Mr CHRISTENSEN (Dawson) (09:53): I wish to make a personal explanation.

The SPEAKER: I will hear from the member for Dawson.

Mr CHRISTENSEN: Thank you very much for that. This is just to refer to reports and claims that I directly compared state premiers to Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot. I wish to inform the House I did not. I said the path they were on was troubling. If there is concern over any misrepresentation that I did say that, then that's regrettable. Further, there have been false claims in the Senate, on the social media and elsewhere that I called for and/or incited violence. I did no such thing. I never did and never would. I abhor violence.

Mr SUKKAR (Deakin—Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing) (10:22): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Schedules 1 to 4 to the bill will establish an important regulatory framework for the Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle (CCIV) regime, commencing on 1 July 2022.

A CCIV will be a new type of corporate structure for funds management, featuring an umbrella company with all its assets and liabilities segregated into 'sub-funds'. It is designed to be an alternative to the commonly used trust based managed investment scheme.

Schedule 5 to the bill will establish the tax framework for the Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle regime.

The general objective for the CCIV is that the tax outcomes for an investor in a sub-fund of a CCIV align with the existing tax treatment for an investor in an attribution managed investment trust.

Together, these changes aim to enhance the international competitiveness of the Australian managed funds industry and attract greater levels of foreign investment into Australia's financial markets.

Schedule 6 to the bill extends by 12 months the temporary loss carry-back measure introduced by the government in the 2020-21 budget, allowing eligible companies to claim a loss carry-back tax offset in the 2022-23 income year.

The government implemented temporary loss carry-back in 2020 to promote economic activity by providing enhanced cash-flow support to previously profitable companies that fell into a tax loss position as a result of COVID-19.

The law currently allows eligible companies to carry back tax losses from the 2019-20, 2020-21 or 2021-22 income years to offset previously taxed profits in the 2018-19 income year or later income years. Passage of these amendments will allow eligible companies to carry back tax losses from the 2022-23 income year. Tax refunds are limited to earlier taxed profits and the carry-back of losses cannot generate a franking account deficit.

Companies with aggregated annual turnover of less than $5 billion are eligible for temporary loss carry-back on election when they lodge their 2020-21 and 2021-22 income tax returns and, with the passage of this bill, their 2022-23 income tax return.

Companies that do not elect to carry back losses under this temporary measure can still carry losses forward as normal.

Extending temporary loss carry back is estimated to deliver $2.8 billion in tax relief to companies over the forward estimates.

Schedule 7 to the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to include the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales Ltd, Australian Associated Press Ltd, Virtual War Memorial Ltd, and SU Australia Ministries Ltd on the list of deductible gift recipients. This schedule also extends the specific listings of Cambridge Australia Scholarships Ltd and Foundation 1901 Ltd.

Deductible gift recipient status allows members of the public to receive income tax deductions of $2 or more for donations that they make to these six organisations.

Schedule 7 to the bill also amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to remove The East African Fund Ltd from the list of deductible gift recipients, as requested by the entity.

Schedule 8 to the bill makes a number of amendments to Treasury portfolio legislation to ensure that Treasury laws operate as intended. The amendments variously clarify the law to ensure it operates in accordance with the policy intention, make minor policy changes to improve administrative outcomes or to remedy unintended consequences, and to correct technical or drafting defects.

The amendments made by schedule 8 to the bill further the government's commitment to the care and maintenance of the Treasury laws and will make it easier, ultimately, for Australians to comply with current laws.

Schedule 9 to the bill requires superannuation fund trustees to have a strategy to assist their members who are retired or approaching retirement.

In the 2018-19 budget, the government committed to introduce a Retirement Income Covenant to codify the longstanding expectations that trustees consider the retirement needs of their members. By requiring trustees to increase their focus on the retirement phase of superannuation, member outcomes will be improved while enabling choice and, ultimately, competition.

This schedule amends the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to require trustees of a superannuation fund to develop a retirement income strategy for their members. Trustees are expected to have a strategy formulated in writing, and a summary publicly available, from 1 July 2022. Trustees are not required to give effect to all the components of their strategies on 1 July 2022; implementation of the strategy is an ongoing process that is just required from that date.

The strategy will be a high-level governance document and will sit within the existing regulatory framework trustees should already know well. The retirement covenant is one step, therefore, in the government's reforms to better develop the retirement phase of superannuation. The covenant builds on existing reform and will kick-start improvements into the future.

Schedule 10 to the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, importantly, to remove the cessation of employment taxing point for the tax deferred employee share schemes (ESS) that are available to all companies.

These amendments will help Australian companies attract and retain talent.

The changes will apply to new and existing ESS interests that have not yet reached a taxing point, for employees that cease employment from the first income year after the date of royal assent.

Full details of these measures are contained in the explanatory memorandum.

Debate adjourned.

Dr HAINES (Indi) (10:44): I seek leave to move the following motion:

(1) the private members' business order of the day relating to the Australian Federal Integrity Commission Bill 2021 standing in the name of the member for Indi being called on immediately and passage of the bill through all stages taking priority over all other business during periods of government business until its completion.

(2) a maximum of 2 hours being allocated for the second reading stage with a maximum of 10 minutes per Member speaking.

(3) if consideration of the bill has not been completed by 1 pm, any questions necessary to complete the House's consideration of the bill being put to the House immediately and without debate.

Leave not granted.

Dr HAINES: I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent:

(1) the private Members' business order of the day relating to the Australian Federal Integrity Commission Bill 2021 standing in the name of the Member for Indi being called on immediately and passage of the bill through all stages taking priority over all other business during periods of government business until its completion;

(2) a maximum of 2 hours being allocated for the second reading stage with a maximum of 10 minutes per Member speaking; and

(3) if consideration of the bill has not been completed by 1 pm, any questions necessary to complete the House's consideration of the bill being put to the House immediately and without debate.

We have waited too long for an integrity commission. I have watched scandal after scandal going uninvestigated with no independent watchdog on the beat. Each day that we delay is another day of deterioration of trust in this place and among the Australian people. Each day it becomes harder to claw back that trust. There are only four sitting days left this year. We may not be back again. This might be our very last chance.

If someone were serious about an integrity commission they would write a bill to set it up, they would table it and they would bring it on for debate. That's what I have done. The government has acted very differently, an endless merry-go-round of consultations, shutting down debate in the House and shutting down debate in the Senate. It's clear the government is ignoring the will of the people, and now it's obstructing the will of the parliament. It's broken the promise it made almost three long years ago. We are entitled to ask whether the Prime Minister honestly, in his heart, actually wants a robust federal integrity commission.

For almost two years now I've worked with members of the House and Senate to shape my integrity commission bill. I've also had very constructive discussions with countless other members in both houses. As an independent, my office door has been an open door. My bill is a true work of collaboration. It's a consensus approach with public hearings when in the public interest. It's retrospective and it allows for public referrals. Importantly, so importantly, it also protects against vexatious claims and allows for true exoneration. This bill is gold standard. But these are not my words; they are the words of the finest legal minds in the nation, from former justices of the High Court to leading academics, jurists and ethicists. They all support the passage of this bill right now. This is a bill of the people, from the people, to hold all of us to account, to help us to be our best selves. This is the integrity commission that our country deserves.

I call on all members of parliament, wherever you sit, who believe this government has got its priorities wrong to support this motion today. I beseech you: do not remain silent. This is not about political pointscoring. This is not about partisan politics. This is about each and every one of us staying true to the people we represent. This is about each and every one of us doing the right thing on all sides of this House.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Rob Mitchell ): Is the motion seconded?

Mrs ARCHER (Bass) (10:49): I second the motion. I don't take this decision lightly at all. I take the decision to stand here today very seriously. It's a difficult decision to make. This is one of the most important things that we come to this place to do. I think we should suspend the standing orders and have this debate. The time has gone on long enough.

Everyone in this House, I think without exception, thinks that we need a robust federal integrity commission, that people should have trust and confidence in us, in the people that they elect, the people they send here. That's evidenced by the fact that there have been several bills presented to the House. All sides—the Greens, Labor, Liberal and the Independents—have said, 'We've got a bill.' But the problem is that the politics has wrapped it up so tightly that we're not progressing a bill. There's no debate about the fact that we need one, but we're not having the debate on what it should look like. We shouldn't be afraid to have the debate on what it looks like.

There is a place for politics. There's a place for partisan pointscoring. But it's not on something as important as trust and confidence in elected officials. We will never advance this if we can't find a way to come together to collaborate. A good starting point for that is the member for Indi's bill. She's put a lot of work into it. She has consulted widely. She has collaborated. Is it perfect? Maybe not. Why don't we talk about it? Why don't we all come here in good faith and have those conversations and find something that we can take forward in the best interests of all Australians? It's why we're here. It's why we come here. It's the most important thing we do.

Ms STEGGALL (Warringah) (10:51): I support everything that has been said in this place in relation to the urgency to suspend standing orders and allow debate on this very important legislation. The debate on this bill is urgent, and I commend everyone who is here to actually support this. It has been 1,077 days since the Prime Minister promised to introduce a Commonwealth integrity commission and yet we are still to see a bill tabled in the House other than the one that has been tabled by the member for Indi. There has also been tabled and passed the through the Senate a similar bill by the Greens. As Senator Lambie pointed out in the other place, a child born on the day the promise was made would have since learned to crawl, walk and talk. All the government has done on this issue is talk. We simply need to get on to the next stage.

I call on the government to support this bill, presented by the member for Indi, which I was very proud to second in this place last month. This is an issue that is raised with me continually by constituents of all political persuasions. They are united in wanting to have trust and faith in politics, in government. They want to know that there is a commission and a mechanism to ensure there are proper processes and that the issues are properly investigated. This bill has been awarded top marks by an independent review by the Centre for Public Integrity. In contrast, the draft model from the government has had issues. It has been broadly consulted on and it has been criticised. So, rather than just stifle debate and stop this, why not come forward, debate the bill from the member for Indi, move amendments, have the discussion and have a collaborative approach to an issue that will raise all of us? We will all be the better for it in our communities if constituents can have trust and faith in the process of government. If the Attorney-General won't back her own bill to bring it in after over a thousand days, then I think it is time that the member for Indi's bill be debated.

An integrity commission with teeth will be able to investigate and put to bed so many of the issues that we've seen raised during this parliament, and it really is important that that be done. Many of the arguments that are raised are about, for example, some of the integrity commissions at state level. But that is misleading in terms of what this bill is. The bill from the member for Indi is the best of all the models. It is not a replica of one state's model versus another's. It is a collective of the best elements of all those models of integrity commission, and that's why it is important that we debate it. If the government has issues with elements of that bill, then it should move amendments, have the debate and discuss them. But 'nothing' cannot be the answer. We can't have the situation where we wait indefinitely and there is just nothing happening. Otherwise, we'll have allegations that sit out there and we'll just never get them resolved, whether they need to proceed to proper investigations or not.

It is important that a federal integrity commission be transparent. It is important that investigations with integrity are seen to be done by the public. They must be seen to be thorough. That is so important for the public to be able to have trust that government and processes are being held to account, because we in this place are spending the public's money. We pass laws. We are taking decisions that will impact on the lives of millions of people. We have a duty to ensure those decisions are for the greater good and are for the good of our communities. In that sense, the public must be able to be confident that those decisions are held to the highest standards and that there is a rigorous integrity and anticorruption process to catch any concerns.

So I commend to the government that it support this suspension of standing orders. We have had time throughout these last two years and the pandemic disruptions to debate a number of bills that couldn't, on any definition, have been described as urgent. Where there has been a will there has been a way to introduce legislation to deal with, I would argue, some issues that have never even been on the radar. But this issue, the biggest issue, the Australian people's trust in the Australian government's decisions, is one that has been left hanging. I think that has to stop, and we should debate it today.

Mr BURKE (Watson—Manager of Opposition Business) (10:56): Just to make sure that it's on the record, I will say that the opposition will be supporting this motion. The bill that has been introduced is something that would be subject to parliamentary debate. It would be subject to inquiry and, no doubt, there would be amendments that would come through in its final form. But 1,000 days is too long. The best time to commence that debate would have been years ago. The next best time is now.

Ms SHARKIE (Mayo) (10:57): I commend the great work of the member for Indi and support this motion. I was here in the last parliament when the government said that they would introduce an integrity commission. It hasn't happened yet, and the Australian people have grown tired. They have grown frustrated with us. I would also like to acknowledge the member for Bass for having the courage of her convictions. She is on the right side of history with this.

We need to have a federal integrity commission. Trust in all of us is waning in the Australian community. We need to do better. This was an election promise. We have one more week to go this year. This is potentially the last sitting week before an election. Who knows? That is at the discretion of the Prime Minister, although many in the media say that this is our last sitting period before the election. We are failing the Australian people and we are failing ourselves if we do not even allow debate on a very good bill that sits before this parliament.

What is the government so afraid of? What are they afraid of debating? It's actually come to the point where it's nonsensical. I would urge government members, if you too have the courage of the member for Bass—and many of you have said quietly and privately to many of us on the crossbench that you do—why don't you put your actions where your words are and, when this goes to a vote, come and sit on the right side of history.

Mr BANDT (Melbourne—Leader of the Australian Greens) (10:59): The Greens support this motion because it would deliver an ICAC before Christmas. After three long years of waiting, people want one. Previous members have made some very good points. There are alternative models. There is a bill that has passed the Senate, pushed by the Greens, that is awaiting debate here. I think the opposition has a model. Others have alternative models. We should at least have the debate. We have time to have the debate. If the member for Indi's motion is supported, we could have a federal ICAC before Christmas and that would be a terrific way to end this parliamentary year.

Mr KATTER (Kennedy) (11:00): I have been through the fiery furnace of the notorious Fitzgerald inquiry in Queensland. I was one of the two people who called it on. We weren't aware of the extent of the corruption of the Police Force in Queensland, but we knew there were a number of murders. It turned out there were 42 murders. If we'd had an ICAC or a Criminal Justice Commission, as it was later called in Queensland, it would never have got to that stage. Twenty-one of those deaths were at the infamous Whiskey Au Go Go, in a fire started by the mobsters' cabaret protection racket. The club hadn't paid their protection money, and up went the Whiskey Au Go Go, with no inquiry or punishment of anyone. The door was closed from the outside and 21 people were killed. Quite apart from that, there were another 21 murders, six of them in North Queensland.

So, if you don't have something like this, you leave members of parliament—and I was one of those members in parliament—in very, very scary territory. You leave decent policemen in very scary territory. I would estimate that over 20 police had their lives completely destroyed by evil police putting obscene child pornography on their computers. To this very day, I am so scarred and scared that I still will not use a computer, because I saw what happened to all these innocent people during that inquiry. Judge Vasta, whose son is in this place and whose other son is a Federal Court judge, was hanged, drawn and quartered without a single scintilla of evidence ever being produced against him, because he was from the wrong side of the tracks. I am quoting from a speech by Lin Powell, who was touted as a future premier in Queensland. The sin of Vasta was that he wasn't a member of the legal club in Brisbane. He hadn't gone to the GPS/TAS schools. He was a canecutter's son from North Queensland. Those were the sins. The people that they put to judge him, the judges in Brisbane, were the very people who resented him being there.

So I've given you two or three examples of the terrible downside of a proposal of this type, but the alternative to that is to watch what happened in Queensland, where, if you tried to assail them, they assailed you long before you got close to them. That's why I'm backing an independent body such as is proposed by the honourable member, who, like me, represents a regional area in this place. That's why I'm backing her rather courageous and wonderful initiative today. But I ask everyone please to be conscious of the downside to these sorts of inquiries.

Mr FLETCHER (Bradfield—Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) (11:03): I thank the member for moving this motion, but I want to speak to why the government will not be supporting a suspension of standing orders. The issue does not go to the merits of or the need for a serious and well-considered body to deal with the risk of serious criminal corruption at the Commonwealth level, because I want to be very clear that the government has developed such a model: the Commonwealth Integrity Commission, which is intended to be the lead body in Australia's successful multiagency anticorruption framework. We've gone through a very detailed consultation process—333 written submissions received, 46 consultation meetings and round tables—and we stand ready to introduce that legislation. We've done the detailed work. We've committed almost $150 million of funding to the Commonwealth Integrity Commission. We project it will have around 172 staff. And we've already implemented phase 1 of our plans by expanding the jurisdiction of the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity.

I want to make a couple of things clear, because there have been some misleading claims made about the government's proposal. In the model we are proposing, the Commonwealth Integrity Commission will be able to investigate past conduct and matters that occurred prior to its commencement. The Integrity Commission will be able to look into past conduct that falls within the scope of its jurisdiction. This will include over 145 criminal offences that presently exist in legislation, including, for example, under the Criminal Code Act, under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act and under the Public Interest Disclosure Act. The government will also, under our proposal, create new offences relating to corrupt conduct, including concealing corruption and repeated public sector corruption.

I want to make this point very clear as well, because there have been some misleading claims. The model we are proposing will have—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Bird ): I interrupt the minister for a moment. The member seeks to make a point of order?

Mr Wilkie: A point of order: the minister is misleading the House and misleading the Australian community by what he is describing. It is going to be a farce, this so-called integrity commission—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member can't debate the point of order. I thank the member for his point of order, but it can be dealt with in other ways.

Mr FLETCHER: I am seeking to inform the House of the details of the model that the Morrison government has developed and consulted on extensively, because there have been some misleading claims made by a number of parties. The facts are that the model we have developed for the Commonwealth Integrity Commission sees that body having the same—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat for a moment. The member seeks to take a point of order?

Dr Haines: On relevance: this motion is about debate. It's about suspending standing orders to bring on debate. It is not about the government's bill.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I thank the member. The minister should address the substance of the motion.

Mr FLETCHER: I'm doing precisely that. I'm explaining why there is not a need, in the government's view, for a suspension of standing orders so as to allow debate in relation to the member's bill, because the government has a detailed proposal in relation to the Commonwealth Integrity Commission. There have been some misleading claims made about the government's model, so I am seeking to make sure the House—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I ask the minister to resume his seat for a moment. I give the call to the member for Kennedy.

Mr Katter: I have great respect for the minister, but the issue that is being debated—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can you just indicate to the chair what the point of order is?

Mr Katter: I am going to do that—please.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I need you to indicate it to me first up.

Mr Katter: The issue being debated is whether we have the right to an emergency motion. It's not whether his idea is better than our idea; it is whether it should be an emergency motion.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I thank the member for Kennedy.

Mr Katter: He isn't addressing the issue. That's not the issue. The issue is emergency.

The DEPUTY SPEA KER: The member for Kennedy has made his point. The point of order is that the minister needs to address the substance of the motion. I have made it clear to the minister that he needs to address the substance of the motion before us.

Mr FLETCHER: Can I respond to the point the member for Kennedy has made, because he's absolutely right; the question before the House right now is whether standing orders should be suspended so that this matter can be dealt with. (Time expired)

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time for the debate concludes very shortly. Is there anybody who wants 30 seconds? I thank the House.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be disagreed to.

The SPEAKER (11:19): The question now is that the motion be agreed to.

Mr Burke: There is a standing order asking you to state what that question is. For clarification for members, because it's a significant moment, could you state what the question is that you're putting to the House?

The SPEAKER: The question is that the motion moved by the member for Indi to suspend standing orders be agreed to. There needs to be an absolute majority on this question. The member for Menzies, on a point of order?

Mr Andrews: I submit to you that the question we've just voted on is the question which was before the House. It didn't have an absolute majority and therefore it fails.

The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Burke: Mr Speaker, I similarly submit that the point of order that's just been raised by the member for Menzies needed to be raised before you declared it for the noes. You have, in fact, declared this motion as the noes position having been carried. That declaration has been made from the chair.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House.

Mr Dutton: The vote required an absolute majority, which was not achieved. The normal practice in this House, as I understand it, is for you to declare the vote as you have, Mr Speaker, but to note at that point that, given an absolute majority had not been achieved, the motion moved by the honourable member does not carry.

The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Burke: The points that have just been raised by the Leader of the House would have to have been raised before the declaration had been made as to what the outcome was. What the Leader of the House has referred to is a process where the count is announced and a statement is then made, but what the Speaker has done is declared the outcome. Therefore, if the Leader of the House wants to dissent from that decision, that's an option before the House.

The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House.

Mr Dutton: That is an incorrect interpretation—I'll put it politely. I'm sure there's at least some shred of genuineness to it, but the reality is that it is within your prerogative, Mr Speaker. I know that there's advice from the Clerk, but I put it to you that it's within your prerogative under the standing orders to clarify the situation and to, in my respectful suggestion to you, adhere to that practice which would see a statement along the lines that I outlined earlier.

The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business.

Mr Burke: Mr Speaker, if you would want to go down that path then there would have to be a seeking of a recommitting of the question.

The SPEAKER: Sorry, I didn't hear that?

Mr Burke: If there's a request for the question to be recommitted, then what the Leader of the House has proposed would be able to be done. But, short of that, it's been declared.

The SPEAKER: The position in relation to the first motion stands, and that was the numbers that I read out earlier. There needs to be an absolute majority, and the next question is that the motion be agreed to. All those of that opinion say aye.

An honourable member: Which motion?

The SPEAKER: On the suspension of standing orders. All those of that opinion say aye.

Mr Katter: Clearly a lot of us are very confused. I'm one of the dumber ones, so I'm really at a loss.

The SPEAKER: Is there a point of order? No point of order. The member for Indi has the call.

Dr Haines: I'm not confused. What clearly has to happen is we need to get on with the debate. We're spending so much time right now trying to understand the procedures.

The SPEAKER: The question is that the motion for the suspension of standing orders be agreed to.

Ms SWANSON (Paterson) (12:24): On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, I present the committee's report entitled Inquiry into the Department of Defence annual report 2019-20.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

Ms SWANSON: by leave—As the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade resides in the other place and the chair of the Defence Subcommittee has ascended to the chair of this place, the duty falls to me as deputy chair of the main committee and the subcommittee for defence to present this report, entitled Inquiry into the Department of Defence annual report 2019-20.

On 17 March 2020, the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade resolved to have the Defence Subcommittee inquire into and report on the Department of Defence annual report 2019-20. The inquiry initially focused on four main aspects of the annual report, namely: space based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; cyberwarfare; defence estate in the north and north-west of Australia; and defence workforce. Throughout the conduct of the inquiry, defence science and technology and strategic fuel security became additional focus areas.

The global geostrategic environment is changing at a rate and on a scale much greater than was anticipated towards the end of the last decade. Military modernisation in the Indo-Pacific, particularly in grey zone capabilities and tactics, has added a layer of complexity to Australia's strategic challenges, which must be met in an equally high-paced and agile manner if we are to maintain a credible defensive deterrent. Never has it been more apparent that future threats to our national interests and those of our allies and partners could come in various unconventional forms. These include information warfare, political warfare, cyberattack, space and antispace capabilities, economic coercion, disaster and climate change diplomacy, and other forms of influence and coercion that fall below the threshold of conventional military responses.

While initial focus areas of this inquiry into the Department of Defence annual report 2019-20were relatively narrow, what the committee subsequently learned was significantly broader. The committee sees the clear potential advantages of taking an increasingly asymmetric approach to national security in coming decades, not only within the Defence organisation but from a broader whole-of-nation perspective. This extends beyond strictly military capabilities to shared civil military space capabilities, joint civil military cybercapabilities and innovative approaches to future fuel and energy security measures.

As a sovereign nation, Australia has many defence related choices over the coming decade. We can continue to focus on defence philosophy, primarily on conventional military responses whilst developing asymmetric and grey zone capabilities as adjunct or niche considerations, or we can more actively embrace asymmetric and grey zone capabilities as equals to our outstanding, indispensable, yet relatively small conventional military forces. We must also begin to think unconventionally about energy security, as Australia's strategic focus has shifted from the Northern Hemisphere to regions closer to home.

Our traditional assumptions about logistics chains that provide for our peacetime fuel needs in our region must also be challenged and, if necessary, our national approach altered to ensure we have access to fuels and potentially alternative fuels in times of crisis. Alternatively, Australia, as a medium power with a burgeoning science, technology, engineering and mathematics sector and a long history of technical and military innovation, is superbly positioned to become a world leader in unconventional, asymmetric and innovative approaches to many aspects of our national power, including defence and energy security.

I believe the time is right for Australia to play to its strengths. Despite our relatively small population and modest economy compared to the major powers in our region, our Defence Organisation has the opportunity to become an increasingly potent adversary, an agile adversary which would pose a very difficult strategic calculus for any potential future threats.

This report makes six recommendations. These relate to the increasing size of the Australian Defence Force, improving Australia's grey-zone capabilities and improving national fuel security. These recommendations seek to alter Australia's national strategy to make us more resilient, agile and capable, particularly as a sovereign nation in the age of grey-zone tactics and warfare information.

On behalf of the Defence Subcommittee, I express my sincere thanks to the many representatives of the ADF who have performed so incredibly, particularly in the last two years, where they have stepped out of more military based roles into assisting our communities with COVID. I also want to thank other government agencies, industry and academia, who really made extraordinary contributions to this inquiry. The Defence Subcommittee was enlightened by much of the evidence submitted and was very encouraged by the highly professional and dedicated people from all sectors who contributed, who take our national security very seriously and take the stability and peace of our region equally seriously. I would also like to thank the secretariat, ably led by Julia Morris, and also I would like to thank Wing Commander Steven Ferguson, our Defence adviser, who has had the difficulty of a pandemic added to that of an already complex and busy committee. I commend the report to the House.

Mr TEHAN (Wannon—Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (13:00): by leave—I stand to present the government's annual investment statement.

The government first committed to deliver this annual statement in 2013. At the same time, it created the first federal minister for both trade and investment in recognition of the indivisibility of those critical contributors to Australian jobs, growth and our way of life.

Increasing investment has taken on greater importance as we emerge from COVID-19.

Current state of investment flows and stock

Today, I am releasing the International Investment Australia 2020 Report.

The report shows that net foreign direct investment flows into Australia in 2020 fell 48 per cent from 2019 levels, reflecting a global decline in FDI flows due to the pandemic.

While this was a large reduction, Australia fared better than many developed economies, which declined by around 58 per cent on average over the same period.

The value of FDI stock in Australia remained stable over the last year at $1 trillion.

FDI supports one in 10 jobs and about 40 per cent of exports in Australia.

The number and value of approved investments in Australia has held up well in recent years, including in 2020.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reports the value of announced greenfield projects in Australia increased by almost nine per cent compared with an 18 per cent decrease in similar flows to all other developed economies.

There are several reasons Australia has remained an attractive destination for investment through the pandemic:

Our highly skilled and highly educated workforce

Our proximity to the dynamic and fast-growing markets of the Indo-Pacific

Our abundant natural resources and world-class industry capabilities

Our stable democracy and strong rule of law.

But perhaps most importantly, our strong and well-managed economy has given us the fiscal firepower to support our economy through the pandemic.

Investment as key part of our recovery

All nations are grappling with an increasingly complex and challenging global environment, which is why the coalition government has implemented a series of reforms to our foreign investment review framework over the last year.

Our system is focused on promoting business certainty and delivering timely foreign investment decisions, while ensuring that investments are not contrary to the national interest and national security.

At the same time, the Global Business and Talent Attraction Taskforce is looking at how we can identify and attract more high-value businesses and exceptional talent to Australia.

With the widespread rollout of vaccines, the reopening of Australia's borders is proceeding well.

The government is conscious that, over the past 18 months, restrictions on entering Australia have been frustrating for many international investors.

So we are glad that, from 1 December, we will proceed to the next stage of the reopening of our international borders, under which fully vaccinated eligible visa holders will be able to enter Australia.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming our foreign investors back to Australia in person. In short, Australia is open to foreign investment, and we want those foreign investors to return in large numbers.

Investment underpinning efforts to address climate change

At the same time, the government is focused on supporting businesses to grow.

Our $1.3 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative encourages investment in key areas of comparative advantage and strategic importance:

resources technology and critical minerals,

food and beverage,

medical products,

recycling and clean energy,

defence, and

space.

Already, foreign investment is playing a significant role in our efforts to address the impacts of climate change and support the transition to a new energy economy.

The government is investing $20 billion in the decade to 2030 to support the commercialisation of low-emissions technologies. We hope to leverage up to $80 billion in private investment.

Our focus is on cost breakthroughs in clean hydrogen, energy storage, carbon capture and storage, solar, green steel and aluminium and measuring soil carbon.

The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) operation in Victoria, for example, is a world-first project that will produce clean liquid hydrogen for export to Japan.

Neoen, a French energy utility company, has invested more than $3 billion over the last decade in Australia's renewables sector.

It has 14 large-scale renewable energy projects across Australia, with two gigawatts of assets in operation or under construction.

These projects include the 400-megawatt Western Downs Green Power Hub in Queensland; the Goyder South wind, solar and battery storage project in South Australia; and the 300-megawatt Victorian Big Battery near Geelong.

In critical minerals and rare earths, we want Australia to become a world leader in the extraction, processing and supply of these inputs to semiconductors, mobile phones, wind turbines, electric cars, solar panels and other high-tech products.

We are already the world's top producer of lithium and the largest supplier of refined rare earth products outside China.

We have seen early success stories like Lynas, Australian Strategic Materials, Renascor and Pilbara Minerals.

Australia's Renascor Resources, for example, concluded a major deal with South Korea's POSCO to supply purified spherical graphite, helped along by strong government advocacy and engagement.

In the food and beverage sector, Chobani is a great success story out of Victoria.

Chobani has ambitious growth plans and is committed to ongoing investment in Australia with its continued commitment to manufacturing innovation, not only supporting local manufacturing jobs but also supporting Victorian dairy farmers and local supply chains.

Global technology company Thales, who operate in defence, security, transport, aerospace and space, spent $657 million with over 1,800 Australian suppliers in 2020. This supported over 2,000 jobs.

In high-value research, I would like to recognise Bosch for its role in bringing new skills and capabilities to Australia's manufacturing sector.

Bosch employs a large workforce of engineers and technology specialists in Australia.

It is a leader in innovation through its work in the development and application of vehicle electronics and safety systems, cybersecurity gateways and driver assistance systems for the global car industry as well as in agritechnology and advanced manufacturing systems.

Investment supporting recovery underpinned by trade

There are opportunities through trade to secure greater foreign investment.

We have a promising program of trade negotiations to deliver more investment for Australia.

In the last year, we have made substantial progress towards finalising free trade agreements with the United Kingdom and the European Union, two of our four largest sources of foreign investment.

These agreements will not only support Australia's economic recovery from COVID-19 but also help diversify our trade and strengthen trade and investment in major global markets.

Conclusion

Australia has come through this pandemic in a strong position, and in the recovery phase ahead investment will be vital to our continued economic growth, employment and future resilience.

Despite the challenges posed to the global economy by the pandemic, Australia remains an attractive destination for foreign investment.

The Morrison government is committed to ensuring we have the right settings to take advantage of opportunities to attract foreign investment.

Whether it's through trade negotiations, border settings or conditions for business, each is carefully calibrated to contribute to investment being a constructive and productive element of Australia's economic profile, contributing to jobs and growth for all Australians.

Ms MADELEINE KING (Brand) (13:10): The minister noted that the government committed to deliver this annual statement in 2013, and I thank the minister today for making this statement to the House in 2021. Members may remember that last year's ministerial statement on investment was given by the former minister, Senator Birmingham, at an awards night dinner for exporters hosted by his own agencies. What a treat for those award winners—a half-hour, self-congratulatory speech from the minister! The 2019 so-called annual investment statement is, of course, nowhere to be found. This is emblematic of this government's basic instincts of spin over substance, announceable over action, photo-op over follow-up. Instead of subjecting the government's record to the accountability of parliament, the former minister gave a self-indulgent speech at his own party. So I'm very glad, and welcome the fact, that the government has brought the annual investment statement back to the parliament after this two-year absence.

Australia benefits from an internationally competitive and open economy. While the discourse tends to centre on trade, international delegations, growing export market and free trade agreements—investment, the other pillar of economic strength and resilience upon which the Australian economy balances, is, at times, overlooked. And, in the moments when it is not overlooked, foreign investment is weaponised by populist politicians seeking to inject fear of foreign investment into the community. In truth, Australia has depended on foreign investment for its development since British settlement. Since that time, foreign investment has changed and grown. Of the approximately $4 trillion invested in Australia, which includes passive portfolio investment, most is from the United States; the United Kingdom; Belgium, acting for the EU; followed by Japan. Of the $4 trillion total, around $1 trillion, as the minister noted, is foreign direct investment. So foreign direct investment makes up around 25 per cent of all incoming foreign investment to this country.

The first regulation of foreign investment in Australia emerged in 1972. The catalyst was a curious food product present in bain-maries at roadhouses around the country. The Chiko Roll was sold in the tens of millions per annum when the US company IT&T sought to buy the Aussie company. The idea of Americans buying out an Australian food icon led to an immense public backlash. The controversy reached this parliament—well, it was down the hill then—and it has been noted that the cabinet meeting over the Chiko Roll was the beginning of the regulation of foreign investment in Australia. I thank my colleague the member for Fenner for reminding me of this curious fact, and I do recommend his work on openness, which sets out a very good case for an Australian society and economy that is open to the world.

The sale of Australian brands remains controversial. Some might recall the public discourse, verging on an Armageddon event, when Vegemite was sold to a foreign company. But often this is the only way to save a business. The question is: would we rather lose the product entirely or have it be saved and have the investment to reinvent that product? We see the story of RM Williams, created in 1932 and owned since 2013 by the luxury brand the LVMH group. It has now been returned to Australian ownership. It's a great story.

Foreign investment creates opportunities and it creates jobs for Australians in Australia. Think of resources companies like Rio Tinto and BHP and how many people they employ. Both iron ore giants are three-quarters foreign owned and they engage 45,000 and 22,000 employees and contractors respectively. The resources industry is more broadly central to the history of foreign investment in Australia. In April 1985, Bob Hawke stood alongside Chinese Communist Party boss Hu Yaobang atop an iron-rich hill in the Pilbara and commenced a new era of Sino-Australian economic relations. Hawke's ambition that day was for China and Australia to invest jointly in an iron ore mine, a prospect he'd raised with Premier Zhao Ziyang in Beijing a year earlier. Prime Minister Hawke's active involvement paved the way for the signing of the Channar joint venture agreement between Rio Tinto and Sinosteel in 1987. This was China's first major overseas investment. More than 250 million tonnes of iron ore have since been shipped to China, creating thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in export revenue for Australia. In 2020, China's foreign investment in Australia totalled over $70,000 million. That accounts for two per cent of foreign investment and is our ninth-largest source of such investment.

The US and the UK remain the biggest foreign investors in this country. Another significant contributor of foreign direct investment is our regional neighbour Japan. Japan has been one of Australia's largest trade and investment partners for more than 60 years, and this is a testament to the strong ties that bind our two countries together. Japan helped build Australia's LNG industry. LNG requires big outlays, even compared to iron ore production. Shell and BHP in joint venture partnership with Woodside had to pay $3 billion upfront to start developing the North West Shelf due to the complex system of drilling offshore, processing offshore and liquefying for export.

Once the Whitlam government approved LNG exports in the 1970s, the Western Australian government secured Japanese capital investment via long-term sale contracts to build a gas pipeline from Dampier to Perth. The pipeline covers more than 1,597 kilometres, starting from the Burrup Peninsula in the state's north-west and finishing near Bunbury in the state's south-west. This allowed for the remainder to be sold off to power other projects in the Pilbara. The Dampier to Bunbury pipeline still plays a central role in WA's economy, bringing natural gas from the Pilbara to electricity generation plants near the population centres in the south. It's a remarkable achievement. The first LNG cargo from the North West Shelf arrived in Tokyo in 1989. LNG cargoes continue out of Karratha to this day, and, more recently, the Japanese company INPEX established the Ichthys project off the coast of Western Australia and in Darwin with an investment of $40 billion. With this, Australia has become the destination for Japan's largest ever overseas investment.

Such a strong history of investment in this country should cause us all to ask: where to next? The minister's statement takes us through what everyone else is doing in relation to critical minerals and rare earths. But what is the government doing to try and supercharge this future-facing industry? There are a few policies there, but I'd argue it's not terribly much, and it's definitely not enough. There is much said about establishing a lithium battery industry in this country, but, as yet, we haven't seen a government effort to attract investment from the battery-producing powerhouses of Japan and South Korea to build Australia's capacity beyond basic processing of lithium, nickel and rare earths. The truth is that, under this government, business investment is going backwards. Investment is down over 20 per cent since the Liberals came to office in 2013. Investment is at its lowest level since the 1990s recession, and this was before the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic cannot always continue to be an excuse for underperformance. The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments, over eight long years, have simply not provided the right investment conditions to support the economy across key areas like manufacturing, energy and resources, the care economy, and research and development.

Right now, the greatest threat to critical foreign investment is this government's lacklustre, lazy and frankly irresponsible approach to policy to address the true challenge of climate change. The minister set out some efforts, but I think this is too little, too late. Foreign investment funds are openly warning that they are considering cutting billions of dollars of investments into Australia because of this government's half-hearted commitment to a 2050 net zero emissions target. The Investor Group on Climate Change, which includes AustralianSuper—the nation's biggest super fund and among the top 20 in the world—UniSuper and Lendlease, released an analysis last month confirming climate policy uncertainty was a turn-off to international investors. Australia has become among the least attractive destinations for institutional investment in clean energy for industries of the future.

This is a damning indictment of this Liberal-National government. It has failed to put forward any believable policies, and the result is that erstwhile international investors in Australian industry turn away and look elsewhere. The deputy governor of the Reserve Bank Guy Debelle recently warned of climate risks in the Australian financial system. He made the very obvious point, which this government likes to ignore:

Investors will adjust their portfolios in response to climate risks. Governments in other jurisdictions are implementing net zero policies. Both of these are effectively increasing the cost of emissions-intensive activities in Australia. So, irrespective of whether we think these adjustments are appropriate or fair, they are happening and we need to take account of that. The material risk is that these forces are going to intensify from here.

I'd like to reflect very briefly—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Freelander ): Order! The shadow minister's time has expired.

A government member: I'm happy to approve—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please continue.

Ms MADELEINE KING: I'll reflect briefly on our own investment super powerhouse, the superannuation savings of all Australian workers. It's a remarkable thing that just a few months ago assets under management in the Australian super system reached $3.4 trillion. Through every worker in Australia and their super contributions to this extraordinary pool of savings, it is now the fourth largest in the world. Every worker in this country has contributed to Australia becoming a true investment super power on the world stage. The investment capacity of this nation has a role to play in securing the infrastructure and economic development of the Indo-Pacific, investing in regional neighbours while supporting Australia's national interests.

It is indeed a virtuous circle: the investment of Aussie super into the economies of our neighbours builds a prosperous and peaceful neighbourhood, which in turn provides excellent opportunities for Australian exporters. In fact, Australian superannuation capital is on the path to join iron ore, natural gas and amazing red wine as a famous national export. Like foreign investment here, our own investments around the world are a sensible means to create jobs, raise living standards, increase prosperity and ensure peace across the region. Thank you, Deputy Speaker, for your indulgence.

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (13:29): While many of us were safe and warm at home last night, a shocking number of Australian women weren't. Women and children fleeing violence are being turned away from shelters across our nation. They are resorting to sleeping in their cars, sleeping on friends' sofas or, worst of all, returning to danger.

It used to take an average of just three weeks to find someone a secure home. Now it can take two years. That is an indictment. Women and children fleeing domestic violence should always have access to safe refuge, advice and guidance. When the world feels upended, they should have something to hold on to.

That's why a Labor government will fund an extra 500 community workers to help those fleeing domestic and family violence. As I and my colleagues announced yesterday, we will also create a new family, domestic and sexual violence commissioner to act as a strong voice for victims-survivors.

Domestic violence is a stain on our nation and on our soul. We must all work to end it—governments, non-government organisations and the entire community. When a woman asks for help we have an obligation to get her that help. Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, I reiterate: a Labor government that I lead will ensure that women's safety is a national priority.

Opposition members: Hear, hear!

Mr CONAGHAN (Cowper) (13:31): Most of us love a beer, and there's nothing better than a local beer. I'm pleased to say that last Friday the King Tide Brewpub, Coffs Harbour's first-ever pub brewery, swung its doors open. Founder and beer enthusiast Josh King was obviously born with beer in his blood. He worked in Sydney as a young student engineer at Tooheys Brewery, but Josh had a desire to move his family back to his home town of Coffs Harbour. Since then, both Josh and Lucy King have worked tirelessly to convert the old mechanic shed in Studio Lane into something really special. They designed the entire venue around their functioning brewery, bringing people into the brewery experience. It has an open-plan beer garden, as you would expect; a warm winter nook; a comfy kitchen mezzanine; and, the most important thing, 12 King Tide beers on tap, with names like 'The Power of Voodoo', 'The Hippie Camper', 'Virgin Haze' and 'Beached As'. I'm keen to try them all—perhaps not in the one session, though!

Josh and Lucy, I can only imagine the nerves, blood, sweat and tears you went through during this time. It's a testament to your vision and grit. You're on a winner. I can't wait to see your investment in the Coffs coast community pay off in spades. Cheers to you both.

Mr ZAPPIA (Makin) (13:32): I draw the House's attention, and in particular the government's attention, to the plight of Mohammad El Halabi, who, for over five years, has languished in an Israeli jail. Mohammad is the father of five young children. He was a long-time employee and manager of World Vision in Gaza at the time of his arrest in June 2016. His work colleagues state that Mohammad had been assiduously nonpolitical. He is accused of diverting $50 million of aid money to Hamas. Several independent reputable audits, including, I understand, an Australian DFAT investigation, found no evidence to support that accusation. His arrest, detention and court appearances to date have been described as shambolic and lacking transparency. His trial is secretive and held behind closed doors. His lawyers do not have access to relevant prosecution documents.

Australia is a friend of Israel. World Vision is a reputable global Christian aid organisation. World Vision, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others have all called for Mohammad's release. I call on the Australian government to stand up for human rights and to call on the Israeli government to release Mohammad El Halabi or, at the very least, ensure that he has a fair, transparent and early trial.

Mr COULTON (Parkes) (13:34): Last Friday I had the pleasure of representing the Australian government at Lake Cargelligo, in my electorate, to announce $9.8 million towards a $20 million project to produce hydrogen from solar energy. It's a partnership between Graphite Energy, Toshiba International and MGA Thermal that will further progress the work that Graphite Energy have been doing over the last decade in Lake Cargelligo where they can transfer energy from the sun, using the medium of graphite, to generate steam for the production ultimately, hopefully, of hydrogen. They are small, individual modular containers that will produce hydrogen on site as it's needed. Hydrogen is a very difficult gas to transport around, so to be able to produce hydrogen onsite is a great advantage.

This is happening in regional Australia. It's happening in a small country town. Once again, it shows that regional Australia is leading the way when it comes to the innovation that's required to reduce emissions and help make our environment a more healthy place. Lake Cargelligo already has a very substantial industrial part of their town, with cutting-edge technologies and modern factories. This is going to add to the work that's being done and help bring Australia to a cleaner future.

Mr GILES (Scullin) (13:35): I rise to mourn the passing of Professor Stuart Macintyre on 22 November and to recognise his contribution to the discipline of history and to this country. I was privileged to have him mark my honours thesis, and I know firsthand how his passion for teaching transformed lives. Professor Macintyre had a distinguished academic career: twice dean of arts at the University of Melbourne and the Ernest Scott chair in history, amongst many other appointments. Janet McCalman AC, another great Australian historian, writes of him as 'a history warrior who worked for a better Australia', who understood and explained our winners and our losers and:

… who recognised the distinctive as well as the common in the Australian experience. And he understood as no other scholar, the institutions that bound the Commonwealth …

He leaves a big gap but an enormous legacy, with so many important books, from The Redsto The History Wars to Australia's Boldest Experiment, and with former Senator Faulkner he co-authored Labor's centenary history. He was of course a longstanding member of the Brunswick branch of the Australian Labor Party and a valued, critical contributor to wider societal debates, in particular on the issue of civics education. We have too few great public intellectuals, as Professor Macintyre was, and, while we have many great historians, for me Stuart Macintyre stands along Manning Clark as having enlarged our sense of ourselves and suggesting who we might be.

Mr LAMING (Bowman) (13:37): [by video link] News of the defamation decision in favour of the member for Dickson yesterday reminds us that, while there'll always be worms and grubs in public debate, we're seeing a return to civil behaviour from select parts of the media. Honesty is the lesson of 2021—that being, that if you lie you just admit to it, fess up and apologise. Don't 'Milligan' around for months with the moral hazard of knowing that, certainly with public broadcasting, the taxpayer will fund your intransigence and your delays.

This was the experience in 2021, but there is no basis in law whatsoever that is available that the national broadcaster should have colluded with a staff member to defend defamatory material in the public domain, but they did. They passed up the opportunity of a completely cost-free apology and then vaporised around $170,000 on court costs at the taxpayers' expense. We need to accept that it's aggravating that you have to complain about ABC conduct to the ABC News unit first and then to another part of the ABC, but you can never go to ACMA. If we've learnt anything from the last 12 months, it's that the egos and entitlement of some in the Australian media need to be curtailed. We need a public broadcasting ombudsman. I commend Senators Abetz, Antic, Henderson and McGrath for standing up for these matters in the Australian Senate. The Labor Party and crossbenchers should do the same. We need a public broadcasting ombudsman and FOI decisions not done by the ABC for the ABC.

Dr FREELANDER (Macarthur) (13:38): I table a petition regarding the use of Trikafta as a cystic fibrosis treatment.

The petition read as follows—

Trikafta is a transformative medicine that can change the lives of 90% of people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). Up to 2200 Australians are desperately waiting for access to this life-saving medicine. People in the US have had access for 2 years and 19 countries have provided access to Trikafta. Yet in Australia Trikafta has been deferred twice and partially approved (for 20%) at the third meeting. Majority of the CF community in Australia is being left behind, due to an impasse in negotiations between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the PBAC. Australia is 17th out of 20 OECD countries in terms of access to new medicines. This was shown with Kalydeco, the first of these life-saving CF medicines, taking 7X longer than the US, and 2-3X longer than many European countries. The difference between these countries and Australia is a faster and more flexible reimbursement process. The flexibility in these models allows access to medicines years earlier through mechanisms like access provided prior to reimbursement or pipeline agreements covering medicine portfolios. We hope the current parliamentary inquiry considers these options, with this inquiry leading to significant improvements to the speed of medicine approvals. With half of those with CF currently dying by age 30, Australians with CF need immediate access to Trikafta and need a flexible system that prioritises fast access to life-saving medicines.

We therefore ask the House to expedite the Trikafta negotiations between Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Health Department, and for legislative changes that prioritises fast access to future medicines.

from 35,815 citizens (Petition No. EN3224)

Petition received.

Dr FREELANDER: The petition I present to the House today has been signed by no fewer than 35,815 individuals. It has been promoted by a number of people, including Genevieve Handley as the principal petitioner. Trikafta is a life-saving and life-changing treatment for people with cystic fibrosis who have at least one copy of the common delta F508 mutation. We've seen people taken off the heart and lung transplant list, and we've seen people's lives saved by this life-changing genetic treatment. I encourage the Department of Health and the minister to immediately approve the use of Trikafta for all those who have at least one copy of the delta F508 gene, which is by far the most common mutation causing cystic fibrosis, a severe disorder which often used to be fatal in childhood. With new genetic treatments, people can live to near-normal or normal life expectancies. I'd encourage the minister to act as soon as he possibly can.

Mr DRUM (Nicholls—Chief Nationals Whip) (13:40): As the proud member for Nicholls in this government, I rise to bring to the House's attention some of the work that the government has recently been delivering for the people of Nicholls. Last week, I was honoured to participate in the opening of the Shepparton Art Museum, a $50 million project that this federal government has contributed $15 million towards, while $15 million has also come from the Greater Shepparton City Council and $7 million from the SAM Foundation, along with $10 million from the state. SAM will display works from over 200 artists, with 160 Indigenous and First Nations artworks in addition to a ceramics collection that is unrivalled anywhere else in Australia. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his role in the opening last week.

The weekend prior to the opening of the SAM, we also had an opportunity to open the Museum of Vehicle Evolution, better known as MOVE. MOVE has been transformed after a $5.3 million upgrade, which the federal government contributed $2.5 million towards. MOVE has now been expanded to just under 10,000 square metres. It houses the museum's collection of cars, motorbikes, trucks and vintage clothing and also acknowledges the rich history of transport throughout the Goulburn Valley region. It will now highlight a collection of trucks that will be unrivalled anywhere else in Australia. I wish to acknowledge and congratulate every person in Nicholls that has helped bring these two amazing projects to fruition.

Mr WILKIE (Clark) (13:41): It is costing the Australian taxpayer more than $350,000 per month to hold a single refugee in immigration detention on Nauru. That's right—$350,000 per month, nearly $4.3 million per year, for just one refugee. At a time when there are more than 100 asylum seekers and refugees on the island, many detained for over eight years, that brings the total cost to about $1.7 billion. Imagine if this government had such a dogged commitment to caring for people rather than persecuting them. Just imagine this sort of cash going instead to health care, education, public housing, increased pensions and payments and more home-care packages. That's just the start of my list.

Mind you, it's obviously not the financial but the human cost that many Australians find particularly devastating. Remember, these young men on Nauru have been locked up for years in appalling conditions and separated from their families simply because they were fleeing for their lives and asked Australia to protect them. I've said it countless times in this place, but I need to say it again: Australia has a legal and moral obligation to protect people claiming to be fleeing persecution, to quickly hear their claims and to provide permanent refuge if their claims are upheld. That's what's needed. That's what a government with integrity would do and do now.

Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (13:43): I recently travelled to Lakeland, located a few hundred kilometres north-west of Cairns, for the official opening of a new sporting oval and facilities. This wasn't just another sporting field or simply another opening. The sporting field was named in honour of Cape York legend Alan Wilson. The Alan Wilson Oval is a fitting legacy to a person who has dedicated his life to serving his community in many different capacities.

Alan, who now lives in the Tablelands, has had many careers, including Northern Territory police officer, my cattle station manager at Olive Vale in Cape York, publican and roadhouse owner. However, Alan has always been remembered as being a hardworking, passionate and dedicated councillor and deputy mayor with the Cook Shire Council for over 16 years.

One of the things that Alan has always been remembered for is his decades-long campaign to see a container deposit scheme established in Queensland. His unwavering dedication paid dividends in the Queensland government's introducing the new, highly successful Containers for Change scheme. A lot of people told Alan it'd never be done, but it just goes to show what can be achieved by someone with the passion and dogged determination to change something for the better. Finally, I'd like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the Lakeland Progress Association, whose idea it was to name the new sports oval in honour of not only a Cape York legend but a very decent person and an all-round top bloke.

Ms McBRIDE (Dobell) (13:44): The Central Coast is mourning the loss of its famous sporting son, cricketer Alan Davidson, who died surrounded by family on 30 October, age 92. Alan was born in Lisarow in 1929 and grew up on his family's rural property. He honed his cricketing skills on a pitch he dug out himself, bowling oranges at stumps he made out of gumtree branches. Alan played 44 tests for Australia between 1953 and 1963 and was a star for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield.

A left-arm paceman, Alan is regarded as one of Australia's greatest all-rounders. He took 186 test wickets over his career and made five half centuries with the bat. In the field his catching skills earned him the nickname 'The Claw'. Perhaps the highest point of his career came in the famous tied test against the West Indies in 1960. He took five for 135 in the West Indies' first innings and six for 87 in the second. He made a handy 44 runs in Australia's first innings and was run out, much to his annoyance, for 80 in the second innings, his highest ever test score—becoming the first male player to achieve the double of 100 runs and 10 wickets in the same test.

Following his retirement from test cricket, Alan continued to contribute to the game as an administrator, selector and mentor. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1987. His memory is honoured at the Alan Davidson Oval in Wyoming. Vale Alan Davidson.

Mr FALINSKI (Mackellar) (13:46): I rise is to give my congratulations to Geoff Coombes of Frenchs Forrest, who was recently awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. Mr Coombes is a co-founder of the charity Tour de Cure and is dedicated to seeing a world without cancer. Since the organisation's founding in 2007 Tour de Cure has raised $66 million, funding over 554 cancer projects and playing a role in 54 significant breakthroughs in research and care. Each year the organisation holds numerous tours and events to further their mission to cure and change lives. Mr Coombes currently works as the director of development for Tour de Cure, engaging with corporate partners in pursuit of a cure for cancer.

As a proud father of three, Mr Coombes is the driving force behind the Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy program, visiting school communities to raise awareness about cancer prevention and encourage kids to make healthy choices for their future. From three mates meeting up for coffee to a national movement with thousands of supporters, Mr Coombes and the Tour de Cure team should be proud of all they have achieved for those impacted by cancer, both on the Northern Beaches and right around the world.

Dr ALY (Cowan) (13:47): This morning I got an email from Steve in Cowan, informing me that, during a live teleconference with the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister referred to the member for Stirling as the member for Cowan. Steve emailed me because he found this untruth very offensive. I'd like to remind the Prime Minister that I am the very proud member for Cowan. I'm proud to stand here and represent the people of Cowan.

Here is what the member for Stirling had to say to the people of Cowan when he tried, not once, but twice, to nominate for the safe seat of Moore, after just one term in office. He said: 'The electoral boundaries have changed, but my community has not.' Referring to Moore, he said: 'It's where we surf, shop and visit friends.' Referring to his decision to run for Moore, he said: 'It's all about where I'm going to be able to maintain my passion and energy.'

Well, to the people of Balga, Mirrabooka, Girrawheen, Ballajura, Nollamara, Noranda, Stirling, Osborne Park, Kiara, Greenwood, Warwick, Hamersley, Westminster, Balcatta, Beechboro, Lockridge, Marangaroo, Alexander Heights and Koondoola: I stand here for you because I don't surf but you are where my passion and my energy lay. I'm excited for the opportunity to represent Cowan, and I won't abandon you for sunsets in Scarborough. (Time expired)

Ms FLINT (Boothby—Government Whip) (13:49): Looking after our Defence Force veterans is one of the most important tasks we have as a nation, and that is exactly what we are doing at the brand-new veterans wellbeing centre located within the reactivated Repat site in Boothby. Made possible by $5 million of funding from the Morrison Liberal government, the centre is one of six veteran wellbeing centres around Australia. The centre is now home to the RSL, Open Arms Australia, Soldier On and, of course, the Plympton Veterans Centre—and I pay tribute to their veterans advocates: Tich Tyson, Bill Hignett and Graham 'Ruddy' Rudd—who I recently visited. The veterans centre is complemented by the refurbished SPF Hall, the town square and the neighbouring sports gymnasium, which offers sports such as wheelchair basketball.

I returned to the Repat for Remembrance Day and, along with many of the veterans in attendance, saw the state Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Hon. Stephen Wade MLC, plant in the town square a lone pine which is a descendant of the original Gallipoli Lone Pine. This is a fitting tribute to the thousands of Australian veterans who have been supported and cared for at the Repat during its long and proud history. I am incredibly proud to have secured funding for the Repat as part of more than $40 million of Morrison Liberal government funding towards its reactivation, which also includes a specialist dementia unit and a brand-new brain and spinal unit. The former state Labor government shamefully closed the Repat hospital, but, thanks to the Morrison and Marshall Liberal governments, it is once again thriving.

Ms MURPHY (Dunkley) (13:50): Recently I received an email from Michael in Seaford, who asked me to 'encourage the government to think more APPROPRIATELY'—in capital letters—'about aged persons'. So I'm here to tell the House and the government what Michael's life has been like and what too many other people's lives have been like.

Michael is 66 years of age. He is unemployed. He really wants to work. He's had many years in administration—decades and decades. But he left his job in 2013 to be his mother's full-time carer until she died in 2015. He then became a taxi driver, but 60 hours of work a week to make $400 didn't work. He used his money to try to be an owner-driver and couldn't make money out of that. He took out all of his super, and that lasted a year. He is now on unemployment benefits, and his job provider is sending him to get a cert III when, as he says, he's capable of working. He just wants to work. He doesn't want to earn a huge income; he just wants to be able to pay his rent and his debts and live comfortably.

Michael and too many people in this country have suffered because of insecure work. They've suffered because older people seem to be invisible. They've suffered from the Morrison government's policies, and it has to change for people like Michael and people across my electorate.

Mr ZIMMERMAN (North Sydney) (13:52): Well, ho, ho, ho! Christmas lights are beginning to coruscate in the streets of North Sydney as residents prepare to embrace this upcoming Christmas season. Adding to the joyous Christmas spirit, I was delighted to hold once again my annual Christmas card competition for school students in my electorate, and as always the entries were spectacular. I want to commend the efforts of the teachers, the parents and, most importantly, the students, who created some striking artworks. The future of Australian art is incredibly bright if North Sydney is any judge.

I want to congratulate Toby Ward, who is in year 5 at Cammeray Public School, for winning this year's competition. Rounding out the top four were Oscar Worthington of St Thomas Primary School; Ava Kebsch from St Michael's Catholic Primary School; and Eve Whitear, who attends Lane Cove Public School. All four entries were remarkable. I found it, in fact, very difficult to choose a winner. I received hundreds of entries from several schools in my electorate, and I'd like to acknowledge and thank the students and teachers from Mowbray Public School, St Michael's, Cammeray Public School, Northbridge Public School, North Sydney Demonstration School, Chatswood Public School, Hunters Hill Public School, Wenona junior school, Saint Thomas Primary School, St Philip Neri Primary School, Boronia Park Public School and Lane Cove Public School.

To every student who participated in my 2021 Christmas card competition: thank you for your fantastic entries. To all the people in North Sydney and right around Australia: I hope you have a joyous and safe Christmas with your families, who, in many cases, have been apart for far too long.

Ms CHESTERS (Bendigo) (13:54): There are lots of moments this week that are in competition for the top 10 terrible moments of this government, but one that is definitely on the list involved the Minister representing the Minister for Industrial Relations and his answer about labour hire, in which he said that it's just a non-issue—'a made-up issue'. This clearly demonstrates that this minister has no idea what's going on with labour hire. He has no idea that you have two workers working side by side, but one is being paid less than the other simply because they are working for labour hire. He tried to say that the better off overall test applied. You know what, I wish it did. I wish that the better off overall test didn't just apply to the workers on the collective agreement, but applied to all the workers at a workplace. That is one way to fix the labour hire issue, and if the minister wanted to bring that in as a bill we could debate that.

But in the absence of that bill being before us; in the absence of the government actually doing something positive to help workers on labour hire agreements, who are being paid less than their co-workers; they should support Labor's bill. The bill that is before the House is all about same job, same pay. If we in this country believe that if you do a fair day's work you get a fair day's pay, then we should have workers who are doing the same job getting the same pay. And they could start with their own workers. It is appalling that public servants doing the same job are on different rates of pay.

Ms HAMMOND (Curtin) (13:55): As part of their education on the Great War, students from Freshwater Bay Primary School recently marked the unmarked graves of fallen soldiers at Karrakatta Cemetery. These soldiers have been acknowledged by the Australian government as having died from the effects of war and were originally honoured with a war grave and granite headstone. However, the headstones no longer stand.

This amazing Remembrance Day project was a truly collaborative community effort, initiated by Ben Turner at Freshwater Primary School, coordinated by the Claremont and Nedlands branches of the RSL, with Ian Jones from the Showgrounds Community Men's Shed crafting each of the wooden crosses. The year 6 students researched the soldiers, whose official war graves had been destroyed, and decorated a wooden cross to be laid at their unmarked grave. Two days prior to Remembrance Day, 56 students visited Karrakatta and laid their crosses to mark the graves of 35 soldiers.

I want to record my admiration and thanks to all of those involved, but I also want to note my absolute disgust at the removal of the headstones of our World War I vets at Karrakatta and the building of footpaths over some of their graves. I want to assure the local RSLs and the vets' families that I will continue to work with them to ensure that this abject injustice is remedied.

Mr STEPHEN JONES (Whitlam) (13:57): In the Americas it's Thanksgiving today and, as you'd know, it's practice over there to pardon a turkey. That's good for the turkeys because nobody is going to pardon any of this mob over here who just voted not once but twice to block a federal anticorruption commission. We're about to hear lots of mendacious gobbling from the Prime Minister about how hard he's been working on this. Frankly, after 1,077 days, it's time to just pee or get off the pot.

The Prime Minister is always confident about telling Australians about the things that they know. Well, we've got a message for the Prime Minister. Australians know about sports rorts, they know about car park rorts, they know about Helloworld Travel rorts, they know about the Leppington Triangle rort, and they know about the granddaddy rort of them all: $20 billion of taxpayers' money paid out to companies to pay executive bonuses and to plump up the profits that they didn't need. Of course, Australians really know the big reason why this Prime Minister doesn't want a federal anticorruption commission. The reason this guy doesn't want a federal anticorruption commission is that when you're in the witness box you've got to tell the truth, and that's something that this Prime Minister just can't do. (Time expired.)

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (13:58): With apologies to the late, great Geoff Mack, and to the member for Parkes, a country and western aficionado beside me:

I was humpin' my bluey on the upgraded Newell Highway

When along came a semi with a high-end, canvas covered tray;

'If you're going to Peak Hill, mate, with me you can ride,'

So I climbed in the cabin and I settled down inside;

He asked me if I'd been able to get mobile reception,

I said, 'Listen mate, without exception,

Because our black spot program has been everywhere, man,

It's been everywhere, man,

It's crossed the Riverina Plains, man,

It's breathed the Hilltops air, man,

On travel it's had it's share, man,

Our black spot program's been everywhere;

It's been to Bedgerabong, Billimari, Cultowa, Darbys Falls,

Gooloogong, Jemalong, Koorawatha, Ladysmith,

Murringo, Noonbinna, Warroo, Weethalle, Woodstock;

And under round 2, mobile coverage to Mount McDonald, Old Wagga South,

Temora West, Trungley Hall, and that's not all;

Round 3: Dirnaseer, Wantabadgery;

Round 4, Bumbaldry, Monteagle, Naradhan;

Mobile towers here, there, everywhere,

They've been installed everywhere, man,

I realise there's more to do, man, I realise there's more to do,

But we'll get it done, man, because we've got a plan, man.'

The SPEAKER (15:13): Before honourable members leave the chamber, there are a number of matters I'd like to raise. I won't keep the House too long. The first matter is in relation to the suspension motion that was moved today by the member for Indi. I'm going to make an explanation as to what's happened.

Over most of the last two years, the House has adopted different formulations of certain questions on motions as they are put to a vote. The different formulations have been adopted as a means of reducing movement across the chamber, thereby reducing risks associated with COVID-19. In relation to motions to suspend standing orders, because of the current formulation of the question, in the overwhelming majority of cases those questions are decided for the ayes—in favour of the question 'That the motion to suspend standing orders be disagreed to'.

Earlier today, the member for Indi moved a motion to suspend standing orders. Following debate on the suspension motion, the initial question was decided for the noes—that is, disagreeing to the question 'That the motion to suspend standing orders be disagreed to'. A second decision was needed on a differently formulated question, simply because a decision against a proposal to disagree to a motion is not the same as a decision in favour of a motion. The second question enabled a vote on whether the suspension motion should be agreed to, which is the question under standing order 47(c). That requires an absolute majority in order for it to be carried. If members thought this was unusual, they are correct, as there is usually no need for a second question because of the result of the initial question. I regret if members were concerned about having to change sides of the chamber to vote, given the COVID safety arrangements the House has been operating under. On the other hand, this one exception in almost two years highlights just how successful the arrangements have been.

The SPEAKER (15:15): I have another matter, and that is in relation to the matter of privilege that was raised by the Manager of Opposition Business on Tuesday. The Manager of Opposition Business raised as a matter of privilege whether the member for Pearce had failed to comply with the resolution of the House regarding the registration of members' interests such as would constitute a contempt of the House.

Having previously raised this matter on 18 October, the Manager of Opposition Business stated that new information had come to light, by way of an interview on Tuesday morning given by the member for Casey, the former Speaker, which might cause the House to reconsider the matter being referred to the Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests.

I have carefully considered the statement made by the Manager of Opposition Business, and I have carefully reviewed the documents which he provided.

The interview with the member for Casey he referred to, in my view, does not reveal new information relating to the substance of the matter of privilege raised.

Accordingly, as the House has recently decided not to refer the matter to the committee, and in the absence of new information of substance to the matter, nothing has been raised with me that would cause me to support priority being given over other business to a motion for referral of the same matter to the committee.

Mr DUTTON (Dickson—Minister for Defence and Leader of the House) (15:16): Documents are tabled in accordance with the list circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.

The SPEAKER (15:17): I present the Auditor-General's performance audit report No. 10 of 2021-22, entitled Administration of the research and development tax incentive: Industry Innovation and Science Australia; Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources; Australian Taxation Office.

Document made a parliamentary paper in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 28 March 2018.

The SPEAKER (15:18): I have received a letter from the honourable the Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government failing to act in the interests of Australians.

I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the sta nding orders having risen in their places—

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (15:18): Watching this Prime Minister try to navigate his way through parliament this week reminded me of a Malcolm Tucker quote, 'This is like a clown running across a minefield,' because the fleas are jumping off this dog of a government. The Prime Minister, when he took over and knocked off Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister, described the coalition as a 'muppet show'. Well, he is now the muppet in chief. We know that the theme song of The Muppet Show says, 'It's like a kind of torture to have to watch the show,' and indeed it is.

Today we saw, on the national anticorruption commission, a government lose not one but two votes on the floor of the parliament. Then, when we asked about that in question time, he said it's our fault that they haven't introduced legislation on a national integrity commission, which they said they would more than a thousand days ago. On the Religious Discrimination Bill, which should be above politics, there was no attempt to reach out to the opposition. And I thought, 'That was a bit rough.' But then I found out they didn't even give it to their own party room before they debated it, so perhaps we shouldn't be so sensitive.

Then we have the net zero by 2050 vibe that they've adopted. They can't legislate it. Apparently, no-one's told them that what we debate in this place is legislation. Apparently it's bad. Then they have the target that Tony Abbott established in 2015 to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent by 2030. Even though they say they're going to cut emissions by 30 to 35 per cent, they can't change it because the Nats won't let them and half their own party room won't let them. So the Prime Minister goes to Glasgow. That all went well, that international trip. And so he goes to Glasgow after the debacle in Rome. He gave an empty speech to an empty room and then he left. Australia signed up to going to next year's conference of the parties on climate change with a higher target. Australia signed up to that, and then they put out a statement the same day saying they wouldn't do that. Nothing to see here.

Then we get to the issue of vaccines, and that's where it gets really ugly. We had five senators cross the floor to vote for a One Nation position. We have a Prime Minister who's been saying, 'People should be able to get a cup of coffee in Brisbane without showing their vaccination certificate,' without seemingly being aware that the same provisions apply in Sydney. And then we had the protests—an area where we need leadership. The Prime Minister's response was part dog's breakfast, part dog whistle. That was his response, out there, refusing to unequivocally do what a leader was required to do when gallows appeared outside of a parliament and when people were threatening—threatening—to murder members of parliament.

After two years of disruption, Australians need to put the pandemic behind us. We all agree with that. We also agree that we wouldn't have had the recent restrictions if this government had done its job and secured vaccines and secured quarantine. But the best way to do this is to put this government behind us. That's what Australians are increasingly coming to terms with—that this is a government seeking a second decade in office who don't have an agenda for today, let alone an agenda for tomorrow. Perhaps the rebels in the government have a point because no matter what position they take, if they wait long enough it will be the government's position, because Scott Morrison had a different position last week and last month and last year from what he has today.

The Prime Minister has the consistency of mercury—dense, shiny, slippery, toxic and will change shape according to any situation. A prime minister who has no regard for what he himself said yesterday should be given no regard for what he says today. He said, 'We're at the front of the queue,' and we weren't. He said, 'It isn't a race,' and we know that it was. He said electric vehicles would 'end the weekend'. He said he supported Clive Palmer challenging border restrictions. He said 'Shanghai Sam' 17 times and then denied it. On Monday, he said he texted me that he was going to Hawaii, then he doubled down, then an hour later he had to stand at the dispatch box and say, 'No, I didn't,' when he realised that, maybe, there was a bit of evidence there. He should be aware about text messages because he's party to leaking them, as we know, from world leaders. He thinks that that is the way in which you secure relationships on the international stage. But the fact is that when I receive a text message from someone, like all decent people of integrity, I keep them private. The only reason why anyone knows there was any text message at all is because he went on 2GB live from Hawaii and told people; once again setting a precedent for the Macron incident.

The PM did then return and he went to Cobargo, where he falsely claimed he had a long conversation with Zoey Salucci, which wasn't true. We recall the dreadful message of the guy who tells us he supports choice forcing people to shake his hand. I say this: I've never had to force anyone to shake my hand.

My mum had a great saying: you can lock your door from a thief but you can't from a liar. This government is so focused on the photo op there's never a follow-up. It's smirk and mirrors. They're incapable of imagining a better future, let alone creating one. They act like an opposition in exile sitting on the government benches.

We on this side have a plan to build back stronger after COVID, with our National Reconstruction Fund to support the transformation of existing industries and new industries; our plan to make Australia a renewable energy superpower, cleaner energy and cheaper energy that will enable us to build things here, and rebuild; advanced manufacturing—to build manufacturing in areas like trains, defence and agriculture; our 10-point Buy Australian Plan; and our fixing of the National Broadband Network. This mob that say they support technology are the same mob that thought they should replace the fibre rollout with copper—with copper! It says it all about them. We'll train Australians for those jobs by creating Jobs and Skills Australia, supporting TAFE, supporting new infrastructure by having a fair dinkum Infrastructure Australia and not one that's just a place in which you appoint mates.

For all of the jobs that we'll create, we'll create secure work. This week, we've introduced the 'same job, same pay' legislation. We have a range of other measures to close the gender pay gap, to fix casualisation and to look after people in the gig economy. We want no-one held back and no-one left behind. We will advance the universal provision of affordable child care. We will protect and defend Medicare as the key organisation behind our health system. We will fix aged care, which has been the subject of neglect by those opposite.

We'll address issues like gender inequity in this country, including through women's safety with 500 new community workers, which we announced this week, and a family, domestic and sexual violence commissioner. We'll also make sure that women can't just be turned away in the way that they are en masse from housing when they're fleeing violence. We will allocate 4,000 of our housing future fund for women and children escaping domestic violence.

We'll also talk about what sort of nation we want into the future, a nation where we actually work together, a nation where we promote unity, a nation where we take people on that journey where we stop trying to divide. This Prime Minister sees every issue as an opportunity to divide Australians. Even when I just asked about the report into safety in the workplace that is this parliament, he sought to divide. I just wanted a copy of the report and to make sure that all the parliamentarians who participated get access to it.

We'll talk about what sort of Australia we want, and the Australia that I want is one that recognises the great privilege we have of living with the oldest continuous civilisation on earth here, First Nations people, and that's why we will implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full, including a voice to parliament that is recognised in our Constitution—something that hasn't been advanced from those opposite, like the National Integrity Commission and so many other things they promised at the last election. It's always just about the announcement and never the delivery for a Prime Minister who is just not up to the job.

Mr GEE (Calare—Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel) (15:28): I've been involved in politics for just over a decade, and in that time I've seen many things, some good, some bad. But do you know what I see at the moment from that side of the House? I see arrogance. I see the arrogance of an opposition that thinks that they are just going to walk into the Treasury benches and take control.

Who can forget in the lead-up to the last federal election—it was the then opposition leader, the member for Maribyrnong, who sidled up to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do you remember that, Deputy Speaker? You may recall it. They were at a charity run, and he sidled up to the former Governor of California and informed him that he was going to be the next Prime Minister of Australia. You could tell from the look on Mr Schwarzenegger's face that he was shocked by that revelation. I felt that I could hear him thinking: 'Oh, my lord. I feel sorry for Australia if that is their fate.' Indeed, it wasn't to be the fate of Australia, because the then Leader of the Opposition's hopes and dreams were terminated. The Australian people terminated those dreams and their agenda of higher taxes and higher regulation at that election.

I see the same arrogance creeping into the debate in this House these days—indeed, in the last few weeks and months. Who could forget the portrait 'we are ready to govern'? It's the same thing. They think that it is their entitlement to waltz into those Treasury benches, that they don't have to submit any meaningful policies to the Australian people and that they are just going to be able to tax their way into whatever they want when they get into government. Well, the Australian people may yet have something to say about that. Just as the terminator gave the member for Maribyrnong that sideways look, I suspect the Australian people are still going to have a big say in what happens to the fate of the Leader of the Opposition. The reality is that this government has delivered for the people of Australia at a time when we have faced some of the biggest challenges we've ever had outside of wartime.

In terms of COVID, we have an enviable reputation. We've led the world in our COVID response and our COVID recovery. More than 85 per cent of the eligible population are fully vaccinated. We have been on the front foot to get the vaccines rolled out. Who could forget the great effort that was COVID Assist, with the men and women of our Australian Defence Force? They were on the ground all over our nation. They were everywhere in western New South Wales. I think that, when the history of this pandemic is written and people look back at what happened in not only western New South Wales but right around Australia, they will say it was those ADF pop-up clinics that turned the corner in so many communities, that got our communities vaccinated, that got the vaccine rollout turbocharged. We'll be forever grateful to those men and women of the ADF. But it was this government that made sure that that rollout happened, that our men and women of the ADF were on the ground to support our communities when they were at their most vulnerable.

Who could forget in the dark days that we had in the early days of COVID the lines we saw that snaked around Centrelink? I never thought I would see it. My office is opposite our local Centrelink office in Orange, and I couldn't believe the number of people, in particular, the young people, who were standing outside with looks of worry, distress and anguish on their faces. Then along came JobKeeper, which helped keep 3.8 million Australians in work. JobKeeper: let's call it for what it is. It saved the Australian economy from obliteration. JobKeeper saved the Australian economy from destruction. There can be no argument about that.

One of the things I often get when I talk to my communities about JobKeeper and the economic impacts is that there's a great deal of gratitude and goodwill for what the Australian government achieved in terms of the COVID-19 response. Equally, I also get many people saying to me, 'Boy, I'm glad the other side weren't in charge when we went through this.' And isn't that the truth! Amen to that. So many business people, so many individuals, who have shown gratitude, know what's happening out there and they are grateful that we were able to, together, get through it. There's been a lot of pain, there's been a lot of suffering and there's been a lot of heartache on the way through, but we have come through this and we are getting through this.

And the Australian government has been there with them every step of the way, not only through examples like the men and women of the ADF on the ground but also through our world-beating economic response. Let's look at what's happening in housing. There are over 130,000 HomeBuilder applications, generating $30 billion of activity, and new house starts are at the highest in 20 years. We have delivered the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. Apprentices: we've delivered new wage subsidies for 170,000 apprentices on top of the 100,000 already supported, many of them young Australians finding their way in the workforce. We were there for them. JobTrainer provided funding to support 450,000 places.

Let's talk about defence and who is best placed to look after Australia's security, both now and into the future. The new AUKUS partnership is a watershed, momentous announcement in terms of our alliance partnerships. The announcement on the nuclear propelled submarines is also equally momentous. It will give Australia the best available technology. Wherever I have gone in my community, that has been widely acknowledged and widely accepted. It's very important to have cutting-edge technology in defence. If you look back to the days leading up to the Second World War, it is true that many of our democracies were not prepared. That's the cold, hard truth. They were not prepared. But Britain had one piece of cutting-edge technology in its favour in those dark days, and that was the Spitfire. That's what saved Britain. That's what kept Britain and her allies in the war. It was just Australia and the like-minded democracies that stood up against tyranny. We have to be prepared. That's what AUKUS is all about, and that's what this investment in the latest submarine technology is all about.

So many more areas of Australian life have been supported by us not only through COVID but through many different facets. We have invested $125.7 billion in Medicare over the forward estimates. That's an increase of over $6 billion since last year's budget. This is up 58 per cent from when the opposition were last in government. It's a 58 per cent increase. We have announced more than $36 million in innovative medical product manufacturing projects to keep Australians safe from COVID-19. We have extended telehealth consultations. That's been a game changer for regional Australia. We have waived childcare gap fees for parents, supporting working parents and keeping their children in child care. When they have had to keep their children at home due to the current COVID restrictions, we have been supporting not only childcare centres but families as well.

We have delivered disaster funding, including in those parts of Western Australia that have been hit by cyclones. We have supported our veterans. I mentioned in the House today the important work of supporting our veteran community. We are immensely proud of our veterans, and rightly so, but the work to support veterans and their welfare never ends and never ceases. Today in question time I drew attention to the fact that the government spends $11.7 billion per annum on supporting the 336,000 veterans and their families, including free mental health care for life. But it doesn't cease. It doesn't end. It is an ongoing piece of national work. It is very important that we keep it going, and that's exactly what we are doing.

We are also supporting Australian manufacturers with $800 million in funding to encourage collaboration on major job-creating projects as part of the $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy. We love manufacturing in country Australia, and we are going to continue to support it. Australians can trust this side of the House to protect their health, the economy and their jobs.

Ms ROWLAND (Greenway) (15:38): Australians deserve a Prime Minister and a government that are going to tell them the truth, act in the public interest and plan ahead for a strong economy and jobs growth. But, instead, what do we have? We have a tired, decade-old government, just about, led by a Prime Minister who has zero regard for the truth. He always puts his immediate political interests ahead of the national interest and simply has no plan for the future, nothing beyond what can get him out of immediate trouble.

Nothing says it more about the government failing to act in the interests of Australians than the communications portfolio. When Australians think of technology, they think about it as a positive. They think of it as transformational. They see possibilities. They see the future. They see the potential for equality of access to be achieved through ICT. In contrast, this Prime Minister and this cabinet only see technology as an instrument to exploit or invent political differentiation and tactically present voters with false choices.

Nowhere is this better exemplified than with NBN. This government came in in 2013 and abandoned a fibre rollout on the dishonest premise their second-rate copper network was going to cost $29½ billion. What a surprise; that cost blew out to $41 billion, then $49 billion, then $51 billion and now $57 billion—basically double what they originally promised. It is a proverbial sushi train of cost blowouts served up by the most incompetent economic managers in living memory. Why? The abandonment of fibre was never about cost. It was always about politics. It is always about politics with this government. On one side, we had a particular technology, fibre, that just so happens to be favoured by most of the developed world. On the other side, they felt compelled to oppose it. Every time their multitechnology mix had a cost increase, they would invent a new set of untruths about fibre.

This was a scam, and it was decimated on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald in February this year. We had a report citing leaked figures revealing the communications minister and his government wilfully misled the Australian people about the cost of deploying fibre. I said before that it's highly notable that since that time the minister has been unwilling to repeat his false claims publicly. What is that? That's an admission that the minister was not misinformed. It's an admission that he wilfully misled the entire time and he is a diminished figure as a result, just as this Prime Minister and his government are so diminished in the eyes of voters who understand technology.

COVID has demonstrated that reliable, quality, high-speed broadband is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Families need it, students need it, small businesses need it. That's why last week the Labor leader and I announced that, if elected, Labor will not only keep the NBN in public ownership for the foreseeable future but will use that time to expand fibre access for up to an additional 1½ million homes and small businesses. This policy will run fibre into the street and give every Australian who relies on a copper connection now the choice of having fibre connected into their home if they want faster speeds in that 1.5 million footprint.

Labor believes the next decade should be one where Australia makes things here again and becomes globally competitive in growing industries such as advanced manufacturing. Our plan is in the national interest. It's focused on the future and about building better jobs, and of course relying on the highest-quality ICT. It is therefore no wonder that this government, in September last year, did the biggest backflip in public policy history by announcing, after racking up nearly double the cost of their second-rate NBN, that they would go back to fibre. How incompetent could these people be?

Unfortunately, it is not just critical infrastructure like the NBN where the Liberals play politics. The SBS and the ABC are national institutions that exist to serve all Australians in the public interest. Let's talk about their cuts. Tony Abbott promised there would be no cuts to the ABC or SBS. I'll tell you what their cuts to the ABC did: they forced the cessation of shortwave radio, cutting off the provision of content into regional and remote areas. Then we had a news report in 2018 that a Chinese station had taken over those frequencies. It says it all. (Time expired)

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (15:43): It's always a pleasure to follow the shadow minister for communications. The member for Greenway and I both came into this parliament at the same time, in 2010. She would well remember having been a member of that Gillard and, later on, albeit for a small portion of time, Rudd government, under Labor and under the Greens, where not one single cent—not one zack—was spent on mobile phone towers. She would know that. She would remember that because she is now the shadow minister for communications. There wasn't a cent spent in the electorate of Page, nor Herbert, nor Grey, nor Barker, nor Parkes, nor Riverina, nor Cowper, nor Eden-Monaro—I can see Eden-Monaro over there—nor Macquarie. Not one cent was spent on mobile phone towers in any electorate in Australia.

But, since we came to power in 2013, total investment of $875 million has been generated, working with telcos to deliver more than 1,270 new mobile base stations across Australia. I can thank the member for Parkes, largely, for a lot of that, because he was the minister for regional communications at the time. No thanks to those opposite, because they didn't spend a single cent, not one cent. Yet they come in here—I hear the member for McEwen carp about it all the time, about how he needs a mobile phone tower, and I hear other members opposite who represent peri-urban areas say that they need mobile phone coverage. Well, don't expect it if ever there is an Albanese-Bandt Labor-Greens government, because you won't get a penny for mobile phone coverage. Indeed, you will get it under us. You will get it under the Liberals and Nationals.

I well recall the sorts of things those opposite put in place when they were in power. I well recall 8 June 2011. It was a black day for the live cattle trade, when they just said 'no', on the back of a television program, to live cattle exports. All of those farmers and all of their cattle had backs turned on them by Labor and the Greens and the crossbench. I remember how hard that was for those farmers, how hard it was for those operators, how hard it was for the hardworking Aboriginal stockmen. Goodness knows if ever they got back into the trade when it was resumed.

Instant asset write-off: the member for Parkes reminded me just a moment ago that he was driving from Lake Cargelligo, through the fertile valleys of the Riverina, back to his home base. He was driving back at night. He said all the headers were going, harvesting already. Many of those headers and harvesters and operations are due, thanks to good weather—

An honourable member interjecting—

Mr McCORMACK: Good rain—thank you very much—but also because of the instant asset write-off that has enabled those farmers and contractors to invest heavily in their operations, and, indeed, we are getting on with the job. I listened carefully to the Leader of the Opposition and I listened carefully to the member for Greenway. Yesterday in parliament, the member for 'Rankin hypocrisy' asked the Treasurer a question—

Mr Giles: Mr Deputy Speaker, a point of order: he knows much better—that is outrageous!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Llew O'Brien ): The member for Riverina will withdraw.

Mr McCORMACK: Confected outrage, but I withdraw. He asked the Treasurer a question about jobs, about investment, about funding, about what we have done. These have been tough, difficult, challenging times, but the carry-on from those opposite does not resonate throughout the land. Small-business people are not thinking about what Labor is talking about. Mind you, they should be worried, because if Labor gets in there is $387 million worth of taxes just waiting. There's the sneaky petrol tax coming to a petrol browser near you. But look at the sorts of jobs that are in place now. There are more people in work now than there were pre COVID. There are certainly more people working now than there were when Labor was in power. One in eight manufacturing jobs were lost when Labor was in power. We're investing in apprenticeships, so we're investing in the future. We're investing in the instant asset write-off. We're investing in those businesses which keep our economy turning, whether they're in urban Australia or, indeed, in the powerhouse that you and I, Mr Deputy Speaker O'Brien, know well of regional Australia, because regional Australia has been fantastic during COVID, and it has been on the back of National Party and Liberal Party policies.

Mr PERRETT (Moreton) (15:48): I rise to speak on the MPI on the government being accused of failing to act in the interests of Australians. It is a serious topic. To accuse a government of having their own self-interest rather than the national interest is a major accusation. We know that they have had major problems when it comes to acting on climate change, which the rest of the world know is in our interest. We are the driest continent. We know that we've got to look after farmers, a big source of our trade, so we do have to get that right. But what do we see? We have seen some activities from the government in the last few days that are particularly disturbing in terms of acting in the best interests of the Australian people. We know that we live in a time of great uncertainty. Not since the end of the Second World War, I would suggest, when Labor led the nation through a very difficult time, has there been such a convergence of circumstances. Our foreign affairs spokesperson, Senator Penny Wong, gave an address at the ANU the other day. In a brilliant speech, she talked about rising nationalism; fraying multilateralism; great power competition, where smaller nations can be crushed; emerging COVID strains; an ever-warming planet; and coping with a more assertive China. That's what I want to touch on today.

We know China is significant. So much of our minerals and our farm produce is exported to China. In light of these changes with a more assertive China—our most significant trading partner—we need to get the balance right. Australia, right in the middle of the Indo-Pacific, has significant connections with the rest of the world. We are in a growth part of the world and have lots of opportunities to use multicultural Australia as our link to trade opportunities, but we need to get the balance right.

We know from reading the newspapers that some of those opposite want to beat the war drums in the lead up to an election. That is a very, very dangerous thing to do at any time, but in a world where we have some serious challenges it's particularly dangerous. We saw during the pandemic that something as simple as getting PPE organised can be complicated. Who knew that most of that came from a city in China called Wuhan? We know we've got to get the balance right when it comes to dealing with our trading partner. We know how important it is and that what goes on in this parliament is seen around the world. I was elected 14 years ago yesterday, and my first day was the apology, delivered by Kevin Rudd right there. That resonated around the world and let us have connections with countries in the Caribbean in ways that had not existed before, when they just saw us as a colony of the United Kingdom. Instead, we were able to reach out to countries in a way that we hadn't done previously. That all changed when Tony Abbott came in and had all of those opposite vote for knights and dames and all those other things that said: ignore Asia and the fastest-growing part of the world.

Sadly, the other day we also saw the defence minister make a statement that was quite challenging. Normally, when it comes to talking about China and Taiwan, we talk about maintaining the status quo. That has been the Labor position ever since Gough Whitlam went off to Beijing, an event of which the 50th anniversary was in July this year. And that has been a bipartisan position. Both sides of the House have had that same position. But the defence minister came out and made some incredible statements, asserting that it would be 'inconceivable'—that's the word he used—that Australia would not join a war over Taiwan. That's completely out of step with our allies, the United States, and how they approach diplomacy. You've got to ask why he would say that. Why wouldn't he be sticking to preserving the status quo, as advocated by the Taiwanese leader, Tsai Ing-wen? That's what the Taiwanese leader advocates. So he's amping up the prospect of war against a superpower to do what? To win some jostling match for positions on the front bench? That is bizarre, crazy and dangerous. It's a tactic employed by irresponsible politicians who are desperate to hang on to power at any cost. That is not putting the nation's best interest first. That's putting your own self-interest first, and that is dangerous.

Mrs McINTOSH (Lindsay) (15:53): Politics is not about what is going on in this place right now. Those opposite would like it to be where they're putting performance over people, tactics over the truth and antics over the interests of everyday Australians. Over here, we're standing up for Aussies, backing our sovereign capability and putting Australia's interests first.

Nowhere are we doing this more than in my community in Western Sydney, where we're focused on what matters most when it comes to jobs, infrastructure, families, small business and ensuring that we keep the cost of living low.

Our community worked so hard during the pandemic, and some people in our community are shining through now. There's a little cafe I want to mention called the Blind Chef Cafe. Craig, who runs this cafe, is completely inspirational. He lost his sight in one eye to a tumour when he was a kid. He became a chef, and he lost sight in his other eye when his tumour returned in his 20s. He opened his cafe in the midst of the pandemic, and it was our support with JobKeeper and JobSaver that enabled him to push and fight through. It was a complete honour to take the PM out to meet Craig and his team just last week. He represents what we fight for in Western Sydney, the people who we fight for and who we want to do the best by.

Another key thing that's happening in Western Sydney that the Morrison government is delivering, that the Morrison government is focused on when it comes to people over politics, is Western Sydney international airport. We have just announced the start of the passenger terminal, which is going to be a game changer not just for Western Sydney and my community but for our whole country, where we've got emerging industries, advanced manufacturing, medical industries and agribusiness.

The future is bright for people in my community. Importantly, it is about creating local jobs. That's what we're doing in the Morrison government: creating local jobs for local people. We've already injected more than $100 million into Western Sydney businesses as part of the development of the airport. From cranes, plumbing and fencing to concrete, it is a nation-building project. Already, over half the people working on the construction of the airport are Western Sydney locals. That's because we're at the forefront of Australia's future. There is so much to look forward to—local jobs, local people. We're putting people first before politics.

I'm also really excited about the fact that we are backing apprentices in Western Sydney in trades, particularly in manufacturing. Manufacturing in Western Sydney is at the heart of Australia's manufacturing. We have over 2,285 apprentices in Lindsay, and we've extended our wage subsidies to support even more. So I'm really excited about the future for our young apprentices supporting the growth of manufacturing in Western Sydney, where we have over 600 manufacturers employing over 6,000 people already, and I look forward to seeing that grow even further with the support that we're giving to back in our Australian manufacturers. There's never been a better time when we are so focused on Australia's sovereign capability. A number of manufacturers in my electorate are contributing to this, because we are hardworking, aspirational people in my community who are being backed in by the Morrison government.

The pandemic has been a particularly hard time for people in Lindsay, with lockdowns and particularly with mental health. I'm really pleased that one of my election commitments—a $14 million election commitment to have a Penrith Head to Health clinic—is shortly going to open and provide even more support to people in my community who are struggling with mental health issues, which is super important after this time that we've faced with the pandemic. So, in Lindsay, we're being backed by the Morrison government. We're delivering for them. We're putting people before politics. We're backing local jobs. We're backing local manufacturers. We're building Australia's largest infrastructure project. For me, this is what it's all about: backing local people.

Ms TEMPLEMAN (Macquarie) (15:58): We thought things were pretty bad when former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who promised no cuts to the ABC and SBS, no cuts to health and no cuts to education, did just that when he came to office. He cut every one of those things. He broke promises. We thought that was a new low in politics. But this country has never seen anyone quite like Prime Minister Morrison, a man who acts only in his own interests and does not act in the interests of all Australians. I'm very happy to spend the next four minutes and 15 seconds backing that up. Sadly, that will not be enough time to cover all the ways in which he has failed Australians, but let's give it a go.

I think we felt this most keenly in Macquarie—this failure to act in the interests of Australians—when the Prime Minister didn't show his face in my electorate when the fires were burning. In the Black Summer, the largest fire from a single ignition point was sending smoke everywhere and traumatising people as the waves of flames came, not for days, not for weeks, but for months, but the Prime Minister didn't make an appearance. He flew over us on his way to somewhere else. We didn't expect him to hold a hose—although former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was there early one morning at Hawkesbury RFS headquarters, ready to spend the day literally holding a hose. While I rarely saw eye to eye with Mr Abbott on policy, I thanked him for his support of my community in our hour, or months, of need. I had no cause to extend the same thanks to the Prime Minister, because he didn't show up—and not for the floods either. As far as I know, he still hasn't come to see, on the ground, the extraordinary damage in my electorate that occurred as a result of the fires and the floods—and the floods just this March gone. If he had, he would understand the fear that people have right now about the current rain and what it might do, and the fear that they have of a second flood.

People feel that the Liberals are failing them right now. This is a Prime Minister who happily steps back from any responsibility. He is like your wilful teenage son who will deny he said or did something even when you can see the evidence on Instagram. He will not accept his part in things. He failed to give us the vaccines that we needed early and soon enough, and that has led to lockdowns across my electorate, across Western Sydney. He was responsible for the lockdowns that saw one part of Western Sydney treated so harshly and another part also in lockdown—our city divided. He failed to act in the interests of all the musicians, creatives and performers in my electorate when he decided that JobKeeper was not for them. He failed to act in the interests of university workers, staff, who either lecture and tutor or who work on the grounds or work in libraries. He failed them.

He's failed to act consistently in the interests of young people. He's doing as little as possible as late as possible to rein in climate change. He's put up the fees for students doing law, economics. communications, commerce and humanities. He has failed them. He's let TAFE be neglected, cutting $3 billion from vocational education funding and slashing the Education Investment Fund. He has done nothing to tackle the housing affordability issue that they face. He has failed to deliver a headspace for the Hawkesbury. These are all things young people need and care about.

And, at the other end, he has failed to act in the interests of people in aged care. Neglect—that sums up exactly what this government has done and continues to do. He is failing to act in the interests of people with disability who have a constant fear that the NDIS is going to be changed. When there are moves to change it, they're beaten but then, right behind, there is another move—just like waves crashing time after time onto the shore. That's how people with disabilities feel.

There are many other failures, but the thing with this Prime Minister is that he will never admit it. He will blame us. He will blame the states. He will blame anyone else rather than take responsibility.

Mr STEVENS (Sturt) (16:03): I appreciate the opportunity that this matter of public importance gives me to talk about the achievements of the Morrison government and, in particular, what's happening in my home state of South Australia. Earlier this week, the ABS figures showed that the South Australian economy is the fastest-growing in the nation, at 3.9 per cent. That's thanks to some of the excellent things that we as a government are doing in South Australia. But, even better still, there's so much more to come in the future. Those figures only take into account what is already happening, let alone what is going to be happening going forward.

There are a few areas I want to touch on—firstly, defence. South Australia is the defence state, and particularly we are the state of naval shipbuilding. We have had a very historic announcement in the last few months about the AUKUS deal and what that means for the future of submarine construction in South Australia. At the same time as the AUKUS announcement, we had the confirmation that South Australia will be the home of Collins class maintenance into the future, as well as the life-of-type extension to the Collins program, which is 1,300 jobs guaranteed in my home state of South Australia. I was thrilled to have the commitment that Adelaide is indeed the home of submarine construction now and into the future. As well as that, we have the AWD upgrade announcement. Of course, the AWDs were built in Adelaide, and the latest upgrades to the AWDs will also happen in Adelaide. That's coupled with the Hunter class program, which is ramping up with nine frigates to be built in Adelaide. In defence, this government is investing enormously in shipbuilding, and Adelaide is unquestionably the home of naval shipbuilding for Australia—for the Southern Hemisphere, frankly. That means thousands of jobs for decades to come into the future.

We also have the Space Agency. This government has made a number of significant investment decisions in space, but also partnership decisions with the major space agencies around the world: NASA and ESA, the European Space Agency. We're already participating in some very exciting space based programs. The Space Agency is headquartered out of Adelaide. We're already seeing businesses in the space industry attracted to South Australia. Because the space agency's there, they see Adelaide as the capital of the space operations and industries of our country.

That also flows into cybersecurity and what's happening in cybersecurity, both with our government decisions and in the private sector. Again, we're seeing an enormous number of cybercompanies choosing to establish a base in Adelaide because they see Adelaide as the centre for the cyberindustry in this country into the future. That is an enormous growth sector. We all know how important cyber already is, but it's only going to be more significant into the future, and Adelaide is where it is at if you want to be in the cyberindustry.

In the creative industries, particularly film, I'm lucky enough to have the South Australian Film Corporation based in my electorate. We've had some significant productions in the last few years, most particularlyMortal Kombat, the biggest film ever made in South Australia. That was a Hollywood blockbuster supported by our government's rebate scheme, which helps support film businesses to come to Australia and undertake production here. We've got a bill that's been through this House, that's in the Senate now, that continues and enhances that into the future. I have one business in my electorate that's already hoping for and counting on the swift passage of that through the Senate. It's a novel position for someone to expect that the Senate will be hasty on that! Nonetheless, he's made a decision that that's going to pass. He's already signed deals to do more film production in South Australia. Again, that's an example of our government co-investing with businesses to create jobs and grow our economy in Australia, particularly in South Australia. The Lot Fourteen precinct is the heart of a lot of these decisions. In a few weeks time we'll have a major milestone at that precinct, with the sod-turning for the Indigenous art gallery.

Things are really happening in all of these sectors because of the decisions that we're making. At the heart of that is the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. A few businesses in my electorate have already been successful in applications to that program. That is us investing in future manufacturing and future jobs. It's an exciting time for the economy in South Australia, and that's thanks to the decisions of the Morrison government.

Mr GOSLING (Solomon) (16:08): I encourage the former speaker, the member for Sturt, to encourage the passage of that legislation through the Senate. I know there are a lot of film production companies that are going to go to the wall if there's not a quick resolution of that, and there are some very commonsense amendments around. I encourage him to continue to see the passage of the bill through both places.

We're living through a once-in-a-century global pandemic. It's causing the greatest amount of inequality that we've seen in this country. But, instead of improving the lives of Australians, those opposite have indeed been making things much worse. One example is housing affordability. It's never been worse than it is right now. Many young Australians will never be able to afford a home, and it's this government's policies that have let that happen. This government doesn't do anything to help the next generation put a roof over their heads.

Under this tired old government, we've seen wages go backwards—not even staying the same, not even keeping up, but actually reversing. Wages have gone backwards by about $700 a year, while fuel prices have gone up $900 a year. The interests of hardworking everyday Aussies, who are feeling this, hard, in their back pockets, have never been of less interest to those opposite.

Those opposite stuffed up the vaccine rollout unimaginably all year, leading to months-long lockdowns for most of the country and causing unimaginable suffering to people and their businesses, but you won't ever hear them take any responsibility for that. They'll talk about the mental health challenges that are there but never connect it to the businesses that have gone to the wall because of lockdowns. Businesses have gone to the wall because JobKeeper was ripped away too soon, because the government were too focused on making sure that it went to the top end of town—to those businesses that actually had increasing profits during that period. But, when they started getting called out for giving taxpayers' money away to corporations that did not need it, then they withdrew it, leaving high and dry the small and medium businesses that did need it to keep their employees employed and to keep liquid, to keep operating their businesses.

At the same time, let's not forget that they're asking pensioners in their 90s to prove that they should be getting the pension and then threatening to put them on a cashless debit card. They're demanding that workers who may have been overpaid on JobSeeker or JobKeeper repay it, even if they're quite willing to do it if they just know what the situation is.

These things come up because of these continual lockdowns. Whose responsibility were the lockdowns? It was those opposite, the federal government, who failed to bring in dedicated, proper quarantine—a lot of people forget about that—and also failed in the vaccine rollout. They failed with the communications plan about the importance of getting vaccinated.

Now we've seen a disgusting situation where misinformation thrives not only among those opposite but with the Prime Minister himself. That's had real consequences in the Northern Territory, including in my electorate with the people that I support. Life-threatening, dangerous misinformation is flourishing, including in our remote communities in the Northern Territory. The government are doing nothing to stamp out the malicious spreaders of misinformation who are preying on these communities, and it is an absolute disgrace.

We know that those opposite have got no problem at all being profligate with taxpayers' money. It's a slur they like to throw at Labor, but we've had sports rorts, car park rorts, endless pork-barrelling of marginal seats—and their own seats, of course—and the million-dollar blind trust. The Australian public's faith in our democracy is at an all-time low, because that's how this Prime Minister wants it. The rorting has been outrageous. They don't want a national integrity commission, which says everything you need to know about this mob.

Mr PASIN (Barker) (16:14): Memo to those opposite: matters of public importance shouldn't be free kicks for the government, but this one is. Let me take the opportunity to punt at the goal. Let's talk about how the government has acted over the course of this parliament and this term in the interests of Australians. On jobs, 1.6 million jobs have been created since 2013. And, of course, those opposite know in their heart of hearts that there are 3.8 million people who would have suffered if it weren't for JobKeeper but who were supported.

An honou rable member interjecting—

Mr PASIN: Fighting the virus? The death rate in the US and the UK is 50 times higher than that in Australia. On economic recovery, we're the first advanced economy to have more people employed than we did pre COVID. There are currently 74,000 more people in employment today than there were pre COVID, and our net debt is around half of that of the UK or the US. On small business, we've provided tax relief to 3.4 million businesses, and we've expanded the instant asset write-off. Spending on equipment has increased to its fastest rate in seven years. On housing, there have been 130,000 HomeBuilder applications, a program that those opposite opposed and decried. New housing starts are the highest they've been in 20 years. We've delivered the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme to make sure people who want to get into a home can get into a home. On apprentices, we've delivered new wage subsidies for 170,000 apprenticeships on top of 100,000 already supported and the JobTrainer fund to support 450,000 places.

On tax, we're providing relief to 11 million Australian taxpayers. They're getting up to $2,745 in relief this year alone. Electricity prices are down 13.2 per cent since December 2018. On emissions, those opposite want to pretend they're the friend of a low-carbon economy when they don't even have a target for 2030, but it's our government that has driven down emissions to 19 per cent lower than 2005 levels. It's the lowest level since 1995, and we're investing $20 billion on clean tech. We've got a record investment in infrastructure—our $110 billion commitment—which includes but is obviously not limited to Western Sydney Airport, Melbourne Airport Rail and the Bruce Highway. We're driving up exports. We've had the largest trade surplus since 1920. We've got new export deals with the Pacific, Japan, Korea and Indonesia.

We are a more resilient Australia in response to the challenges of drought and bushfire. We have a stronger Defence Force. We've delivered on our commitment to grow the defence budget by two per cent of GDP. We're spending $270 billion over 10 years on defence capacity. On school funding, funding for schools has increased from $13.8 billion in 2014 to $23.4 billion in 2021. On better health care, funding for public hospitals has increased from $13.3 billion to $25.6 billion.

I say all of this because the Australian people are about to go through the exercise of contrast and compare. Well, that's our submission to the Australian people on what we've achieved. All they've got to go by is what happened under the last Labor government. Let me remind people who might be listening: there was the carbon tax; there was 'cash for clunkers'; there were overpriced school halls; there were pink batts that killed people; we saw defence spending at its lowest level since the 1930s; and the greatest shame of all, the greatest tragedy of all, was that we completely lost control of our borders. We ruined the Australian live cattle trade, and those opposite, quite frankly, didn't 'give a ship'. They gave not one commitment to build a ship in this country. They did not 'give a ship'—not one.

Before those opposite say, 'That was a former government; we'll be better after Anthony Albanese,' the reality is that his great plan to get into government, other than saying absolutely nothing, was a national driver's licence with which you could drive from Melbourne to Sydney—newsflash: you can do that today—and a $6 billion commitment to give $300 cheques to people who'd already taken the vaccine. Brilliant! I can't wait for the people of Australia to contrast and compare. I know the answer.

The DEPUTY SPEAK ER: The discussion is now concluded.

Dr MULINO (Fraser) (16:29): As 2021 draws to a close, I want to acknowledge the school leaders, teachers, students and their families across Fraser. Fraser's school communities have worked so hard to keep our young people engaged in education amid this pandemic and the necessity of homeschooling. As a parent, I know how much effort teachers have invested to deliver good, remote learning outcomes over the last two years and how much energy has gone into providing students with high-quality, individualised learning. I am so grateful to the principals and teachers of Fraser for their unstinting efforts and professionalism, and I hope that 2022 is an easier year for the learning and personal development of our young people.

The last two years have particularly impacted on children and young people, whose schooling and extracurricular activities have been severely curtailed. As a result, it's a particular pleasure to recognise in this parliament today some of the recent winners of the Fraser Primary School leadership awards. This award is given to year 6 students who have made special contributions as leaders in their school communities during the course of the year. This year's winners include: Ruby and Rhea at St Theresa's in Albion for their positive approach to school life and enthusiasm for learning; Annie and Stephen of Glengala Primary School for being motivated, contributing to every lesson and consistently showing the school values of respect, responsibility and safety; Eunice and Amelie of Sunshine Christian School for their compassion, creativity, leadership and positive influence on others; George and Mia of Taylors Lakes Primary School for being resilient and considerate of their peers as amazing school captains; Mong and Andy of Albion North Primary School for always trying their best and for being helpful, responsible, considerate and deeply welcoming of other students; Adriana and Dylan of St Albans for always helping others, being great listeners and supporting their peers; Louanne and Renato of St Albans Meadows Primary School for being exceptional students and showing compassion while always thinking of others and exemplifying the values of the school; and Alisha and Alayna of Sydenham-Hillside Primary School, who excelled in all curriculum areas while displaying their schools values as exceptional school captains.

Congratulations to all of these worthy winners of the 2021 Fraser primary leadership awards, and thank you to all of their schools for nominating them. I hope for all of these students and for all of these school communities 2022 is an easier year.

I also want to highlight the outstanding work being done by the SDA and the TWU and, indeed, by unions across the world which are seeking to end some of the appalling working conditions and unacceptably low wages of many Amazon workers. As Black Friday sales begin in Australia and many other countries, Amazon workers will face undeniable pressure and stress to fulfil orders across the world and, of course, across Australia. The race to the bottom on wages and secure jobs is a global problem, and Amazon is a prime example. Amazon Flex drivers aren't even getting the minimum wage in many circumstances. They have few rights and are often pressured to drive dangerously overloaded cars to avoid being sacked on a whim. While profits soar for Amazon, which saw a doubling of its profits in the first half of 2021 compared to 2020, workers are often left with little or no pay rises and working long hours without breaks.

As the union for Amazon online retail work, the SDA has worked tirelessly to stop the Americanisation of wages in Australia and to improve working conditions. The TWU is also working hard to protect safe standards for transport workers who deliver Amazon's goods to their consumers. Thanks to the SDA and the TWU for their leadership in forming the Online Retail and Delivery Workers Alliance to protect workers in every step of the supply chain, a secure job with a fair wage does not have to be a thing of the past for Australian workers.

Low wages and poor conditions are deliberate design features of this government's economic policies which have resulted in falling household living standards, something unthinkable for generations preceding ours and the worst decade for real wages growth since the Great Depression. Unlike this government, the SDA, the TWU and the broader union movement will not stand by and allow working conditions to be undermined—nor will Labor members in this House. It's time to make Amazon pay.

Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Government Whip) (16:35): I have to say, I farmed for 35 years. It's always challenging, and this year is proving absolutely no different. In my state and in my electorate after a wonderful start to the season, where, in particular, the June and July rainfalls were exceptionally good and the seasons seemed to be set up for complete success, August proved to be dry, September turned the tap off completely and October wasn't a lot better. That has caused some problems with the crops, and they're not as good as we had hoped, but there are some good crops around. Since November started, though, the season seems to be intent on making up the rainfall deficit. We've seen 70 to 100 millimetres of rain over the last two weeks across a substantial part of my electorate, including on my own farm. It's just at a time as the headers have entered the paddock. The quality of the crops was exceptional, and the yields, considering the season, were pretty good. We are now waiting to see just how much damage has been wreaked by the rainfalls across those broad areas as it dries out enough to get the headers back on the ground and assess the quality.

There are a whole lot of other issues facing farmers at the moment, and increasing concerns are being shown around the supply lines on new machinery, parts and, more concerningly, the fertiliser and chemical supplies coming into the nation and their pricing. In fact, we've seen staggering price increases of anything up to almost 300 per cent on fertiliser and chemicals, and we've seen concerns about supplies. To give a bit of explanation: nitrogen fertilisers are largely made from gas, and most plants in the world—certainly where we get product from—are in Asia. In Asia and Europe, the gas price has increased by around 400 per cent. It is up to $40 a gigajoule or thereabouts, and that is driving the price of fertiliser higher and causing the producing countries to restrict exports to try and dampen the prices in their own jurisdictions. That includes China, but that is not an unexpected response. In Australia, the gas price is around $10 a gigajoule, and that is a result of the government's 'big stick' policies. Unfortunately, we don't have that manufacturing capacity in Australia, and our ability to produce nitrogen fertiliser is severely limited. That is a problem for farmers.

Worldwide, there are more issues at stake. One of them is the supply of freight and shipping services. With COVID, people stopped buying services and have been on a consumer goods binge ever since. They've got money in their pockets. They're not eating in restaurants. They're not spending money on tourism. The one-way volumes of consumer goods have soared. There hasn't been enough back load on those containers, so those containers have been piling up in consumer countries and haven't been finding their way back. The shipping companies followed the best advice at the time—that trade levels were going to be slashed—and they took the opportunity to retire some old and pretty dirty ships, so there was a shortage of ships around. They've commissioned new shipping, but they're not out of the shipping yards yet, so there's a ship shortage. We've got problems on wharves, particularly here in Australia, where the maritime unions are causing concerns. There are bottlenecks around ports all around the world. There are all kinds of hold-ups on freight, and that is feeding through to the farmers' supply system, including on chemicals and on fertiliser.

On fertiliser, I was asked by a farmer: 'We produce a lot of fertiliser in Australia. Why don't we hold that in Australia, much as other countries are doing?' In fact, we are fairly short. We produce about enough DAP, a couple of hundred thousands tonnes a year. We produce more than enough single superphosphate, and we export about two thirds of that capacity. But the big outlier is in MAP, where we produce about 162,000 tonnes but need nearly a million tonnes a year. We are a net receiver of fertilisers in a big way. These are real problems for farmers as they look at their books for next year. This shortage of freight capacity is feeding into the chemical market as well. As it rains, almost as I speak, at home, it's causing damage to the crops. It's also causing a whole raft of new summer weeds to grow, and it will require chemicals that are three times as expensive as they were this time last year to keep those summer weeds under control. To be fair, the rainfall will stop eventually. (Time expired)

Ms PAYNE (Canberra) (16:40): Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on your election as Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Ms PAYNE: Yesterday marked 14 years since the election of the Rudd government. I joined the Labor Party in the year preceding that election, because I saw that our government had lost touch with the issues that were important to Australians and was attacking the things that made Australia the great place that it was, attacking our social safety net and our system of wages that had made Australia a relatively egalitarian place, and I wanted to do whatever I could to be part of changing that. I wanted to knock on doors, to make phone calls, to hand out how-to-votes and let people know that we could have a government that cared, really cared, about the issues facing Australians, that cared about fairness and was forward looking.

We are at a moment again like this in Australia, and, after being in parliament this week, I know we are at a very much more desperate moment with this government. We desperately need a new government. This week in parliament we have seen the Prime Minister fail to call out dangerous misinformation from members of his own government and then, in question time, make out like it's a big joke and that it was all about Labor. In the last sitting fortnight of the year, and quite possibly of this government's term, you would think they would be trying to get through big reforms or big ideas. But instead we're seeing bills introduced that are solutions in search of a problem.

We're seeing bills that are seeking to divide rather than unite Australians, bills that are all about politics and not about substance. This morning the government shut down debate on an integrity commission—a federal integrity commission that the government says it is committed to but has taken over a thousand days and still not introduced legislation. Instead of debating that, we have a voter suppression bill, a bill that makes it harder for Australians to exercise their right to vote.

This is a government that detests accountability and debate. This is a government that has no respect for our democracy, and that will be the legacy of this government: a tired government beset by division and scandal, with a wafer-thin policy agenda that governs only for their own political interests; a prime minister and government who thinks that a three-word slogan is the answer to the complex policy demands of governing; a government that always seeks to divide rather than unite; and a government that will always dodge responsibility but always claim credit, and who thinks that a photo op is always the solution but never follows through with the policy.

Sadly, every sitting week that I come into this place we see new lows, and this is a tragedy for the Australian people. For eight long years, this government has squandered Australia's advantages, tripled our debt, ruined our reputation on the world stage and thrown away the goodwill of its people. In this time, Australia, once a world leader, has gone backwards in rankings of global performance. We ranked last among 60 countries on climate change policy and 61st in the world for fixed broadband speeds. Australia ranks eighth out of 11 high-income countries for healthcare affordability. Educational outcomes have slipped, while we're ranked as more corrupt and have less trust in government. Household debt, as a share of GDP, is now the second highest of 43 countries, and we have the third most unaffordable housing market. One in six Australian children live in poverty. Australia is going backwards under the Liberals. We are being left behind.

We need a government that has vision, that wants to see Australia leading the world, that wants to build back stronger and fairer as we recover from the pandemic. We need a government in touch with the needs of Australians, that will support innovation and make sure that no-one is left behind. And that's why a federal Labor government is more crucial than ever. An Albanese government will tackle climate change, return integrity and dignity to politics, fix the NBN, properly fund the public broadcasters, provide job security and stand up for Australians. The pandemic has shown us what is important and what is less important. What people in Australia and around the world need right now is hope, and it's there.

This is my message to Australians. For those who are worried about climate change and the world that they'll leave their grandchildren, Labor hears you. To those worried about how they'll never get into the housing market, Labor hears you. To those trying to keep a business afloat at home during lockdown with the world's worse internet speeds, Labor hears you. To those struggling to get into the job market or to find secure work, Labor hears you. To those trying to upskill, train and get a degree, Labor hears you.

The SPEAKER: The honourable member's time has expired. I give the call to the member for Bennelong.

Mr ALEXANDER (Bennelong) (16:45): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Congratulations on obtaining this high office. I'm sure you will do this place proud.

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Mr ALEXANDER: It is a wonderful time of the year. Christmas is approaching. Lights are starting to appear outside homes. Christmas shopping is imminent. It has only been six weeks since decorations appeared in the shopping centres! Most years we look at each other and think, 'Where did the year go?' Lockdowns have blended into lockdowns. Homeschooling has drudged on, and well-intentioned sourdough starters have been in the fridge now for so long they are becoming sentient and have started to look to move out! Einstein told us decades ago that time is an illusion, but only in the last two years has this proven to be our experience. So we come to the end of this year with a relieved sigh and optimism for the future. It's worth remembering that in November last year we felt similarly, before Christmas and New Year's were upturned by the Northern Beaches outbreak. While Bennelong wasn't locked down, the implications of gathering restrictions affected the Christmas plans of many in my electorate, especially the many large local families looking forward to their traditional gatherings. Thankfully, this year, our optimism is supported by data.

Our vaccine rollout, after an admittedly slow start, fired up in the second half of the year, and now the nation is 86 per cent double vaccinated, and New South Wales is trickling towards 95 per cent single vaccinated. In Ryde, we have 93 per cent fully covered, which is an incredible figure. We couldn't have gotten here without an incredible amount of work from our doctors, nurses, pharmacists and everyone else who helped roll out the jab and manned our emergency departments and COVID wards during our biggest outbreak this year. Thank you to everyone who played their part in keeping us safe, and, of course, thank you to everyone who rolled up their sleeves to get the jab. We're opening shops, opening borders and reducing restrictions purely thanks to the huge numbers of people who have come out to get their jabs, so thank you. This means Christmas will be somewhat back to normal this year, and I for one can't wait.

Ryde Rotary Carols on the Common is back again, although not on the common this year—how common! TG Milner is the new home for this year, and it promises to be a great event. I look forward to seeing the thousands of people who normally come once again able to congregate and sing together.

Another stalwart that is back for another year is my Christmas card competition. The cards are being printed now and will be coming out shortly. We had wonderful entries from St. Charles, Epping West, Ermington West, St Michael's, Putney public, Our Lady Queen of Peace in Gladeville and St Anthony's Catholic Primary School. Choosing a winner was very, very difficult. Every child who put in an entry was a winner. The finalists were Isabel Chan, year 1 from Epping West Public School; Olivia Payne, year 2 at Putney Public School; Annabel Debkowski, year 3 at St Charles public; Ryde's Isabel Nagwani, year 4 at Ermington West Public School; and Chloe Palmer, year 5 at St Michael's Meadowbank. But there can only be one winner, and I'm happy to announce that this year that goes to Annabel Debkowski from St Charles. Congratulations, Annabel, and make sure you keep an eye out for your card around the community. Thanks to every student who participated and the teachers who found the time to make this happen.

To end, I would like to thank everybody for their perseverance this year and wish everybody a very happy Christmas. Hopefully, this year you can spend it with friends and relatives, but, if you can't, because they live in faraway places—or in Perth in the country of Western Australia!—you can look forward to the rapidly approaching day when borders will open. Please remember those less fortunate nearby you too. They've probably had a pretty hard year.

Next year will bring a soggy La Nina January, an election and perhaps another COVID season, albeit a smaller one, hopefully, but that's a few months away. For now we can focus on things closer to home, and for the next few weeks we can raise a glass—or maybe three!—to our essential services, our neighbours and ourselves, smile and know that we deserve this festive season.

Mr PERRETT (Moreton) (16:49): Mr Speaker, could I start by congratulating you on this elevation. To be a good Speaker requires intelligence and integrity, and you have both of those in spades, so I wish you all the best.

The SPEAKER: I thank the member for Moreton.

Mr PERRETT: Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and launches 16 days of activism. The theme is Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now! We know that one in three women in Australia have experienced physical violence, we know that one in four women in Australia have been sexually assaulted at work, and we know that, on average, one woman a week in Australia is killed by a partner or former partner. So ending violence now is not soon enough.

There have been plenty of words said in this place about ending violence against women. In 2018, after the shocking murder of Eurydice Dixon in a Melbourne park, then Prime Minister Turnbull said:

Women must be safe everywhere—on the street, walking through a park, in their homes and at work.

In February 2020, many MPs, senators and staff gathered for a vigil after the terrible murder of Hannah Clarke and her three young children Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey. Prime Minister Morrison attended that vigil and he said, 'We must remember their names.' I do remember their names, but remembering the names of Hannah, Aaliyah, Laianah, Trey, Eurydice and the many, many other women who have been murdered will not prevent more women being murdered.

According to the Counting Dead Women project, by the antisexism group Destroy the Joint, which counts all female victims of violence, domestic or otherwise, at least 55 women died in 2020. Shortly after the murder of Hannah Clarke and her children in Brisbane in 2020, I called on the government to implement one of the priority steps in the Safety First in Family Law campaign. Launched by Women's Legal Services Australia and supported by more than 90 organisations, it's a simple change to the Family Law Act—a change to something that had been raised in many reports and inquiries as a danger to women and children. It's a change that costs nothing and could be done next week, but nothing happened. My calls fell on the deaf ears of this Morrison government. Not even after hearing of the terrible murders of Hannah and her children was this government moved to act. I introduced a private member's bill to make this simple legislative change that will save lives. So far, nine Labor members, one member of the Greens and two Liberal members have spoken in support of my bill and the simple change that it proposes.

I encourage all Australians who are serious about preventing violence against women to please ask their federal MP to speak on my bill, to support this simple change that experts in family violence believe will make a difference and will make women and children safer. Words won't make a difference, but action will. My private member's bill won't prevent all violence against women—I'm not suggesting that—but it will make some safer. But there is, of course, much more to be done. Women fleeing domestic violence should have access to safe refuge. Shelters for women and children should be properly staffed and funded. More community sector workers should be available to help women fleeing violence. Women's safety should be a national priority, and Australia needs a family, domestic and sexual violence commissioner.

Labor is committed to action and bringing down the rates of violence in our community. Labor have already announced that we will invest in safe and affordable housing and 500 new community sector workers. We know that violence against women is a national crisis. We know that women are subjected to violence every day. We know that women are sometimes not believed when they say that they have been subjected to physical or sexual violence. I was a member of the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System, which has just tabled its final report. The committee made 52 recommendations to improve the family law system. The committee also made an important finding that false allegations of violence are not prevalent within the family law system, and that was a unanimous finding of the whole of the committee—including the deputy chair of that committee, Senator Hanson, who has been very vocal about her view that women lie about domestic violence.

This government is great at announcements. They know how to use words, but too often they follow up with nothing. Words are nice—I'm a writer; I love words. But what Australian women need is action. Today begins 16 days of action. Let's see what it takes for the Morrison-Joyce government to actually eliminate violence against women.

My private member's bill is being debated in parliament again next Monday, just four days away. Let's see if any members of the coalition government will even bother to speak on it. I'm not saying they have to support it, but surely they should join the debate and speak to that particular piece of legislation. It is a private member's bill, but it makes a simple change.

The SPEAKER: I've been looking forward to this for some time—no pressure! I give the call to be member for Casey.

Mr TONY SMITH (Casey) (16:55): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and congratulations on your election; a tribute to you. I know, as the former Speaker, just how diligent you were in following the procedures and processes of the House as a member of the Speaker's panel. This is my first opportunity publicly to say congratulations.

The SPEAKER: I thank the member for Casey.

Mr TONY SMITH: As we know as local members of parliament, a community's greatest asset is its people. In the electorate of Casey, which I am privileged to represent, one of its finest was the late Don Parsons, a person who I worked alongside on many community projects and who became a very close friend. He was born in Tasmania in 1947 and obviously spent his youth there, but at the age of 15 he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy. He served for 34 years in various posts, and also spent time with signals intelligence in the United Kingdom.

After retiring from the Navy, he went into small business. He ran a cafe in the electorate—a cafe with a naval theme. He raised his family: his son, Ashley; and his daughter, Talia, who I know very well. He later served for many years in the community as a justice of the peace and a bail justice, but it was in his role as a member of the Lilydale RSL that I got to know him incredibly well.

In 2014, he was part of a group that took over the leadership, and he demonstrated great community commitment and incredible passion right across his time there, particularly with the Centenary of Anzac, which he instinctively realised was a unique time to shine a light on those stories in a way that we had never been able to do. He was instrumental in getting a number of local war memorials and local military history publications completed, and many a time we stood together, as members in this House will have done as well, unveiling and launching these projects. The electorate of Casey is the Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges and the outer suburbs. Sometimes we launched these in the rain and sometimes with the sun beating down upon us, but Don was always there and he was always there leading the RSL.

What I will remember most about Don, who passed away suddenly last year—and I will come to that; I haven't had the opportunity to speak in this House on this matter—was his being instrumental as a leader, together with local historian Anthony McAleer, in deciding that they would have a ceremony on the 100th anniversary of the death of every local soldier in the Lilydale and Mount Evelyn areas—on the day, a century after those locals lost their lives in World War I. Sometimes three or four of us were there. Sometimes family members had travelled for many hundreds of kilometres to be there. Sometimes schools turned up. He did that 45 times, just to stop and pause on the centenary of the death of those soldiers, reflect on their lives and lay a wreath. It was during those times that I really got to know him as a close friend.

He attended Anzac Day in 2020 with his daughter, Talia, to lay a wreath during lockdown, and died not long after, suddenly, at the age of 72. He was part of my local Anzac essay prize for local schools, and it's quite fitting that the committee decided that, following his passing, that prize would be renamed in his honour. I pay tribute to him. I miss him as a friend. I pay tribute to his family, who I understand are listening today. I wanted to make this contribution here in this House, on his behalf and on behalf of his family, for a community that he served so well.

H ouse adjourned at 17:00

Federation Chamber

Thursday, 25 November 2021

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mrs Lucy Wicks) took the chair at 10:00.