Jubilee medal. New Zealand's Labor government has made a similar mistake. The year 2022 is quickly passing us by, and so is the chance to implement this very special initiative. Not doing so would be a shame for the deserving potential recipients across Australia and would represent a break with precedent. In June 1957, Malcolm Fraser announced that nearly 7,000 Australians would receive the Silver Jubilee Medal. In 2002, then Prime Minister John Howard, without delay, announced that Australians would be eligible for Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee Medal. Perhaps in a sign of things to come, the Gillard government was reluctant to implement the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. One headline from the Canberra Times on 14 January 2012 read: 'Australia shuns medals to mark Queen's accession'. In the end, only 10 people received it. Now, it seems to me that Australia may not mark, in this meaningful way, what is almost certainly the Queen's most important—and, unfortunately, perhaps last—jubilee. Various Commonwealth nations across the globe have done their part. For example, the Caribbean and Central American members, such as Jamaica, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda have all awarded their citizens with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee medal. Why should we make this break in Australian history and why should Australian servicepeople and civilians doing vital work on behalf of our country and community, on behalf of my home state of Western Australia, not similarly be recognised. Many of them, including our ADF personnel and police, swear an oath to the Queen. So too, I note, does the Albanese government's Assistance Minister for the Republic. But I realise the irony of this arrangement is not lost on many of my colleagues both here and in the other place. The service of ADF and police force members would, of course, feature highly on a suggested list of criteria for Australian recipients of a Platinum Jubilee medal. I would propose that criteria might be based on that in the United Kingdom but tailored to Australian use and include qualifying members who are serving and ex-service members of the Australian Defence Force that have completed four years of service; Australian Defence Force cadet instructors that have completed four years of service; frontline emergency services personnel, both paid and volunteer; members of the police force and correctional service officers that have completed four years of service; national service men whose service has been completed; and, of course, again, living individual recipients of the Victoria Cross and the Cross of Valour. The new Albanese government has been blatant in its republican agenda since gaining office, going so far as to create, as I have highlighted, a portfolio responsible for achieving an Australian republic. Nevertheless, I call upon it to put aside its views and policy on what ought to be a non-partisan issue at this time. It must honour the words 'service' and 'duty' by starting the process of awarding Australians with a Platinum Jubilee medal, and it must award the medal widely enough that it resonates broadly across the Australian community. This is a matter I intend to pursue over coming weeks and months, and I call on my Senate colleagues to be outspoken in their support of this initiative and other initiatives like it that at its core honour the service of Australian men and women across causes. I mean no offence to the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan, except to stress a final point: they have all done it, and Australia can do it again. Briefly, I want to talk about another matter that is particularly close to my heart. I would like to publicly acknowledge the great work and the one-year anniversary of the National Unity Government of Burma here in Australia. The 19th of July marks the date on which a year ago they appointed an official representative to our country. It is also a great shame that in the last few days we have been reminded again of the brutality of the regime in Myanmar, and again I call on the Australian government to not waste a moment in imposing sanctions against this brutal regime. Yesterday the Governor-General gave a speech. It outlined the government's agenda. In that speech, he said that a feature of our country—and I agree with this point—is the breadth of its multicultural community. That same community wants to see their values and their priorities reflected in Australia's foreign policy. It is shameful that the regime has brutally executed four democracy activists. The time is now for the Australian government to act, and to act decisively, because Australians like myself and Australians of Burmese heritage—the Chin, the Karen and others—want this government to stand up and to impose sanctions and not to waste another opportunity. This is a very, very critical issue. We can't live our values abroad unless we stand united in condemning again and again this brutal regime in Burma. I congratulate the new Australian government on the announcement it made yesterday in condemning the execution of democracy activists, and I add my own views to their calls for greater international effort in having this regime condemned and driven out. I am encouraged by the unity that Burmese people of a variety of ethnicities have shown in joining together and supporting the national unity government. I congratulate their work over the last 12 months and I wish them every success in Australia in representing their views to the new government, to me and to other senators, all of whom have a great passion and care for the restoration of democracy in Burma. Australia state of the environment 2021 31 13:05 Senator DAVID POCOCK 256136 Australian Capital Territory This is not my first speech, but I would like to take this opportunity to talk briefly about the recently released State of the environment report. At the commencement of this 47th parliament it is clear that our environment sits on a precipice, which means that our way of life sits on the precipice, as we are part of nature and if nature goes down we go down with it. None of what was contained in the report was a surprise, and none of it was the fault of any one government; it is the result of decades of underfunding and mismanagement of our natural environment. We have to do better. Australians expect us to do better, and we can. As the report highlighted, we have the opportunity to learn from the oldest living cultures in the world. We need First Nations knowledge and wisdom more than ever. Combining this with the latest in science and technology, the brilliant work done by our scientific community, we can solve the challenges we face, but this work must be properly resourced. Declining investment in our natural environment has to be reversed now. I commend Minister Plibersek's commitment to reforming our environmental laws next year. As Professor Graeme Samuel pointed out in his review of the act almost two years ago: The EPBC Act is ineffective… It is not fit to address current or future environmental challenges— including climate change. With so many ecosystems and species on the brink, some tough decisions will need to be made before the act can be updated, decisions that prioritise the health of ecosystems and the diversity of life that this incredible continent has sustained for millennia. One of the things the State of the environment report highlighted was the need for us as a country to take invasive species management more seriously. In Australia feral cats alone kill some 316 million birds and almost 600 million reptiles every year. Invasive species have cost us almost $400 billion since the 1960s and continue to have a significant impact on our ecosystems and our farmers. Many mammal species have become extinct and others are on the brink of extinction due to the impact of feral animals. Many of our incredible marsupials such as numbats, bettongs, bilbies and dunnarts now exist only in fully fenced feral-free areas dotted across the country. Invasive species management requires funding for existing programs and investment in innovation, as well as working collaboratively with farmers and landholders to control invasive species. This collaboration with farmers must extend beyond invasive species management. Farmers look after more than half of Australia. Growing up on a farm gave me a love of the land, and most of the farmers I know love the land that they are on and want to leave it in a better condition for future generations. Farmers can and must be part of the solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises we face. We have a number of world-leaders in regenerative agriculture here in Australia, farmers who are producing world-class food and fibre while sequestering carbon and increasing biodiversity on farms. We have an opportunity to learn from them, build on their knowledge and regenerate land whilst also providing quality food and fibre today and handing our land to future generations in a better condition. I look forward to working with my fellow senators to halt our extinction crisis and leave a legacy for future generations, one that can excite younger generations and one that can excite us as a country as we talk about the kind of future that we want. Australian Parliamentary Delegation to Fiji 32 13:10 Senator WALSH 252157 Victoria This month I travelled to Fiji as part of a cross-party delegation to better understand our place in the Pacific family, and from five days of meetings in villages, farms, markets, women's health centres, training schools and boardrooms across Fiji I want to share just two lessons: first, that Australia's commitment to build our Pacific family matters; and second, that strong women are the heart and soul of successful communities in Fiji and our Australian aid programs are supporting these women to build a better future. First, building our Pacific family matters. It matters to the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Mr Henry Puna, who so generously gave us his time, and it matters just as much to the local village leaders in remote communities we met as well. Everywhere that we went Fijians spoke to us as family and they welcomed us with open arms. The communities who had the least gave the most, offering food and friendship, sharing their stories and wishing us well. Whether we were meeting in boardrooms or on hillsides with communities the message to our parliamentary delegation was the same everywhere, and that was that climate change is the number one issue in Fiji, it's the number one challenge and as part of our big blue Pacific family Australia must act. One local leader spelled it out loud and clear to us. We were meeting him in his community in Lekutu, an area devastated by Cyclone Yasa just 18 months ago, but the community were still living in tents, in damp and uncomfortable positions with their families, waiting for new homes to be built. A program run by Save the Children Australia under the Australian Humanitarian Partnership had delivered much-needed $300 emergency cash payments to thousands of people, but during a meeting in the camp this leader told us, 'We are not cyclone refugees; we are climate refugees.' Fiji need Australia to act on climate, and they welcome the new steps forward of the Australian government to do just that. Second, strong women are the heart and soul of effective communities in Fiji, and Australian aid projects make a real difference to their lives. Projects for women to share and sell traditional crafts, continuing their cultures for future generations while generating income and independence, are absolutely critical to women's economic security. In Labasa the local market has been transformed into a safe environment for women not only to run their businesses but also to sleep safely at night. These women transport their goods to market initially by horse to main roads where they catch buses into town. Until the Markets for Change program rebuilt their market to include some room for overnight accommodation they were having to sleep in bus shelters, uncomfortable and unsafe. Now they have the opportunity to thrive, and they are. So too do women in Savusavu town, who have benefited from help to build a great hall, the Ra Marama hall, to come together and share and sell their crafts. Overcoming distance to remote communities is a key feature of Australian aid projects in Fiji, whether it is supporting nurses who serve village women, crossing rivers travelling by horseback and by foot to reach those women in need, or specific medical services to support women and children who are the victims of sexual violence across Fiji. All of these programs are proudly supported by Australia and by Australians, and our aid programs are changing lives by helping Fiji's women reach their own amazing potential. I want to extend huge thanks to Save the Children for inviting us to this experience, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and to my parliamentary colleagues on this delegation: Senator Perin Davey; Senator David Van; the member for Indi, Helen Haines; and the member for Gippsland, Darren Chester. Thank you for sharing the journey with genuine interest, great collegiality and a good dose of humour as well. It really is parliamentary cross-party delegations like these that can and do show our parliament at its best. Environment 32 13:15 Senator DUNIAM 263418 Tasmania Madam Acting Deputy President Polley, it's great to be back and great to see you in the chair. Today I want to take the brief opportunity that I have to speak about the environment. It is something that is centrally important to the future of this nation and to the capacity of many parts of our economy to function and it is something we all treasure. Despite some of the rhetoric that we often hear in this place, it is something we all regard at the highest level and with extreme importance, and to that end I think that there is a chance, now that the parliament has returned and as each party and individual senator in this place forms their views on the best way forward when it comes to policy, to draw breath, examine facts and find a way forward that is actually in the interests of the community we represent. We have a new government and it is time for that government to start telling us what it is it intends to do. We heard from the minister for the environment, Tanya Plibersek, when she released the Australia State of the Environment 2021 report, what the government would do, outlining the new government's plans in the environment portfolio. Some of those elements of the announcement were announced during the election campaign, and I'll come to those in moment, but there were a range that weren't part of the pre-election announcements. Just on that, I want to touch on the state of the environment report. I have had the opportunity to read the 270-page overview cover to cover to understand exactly what the about 30 contributing authors, I think it was, had to say, and there are some very important points in there. I should also indicate it is the first of many speeches I'm going to be giving on this particular report and what it means and how we should respond. But, as I said before, what the government does in response to this report or any other report that it receives is where the rubber hits the road on what is important for the Australian community. Reports are something that a government takes by way of advice; the decision-making function is that of government. Any decision that the minister and the government make should be commensurate with the issue they are dealing with. If it's a problem they need to solve or if it is a pathway they need to beat in order to create economic growth or some other opportunity for a part of our community, the policy decision taken and all the supports in and around it should be commensurate with the issue they are dealing with. That is an important point when it comes to the Australian government's response to the state of the environment report, and one I will continue to underscore. Being commensurate, balanced and reasonable is central to good outcomes. We know that the environment is fragile and requires care. We also know that our economy is fragile. The statistics that are at hand—the announcement today around inflation—does make that very, very clear. We are in perilous times when it comes to our global economy—things that are well beyond our control—and the decisions that are made here by this government, and indeed by overseas governments, will have an impact on that. And when it comes to the environment, decisions made in the sphere of environmental policy have far-reaching impacts. That is something the government needs to consider and the minister needs to consider as she brings forward policies for consideration. I was listening to the tail end of Senator Pocock's contribution earlier. He paid tribute to and acknowledged, I think quite rightly, some of our best land managers—farmers—and the role they play as custodians of the land that they live and work on, because they rely on it. So, on that basis, it is important to remember, when a government makes decisions around land management and environmental policy, that land users don't seek to trash the land. They know they will rely on it into the future, be they farmers, foresters or any other users. We need to make sure that we take into account that these people realise they are reliant on this resource. It is on that point, farming, that I have a range of questions around the new government's policies in the environment space. One that was foreshadowed or flagged at the state of the environment report release address that the minister gave last week is around the national estate, the 30 per cent of land and sea that will be set aside as the national estate. Now, I do wonder how as a country we will be able to, in a sense, lock up 30 per cent of our landmass without impacting on our farmers. It is those sorts of questions, that sort of certainty, we need to work with those custodians of our land, not to attack them and make their lives harder. They are good custodians; we should respect them. (Time expired) 13:20 Senator McKIM JKM Tasmania We have heard a lot about the so-called climate wars recently. We have heard about them from the Prime Minister, we have heard about them from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, we have certainly heard about them from many in the press gallery. Do you know what? There actually is a climate war going on right now but it is not the one those people like to talk about. It's not between Labor and the Greens, as Labor would like people to believe, and so many journalists love to uncritically parrot. The real climate war is between, on one side, the big corporate emitters, their shills in this place and most of the media and, on the other side, those who are fighting for a safe climate for the ecosystem that supports our lives. That is the real climate war and, I will tell you now, it has barely got started. In the future it is going to get a lot bloodier and a lot more desperate, because the people who run the big emitting corporations are murderous psychopaths, and their agents in this parliament on both sides are too weak and too beholden to stand up to them. Governments are already trying to arrest their way out of the real climate war but they will soon understand that the prisons just aren't big enough. The real climate wars will not end until either we have public policy that will ensure a liveable planet—and we are a long, long way from that in this country—or until the climate has broken down so irreparably that it simply doesn't matter anymore, and people are only concerned with scrounging enough food to feed themselves for another day. While the real climate wars are going on, I will be fighting them in this place, on the streets, online, in the forests or locked on to the fossil fuel infrastructure, because this is a crisis, it is an emergency and fighting for a liveable future is what the situation demands. The crisis also deserves honesty, so here are some facts. We know that Labor's climate policy is nowhere near compatible with a liveable climate. A liveable climate demands that coal, oil and gas be left in the ground and it demands an end to logging native forests, because you cannot negotiate with the laws of thermodynamics. And here we are in 2022, with all that has come before us, all the information that we know, being held to ransom by the psychopathic cabal of the fossil fuel sector and its puppets in the major parties in this place. Instead of shining a light on the toxicity and highlighting the damage that is being done to climate and planet and instead of demanding that Labor go further, we are getting appeasement from many in the media gallery. With Labor so desperately trying to sell us short, so many in the gallery are focused on trying to rewrite history and pushing for a negotiation with people who are profiting so obscenely by cooking the planet. There are plenty in the press gallery who are just as culpable in the climate debate as those who profit from cooking the planet, those nature-destroying corporations. The blind zombie stenography of Labor talking points from the incrementalists and the centrists in the press gallery is just as damaging for the chance of real action as the mantra from the climate denialists at Newscorp. You can neither negotiate climate policy with the psychopaths who run corporations that are responsible for driving climate change nor can you accept their donations and expect to be taken seriously. Unlike Labor, the Greens will not break bread with the people who are lining their pockets by cooking the planet. To the Labor politicians who say we have seen a decade of climate inaction, I say you are either ignorant or you are lying. And, to the press gallery folks who credulously report that rubbish and so frantically greenwash Labor's climate policies, I say this: please imagine the contribution you could make to the real climate wars by pushing Labor to go further and faster on climate, rather than trying to push the Greens to accept Labor's mediocrity. If you did that, you'd be on the right side of the real climate wars, not on the wrong side of history. Labor Government 34 13:25 Senator POLLEY e5x Tasmania This week the 47th Parliament commenced the work of the Albanese Labor government to create a better future. After Labor being almost a decade in opposition, my home state of Tasmania will again have a seat at the table. We will actually receive a fair deal from the government of the day, and I look forward to delivering on all the Albanese Labor government election commitments made in our home state, Madam Acting Deputy President Bilyk, of Tasmania, commitments to creating secure local jobs, to better health outcomes and access to palliative care, to cheaper child care, to better access to TAFE and training, to better and essential quality aged care and care for those with disabilities, and to creating jobs in hydrogen and the renewable energy sectors. From day one, the Albanese Labor government has started the job of renewal and reform. The work of improving our country began on election night. This is in stark contrast to the former government, which instead adopted 10 years of drift and policy paralysis. Labor will reform our country for the better and create opportunity for all Australians. As you have witnessed since 21 May, the Prime Minister has not wasted one day. The Albanese Labor government secured Fair Work Commission's decision to raise the minimum wage by $40 per week, and this government is committed to keeping unemployment low, boosting productivity and ensuring we bring down the cost of living. This is why the Albanese Labor government has organised a jobs and skills summit for 1 and 2 September this year. It will focus on delivering secure, well-paid jobs and strong, sustainable wage growth; expanding employment opportunities for all Australians including the disadvantaged; addressing skills shortages and getting our skill mix right for the long term; improving migration settings to support higher productivity and wages; and ensuring women have equal opportunities and equal pay. And we will legislate to establish Jobs and Skills Australia. These are essential and very important policies which we will deliver on. We have delivered disaster relief payments to people affected by the New South Wales floods, and we have ensured that the COVID payments for casual workers will continue in the short term, as we continue to battle the health and economic factors presented to us by the COVID-19 recovery. Before the election and during the election, Labor committed to end the climate wars, unlike the former speaker and his raving, outrageous contribution to this place. The Greens have still learnt nothing about working together in the interest of addressing climate change. We will lead this, and the Prime Minister and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, have signed an emission reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030. We will get on with the job. That is what we took to the election as a formal commitment to the people of Australia, and they endorsed that commitment. Labor has a mandate, and we are committed to it. I urge those in this place, and in the other place, to listen to the many voices of the Australian people. Australia looks different, at home and abroad. We are repairing the important historical and strategic relationships that have kept Australia in good stead for decades—our relationships with European countries and our Pacific neighbours. The Albanese Labor government has committed more military assistance for Ukraine. We have ramped up biosecurity measures to protect Australia's $70 billion agriculture sector from foot-and-mouth disease. We are committed to action and we will take action in relation to aged care, which was cast adrift and deserted by the previous, Liberal governments over the last decade. We will continue to encourage Australians to have their fourth dose of COVID vaccine. But we do have to work together. That's why the contribution by Senator McKim just demonstrated how far out of touch the Greens are in this country. They have to learn to work with the government and the opposition of the day to bring about real change. We will do that, whether we're talking about the Uluru Statement of the Heart— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT DYU Order! Senator POLLEY e5x whether we're talking about ending domestic violence— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT DYU Order! Resume your seat. The time being 1.30 pm, we will move to two-minute statements. STATEMENTS 35 STATEMENTS Labor Government 35 13:30 Senator VAN 283601 Victoria After only a short time in government, the Labor Party is certainly showing its true colours. My good friend Senator Polley is right about one thing: they do have a mandate. But that mandate seems to be to backflip on every promise that they've made and to make decisions purely for their donors—to look after the thuggish CFMMEU, to look after their donors in the industry super funds. That's the mandate that they seem to have taken on board. That's the mandate that's letting Australians down already. On only the second day of parliament, we're seeing more and more backflips. Despite arguing, while in opposition, for more spending on COVID and for free rapid antigen tests, they've now backed away from that. It took days for us and all the responsible bodies to get them to agree to reinstate the COVID payment. The Labor Party have shown that their main concern is just to look after their donors. Watering down the ABCC's powers and the Your Future, Your Super legislation will only serve the purpose of disempowering Australians and empowering their donors. Nonstop over the last three years we heard the Labor Party, when they were on this side, carry on about accountability and transparency. They have just done two things that have destroyed accountability and transparency. It's time for the Labor Party to wake up, take responsibility, realise that they are now the ones in government, put in place proper protections against FMD, look after people in aged care with COVID and do more to look after Australians. Domestic and Family Violence 35 13:32 Senator McCARTHY 122087 Northern Territory It's welcome news that, in the first week of sittings, the Albanese Labor government is introducing legislation to provide universal paid leave for workers who experience family and domestic violence. It's just one of the many things we can do as a government to provide the leadership and the investment to help end family, domestic and sexual violence. This change will give workers—overwhelmingly, women—the means to escape violent situations without risking their jobs or their financial security. I bring to the attention of the Senate the deep sense of sadness across Central Australia, following yet another act of family and domestic violence. People are in sorry business and dealing with the terrible tragedy that a mother and her baby are no longer here. It's a tragic story that we see repeated far too often in this country. Violence has no place in any community, and tackling this scourge is everyone's business. As is the case in many communities, the responsibility to tackle domestic violence often falls on the shoulders of the women themselves—the victims—and the communities who are at the centre of it. I just want to take this opportunity to reach out to those families not only in Central Australia but, obviously, as well, across the Top End, where there have also been recent deaths, and across Australia, really, and say that we do hear and see what's going on and we know that this is one area that we need to tackle not just as a government but as a parliament. We were able to do it in terms of safety in the workplace right here in Parliament House and we know we must do it responsibly right across Australia so that no person, wherever they live, should feel unsafe or be the victim of such tragic events. Workforce Australia 35 13:34 Senator RICE 155410 Victoria People voted for change in this election. So people on income support are understandably devastated and angry that the new, supposedly progressive Labor government is rolling out the previous Liberal government's broken and punitive employment services system, Workforce Australia. Under this new system, people on income support have to complete enough activities to accrue 100 points a month or have their payments cut off. They also have to navigate a new, confusing, inaccessible online platform that has already had technical difficulty after technical difficulty. Despite calls from welfare advocates and recipients, the government rushed the implementation of Workforce Australia, and it has been causing harm since day one. Users of the new platform have said things like: 'this whole experience is very stressful for an old person', 'it is damaging my mental health more' and, 'I am, frankly, terrified that this will lead to myself and others being penalised for not participating correctly in a system that we know literally nothing about.' Community groups, advocates, welfare recipients and the Greens have been calling for a minimum three-month pause to payment cut-offs while people attempt to navigate this new, confusing system. But later this week the government's measly 30-day suspension ends, and people risk losing their payments while food costs are massively high and millions of people on Jobseeker, DSP, youth allowance and the age pension are struggling to stretch a dollar far enough to survive. This week I will proudly present to the Senate a petition of more than 31,450 people are calling on the government to prevent another robodebt-like disaster by suspending Workforce Australia payment cut-offs for three months. I urge the government to listen to these voices and take immediate action to ensure that no-one loses their income support payments during this cost-of-living crisis. Energy 36 13:36 Senator HUGHES 273828 New South Wales It says an awful lot about this new government that on a day when inflation has now risen to 6.1 per cent—the highest in decades—their priority is to legislate an emissions reduction target. They are more focused on handing power to bureaucrats, creating a lawyer's picnic, putting in legislation that will tie Australia's hands behind its back when competing on the international stage and pushing up power prices. On a day that inflation rises to its highest level in decades, at a time when Australian families are feeling the pinch every which way they turn, this government is focused on what is fundamentally a virtue signal that will punish everyday Australians and Australian businesses. To reach this emissions target we will need to shut down every coal-fired power station in this country. In light of the war in Ukraine, the German Greens are leading the way in Germany with the fact that, to ensure that they have affordable, reliable, dispatchable power, they are turning back to coal-fired power generation. We have some of the best coal in the world here. We can create jobs. We can increase our mining sector. We can help bolster our coal-fired power generation, and we can help everyday Australians and make sure they can turn the dishwasher on after six pm. Senator Chisholm 39801 Hey Hollie, are you going to run in Wentworth? Are you going to run in North Sydney? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT DYU Order! Senator Hughes will resume her seat. Interjections are disorderly. The Albanese government said that this is going to be a new parliament with a new approach. I'd encourage you and all senators to follow that advice. We have rules here so that people with different views can be heard in a respectful environment. Senator HUGHES 273828 I know Senator Chisholm would miss me too much if I wasn't in the Senate, so I promise I'll stay for him. We want Australia to be able to pay the bills, put petrol in their cars, put food on their tables and make sure they can keep the lights on. (Time expired) Early Childhood Education 36 13:39 Senator MARIELLE SMITH 281603 South Australia In my first speech to this chamber in 2019 I stood here and declared that I had come to stand up for the children of my state, to fight every day to ensure we saw a fundamental re-draw of the way we fund and deliver early childhood education and care in this country. Now, as a proud member of the Albanese Labor government and with the Malinauskas Labor government leading in South Australia, we are finally on this path. The Albanese government has already committed to significant reforms for early education, including implementing an Early Years Strategy, reducing the costs of childcare and supporting the re-establishment of playgroups. At home, our state Labor government has just this week announced a change in preschool enrolment to allow for mid-year intakes. This means that children turning four between May and October can enrol in the second half of a school year and will no longer have to wait an additional six months to begin preschool, this vital start to school education in our state. Of course, this builds upon our state government's bold commitment towards three-year-old preschool—a vital step in extending the benefits of early learning to all children in our state, at the point in time when it will make such a great impact. These sorts of policies change lives, they change outcomes and they change our nation fundamentally for the better. These sorts of policies—these reforms—only ever happen under Labor governments. That's why I am Labor. I've said it before, I'll say it again and I'll keep saying it until you all get sick of it: the first thousand days of a child's life form the building blocks for their future. Every child in Australia deserves access to a fantastic education in their early years, regardless of where their family lives, which postcode they're in and how much their family earns. As long as I have a seat in this chamber, I will never stop fighting for our children's rights to a quality education and for the incredible early learning educators who deliver it. Australian Aboriginal Flag, Torres Strait Islander Flag 37 13:41 Senator HANSON BK6 Queensland This afternoon, the Labor Party will be moving a notice of motion to fly the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag in this chamber. Let me tell you a few facts. A competition was held in 1901 to design the Australian flag. It was announced by Prime Minister Edmund Barton after a request from the British government for a flag to distinguish Australia. Almost 33,000 entries were received, and then a panel of five judges approved the winning entry. The national anthem was first composed in 1878 by Peter McCormick. That was prominent in the competition for a national anthem initiated by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1973. The Whitlam government polled 60,000 Australians, more than half of whom selected 'Advance Australia Fair'. A plebiscite on the anthem was conducted along with the 1977 referendum, with four choices. 'Advance Australia Fair' received 43.29 per cent of the vote—far more than any other alternatives. The Aboriginal flag was designed by one individual, Harold Thomas, in 1971. No Australian or government appointed panel had any chance to comment on the design, and no Australian has ever had the opportunity to vote to approve the Aboriginal flag, as happened with our national flag and anthem. The people should have a choice in this, not this parliament. This is the people's house. It is not for senators to decide whether the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are flown in this chamber. When you actually put the voice to the people, I suggest to the people of this chamber—if you have got the guts—that you allow the people of Australia to vote on whether they want those flags flown. I'm warning people: this is divisive. We are one nation, one people and one flag. We are masters— (Time expired) Energy 37 13:43 Senator CANAVAN 245212 Queensland I must give it to the newly elected Labor government: they are already smashing records. Yesterday they broke a major election promise in just their first day at work here in parliament. That must be some kind of record! At the election, the Labor Party promised—I'm quoting from their own policy—to 'cut power bills for families and businesses by $275 a year for homes by 2025 compared to today.' Yesterday, in the Governor-General's address, there was not a mention of the $275 saving at all; instead, there was just a vague commitment to 'help save families hundreds of dollars on their electricity bills'. Where has the $275 gone now? Australians are asking the newly elected Labor government: 'Where is our $275 that you promised?' This is a massive broken promise that will hurt Australian families already struggling with crushing increases in the cost of living. Since the election, wholesale power prices have increased by more than four times. Soon, every time you go and get a snack from the fridge, you'll be shocked by how big that bill stuck to the fridge with a magnet is. Electricity bills are going up because we have invested too much in unreliable renewable energy. Australia leads the world in investment in renewable energy. Just the other week, our energy regulator, the Australian Energy Market Operator, revealed that Australia has built four to five times more solar and wind energy per person than Europe, the US, Japan or China. The Labor Party's response is: 'Let's do more! Let's ignore the higher consequences of this record of shame.' They want to increase our renewable energy from just 25 per cent today to 82 per cent in just eight years time. How is that going to work when the sun sets? We're in a world where the renewable energy investments must continue until morale improves. We are a country blessed with energy resources—with coal, gas and uranium. It is a national disgrace and embarrassment that we export our resources to other nations while our old go cold in winter. It is time to put Australians first. Uluru Statement from the Heart 37 13:45 Senator O'NEILL 140651 New South Wales I want to dedicate this first two-minute statement to my new seat partner, a fantastic Indigenous woman, Jana Stewart. I want to make a contribution about the importance of the Uluru statement, the Statement from the Heart, and why now, more than ever, we need to implement it in full, and in this term of parliament: voice, treaty, truth. Reconciliation with our First Nation brothers and sisters is a top priority for this, the Australian Labor government led by Prime Minister Albanese. It is rightly so that we focus on this. The statement is a roadmap to equality; to celebration of First Nations culture; to telling the truth about our history—our shared history; and to ensuring that voices are enabled at the highest levels of government. Closing the Gap we have talked about for a long time, but it comes only with genuine empowerment and authentic recognition. Without real, meaningful change we risk condemning generations of Indigenous youth to a future without recognition and without hope. We should not try to tinker with this profound statement, as some in this place have recklessly proposed. We should not ignore the statement either, as has been the political decision of others in this place. The sacred links to this land between our First Nations people have not disappeared in so short a span as that which has taken place since British settlement. I sat beside Senator Nova Peris—I signed the book in this place immediately after her—and I sit proudly here with Senator Dodson, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy and Senator Jana Stewart. (Time expired) Abortion 38 13:47 Senator STEELE-JOHN 250156 Western Australia Abortion is essential health care, and access to this procedure is a fundamental human right. But since the US Supreme Court's overturning of the Roe v Wade ruling last month we have seen in Australia how quickly these rights can be snatched away. Yes, the situation in Australia is different: abortion is legal but access to it is far from universal, nor is it guaranteed. In my home state of WA we have the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. If you want to get an abortion you first need to seek the approval of two doctors. If you are 20 weeks pregnant you then have to face a panel of six ethicist doctors, who will decide on your behalf if the procedure can go ahead. If you are under 16, your parents, legally, must be informed and must participate in mandatory counselling alongside you. Let us be clear: the reason for accessing an abortion is no-one's business but the person who is seeking it. In WA, abortion is still regulated under the Criminal Code. What is patently a matter of health care is literally codified as a criminal issue. This is an outrageous state of affairs, as is the lethargy with which the state government has moved to update the archaic legislation. So our community has taken matters into its own hands, and on Friday an informal coalition will be presenting a petition to parliament to get abortion out of the Criminal Code and into the Public Health Act. (Time expired) Myanmar 38 13:49 Senator SCARR 282997 Queensland On 18 June 2022 I was honoured to attend an event hosted by our wonderful Burmese diaspora in Queensland. The event was held for two reasons: first, to celebrate the 77th birthday on 19 June 22 of Myanmar's state councillor and Nobel Peace Prize winner door Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; second, to call for an end—an end—to the violence and a return to democracy in Myanmar. I made a commitment that day to the community that at my first opportunity in this place I would make sure that their voices were heard and I deliver on that commitment today. I do so in the context of the outrageous execution of four democracy activists in the last week in Myanmar and I place their names formally on the Hansard record of this place of democracy. The four democratic activists, one who was a legislator, were as follows: Phyo Zeya Thaw, Kyaw Min Yu, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. Each and every one of them were executed by the military junta in Myanmar for simply seeking democracy in their home country. I call for the imposition of additional sanctions by the Australian government commensurate with this outrage. I call for the imposition of Magnitsky sanctions against Myanmar's military junta members and against those individuals associated with this outrageous human rights atrocity. I call in this place for all of us, each and every one of us, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Myanmar diaspora to call for an end to the violence, a release of the political prisoners in Myanmar and a return of democracy in Myanmar. Climate Policy 38 13:51 Senator COX 296215 Western Australia We have a clear mandate on climate action but we can't tackle the climate crisis if we are still opening up new coal and gas projects. There are currently 114 new coal and gas projects in the investment pipeline, and many of these approvals will be coming across the government's desk soon. The Greens were incredibly disappointed to hear Prime Minister Albanese say that Labor will not be supporting a moratorium on new coal and gas, and now is not the time to be recycling lines from the coalition. Now is the time to be taking urgent action for a safer future for our children. If we open up new coal and gas projects we will blow our domestic targets and could possibly put at risk the global task of combating climate change beyond reach, because you actually can't put the fire out if you keep pouring petrol on it. The science is extremely clear: if you don't have a plan to phase out coal and gas, you don't have a plan for the climate emergency. Our communities delivered a resounding mandate on climate action at the last election and our communities do not want empty promises and platitudes when it comes to the climate; they want coal and gas to stay in the ground. As the Greens spokesperson on resources, I promise to fight tooth and nail for a moratorium on new coal and gas across this country. From the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory to Narrabri in New South Wales to Scarborough in my home state of Western Australia, these projects must be stopped. Economy 39 13:53 Senator RENNICK 283596 Queensland Today we had a very high inflation rate, and I didn't even bother reading what the number was because it doesn't matter. Ultimately, inflation is a product of either too much demand or not enough supply. In this case, we don't have enough supply in this country, and it is a function of about 30 or 40 years of underinvestment in infrastructure. Now what the RBA is proposing to do to tackle inflation is to rapidly increase interest rates. That is incredibly negligent. Anyone who has followed the actions of the RBA over the last couple of decades would know that it has always taken the easy way out and lowered interest rates to zero. That was a very foolish thing to do because it was always going to create a bubble. But what is worse is now it has created the bubble it is going to jack up interest rates way too fast and risk threatening the economy and risk many young families with mortgages going broke, and we can't have that happen. So how do we deal with inflation? There are two ways to deal with it. The way that the RBA is trying to deal with it is by basically increasing austerity to reduce demand. It is the wrong thing to do. What we need to do is to increase productivity by building more infrastructure, and, if we build more infrastructure and supply more water and supply more energy—supply all those things that all our families need to live and that all our businesses need to basically run and operate—that will make us not only more productive but also more competitive on the international markets. Now I'm calling on the RBA, in conjunction with Treasury, to look at a quantitative easing program designed to build this nation. For too long, paper-shufflers have been fiddling around with interest rates, and it's the only policy that we've applied to monetary policy in the last 30 years. The only people that helps are basically speculators and paper-shufflers, and it's got to stop. For too long, the paper-shufflers have been getting rich in this country at the expense of the hardworking people of Australia. Brennan, The Hon. Sir Francis Gerard, AC KBE GBS QC 39 13:55 Senator DODSON SR5 Western Australia I rise today to honour the life and legacy of a great Australian, the late Sir Gerard Brennan, who was the High Court Justice who wrote the lead judgement in Mabo which led to the Native Title Act in 1993. I was honoured to be asked by his family to say a few words at his funeral in Sydney in June. I met Ged Brennan many, many years ago, soon after his work with Justice Woodward which led to the Northern Territory land rights act. Someone said of Ged Brennan that he wrestled with the tension between law and justice. Well do I remember a Sunday afternoon in Melbourne at the home of the late Sir Ron and Nellie Castan where, among others, was Sir Ronald Wilson, a former High Court justice himself. We were discussing the long and tortuous pathway of Mabo through the courts, and Sir Ron summed up with his opinion that, ultimately, Sir Gerard Brennan and his colleagues had listened with their hearts to the truth of the law, and justice was the outcome. Injustice and illegality are the foundation pillars of our nationhood. On that day, they were discarded to the wastebasket of history. Gone was the legal fiction that had, for centuries, justified the legal dispossession of First Nations peoples, with all its disastrous effects. The court bequeathed both a gift and a challenge to our nation, and today we are presented with a new gift: the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I know that Sir Ged Brennan would join with me in urging all Australians to accept the generous invitation which the Uluru Statement conveys. Vale Sir Ged Brennan. Tasmania: Agfest 39 13:57 Senator ASKEW 281558 Tasmania I wish to draw the attention of the chamber to a significant event held each year in Tasmania at Quercus Park in Carrick, known as Agfest. Proud, passionate and hardworking Rural Youth volunteers have been organising this event for nearly 40 years. The first Agfest event was held in 1983, attracting 111 exhibitors and 9,000 patrons. But now, recognised as one of the top three agricultural field days held in Australia, Agfest hosts more than 700 exhibitors and 60,000 attendees each year. This event is run by a volunteer committee of 50 Rural Youth members and former members, with an average age of just 24. The skills they develop by participating in Rural Youth and as part of the Agfest committee are incredible. They're reflected in the strong leadership, organisational and stakeholder-engagement skills shown on site each year. Exhibitors from the agricultural sector and support sectors travel from across Tasmania and mainland Australia to display their products and services at Agfest, and they are well supported by Tasmanians, who flock to the site. Agfest is usually held at the Carrick site across four days in May each year. The Agfest committee pivoted during the COVID-19 pandemic and introduced an Agfest in the Cloud version of the event. That initiative was well supported, with over one million page views in 2020 and 110,000 in 2021. Earlier this year, the 2022 event was deferred from its May date due to COVID restrictions. Agfest in the paddock for 2022 will now be held from 24 to 27 August, with an additional week of Agfest in the Cloud from 27 August. Rural Youth volunteers are already planning their events for 2023, which will return again to the early May schedule. I encourage any senators who have an interest in agricultural shows to make their way to Tasmania during Agfest and experience Agfest for yourselves. The PRESIDENT 112096 It being 2 pm, we will now move to—we've a few seconds left. Does anyone want to jump? We have 19 seconds! Senator Sheldon. Employment 40 13:59 Senator SHELDON 168275 New South Wales I recently met with the National Tertiary Education Union and the National Union of Students, and they went through some of the crisis of casual employment. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Sheldon. It now being 2 o'clock, we shall move to question time. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 40 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Biosecurity 40 14:00 Senator BIRMINGHAM H6X South Australia It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to ask a question! My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Watt. I refer to the minister's 15 July announcement of additional technical expertise and support to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. I ask the minister: have biosecurity offices, departmental officials and non-departmental veterinarians been deployed to Indonesia? And, if so, in which provinces? Have vaccines now been provided to Indonesia? 14:00 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland I thank the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate for granting me the great honour of receiving the first question on behalf of the incoming Albanese government. And I thank him for asking this question, because it is a very serious issue. As I have repeatedly stated, both publicly in the media and in the briefing that I just provided to all MPs, including opposition MPs, about this very serious threat, this is something that the Albanese government is taking seriously. It's worth noting that this outbreak reached Indonesia prior to the election, when the former government was in government, and we, of course, have now become responsible for supporting our friends in Indonesia to manage their outbreak, especially since that outbreak reached Bali. Senator Birmingham has referred to announcements that I made on behalf of the government as to assistance that we are providing our friends in Indonesia. That assistance includes one million vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease along with a range of technical assistance, such as assistance in rolling out the vaccines, in improving laboratory testing capacity and a range of other measures that the Indonesian government has advised us would be of assistance to them. We, as I have previously made public, expect the vaccines to be delivered to Indonesia in August. They have been ordered. We expect them to arrive in August, as previously announced. The offer has, as I say, been made to provide technical assistance. I'm aware that one of our biosecurity experts has already been liaising with Indonesian authorities and that assistance will continue to be rolled out in partnership with the Indonesian government. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Birmingham, first supplementary? 14:02 Senator BIRMINGHAM H6X South Australia I note the minister has confirmed the government's intention to provide one million vaccinations to Indonesia but has intimated they will not be provided until August. I ask the minister again: have biosecurity officers, departmental officials and non-departmental veterinarians been deployed Indonesia? And, if so, in which provinces? 14:03 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland I am aware that not any veterinarian but our country's Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr Mark Schipp, has personally been in Indonesia, cooperating with the Indonesian government and their veterinary authorities to offer assistance, and that is ahead of the deployment of additional expertise. As some members opposite might know, when in government, when liaising with other governments, it's probably a good idea to do that in partnership with those governments and to work with them in a manner that works on the ground. So, the chief vet was with me during my recent trip to Indonesia where I met with the Indonesian Minister of Agriculture along with the head of the Disaster Management Authority, and I expect that the extra assistance that we have offered will be deployed as quickly as it possibly can be in partnership with Indonesia. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Birmingham, a second supplementary? 14:04 Senator BIRMINGHAM H6X South Australia I note that none of the promised vaccinations have been provided to Indonesia yet and none of the promised veterinarians or other support officials have been deployed to Indonesia yet. I ask the minister in relation to the aspect of his announcement for additional frontline biosecurity and industry preparedness measures in Australia: how many of the 18 new biosecurity officers are currently operational and at which airports? 14:04 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland Before I directly answer Senator Birmingham's question, I want to pick up this point he keeps making about vaccines. As you may be aware, when the Prime Minister visited Indonesia shortly after the election he made an offer of vaccines to the Indonesian government. At that point in time, they decided, as is their sovereign right, that they would obtain those vaccines elsewhere for the time being and would begin a domestic production program around vaccines. We have of course since offered a million vaccines that have been accepted; they have been ordered. They will be provided to Indonesia in August. In terms of biosecurity officers, I will get you the exact number but my advice is that they have begun being rolled out into airports and mail centres now. While I've got 10 seconds left, I do want to make the point that those biosecurity officers will not only be deployed into airports; they will be deployed into mail centres as well because the mail centres are the highest risk we have. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, I am clarifying that you've taken a portion of Senator Birmingham's question on notice. Senator Watt 245759 Happy to do so. Albanese Government 41 14:06 Senator WALSH 252157 Victoria My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. In May the Australian people voted for a Labor government with real plans to build a better future. Can the minister update the Senate on how the government is working towards that goal? An opposition senator interjecting— 14:06 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia Thank you to Senator Walsh for the question. It's rare to get an interjection on a dixer but I know it's early days in the process of dealing with the change of government on that side. I would say this: as we start this new term I hope all of us in this chamber recognise the privilege with which we have been entrusted in whichever roles we have, and that is no less than the opportunity to change people's lives for the better. Those of us on this side of the chamber understand that good government can do this. Good government can keep us safe. Good government can provide help to those who need it and support when times get tough. And, importantly, good government can open the doors of opportunity. If you listened to the remarkable first speeches we've been hearing in the House from such a diverse, fantastic group of new Labor MPs—and I look forward to our new senators' as well—you hear the stories of the extent to which Labor governments have changed people's lives for the better and have enabled opportunities to be opened to people for their betterment. You see, good government can enable aspiration. It can enable people to achieve their dreams. Nine weeks ago Australians did vote for good government. They voted for a better future. Labor has come to office at a time of great uncertainty. We've got an inheritance from the other side. They might not like to hear it, but it includes $1 trillion of debt from a government that wasted 10 years. It includes rising cost of living. It includes low wages growth. It includes climate change and its devastating impact, which they're still having a fight about. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Walsh, first supplementary? 14:08 Senator WALSH 252157 Victoria How is the Albanese government planning for the future? 14:08 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia Labor has not wasted the day in securing a better future. One of the things that is critical to a better future is, of course, to deal with climate change. I know those opposite are still whirling around in their division on this issue, despite losing so many seats. An opposition senator interjecting— Senator WONG 00AOU Well, you lost seats to the teals because the centre of mainstream Australia want action on climate change. We have already updated, formally updated, Australia's nationally determined contribution under the Paris Agreement, a 43 per cent reduction in emissions, and we are introducing legislation to make it law. I would say this to the opposition: it's not just the right thing to do for our climate; it's an economic opportunity, and Australians understand that. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Walsh, your second supplementary? 14:09 Senator WALSH 252157 Victoria How is the Albanese government making sure that nobody is held back and nobody is left behind? 14:09 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia The Albanese Labor government wants to make sure Australians get the opportunities they deserve. We want to bring people together. We want to unite Australia. We've announced the Jobs and Skills Summit and today we are introducing a bill to create Jobs and Skills Australia, because we want to make sure Australians can get the skills employers want. Good governments can also make sure that the most vulnerable Australians are not left behind. COVID took a devastating toll on Australians in aged care and their families, and those opposite should hang their heads in shame about how this was dealt with. We know that aged care was in crisis well before the pandemic struck. I'm not surprised that the interjections have stopped, because it was a decade of neglect under those opposite. We are beginning the work of fixing aged care. (Time expired) Biosecurity: Foot-and-Mouth Disease 42 14:10 Senator McKENZIE 207825 Victoria My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Watt. How many passengers have passed through Australian international airports from Indonesia since the foot-and-mouth outbreak was reported in Bali on 5 July 2022? 14:11 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland Again, I am very happy to provide the exact number to the member. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Watt, resume your seat, please. Opposition se nators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Watt, please continue. Senator WATT 245759 I know it hurts being over there and I know it is going to hurt for a long time. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, resume your seat. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Please allow the minister to answer the question. Senator WATT 245759 What hurts our agriculture industry more is the hysteria that we continue to see on display from the opposition in relation to this very important issue. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Birmingham, on a point of order? Senator Birmingham H6X Thanks, President. There was only one question asked. That was: 'How many passengers have passed through Australian international airports from Indonesia since the foot-and-mouth outbreak was reported in Bali?' Senator Watt has taken that on notice already. He is now simply moving to make political points. He has addressed the question by taking it on notice and there is nothing further to add, clearly. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Birmingham. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Wong? Senator Wong 00AOU On that point of order, I would observe— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! I have called Senator Wong on a point of order. I am asking senators to be silent. Senator Wong 00AOU Thank you, President. I think there is precedent—but obviously you will take advice from the Clerk—in the previous parliament where, even if a minister has taken on notice responding to some of the substance of what was put subsequently, he is entitled to do that. That was the practice under the previous government and the previous President. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senators Birmingham and Wong. I remind Senator Watt to address his remarks to the question. He has taken some of it on notice, but he may be able to— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Do you wish to raise a point of order, Senator McKenzie? Okay, Senator Watt, please continue. Senator WATT 245759 I wanted to check this number to make sure that I was giving accurate information to the chamber. The number is 23,600 air travellers— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. I would say to all senators that, if I am directing a senator or senators to do something in particular, please do that. I was trying to get Senator Watt to sit down so I could listen to Senator McKenzie's reason for standing up. But I wasn't able to do that because there was too much noise. Senator McKenzie? Senator McKenzie 207825 I want to raise a point of order, and if it isn't a technical point of order I'd ask you to rule on this. Senator Watt answered the question by taking it on notice. He therefore ended his answer. I would like a ruling from you on this. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 When there is silence I will answer that response. The question was asked about a specific number which, you are correct, Senator Watt took on notice. But he has now been supplied with that, and in the same way that other ministers would've, he is informing the Senate of that number. Senator WATT 245759 As I was saying, the number of passengers arriving by air from Indonesia last week was 23,600. Of those, 21,948 were air travellers returning from Bali, so about 90-odd per cent. I think one of the pleasing aspects of this is that the efforts of our biosecurity officers over the weekend—it's disappointing that Senator McKenzie doesn't want— Senator McKenzie 207825 I am just seeking clarification, President. He gave us last week's Bali numbers. I asked for the passengers from 5 July once the outbreak in Bali was actually notified to Australia, so is he going to take on notice the parts he couldn't answer or is that his answer? The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt was I think answering the question. I don't think he got to the end of it, so let's get him to the end of it and see where we end up. Senator McGrath, on a point of order? Senator McGrath 217241 I would ask the minister to table the document that he is clearly reading from. Will you table it? And could he table his phone also, please? Senator WATT 245759 It's disappointing that senators opposite want to ridicule such a serious matter. Opposition senators interjecting— Senator WATT 245759 I'm trying to help. I'm trying to give you information. Senator McGrath 217241 I am asking for the minister to table the document. The 10000 And the minister has agreed to table the document. Senator McGrath 217241 Has the minister agreed to table the document? I didn't hear the minister say so. Have you tabled the document? The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McGrath, please resume your seat. Senator McGrath interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McGrath, I have asked you to sit down. I understood, and I will clarify, Senator Watt has agreed to table the document. Senator Watt, please resume answering the question. Senator WATT 245759 I will take that request on notice. If Senator McKenzie would like the information that she has asked for, I'm happy to provide it. The week commencing 4 July this year 20,404 passengers returned to or entered Australia from Indonesia, 92.7 per cent of whom were from Bali; 23,600 the following week, the week commencing 11 July; and the most updated figures that I have are the ones that I have already given. The pleasing thing about the numbers, when you dig into them further, is that we are seeing an increased level of compliance from passengers, which shows that they are listening to the accurate, non-alarmist information that is being put out by this government, as opposed to the alarmist rhetoric coming from the opposition, which is rejected roundly by industry. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McKenzie, first supplementary? 14:18 Senator McKENZIE 207825 Victoria How many of these passengers that have passed through Australian international airports from Indonesia have been treated with disinfected foot mats on arrival? 14:18 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland I assume that Senator McKenzie has been following this. If she has she would know that the sanitised foot mats started being installed in international airports on Monday this week, and that was completed yesterday. I might point out, by the way, that this is the first time in our history that we have seen sanitised foot mats put across every international airport in the country. We never saw the former government do this in any airports when there were outbreaks in Vietnam, in China, in Indonesia, in Malaysia, in South Africa and in every other country. Senator McKenzie 207825 My point of order is on relevance. I was very clear in my question. Now that he's found the numbers for passengers on 5 July—and I'd also like to thank his staff for that—how many of those tens of thousands of passengers returning from Bali have actually been treated? It's not if the mats are rolled out or not. How many passengers have actually gone through appropriate biosecurity measures at our borders? The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator McKenzie. I'll allow Senator Watt to continue to answer your question. Senator WATT 245759 It is unfortunate that Senator McKenzie didn't stay for the entire briefing that I just provided to all MPs. If she had done that, she would have heard one of our biosecurity officials say that the answer was a hundred per cent. A hundred per cent of passengers have been walking through sanitised foot mats. The— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator McKenzie? Senator McKenzie 207825 I thought the questions were very clear, simple—one sentence apiece. The question is— The PRESIDENT 112096 Just a moment— Senator McKenzie 207825 Relevance, Madam President. The PRESIDENT 112096 And I've answered that. Senator McKenzie, please resume your seat. Senator Wong? Senator Birmingham H6X You can't take a point of order on a point of order. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Wong, please resume your seat. Senator McKenzie, I understood that you took a point of order on relevance, thank you. We will allow— The PRESIDENT 112096 No, I've taken your point of order. Please resume your seat. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McKenzie, I've asked you to resume your seat. Senator Watt, the question was how many passengers—if you could continue. Senator WATT 245759 Well, I've answered the question. A hundred per cent have done so. And I might point out that, when this outbreak got to Indonesia, the former government put down no sanitised foot mats and had no passengers walking across them, absolutely— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order, Senator Watt! Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senators, before I call Senator McKenzie— Honourable senators interj ecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McGrath! I will point out that the level of interjection is disorderly and I would ask you to respect the person asking the question and the person answering. Senator McKenzie, your second supplementary? 14:22 Senator McKENZIE 207825 Victoria In the 48 hours following the establishment of the biosecurity response zones at 12 midnight, Friday 22 July, how many foot mats were actually operational in Australian international airports for passengers inbound from Indonesia? 14:22 Senat 245759 Queensland or WATT (—) (): As I said in my previous answer, the foot mats were rolled out and installed in every international airport in Australia on Monday and Tuesday this week. Again, I point out that that compares to zero sanitised foot mats that were ever rolled out— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt. Senator WATT 245759 by the former government— The PRESIDE 112096 Senator Watt! Senator WATT 245759 when there were outbreaks in a— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt! Senator WATT 245759 number of— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt! Senator WATT 245759 countries— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt! I don't want to have to call you five times before you respond. Senator McKenzie is on her feet on a point of order. I expect you to sit down. Thank you. Senator McKenzie 207825 My point of order is on relevance. I was going to this: when the biosecurity response zones were established at 12 midnight on Friday 22 July, how many foot mats were actually operational? The PRESIDENT 112096 I will draw Senator Watt back to the question. Senator Wong, on the point of order? Honourable senators i nterjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Watt, did you wish to pursue— Senator Wong 00AOU As I understand it, that— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McGrath— Senator Wong 00AOU No, that's fair enough. The PRESIDENT 112096 I will ask you to be silent. Senator Wong 00AOU On the point of order—as I understand it, Senator McKenzie made a point of order—I'd make this point: a point of order is not a debating point. Senator McKenzie is at the moment— Senator Wong 00AOU Well, you know, that's life! That's life. We have our roles in this democracy, don't we! We all understand them. Senator McKenzie— An opposition senator interjecting— Senator Wong 00AOU Would you like to take a point of order, then maybe I can have mine? Thank you, I'd appreciate that. Senator McKenzie is engaging in debating points. Now, she's entitled to those points. There's an opportunity for her after this to do so. But it is not a point of order on relevance to tell the minister that, because he's given a different date, in his response to the question, to the one she's identified, that somehow is not relevant. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, you have 40 seconds remaining. Senator WATT 245759 I don't know if I can be any more clear as to when the mats were put down, but I thank Senator McKenzie for bringing to the attention of the chamber one of the other pioneering measures put in place by this government, which has never been done by any other government in this country—including the former government—and that is the establishment of biosecurity response zones in our international airports. I have repeatedly said that the response of this government has been the strongest biosecurity response we've ever seen— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator McKenzie on a point of order? Senator McKenzie 207825 The biosecurity response zone was established. How many mats were in place— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McKenzie, order! Resume your seat. If you are calling a point of order, you need to be immediately relevant to that point, and not debate it. Is there a point of order? Senator Watt. Senator WATT 245759 This government is doing more than any government has ever done about any foot-and-mouth outbreak across the country—sanitised foot mats, biosecurity response zones, more biosecurity officers—you did nothing; we're picking up the slack. (Time expired) Environment 45 14:26 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland My question is to the Leader of the Government in the Senate and the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. The International Energy Agency has said that not one new coal or gas project can be opened up if we are to stabilise temperatures at 1½ degrees, or even if we are to reach the government target of net zero by 2050. Will the government continue the Morrison government's policy of subsidising new coal and gas projects with public money? 14:26 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia I apologise, I'm a little slow on getting the document to the table. An opposition senator interjecting— Senator WONG 00AOU No, it's my arm and a broken shoulder, mate. So have at the joke! I do understand that in relation to coal there is a difference between the Greens political party and others in this chamber, and that there is a difference between the position the Greens articulate and the position that is adopted by the international community under the UNFCCC, where the contribution of nations to the objective of reducing emissions is predicated on reducing one's domestic emissions. I think it is the case that under the government that we've seen over the last 10 years we saw 22 energy policies. None were adopted, because there is obviously a strong view within the party room contesting the issue of climate, which we still see. But the reality is that the Labor government was elected with a very clear commitment to reduce emissions for Australia by 43 per cent by 2030. That is the position we are taking. I know you have raised this issue of a moratorium publicly. It has been your political position for some time. It is a position that the Greens political party have been putting forward for some time. I understand that is your position. The position of the government is that we are taking a far more— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Waters, on a point of order? Senator Waters 192970 A point of order on relevance. The question went to whether or not public funding of new coal and gas mines will continue under this government. The PRESIDENT 112096 There was also a preamble, so I think Senator Wong is being broadly relevant. Senator WONG 00AOU As I said, the government's position on coalmines is that they will be assessed in accordance with the existing law. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Waters, a supplementary question? 14:29 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland The burning and extracting of coal and gas is the biggest cause of the climate crisis, which threatens all Australians. Given the first responsibility of government is to keep its citizens safe, why is the government supporting opening 114 new coal and gas projects which will turbocharge floods and bushfires? 14:29 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia The government is being consistent with the commitments it took to the election and the commitments that the Australian people were well aware of when they voted in the election which led to the result of an Albanese Labor government. We will reduce Australia's emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. It is an ambitious target. It has a range of very positive consequences, including that around 82 per cent of our electricity grid will be powered by renewables by the same time. In relation to those projects, they will be assessed in accordance with the relevant environmental approval frameworks. That is also the position the Labor government and the Labor Party took to the last election. I understand this is a political campaigning issue for the Greens. I saw that— An honourable senator interjecting— Senator WONG 00AOU It is. But it is not the position of the international community in terms of how we operate— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Waters, a second supplementary? 14:30 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland Will the government continue the Morrison government's policy of subsidising new coal and gas projects with public money? 14:31 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia I'm unclear as to which subsidies Senator Waters is— An honourable senator interjecting— Senator WONG 00AOU Well, I'm really tempted to take that interjection, but I will not. I'm not sure which rebate arrangement or other tax arrangement the Leader of the Greens in the Senate is going to— Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Order! Senator Wong, please continue. Senator WONG 00AOU I'm not sure which arrangements the Greens leader is referring to. If she wants to indicate to me a particular rebate that she is asking whether the government has a view about, I will certainly refer that to the Treasurer. I would anticipate— (Time expired) Economy 46 14:32 Senator SHELDON 168275 New South Wales My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Can the minister update the Senate on the latest inflation data that was released today? 14:32 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory Thanks, Senator Sheldon, for the question. Today's ABS release of the consumer price index for the June quarter 2022 has shown that inflation has increased by 6.1 per cent over the past year and 1.8 per cent in the June quarter. It reinforces the difficult cost of living challenge for Australian households. Today's news will be very confronting to many, many households around the country who are already feeling the pinch of finding extra dollars for the increasing costs of living. We've been upfront with Australians since moving into government. We inherited a very challenging set of economic circumstances: rising inflation, rising interest rates, low wage growth and nine years of failed policy agenda, particularly in the area of energy. No doubt, through the course of question time, we will be able to list many more of those failures. But this is the major economic challenge facing the new government. It will be challenging for households in the months ahead, but we are determined, working hard every day, to look at ways to ease pressure on households and ensure that household incomes can keep up with some of those rising costs. Today's data shows that the most significant rises were in new dwelling purchases by owner-occupiers at 5.6 per cent; in fuel, at 4.2 per cent; and furniture at 7 per cent. Annual trimmed mean inflation increased to 4.9 per cent. Australians know that inflation is high and getting higher. They feel it every day and they don't need the ABS dataset to tell them that. They see it when they're in the supermarket, when they're filling up the car or when they're paying their bills. The difficult reality is inflation is predicted to get worse before it gets better. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Sheldon, a first supplementary? 14:34 Senator SHELDON 168275 New South Wales What are some of the factors are contributing to higher inflation in recent months? What can be done to tackle inflationary pressures? 14:34 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I thank Senator Sheldon for the supplementary. There are a number of factors contributing to higher prices and increasing inflation. Obviously, some of these are international, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine hitting grain and oil prices and China's COVID suppression strategy hitting supply chains. Any of us who have engaged with business or indeed tried to engage business in the last year understand the impacts that those supply chain issues are having. There are domestic pressures, though, as well—for example, natural disasters like floods and the new COVID waves here in Australia. All of this is having an impact. Those are really unavoidable to a certain degree, but there are other areas where nine years of policy failure from the previous government has left us exposed. Opposition senators interjecting— Senator GALLAGHER ING I'll give you three before I sit down: energy, skills and suppressing wages. None of that is helping. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Sheldon, a second supplementary? 14:35 Senator SHELDON 168275 New South Wales Can the minister outline what the government is doing to help ease the cost-of-living pressures for Australians? 14:36 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I know you are all going to listen in absolute silence. Australians know that high and rising inflation has been made worse by the decade of wasted opportunity and bad government from those sitting over there. The Albanese government's economic plan is a direct response to the economic problems left to us—high and rising inflation, flatlining productivity and— Opposition senators interjecting— The P 10000 Order! Senator Gallagher, please resume your seat. Senator GALLAGHER ING I can get louder and louder if they get louder and louder. The PRESIDENT 112096 Resume your seat. I would ask that senators listen in a much quieter manner. There is a fair amount of disorderly noise in the chamber. Senator GALLAGHER ING Thank you, President, for that protection. Our plan includes cost-of-living relief in the form of cheaper child care and cheaper medicines, and our plan for cleaner and cheaper energy to put downward pressure on power prices. I think the most symbolic policy failures of the previous government were the 22 failed energy policies—an energy crisis. The government was changed because of your failure, and households are paying for that failure with rising costs. We want to put downward pressure on all of those costs and be honest with households. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Roberts? Senator Roberts 266524 President, before my time starts, I'd like to seek leave to obtain your clarification on a matter. The PRESIDENT 112096 Leave is granted, Senator Roberts. Senator Roberts 266524 Thank you, Madam President. The behaviour we've seen this afternoon in question time shows complete disrespect for the people of Australia. I have been told by both sides of parliament that it's about theatrics. We're here as representatives of the people, not as entertainers. Could you please clarify, Madam President, your expectations as President and your powers to do something about this, or do we simply rely on the senators' respect for the people? Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senators gave Senator Roberts an opportunity to seek leave to ask for a clarification. Please listen for the answer. Many other Presidents before me have expressed the desire for senators to listen in an orderly fashion and to not be too rowdy in their responses. I will continue to do the same and I will do my utmost to keep the chamber fairly orderly during question time. Biosecurity: Foot-and-Mouth Disease 48 14:38 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Watt. Thank you for your briefing this afternoon on foot-and-mouth disease. Minister, if foot-and-mouth disease does enter Australia, the short-term response would be to start vaccination. Food and Safety Australia and New Zealand says vaccines are safe for human consumption. Having said that, Australia owns foot-and-mouth disease vaccines located in the United Kingdom. How many vaccines does Australia own in the United Kingdom? 14:39 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland Thank you, Senator Roberts. I'm pleased that you were able to come along to that briefing. The feedback that I had was that it was very informative for the members who attended. We are approaching this in a bipartisan manner, and we would welcome the opposition joining us in that, as I know you are, Senator Roberts. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Just to pick you up on one point: if, God forbid, foot-and-mouth disease were to enter Australia despite the measures that we are putting in place, we have a well-developed plan known as AUSVETPLAN, which is prepared between the federal government and states and territories, about how we respond to biosecurity outbreaks. Biosecurity outbreaks are managed and led by state governments with the support of the federal government, and we have seen that occur in relation to the Varroa mite outbreak recently, where we have been supporting the New South Wales government. The point about vaccines is that biosecurity advice that I have received is that we would not immediately vaccinate all livestock or even a large segment of livestock immediately in Australia, and that is because if you vaccinate your livestock— Opposition senators interjecting— Senator WATT 245759 It's unfortunate that the opposition don't want to understand and listen to the measures of preparing for the outbreak. The reason you don't vaccinate, Senator Roberts, is that you are then deemed by the rest of the world as having foot-and-mouth disease, and that is what prevents the export of our product overseas. It's effectively the same as having the outbreak here when you vaccinate. The idea would be that in the first instance you would impose a 72-hour livestock standstill to limit the movement of animals, and only if the outbreak got further would you consider vaccines. My advice, and I will get this checked, is that we have approximately one million vaccines available to us in a stockpile and they are available within one week's notice. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Roberts, first supplementary? 14:41 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland We have 25 million cattle and 2.5 million pigs. How is one million enough? 14:41 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland As I said, the first move, should we have an outbreak here, is not to just run out and vaccinate every herd of cattle, sheep, pigs or goats across the country—or buffaloes, for that matter. What we would actually do is try to control the outbreak in the localised area that it is in so that it didn't spread further afield. If it did spread further afield, that is when we would look to vaccinations as an alternative. It is not the only alternative that we would have, but it is certainly one, and we would be able to access other vaccines at very short notice. What we are actually prioritising in relation to the supply of vaccines at the moment is providing them to Indonesia, and the reason we are doing that is that, if we can bring that outbreak under control in Indonesia, not only is that in their national interest; it is in our national interest. We have continued to have very productive discussions with the Indonesian government about what other vaccines and other assistance we can provide. But my priority right now is keeping the disease out, and that is why we want to support the vaccine rollout in Indonesia. T 112096 Senator Roberts, second supplementary? 14:42 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland Why are these vaccines not already in Australia? We are one of the largest cattle and related product producers in the world. Speed of response is critical to protecting our biosecurity. Why are these not being brought to Australia now as a precaution? 14:42 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland As I said, vaccination is not the first measure that you would undertake if there were an outbreak, but there are a couple of other reasons why we have got those vaccines here now, the first of which is that there are sometimes issues about the bringing of live virus into a country, and the responsible members of the opposition understand this. In addition, though, we don't necessarily know what strain of the disease we would have in Australia, and we want to make sure that the vaccines that we obtain would actually be effective for the strain of the virus that we would get if we were to get it. In fact some of the technical support we have started providing to Indonesia was actually to help them diagnose the strain of virus that they had so that we could then go out and procure the vaccines that would deal with that particular strain. There's no point sending vaccines to people if they don't work for a particular strain of the virus, and we would need a little bit of time to diagnose the strain that we have here in Australia so that we could then very quickly obtain the correct vaccines to deal with the version of the virus that we got. Australian Building and Construction Commission 49 14:43 Senator CASH I0M Western Australia My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Senator Watt. At a press conference on 5 June this year the Prime Minister declared: This is a Government that I lead that will be consultative, that will work with business. There's a new show in town. What consultation did the minister have with the construction industry and/or the Australian Building and Construction Commission prior to and in relation to the snap announcement on Sunday, 24 July 2022, that the ABCC in its powers will be pulled back to the bare legal minimum as of yesterday? 14:44 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland Now I did a fair amount of preparation for question time, and I anticipated the kinds of questions that I might receive from the opposition. But never in my wildest dreams did I hope that I would get a question from Senator Cash about lawlessness and the rule of law when it comes to industrial relations. But there you go! There you go—we've had it. It is well understood that this government consulted prior to the election about its policy in relation to the ABCC. What is also well understood about the ABCC is that it has been an utterly ineffective organisation— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Cash. Senator Cash I0M Thank you, Madam President. I rise on a point of order, in relation to direct relevance. The question was quite specific. It was not in relation to the abolition of the ABCC, it was in relation to the announcement on Insiders on Sunday 24 July— The PRESIDENT 112096 Alright, Senator Cash, the practice is not to repeat the question— Senator Cash I0M It was a very concise question, Madam President— The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you very much— Senator Cash I0M and the minister is in no way being directly relevant. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Cash, thank you, please resume your seat. You used the words in the initial part of your question as 'consultative with business' and then you went specifically to the ABCC. Senator Watt is, I think, presently describing the consultative piece, so I think he is being broadly relevant but I shall continue to listen carefully. Thank you, Senator Watt. Senator WATT 245759 Thank you, President. As I said, I don't think it could have come as any surprise to anyone in the building industry or anyone in the opposition that this government's agenda was to abolish the ABCC. And why is that? That is because we have seen a gross waste of taxpayers' funds prosecuting workers for stickers on their helmets and flags on their worksites. This organisation has spent nearly $500,000 pursuing Lendlease over the display of Eureka flags. The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Cash. Senator Cash I0M Thank you, Madam President. Again, I rise on a point of order in relation to direct relevance. It is very clear that the minister is not going anywhere near the actual question. The question, as I stated, was in relation to— The PRESIDENT 112096 I understand the question, Senator Cash— Senator Cash I0M a specific announcement on a specific day that came into effect yesterday. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Cash— Senator Cash I0M In relation to your previous ruling: if that is to stand, I would ask you to review it tonight and report back to the chamber tomorrow. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Cash, please resume your seat. I can't direct the minister to answer your questions. I can ensure that the minister is relevant to the points that you've outlined in your question, and I believe that Senator Watt is being relevant. I am listening carefully and if he's not being relevant I will draw him back to the broad basis of your question, which went to consultation with business, the construction industry and the ABCC. Senator Watt. Senator WATT 245759 Thank you, President. As I said at the outset of my answer, there was wide consultation across the industry before the election about the policy. And I understand it may well come as a shock to people in Australia to have a government that delivers on its election promises! Because Senator Cash— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order. Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Order! You are being disorderly! Please allow the minister to continue to answer the question. Senator WATT 245759 As I said, it may come as a shock to the people of Australia to have a government that delivers its election promises because, of course, that stands in great contrast to the former government, one of whose leaders was Senator Cash, who promised an independent corruption commission and never got around to doing it. Unlike that, we are delivering on our promises— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt! Senator Brockman on a point of order. Senator Brockman 30484 Yes, President, on direct relevance. There have been repeated rulings of this place which you know very well, which say that the minister should not use the opportunity to attack those opposite. That is exactly, what the minister is doing— The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Brockman— Senator 30484 and I— Senator Wong 00AOU You allowed that over and over again! Senator Brockman 30484 Senator Wong! Order! The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Brockman, please resume your seat. Thank you. Senator Watt, I would remind you to come back to the question that Senator Cash asked. Senator WATT 245759 Thank you, President. As I said, we have widely consulted about our policy. We went to the election saying that we would do the policy. We are now delivering our policy. As I say, I, for one, am shocked that Senator Cash, of all people, would come in here and ask questions about workplace rules and workplace lawlessness when she— The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Sorry, Senator Cash, please resume your seat; I'll come back to you. Senator McGrath, you are constantly interjecting in a very loud manner to the point that I have to keep sitting the minister down. I would ask you to refrain from doing that. Senator Cash? Senator Cash I0M Again, in relation to a point of order on direct relevance: again, I did not ask a question about the Labor Party's decision to abolish the ABCC. I asked a very specific question in relation to a very specific decision that came into force yesterday— The PRESIDE 112096 Thank you, Senator Cash. You are now starting to repeat your question. Senator Cash I0M Thank you, Madam President. In relation to your previous rulings, I would ask you to reconsider them and report back to the Senate tomorrow. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Cash. I don't intend at this point to review my rulings. I have asked Senator Watt to be direct. Your question contained the words 'consult' and 'business', and that is what Senator Watt was just outlining when I had to sit him down because of the disorderly nature of the Senate, and then I entertained your point of order. Senator Watt was being directly relevant about the consultation. Senator WATT 245759 Now, as I say, I'm heartened that all of a sudden Senator Cash thinks consultation is important or giving people a heads-up is important. I don't remember her or her office giving the AWU a heads-up before they leaked the police raid on their offices. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt— Senator WATT 245759 I don't remember them giving the AFP a heads-up before they leaked their raid to the media and put those police officers in danger. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt! Just a moment, Senator Brockman; please resume your seat. Senator McGrath, I have specifically called you out for being disorderly and you've completely ignored me and continued to be disorderly. I would ask you to respect my ruling when I ask you to just tone it down a slight decibel or two. Senator Brockman? Senator Brockman 30484 Point of order on direct relevance: Minister Watt is clearly ignoring your instruction to return to the question. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Brockman, he is not. He is being directly relevant. Senator Watt, please resume. You have five seconds. Senator WATT 245759 I am advised that since the election there has been further consultation with the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council— (Time expired) The PRESIDEN 112096 Senator Cash, first supplementary? 14:52 Senator CASH I0M Western Australia In relation to the announcement on Sunday, what consultation did the minister have with the CFMMEU, the ACTU and/or any other union prior to and in relation to that announcement? 14:52 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland Of course, I will have to take the specific question on notice, not being the minister. Senator McGrath 217241 You don't know! Senator WATT 245759 It's not my portfolio. I've been a little busy on foot-and-mouth disease. What I do know is that since the election there has been further consultation about our policy to abolish the ABCC with the National Workplace Relations Consultative Council, which not only includes unions but includes business representatives; it includes the small-business council and Master Builders among other organisations, the Australian Industry Group as well. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Cash? Senator Cash I0M Again, a point of order in relation to relevance. The minister has taken the question on notice. He has advised the chamber he is not the relevant minister and, as such, needs to consult with the relevant minister. In relation to any further commentary, it is not— The PRESIDENT 112096 Your point of order is relevance? Senator Cash I0M I said that upfront; the Hansard will reflect that. The PRESIDENT 112096 Please resume your seat. Senator Wong? Senator Wong 00AOU On the point of order, I make the same point of order I made earlier—that the point of order the deputy leader of the opposition has made is erroneous. It is not correct that when a minister takes part or some of a question on notice that minister cannot then address the substance of the question. That has been consistent—and maybe Senator Brockman might wish to stand up and confirm that that is the case if he wishes to engage in a point of order! The point of order is misconceived. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Cash? Senator Cash I0M On the point of order: the substance of the question, as has been referred to by the leader of the government, is actually in relation to a specific announcement on Sunday. It is not a wide-ranging substance. It is the announcement on Sunday. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Cash, if you have a— Senator Wong 00AOU This is a debating point. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Wong! If you have a point of order, please make it to me and not to Senator Wong, but I'm assuming you are talking about relevance? My understanding— Senator Cash I0M As I said, Hansard will reflect it. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you. I understand that Senator Watt can continue to be directly relevant to the question you've asked. He's taken a substantive nature of it on notice and explained that he is not the actual minister. Senator Watt, do you wish to continue? Senator WATT 245759 Thank you, President. I know the concept of consulting unions is, again, something that is foreign to the opposition—something that they never did in government— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please be directly relevant. Senator WATT 245759 but, unlike the opposition, this government consults both business and industry groups and unions. We see that there is a place for both in the workplace relations system, and that's why, as I say, the advice I've received is that we have continued to consult the national workplace relations council since the election. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Cash, a second supplementary? 14:55 Senator CASH I0M Western Australia Does the minister believe that the courts were wrong when they found the CFMMEU were in breach of industrial laws on the 80 occasions the ABCC brought an action against the union and were successful? Is he questioning the independence of our judiciary? 14:56 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland Unlike Senator Cash, I never question the independence of our judiciary and I don't grossly politicise judicial type bodies like Senator Cash did among her colleagues with the AAT, for instance. We do believe in an independent judiciary, and I have no reason to disagree with any decision of any court. But what I do know, again, is that I am absolutely gobsmacked that Senator Cash, of all people, would come into this chamber and talk about lawlessness, the rule of law and compliance with the law when her office infamously leaked a police raid on the AWU and was caught— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Birmingham. Senator Birmingham H6X President, a point of order on a matter of relevance. The standing orders are very clear about the need for direct relevance. Senator Watt, on this occasion, is straying well beyond any relevance to the question that was posed. He's clearly reflecting upon another senator in this place and reflecting upon actions of a previous government—not being relevant to this question. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Birmingham. I'll remind Senator Watt to be directly relevant to the question, which was about the judicial system and the CFMMEU. Senator WATT 245759 I'll leave it to you to rule, President, but I think that I was directly relevant to the initial question. And, as I say, all I can say is that, of every single person over on that side—and I know there are not as many as there used to be—there is no-one less qualified to talk about the independence of the judiciary, about the rule of law or about lawlessness than Senator Cash. She became notorious across this country for ignoring the rule of law— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt— Senator WATT 245759 for her office leaking police information to the media. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt! Senator Birmingham. Senator Birmingham H6X Again, President, Senator Watt is reflecting on another senator in this place. Senator Watt is not being relevant to the question which relates to the actions of the ABCC on 80 occasions successfully bringing proceedings to court. He is making general reflections— The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Birmingham, it's not appropriate to repeat the question. Senator Birmingham H6X I wasn't repeating the whole question, President— The PRESIDENT 112096 I understand your point is on relevance about the answer that Senator Watt's giving, and that's what I'll consider. Thank you. Senator Wong. Senator Wong 00AOU On the point of order, if the assertion is that there have been reflections on a senator, Senator Cash has an opportunity under the standing orders to remedy that. If she wishes to take that, we'll be very happy to facilitate that discussion. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Wong. Senator 217241 Point of order! The PRESIDENT 112096 No. Sit down, please, Senator McGrath. Senator McGrath 217241 Do you want to know what my point of order is? The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McGrath, please resume your seat. Senator McGrath 217241 So you're saying I'm not entitled to make a point of order? The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator McGrath, please resume your seat. I'm going to go to the point raised by Senator Birmingham on the issue of direct relevance. If Senator Watt was straying—and I think he was—he does need to be directly relevant. Senator McGrath, I would appreciate it if, in future, when I ask you to sit, you sit. I made no decision whether I would entertain your point of order or not. If your point of order is different to Senator Birmingham's, I would ask you to raise that now. Senator McGrath 217241 On a point of order, I would like Senator Watt to withdraw the comment that he made about Senator Cash. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator McGrath. He made no assertion directly about— Opposition senators: He did! Senator WATT 245759 May I seek clarification: is the item that you would like me to withdraw that there is no-one less qualified on your side to talk about lawlessness? The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Watt, please resume your seat. The PRESIDENT 112096 Order! Senator Wong? Senator Wong 00AOU I am unclear on what is being sought and if Senator Cash is asking for a withdrawal. I appreciate Senator McGrath's point—he doesn't want the words to which he's reacted to be repeated—but I don't actually know which point he wants withdrawn. The general approach I would like us to take is that, if people wish something to be withdrawn, unless there are very compelling reasons not to, as a matter of courtesy in this chamber, we should do so. But I'm genuinely unclear as to which— Sen ZN4 Penny, come on! Senator Wong 00AOU No, there's been a lot of political argy-bargy. Some things have been said by the senator behind you which I have ignored. If Senator Cash wishes something withdrawn, as a matter of courtesy I'll ask the minister to do so. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you, Senator Wong. Senator Watt, I will ask you not to repeat comments you made, but, if you believe you made comments directly related to Senator Cash, then I would ask you to consider to withdraw those. Senator 245759 I withdraw. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you. You have 11 seconds remaining. Senator WATT 245759 As I say, this government makes no apologies for consulting both unions and business about important workplace relations reforms. The former government didn't do it. They don't understand the need to do so. (Time expired) Senator Wong 00AOU I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS 53 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS Biosecurity: Foot-and-Mouth Disease 53 15:02 The DEPUTY PRESIDENT Are there any motions to take note of answers? Senator Brockman. 15:03 Senator BROCKMAN 30484 Western Australia Thank you, Mr Deputy President, and congratulations on the new role. I rise to take note of the answers from Senator Watt—surprise, surprise! I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Senator Watt) to questions without notice asked today by Opposition senators relating to the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia. The government hasn't been in power long—obviously the minister hasn't been in power very long—and it faces a huge challenge to the agricultural sector. It's probably one of the most significant threats to the agricultural sector that we have seen in this country for a very, very long time, and the response so far has been wanting. It's been confused, it's been weak and it's been untimely. We have seen a government that has not reacted in the way that the agricultural sector of Australia, particularly the agricultural sector of my home state of Western Australia, would want a government to react. We've heard some comments recently from the state Labor agriculture minister in Western Australia. Here were her comments in the West Australian from just a few days ago: I know this isn't the line that newspapers want to hear but we've got to keep this in perspective … The most serious threat to Australian agriculture in, probably, my lifetime, and we have to keep it in perspective? We're not going to see … our cattle industry decimated. This is from a state Labor agriculture minister. We will still have a domestic industry. She said that meat and milk might actually become cheaper! This is what the state Labor minister said! And she said: It's not going to stop milk or meat being available to us. And some people might argue it might actually make it cheaper because there'll be more of it available domestically. This is what a state Labor minister said! And this is someone that this minister, Minister Watt, is relying upon to work with. In fact, he stated today that it was the states who have the principal responsibility in this area—'the states have the principal responsibility'. He's washing his hands of responsibility; he's giving the responsibility to the states. And what have we heard from the state Labor minister in Western Australia? That it's not going to decimate the cattle industry—in fact, it might actually make milk and meat cheaper! Now, she's repudiated these words—as she should have. She's been repudiated by her state premier—as she should have. She should have been repudiated—as she should be repudiated by all, including all in this place. I stand right beside my good friend the member for O'Connor in the other place, Rick Wilson, who called for her resignation. And she should absolutely resign. Walking away from these statements from an agriculture minister is not enough. It is not enough to say that foot-and-mouth disease won't decimate our industry and then to just apologise and carry on. This is an industry that is so fundamental to the agricultural sector of my home state of Western Australia. It's so fundamental to the agricultural sector of the entirety of Australia. It's fundamental to our economy. Foot-and-mouth, it has been estimated, could cost our economy $80 billion over 10 years—$80 billion! It would decimate our trade if it were found in this country—decimate our trade across the globe. It would severely damage our major export industries, like the dairy industry of Victoria, and, obviously, the north of Australia, particularly Queensland, which exports so much meat. It would decimate our sheep industry. And yet we have Labor ministers—Labor ministers of the Crown—saying: 'Oh, it's not to be worried about. It might make meat and milk cheaper'! This is an absolute disgrace! The Labor minister in Western Australia should resign. She should resign immediately. We need ministers who will actually stand up for agriculture. We need ministers who will stand up for agriculture in this place. And, sadly, in the effort we've seen today from the current minister, we do not have that. We have a weak, ineffectual minister, who is reacting, and reacting slowly, to an existential crisis for our livestock industries. Senator Ciccone 281503 That's not what the NFF reckons! Senator BROCKMAN 30484 Oh, Raff! Raff! The DEPUTY 10000 Order, Senator Ciccone! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator McKenzie! Please restrain yourself. Senator Ciccone, please restrain yourself. Senator BROCKMAN 30484 Those opposite, obviously, are clearly going to defend this insipid response, and they will come to regret that. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator Brown. 15:08 Senator CAROL BROWN F49 Tasmania Thank you, Mr Deputy President, and congratulations on your elevation. That was an extraordinary response from a senator who stood up and characterised the response by this government, a Labor government—I'll just say that again, because I really like to hear it: 'a Labor government'! He characterised the response by our Labor government as lacking, when the response by the minister—a very capable minister; in fact, it's been a long time since we've had a capable agricultural minister!—has been a quick response, a coordinated response, and a comprehensive response. And not only that, but we had Minister Watt in here today responding to questions directly. And, quite frankly, they were questions from senators that didn't take the issue seriously; they weren't taking the issue seriously. This is a serious issue. It's an issue that the Albanese Labor government takes seriously. And that's why we've introduced some of the toughest biosecurity measures ever used in Australia. The minister— Senator McKenzie 207825 But there were no mats to direct them to! The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator McKenzie, please. Senator CAROL BROWN F49 We have a senator that keeps interjecting and talking—as far as I can see, with what's been put in the media—about going down and washing feet. I'm not sure why she thinks that's some sort of a good response. The minister outlined quite clearly what has been happening. For the benefit of the senators opposite, I will go through some of the responses that have been put in place, but it is a coordinated and comprehensive response. In fact, as the minister has said, the responses and the initiatives that have been put in place are the most comprehensive ever seen in Australia. That's because the Albanese Labor government take the issue of foot-and-mouth disease very seriously. To be honest, it is a sad, sad day when, in the very first question time, the new opposition comes up with questions that show their lack of real interest. They're only interested in political pointscoring, when the issues around foot-and-mouth disease pose real and serious risk to Australia. The Labor government has introduced the toughest biosecurity measures ever used in Australia, and the minister has been very effective in the rollout of measures to combat foot-and-mouth disease but also in his discussions with the Indonesian government. As the minister has talked about, we are providing at least one million doses to Indonesia for their foot-and-mouth vaccination program. We've put together a $14 million biosecurity package for Australia's frontline defence and are providing more technical support for countries currently battling foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy-skin disease. As the minister also indicated in his response, foot-and-mouth disease is currently in over 70 countries. What the opposition should be doing is joining—in fact, they should be supporting the minister in his work, because the minister has put together and rolled out a very comprehensive set of measures. The foot-and-mouth disease did reach Indonesia prior to the election being held, but you couldn't get a better response than what is being put together and rolled out, by the minister, on behalf of the Albanese Labor government. 15:13 Senator CANAVAN 245212 Queensland As a senator proudly ensconced in Rockhampton, the nation's beef capital, this is an extremely important issue to talk about. If there were to be an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease—let's very much hope that does not happen—there probably would not be a town in Australian more affected than my home town of Rockhampton. I must say, talking to the graziers in the Fitzroy Basin, there is a lot of concern that this government does not have the proper focus on this issue. The graziers are very concerned about the kneejerk and haphazard response over the past few weeks, where, at one point, foot mats were ineffective and not needed and then, just days later, they were going to be rolled out everywhere. And we're still waiting for them. It's not just those anecdotes or my political points here that are confirming this lack of confidence; it's the market itself. The market has no confidence in this minister, no confidence in this new government. Indeed, in the first week that the Bali outbreak was exposed, the first week of July, the price under the eastern states young cattle indicator—that's basically a benchmark for cattle prices across Australia—sat at $11.18 per kilogram, a very good price. That's a very, very good price, mind you. But, in just the two weeks since then, it is now down below $9, at $8.92 a kilogram, a 20 per cent drop in two weeks, confirming a vote of no confidence in this minister. And it's not the drop to $8.92—that's still a very good price, a fantastic price; all cattle producers pretty much will be making money at $8.92—but it's that that price is on a vertical drop right now, and we need that to be halted. We need to bend that curve back so we don't get prices back down to the levels we saw 10 years or so ago during the drought and, dare I say, the live export ban. For that, we need the government to wake up and deliver on their promises and show the Australian people that they have got this and they have got their eyes focused on this. The Prime Minister hasn't been across this. He's been overseas and has not been across domestic issues. He's refused calls for him to take charge of this issue, given the consequences for this country, and regional areas in particular that would be hurt, and he is not helping out. Today's contribution from Minister Watt does not help this lack of confidence. It does not help at all, unfortunately. Hopefully, it will be better tomorrow. It was his first day today. I suppose we all get given a bit of slack on our first day. But he couldn't even answer basic questions on numbers put by my colleague Senator McKenzie, who asked how many passengers have come through from Indonesia the last few weeks. You'd think, if you were concerned and focused on this issue, you'd have that number off the top of your head. I remember colleagues on the other side being very critical of ministers who did not have significant numbers off the top of their head. He didn't know that. He took it on notice. It was one of many questions he took on notice. Later on in question time he took the 'not my job' excuse. 'It's not my job. I don't have these answers.' So 'Not My Job' Murray is not across his brief and he's not giving confidence to the Australian cattle industry and to the Australian people that the government are responding appropriately to this issue. I do appreciate the briefing was put on earlier today by Minister Watt and the government. There was a lot of good information there. The takeaway I had, though—what I'm concerned about—is that this minister and this government are putting too much faith in the advice they're given and not providing appropriate scrutiny of that. Again, it's their first day. It's Murray's first go here—sorry. It's Senator Watt's first go as a minister, and I don't think you understand that your job is not just to enact the advice you're given by your departments and agencies. They're well meaning, they're good people, but they often have to protect their own advice and their own history. They're not going to necessarily bring you a 100 per cent account of what's going on on the ground. What I hear quite often from the government right now is 'We're told that there are mats everywhere; we're told that everybody's being checked.' At the briefing today, you were saying, 'I'm told a hundred per cent of people are fine.' Yet we continue to get stories from actual people who come in from Indonesia, coming in from overseas, that there's nothing at the airports. There's nothing there. Now, something's wrong. Either these people contacting us are lying or maybe—just maybe—the advice that's being pushed up through the Public Service is not quite a hundred per cent accurate and truth-tested about what's going on on the ground. So one thing I would hope, after this searing experience for new Minister Watt is that he goes away and tries to ground-check exactly what is going on in airports. This is so, so serious for our country. We cannot just sit back and take every piece of advice we get. We have to have scrutiny. We have to hold them to account here in this place. That is our job. 15:18 Senator WALSH 252157 Victoria I thank the opposition for their questions to Senator Watt on the very serious foot-and-mouth outbreak in Indonesia. The Albanese government is taking this threat extremely seriously, very seriously, just as Australian travellers are. What we are doing is taking the very best advice on managing this risk, and the very best advice on protecting Australia's trade as well. We're very grateful to those travellers who understand the seriousness of the disease and are complying with the measures that we're putting in place. We're very grateful to Australians for understanding the seriousness of this disease, which is more than we can say about those on the opposition benches. Those on the opposition benches have demonstrated today that they have been infected with something themselves, and that is a dose of absolute hysteria on this issue. They have been infected with a dose of confected hysteria on this issue. Let's talk about the opposition's response to this issue. We've had the opposition leader, Mr Dutton, calling for the borders to shut. We've had the Leader of The Nationals, Mr Littleproud, immediately back away from that call. We've had the former Nationals leader—remember him—Mr Joyce, calling for the borders to be closed. And, of course, we've had Senator McKenzie wanting to wash people's feet—and making that offer again today. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator McKenzie, restrain yourself. Senator WALSH 252157 While the government really does appreciate your new-found Jesus complex, Senator McKenzie— Senator WALSH 252157 Your new-found Jesus complex is much appreciated, but the opposition cannot decide what you are even calling for. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator McKenzie, I'm not enjoying your commentary. Senator WALSH 252157 These hysterical calls, these confused calls, to shut the borders, to open the borders and to wash people's feet are the things that are damaging our response to this crisis right now. Calls to shut the border are damaging Australia's agricultural reputation. The unnecessary hysteria that those on the opposition benches are fermenting will do nothing but damage the international trade that you are saying that you want to protect. As it stands in Australia today, we have no evidence at all that the virus is out in Australia. Your response affects our international trade if people think that we do have this disease. So your hysteria is helping no-one. What we do know is that the disease is evident across many countries—and the opposition is not calling for borders to be shut to them. So, once again, what you are doing is playing politics rather than listening to the experts. I also thank the opposition for their questions on our policy to abolish the ABCC, the absolutely discredited ABCC, and their questions about our consultations with business and with unions on this decision. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator Birmingham, on a point of order? Senator Birmin H6X The question before the chair is purely to take note of the answers to Senator Watt in relation to foot-and-mouth disease. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator Walsh, the motion before us didn't involve that question and that answer. So it somewhat restrains you. Senator WALSH 252157 What I heard Senator Scarr say— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 The motion to take note didn't include that question and answer. Senator WALSH 252157 I thought it included questions to Senator Watt. That is what I heard. The DEPUTY PRE 287062 No, it was specific to the particular ones, as I understand it, in relation to foot-and-mouth disease. Senator WALSH 252157 It is disappointing not to be able to talk about the discredited organisation that is the ABCC. But this gives me an opportunity to talk a little bit more about the incredibly impressive and powerful response that the Australian government, under the leadership of the minister, Senator Watt, have put in place to deal with this outbreak in Indonesia. We are taking this outbreak very seriously. We are managing the risk of foot-and-mouth disease across our shores, and we are doing that with the biggest biosecurity package that has ever been introduced in this country. We are installing sanitation foot mats in international and domestic airports and we're monitoring travellers from high-risk areas. There are thousands of passengers being assessed in Melbourne and in other major cities every day. We are delivering vaccines. As Minister Watt explained, those vaccines are expected to arrive in August. We are increasing screening to monitor undeclared meat products. This is a serious biosecurity issue for Australia. It's one that we are taking seriously, and the response is not helped by those on the opposition benches. 15:24 Sena 281697 New South Wales tor DAVEY (—) (): I congratulate Senator Walsh on her admirable defence of Minister Watt on this issue. However, the first point that I want to raise is this claim by the government that this is the largest investment in biosecurity in Australia's history. Thanks be to the coalition government! Thanks to the coalition who, when in government, made sure that we had in the budget $1.1 billion extra investment in strengthening Australia's biosecurity. That funding has enabled Minister Watt to resource 18 extra biosecurity officers, even though they're not yet on the ground. He shouldn't have needed to wait for so long—for eight weeks—because the funding was already there, thanks to the coalition government. I also want to address the time line issue and the claims that we are fearmongering. I live on Australia's oldest single blood line sheep stud. If FMD comes into this country, that sheep stud will be devastated, just like Senator Canavan's cattle industry, our dairy industry and our goat industry. We cannot underestimate the impact that this disease will have on our trade. You claim that we're impacting negatively on our trade markets. Well, it would be far more serious if this disease actually encroaches on our borders and comes into our country, which will decimate our trade. I also want to address Senator Watt's response to multiple questions and his inability to actually answer anything properly. What we've seen is a lot of rhetoric. We saw Senator Watt, on returning from Indonesia, tweet a photo of himself disinfecting his shoes, saying that shoe disinfection was being implemented. It must be being implemented only for Minister Watt and his touring party because no-one else has had to disinfect their shoes on arriving back in Australia. We'd like to see it implemented. We called for foot baths or sanitation mats on 5 July when the first cases of foot-and-mouth disease were detected in Bali. It took until 22 July for the minister to actually announce it was happening. It took until 25 July—a full 20 days after we called for them—for even the first foot mat to be rolled out. A passenger arriving at Perth Airport over the weekend asked about foot mats because they had read about them. They said: 'Where's the foot mat?' They were told that the AQIS people who were in charge of implementing the foot mats didn't work on weekends. That is the reason for the delay from the announcement on the 22nd to the actual implementation on the 25th. It's because they didn't work on weekends. Imagine! Tell the farmers—who work each and every weekend, who work seven days a week—that their livelihoods need to be put on hold because our bureaucrats don't work on weekends. The minister couldn't answer the question, when first asked, about how many passengers had come since 5 July. What we did hear was a breakdown of week-by-week numbers, but on average around 23,000 passengers are returning from Indonesia and Bali every week, yet there has been a delay of 20 days for foot mats. We've also been calling for establishing 3D X-ray screening programs, which, again, have been funded under our strengthening Australia's biosecurity— Senator McKenzie 207825 Where are they? Senator DAVEY 281697 Where are they? We also want to understand what the risk level is. We're not calling for any voodoo stuff, but, predicated on science, we want to understand at what point we need stronger— The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 I'm going to put the question, Senator Davey. Question agreed to. Environment 57 15:29 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice she asked today relating to climate change. I want to state at the outset that the Greens are in good and productive negotiations with the government around the climate targets bill, but I did take the opportunity today to ask the government about their position on new coal and gas. My first question to Senator Wong was whether or not they will continue the Morrison government's policy of using public money to subsidise opening new coal and gas mines. Obviously we can have a debate about whether they should be opened, and we don't think they should, but I would hope no-one thinks it's a good use of public money to be opening new coal and gas mines when we are in the middle of a climate crisis and when this government says, 'We're too poor to do great things like lift the rate of income support, for example.' So I put that to Senator Wong, and I noted that the International Energy Agency has made it perfectly clear that if we are stick to 1.5 degrees of warming we can't open any new coal or gas projects and likewise if we are even to meet the government's 2030 net zero target, which is too little, too late, we still cannot open any new coal or gas mines. Senator Wong, much to my dissatisfaction and dismay, seemed to be making the argument that climate change is not really Australia's problem, because those emissions from that exported coal and gas under an international accounting agreement are not on our books. I'm afraid the climate does not care whose books they are on, and it's a bit of a nonsense argument to say that we can open up new coal and gas mines and have no impact on the climate, simply because we're exporting that coal and gas. That argument didn't wash with me, and frankly I don't think it would wash with anyone else either. I tried to then get an answer to the question of whether or not this government will keep giving public money to open new coal and gas mines. Senator Wong did not answer at that point, so I pursued it again later. But I also asked, given that the first duty of government is to keep its people safe, what government in its right mind would support opening 114 new coal and gas projects that are currently in the pipeline and awaiting approval. The response I got on that one was that those projects would be assessed under our existing environmental laws. I am an environmental lawyer, so I know what our environmental laws say. They don't have a climate trigger them. They don't require the climate impacts of a new coalmine to be considered when the minister is deciding whether or not to approve that coalmine. They are John Howard's environmental laws, which tells you all you need to know about how strong they are. So I'm afraid I'm not at all satisfied with the response that these new coal and gas projects will have to go through our environmental laws, because I know how weak they are and I know how few refusals have been issued in the 23 years of those environmental laws being in existence. In my final supplementary I took the opportunity to ask Senator Wong again, 'Will this government keep giving public money to open new coal and gas mines?', because she hadn't answered it the first time, and then we had a very excruciating minute of Senator Wong making the ironically true point that there are so many different subsidies for coal and gas that she didn't know which one I was asking about and therefore she could not answer my question. How ironic indeed! That is true. There are so many different direct grants and different subsidies to coal and gas that it is hard to keep track of them. But our bean counters have done that, and in fact there is more than $11 billion in public money every year that is given to fossil fuel companies in subsidies, things like accelerated depreciation for capital equipment and things like cheap diesel fuel. We are in such a crisis that we're going to have an austerity budget and we can't afford to raise the rate of income support, can't afford to give free childcare, can't afford to build enough affordable housing to help people and can't afford to fully fund schools and hospitals yet can afford to dish out $11 billion of public money every year in freebies to coal and gas companies, who are making the climate crisis worse and who are contributing to the cost of climate change. The CSIRO today issued a figure saying that by 2050 we will spend $39 billion every year in mopping up from extreme weather events. You want to make an economic argument about the climate crisis? Stop the fossil fuel subsidies and save the money in cleaning up after those devastating fires and floods that wreak so much financial but also emotional havoc on our communities and on nature. So I'm afraid we have a long way to go, and it seems that the fossil fuel companies are still in charge of the two big parties, thanks to the very generous political donations that they continue to make to both big parties. Question agreed to. NOTICES 58 NOTICES Presentation 58 CONDOLENCES 60 CONDOLENCES Brown, Mr Robert James (Bob), AM 60 15:35 The PRESIDENT 112096 It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 30 March 2022 of the Hon. Robert James Bob Brown, a former minister and member of the House of Representative for the divisions of Hunter and Charlton in New South Wales from 1982 1998. I call the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Wong. 15:36 Senator WONG 00AOU South Australia by leave—I move: That the Senate records its sorrow at the death, on 30 March 2022, of the Honourable Robert James Brown AM, former Minister for Land Transport and Shipping Support and former Member for Hunter and Charlton, places on record its appreciation of his service to the Parliament and the nation and tenders its sympathy to his family in their bereavement. President and fellow senators, I rise to express condolences on behalf of the Labor government following the passing of a Labor comrade, the Hon. Robert James Brown, AM, better known as Bob Brown, a former minister and member of the House of Representatives, at the age of 88. I wish to convey at the outset our collective deepest sympathies to his family and his friends. Bob Brown was an economics teacher who would go on to be part of the government that is defined by the reforms it made to the Australian economy. A true Labor man from the Hunter, he served in all three levels of government. At its pinnacle, his career took him into ministerial service under two prime ministers. Bob Brown grew up in the Hunter. It was where he would spend most of his life, and it was the area and community he would go on to represent. His was a quintessential Labor background: mother from a mining family and his dad drove a coal truck. He took up a teaching position at Kurri Kurri in 1966 and served in local government from 1968 to 1980 in the city of Greater Cessnock as mayor and alderman. For a time, he served concurrently as the local state member of the parliament in the New South Wales legislative assembly. But the call to Canberra would come just two years later. Until the election of Mr Dan Repacholi just a few months ago, Bob Brown was the last person to represent the federal electorate of Hunter who was not a Fitzgibbon. He won in 1980 and was returned in 1983. Boundary changes meant that he transferred to the seat of Charlton and was elected seven times before retiring at the 1998 election. He would, in fact, be succeeded by his daughter in that seat. Bob Brown was a powerful voice for a key constituency that was at the coalface, quite literally, of economic change. For anyone who thinks commentary about changing economic circumstances and voting habits in the Hunter is only a recent turn of events, it pays to look at this history. Bob Brown had the task of representing an electorate that was grappling then with changes in the economy that saw communities facing higher than average unemployment as coal mines closed and other industries were under threat. He had to grapple with the impact of change and attempt to explain its economic imperative in the face of political disenfranchisement and disenchantment. He described it as: 'Resentment, frustration, alienation, disillusion—a mix of everything. People don't comprehend really what's happening. I draw upon these comments to illustrate the challenges and responsibilities that fall to local parliamentarians in those communities in electorates where heavy industry has dominated, and where structural economic change is changing people's opportunities. It is easy for politicians who don't represent such electorates to be blithe about change. But we all have a role in helping Australians across this country dealing with shifting economic conditions. Bob Brown's voice rose to a more senior level in 1988 when he was appointed a minister for the first time, with responsibility for land transport and shipping. At the time, key participants in the transport economy such as the Australian National Line—or ANL—in shipping and Australian National in rail were still wholly government owned, which gave the minister a much more direct involvement than that which we see today. His contribution was recognised with the leader of the EL class of locomotive, built for Australian National in 1990, being named after him. These portfolios gave him a role in furthering the government's microeconomic reform agenda. This included initiatives to codify uniform road transport regulations across the country, bringing states and territories together to streamline technical requirements that relieved the trucking industry of the burden of different standards in different parts of the country. Initiatives in this space included measures that we all now take for granted, such as the 0.05 blood alcohol limit and compulsory bicycle helmet wearing. Following the 1993 election, Bob Brown advised he would step aside from the ministry in order to provide for renewal. However, after the change of government in 1996, he assailed the Howard government's antiworker and antiunion agenda—so much and so often the hallmark of the federal coalition. After politics Bob Brown continued to be active in his local community, with involvement including the local Lyons and rugby league clubs as well as the community museum. He published a three-volume series about the first 100 years of Australia's federal parliament in 2007, called Governing Australia, and that year he was also made a Member of the Order of Australia. Bob Brown gave a lifetime of service to the advancement of Labor's cause and the cause of democracy. He ensured that the working people of the Hunter had a voice in the halls of power, and he did not waver from his cause. As his son, Brad, was quoted in the eulogy he delivered for his father: 'He always related to the working class, identified with it and defended it and the trade union movement. To have represented coalminers and their families at three levels of government was a source of great satisfaction to him.' I close by saying: on behalf of the government, I again express our condolences following the passing of the Hon. Bob Brown, and we again convey sympathies to his family and friends. 15:42 Senator BIRMINGHAM H6X South Australia I rise on behalf of the opposition to support the condolence motion moved by Senator Wong and to associate ourselves with the sentiments of Senator Wong in relation to this motion. Robert, or Bob, Brown was clearly devoted to the service of his community. Bob served the people of his hometown of Pelaw Main, just a few kilometres outside of Kurri Kurri, not only as a member of federal parliament but, as Senator Wong has acknowledged, also in the New South Wales parliament and in local government. Much of Bob's service through local government was concurrent with his service in the New South Wales state parliament, including terms as the mayor of Cessnock. Beginning his professional life as a teacher, having won a scholarship to the University of Sydney, where he completed a Bachelor of Economics and a Diploma of Education, he first took up a teaching post in Broken Hill. It was there in Broken Hill that Bob met his wife, Joy, who he married in 1960 and who predeceased him by just under a year in May last year. For Bob's family, the loss of Bob on 30 March this year so soon after the loss of Joy is no doubt deeply felt. In 1966, after other teaching roles, Bob returned to his hometown to take up a teaching position at Kurri Kurri High School, later becoming deputy principal. It was here that Bob focused his passion for history. He founded a memorial museum at the school in order to preserve the region's heritage. Only last year the museum relocated, and a room was named in his honour. Bob was there to receive that honour. History was certainly an important part of Bob's life. In 2007, into his 70s, he published Governing Australia, a three-volume series about the first 100 years of Australia's parliament. He also wrote a number of economics textbooks, including some co-authored with Joy. It was soon after returning home to Kurri Kurri that the determination to serve his community came to the fore, although it's clear it had always been a burning passion. In 1961, he unsuccessfully ran for the then safe federal Liberal seat of Paterson. Though he didn't win, up against a sitting member and Menzies government minister, he did secure a significant 6½ per cent swing. Bob then won election to Cessnock council in 1968, where he served as mayor for his first two years on the council and again between 1974 and 1980. This was concurrent with his period as the state member for Cessnock, a seat he held in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for two years. Bob's drive to represent his local community in the federal parliament saw him win the seat of Hunter in 1980 and later the newly formed seat of Charlton, a seat he held until his retirement at the 1998 election. Bob Brown had a very long career of public service and a long and significant parliamentary career in this parliament, which included serving as a minister, primarily in the Hawke government as minister for land transport, between 1998 and 1993. His passion for his community was reflected in his dedication to his role as a minister, where he championed and indeed achieved important steps in achieving uniform road transport regulations for Australia's trucking industry. As Senator Wong has mentioned, he was also a champion of random breath testing, encouraging states that were slow to finally introduce this important road safety initiative. That RBTs have saved so many lives cannot be doubted, and Bob Brown can take some credit for that important outcome. But it was certainly passion for his hometown and local area that was Bob's driving force: the support for his local communities, the industries and jobs of his local communities, and his understanding—as Senator Wong referenced—of the impacts of economic transformation on those industries and jobs. He also engaged very significantly at a local level. He was president of the Kurri Kurri Lions Club and the Kurri Kurri rugby league club. In 2007, his service was recognised when he was named a member of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday honours. The citation for this honour notes his 'service to the Australian parliament, particularly in the area of transport policy; to the community of the Hunter Region through local government, heritage and sporting organisations; and to economics education.' It is a broad citation reflecting his broad endeavours. And, of course, it should be noted that Mr Brown's passion for community service was reflected in his family, his daughter, Kelly, having succeeded him as the member for Charlton from 1998 until 2007. Kelly would be known to a number of people across this parliament. On behalf of the opposition and in concurrence with the government and the Senate, to Bob's loved ones, including Kelly; her brother, Brad; and Bob and Joy's five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, I send our gratitude for his service to our beautiful nation and our sincerest condolences. Question agreed to, honourable senators joining in a moment of silence. MOTIONS 62 MOTIONS Australian Aboriginal Flag, Torres Strait Islander Flag 62 15:48 Senator McCARTHY 122087 Northern Territory Before moving government business notice of motion No. 1, I inform the Senate that Senators Cox and Thorpe have also added their names to the motion that I put forward. I, and also on behalf of Senators Dodson, Stewart, Cox and Thorpe, move: That the Senate— a. notes the resolution of 8 October 1992 relating to the display of the Australian Flag in the Senate chamber; b. resolves that, consistent with its previous resolution, the Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag be displayed alongside the Australian Flag in the Senate chamber; and c. directs that the flags be installed within three weeks after the passage of this resolution. Question agreed to. BILLS 62 BILLS Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022 62

Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022

First Reading 62 15:49 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I move: That the following bill be introduced: A Bill for an Act to amend legislation relating to family law, social security and veterans' entitlements, and for related purposes. Question agreed to. Bill read a first time. Second Reading 62 15:50 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I table the explanatory memorandum relating to the bill and I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows— SOCIAL SECURITY AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (SELF-EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2022 SECOND READING SPEECH Today I am introducing the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022, which amends the social security law and related elements of the veterans' and family laws. This will make clear that the law operates in the same way when participants access self-employment services through the Self-Employment Assistance program as through the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS). Small businesses are a vital part of the Australian economy, with 2.4 million small businesses actively trading and employing around 4.7 million people. Supporting and encouraging the development of new small businesses can give Australians the opportunity to be their own boss and own a business that offers them secure work and financial independence. Self-employment is an excellent alternative to traditional employment for Australians who want to use their existing skills and experience in a work environment of their choice. It also assists Australians who struggle to apply their skills in other labour market settings to use those skills and succeed. That's why people with disability - who still face significant challenges having their skills recognised by employers - are more than 40 per cent more likely to be self-employed than the general population. The Labor Party has a strong history of supporting new small businesses. It was the Hawke Government that launched the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme, or NEIS program, in 1985 to help unemployed Australians create their own employment opportunities. Since then, NEIS has successfully helped over 198,000 Australians to start and run small businesses. NEIS achieved excellent outcomes for the diverse range of participants who accessed its services. Three months after exiting the program 82 per cent of participants remained in employment and 68 per cent were still running their business. More than half of the participants who accessed NEIS over the past seven years were women. Since the onset of COVID, NEIS helped many businesses pivot to deliver services in new and innovative ways to remain viable. This demonstrated that government can play a key role in helping businesses adapt in uncertain times. The services available under NEIS were expanded when it was replaced by the new Self-Employment Assistance program on 1 July 2022. Eligible people interested in self-employment will be able to receive free help to generate and validate business ideas, so they can make informed decisions about whether self-employment is a good fit for them and their families. Participants in the program who want to develop their skills and prepare their business can access free accredited training and help to prepare a comprehensive business plan. Eligible business owners who have recently started trading, or who need help to adapt their business in a changing economic environment, will be able to access appropriate business mentoring and advice. As was the case under NEIS, eligible income support recipients who access the program can receive a Self-Employment Allowance from the government. This helps supplement the income a participant earns from their business, so they can reinvest their business' earnings back into the business. Self-Employment Assistance is building on the NEIS program's legacy of success by continuing its valuable support, but through more flexible services that help a wider range of people secure their future. This Bill will update the social security, veterans' and family laws to make clear that Self-Employment Assistance payments will be treated in the same way by the law as other NEIS payments. The same will apply if the Employment Secretary notifies a different name for Self-Employment Assistance. The Bill will therefore provide increased clarity for participants as they support themselves while establishing their businesses. Self-employment continues to be a viable pathway for many to help them move off income support, earn their own income and contribute economically to their communities. However, it takes time and other support to establish a small business, including financial support. To support and foster self-employment opportunities we bring this Bill to the Parliament. The Bill also makes a small number of minor technical amendments to clarify or remove redundant material from the social security law, consequent to the recent Streamlined Participation Requirements Act. I commend this Bill to the chamber. Ordered that further consideration of the second reading of this bill be adjourned to the first sitting day of the next period of sittings, in accordance with standing order 111. COMMITTEES 63 COMMITTEES Allocation of Departments and Agencies 63 15:50 Senator GA ING Australian Capital Territory LLAGHER (—) (): I move: That departments and agencies be allocated to legislative and general purpose standing committees as follows: Community Affairs Health and Aged Care Social Services Economics Industry, Science and Resources Treasury Education and Employment Education Employment and Workplace Relations Environment and Communications Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (Communications and the Arts functions only) Finance and Public Administration Finance Parliament Prime Minister and Cabinet Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Defence, including Veterans' Affairs Foreign Affairs and Trade Legal and Constitutional Affairs Attorney-General Home Affairs Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development functions only). Question agreed to. BUSINESS 64 BUSINESS Days and Hours of Meeting 64 15:51 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I move: That the days of meeting of the Senate for the remainder of 2022 be as follows: Thursday, 28 July Monday, 1 August to Thursday, 4 August Monday, 5 September to Thursday, 8 September Monday, 12 September to Thursday, 15 September Tuesday, 25 October to Thursday, 27 October Monday, 21 November to Thursday, 24 November Monday, 28 November to Thursday, 1 December. Question agreed to. BUDGET 64 BUDGET Consideration by Estimates Committees 64 15:51 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I move: (1) That the 2022-23 Budget estimates hearings be scheduled as follows: Friday, 28 October until no later than 5 pm (Group A) Monday, 7 November until no later than 11 pm (Group A) Tuesday, 8 November until no later than 1 pm (Group A) Tuesday, 8 November until no earlier than 2 pm until no later than 11 pm (Group B) Wednesday, 9 November and Thursday, 10 November until no later than 11 pm (Group B). (2) That cross portfolio estimates hearings on Indigenous matters and on Murray-Darling Basin Plan matters be scheduled for Friday, 11 November but not restricted to that day. (3) That the committees consider the proposed expenditure in accordance with the allocation of departments and agencies to committees agreed to by the Senate. (4) That committees meet in the following groups: Group A: Environment and Communications Finance and Public Administration Legal and Constitutional Affairs Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Group B: Community Affairs Economics Education and Employment Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade. (5) That the committees report to the Senate on Tuesday, 29 November 2022. 15:52 Senator RUSTON 243273 South Australia I seek leave to make a short statement. The PRESIDENT 112096 Leave is granted for one minute. Senator RUSTON 243273 President, I congratulate you on your appointment to the role. The PRESIDENT 112096 Thank you. Senator RUSTON 243273 The coalition will not stand in the way of these estimates dates put forward by the government. However, we note that the amount of time allocated is manifestly inadequate to properly scrutinise a budget. We also note the importance of the estimates process for the accountability and transparency of government spending of taxpayers' money. We will expect the government to return to the normal time allocated to budget estimates in 2023 to afford adequate time for this important parliamentary process. The Australian people expect us to hold the government to account and we deserve adequate time to do so. Question agreed to. BUSINESS 65 BUSINESS Rearrangement 65 15:52 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I move: That consideration of the business before the Senate on the following days be interrupted at approximately 5 pm, but not so as to interrupt a senator speaking, to enable senators to make their first speeches (of approximately 20 minutes) without any question before the chair, as follows: (a) Wednesday, 27 July 2022—Senators Stewart and Nampijinpa Price; (b) Monday, 1 August 2022—Senator Allman-Payne; (c) Tuesday, 2 August 2022—Senators David Pocock and Shoebridge; (d) Wednesday, 3 August 2022—Senators Barbara Pocock and Babet; (e) Monday, 5 September 2022—Senators White and Cadell; (f) Tuesday, 6 September 2022—Senators Tyrrell and Payman; and (g) Wednesday, 7 September 2022—Senator Liddle. Question agreed to. Consideration of Legislation 65 15:53 Senator GALLAGHER ING Australian Capital Territory I move: That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this period of sittings: Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022. Senator Lambie 250026 I ask that we can take a vote on each bill. The PRESIDENT 112096 Senator Lambie is asking for the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 and the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Self-Employment Programs and Other Measures) Bill 2022 to be split. I believe that can be accommodated. The question is that the motion as moved by Senator Gallagher that the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 be exempt from the cut-off be agreed to. Senator Lambie 250026 Madam President, I've just been informed that is not coming up next week, the social security one. If that's not coming up next week, I do apologise. I've been misinformed. I withdraw that, sorry. The PRESIDENT 112096 Just so we're clear, it's now my intention to go back to the motion as originally put by Senator Gallagher, to move those bills that are related to the exemption. So I'll move that. The question, as moved by the minister, Senator Gallagher, is that the motion be agreed to. Thank you for that clarification, Senator Lambie. Question agreed to. BILLS 66 BILLS Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 66

Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022

15:55 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland I move: (1) That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent this resolution having effect. (2) That the Fair Work Amendment (Equal Pay for Equal Work) Bill 2022 be restored to the Notice Paper and consideration of the bill resume at the stage reached in the 46th Parliament. Question agreed to. BUSINESS 66 BUSINESS Consideration of Legislation 66 15:56 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland I move: (1) That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent this resolution having effect. (2) That the following bills be restored to the Notice Paper and consideration of each of the bills resume at the stage reached in the 46th Parliament: Broadcasting Services Amendment (Audio Description) Bill 2019 Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Lowering Voting Age and Increasing Voter Participation) Bill 2018 Customs Legislation Amendment (Commercial Greyhound Export and Import Prohibition) Bill 2021 Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service) Bill 2020 Electric Vehicles Accountability Bill 2021 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Save the Koala) Bill 2021 Federal Environment Watchdog Bill 2021 Landholders' Right to Refuse (Gas and Coal) Bill 2015 Live Performance Federal Insurance Guarantee Fund Bill 2021 Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Amendment (No New Fossil Fuels) Bill 2021 [No. 2] United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Bill 2022. Question agreed to. DOCUMENTS 66 DOCUMENTS Biosecurity: Foot-and-Mouth Disease 66 Order for the Production of Documents 66 15:56 Senator ASKEW 281558 Tasmania At the request of Senator McKenzie, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, by no later than 1 August 2022, all documents in relation to the recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia between the Department of Infrastructure and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government and Australian international airports. Question agreed to. Biosecurity: Foot-and-Mouth Disease 66 Order for the Production of Documents 66 15:56 Senator ASKEW 281558 Tasmania At the request of Senator McKenzie, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, by no later than 1 August 2022, the following documents: (a) all requests for advice from the minister's office to the Department after being alerted to the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease(FMD) in Indonesia; and (b) the incoming government brief to the new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry specifically in relation to the advice on FMD. Question agreed to. Australian Building and Construction Commission 67 Order for the Production of Documents 67 15:57 Senator ASKEW 281558 Tasmania At the request of Senator Cash, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Prime Minister, by no later than midday on 1 August 2022: (a) any briefing notes, file notes and emails between the Prime Minister and his office and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and/or his office in relation to the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work Amendment Instrument 2022 (Building Code) announced by Minister Burke on 24 July 2022; (b) any briefing notes, file notes and emails between the Prime Minister and his office and the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and/or his office in relation to the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC); (c) any briefing materials produced by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet that were provided to the Prime Minister and/or the Prime Minister's office in relation to the changes to the Building Code; and (d) any briefing materials produced by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet that were provided to the Prime Minister and/or the Prime Minister's office in relation to the potential abolition of the ABCC. Question agreed to. Australian Building and Construction Commission 67 Order for the Production of Documents 67 15:58 Senator ASKEW 281558 Tasmania At the request of Senator Cash, I move: That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, by no later than midday on 1 August 2022: (a) briefing notes, file notes and emails between the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (Minister) and/or his office and the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), and/or the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), in relation to the Code for the Tendering and Performance of Building Work Amendment Instrument 2022 announced by Minister Burke on 24 July 2022; (b) briefing notes, file notes and emails between the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and/or his office and the FWO, and/or the ABCC in relation to the potential abolition of the ABCC; (c) briefing materials produced by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations that were provided to the Minister and/or the Minister's office in relation to the changes of the Building Code; and (d) briefing materials produced by Department of Employment and Workplace Relations that were provided to the Minister and/or the Minister's office in relation to the potential abolition of the ABCC. Question agreed to. MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE 67 MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE Climate Change 67 15:59 The PRESIDENT 112096 I inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, 26 proposals were received. In accordance with standing order 75, the question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter has been received from Senator Waters, namely: Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion: The biggest causes of climate change is the extraction and burning of coal and gas. To prevent the climate crisis getting worse, no new coal and gas projects can be developed in Australia. Is the proposal supported? More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places— The PRESIDENT 112096 I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers for today's discussion. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly. 16:00 Senator WHISH-WILSON 195565 Tasmania If Australians want to read some shocking numbers in relation to this debate today, I suggest they go and google 'renew economy'. Ketan Joshi has tweeted a thread on this today because he wrote an article on this today—on just how many millions of tonnes of emissions will come from the approval of new fossil fuel projects. They are going to dwarf this government's 43 per cent emissions reduction commitment. According to the numbers that he published today, and this is based on an Australia Institute report from last year, the government's emissions reduction pledge, based on their 43 per cent ambition, is going to avoid 366 million tonnes of CO2 between 2023 and 2030—that is, if we sign up and agree to reduce emissions by 43 per cent, that's how much carbon will be avoided under this scheme. But, if all new coal and gas mines are approved and start running, domestically they'll cause 1,030 million tonnes of fugitive emissions—that's nearly three times the amount we're going to reduce—as well as all the CO2 burnt in mining and extracting this. That's domestically. Overseas, if these are exported and burnt, 11,176 million tonnes of CO2 will be burnt into the atmosphere. In other words, hundreds of times more CO2 is going to be emitted than reduced under Labor's target if this government continues to approve fossil fuel projects. Adam Bandt, the Leader of the Greens, said you don't tackle a climate crisis by pouring more fuel onto the fire. This is exactly what the Greens campaigned on going into the last election—that there's no point in having these targets for 2030 or 2050 if you're going to continue to approve new fossil fuel projects. Now, we got just a short and brief insight today from Senator Wong at question time as to how Labor is going to spin this, and we are deep in an era of greenwashing, and we're going to see a lot more of it, so it's really important that people understand this. Senator Wong basically said: 'This is not Australia's problem. These are scope 1 emissions. We're talking about reducing domestic emissions on our targets, but, if other countries buy Australia's coal and buy our gas and burn them, well, that's not our problem. That's their problem.' And, of course, Mr Albanese, our new Prime Minister, has also repeated the lines that Sussan Ley and other previous environment ministers and previous Prime Ministers have repeated—that somehow our coal is cleaner and more beneficial to these countries than other sources. It's the old drug dealer's defence, and you heard it here in the Senate today! That's what it is—'If they don't buy my drugs, these people down the road are going to get drugs from someone else, and that's going to be worse for them.' What a ridiculous argument! If we commit to climate action, if we commit to protecting future generations, if we commit to protecting our natural environment, if we commit to protecting our farming sector, if we commit to protecting our communities from extreme weather events like floods and fires, if we commit to ending species extinction, then we must commit to no new fossil fuel projects in this country. And it is not just the Greens saying this; our 75 per cent target is based on the Paris Agreement and the science, and it is the United Nations and all the experts who are saying we must end the era of fossil fuels by absolutely 100 per cent stamping out new fossil fuel projects. That's it. That's what the science tells us is necessary. We're still talking here, with a 43 per cent emission reduction target by Labor, of a two degree warming. All of the impacts we've seen have come from one degree of warming. Even the Paris target of 1.5 degrees of warming still assumes a 50 per cent increase in the latent heat on this planet based on what we've already seen, which is still potentially catastrophic. We are going to be debating doubling the amount of heat on this planet and getting to net zero by 2050. But what's the point of getting to net zero by 2050 if there is no Great Barrier Reef left and we have irrevocably changed the way we live on this planet? We need to act now, and the only way we can act is to end all new fossil fuel projects—full stop; period! 16:05 Senator GREEN 259819 Queensland I am very pleased to be addressing the Senate today not only in my role as a senator for Queensland and not only as someone who has long argued for climate action but also in my new position as the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef. As someone who lives in Cairns, I understand more than most people how important it is for us to protect the Great Barrier Reef and to make sure that we not only have this asset to enjoy for many generations to come but also to protect the jobs that the reef relies on. In taking up this role as the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef, there are a number of issues that I am keen to address and a number of issues that I am keen to talk to many stakeholders about. Since being appointed to the role, I have had the opportunity to speak to conservation groups, tourism operators, agricultural leaders and also, of course, traditional owners, who in this space are doing fantastic work. Australians made a clear choice on 21 May. They are ready for action on climate change, and they are ready for a Labor government to deliver it. In all of the conversations that I have had with people around the Great Barrier Reef in this role as the special reef envoy, it has been clear to me that people are incredibly hopeful for the future now that there has been a change of government. They are incredibly hopeful about the plans that Labor has put in place and the things that we have said that we will do to take action on climate change and to protect the Great Barrier Reef. Today our government has taken one of those very important steps. We have introduced legislation to take action on climate change, to make sure that this bill does what the previous government failed to do over a decade in power. I am very proud to be here today as part of this government and as the Special Envoy for the Great Barrier Reef as we send a very clear message that the time for action on climate change is now. The stability and certainty that is going to come from legislating this target is clear for all Australians to see, and it is important for Australians and their future. Our government will not waste the opportunities that come with climate action. As Senator Wong said today in question time, this not only is a matter of protecting our environment but also is an economic question and is about the jobs that come from investing in renewable energy. The previous government were so opposed to taking action on climate change that they vetoed renewable energy projects because it was against their own policy; they tried to take the 'R' out of ARENA; and they are still actively standing against climate change. Our government will not be one of inaction and waste when it comes to this important issue. That is why we will deliver on our mandate of a 43 per cent target. Today the Albanese Labor government introduced the Climate Change Bill 2022, enshrining 43 per cent emissions reductions into law. This puts us on track to reach net zero by 2050 and restores our international reputation as a responsible global citizen. This legislation brings much needed certainty to workers, businesses and communities as our energy needs change. We are prepared to reap the benefits of renewable energy future. Today, Labor restored accountability and certainty in Australia's climate approach. The Minister for Climate Change and Energy will now be required to report our progress to the parliament, making sure that we are being transparent and ambitious when we strive to reach net zero. This legislation represents a hard-fought consensus on climate change amongst Australians. It has the support of business associations, unions, environmental groups and community organisations. As the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has said, this is a critical first step and the experts will continue to inform our approach to targets moving forward. This is the first step, a step that Australians have waited so long to see taken, and we are taking this step as a government now. The legislation will enshrine a nationally determined contribution of 43 per cent emissions. As I said, it will task the Climate Change Authority to provide advice on Australia's progress against these targets. It will require the minister to report annually to parliament on the progress and it will, finally, in other legislation, reinsert the renewables component into ARENA. This is on top of Labor's plan to power Australia. It complements our plan to create jobs, cut power bills and reduce emissions through our Powering Australia plan. Labor's plan will upgrade the electricity grid, make electric vehicles cheaper and invest in green manufacturing. The Powering Australia plan will deliver over 600,000 jobs across the country, with five out of six of those jobs created in regional Australia. It will cut power bills for families and businesses as we take advantage of Australia's vast natural resources. Our Powering Australia plan is another example of Labor's ambitious and resourceful approach when we are taking on the challenge of climate change. We won't bury our heads in the sand. We know that this is complex. We know that there are issues that we need to see through. We won't see them through a singular lens. Labor takes up the challenge and finds ways to solve this issue and deliver real social and economic returns for the Australian people. This is in direct contrast to the last decade of denial and delay. It is clear that, under the former government, Australians had lost hope. They had lost hope. After a decade of chaos on renewable energy, Labor's Climate Change Bill will finally give the certainty so desperately needed for businesses, industry, energy investors and the wider community. In my community of regional Queensland, we have seen hundreds of jobs evaporate as a result of the disunity within the previous government on climate change, and I note this disunity continues in the opposition. They are obviously being given an opportunity to join the government to vote for our legislation. They've indicated that they will not be doing that, although I know that the disunity continues within the opposition. It really begs the question about who and what the opposition has been listening to, and clearly they didn't hear the message from the Australian people at the last election. There are real and serious consequences from the previous government's actions that Labor is just now having the opportunity to start cleaning up, and we will work with people across this chamber to achieve outcomes for all Australians. We will work with people who want to see climate action put into reality. We will be constructive, but the Australian people know what Labor took to the last election. They understand that plan that we have, the Powering Australia plan. They understand that we have a commitment to a 43 per cent target. They understand that that was not a target or a number plucked out of thin air but was something that we put together by understanding, through independent modelling, what levers the government could pull and what emissions reductions we could achieve if we pull those levers. This is something that we have taken to the Australian people, and now, as a government, we are planning to legislate these targets. It is an opportunity, I think, for this parliament to rise above the divisive politics of the climate wars under the previous government. Under the former government we saw climate wars deliver nothing but political debate in this space, and we know there are people in this chamber who need to understand that we are here to deliver on our election commitments. We are here to listen and we will be constructive, and I think we have been constructive when it comes to the negotiations on the legislation. But we have a very clear mandate. We have a very clear agenda, and we are delivering on that agenda. When it comes to climate change, every time I'm on my feet in this place I continue to remind the chamber that there are people in our country in Queensland right now who are feeling the effects of climate change. Along with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Senator McAllister, I had the opportunity to go to the Torres Strait a few weeks ago. We sat down with those community members, and it was a real honour to listen to them directly and to see the changes that are happening—the coastal erosion. It really begs the question: if any person from the other side of the chamber could hear those personal stories, could see that coastal erosion occurring and could still choose to think that this is not a place where we need to get down and get the work done on climate change, then I don't understand what they are here for. What we've got from the opposition so far is more denials, more diversion and more debate and delay. But this government, a Labor government, is getting on with the job, and that is why we have put this legislation to the parliament. We'll give the parliament an opportunity to discuss that legislation, to talk about the value of acting on climate change, but we will get this done, and, if the parliament does not legislate the target, we will still set about achieving the things that we promised the Australian people, because the time to do that is now. 16:15 Senator DUNIAM 263418 Tasmania I have to commend Senator Green for getting through 10 minutes on an MPI put forward by the Greens around banning coal and gas without mentioning either of those particular fossil fuels. I was enlightened by your contribution there about the Labor Party's—now government—policy to legislate, but I'm still at a loss to understand, based on that contribution, where you stand on this MPI. I'm sure other government speakers will enlighten us on exactly where they stand, but I'll put on record my views and the views of the opposition here, which have been made clear time and time again. Sometimes, though, I do think that some in this place live in a parallel universe. I think we could be forgiven for thinking that because today we saw the inflation number released—6.1 per cent. I don't think we should just brush off and forget about that figure and not pay attention to the impact it's going to have on Australian households and businesses, job-creating entities. These sorts of things are an important backdrop to the motion that the Greens have so generously put down for us, as put forward by Senator Waters: The biggest causes of climate change is the extraction and burning of coal and gas. To prevent the climate crisis getting worse, no new coal and gas projects can be developed in Australia. Now they've spoken to that as a standalone statement today, but the impacts of doing that on the economy—and I mentioned earlier on today that there are two fragile things that we need to take into account here: (1) the environment and (2) the economy. Environmental decisions have an impact on the economy, on people's jobs, on their ability to pay power bills, on their ability to keep food on the table and on their ability to keep their businesses running, and to make a decision over here with absolutely no regard for what impact it will have over there is a ridiculous approach to public policy, and that is exactly what we're seeing here. I can see why Senator Green refused to even go near it, because it is difficult for the Labor Party to reconcile their rhetoric around fossil fuels and the problems they're going to have when it comes to the Australian Greens and trying to legislate in this place and deal with their demands when it comes to things like this. I've already mentioned inflation hitting 6.1 per cent, hitting a many-decades-held record, which is, as I say, going to have an impact. We know that, similarly, power prices are going sky high and that from June 2021 prices have gone up in the National Electricity Market by 200 to 300 per cent. That's a huge amount. We know that Labor won't be able to fulfil their promise to the Australian people from just nine weeks ago that power bills will go down by $275. Bank interest rates are going up. Fuel—the cost of fuel—to put into your car is going up. And Australian households are hurting. They're doing it tough. So, on the first substantive day of sitting in this parliament, in the Australian Senate, when we're here debating this issue with absolutely no regard for the impact that it has on households and businesses, it's something Australians need to wake up to and listen to, to see the impacts that these sorts of policies, this sort of direction, would have on households that are doing it tough and on Australians that are working hard. It is something, frankly, that the Greens should probably reflect upon, given it demonstrates how out of touch they are with Australians, who just want to get on and live their lives and want the government to bring in policies that help them live their lives, to make a better future for themselves and their children, to have a go and to get rewarded—you know, those great Australian ideals. But, as I say, this MPI has been written with zero regard for the impact such a call would have on the ability of honest, hardworking Australians to make a go of things. We already know the facts around how much the resources specified in this MPI contribute to energy generation in this country. The great bulk of energy generated in this country is from these resources. Now, we know there are plans. The government have outlined their plan to transition to renewables, but the idea that you can just shut down exploration and expansion of existing resources, which are going to be needed—any expert will tell you that—without forcing businesses and households, hospitals and schools to turn the lights off, the heaters off, is a short-sighted, cynical stunt which will have bad impacts on Australians. Let's say this MPI and what the Greens would love to do to Australia in some dystopian world became reality, when would the lights switch off? Would it be in five years, 10 years? When would we not be able to keep the lights on in schools or store in appropriate refrigeration units vital medicines in hospitals? When would we stop being able to do that? When would you be sitting in the dark at home eating your dinner? When would the factories stop being able to do what they do best, manufacture, something we want to do more of here, with our resources rather than outsourcing it to countries that do burn fossil fuels? That is something you guys seem to forget about. The jobs are lost, the businesses are shut down and the cycle goes on and on, and this is something that these trite statements, these motions that we see from time to time never, ever take account of and never have any regard for. Those people who work in those industries and those people impacted, they don't matter, apparently. We only have to come down to Tasmania, where we have businesses that do rely on coal to be able to do what they do. The Railton cement factory, for one, is something. We have this shortage of material to go into the housing and construction sector. But let's say the Fingal colliery ran out of coal and needed to expand, I presume if the Greens had their way we would no longer be able to source coal. We would not be able to produce concrete to be able to feed that plant and, of course, the housing and construction sector but that doesn't matter. How about the Norske Skog paper mill in the Derwent Valley? It doesn't matter. They use coal to fire their boilers. They are looking for alternatives, of course. I am sure they are ones that we would want to stand in the way of. But, as it stands, under your motion, we would be standing in the way of that and the 500 or 600 jobs in the Derwent Valley. Who cares? Don't worry, that community does not matter. This is the thing. There is no regard for these people and no consideration at all for the flow-on effects this would have for the economy and, indeed, also for the environment. I'm waiting to see what the alternatives are. I look at a bit of recent history around what we could be doing, because if we're shutting down fossil fuel use and there are no more new gas or coal operations and projects across this country then where would we be sourcing this energy that we need to be a competitive economy from? In this fragile economy I talked about before, the one that's facing the economic headwinds that the government have already been talking about and the international community is bracing for, where would we get this alternative energy from? I heard Senator Whish-Wilson refer to 'renew economy' earlier on. I was looking at the website and there was a link on there talking about how the Greens opposed the Marinus Link, a vital piece of infrastructure which is there to generate investment in renewable energy, in the battery of the nation, expanding our hydro generation. But no, we can't have that. So, okay, we can't have hydro. We all know the Greens were given birth to out of the Franklin dam dispute, so they are definitely against hydro. They also opposed the Robbins Island windfarm, one example of renewables they're opposed to. So we have hydro, we have wind but they are a no go. So where would we be getting this energy from? They want to be a part of the solution here but they don't provide solutions; they just tell us what we shouldn't be doing. They have no regard for honest hardworking men and women who will be impacted by this. But I'm not surprised by this and I doubt a great many Australians would be either, to be honest with you. We in Tasmania know exactly what we're dealing with here when it comes to this sort of thing and the party behind the movement of such MPIs and motions. When you have the Greens near the levers of power, bad things happen. We warned Australians about this and here we are, the first substantive day of sitting in the Senate, and this is the first thing they chuck down. I tell you, this is what we need to expect. It is a word of warning to the Australian Labor Party, the government, we all know you have two pathways to legislate in this place. One of them is with the Australian Greens, and we've just been given a sneak preview of the kinds of things, I dare say, probably the stuff they've been laying on the table in new negotiations over your legislated 43 per cent reduction in emissions bill. This is what the world is in for in Australia. At a time when people can't pay their mortgages, can't pay their power bills and can't put fuel in the car, this is what the Australian Greens are proposing. It is a dim, dark future not just because we can't keep the lights on but because the policies this crew put forward are bad for Australia, are bad for businesses and households and will mean economic disruption and the removal of our ability to compete in the international economy. 16:25 Senator DAVID POCOCK 256136 Australian Capital Territory This is not my first speech. I rise today to speak about the call from people in the ACT and millions of Australians around the country for policy decisions in the 47th parliament to be guided by science. For the past few years, faced with unprecedented challenges—a global public health emergency—science has guided health policy. Scientists have been celebrated for their quick work developing vaccines. We have valued and respected their research. We need to extend that value and respect to all of our scientists. We need to depoliticise critical debates and start to genuinely listen to our scientists. We have rightly heard calls for a science-based response to the potentially devastating threat that foot-and-mouth disease poses to Australia. We need the same when it comes to the science around climate and environment. The evidence is significant and requires an urgent response. The latest IPCC report, the result of the best scientific minds examining hard evidence, states that greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2025 if we are to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The IPCC's advice could not be clearer: we cannot afford new fossil fuel projects in Australia. Rather than opening new fossil fuel facilities, focus should be given to the incredible opportunities offered by a transition to clean energy and a focus on ensuring regional Australia benefits from this clean energy transition. Australia's renewable energy reserves are 75 per cent greater than our combined reserves of coal, oil, gas and uranium. Clean energy exports could be worth almost triple the value of Australia's existing fossil fuel exports. In addition to benefits for regional communities, transition to clean energy will improve the lives of those in suburban Australia. Rooftop solar is a great Australian success story. Started under the Howard government, we now have some of the cheapest rooftop solar in the world. With the right policy we can do the same for battery, heat pumps and electric vehicles. In the ACT, electrification of households would save households on average $5,000 per year. At a time when cost-of-living pressures are hurting so many in our community, these savings are more important than ever. In order to make this transition we must move away from coal and gas and focus on the renewable technologies of the future. The 47th parliament has the opportunity to get on with this. 16:28 Senator GROGAN 296331 South Australia It was only a few months ago that I stood in this chamber and spoke about the clear message being sent from South Australia about what they wanted to see in a government. I highlighted then they wanted real action on climate change, more jobs and cheaper power. The election result made it very clear just how true that was. In every state and territory Australians were very clear on their desire for change, and many of us believe that a lot of that was driven by the desire for action on climate change. They voted for a government that will respect ambitious reduction targets. They voted for a government that will work alongside community, industry and, importantly, the scientists. Now as a government we have the opportunity for change. We value the importance of this place, and we value and respect the diversity of views that are held within this chamber and the other place. Those views deserve to be heard, they deserve to be considered and ultimately they deserve to be considered in a compromise to get the best outcome for the Australian people. I understand that the Greens have a particular view about new coal and gas projects, and that is their right, and I acknowledge that that was their publicly stated policy position prior to the election. It's what they campaigned on, and they were very clear with the Australian people. Our policy differs, and that was also very clear in the lead-up to the election. We've been very clear that any new coal and gas project needs to stack up. The simple reality is that the investment in renewables in this country is booming and that the Labor government has significant plans to boost development in renewable energy, to improve our electricity system and to head towards net zero in 2050. In that scenario, many coal and gas projects just simply don't add up. A company having an idea or a proposal for a new coal or gas project does not necessarily mean it's going to occur. It does not necessarily mean that it will make it through their board approval processes; it does not necessarily mean they are going to get the investment and the finance that they need for that project. If they do manage to get that far, then we do have our environmental standards—noting Senator Waters' concern about the strength of those standards. But there are processes, nonetheless, to ensure that projects have what is seen to be a reasonable pathway. So, subject to a project passing all of those hurdles, we do then have a very clear safeguard mechanism which we will bring in, and that will apply to any new project emitting over 100,000 tonnes. This safeguard mechanism is designed to ensure that we reach our goal—a goal that we are deeply committed to—of net zero by 2050. Providing those emitting facilities with certainty as to their emissions trajectory and providing certainty for anyone wishing to invest in such projects makes it clear about the future for that project. And, under that scenario, many of those projects may not stack up. What we won't be doing is making empty promises for new projects that possibly won't come to fruition, as so often happened over the last dark decade under the previous government. This was our very clear policy that we brought to the election—the very clear policy that the Australian people knew we had when they gave us the honour of being their government. Prior to coming to this chamber, I had the great pleasure of being the Executive Director of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, which gave me the opportunity to work extensively with the scientific community and with industry on the urgent need for climate action. We spent a very long time banging our heads against the wall with the lack of action from the government of the day. But the scientific community, working alongside the business community, reflecting on the industries of the future, as well as the good of the planet, found: you can make a positive pathway through that. And that is where Labor sees the answer. Over many years, I've had the great opportunity to work with environmental advocates, including some from the agricultural sector, and of hearing from them how vital clear, concise, transparent climate action is for their work. It is vital. There is a pathway here. There is a pathway we intend to take. The one consistent theme that we have seen, for well over a decade, is that everyone is sick and tired of the uncertainty around climate policy in this country. We became an international laughing-stock under the previous government. We, as the new Labor government, have already made strong inroads to change that. And that is not just about looking good on the international stage. That is about investment in Australia. That is about the opportunity for our businesses to grab the opportunity to amend their business, to work towards lower emissions—to zero emissions—and to reap the benefits of the fact that the international community is looking down and moving down that pathway. Climate change is an opportunity for our businesses to get on board. One consistent theme, as I've said, is this issue around the uncertainty, the division and the political game-playing. This is an area that has been plagued by political opportunism, policy immaturity and obfuscation, and we welcome the constructive discussions that have been occurring between the government and the crossbench, particularly the Australian Greens. They have come to the table in good faith, they have come to the table with ideas, and we welcome that and thank them for that effort. Unfortunately, the other side of the chamber is quite a different situation. We have seen the Leader of the Opposition refuse to engage in this conversation, to try to continue the divisive, destructive approach to climate change. Thankfully, they were voted out. Hopefully, in this next term, they might learn something about bringing the country together rather than dividing it. We do not need to divide our country again over climate policy. We have a strong pathway that is very clear, that gives industry and communities certainty and that opens and enhances numerous opportunities in new and emerging sectors, including hydrogen, something I'm very passionate about—and we've seen some excellent opportunities in the upper Spencer Gulf that are exciting for the whole community from a development perspective, from a jobs perspective and also from the perspective of reducing emissions and addressing climate change. In our bill that has been introduced into the House of Representatives, we honour all of those commitments that we made during the election. It contains the 43 per cent reduction target by 2030. It has the independent Climate Change Authority to provide advice on our progress and to help ensure our commitment to the obligations we have under the Paris Agreement. Our policy has covered accountability, transparency and the contrast between the past government and the current government. We sincerely hope that this bill will pass. We sincerely hope that. Through the level of engagement and consultation that has occurred with all of the relevant stakeholders, including environmentalists, business and industry, this is a policy, this is a bill, that actually addresses critical issues in an agreed, consulted-upon and transparent manner. We know that we are going to find objections from the Liberal opposition. We know that we're going find objections from the Nationals. We know that that is not what the Australian public want. This is a chance to come together. This is a chance to make a difference for the future of Australia. This is a crisis and we need to address it. 16:38 Senator McDONALD 123072 Queensland I heard a great saying when attending the Queensland Mining & Engineering Expo in Mackay earlier this month: if it's not made of steel, it's made in a factory made of steel. Not one federal Labor or Greens politician attended the expo, a fact that was noted with concern and surprise by the sector's heavyweights gathered there, given not only the economic but also the environmental contribution of this industry. Any public display of support by Labor for mining companies would jeopardise their attempts to gain Greens support for our second most important sector, and they have shown their hand. Labor's reliance on the Greens continues to threaten Australia's coal and gas industries, which are key pillars of our economy that continue to provide affordable and secure electricity, to provide jobs and to provide funds for vital services. It is only prosperous economies that can afford to be good environmental managers. This is why we must protect the economy. The Australian resources industry is creating jobs, business opportunities and investment, especially in regional Australia. In 2020-21 the resources and energy sector accounted for around 10 per cent of Australia's GDP. The sector's exports made up around two-thirds of Australia's total export earnings. The Greens continue to make up numbers about the sector while ignoring the fact that it is ensuring our energy security. The lesson of the past few months is that energy security equals national security for all Australians. If you live in a mining sector and you voted for Labor or have a Labor representative, this is what you're getting: dirty deals with people who want to cut the artery to Australia's economic heart and to regional Australia. Our food, our homes, our cars—yes, even the electric ones—devices and clothes all exist thanks to mining or machines made by mining. Even the rapidly-growing rare earths mining sector, a key plank in battery production for renewable energy, needs heavy steel machinery to function. And the most efficient way to make steel is using coal and blast furnaces. The Greens and their supporters reveal a lack of understanding when they make outlandish claims about coalmining. Coal is an ingredient in silicon solar panels. Wind turbines are made predominantly of steel and concrete, which are made using coal. And on most days coal-fired power makes up 54 per cent of our national energy generation, and gas makes up 20 per cent of our generation. We simply cannot afford to cut new coal and gas developments. The Greens like to think they're smarter than everyone else. So what's the plan to replace that 70 per cent of baseload power generation? More renewables? We just don't yet have the battery technology to ensure that the lights stay on when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. South Australia is held up as the gold standard for renewables, but multiple times at the start of June that state was drawing more than 80 per cent of its power from gas and diesel as windless days arrived. The South Australians are also installing a battery on Torrens Island the size of Adelaide Oval at a cost of $180 million that will have one entire hour of storage. Most people support the idea of renewable energy, but we must ensure that the transition is timed to coincide with replacement baseload energy generation coming online. Not only that; we need to build new transmission lines, conservatively costed at $14 billion, from the new sources of power to the grid. AEMO is mapping transmission lines but how many reach the regions where the renewable energy places are situated? It's why copper string is a critical transmission line to connect the minerals province of the north-west in Queensland through to Townsville to not only access the renewable energy projects but also take energy to those mining projects. The transition needs to be gradual, but the Greens demand that we switch off coal virtually overnight. Meanwhile, other countries are restarting coal-fired power stations or building new ones. Not only does that negate any of the meagre emission savings we make here; those countries need coal, and it should be high-quality Australian coal. By 2025 Germany will have spent more than half a trillion euros on renewables and is still only drawing 34 per cent of its energy needs from renewables. Less than a month ago, due to disruption to Russian gas supplies, the German parliament was forced to pass emergency legislation to restart previously mothballed coal-fired power plants just to keep the lights on. The media reports authorities will also bulldoze a historic church to get at coal reserves underneath—and, just remember, it's still summer there, so what can they expect in the bitterly cold European winter? That's right; it will be coal to the rescue. The German experience proves that energy security equals national security for all Australians. While other countries recognise this, the Greens missed the memo. In 2021 alone the world added 1.45 million megawatts of new coal-fired power; I got that from the Global Coal Plant Tracker. Eighty per cent of that is in China and India—two countries not bound by international emissions reductions agreements. And we can see in Victoria the emerging issue of energy supply, security and affordability. Coal-fired power makes up 54 per cent of our national energy generation, and gas makes up 20 per cent of our generation. We simply cannot afford to cut new coal and gas developments. Coal prices are at a historic high, and this is due only to one thing: demand, demand that is tipped to grow to record levels this coming financial year. The world needs coal and gas, and customers will get it from elsewhere if they don't get it from Australia. Australia's resources industry pumped $39 billion in royalties and taxes into Australian and state government coffers in 2020-21 and contributed a record $301 billion to the economy. The mining sector directly employs more than 270,000 people, and the number of workers employed in the sector has doubled over the last 15 years. We simply do not have a replacement for that income stream and employment sector. Employment in the sector grew by 11 per cent in the year to February 2022, creating over 25,000 new jobs. The resources sector provides jobs and opportunities in many rural and regional areas that have been doing it tough. The renewable projects will not bring the same number of well-paid jobs. In my short time as shadow minister, I've met with dozens of mining executives and seen the extraordinary measures being implemented to protect the environment. In fact, more environmental scientists are employed by mining companies than anywhere else. The Queensland Resources Council states that about a quarter of Queensland mines use renewable energies, two-thirds of the state's resources companies plan to invest in lowering their emissions in the next 12 months, and 40 per cent of them are already actively investing in low-emissions technology. The International Energy Agency World energy outlook projects that total coal, oil and gas demand will grow. The IEA confirms that coal and gas will remain an important part of the world's energy mix for decades into the future, with coal remaining the single largest source of electricity in 2040, which means that gas and coal will continue to play a vital role in Australia's energy mix for the foreseeable future. The Greens base their demands on a desire to prevent tree-clearing and reduce emissions. This is the same party that demands governments build one million new homes but at the same time opposes any new residential development that requires even minor tree-clearing. They don't seem to protest about the trees cleared for wind and solar projects, showing a selective outrage that destroys credibility. The mining industry would employ more environmental scientists, invest more into environmental surveys and research and operate under some of the world's strictest environmental laws. We should be encouraging these experienced, mature players to ramp up operations, employ more people, on double the average wage, and provide the royalties and taxes that pay for infrastructure. If we followed the Greens' lead, we would sacrifice the thousands of mum-and-dad businesses that mining supports and scores of regional towns. Gas is still in huge demand in Australia and around the world, not just for energy production but also for production of urea, a critical part of agricultural fertilisers, and AdBlue, a component for the agriculture and transport industries. Australia can have a plan to utilise more renewables, but good planning takes time. This fanciful notion from the Greens should not be supported. It is the Green tail wagging the Labor dog. 16:48 Senator SHOEBRIDGE 169119 New South Wales This is not my first speech. They're calling this the climate parliament because it has to be. The future of people and nature across the country, across the globe, depends on the action that this parliament will take. It's the climate parliament because a third of the people in this country voted for someone other than the major parties, many of them electing Greens and Independents. It's the climate parliament because the next three years are going to determine if we can use political power for good, to work together and deliver climate action—and we must do so. Let's be clear: we are running out of time on this, and failure comes at an impossibly high cost. If we keep pumping carbon into the atmosphere, we will destroy ecosystems and threaten the lives of billions of people. The thing to do now is simple. It's to stop digging up coal and gas. You can't put out the fire while pouring petrol on it. We need to plan for and then deliver the end of coal and gas. Pretending we can continue with business as usual, while the planet is taking it in turns to burn and then drown, is delusional. We know, because every credible climate scientist has told us this, that emissions from burning coal and gas are driving the climate crisis. We need to plan for a future for coal-dependent communities in places like the Hunter in New South Wales. Pretending we can continue business as usual with these industries as they chaotically shut down while cooking the planet also betrays those coal-dependent communities. It's not fair to them. They deserve a safe and prosperous post-coal future, which will not be delivered by a government with its head in a mine. We need to stand with First Nations people in this fight for country. It's their country, and that means joining with traditional owners such as the Wonnarua plains people in the beautiful Hunter Valley, who are fighting for country after so much of their land, their culture and their connection has been stolen by multibillion dollar mining corporations. In New South Wales we've seen the Ravensworth homestead, site of appalling frontier conflict, violence and murder of First Nations people, being threatened with the expansion of an open-cut coalmine from the global bottom-feeding corporation that is Glencore—a climate catastrophe and an act of cultural devastation all in one proposal. But Glencore did not account for the powerful First Nations resistance of the Wonnarua plains people. They've fought this proposal. They've rallied and they've lobbied, and they're still fighting. We stand with them and we stand together to fight for our collective future. The decision on protecting their land and their water—their connection to country—now lies with the new Labor environment minister. If land, culture, country and the future mean anything, there is only one decision she can make, and that had better make Glencore bloody unhappy. This week a record 12 Greens senators in this place and 16 MPs across the parliament are ready to deliver on that clear mandate for change. While the threats are real and the destruction is brutal, the good news is that dealing with climate change is an almost impossibly big opportunity for Australia. While other countries need to end coal and import energy, we can end coal and become a green energy superpower. Australia has the highest wind and solar capacity of any developed nation and a wealth of critical green energy materials. That gives us an extraordinary leg-up in the post-coal world we need to start building. That is why, as Greens, we will keep pushing Labor further and faster to make Australia a world leader in clean energy. This is essential for the planet. It is essential for nature, and it's bloody amazing for Australia. 16:52 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland As an engineer, I respect and consult scientists, because lives have depended on it, and still do. As an engineer educated in atmospheric gases and as a business manager, I was responsible for hundreds of people's lives, based on my knowledge of atmospheric gases. I listened to scientists, I cross-examined scientists and I debate the science. I have never found anyone with logical scientific points based on empirical scientific evidence that shows we have anything to worry about at all. The basics are these: when you burn a hydrocarbon fuel, you burn molecules containing carbon and hydrogen with oxygen and they form CO2, carbon dioxide, and H2O, water vapour; that's it. Carbon dioxide is essential for all life. But let's go beyond the science and have a look at natural experiment. We've had two natural experiments, global experiments, in the last 14 years. The first was in 2009, when the use of hydrocarbon fuels reduced in the recession that followed the global financial crisis. There was less carbon dioxide produced from the human use of hydrocarbons. What happened to the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? It kept increasing. What happened in 2020, when we had a major recession, almost a depression, around the world as a result of COVID restrictions put in place by governments? We saw the same reduction in hydrocarbon fuel use by humans and the same cut in carbon dioxide output from humans, and yet carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continued to increase. Those who understand the science understand that it is fundamental: humans cannot and do not affect the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; it's controlled by nature entirely. I've cross-examined the CSIRO three times now in the last few years. Under my cross-examination, which is the first of its kind in this country and the only one of its kind in the world, the CSIRO admitted that they have never stated that carbon dioxide from human activity is dangerous—never stated it. This is all rubbish that's being talked about. Secondly, they admitted that today's temperatures are not unprecedented. Thirdly, they never quantified, in three meetings, any specific impact of carbon dioxide from human activity. Never! That is the fundamental basis for policy. What's more, they showed their sloppiness because they withdrew discredited papers which they initially cited to me at their choice as evidence of the unprecedented rate of temperature change and then failed to provide the empirical scientific evidence. They withdrew the two papers they put to me on temperatures, the two papers they put to me on carbon dioxide. There is no danger. Temperatures are not unprecedented. We need to come back to the science, not the so-called experts the Greens talk about, not the pixies at the bottom of the garden. We need to come back to the science, the empirical scientific evidence, and base policies on that. 16:55 Senator STEELE-JOHN 250156 Western Australia After the most progressive election result of our time, with more Greens in the Senate and in the House of Representatives than ever before, we are determined to demand that the climate crisis is something that is addressed, on behalf of our communities. Every single one of us in this parliament is here with one question over our heads, and that is: will we act in this critical moment? Now, there's a good saying that many in our community hold to, and that is that actions speak louder than words. In relation to the climate crisis, no act can be more impactful than the decision to keep fossil fuels in the ground. One particular project which seeks to do the very opposite of this, which is of incredible concern to so many community members in Western Australia, is Woodside's Scarborough gas development. This disastrous plan is shaping up to become part of Australia's most dangerous fossil fuel project. If it goes ahead, this mega gas plant off the north-west coast of WA will single-handedly increase national emissions by over 10 per cent. I need you all here to understand how significant that is. This project will release as much pollution as around 20,000 aeroplane flights around the circumference of the earth every single day for the next 25 years. This project irreversibly threatens First Nations cultural heritage, including the 45,000-year-old World Heritage Murujuga rock art. It puts marine life at risk. It puts life itself at risk. At a time when the rest of the world is scrambling to reduce emissions to tackle climate change, every year the Albanese opposition and now government has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from Woodside and other mega fossil fuel corporations looking to have their death plants approved. The science here is irrefutable. The mining and burning of coal, oil and gas is fuelling the climate crisis. Yet, despite being on the literally sweltering frontline of the climate crisis, Western Australia continues to enjoy the dubious honour of being the worst performing state on climate action in the country. Just last month, the WA environmental protection agency recommended ministerial approval for the 30-year extension of another cataclysmic Woodside project, the North West Shelf Project. That alone will lock in an additional 43 billion tonnes of carbon pollution and single-handedly blow Australia's carbon emissions budget. I have little doubt that the McGowan government will roll out the red carpet for this project. In fact, last year McGowan indicated he would intervene to keep the project going, even if a push by conservation groups to block Scarborough gas in the WA Supreme Court was successful. Sadly, when I spoke about this six months ago, we were in the same position. Our community is fighting tirelessly against these projects every single day. Just last week, they flooded the EPA with a record-breaking number of appeals against the North West Gas Shelf expansion. Unlike the government, they know we must stop every new gas and coal project so that reaching net zero is absolutely achievable in this country. The earlier we begin this inevitable transition, the smoother it will be. We can harness our abundant renewable resources to generate cheap and reliable energy while creating literally hundreds of thousands of jobs. We can take care of fossil-fuel workers in this transition. This is the work that the community sent the Greens to this parliament to do. This the work which we shall now get under way. (Time expired) FIRST SPEECH 76 FIRST SPEECH Stewart, Senator Jana 76 17:01 The PRESIDENT 112096 Pursuant to order, I now call Senator Stewart to make her first speech, and I ask senators that the usual courtesy be extended to her. 17:02 Senator STEWART 299352 Victoria My name is Jana Stewart, and I'm a Mutti Mutti and Wemba Wemba woman with links country all along the Murray River. I start by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the country where I stand today, the Ngunawal and Ngambri people. I acknowledge your peoples' continual connection to this land and place that now houses our national parliament. I acknowledge all traditional custodians throughout our nation and their unceded sovereignty to country and waters. President, I congratulate you on your election and I congratulate other senators who, like me, took their seat in this place for the first time yesterday. I acknowledge the contribution of two Victorian senators, the outgoing Kim Carr and the late Kimberly Kitching. Both have made incredible contributions as Labor representatives. Senator Kitching was only 52 when she passed away—far too young. From what I've learned about her, she believed if there is a person without power then you lend them the power of your advocacy. She was someone with immense courage, and we're all poorer for her loss. What an incredible privilege to be standing in this place as the youngest First Nations woman to be elected to our federal parliament. As I reflect on the path that has brought me here, I'm reminded of the words and the women that have inspired me and will continue to inspire me in this place: my mum, Josephine Kelly, who said to me, 'You're the oldest, it's your job to let all of the sticks and stones hit you to create a clear path for your brothers and sisters'; my great-grandmother, Alice Kelly, who told me, 'There is power in the pen—you have to learn the white man's way to be able to fight for your people'; and my nan, Elvie Kelly, who reminded me, 'Don't forget where you come from.' Ignoring the advice of your nan is never a good idea, which is why I want to start by thanking some of the people who have helped get me here. Elvie Kelly and her husband, Joe Kelly—my pop   —are both now in the Dreaming, but played a significant role in shaping who I am today. I often get told I'm like my grandmother, which is a comparison that I wear with honour. She was a fierce defender of Aboriginal families and children through her work and community life. Professionals across many fields both respected and feared her in equal amounts for her work and criticism of the systems that often failed to support the families who needed it most. My pop had a strong work ethic, something that I've inherited. He prided himself on being able to provide for his family and set an expectation for homeownership when he and my nan bought their first home in Swan Hill, which was not something very common at the time for Aboriginal families. Everyone that knew my pop loved him. I need to acknowledge my great-grandmothers, Alice Kelly and Annabelle Jackson, both of whom I was lucky enough to know. It is because of these matriarchs that I know who I am—a Mutti Mutti, Wemba Wemba, Barababaraba, Yorta Yorta woman. It is because of them that my children will always know where they belong, and it's because they both survived some of the worst policies our nation has ever seen—they survived this country's attempt at a First Nations genocide. They raised strong Aboriginal children who were taught to be proud of their culture and identity in spite of living in a society that told them that they were not equal because of their Aboriginality. What shoulders I stand on to be here today. I want to thank my husband, Marcus. When I spoke to Marcus about joining the Senate and questioned whether we could do it or not with a six-year-old and another due at the end of August, his immediate response was, 'Of course we can.' He said if this is something that I wanted to do then we would just do what we have always done: say yes and figure out the details later. So here we are figuring out the details as we go. To Jude and his unborn brother, you don't yet understand the sacrifice that you'll be making for me to be here in this place, but what I want you to know is that the work I do in this place is for you. You, along with every Australian child, deserve a country that is better than it is today. My hope is for a nation that is more honest, inclusive, safer, fairer and just, and I hope that my time here can go some way to delivering that to you. My mum, Josephine Kelly, who would tell me that I didn't need that Barbie or didn't need those material things because we had love: we didn't have a lot growing up and we certainly didn't always have a happy home, but what I can say unequivocally is that we always had love—the unconditional, non-judgemental, always honest kind of love. My dad, Ronald Briggs, a proud and staunch Aboriginal man: you didn't have an easy life growing up. You could have stayed angry at the world, but instead you chose to use your pain and experience to help other men get back on the right track. That takes a special type of strength and courage that not many people have and not many people think is possible. Thank you for showing me that it is. To my in-laws, Jacqui and Ray Stewart: thank you. Marcus and I are the envy of our friends and colleagues because of the endless support that you provide us. I would not be able to do this without your love and support. Thank you to my aunties and uncles that have been mothers and fathers to me throughout my life. Thank you to my five siblings, who have always looked up to me with an awe that I don't deserve but that I will aspire to be worthy of. My thanks to the Victorian-Tasmanian branch of the Transport Workers Union, in particular assistant secretary Mem Suleyman, former secretary John Berger, current secretary Mike McNess, and national secretary Michael Kaine—thank you for your courage and fight, now and into the future. President, as I said earlier, I carry with me the words and wisdom of the women who have delivered me to this place. My great-grandmother told me; 'There is power in the pen. You have to learn the white man's way to be able to fight for your people.' For her it was about the importance of education—understanding the systems and structures in order to change them. It's a lesson I've carried with me throughout my life. I remember sitting in a classroom when I was 15- or 16-years-old and a teacher talking about the Closing the Gap statistics. I remember looking around the classroom as one of the only Koori kids in the class. I remember that, as they were relaying all the bad news on the health and life expectations of First Nations people, it felt like they were reading out my future as a First Nations person: I was less likely to finish year 12; I was less likely to go to university; I was more likely to be unemployed; I was very likely to get a chronic health condition; I was going to die 15 years younger than my peers sitting in the classroom with me; and, if I was in a home that had family violence, which I was, my odds of being in a violence relationship sat at 50 per cent. There was no malice in this teacher's lesson, but for me it felt personal. Hearing and seeing First Nations people being framed and talked about in deficit language is something I would learn is not unique to high school. Each of you sitting in this place will have a report or an agenda amongst your emails or on your desk that talks about us in just this way—never in neutral or positive language; we're always an issue. It's why I ask that everyone in this place and beyond consider carefully how you talk about First Nations matters, because a First Nations person will be listening. Words are powerful and words matter. Like many young people, when I completed high school I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, and in many respects I still don't. I'm grateful to my 18-year-old self for making the decision to complete year 12 and get straight into the workforce, because for me it was absolutely the right one. When I first moved to Melbourne I supported myself with a job in retail, then I found the role that put the fire in my belly. I called my Nan and told her that I'd got a job at the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, VACCA, and at the time she laughed. At 18 years old I was the third generation of my family to work there, and I'm sure I won't be the last. My time at VACCA played a significant part in my life, because where my Nan had found her purpose and her drive I found mine too. The kids I worked with at VACCA would call me Aunty Jana. It was a much nicer explanation of who I was to their schoolfriends when I would pick them up and take them to an appointment or spend some time with their mum, but 'aunty' wasn't just a good cover for their schoolfriends. It also speaks to my connection to them for life, because these aren't just the kids I once worked with; these are the kids that I see today. I see them at the NAIDOC march or at the footy, or I run into them at the Aboriginal health service. I get the privilege to watch them grow into young adults. To those young people, please know I carry you and your experiences with me into this place. While I was at VACCA I also managed to fit in a graduate certificate in family therapy at the Bouverie Centre. Bouverie took the university campus to the community. It supported the translation of theoretical family therapy frameworks into Aboriginal ways of working. It was empowering to have our ways acknowledged alongside often white clinical frameworks. From Bouverie I moved to the Victorian public service, where I had the privilege of working with traditional owner nations from across the state. The role was created to support traditional owner nations to negotiate boundaries between one another. When we think about boundaries both in terms of country and also more broadly we think about them as being a line or a point that divides us. I much prefer the description of a boundary from Dja Dja Wurrung man Rodney Carter as being a place that unites us and brings us together. It was also around this period that the state Labor government committed to treaty, piquing my interest in politics for the first time. Until Victoria's commitment to treaty I had never really seen the power or the purpose of politics. Treaty is why I became a Labor person. In my curiosity to find out more about the political world I got a job in the office of Victoria's Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and then later for the Minister for Child Protection—a job that not many people would want or consider a privilege, because of how heartbreaking the content is, but for me I couldn't think of a more important role. I then went on to the department of justice, working on a legislative spent conviction scheme, the stolen generations redress scheme and the decriminalisation of public intoxication in Victoria, all incredibly important reforms and all well overdue. As I reflect on my career to date I see that there is a defining thread. With each role that I worked in I have increased my area of impact. At VACCA I was working with children. At Bouverie I was working with families. In the public service I was working with traditional owner nations. As an adviser I was working for our state. Now in the federal parliament I am here to help change the nation. None of this was planned, but my journey in life and work has prepared me well for this moment at this time and in this place. All that I've achieved and so much of what I want to achieve come down to a combination of hard work, perseverance, passion and never forgetting where I come from. Thanks, Nan. All of these experiences I carry with me today, some of the areas that I seek to change and the reasons that I seek to change them will make people in this place and outside feel uncomfortable, but I don't care about your discomfort, because it's uncomfortable to know and hear the lived experiences of women and children and be part of a system that is complicit in the harm and then do nothing about it. It's uncomfortable to read child death reports. It's uncomfortable to hear that one woman dies every nine days from family violence in this country. It's uncomfortable to hear that I, along with many other parents of colour, will have to teach our children the alphabet at the same time as how to deal with racism in primary school, in high school and in everyday life. So it may be uncomfortable for you, but it has been heartbreaking for me to have comforted families through their trauma, grief and loss and to have attempted to repair their trust in the system. These are not the easy things, but these are the things that matter—because people matter. It was early in my career when I learnt about the impact of trauma and secure attachments on healthy brain development. I learnt how fundamental it is to a child's success in life to have a healthy and happy first five years. There is a very real and visible difference in the development of children's brains where a child has not had the best start in life. I want you to think about that child who hasn't had the best start in life. I want you to think about that child starting prep. What do you think primary school is going to be like for them? And if we all agree that education is one of the fundamental keys to unlocking opportunities and success in life, what is the likelihood of this child, who has had a really crappy time at school, dropping out early? It should not be a lightbulb moment for anyone here to know that lower educational attainment leads to big differences—big differences in unemployment, underemployment, crime, health outcomes and your dependency on welfare. The cost to the taxpayer for a young person who remains disengaged from work for more than half their life is over $400,000. The full lifetime cost for the entire cohort is $18.8 billion. This should not only be seen as an economic cost but a cost to our decency as human beings. And if we know how important healthy relationships and attachments are for brain development in their early years, why do we devalue the critical role, particularly of women, in providing that care? In fact, we don't just devalue it, we punish women for it: with lower-paid jobs when they return to the workforce, a gender pay gap, less super when they retire and an increasing likelihood of homelessness for older women—which is all funny given how much our entire economy is built on and relies on women and our unpaid contributions. The burden of these failures also falls disproportionately on kids in contact with the justice system, particularly those with unassessed and untreated trauma. Each child that ends up in our juvenile justice system represents hundreds of missed opportunities, hundreds of missed opportunities to get in early and help. Instead, we stand eager and ready to blame them and their families for our system's failures. And not all children are treated equally. The resources, race and class of your family, all of which a child has no control over, shouldn't determine your trajectory into the justice system but it does. President, this moment would represent a missed opportunity if I did not use it to make my views clear. I support the position of the United Nations report on the rights of the child. The minimum age of criminal responsibility should be 14 years old. Evidence tells us that neither the broader community nor the child benefit from putting them behind bars. In fact, it's proven to be quite the kiss of death for any positive future potential for a child. Criminalising children, young, almost guarantees they will be back within one year or two, and, in most cases, it cements their pathway into the adult system. If our answer to a problem is putting a child who is only in grade 4 behind bars, a child who has not lost all their baby teeth, who would not be tall enough to get onto some of the rides at the Melbourne show, who could not swim unsupervised in the pool at the caravan park, then we're definitely asking the wrong questions. I'm not going to stand here and pretend that I have all the answers to all the issues that we face, but what I do know is we can't keep doing more of the same. We must start by seeing investment in families as fundamental to our economic future. In my experience, working with families, every parent wants their child to have a better life than what they did. Every parent wants to have a strong and healthy relationship with their child. And when a parent feels like they need a bit of extra support in being able to provide this for their family, they should be able to lean on us. There is also lots to say about the experiences of women in this country. I'm sure that you've heard it before too. But one of the things I'm always reminded of is that black women and women of colour are often left out of the national conversation. Our experiences are never captured in data nor articulated with the same level of importance to those of white women and their families. Even when doing my research for today, it was incredibly challenging to find the data to give visibility and voice to the problem. A silence that speaks volumes. One of the few statistics I could find is one that everybody in this place should be familiar with. Our country has a gender pay gap of 13.8 per cent. But what you don't hear is that the gap for First Nations women when compared to non-Aboriginal men is a huge 32.7 per cent. The pay gap between First Nations women and non-Aboriginal women is roughly 19 per cent. You will hear about how important access is to child care for women and their careers, but you don't hear about what a difference it would make for black women and women of colour. You will see and hear people celebrate diversity in their organisations or teams, and then post photos of mostly white, able-bodied women. The guilt or fear of stigmatising multicultural communities by talking about the experiences of women of colour must not outweigh our collective responsibility that we have to leave no woman behind. What I want to say is that we notice. What I want to say to black women and women of colour is, 'I see you, I hear you and I stand with you,' because unless our ambition for gender equality actively seeks to bring every woman with us, it is not actually equality. We must be true, deliberate and targeted in our solutions, and true in our words, when we talk about the experiences of Australian women, because only then will it truly reflect all of us. I know that talking about race and privilege makes people feel uncomfortable, but race and privilege are things that I will always talk about because they're things that we should all be talking about. Whether we like to admit it or not, this shapes everything we do and how we do it. It shapes how we experience the world around us. For example, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are highly vulnerable, particularly from an economic perspective. They're much more likely to experience insecure work and wage theft, with a limited awareness of workplace rights, restricted local networks or lower educational attainment. Whether it be across our gig economy, transport, retail, hospitality, cleaning, aged care or other low-paid industries, it is by and large our multicultural communities doing the hardest work for the lowest pay. It seems that Australia suffers from a 'racial empathy gap', a term coined and a concept confirmed by studies that show there is less empathy felt for people of colour. It's why whenever I hear someone say that they don't see colour, what I really hear them say is that they're uncomfortable with it because it would mean having to understand or acknowledge the experience of black people and people of colour in this country. It is an easy way out to say that you don't see colour. What a privilege it must be to be able to choose not to see colour! President, it would take a special kind of male arrogance for me to assume that I could give voice and visibility to all black women and women of colour in our country. It's going to take a team effort but the great news is that our Labor team is looking more powerful than it ever has, with the most culturally diverse and gender balanced caucus in the history of any government. It's a milestone I'm proud to be a part of. Now we need to move beyond just looking like the country we're here to represent and add some colour to our words and our actions. President, another matter close to my heart is ensuring that the people in country communities have the access and equity they deserve. As I've said, when I completed year 12 at Swan Hill College I didn't know what I wanted to do. But what I did know was that there were no career opportunities for me if I stayed, so I made the call to move to Melbourne. But a young person who lives in the country should be able to stay in their hometown if they choose to and be confident about the equality of jobs available to them. Individuals and families in these communities should be afforded the same mental health, family support and health care that's afforded to people who live in the cities. And older Australians in regional areas, people who have often built these communities with their own hands, should be able to remain in their communities if and when they need aged care. It's why I'm so proud of Labor's focus on regional equity: investments in infrastructure and services that will help bridge the divide between metro and country. In working with regional communities embedding a regional lens in all that we do is critical, because nobody knows the needs of a community better than the people who call it home. Our rural, remote and First Nations communities are also feeling the impacts of climate change, because even though it's the most marginalised communities and groups that contribute the least to this issue they're often the first to feel the brunt of it. Entire crops are being washed out due to floods, pushing the cost of fruit and vegetables up. Our kids are growing up in a world where more and more animals are added to the endangered or extinct list. And traditional owners who have cared for country for tens of thousands of years are seeing it charred, and sacred sites destroyed. We needed urgent action on climate change a decade ago, but today is better than tomorrow. We must ensure that individuals, families and communities who rely on the very industries that need to be phased out are prioritised as we bring in newer and cleaner ways to power our nation. This is only fair, given they have served as Australia's engine room for so long. Together we will reset our country as a renewable superpower. Traditional owners who have the responsibility for taking care of country must have a seat at the table because their interests are so personally and culturally aligned when we talk about our land, our animals, our waterways and our air. Our plan for climate action is squarely focused on protecting country and delivering for Australians, families and communities. Labor governments have a proud history of protecting the environment, and I am proud to be part of a team that will continue this legacy. Earlier, you heard me use the word 'genocide'. I am not using it to inflict feelings of guilt or to cause you to crawl back from my words. I use the word 'genocide' because it is a hard truth about the history of this country. For those who don't know what the definition of article II of the genocide convention is, it has five criteria: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. I note that the definition suggests that committing any one of these acts with the intent to destroy a group would meet the definition of genocide. I note that Australia meets all five. I truly believe that one of the barriers to our success as a rich, multicultural nation is the weight of collective shame and guilt we carry because of our history. We carry this because we haven't been able to reconcile. We haven't been able to reconcile because we skipped a critical step as a nation: telling the truth. Anyone who has done any work in conflict resolution systems theories knows how fundamental honesty is for resolution and reconciliation. It is difficult to reconcile when there is no accurate, agreed or shared record of this country's history. It is why our nation is in desperate need for a national truth-telling process. We have seen some truth telling in our time with the apology to the stolen generations, the nation-leading Yoorrook Justice Commission in Victoria, the Bringing Them Home report and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. We've also had royal commissions into aged care, banks and institutional responses to child sexual abuse. Royal commissions have a strong and proven history of being able to set the record straight. The only difference with the ones focused on First Nations people is that there is no collective outrage when the recommendations are not implemented. I am proud that in my home state of Victoria we are leading the nation with our work on treaty. That is in large part thanks to the relentless efficacy of the mob in Victoria and the work of the First Peoples' Assembly and helped by having a progressive government with the courage to do the right thing. A treaty will deliver genuine self-determination for our communities and for First Nations groups. Voice, treaty and truth is our ask. Meet us in the moment and walk with us. In conclusion, there are plenty of ways to change the world, whether it is holding a placard or holding someone's hand, but being in this place provides a unique opportunity and a profound responsibility. It speaks to that last piece of wisdom, the words of my mother, who told me: 'You're the oldest; it's your job to let all the sticks and stones hit you to create a clearer path for your brothers and sisters,' In many respects, her words apply to all of us in this place. It's our job to absorb the sticks and stones, to make sure there is something better and fairer for the next generation and the generation after that. I know there are days that won't be easy, but we are in the business of nation building. We are building a nation defined by opportunity whether you were born here, drawn here or whether you have called it home for tens of thousands of years. We are building a nation that protects and invests in its children and grandchildren; a nation that is grounded in truth, integrity, equality, fairness, compassion and action; a nation courageous enough to recognise its past and determined enough to change its future; a nation that we can all be proud of. Thank you.   Nampijinpa Price, Senator Jacinta 81 17:36 The PRESIDENT 112096 Senators, pursuant to order, I now call Senator Nampijinpa Price to make her First Speech and I ask senators that the usual courtesies be extended to her. 17:36 Senator NAMPIJINPA PRICE 263528 Northern Territory Thank you, Madam President. I am immensely honoured to be standing here before you as part of the 47th Parliament of Australia as a Senator for the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory is not only geographically Australia's gateway to South East Asia but it is a place of rich diversity and spectacular landscape. We boast some of the largest agricultural and mining industry operations in the nation, along with a prevalent representation of multiculturalism, Aboriginal land titles and language-speaking Aboriginal people. As a true Territorian it is this rich mix of co-existence that makes me proud to say I always was and always will be a proud Australian. The growth of the Northern Territory and our government, as the youngest state or territory in Australia, have been rapid and should not be lost in any dialogue. The Territory as its own jurisdiction of self-governance is two years older than I am. My mother was born under a tree and lived within an original Warlpiri structured environment through a kinship system on Aboriginal land. Her first language was Warlpiri, and her own parents, my grandparents, had only just come into first contact with white settlers in their early adolescence. Despite this rapid advancement, much has been achieved and gained. The Northern Territory calls a spade a spade. We are realists and this is likely due to the direct connection to our environment. We have space to think, and the harsh reality of our country is that you need to be very aware of your surroundings and yourself; otherwise, you could perish rather quickly. We have a foundation of a sophisticated but brutal culture, where it was kill or be killed over resources such as water, women and later livestock—food for survival—or from doing the wrong thing like marrying the wrong way or sharing knowledge that's not yours to share. Like many countries around the world, when cultures collide and are forced to find ways through socialisation, everyone is affected. Often, those that are left behind become even more marginalised and are preyed upon by many opportunists for monetary gain, power and control. This is no different to what we are experiencing in the Northern Territory—by Labor design. Wadeye, Tennant Creek, my family's community of Yuendumu—nobody in Australia can pretend they don't know the names of these places, and for all the worst reasons. Despite billions being spent, the violence and despair that puts these places and many others like them in the headlines is not changing. We need change and we need the right legislation to effect it. My vision, my hope and my goal is that we can effect change that will see women, children and other victims in these communities become as safe as any of those living in Sydney, Melbourne or any other Australian city. My goal is to halt the pointless virtue signalling and focus on the solutions that bring real change that changes the lives of Australia's most vulnerable citizens—solutions that give them real lives, not the enduring nightmare of violence and terror they currently live. It is not good enough that the streets of our Northern Territory towns—and other towns across regional Australia—have gangs of children aged six to 16 wandering around with no adult supervision in the early hours of the morning. It is not good enough that almost all of these children have witnessed, or been subject to, normalised alcohol abuse and domestic, family and sexual violence throughout their young lives and that that is the reason for their presence on our streets. Such neglect in great numbers would not be accepted in the prosperous suburbs of our capital cities. My colleague and shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Julian Leeser witnessed firsthand these scenes on the streets of my home town of Alice Springs and in nearby communities on his recent visit. I don't know where else in Australia a member of federal parliament can provide a tour of the numerous places their direct family members have been violently murdered or have died of alcohol abuse, suicide or alcohol related accidents. On one route, I pointed out seven separate incidents relating to places we had visited and made reference to numerous other incidents across the Northern Territory, all just within my own family. Just last week, 30-year-old mother of three, Alena Tamina Kukla, and her two-month-old baby boy, Orlando, were shot dead in what is coming to light as a murder-suicide. The families involved and our community are reeling from these not only deeply tragic but, I believe, avoidable murders. From conversations with her family, I have been informed her alleged killer had a history of violence and mental illness, and was due to face court for perpetrating violence against a former partner. We have a well-oiled supposed justice system in the Northern Territory that acts as a turnstile for offenders. More often than not, instead of being remanded, perpetrators are put on bail and, more often than not, while on bail, they perpetrate more violence. If the perpetrator had been dealt with appropriately, eight-year-old Isziah and three-year-old Tison would not be without a mother and a baby brother. The system is broken when it serves perpetrators exceptionally better than victims. Another Indigenous woman in Katherine was killed by a woman close to her in a domestic violence incident in the same week. These killings occur so regularly in the Northern Territory that locals can't help but feel desensitisation. Perhaps it is because of the scant—or often wrong—reporting from the media or the reluctance of the police media to report publicly. These days, we rely on social media and independent media outlets to provide our Territory communities with relevant details. The mainstream media have largely been silent on these latest killings. They have not sparked nationwide protests because the Indigenous victims have died at the hands of Indigenous perpetrators. Alena and Orlando were Australian citizens, like you and me. They deserve outrage to demand an end to violence and murder. They deserve to be acknowledged the same way that the women who protested to this very parliament deserved to be acknowledged. Their lives, like so many other lives taken in black-on-black violence, deserve better. Community safety is pertinent to the lives of all Australians, and supporting our authorities to successfully provide community safety is key to ensuring it. When a child is forced to report sexual abuse, it is a police officer they must report to. Therefore, the strength of this relationship will determine the success of a conviction. The police officer may be the only person that child can truly trust. Yet there is an activist class determined to destroy the healthy relationships between our authorities and these vulnerable members of our society who need them the most. We must uphold the rights of all Australian children by maintaining the same high standards of quality of care for every child and never lower these standards based on racial identity, nor should we do the same for any Australian citizen under any circumstances relating to social need. Perhaps it is time to give serious consideration to transferring state and territory responsibility for the lives of children to the Commonwealth. I am acutely aware of the many failures of states' and territories' child protection systems to uphold and prioritise the rights of Australian children, who are not just our nation's most vulnerable but who are our future. If we protect our most vulnerable and hold to account those who cause them harm, we can reduce violence and sexual abuse. Our focus must be to represent the interests of the victims before the perpetrators. However, reducing violence and sexual abuse also reduces rates of incarceration. In the 30 years since the handing down of the royal commission into black deaths in custody we are told there have been 450 black deaths in custody. Despite the expectation the commission would find systemic racism a fundamental factor contributing to these deaths, the report found it was not in fact the case. Nor did it find Indigenous Australians more likely than others to be incarcerated but that we are grossly overrepresented. Our greatest problems lie with the fact that in the same 30 years over 750 Indigenous Australians were murdered at the hands of other Indigenous Australians, yet there is little concern or acknowledgement that this is why Indigenous Australians are incarcerated at such high rates. We cannot support legislation that fails to acknowledge the true causes of why Indigenous Australians are marginalised or false narratives that suggest racism is the cause when it has been proven over and again that this is not the case. We cannot support legislation that prioritises freedom of the perpetrator over justice for the victim in an attempt to reduce rates of incarceration or to minimise responsibility for criminal behaviour for the same purposes. The same standard of law and order must be upheld for all Australians regardless of background. We must not allow the racism of low expectations to prevail. In his book, Arresting Incarceration: Pathways out of Indigenous Imprisonment, Don Weatherburn, the former director of the New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, outlines the causes that lead to incarceration. Leading factors include: poor parenting; child abuse and neglect; poor school attendance; and unemployment. These factors are cause for any person, regardless of race, to be more likely to commit an offence leading to incarceration. Just like Indigenous Australians are overrepresented in prisons, so too are they overrepresented in causal factors. Better employment outcomes contribute to better functioning households where children are more likely to attend school more often. Like my distinguished predecessor, Senator Neville Bonner, I believe free enterprise coupled with sound fiscal management in a progressive commercial environment forms the basis for economic independence. In other words, business and jobs are the key to economic health for a community, not the shackles of welfare dependency. Under the current land rights act, coupled with growing welfare dependency, this environment has not had the opportunity to materialise for the marginalised traditional owners of the Northern Territory. This is a parlous situation I'm determined to improve. The intent of the act was to provide access to conduct traditional activity and to provide opportunity for economic use. But, despite traditional owners having around 45 per cent of the Northern Territory landmass and 80 per cent of the coastline under the act, and its serving over 30 per cent of the Northern Territory population, it has failed to deliver economic independence or generate employment opportunities. Traditional owners have been left to pick the lock that the layers of gatekeepers have welded so hard around the act. Despite over 90 per cent of the land claims being completed across the Northern Territory and connection already being proven for generations, traditional owners are still being forced to repeatedly prove connection to place to successive anthropologists and representative bodies under the influence of opportunistic Indigenous community politics. It is a constant cycle of Indigenous-industry gravy-train consumers and a static system that gathers under the banner of opportunistic collectivism. I believe in small government, which equates to small bureaucracy, so that Australians may get on with their lives more effectively. We must better determine where our national budget is being spent effectively, and change expenditure accordingly where it is not. Fiscal management is integral to the success of a nation, and therefore must be a leading component in all decision-making. We have seen the immediate impact of the new Labor government's minimum wage increase: forcing small businesses to close. The cries of businesspeople struggling with cost-of-living pressures, whose livelihoods are now destroyed, have fallen on deaf ears. This would have not occurred under a coalition-led government. Tax cuts are what delivers an increase in a worker's pay packet on payday. Tax cuts are what supports small businesses to survive through the pressures of increased cost of living, to ensure they do not have to lay off workers or close altogether. It is not only the private sector that is suffering. Non-government organisations that provide services to victims in domestic violence situations are now being forced to reduce staff numbers. These staff specialise in work specific to supporting victims of abuse and the reduction of family and domestic violence. Careful consideration must always be taken when delivering legislation, so as not to produce outcomes that exacerbate already difficult circumstances. Due to the impacts of the recent pandemic, our nation is currently struggling with a worker shortage across many sectors and industries. Foreign workers have played an integral part in maintaining a strong and functioning national economy. The agriculture visa that the farming and agricultural industries have been desperately calling for must be implemented. Their family businesses should not suffer any more than they have during the last few years, where millions of dollars of crops have gone to waste for lack of availability of a workforce. The flow-on effects disrupt food supply and place strain on our economy. The strengthening of our national security and defence systems must be prioritised, given the geopolitical threats we are currently faced with. Simultaneously, we must encourage all Australians to recognise and take pride in our national identity—as, historically, we have done, effortlessly. Without a sense of unity and pride, we leave ourselves vulnerable to external forces that would delight in our demise. Along with my fellow senators, we have been elected to the 47th parliament to represent Australians of all backgrounds—to be the voice of the voiceless. But, in order to do this, we must listen with intent and serve with integrity. It is not for us to be silent on issues that affect a particular demographic that we may not ethnically originate from or the gender we do not belong to. The purpose of our successful Westminster system is to courageously represent the interests of all. The tireless investment and effort of the former coalition government provided record funding for education support through scholarships and concentrated programs, and investments such as the Yellow Shirts program, getting kids to school, and investing in state and territory governments, universities and organisations. We know that education provides choices. We invested hard so that better choices have resulted in better communities and lives. We now see the benefits of this investment, with more Indigenous doctors, architects, lawyers, teachers, business owners and tradespeople. Thank you to our Liberal and National Party leaders, to my Country Liberal Party predecessor, Senator Nigel Scullion, and to every Indigenous person who took this opportunity to build a better future for themselves and our nation. Your efforts are acknowledged. In Australia, we have experienced historically significant acts of symbolism that include the 1991 reconciliation walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge. For six hours, 250,000 Australians of all backgrounds walked together to demonstrate the fact that we are not racist but are overwhelmingly in support of Aboriginal Australia. We have spent a week every year since, commemorating this event and what it means. Throughout Australia, the reinvention of culture has brought us welcome to country or recognition of country, a standard ritual practice before events, meetings and social gatherings by governments, corporates, institutions, primary schools, kindergartens, high schools, universities, workplaces, music festivals, gallery openings, conferences, airline broadcasts and so on and so forth. I personally have had more than my fill of being symbolically recognised. It has become a racial stereotype that we Australians of Indigenous heritage should belong to and support the Labor Party. It was an exchange with the former leader of the Labor Party Bill Hayden, who conveyed this very stereotype, that compelled Neville Bonner to confirm his membership within the Liberal Party of Australia. Bonner had been handing out how-to-vote cards for a Liberal friend when Hayden exclaimed, 'What are you doing handing out those how-to-vote cards? We do more for you bloody Aborigines than those bastards do.' 'Well,' Bonner thought, 'How dare someone come up to me and presume that, because I'm black, I should support a particular party!' It is the same attitude we hear with platitudes of motherhood statements from our now Prime Minister, who suggests, without any evidence whatsoever, that a voice to parliament bestowed upon us through the virtuous act of symbolic gesture by this government is what is going to empower us. This government has yet to demonstrate how this proposed voice will deliver practical outcomes and unite, rather than drive a wedge further between, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. And, no, Prime Minister, we don't need another handout, as you have described the Uluru statement to be. No, we Indigenous Australians have not come to agreement on this statement, as you have also claimed. It would be far more dignifying if we were recognised and respected as individuals in our own right who are not simply defined by our racial heritage but by the content of our character. I am an empowered Warlpiri Celtic Australian woman who did not need and has never needed a paternalistic government to bestow my own empowerment upon me. We've proven for decades now that we do not need a chief protector of aborigines. I got here, along with 10 other Indigenous voices, including my colleague the senator for South Australia Kerrynne Liddle, to this 47th Parliament of Australia like every other parliamentarian: through hard work and sheer determination. That's how we got here. However, you now want to ask the Australian people to disregard our elected voices and vote yes to apply a constitutionally enshrined advisory body without any detail of what that might in fact entail. Perhaps a word of advice, since that is what you are seeking: listen to everyone, not just those who support your virtue-signalling agenda but also those you contradict. We see two clear examples this week of this failure to listen. We see the news that grog bans will be lifted on dry communities, allowing the scourge of alcoholism and the violence that accompanies it free reign, despite warnings from elders of those communities about the coming damage. Coupled with this, we see the removal of the cashless debit card, which allowed countless families on welfare to feed their children rather than seeing the money claimed by kinship demand from alcoholics, substance abusers and gamblers in their own family group. I could not offer two more appalling examples of legislation pushed by left-wing elites and guaranteed to worsen the lives of Indigenous people. Yet at the same time we spend days and weeks each year recognising Aboriginal Australia in many ways—in symbolic gestures that fail to push the needle one micro millimetre toward improving the lives of the most marginalised in any genuine way. But we must always remember that our nation is not simply black and white. We are rich with the contribution of Australians of many backgrounds, 30 per cent of whom were born overseas, and this is one of our greatest strengths as a nation. My elders taught me that any child who was conceived in our country holds within them the baby spirit of the creator ancestor from the land. In other words, Australian children of all backgrounds belong to this land. They too have Jukurrpa Dreaming, and they too are connected spiritually to this country. This is what I know true reconciliation to be. These teachings cannot be delivered through legislation, nor through any corporate reconciliation action plan. These teachings are about what it means to be a modern human in an ancient land. It's time to stop feeding into a narrative that promotes racial divide, a narrative that claims to try to stamp out racism but applies racism in doing so and encourages a racist overreaction. Yes, it is time for some truth telling. Our nation's schools' sole responsibility should be to educate, not indoctrinate, but we have in recent times witnessed the overwhelming politicisation of our children. Children are now encouraged to skip school to be paraded as activist spearheads by adults who place the weight of the world on their shoulders. Meanwhile, children in remote communities, where school attendance rates are in some places as low as 19 per cent, do not have the privilege of gaining an education that the activist class take for granted. Everyone wants to be an activist—to push governments to solve their dilemmas—but no-one wants to be responsible for themselves. Our aim should not be to blame our current democratic institutions for all our perceived failures but to encourage the individual responsibility of all Australians. Where we fail is where we encourage others to believe responsibility for one's own life can be avoided and disadvantage can be charged to another. We need to focus on nation building, not nation burning. Our laws as they stand now are not racist, as some will claim, but exist because we have overcome historical racist legislation. I would like to acknowledge each and every proud Australian who has joined me, supported me and inspired me on my journey to this day. I would like to pay my respects to our nation's elders of all backgrounds, who came together through hard work and sheer determination to forge an Australia we can all be proud of and whose shoulders I stand on at this momentous occasion. I want to thank my husband, Colin Lillie, for challenging me to challenge myself whenever I have needed it. Thanks to my sons, Leiland Castle, Ethan Castle, Declan Castle and Kinkade Lillie, for your many forms of love that have nourished me. I want to acknowledge my brother, Linawu, whose life ended too soon but whose love is always with me. I also want to acknowledge those who have worked to support the goals and aims I have outlined today, including my mother, former Northern Territory minister Bess Nungarrayi Price; my father, David Jurrumarntarla Price; the Country Liberal Party of the Northern Territory; the Centre for Independent Studies; my tatata Tess Ross and my pirli-pirli Theresa Ross; Heidi Williamson; Tamara Giles; Cheron Long; Warren Mundine; Elizabeth Henderson; Jamie de Brenni; Peter Cochran; Suzanne Ingram; Jim Franklin; Irene Drizulis; Anthony Dillon—my mixed up blackfella/whitefella family, who've done nothing but love me all my life—and lastly the people of the Northern Territory for trusting me to represent you. I'm here to represent the Northern Territory but also to support people across Australia who are experiencing the same problems and to help us all work towards real and lasting change for Indigenous Australians, white Australians and Australians from a myriad of other cultural backgrounds. Australian wati yungurlipa mapirri warrki-jarrimi—in other words, for all Australians. DOCUMENTS 85 DOCUMENTS Consideration 85 DOCUMENTS 86 DOCUMENTS Quarterly report by the Commonwealth Ombudsman under section 65(6) of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 86 18:16 Senator 283601 Victoria VAN () (): I move: That the Senate take note of the document. I rise to speak to No. 1 on the list, the Quarterly report by the Commonwealth Ombudsman under section 65(6) of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 for the period 1 July to 30 September 2021. I have spoken a few times today in this chamber about acts of cutting out accountability and transparency that this new government have already undertaken that are going to take away protections of everyday Australians. I note in particular the destruction of the Australian Building and Construction Commission that was announced shockingly on Sunday and enacted yesterday by those opposite. The role of the ABCC is to uphold the law and change behaviour to make the building and construction industry fair, efficient and productive. This is an important and just objective. I think everyone in this chamber would agree that no matter what industry you work in, you want it to be safe and that the rule of law that underpins our society is upheld. There is no doubt that our construction industry is key to Australia's economic recovery, accounting for 90 per cent of economic output and employing 1.5 million people, which is why the last quarterly report presented here today is vitally important, because it is a review of the powers exercised by the commissioner of the ABCC. In essence, this document looks at whether the ABCC is acting accordingly under its responsibilities to ensure that law is upheld in the building industry, and that it is fair, efficient and productive. I think it would please everyone here today that the Ombudsman found, in their view, the ABCC was compliant against those requirements and standards, and that they 'encourage the ABCC to continue its existing positive practices'. By all accounts, one would say it is a remarkably positive review, which is why it now astounds me that we see a government looking to rip the ABCC's powers away from it. The ABCC was created to tackle lawlessness in the construction sector. In recent analysis undertaken by EY, it outlined that abolishing the ABCC could create ongoing challenges which are more likely to be more economically disruptive than the current business environment. Specifically, labour costs could increase by around 8.8 per cent and there's a potential decline in productivity of around 9.3 per cent. Not only that but the output of the construction industry could fall by around $35.4 billion by 2030, and economic activity could decline by $47.5 billion—again, by 2030. This would come at a potential cost to taxpayers in the order of $9.5 billion and an estimated reduction in investment of $45.6 billion. They are clearly needed now, more than ever. In just the last month, the Federal Court delivered record fines of $840,000 against the CFMMEU and its officials after the building commission prosecuted the union for coercive behaviour across multiple building projects. It is evidently clear that there are unions out there who think they're a law unto themselves, and they will bully and harass anyone who gets in their way. Tony Burke's announcement that the ABCC's powers were being pulled back to a bare minimum proves again that Labor will capitulate to their paymasters at the CFMMEU. The last time the Labor Party abolished the ABCC, the costs of infrastructure rose to an astounding 30 per cent higher. That's a lot of hospitals, roads, schools et cetera that won't be built. Without the ABCC, the Labor Party are leaving workers defenceless against thuggish and unlawful behaviour. The commission's critical work in supporting subcontractors recovered $1.69 million owed to subcontractors following ABCC intervention in the 2020-21 period. This is money going back into the pockets of everyday Australians. For all the Labor Party has talked of transparency and integrity, their actions could not be further from their words. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT DYU Order, Senator Van— Senator VAN 283601 I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned. AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORTS 86 AUDITOR-GENERAL'S REPORTS Report No. 33 of 2022 86 Consideration 86 18:22 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I speak about the Auditor-General's performance audit titled, No. 33—Performance audit—Snowy 2.0 governance of early implementation: Snowy Hydro Limited. Some background for those who may be new to this project: Snowy 2.0 is an extension of the Snowy Hydro project, hence the name. In 2017, Prime Minister Turnbull announced the cost of Snowy 2.0 as $2 billion. This report states that the cost is now $5.1 billion plus billions of other costs, totalling well over $10 billion. The completion date is out to 2025, so we can expect further cost blowouts. The project involves using electricity from unreliable sources like wind and solar to pump water from a lower reservoir, Talbingo Dam, through underground pipes to an upper reservoir, Tantangara Dam. Water is then sent back down to Talbingo Dam, generating electricity on the way. Snowy 2.0 is referred to as a 'big battery' because water is stored in the top reservoir until it is needed. The same turbine is either pumping water uphill or generating electricity from the water coming down. The total pipe length is 27 kilometres. Generally, water is pumped up during the day—provided the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. The water is then released down the pipe to generate electricity in the evening peak, when it's most needed. As the sun does not shine and wind goes quiet at night, pumping water back up the hill overnight, ready for the morning peak, will need coal power. The upper reservoir may hold multiple days worth of water and, at some point, the dam must be refilled, especially as Tantangara Dam is currently only 17 per cent full. Pumped hydro only works when the dam has water in it. For every megawatt of power generated by water coming down the hill, the turbine needs 1.3 megawatts of power to get the water back up, because of losses. In total, 30 per cent more coal is used in Snowy 2.0. Pumped hydro, put simply, entails generating electricity 2.3 times to be used by consumers once. This is not cheap electricity; it's actually really expensive electricity. The solar and wind fairy tale needs pumped hydro as a way of storing unreliable wind and power generation, which occurs mostly during the day, and moving that capacity to the evening peek, when unreliable solar and wind can't provide baseload power. Maximum generation for Snowy 2.0 is an impressive 2,000 megawatts, but here's the catch: annual generation is listed in this report as 350,000 megawatt hours. Running at full capacity, Snowy 2.0 will generate electricity for only 175 hours a year. To put that into perspective, my home state of Queensland used 68 million megawatt hours last year. Snowy Hydro will contribute the equivalent of half of one per cent of Queensland's power each year, one-tenth of one per cent of Australia's annual generation, at a cost of $5 billion and rising—and that doesn't include all the costs. This madness will send us broke. There's a far better way: a 2,000-megawatt coal-fired power station is able to run at 2,000 megawatts 98 per cent of the time, 24/7. Liddell in the Hunter Valley generated nine million megawatts last year. For less than the cost of this green fairy tale called Snowy 2.0, a coal plant can produce at least 25 times the amount of electricity. That's why Germany's Greens coalition government is turning Germany's coal-fired power stations back on. Shutting ours down when we see what's happening in the rest of the world is criminal irresponsibility. Prime Minister Albanese is promising reduced electricity prices while at the same time building horribly expensive power generation. The Prime Minister's agenda will fail, and he will take Australia down with him. Instead, One Nation will build baseload power stations, reduce the cost of electricity, restore grid reliability, restore grid stability, restore Australian manufacturing and restore the income of working Australians. Australian National Audit Office 87 18:27 Senator BRAGG 256063 New South Wales I move: That the Senate take note of the document. I would like to talk about the Effectiveness of public sector boards: Commonwealth Superannuation Corporationreview by the National Audit Office, a very exciting review, I know! It is very good that we have the Audit Office, which is able to look at the structure and operation of government organisations. In this particular case, this very exciting review has made recommendations that the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation itself has decided it will adopt, but it is a review that is going to make some small improvements, maybe a bit like moving deckchairs on the Titanic. The bigger issue here is: why would we have a situation where the Commonwealth government is running its own superannuation fund, or sovereign wealth fund, called the Future Fund, while also a Commonwealth super corporation and then separately running an enormous superannuation scheme for the public, which costs the budget an absolute bomb? It doesn't work particularly well. It charges the Australian people $30 billion a year in fees and doesn't make any improvement to the budget over the long term. So we've got a public pension scheme outsourced to the private sector, which is completely failing, as measured by return to taxpayer over the long term, as measured by theft of the Australian people's savings, as measured through some of the highest fees in the world. As I say, we have a highly successful future fund, run by the Commonwealth. We have a Commonwealth super corporation. We've had a very exciting inquiry into that board's governance—which, by the way, is all pretty much good. So why wouldn't we entertain a conversation about merging those entities and then allowing the public to invest in the Future Fund or for that Future Fund to become a default fund, given its strong performance over a very long period of time? I would think that would be quite a good idea, given that the whole concept of super, of course, is a government mandated scheme. So we have a very successful future fund, which has beaten the super funds that the public are forced to invest in over the long term. You have a Commonwealth super corporation, which is running the administration of a large super fund-like organisation, which is managing the public's requirements—the public being Commonwealth public servants and former Commonwealth public servants. So I think in this parliament one of the things we should be pursuing is: how can we get the Australia people better bang for their buck in superannuation and how can we deploy the organisations of the Commonwealth here through the future fund and the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation to deliver that aim? Ultimately, if we are going to force people to put their money away into a locked box and we have a perfectly well-functioning and high-performing government agency, why would we not do that? One of the policies I'd like my party to seriously consider developing and trying to work with other colleagues and other parties on in this parliament is a better deal for the Australian people if they are going to be forced to have this superannuation scheme into the future forever. I think that we can deploy these organisations for the benefit of the Australian people. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 264449 Thank you, Senator Bragg. Are you seeking leave to continue your remarks? Senator Bragg 256063 I don't think I am. Am I? I am. How did you know? The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 264449 I'm telepathic, Senator Bragg. So you're seeking leave to continue your remarks. DOCUMENTS 88 DOCUMENTS Australian Research Council Grants 88 Order for the Production of Documents 88 18:31 Senator POCOCK BFQ South Australia by leave—I move: That the Senate take note of the document. I note that this is not my first speech. Document No. 47 relates to grant approvals through the Australian Research Council. Document No. 47 is a small document, just a few pages, but it deals with a big issue. Our country is facing huge challenges: climate action, inequality and dealing with a pandemic. To deal with these issues, we need the very best research and the very best university graduates. Document No. 47 lists an important set of new university research funding through the Australian Research Council's Linkage and centres grant allocations. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our country's researchers that lie beneath every line of these grants. Our nation's researchers spend their summers crafting and redrafting and honing, based on peer review, their proposals that face our biggest challenges. They're trying to get them as good as they can. I know, because I've spent many a summer and I bear some of those scars. Writing those applications takes persistence and a ridiculous level of optimism because they have only a 33 per cent chance of success. Grants on things like these are listed in document No. 47: creating a climate-ready social housing, improving the wellbeing of our healthcare workforce, creating greener roads and waterways, and preventing abuse of people with disability. I would like to make three points in relation to this document and what it symbolises. Firstly, we need to keep politics out of the Australian Research Council. The selection processes are robust. Indeed, they are often onerous. They're lengthy and they're very thorough. While we might certainly improve on those processes and make them less resource intensive, we need to make sure that the process retains its integrity and that politics is kept out of the decision-making. Secondly, we need to increase our funding for research. I know from personal experience as a peer reviewer over many years how many excellent proposals don't make the cut. This is because we put too little money into research in this country. The 33 per cent success rate reflects too little money for all these critical research tasks that we face. Thirdly, projects like these need our very best people on the job, working under the conditions that let them get the job done. We need to make sure our researchers and academics are treated fairly. I'm sure that many Australians would be shocked to learn that 69 per cent of our university workforce now work on casual or limited-term contracts. These are our uni teachers and our researchers, and half of our university teaching force is now made up of casuals. Our kids and our students deserve. To keep our best researchers, we need to reform the casual conversion provisions in the National Employment Standards to allow university workers employed from semester to semester for year after year to convert from casual to permanent—people like Dr Lara McKenzie, whom I met today, a researcher of 10 years at one of our most prestigious universities, the University of Western Australia, who is currently researching COVID vaccination behaviours, and don't we need that research, but is kept on a casual contract year after year. She's been doing that for over a decade. We also need to stop endemic wage theft in our universities. The National Tertiary Education Union has recovered over $30 million from our universities who have underpaid their staff in recent years. Our country needs our best research from our best researchers, and we need our university students to be taught by the best. In sum, we need to keep politics out of our university research funding, we need to put enough money there to get the research done on the big challenges we face, and, finally, we have to attract and retain the best university teachers and researchers. Question agreed to. COMMITTEES 89 COMMITTEES Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee 89 Additional Information 89 18:36 Senator O'SULLIVAN 283585 Western Australia On behalf of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Reference Committee, I present additional information received by the committee on its inquiry into the performance and integrity of Australia's administrative review system. 18:36 Senator SHOEBRIDGE 169119 New South Wales I move: That the Senate take note of the additional information. I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned. Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 89 Additional Information 89 18:36 Senator CICCONE 281503 Victoria On behalf of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee I present additional information received by the committee in relation to its inquiry into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Regional Forest Agreements) Bill 2020 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Standards and Assurance) Bill 2021. Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 89 Additional Information 89 18:37 Senator CICCO 281503 Victoria NE (—) (): I present additional information received by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on its inquiry into the provisions of the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2022. Public Accounts and Audit Joint Committee 89 Report 89 18:37 Senator CICCONE 281503 Victoria On behalf of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I present four reports: the 488th report—Commonwealth financial statements 2019-20; 489th report—Defence major projects report (2019-20); 490th report—Alternative financing mechanisms; and 491st report—Review of the Auditor-General Act 1997. 18:38 Senator SHOEBRIDGE 169119 New South Wales I move: That the Senate take note of the 489th report—Defence major projects report (2019-20). I seek leave to continue my remarks later. Leave granted; debate adjourned. Treaties Joint Committee 89 18:39 Senator CICCONE 281503 Victoria On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the committee's 200th report—International Labour Organization protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930(No. 29). Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee 89 Report 89 18:42 Senator STEELE-JOHN 250156 Western Australia I move: That the Senate take note of the report. Here we are, 346 days since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban. As we reflect today, more than 59 per cent of the population of Afghanistan is in need of humanitarian assistance. Now is the time for us to reflect, and to examine how it came to this and what we need to do to make sure that this never happens again. Our actions in Afghanistan as a nation have led to a dire humanitarian crisis that has seen starvation, an erosion of human rights, and a crackdown on journalism and activists since August of 2021. My office has been contacted by many people desperately trying to get out of Afghanistan. We've heard multiple reports from Afghan people who assisted Australia during our time in Afghanistan who have been injured or killed, or are currently in hiding. This report recaps that, and says: What is most disturbing is that the Australian Government knew and reported on the risks … The Taliban Government publicly and repeatedly broadcasted their intentions (and still do) to seek retribution against anyone who worked for the Coalition forces and Foreign Governments, including the Australian Embassy Security Guards, Contractors and their families. The Morrison government actively chose to leave people behind. Let me repeat that: after these people dedicated their lives and risked their families' safety and security to support Australian forces in Afghanistan, the previous government, through their incompetence, left those people behind. They knew the harms that would come to civilians who worked for Allied forces. The value of camaraderie and service to our neighbours has not been applied to the Afghan civilians we left behind to face such terrible consequences. Their safety and sanctuary should be the priority of the current government and their repatriation must be prioritised. Given the risks they have taken to protect Australian personnel, it is the very least that the Albanese government could do. The deaths of Australian locally contracted and engaged employees, as quoted in the report, is 'disgraceful'. Their blood is on the hands of the Morrison government, and we must now work to help those we still can and reckon with the damage that has been caused. A recent UN report has highlighted the dire state of a growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan since the Taliban's takeover. The Brereton report highlighted the consequences of involvement in a war with an unclear purpose and mandate—a strong signal of poor leadership and culture within Special Forces maintained by an ineffective chain of command. We are reminded by this report that war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan have caused immeasurable grief to families and communities of victims. In acknowledgement of the harms caused by members of the ADF, the Greens committed in the run-up to the election, and remain committed, to establishing a reparation fund for victims and their families. The Greens will continue to call on the government to apologise to the people of Afghanistan for contributing to the destabilisation of their country. As we consider where to from here, this report and the end of the allied war in Afghanistan present an opportunity to recalibrate and restrategise our defence priorities. For too long we have blindly followed in the shadow of the United States and contributed to destructive war in our own region. Rethinking our relationship with the US and creating an independent defence and foreign policy for Australia will centre us as a country committed to peace, non-violent conflict resolution and the practice of diplomacy among allies. Importantly, the Australian Greens will continue to fight for war powers legislation which would require every member of parliament to vote to approve the decision to commit Australian forces to a deployment or war overseas, legislation that is supported by the submissions accepted into this report. The power should not remain in the hands of the Prime Minister and his executive but, as with similar democracies abroad, be answerable to the parliament. Question agreed to. DELEGATION REPORTS 90 DELEGATION REPORTS Australian Parliamentary Delegation to the 144th Interparliamentary Union Assembly, 90 18:48 Senator HUGHES 273828 New South Wales by leave—I present the report of the Australian parliamentary delegation to the 144th Interparliamentary Union Assembly in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, which took place from 20 to 24 March 2022. I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report. Leave granted. Senator HUGHES 273828 I move: That the Senate take note of the report . In March of this year I attended the 144th Assembly of the Interparliamentary Union, or IPU, which took place in Nusa Dua, Bali. I attended with Senator O'Neill. I note that both of us attended the conference slightly late due, in part, to the passing of Senator Kitching, which enabled Senator O'Neill to attend the funeral before joining me in Indonesia. The overwhelming theme of the assembly was 'Getting to zero: Mobilising parliaments to act on climate change'. However, whilst that was the official theme of the IPU, what was incredibly apparent and what dominated much of the official proceedings—which were attended by 778 delegates, 404 of whom were parliamentarians, representing 101 member parliaments—was that we were there to look at, discuss and come together with regard to Russia's unlawful invasion of Ukraine. Belarus and Russia were not in attendance at the conference. Ukraine was also not represented, but we did have a presentation from one of the Ukrainian ministers, expressing their thanks for our support. Both Senator O'Neill and I spoke in the debate on the emergency resolution that was adopted by the assembly in relation to the war in Ukraine. The motion called for 'peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, respecting international law, the Charter of the United Nations and territorial integrity'. The item was submitted by New Zealand and their delegate lead, Louisa Wall, who, whilst a member of the Labour Party in New Zealand, was an absolutely outstanding delegate and person. She has unfortunately now left the New Zealand parliament. When I spoke to the general assembly on the Ukrainian war, Australia, through me, was the first nation—and I think potentially the only nation—to directly call out China for its complete lack of condemnation when it came to the illegal invasion. The assembly also adopted a number of reports, as it's required to do each time it meets. They included reports on financial results and communication strategies for the IPU moving forward. We also, as Australia, participated in the Twelve Plus geopolitical group. We met a number of times around the conference, and this was very much around coming to an agreement on the wording of the motion that was put as an emergency item with regard to the war in Ukraine. Senator O'Neil and I, as the Australian delegation, together with the British and New Zealand delegations, went to the memorial at the site of the Bali bombing. I had actually never been to Bali before, let alone to Kuta, and to see where this bombing occurred—the tightness of the space—was absolutely horrific, imagining what would have occurred on that terrible, terrible night when so many Australians, New Zealanders and British citizens lost their lives. We held a number of bilateral meetings while we were there. We had a fabulous bilateral with Israel, particularly with Avi Dicter. Harriett Baldwin, from the UK, was an outstanding delegation leader, as was—as I said—Louisa Wall from New Zealand, who was accompanied by Nationals member Scott Simpson. Some of the importance of these things is also in the relationships you develop with your international parliamentary colleagues, and I would like to give a shout-out to Silje Hjemdal, from Norway and Michelle Muentefering, from Germany, who were colleagues that it was wonderful to meet and discuss issues with in Bali, and we have stayed in contact. Silje, as a libertarian, has a very interesting Instagram account worth following. Overwhelmingly it was an incredible conference to be part of, and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to lead the Australian delegation and be part of the contribution that the IPU makes in bringing parliaments together across the world. Question agreed to. COMMITTEES 91 COMMITTEES Community Affairs Legislation Committee, Community Affairs References Committee, Education and Employment Legislation Committee, Education and Employment References Committee, Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, Finance and Public Administration References Committee, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation Committee, Selection of Bills Committee 91 Membership 91 18:54 The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 264449 The President has received letters nominating senators to be members of committees. 18:54 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland by leave—I move: That senators be appointed to committees as follows: Community Affairs Legislation and References Committees— Appointed—Participating member: Senator David Pocock Education and Employment Legislation and References Committees— Appointed—Participating member: Senator David Pocock Finance and Public Administration Legislation and References Committees— Appointed—Participating member: Senator David Pocock Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation and References Committees— Appointed—Participating member: Senator David Pocock Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation and References Committees— Appointed—Participating member: Senator David Pocock Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation—Standing Committee— Appointed—Senator David Pocock Selection of Bills—Standi ng Committee— Appointed—Senators Chisholm and Gallagher Question agreed to. BILLS 92 BILLS Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022 92

Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022

First Reading 92 18:55 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland I move: That this bill may proceed without formalities and be now read a first time. Question agreed to. Bill read a first time. Second Reading 92 18:56 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland I move: That this bill now be read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech read as follows— AGED CARE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (ROYAL COMMISSION RESPONSE) BILL 2022 SECOND READING SPEECH I am pleased to introduce the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill 2022. This Bill takes important steps towards implementing recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. It demonstrates this Government's strong commitment to delivering security, dignity, quality and humanity for every older Australian. Most of the measures in this Bill were considered by the 46th Parliament. However, the first version of the Royal Commission Response Bill was not agreed ahead of the election being called. I am introducing this revised Bill today, in the first sitting week of the 47th Parliament, to prevent any further delay of the important funding, quality and safety reforms that will be enabled by this Bill. This Government has carefully considered the Bill introduced by the previous Government. We have made some improvements and additions and removed the amendments that related to worker screening. Instead, this Government will develop a national worker registration scheme that includes ongoing training and English proficiency requirements, and criminal history screening to further professionalise the aged care workforce. Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) model At the core of this Bill is a new funding model for our aged care sector. It has been in development since 2017 in deep consultation with the sector, with providers, with people receiving care and their advocates. It was a key finding of the Royal Commission and it has been widely expected to commence on October first this year. It will result in a ten per cent uplift in funding for a sector badly in need of support. This measure was proposed in legislation at the end of the previous Parliament, was subject to a senate inquiry process, debate and passage in this place and debate and amendment in the other place. It, along with much of this Bill, lapsed at the end of the 46th Parliament. The result has been a sector riddled with neglect, confusion and underfunding further racked with uncertainty that this new model of funding will be commencing on time. I can assure all of those in aged care that it will. Schedule one of this Bill relates to the new Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) model for calculating aged care subsidies that was endorsed by the Royal Commission. This schedule is critical to support structural reform of funding for residential aged care. The Bill makes clear that AN-ACC will replace the existing Aged Care Funding Instrument on 1 October this year. Since April 2021, residential aged care recipients have received shadow assessments under the AN-ACC model, and this Bill will allow those classifications to be linked to the subsidy calculation for residential aged care providers. It is unfortunate that this Bill and new funding model was unable to be progressed through to completion by the former Government in the previous Parliament. The certainty and funding that the sector so badly needs drives our desire to see the earliest possible consideration of this Bill. Star Ratings Schedule 2 of the Bill, is a new measure that will facilitate the publication of Star Ratings for all residential aged care services on My Aged Care by the end of 2022. A transparent and standardised Star Rating system for residential aged care services will ensure older Australians, their families and carers are assisted to make informed decisions about aged care. Star Ratings will support older Australians to compare services and make informed choices based on an overall rating and four sub-categories: the five existing quality indicators - pressure injuries, physical restraint, unplanned weight loss, falls and major injury, and medication management, service compliance ratings relevant to the regulatory activities undertaken by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, consumer experience information, and staff minutes of care. Star Ratings will empower older Australians and their representatives with information to make choices about their aged care. They will incentivise providers to make continuous quality improvements, and support Government to provide transparent information about the quality of the aged care system. Code of Conduct and banning orders Schedule 3 introduces a Code of Conduct for the aged care sector, as recommended by the Royal Commission. The Code of Conduct - the first stage of the Government's worker registration plan - will set standards of behaviour for aged care workers, approved providers and governing persons of approved providers to ensure they are delivering aged care in a way that is safe, competent and respectful. It will also empower the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to monitor compliance with the Code, investigate complaints into alleged breaches and take appropriate enforcement action in response. This includes the ability to issue banning orders to prevent workers from working in the aged care sector for the most egregious breaches. This will ensure that older Australians provided with care can have confidence in the workforce and be safeguarded by regulatory arrangements. Extension of incident management and reporting Schedule 4 of this Bill extends the Serious Incident Response Scheme to home care and flexible care delivered in a home or community care setting from 1 December 2022, giving effect to Recommendation 100 of the Royal Commission. This extension seeks to level the protections for aged care recipients in all settings and create a consistent mechanism of oversight in both the residential and home care sectors. These new requirements will help to build provider capacity to record and respond to incidents; identify, manage and resolve risks; and formalise ways of ensuring continuous improvement in care practices that will reduce the number of preventable incidents in the future. The expansion will ensure that approved providers of home care and flexible care provided in a home or community setting report relevant incidents to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner. This will enable Government oversight and ensure that the risk of abuse and neglect towards vulnerable older Australians receiving aged-care services is minimised. Governance of approved providers Schedule 5 of this Bill strengthens the governance of approved providers. From 1 December 2022, the Bill will introduce a number of new governance responsibilities for approved providers and their governing bodies. New reporting requirements, being introduced through these amendments, will assist older Australians and their families to understand the operations of providers. The amendments will require approved providers to notify the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission of changes to key personnel. The amendments will also replace the current disqualified individual arrangements with a broader suitability test. These governance arrangements will improve the transparency and accountability of providers and the quality care delivered to aged care recipients. These measures align with Recommendations 88 to 90 of the Royal Commission. Information Sharing Where possible, the Government is aligning the regulation of providers across the broader care and support sector comprising aged care, disability support and veterans' care. Regulatory harmonisation will improve the consistency of quality and safety protections across the care and support sector while accounting for the needs of different people, support types and settings. It will also encourage greater cross-sector service provision and supply by reducing duplicative and inconsistent obligations. As a first step in regulatory alignment, Schedule 6 facilitates increased information sharing by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Department of Health and Aged Care and the Department of Veterans' Affairs with other Commonwealth bodies. These amendments are intended to enable Commonwealth bodies with powers and functions related to aged care, veterans' care and disability support to share information regarding providers and workers operating across the care and support sector who might be putting those receiving care, support or treatment at risk. The amendments seek to address aspects of the existing legislation that can make it difficult to share information in the prompt and efficient way needed to respond effectively to such risks. Reciprocal sharing of information about provider and worker conduct in the NDIS has been enabled by provisions introduced by the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Improving Supports for At Risk Participants) Act 2021. Use of refundable deposits and accommodation bonds The Government is improving the financial oversight and prudential regulation of the aged care sector to improve the financial viability of residential providers and support the continuity of services for older Australians. As part of this, Schedule 7 of the Bill will increase Government oversight of how refundable accommodation deposits and bonds paid by older Australians are used by the sector and other companies until they have been refunded - and also strengthen the offence for their misuse. This will reduce the risk of older Australians not being repaid their accommodation funds when due. Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority Schedule 8 of the Bill expands the functions of a renamed Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority to also include the provision of advice on healthcare and aged-care pricing and costing. New governance arrangements will reflect the enhanced responsibilities and integrated functions of the pricing authority by enabling appointment of an Aged Care Deputy Chair. This new, independent aged-care pricing and costing advice function will support transparent and evidence-based assessment of the costs involved in delivering aged care. This will support sustainability of aged care over the long term. Restrictive Practices Schedule 9 of the Bill will enable the implementation of an interim solution with respect to the requirement to obtain informed consent for the use of restrictive practices. These amendments are intended to address unforeseen practical limitations resulting from the interactions between Commonwealth and State and Territory consent laws. The interim measure will allow a person other than the care recipient to provide consent to the use of restrictive practices where the care recipient does not have capacity to do so, and where State and Territory laws would not otherwise allow that consent to be provided. Schedule 9 to the Bill also provides a limited immunity from civil or criminal liability that may arise in relation to the use of a restrictive practice where someone follows all of the requirements under Commonwealth law in relation to the use of a restrictive practice. This provision does not provide a broad immunity to negligence in respect of the use of a restrictive practice. Conclusion Aged care is an urgent priority for this Government. I commend this Bill. Debate adjourned. COMMITTEES 95 COMMITTEES Human Rights Joint Committee, Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee, Law Enforcement Joint Committee, Electoral Matters Joint Committee, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Implementation of the National Redress Scheme: Joint Select Committee, Migration Joint Committee, National Capital and External Territories Joint Committee, Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Joint Committee, Parliamentary Standards Joint Select Committee, Parliamentary Library Joint Committee, National Disability Insurance Scheme Joint Committee, Trade and Investment Growth Joint Committee, Treaties Joint Committee, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Joint Committee 95 Appointment 95 18:56 The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 264449 Messages have been received from the House of Representatives transmitting for concurrence resolutions related to the formation of joint committees as listed on the Dynamic Red. 18:56 Senator WATT 245759 Queensland I seek leave to have the messages considered immediately. Leave granted. Senator WATT 245759 I move: That the Senate— (a) concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives contained in messages Nos 2-6 and 8-16 relating to the appointment of joint committees; and (b) concurs with the resolution of the House of Representatives contained in message No. 7, except that paragraph 6 of the resolution be amended as follows: omit Joint Select Committee and substitute Joint Standing Committee. 18:57 Senator WATERS 192970 Queensland We'll be seeking to amend this motion in the terms as follows: At the end of the motion, add— , except in relation to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and that in relation to that committee, paragraph (6) be amended as follows: (6) the committee elect a: (a) minor group senator or independent senator as its chair; and (b) Government member as its deputy chair who shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee. Madam Acting Deputy President, I seek your guidance as to whether I or any other speakers may speak to this amendment. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT 264449 You are able to speak to the amendment, yes. Senator WATERS 192970 I'll make some very brief remarks. We made history with the election of Senator Jordon Steele-John as a proud disabled man. Some functional changes needed to be made to this chamber even to physically accommodate him. We have now re-established the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is my firm belief, the belief of my party and perhaps a belief shared by others that, in fact, disabled people should be in charge of making decisions about themselves. We have sought to obtain support to have Senator Steele-John as either the chair or the deputy chair of this committee, and we have in good faith sought to reach agreement on that. We have been unsuccessful in that, and the reason for that is that the two big parties like to carve up the committees as the spoils of the two-party system. We think, in this instance, it really would have sent a powerful message to the disability community that people who share a disability can be in charge of making decisions that set the rules for everybody else and that lived experience is crucial in decision-making. That is why we seek to have a more diverse parliament—so that we can make decisions that appropriately reflect people's different lived experience and therefore can make better decisions for them. It's for that reason that we sought to move this amendment. The two parties have a real decision here. Do you want to seek to just control this committee? I won't speculate on your motives; perhaps they're noble motives. But the strong and powerful statement that having a person with disability chair this committee would I think be a real step forward for Australia, would be a step forward for inclusion and would be the right thing to do, so we urge every senator to think deeply about their vote to allow our senator with a disability to chair the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. 19:00 Senator LAMBIE 250026 Tasmania I'd like to make a short statement, but I'll tell you what's going on here, and I've been saying this for a long time—that when you pick people to do jobs in this place it's never picked on merit. I know what it's like with veterans, the amount of work that we have to put in, the fight that we have to go through. I know what it's like that Senator Steele-John also has to do all that extra work. He knows all those groups out there; he has contacts everywhere. While you guys do a continuous revolving door of ministers, of people in charge, we are stuck with this, whether it's for disability or veterans, from the time we walk into this chamber until we are finished, until our constituents say, 'We have had enough; we are voting you out,' or we leave on our own terms. If you want things done properly in this country then you'll give it to the people that are stuck in these situations, who know all these people on the outside and hear from every one of them every day of the week. These are the people who are the professionals. This is what you would do in business, but you would rather stick with some stupid tradition than give the job to the people who deserve it. I'll be honest: if somebody knows about disabilities in this Senate chamber, it is Senator Steele-John. There is no debating this. I really wish you would start thinking outside the square, because quite frankly, if you haven't noticed, major parties are going out the door. This is happening. You have a bloke that lives this. He breathes this. He knows everybody in the sector. It makes it that easy. Isn't this the person that you would want as the Deputy Chair or the Chair? Isn't this the person that these people out there want representing them, to have the strongest voice possible where it matters most, based on merit, because he has earned it? He has earned this. But no, tradition is more important than humanity and doing the right thing in this chamber. When are you going to learn? When are you going to start paying merit to people who deserve it, not because they're in your faction or they're over in this faction? This is how it works in here, people of Australia. It's not the best person for the job in here; it's whether you're mates with someone or you're in a certain faction. This has to stop. This is killing politics in this country and it's not giving the people that need a voice a fair go. It's got to stop. You want a fair go? You talk about a fair go over there, Labor. You talk about merit, fair go. There he is. He has earned it, and by God has he earned it. He has spent his whole life there. You've got to start thinking outside the square. It is not fair. This tradition crap is finished. This is the 21st century. Start doing the right thing and giving the jobs to the people who deserve them, who have actually earned them. That's what I'm asking. We will be voting for you to be the Chair, mate. 19:03 Senator STEELE-JOHN 250156 Western Australia Let me thank Senator Waters and Senator Lambie for their contributions. I thoroughly and deeply appreciate it. I wasn't expecting to be able to speak to this motion this evening, but what I will just add to the contributions that have been made is this: I have been a proud member of the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS now for the best part of four years, and I know from firsthand experience that it is a committee of the parliament which is held in very high regard by disabled people because for the last four years particularly they have known that it is a committee which will be on their side. When the Liberal government, particularly, was trying to push through independent assessments against the advice of many of their own colleagues, it was the NDIS joint standing committee, working with the disability community, that delivered so many of the key moments in that campaign, created the space for them to be heard in the parliament. The report that that committee handed down was a key moment in ensuring that the Morrison government got the message that independent assessments needed to be chucked in the bin. I want to reflect also that since the election the disability community have been really clear with all sides of politics. They want us disabled people to work together, urgently, to fix the NDIS and to break down the barriers of structural ableism everywhere they exist in society. They have been clear with every MP in this place that one of the best ways you do that is to put somebody with lived experience in those roles. Having been here for four years, I do also understand the importance of collaboration as part of these committee processes. Should the Senate tonight take the step of placing me in the position of chair, I will, of course, work collectively and collaboratively across every section of this parliament to ensure that it is a committee which continues to deliver the consensus voice of the disability community. I absolutely pledge myself to doing that. But I also urge both parties, tonight, to heed the words of the disability community in relation to placing people with lived experience in those leadership roles, in demonstrating clearly—you have another opportunity tonight—that you believe that disabled people belong in politics, that you believe that disabled people should be trusted and are able to lead the conversations in relation to our lives, in relation to our systems and processes, the systems and processes affecting four million disabled people, $500,000 of us on the NDIS and our families. Take this opportunity tonight. Let one of the conventions, of this place, that have existed for so long, stifled so much, go in this moment. Let it go. And let us work together not only to deliver an NDIS that works for everybody but also to create a more accessible and inclusive society for everyone. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Does any other senator have a contribution? As there is no-one, I put to the chamber the amendment from Senator Waters to the motion that the Senate concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives relating to the appointment of the joint committee. This is the amendment of the Greens. The PRESIDENT 112096 The question before the Senate is the amendment to the motion that the Senate concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives in relation to the appointment of joint committees.      

The Senate divided. [19:12]
(The Deputy President—Senator McLachlan)

 13 AYES Allman-Payne, P. J. Cox, D. Hanson-Young, S. C. Lambie, J. McKim, N. J. (Teller) Pocock, B. Pocock, D. W. Rice, J. E. Shoebridge, D. Steele-John, J. A. Tyrrell, T. M. Waters, L. J. Whish-Wilson, P. S. 37 NOES Antic, A. Askew, W. Ayres, T. Babet, R. Bilyk, C. L. Birmingham, S. J. Bragg, A. J. Brockman, W. E. Brown, C. L. Cadell, R. Cash, M. C. Chisholm, A. Ciccone, R. Farrell, D. E. Gallagher, K. R. Green, N. L. Grogan, K. McAllister, J. R. McCarthy, M. McKenzie, B. McLachlan, A. L. O'Neill, D. M. O'Sullivan, M. A. (Teller) Payman, F. Polley, H. Pratt, L. C. Rennick, G. Roberts, M. I. Ruston, A. Scarr, P. M. Sheldon, A. V. Smith, D. A. Smith, M. F. Urquhart, A. E. Walsh, J. C. Watt, M. P. White, L. 0 PAIRS

Question negatived.

 19:17 The DEPUTY PRESIDENT I will now put the original motion that was before the Senate. The question is that the motion moved by Senator Watt, that the Senate concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives contained in messages Nos 2 to 6 and 8 to 16, relating to the appointment of joint committees, and concurs with the resolution of the House of Representatives contained in message No. 7, except that paragraph 6 of the resolution be amended as follows, that it omits 'joint Senate committee' and substitutes 'joint standing committee'. So there is one minor amendment, which is a typographical error. Question agreed to. GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH 98 GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S SPEECH Address-In-Reply 98 19:18 The DEPUTY PRESIDENT I call Senator Rice 19:18 Senator RICE 155410 Victoria Thanks, Deputy President, and congratulations on your appointment. So here we are: a new parliament, a new government and a new beginning. The night before election day, I wrote this in my diary: 'I'm not daring to hope, not daring to imagine, what might evolve if we win one or more seats and the teal Independents do too. This may be the election that breaks the back of the two-party system.' Standing here just a couple of months later, I don't have to imagine. The people have spoken, and they have elected 30 Greens and Independents into the House and the Senate. And, for our Greens vote, I want to thank every voter, every volunteer, every member, every campaigner and every staff person who worked together to deliver this excellent result. I can't tell you how delighted I am to be joined by three new Greens senators and three members of the House of Representatives, and, as I've welcomed them to this place and their first speeches have begun, I have been reflecting on my early days as a senator and on just how much has changed since then. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT 287062 Senator Rice, it pains me but I have to interrupt you. You will be in continuance. ADJOURNMENT 98 ADJOURNMENT Federal Election: Australian Labor Party 98 19:20 Senator O'NEILL 140651 New South Wales I rise to acknowledge the outstanding work of the Labor candidates and their campaign teams across the great state of New South Wales. As the duty senator for the great seats of Farrer, Hume, Parkes, Riverina and Robertson, I was indeed privileged to campaign alongside some incredible Australians: members of the Labor movement; friends of the Labor movement; unionists who stood with us; community members. Some 70 per cent of the volunteers in the seat of Robertson were people who had never participated actively in politics in this nation previously but were inspired by the leadership of the candidate there and by the need for change in this country, and they came to life. And of course it was a remarkable result. I want to, in particular, acknowledge the campaign of Dr Gordon Reid, now the member for Robertson. There's a degree of pride, in that I live in that community and, having represented Robertson myself in the House between 2010 and 2013, I know how hard it is to win, as a seat, and I want to congratulate him on his tireless and very effective work to make Robertson a Labor seat again. Dr Reid, you are a true son of the coast—one of the finest examples. I also want to thank Jo Lloyd, his incredible campaign manager, and his campaign team: Jesse Corda, Sarah Loaney, Heidi Helyard and all of the other countless volunteers who ensured that Labor became a majority government, that the Central Coast is now entirely Labor-held and that our margin in Robertson was the biggest it had been in nearly three decades. It just gives flesh to the reality of this historic campaign that will be spoken about and written about for many, many years to come. On other seats where we put up a great fight: I'm sorry that I won't be joined by new colleagues Darren Cameron, Greg Baines, Jack Ayoub or Mark Jeffreson, who are local branch members who really put their shoulders to the wheel and achieved incredible swings and successes in their push for a place here in this parliament in the House of Representatives. Thank you to Darren Cameron for your years of friendship and your selfless decision to run for the Labor party in Farrer. Thank you to your remarkable campaign team and particularly to the people who really operationalised that campaign in the city of Albury. I'm sure that the success of the campaign that you achieved in such a short period of time is an indication of a revitalisation of the Labor movement in that region, up and down the Murray River. Thank you to Jack Ayoub, our tireless candidate for Parkes, and the stellar campaign team that he had on the road with him all the time: Zac Hatzsis, Stephen Lawrence, Phil Priest, Darriea Turley, John Gordon and Marion Browne—and this is a seat that covers from the South Australian border, up and down the length of the Darling River and right out to Dubbo—in an amazing commitment to that seat. We made a number of commitments that are very important, especially on delivering for the two dialysis buses for the far west—particularly impacting the Indigenous community in Wilcannia, who let us know, on the banks of the Darling, as we sat there with them on Barka country, that people simply could not afford to go and get dialysis in Broken Hill; they couldn't afford the petrol to put in their car, and people were dying because of a lack of access to the service. So that's a remarkable commitment from Labor, and it was hard-earned by that community and the campaign out there. To Greg Baines, our outstanding candidate in Hume: fantastic swing to Labor on 2PP. I hope the next adventure of his life is equally exciting. Thank you to his team. There was some incredible leadership there by Michael Pilbrow, former senator Ursula Stephens and the former candidate, Aoife Champion. It's a big seat and they ran a brilliant campaign. To Mark Jeffreson, down in the beautiful city of Wagga: thanks for sticking your hand up once again to run for the Labor Party in what was then the safest seat in New South Wales—but thanks to Mark that is no longer the case; Mr McCormack has some serious competition! Congratulations to that campaign team, including Nick Spragg, Graham Cotter, Dan Hayes, Tim Kurylowicz and all the other members who fly the flag in tiger territory for the party. This was an excellent result. We have to represent all Australians everywhere, and I am absolutely committed as the duty senator to the western part of New South Wales in the course of this parliament. Emergency Powers 99 19:25 Senator ANTIC 269375 South Australia History is replete with examples of emergency powers being granted during a crisis, whether real or imagined. From Ancient Rome to the events prior to World War II, tyranny descends under the cloak of emergency and the promise of safety. History is repeating itself all over the Western world. In Rome, dictators were given absolute power for six months to lead the Republic in times of war. This worked at first but eventually led to certain dictator-generals taking absolute control and rewriting Roman laws and the constitution to entrench their power. The convenience of centralised power, although arguably necessary in war times, eventually led to tyranny. As Australian historian Dr Stephen Chavura noted, 'Emergency is the language that you use when democracy is no longer working for you.' Political power is rarely relinquished voluntarily once it's acquired, and it's often acquired by those who would seek to subvert the democratic process by exploiting or inventing a crisis. Freedom must always be safeguarded, and the apparent convenience of centralising power in the hands of a few must be resisted. There may be circumstances such as wartime in which emergency powers are necessary for a limited time, as the purpose of emergency powers is to suspend the regular democratic process so the nation can efficiently deal with the threat at hand. The COVID period has highlighted this so clearly. Two and a half years on Australia is still in virtual states of emergency, in many cases with the true democratic processes still suspended or partially suspended. Victoria's and South Australia's Labor governments have permanently entrenched newfound emergency powers and have significantly expanded the scope of these powers, ready to be enacted when the next so-called emergency arrives. Now, magicians perform their tricks by using distractions. The same is true of swathes of our political and bureaucratic classes. As the great Thomas Sowell wrote: If eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, incessant distractions are the way politicians take away our freedoms, in order to enhance their own power and longevity in office. Does COVID still look like an emergency to you? Would anyone still be afraid if not for the incessant propaganda of the corporate media cabal and our bureaucratic class? The greatest emergency I see is a lack of strength. And of course the pattern continues with the lamentable World Health Organization declaring monkeypox a global health emergency, while the White House is now pivoting to the monkeypox emergency without even batting an eyelid. Coming up next is the so-called climate crisis. South Australia's parliament recently declared a climate emergency with no real evidence, and their proposed solution is transforming the economy to net zero emissions. Quite a goal, but how exactly will it be achieved? Well, here's the spoiler alert: it'll involve more government control over your life, restricting your ability to run businesses how you want, restricting your ability to buy what you want and go where you want, along with soaring food, fuel and electricity prices. People do strange and terrible things when they're afraid. They behave emotionally and look for people to blame. Those who want rational debate and value freedom over the promise of safety are now labelled as threats to the public. We saw this with people who refused COVID mRNA injections; they were called anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists just for wanting transparency and not wanting to be locked in their homes. I'm sure we'll see that with climate lockdowns too. Australians need to be aware that whether through apathy or by design we are allowing our liberty to be sacrificed at the altar of safety. The weapon is fear. The remedy is the emergency declaration. As Edmund Burke said: No passion so effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. Aspiring tyrants know this well and will continue to exploit it. The game plan is to hold us in a perpetual state of emergency until absolute power is obtained. Don't sit by the sidelines and watch our freedom fade away. You'd better get involved before it's too late. Sutton, Mr Philip 100 19:29 Senator RICE 155410 Victoria I rise tonight to remember Philip Sutton, a dear friend and climate campaigning colleague. Philip died suddenly on 13 June, aged 71. He was a pioneer of the climate emergency movement and a powerful influence on environment campaigners across the globe. I met Philip when I started working at the Conservation Council of Victoria in 1983. Philip was the vice-president and I was fresh out of uni. I remember so well late-night conversations with Philip after CCV executive meetings, over a chocolate mousse, yarning about what was needed for all life on the planet to have a healthy future—in particular the need for strategic planning to start at the end point of where we needed to be and then to develop genuine strategic plans that would achieve that, rather than so-called strategies that are actually just lists of incremental actions reflecting on what is judged to be pragmatically possible at the time. Philip was one of the authors of the 1978 book Seeds for change: creatively confronting the energy crisis. It was a groundbreaking alternative energy strategy for Victoria. Philip initiated the campaign that led to the banning of nuclear power in Victoria in 1983, and he was the architect of further groundbreaking work for the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee legislation, which became the model for wildlife legislation across Australia. Then, as the gravity of the climate crisis became clear, Philip turned his huge intellect and drive to tackling this existential challenge. Philip Sutton campaigned, knowing that the climate risks threatened the future of the planet and of humanity and that therefore they required a society-wide mobilisation at an emergency scale and speed. He argued that getting into emergency mode rapidly was the central challenge for the climate movement, and he outlined this in his 2008 book Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action, written with David Spratt, which codified the term 'climate emergency' and shocked many readers into becoming climate activists. Philip was active with a huge range of environment and climate organisations. I'm indebted to Luke Taylor from Breakthrough, the National Centre for Climate Restoration, and the Sustainable Living Foundation for his obituary for Philip published in the Guardian, from which I have drawn much material for this speech. Philip was an initiating member of the movement that led the Darebin council in Melbourne to become the first local council in the world to declare a climate emergency, and he played a leading role in the international campaign that has resulted in more than a thousand local, regional and national governments to follow suit. However, I received a classic Philip response when I texted him in 2019 after the Oxford Dictionary announced that 'climate emergency' was its word of the year. Philip immediately texted back to say that he wasn't interested in ego gratification, nostalgia or virtue signalling, saying, 'There is too little time.' Philip emphasised the need for climate strategy to have an approach to risk with no less rigour than those applied in engineering and aviation. He railed against the 'two degrees safe warming limit'. Such a result would amount to 'a death sentence for billions of people and millions of species', he argued. Setting goals based on the protection of 'all people, all species and all generations' or 'maximum protection' was a framework which he pursued with tireless dedication. Philip was so frustrated at the slow pace of action on climate. He railed at our Greens policies as not being ambitious enough. In this place, Philip is always with me when I hear the ongoing spruiking of coal and gas by both the Liberal and Labor parties and when I contemplate the unthinkable consequences of our climate crisis. To Philip, the future was real and tangible. He refused to look away from how we are heading over the climate cliff. He loved nature in life and he felt the pain and the suffering of people and animals and precious environments now and in the future. I send my love to Philip's sons Daniel and Joey; his former partner, Kathy; his sister, Vidia; his brother, John; and everyone who knew and loved Philip. Philip's legacy is the enormous role he played in our journey towards the time when we as a global community recognise the crisis we face and take the action needed for a healthy future. We aren't there yet. It is up to all of us to take this action and to continue this journey at emergency speed in emergency mode until we succeed. Elder Abuse 101 19:34 Senator DAVEY 281697 New South Wales This is my first opportunity to congratulate you, Madam President, on your appointment. I am sure you will do an outstanding job. I rise to talk on behalf of Donna Gilchrist, who lives in the Hunter. Donna and I met during prepolling for the election campaign. Donna has a story that she is desperate to tell. Donna, as a retiree, moved from Sydney to the Lake Macquarie area, took up residence in a new place and thought she wanted some work done. So she did what so many people do and got online to look for a tradesman. Unfortunately, she got scammed, like so many of our aged and vulnerable do. She entered into an agreement with an alleged local gardener, who called himself Luke from First Catch Gardening and Maintenance, whereby she paid him upfront, and then he did not return the services. So Donna went to the police, and the police said, 'This is a contractual dispute. It's not a criminal matter, so we can't help you,' despite, apparently, the police having heard before about Luke from First Catch Gardening and Maintenance, and from previous enterprises. According to Donna, she now has evidence and believes that Luke is a habitual scammer who has perpetrated dishonest activities under the guise of presenting himself as a qualified tradesman. She's got evidence and commentary from at least two separate individuals. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, these individuals don't want to admit publicly that they've been scammed. One such individual who spoke to Donna is still a practising accountant. He doesn't want to put his name to the allegation. He's worried it will affect his business, because how can a smart, intelligent, qualified accountant be so easily scammed? This is an issue that happens far too often in our society, but the police are hamstrung because the laws don't account for it. In cases like this, where it is often a cash transaction, other authorities that are available to look at contractual disputes can't do anything, so the matter is left to civil affairs. But people like Donna, a retiree who was set to start her new life in the Lake Macquarie area and was looking forward to a glorious garden that she could potter around in in her latter years, get scammed, get taken for their savings and get left. Donna reached out to A Current Affair, who did respond to her inquiry, requesting further information by way of photos and corroboration. Donna provided both, but because those corroborating the story would not put their names to it, A Current Affair decided, and probably for quite just legal reasons, not to progress with the story. So Donna, at her wits' end, was talking to me on the polling booth and she said, 'I just want someone to hear my story. I just want someone to warn people that people like Luke from First Catch Gardening and Maintenance are out there and to give people a cautionary tale so that it doesn't happen to others.' Climate Policy 101 19:39 Senator ROBERTS 266524 Queensland Not a stitch of evidence did we hear from the senator who spoke earlier, Janet Rice, just wild, fearful, false claims contradicting hard evidence. I listen to the scientists. I cross-examine scientists. I debate the science and, in my life, I have used the science to protect hundreds of lives in my role of knowing about atmospheric gases. Earlier this evening I discussed my cross-examination of CSIRO and I will continue that another day. Now I want to discuss the political class abdicating their responsibilities to the people. Let's start with the Howard-Anderson government. When John Howard got booted from office in 2007, I wrote him a letter saying 'Thank you very much for what you have done for the country', because he had had 30 years of service. Six years later, I rescinded that letter and I will explain why. The Howard-Anderson government introduced the Renewable Energy Target in response to the UN's Kyoto protocol. The Howard-Anderson government said it would not sign the Kyoto protocol but it would comply with the UN's Kyoto protocol, so they introduced the Renewable Energy Target that is now guarding our country's electricity sector, driving businesses overseas and causing unemployment not only in manufacturing in particular but also in farming. His government, the Howard-Anderson government, became the first federal entity to have a policy calling for an emissions trading scheme, a carbon dioxide tax. The first were these people here on the Liberal-National side of politics. Then he did something that is so unbelievable and unimaginable to the Liberal Party, which was supposedly based on the sanctity of life and the security of property rights. The Howard-Anderson government stole farmers' property rights in a dirty deal done with Queensland and New South Wales Labor governments. What they did was they enabled the clearing of vegetation. They stopped the farmers clearing vegetation on their own land. First of all, the deal was done in Brisbane with Rob Borbidge's National Party government, so we had the Howard-Anderson Liberal-National government doing a dirty deal to get around Constitution section 51, clause 31, requiring the payment of just terms of compensation for the stealing of property rights or the taking of property rights. That then led to an agreement with Peter Beattie, who replaced Rob Borbidge, and the Beattie Labor government brought in measures under the guise of a UN protocol saying that we would stop the clearing of land to protect native vegetation. And yet it is on record in Hansard in the Queensland parliament that the Beattie-Howard deal, with exchanges of letters from both, was due to John Howard's government needing to comply with the Kyoto protocol. Farmers missed out on hundreds of billions of dollars of compensation in what amounts to a naked theft of property rights, the rights to use property, and the Howard-Anderson government went around the Constitution to bypass so it could get Queensland to do the dirty work to stop the clearing, because the state government does not have to pay compensation. Six years later, after John Howard was booted from office, in 2013 he addressed the annual lecture at the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a sceptical think tank, and he confessed that, after bringing in the renewable target that last year he said was decimating our electricity sector—and he regretted that it had gone so high—after bringing in place a carbon dioxide tax as policy, the first to do so, and after stealing farmers' property rights, he said that he was 'agnostic' on climate science. In other words, he didn't have the science. There was not a single stitch of science to back up John Howard and John Anderson's policy, not a single stitch, yet farmers around the country have lost their rights to use their land with no compensation—no science, just theft with no compensation. That is what we're looking at in this country—the abandonment of science. The parliament needs to come clean and restore integrity, to use data and true science, proving cause and effect and to do cost-benefit analysis. They have never done that. The onus to provide the logical scientific points and the empirical scientific evidence is on those claiming a climate emergency and climate action. Until we see that, no policies. Rescind all policies on climate and energy that are based on climate. (Time expired) Senate adjourned at 19:44