The PRESIDENT (12:01): I remind senators the question may be put on any proposal at the request of any senator.

The PRESIDENT (12:01): I table the certificate of the choice by the Parliament of Victoria of Greg Mirabella to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Ryan.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (12:04): by leave—I move:

That the rules for remote participation in Senate proceedings recommended by the Procedure Committee in its first report of 2021 have effect during the sittings of the Senate from 8 to 10 February 2022.

In doing so, I do just note and reinforce to senators that this is a time-limited extension of the eligibility to participate in remote sittings for this sitting week only. We have continued to extend remote participation as border controls and other restrictions have existed around the country, but it is the wish of the government and I believe of other parties to ensure that remote participation is not a permanent feature of this place. No senator should automatically assume that it will be extended for other sittings, and we will continue to monitor carefully the COVID situation around the country and work cooperatively across the chamber to ensure that participation is available to senators but also that the appropriate place for Senate participation, being here in this chamber, is the paramount consideration in the long term. I thank the Senate.

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (12:05): The opposition would like to associate itself with the comments made by the Leader of the Government in the Senate around extending remote participation for this period of two weeks, acknowledging that there are border restrictions still in place in WA and quite widespread community transmission of COVID. However, we don't see remote participation as a permanent feature of the Senate and it should remain under review each sitting period. Our view is that people, if they are able to, should attend the Senate in person. It has served a purpose during these unprecedented times, but it is time limited, and senators should be aware that that is certainly the thinking of the opposition on this matter.

Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (12:06): I want to make sure of the stance of the Jacqui Lambie Network on remote participation: the sooner it is over the better. You're all talking about the country getting back to normality. Quite frankly, unless you have a medical certificate, you should be sitting in this chamber. It's as simple as that.

Question agreed to.

The PRESIDENT (12:06): In the final sitting week of 2021 the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces was published by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins.

Today, on the first sitting day of 2022, we deliver this statement on behalf of the parliamentary cross-party leadership taskforce recommended by Commissioner Jenkins and as a reflection of the parliament. We acknowledge the unacceptable history of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces.

This issue is of the greatest importance and the responsibility of all people who work in this place. Any bullying, sexual assault or sexual harassment is unacceptable and wrong. We say sorry.

Every workplace should be safe and respectful. This place and its members are committed to bringing about lasting and meaningful change to both culture and practice within our workplaces. We have failed to provide this in the past. We today declare our personal and collective commitment to make the changes required. We will aspire, as we should, to set the standard for the nation.

We thank all of those who participated in the Jenkins review, acknowledging everyone who came forward to tell us of their experiences. We also acknowledge the many others who could not or did not participate but who may have experienced misconduct. We know that your experiences have had profound and far-reaching impacts on your lives. We have listened and heard you, and we accept your calls for change.

This parliament should serve as a model workplace for our nation. Only by creating the best workplace will this parliament attract the best people our country has to offer. And only by attracting the best our country has to offer, and listening to the communities we represent, will we deliver the high standards that our country deserves.

Parliamentary workers feel pride in working for their country, and the privilege and honour of making a difference for the Australian people. However, for far too many, it has not been safe or respectful.

The Jenkins review proposes an ambitious program of reform to ensure Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces meet the highest standards. We are fully committed to working across the parliament to implement all of these recommendations within the time frames proposed by Commissioner Jenkins.

We have started to act. Last year, we established a new independent complaints process and began providing trauma-informed support for people who have experienced serious incidents working in the parliament. Members, senators and staff have undertaken professional workplace training. Parliamentarians must uphold the highest standards and be accountable for delivering required actions. We know that cultural change has to come from the top. It has to be role modelled and championed by all of us. While we know we cannot undo the harm that has already been done, we are committed to acknowledging the mistakes of the past and continuing to build safe and respectful workplaces.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (12:10): by leave—I thank you, Mr President, and the Speaker in the other place, for the statement you have just given. I welcome and endorse the statement, its content, its spirit and its intent. It is a statement of unity, I trust, from this place, and of senators, to say sorry for the bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault that has occurred in Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces and to commit to doing everything we can do—individually as senators and collectively as members of this chamber and as parliamentarians across the board—to change culture and practice to make our workplaces safer and more respectful for everyone.

The impact of workplace bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault is profound for the individual victims of it, for their families, for their friends and for their workmates and colleagues. The impact on the work of the parliament in serving the Australian people is also significant. The skills, commitment, passion and drive that people have for making a contribution in this place is enormous. Commissioner Jenkins highlighted the contributions of many of the hundreds of individuals who contributed to her work, to her report Set the standard. I thank all those who participated in the various ways—by making submissions, by participating in interviews, by undertaking the surveys and through other engagement methods.

One of the quotes of so many that Commissioner Jenkins highlighted was:

I felt that I had no option but to leave that building, and it wasn't because I didn't like working in politics, it wasn't because I didn't enjoy staffing, but that office made it untenable for me to be in the vicinity of that building. And to even show up I was getting severe chest pain walking into the building.

That individual's loss, reflective of that of others who contributed to Commissioner Jenkins's work, is our nation's loss. The fact that we lose good people is a loss in each of our offices and a loss to the parliament as a whole.

This statement of acknowledgement delivered by you, Mr President, and by the Speaker today was the first recommendation of Commissioner Jenkins's report. Her report, as you acknowledged, was received in the final sitting week of 2021. And today, the first sitting day of 2022, we take the action of delivering upon that first important recommendation of acknowledging the harms that have been caused by saying, sincerely, sorry for those harms and apologising for the circumstances and culture that led to them and for the failures in systems in terms of the way in which they have been handled over time. We commit ourselves to change.

I thank Commissioner Jenkins for the enormous amount of work she did to ensure that the voices of current and former staff and of current and former parliamentarians could be heard through her review. I thank her for her guidance and feedback, not just in that report but through the process and the undertaking of that report and, subsequently, in the actions in implementing the report, including the drafting of your statement and the work around the procedures for it to occur today. This review and this statement would not have been possible—indeed, would not have occurred—without those current and former staff who were willing to share their stories and their experiences. I acknowledge all of them. Most of them, the vast majority, are unknown publicly—as they would wish, in terms of respecting their privacy. But I acknowledge those who have spoken out publicly as well. Those such as Ms Brittany Higgins, who has shown bravery in sharing her experience and who has also continued to engage constructively with Commissioner Jenkins; with Ms Stephanie Foster, who undertook the interim report and review last year for shorter-term responses the parliament could take; and with Ms Kerri Hartland, the chair of the leadership task force recommended by the Jenkins review to oversee the implementation of the recommendations. They all—both publicly known and named and those participating, advising and making their views known and experiences known in private—have played a role in bringing us to this point today.

Life is a journey of learning, of understanding, of growing. Each of us learns in different ways right throughout our lives. One of the great privileges of the jobs that those of us in this place have, serving as members of parliament, is the ability to learn from the diverse experiences of so many others right around the country as we engage in our jobs and seek to represent those who put us here. The events of the last year have been a period of learning for me, and I hope they have been for all others, as I have reflected upon the experiences that've been told—stories and experiences of my own office and those across the rest of the parliament—and thought about how we can do better and how we can change culture one step at a time through the actions of each and every one of us.

Today's statement is an important step forward. It builds on some steps that we as a parliament have already begun, including through our unanimous resolutions in this chamber and in the other place in support of the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service—established last year—and its independent complaints mechanism. It builds upon the steps that overwhelmingly we have all taken in undertaking the professional training that is in place, as well as the steps that have been taken through the provision of trauma-informed counselling across this parliament.

This statement of acknowledgement rightly identifies that those steps are not enough, that we commit to delivering upon the recommendations and acting upon the recommendations of the Jenkins review to make our Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces safe and respectful for everyone. These recommendations call upon all of us in parliamentary workplaces to show leadership. They are not a matter for any one party. I thank the opposition, the minor parties and the Independents for their cooperation and support from the early commissioning of the Jenkins review, the legal protections that were put in place for participants in that review, the conclusion and handling of the release of it, and, more recently, the establishment of a leadership task force and the initial steps towards implementing its recommendations.

As we implement those recommendations there will be legislation introduced into this parliament this week. There will be a motion to put in place other procedures to implement recommendations this week and there is much more work occurring in the background to deliver upon the other recommendations.

I look forward to the same spirit of cooperation and support across the chamber and the parliament in delivering upon all of those different aspects of this report. The cross-parliamentary approach has been a hallmark of what we have done to date and, as Commissioner Jenkins has said, will be vital for us to continue into the future. We owe our staff of today; the staff, members and senators who served here previously; and, perhaps most importantly, those who will come in the future, nothing less than to continue that cooperative, thoughtful approach to implementation of these recommendations.

I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues through the cross-parliamentary leadership task force and the ongoing work that we have to do to ensure that we do uphold the highest standards in all Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces—that we do, as Commissioner Jenkins's report is entitled, 'set the standard' appropriately for the nation. I thank the Senate.

Senator KENEALLY (New South Wales—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (12:19): Mr President, on behalf of the Australian Labor Party I thank you for your statement of acknowledgement today. The last passage in particular struck a poignant chord. While we know we cannot undo the harm that has already been done, we are committed to acknowledging the mistakes of the past and continuing to build safe and respectful workplaces.

The President is correct: we cannot undo the harm. For all the words in the Jenkins review and all the speeches that will be given here today, nothing we can say will undo the harm that countless staff have experienced in this workplace, and that is simply because we are too late. Too many people have been harmed. Bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault have all been able to occur—in some cases fester—in this workplace. Like many senators here today, I have sat opposite too many people as they have described to me the harms that they have endured in this building. As they have cried, we have cried. As they have expressed their anger, we have felt that anger. As they have grieved, we have grieved.

I have grieved for their harm, but I have also grieved for the harm that has taken place while they've worked here in Parliament House, a workplace that should represent a highlight in any career. Parliament House, our workplace, should act as a model for others and be something that all Australians look to with pride. It's a place that should attract the best talent from across the country and indeed the globe, with people jostling to work with their elected representatives to build a better Australia. But too often, as the Jenkins review has shown, we've let our staff down. For that, to all our staff, past and present, we say sorry. On behalf of the Australian Labor Party in this place, I say sorry.

Sadly, in my conversations—as, I'm sure, in many of the conversations others in this chamber have had—too many victims have questioned their own actions. They have asked: 'What did I do wrong that caused this? If I'd done things differently, could I have avoided this harm?' Of course the answer is that they did nothing wrong. There is nothing wrong with expecting your workplace to be safe. There is nothing wrong with expecting your workplace to be free of sexual harassment and the crime of sexual assault. There's nothing wrong with expecting your workplace to be deliberately fostering a positive, respectful culture where you can feel safe at work, and yet this workplace, Parliament House, has not lived up to these basic standards.

A culture has developed here, over the decades, where too often bullying, sexual harassment and sexual assault have not been confronted. Indeed, in some cases they have been deliberately ignored or covered up. Is this behaviour occurring everywhere in this workplace? No. But could this behaviour occur anywhere in this workplace? To that question, regrettably, we all must answer yes. That is why we are here today—to both acknowledge the harm which we cannot undo and to embark on a fearless trajectory to help build a workplace where the expected standards of behaviour are modelled, championed and enforced, a workplace where respectful behaviour is rewarded and in which any Australian, no matter their gender, race, sexual orientation, disability status or age, feels safe and welcome to contribute.

To those who bravely stepped into the media spotlight this past year to say enough is enough and to call for change: we are all in your debt. Without the courage of Brittany Higgins and others, the Jenkins review might never have happened. Without the Jenkins review, the hundreds of staff who contributed to the review might never have had the chance to have their voices heard. To every staff member, both current and former, who contributed to the Jenkins review, we say thank you.

While these speeches will finish today, the real work for us is just beginning. The Jenkins review lays out the challenge before us and the road map for change. Maps are not always perfect; course corrections are sometimes needed. But what we must not change is our commitment to building a better workplace. Australians will be watching what happens here, as will our staff, as the Jenkins review is implemented. Australians, rightly, will not accept another generation of parliamentary staff being harmed because of our inaction. The challenge is ours, and it is a challenge I am sure this chamber can unite around.

Senator McKENZIE (Victoria—Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education and Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) (12:24): I would like to associate the National Party with the contributions of both Senator Birmingham and Senator Keneally. On behalf of the National Party, I have a brief contribution to make.

We have the report and we have a pathway to change. Today, we honour the incredible bravery and strength of character it's taken by all of those who have spoken up and told their stories. To each of you, I'd like to say, we hear you and we stand with you. What has occurred here over the years hasn't been acceptable. It's not who we strive to be as a collective and as individuals, and it's not who we should be. We should be a workplace—an exemplary workplace—where our best and our brightest, irrespective of their political views in a liberal democracy such as ours, seek to compete to work in and for our nation to make it a better place. Sadly, not just in recent times but over a long period of time, this hasn't been the case. We want every person to feel safe and secure, no matter where they live, work or operate in this country, and sexual harassment and assault is never okay anywhere, anytime.

The report highlights both cultural and structural issues with this workplace. In a bipartisan way we will work towards addressing those together, because this isn't an issue of one side of politics or the other—one chamber or another; one office or another—this is a shared problem over a long period of time, and that joint acknowledgement by our generation of parliamentarians is the real breakthrough. Many of the people who are now MPs were staff 20 or 30 years ago—I'm not one—and have seen this particular workplace evolve and change over time. But one thing hasn't. I'm very proud to be part of a government that's taken a step but also a member of a generation of parliamentarians who will work together to see the cultural and structural change that this workplace needs to deliver, and we need to be united in this commitment.

One of the key recommendations of the Jenkins report is for our parliament to reflect and think about what those appropriate changes need to be. To paraphrase one of the greatest minds—a brilliant scientist but also a woman—Marie Curie: 'We all share a responsibility for all of humanity, and progress is never swift or easy,' and anyone who thinks it is or that it will be solved by an apology or one report is kidding themselves. Today will be remembered as the hallmark of a new way of reflecting on who we are and what we stand for and where we want to be as a united nation and people—our unity reflected in a respectful workplace, in our national capital, reflecting the diversity of Australian political views as well but united that sexual harassment and assault is never okay.

Thank you for the brave men and women, former staff, current staff, MPs, who fed into this report. I also want to acknowledge that many of these people still work in this building and, for this process, it has been a difficult time. Everybody has their own story. Everybody knows someone—a sister, a mother, a child, a friend, a work colleague—who has a very personal story to tell in this space. That is why this spark around the March 4 Justice last year was so powerful and why I was very proud, with other National Party MPs and senators, to join those people on our forecourt. I might not have agreed with all the political messages that were being espoused on that day but absolutely stood in solidarity with the principle that sexual assault and harassment is never okay. I want to ensure that we understand and acknowledge that for many people, when we stand up and talk about this stuff, it does trigger reflections for them.

We welcome the review and thank the commissioner for the exceptional work that has gone into the report. We will continue to implement all the recommendations as outlined. We are all privileged to serve. We will be the generation that takes this responsibility very seriously. The Nationals are committed to not just talking about change but ensuring, both as individual MPs and as a collective, that we work towards that end.

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate) (12:29): I rise to speak in response to the joint statement of acknowledgement given by you, President, and to apologise to everyone who has been harmed, abused, raped, harassed, bullied and made unsafe in this workplace and to reinforce the Greens' full commitment to working for the implementation of every single one of the Set the standard recommendations.

Around half the staff in parliamentary workplaces have experienced harassment, bullying or assault during their time here—almost half. We should all be appalled by that. For First Nations people, people of colour, people with disability, the harassment and disrespect are even worse. The commission heard that even raising issues of racism or the intersectionality of racism and sexism could provoke an aggressive response. My own Greens colleagues have experienced that, as have our staff. Sexism and racism are alive and well in this parliament, and in combination they are even more damaging and dangerous. This has not been a safe workplace; this has been an entitled boys' club. As the thousands of women and allies who took to the streets to march for justice said: 'Enough. This has to stop.' There cannot be more blame-shifting, glossing over and waiting until later; the blame is ours, the shame is ours. On behalf of the Greens, we are, I am, so sorry.

There are many things on which people in this place do not agree, but on this issue we must be better and we must act collectively. The toxic culture that has been allowed to fester in parliament, documented in appalling detail by Commissioner Jenkins in the Set the standard report must end and that will only happen if we all work together to end it. As one of the participants interviewed by the Human Rights Commission said:

This is Parliament. It should set the standard for workplace culture, not the floor of what culture should be.

We are sorry and we have to do better, every single one of us, every single day.

It has been nearly 12 months since Brittany Higgins bravely shared her experience, peeling back the curtains on the callous disregard that so many women and people have endured for so long. Hers was not the first story. Rachelle Miller, Chelsea Potter and countless others have spoken out before. Brittany Higgins' story was not even the most recent story but hers was the final straw, and this parliament must commit to making it the last story like that that someone has to tell.

Brittany Higgins, Rachelle Miller, Chelsea Potter, Josie Coles, Emma Husar, Julia Banks and so many others who shared their stories with Commissioner Kate Jenkins did so because they felt they had to in order to reveal the toxic culture, the sexism, the bullying, the lack of support, the he-said, she-said mentality and the cover-ups. They did this in the hope that something would change. They chose to speak up for themselves but also for those who weren't able to speak up. We know from the report that the vast majority of staff who have been harassed in this place have made no formal report because they had no faith that anything would be done.

We have heard and we have listened, but we must keep listening. The Prime Minister must listen in particular to Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins tomorrow at the Press Club. We must make sure that current and former staff—affected survivors—are involved in these reforms in a meaningful way and feel supported to tell us when we're not doing enough. We must work to support those who have suffered and those who are still suffering from their experience. We must maintain a robust, independent, confidential complaints process that people can trust. We must work to put in place a code of conduct that not only sets the standard but makes sure there are consequences when those standards are not met. We need to tackle inequality, racism, classism, homophobia and lack of representation in our parliament. The culture in this place will only change when decisions are being made by people with differing views and experiences. We must work for a more diverse and inclusive parliament that better represents our community with more women, more people of colour, more people with disability, more LGBTIQ+ people and people with diverse backgrounds.

I want to thank Commissioner Jenkins and her team again for the incredible work that they have done in setting out what we need to do. We owe it to everyone who took part, to everyone in this place and to everyone in the country to show some leadership and get it done. I also want to acknowledge that this work needs to be done not just in this workplace but in all workplaces around the country. We must keep working to implement a positive duty on employers to ensure that every worker in every workplace is safe and respected.

Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation) (12:35): [by video link] The apologies provided by both the Prime Minister and opposition leader of this parliament are simply virtue-signalling, hollow statements. The opposition leader and wannabe Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, oversaw one of the greatest smear campaigns of a sexual harassment victim in this parliament. Rather than address the actions of the perpetrator, Mr Slipper, Mr Albanese ran defence and provided the millions of dollars of taxpayers' money to further prolong, torment and victimise the victim. This, in turn, forced the victim to acquire more than $4 million worth of legal bills that he remains financially responsible for. While an act of grace was provided by Labor to pay for Mr Slipper's multimillion-dollar legal bill, the victim has been left fearful of bankruptcy with a $4 million debt. Where is the apology and act of grace to Mr Ashby?

What saddens victims of the sexual harassment that continues to occur in this parliament is the fact that most victims have been forced to sign non-disclosure agreements in return for cash settlements. Victims live with the burden of knowing the perpetrators are free to carry on with their jobs, their stature and their positions without any fallout. The act of cover-up of sexual harassment by political parties is disgraceful. If they were truly remorseful for the behaviour of current and former politicians, they would release the victims from confidentiality clauses and let them speak freely of the pain and suffering their members caused.

I am aware of at least three confidential payouts made to staff of the former Speaker. These were orchestrated by senior members of both the Liberal and Labor parties. It is not the responsibility of the taxpayer to pay out victims; it should be the politician. Only then will it make them pull their heads in. Politicians should not be treated as protected species. Too many of you have blood on your hands and the standard some of you have set as parliamentarians is shameful, both to the people who work alongside you and to the greater public. It's no wonder some staffers think it's funny to film themselves masturbating on MPs' desks and sending it on to their colleagues.

I take my hat off to Brittany Higgins for coming forward. Brittany Higgins' alleged rape was not committed by a member of parliament but by a work colleague. And yet it was used to a political level for point scoring—something the Labor Party went out of its way to avoid during the Slipper case. The public sees through the pathetic attempt to deal with the subject of sexual harassment within Parliament House and, while I sympathise—truly sympathise—with each of the victims, it should be the perpetrator they're seeking an apology from, not me.

Senator PATRICK (South Australia) (12:38): I rise briefly in support of this acknowledgement and, indeed, share the views of the Leader of the Government, the opposition, the Nationals and the Greens. Bullying, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct are totally unacceptable. I just note that it is senators who set the tone and who set the culture of the way in which this building is run, and that it's up to us to make sure, where there's improper behaviour, that it is dealt with decisively. In the case of a senator engaging in this sort of conduct, we need to make sure that we watch our colleagues and also that leaders of parties are strong and decisive when this behaviour occurs.

I thank Ms Jenkins for her efforts and for putting together a good report. The truth will be in the eating of the pudding, and I hope that these recommendations pass through both chambers quickly.

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia) (12:40): I wish to add my contribution to the statements that have been made and respond to the acknowledgement outlined today and in the other place. Of course, culture starts at the top and that's why it is absolutely important that as members of parliament we not only look at the details of this report, read and hear the words and the pain of those who have told their stories to the commissioner, been brave enough to come forward, either privately or in the public realm, but work together to respond and do this with genuine force, passion and commitment.

I am truly sorry for those staff, past and present, who have suffered harassment, bullying and assault in this place as just a part of doing their job. I know that there are a number of staff who would've liked to have been here today to have seen this acknowledgement themselves and, because of the circumstances, have not been able to. I think it is important to reflect on the fact that many of our staff today will be listening to the very words and holding us, as MPs, to that standard that we have now committed ourselves to.

I know that Ms Higgins, Ms Miller and Ms Cole and others are in the building today because what is happening here is important. I hope that they no longer have to feel terrified, upset and worried about when they walk back in that front door ever, ever again.

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate) (12:42): I seek leave to move a motion relating to confidence and the lack thereof in this government.

Leave not granted.

Senator WATERS: Pursuant to contingent notice of motion, I move:

That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to lack of confidence in the government.

I urge the Senate to suspend standing orders so that the Senate can vote on this motion of no confidence in this government. This vote is urgent because no-one can honestly have confidence in this government. We need to put this government out of its misery. This is not just about the text messages; it's because the government cannot keep people safe. It is urgent, because each week 200 people are dying from COVID. For January, that's the highest in the Asia-Pacific region per head of population.

They can't keep people safe from the climate crisis, because they're deliberately making it worse. They can't keep women safe at work, refusing to back all of the recommendations in the safe at work report. We must urgently consider this matter, because the government can't keep people safe from rising inequality. Millions of people are in dangerous insecure work, underpaid, living in unaffordable housing or not having housing at all and struggling to keep their head above water. This is not just about the text messages.

The texts just show what we've all known: these guys are in it for themselves. The Prime Minister would sell out anyone to get ahead, and those texts show that those closest to him know that all too well. During the pandemic, he and this rotten government have undermined the states. They've overseen a crisis in aged care, given false confidence to people and have failed to prepare for life after lockdown. We must urgently suspend standing orders.

Right now, our elders are stuck inside their rooms, and Mr Morrison and Mr Dutton can't agree on how to help. They're fighting for the top job while people drive around trying to find RATs. And, callously, the health minister is claiming that those who have died would have died anyway. This chaos is dangerous, and a fish rots from the head. How can anyone have confidence in this government?

We must consider this urgently, because the government can barely pass legislation. It can't establish an integrity commission. It's too busy to do that one. It's too busy for the Prime Minister to watch Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins speak at the Press Club tomorrow. This government is hanging on by one vote in the House, and it doesn't have the numbers here in the Senate. It can't get real climate action past the National Party. It can't decide whether schools should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTIQ+ kids. It can't even back a wage rise for aged-care workers. All of these issues are putting people's lives at risk. This government cannot keep people safe, and that's exactly why we need to consider this motion of no confidence urgently.

Over the last three summers, people have died because of the failures of this government. People died in climate fuelled bushfires while Mr Morrison went on holiday to Hawaii. He waved coal around in parliament, shouting, 'Don't be scared.' People died in aged-care homes while the responsible minister went to the cricket. In a crisis, in a pandemic, you need clear, honest information from trusted sources. We have been denied that from this government because, as the text messages show, it can't tell the truth. Through the government's trying to take all the credit and push off all the blame, the country has lost all confidence. This Senate chamber must urgently consider this motion because, while the country faced incredible anxiety, stress and uncertainty caused by the global pandemic, the government were more concerned about their own re-election.

We've seen the Prime Minister try to appeal to antivaxxers when it suited him and then lock out sports stars—again, to try to be popular. But we remember what you've said and what you've done, Prime Minister. The people aren't stupid; the polls show that they're onto you. Women don't like being told that they're lucky not to be shot when they speak up. Aged-care residents don't like being told that they were going to die anyway. People who are worried about the climate crisis don't like seeing coal being waved about in parliament. It's not surprising that someone in the cabinet reportedly called him 'a psycho': a man who has a trophy that he awarded himself for stopping the boats full of desperate people seeking safety in Australia, a man who waves coal around in parliament, a man who stands over people to get what he wants. Only a 'horrible, horrible man' could be proud to build a political career on the abuse of honourable people. The former Premier of New South Wales was right; this is a horrible, horrible man.

This government, led by this Prime Minister, cares only about itself. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull knows that. The President of France knows that. Julia Banks knows that. Even Minister Joyce knows that. The Prime Minister is a bully, he's a bigot, he's a liar and he's a fraud. We must urgently consider this vote of no confidence because the people of this country have lost confidence in him and in the government he purports to lead. This government has had a go. They've failed, and now they've got to go.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (12:48): I hate to break it to the Australian Greens, but there is a time and place for this to be considered, and that will be at an election in a few months time. That will be when the Australian people make their decision about who governs and about the constitution of this parliament for the next three years, just as they did a little under three years ago when they re-elected the Morrison government. As much as the Australian Greens may wish to change the normal electoral course, the fact is it's a job for the Australian people at the election. And I know—

An honourable senator: Call the election!

Senator BIRMINGHAM: There are the Greens, calling for an early election. I heard Senator Waters earlier, proclaiming what she saw to be the election outcome, talking about the polls, predicting the election outcome, showing the same type of hubris that she did three years ago when she made exactly the same sorts of calls, exactly the same sorts of observations about the polls, only of course to be completely wrong.

We will take nothing for granted when we go to the election in a few months time, but we will welcome the opportunity to stand on our track record of keeping Australians safe and secure through some of the most uncertain times the world has faced—through the most uncertain times, arguably, that most people in this chamber at this point in time have ever lived through. We will stand on a record that sees 1.7 million more Australians in jobs—employed, with the opportunities and the dignity that come from paid work and employment. Today, there are 1.7 million more than when our government was first elected. Incredibly, there has been a recovery and surge of 1.1 million in employment and job numbers since the pandemic of COVID-19 struck and since it disrupted economies and lives in every country around the world. You get a sort of alternative view of history from those opposite—and from the Greens from time to time—who seem to pretend that COVID-19 is happening in isolation here in Australia and ignore many of the comparisons with situations around the rest of the world.

But here in Australia, not without challenge, not without difficulty and not without mistakes, we have nonetheless still seen lower rates of fatalities than global averages in most other comparable nations. We have achieved higher rates of vaccinations than most other comparable nations, and we have secured stronger economic outcomes than most other nations. That's a testament to the work and cooperation of all Australians. We don't stand here as a government proclaiming all of those achievements as exclusively our own. They're the work that came from the earliest decisions that were taken to close Australia's international borders, decisions that Prime Minister Morrison took—before the global pandemic had been declared by the World Health Organization, it was recognised here in Australia. And through that closure of borders we managed to keep most of the earlier, deadlier strains of COVID-19 at bay in Australia—to buy the time for vaccines to be developed and to buy the time for the rollout to occur and to give Australians the opportunity to protect and secure themselves, as they have done in record numbers.

Through that time, our economic response plans have worked. That 1.7 million additional Australians in jobs that have been secured sees one million more Australian women in work as a result. It sees some of the highest women's workforce participation rates that our country has ever seen. It sees unemployment standing at 4.2 per cent, a 13-year low in unemployment. Youth unemployment is at such lows, in part, because of the 220,000 trade apprenticeships that have been generated, operating today as a result of the economic response policies our government has put in place. Australian families and households are dealing with the challenges of COVID with the extra security of lower taxes—there are some 11½ million Australian families enjoying tax relief to the tune of $1½ billion per month in additional income into their households to secure them.

We oppose the suspension of standing orders because this parliament has real business to get on with today, rather than the stunts of the Australian Greens. The Australian people will get to have their say at an election that we will contest, and we will argue strongly in terms of our track record and in terms of our economic plans for the future, and against the type of Labor-Greens alliance that will go to the election and that will, no doubt, if they are successful, work hand in glove, and will see those opposite held to ransom by the likes of Senator Waters.

S enator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (12:53): The Labor Party will be supporting the suspension. Whilst we agree with the Leader of the Government in the Senate that there are important matters before this chamber this week, the competence and capability of the government is right at the top of that list. It gives us no pleasure to say that this is a government that has given up governing, and we have no confidence in this government.

The reason it gives me no pleasure is because, by saying that, we are letting the Australian people down—the Australian people, who rely on government to help them, to give them a hand up and to fix their problems. The government have gone missing. They are so disunified: fighting each other, leaking against each other, attacking their leader, telling the truth about their leader, wanting the Australian people to know what they really think—and, while they're doing that, they're not looking after the Australian people and all the problems that the Australian people are feeling now. There are problems in aged care, where the situation is so dire, with thousands infected with COVID, hundreds dying and staff not able to perform their jobs.

That's the real world out there. People are worried about COVID. People are worried about their kids. People are worried about getting access to the booster. These are people's real worries: how they pay to fill their car up, how they buy their groceries, how they meet the rising cost of living. These are the problems that are out there. The Australian people deserve a government that's going to turn up every day and work on their behalf, and we haven't seen any evidence of that for months from this government. They're missing in action, and their disunity and failure to govern has real-life consequences for the Australian people. That is what angers us, and that is why we are supporting this today. We have no confidence. The Australian people are fast losing any remnant of confidence they had, waking up to stories about psychos and horrible, horrible men and liars and hypocrites and to stories about infighting. They don't want to hear about that. They want a government in place that's going to deal with the real challenges facing this country.

We, as others already have, can go through the list of failures of this government: the rorts; the waste; the billions of dollars of taxpayer funds that have gone into political sandbagging of seats; the climate wars' nine years of inaction and scaremongering, leaving it to future generations to deal with a much bigger issue and a much bigger problem; the constant lying by the Prime Minister; the failure to take responsibility—world leaders have called him out, for goodness' sake; his deputy has called him out—the COVID response; the lack of access to rapid antigen tests. How many of us, as representatives of our communities, have experienced that over summer? No-one could get a RAT and, at the same time, we were being told that you had to get yourself tested if you wanted to do anything. That was fine if you were able to. It was a massive failure. The aged-care minister hopped off to the cricket. I don't have a problem with people going to the cricket—I love the cricket—but I do have a problem with Australia's aged-care minister going to the cricket when people are dying, people are not getting fed, people are not able to have a bath or a shower and staff working there are having the most horrendous experiences. I do have a problem with that. Then I have a Prime Minister who says, 'That's okay. Sure, he copped that criticism; no problem,' while the system is in crisis and falling apart.

We in this place are used to the leadership failures of this Prime Minister. We see them every single day: bushfires, vaccines, aged care, the failure to take responsibility, the blame-shifting to the states—'it's not our fault; it's theirs'—not being straight with people, changing his answer. I remember him saying, 'I really did like electric vehicles. I never said they were going to end the weekend.' Yes, you did, so many times. This is the standard we have set at the top of this government. There is disunity. They cannot solve problems for people if they are too busy fighting themselves, and that is what we are seeing. This Prime Minister is out of touch. He has no understanding of how to deal with the challenges facing the Australian people. They've even given up pretending to govern on behalf of the people of Australia and they should call the election now.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Ruston? Sorry, Senator Roberts, I saw Senator Ruston first.

Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Minister for Families and Social Services, Minister for Women's Safety and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (12:58): You can clearly tell that the Greens—

Senator Whish-Wilson: Mr President, on a point of order: we're all wearing masks in here unless we're speaking. Senator Roberts is sitting there across the chamber not wearing a mask. It's entirely unacceptable. He has already been asked to put on a mask by his fellow senators. Can you please enforce the rule?

The PRESIDENT: On the point of order?

Senator Roberts: I'd like to address the statement that Senator Whish-Wilson just made.

The PRESIDENT: I'm not sure this is the appropriate time, but—

Senator Roberts: He misrepresented what I'm doing. I'd like the opportunity.

The PRESIDENT: Go ahead, Senator Roberts.

Senator Roberts: Senator McKim came over to me earlier and very respectfully and courteously said that Senator Steele-John has a compromised immune system. I said, 'I'm willing to put the mask on,' and I did so. I took the mask off just now because I jumped up to get the call. I'm happy to put it back on, and I will be putting it back on. I did not deliberately ignore Senator McKim. I gave my word to Senator McKim, and that's where it ends. But I point out, as I did to Senator McKim—

The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, I think you've explained your position well. We need to move on now. Thank you very much. Senator Ruston, you have the call.

Senator RUSTON: Clearly we have started the election campaign today. It's particularly disappointing that we can operate respectfully for the 2¾ years of an election term and then, all of a sudden, when the time comes, the Greens decide they're going to pull some sort of childish protest-party stunt. And, really disappointingly, the Labor Party decide that they're going to pile on as well.

The reality is that we have lived in the most unprecedented of times for the last two years. A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic hit the world. If you look at Australia's track record over the last couple of years, we have the highest vaccination rates of just about any country in the world and we have seen a relatively low number of people lose their lives as a result of COVID. That doesn't in any way diminish the pain and suffering of the people who have lost a loved one as a result of COVID, but it does point to the fact that the provisions and the actions taken by this government have reduced the number of people who, sadly, would have died from COVID. But, at the same time as having high vaccination rates and a relatively low death rate, we have also maintained a strong economy, which all of the experts are suggesting is well placed to rebound from the latest strain, omicron, which has had such a devastating effect across Australia in recent months.

There was no rule book for this. I love the heroes of hindsight that come in here, pretending that they could have done this all so much better—because they can look back and learn about the experiences that we have had and undertaken over two years. They sit here and pass judgement. Well, I've got to say: heroes of hindsight are not people that will make good leaders, and, for the sake of this country, I hope that we don't see a situation where the Australian Greens are in partnership with the Labor Party and inflict on the Australian population the kinds of ridiculous behaviour that we've seen in this place, particularly things like this stunt.

I also find it really quite extraordinary to come in here and hear the accusations about lies and dishonesty. There is nothing more dishonest than running a scare campaign, telling older Australians that the coalition government intends to put them on the cashless debit card. You know that's not true. You know that is an absolute abject lie and yet you're more than happy to allow your members to post this kind of stuff on their social media sites. You defend it. There is not a skerrick of truth in what you're running as a campaign. So there is some level of irony in you coming in here and making comments about lies when the fact is that you are lying to the Australian public. You are lying to older Australians, trying to scare them into voting for you in an absolutely shameless campaign. You have no regard whatsoever for older Australians who are scared by the kinds of tactics you use. It is absolutely disgraceful. Maybe you should have a look at some of the things that you're doing.

This government has a proud track record in government. Over the last three years, we have achieved some extraordinary things in extraordinary times. We sit here today with 1.1 million more Australians in work than when the pandemic hit. We stand here today with an unemployment rate of 4.2 per cent. I think it was Mr Chalmers who commented, when the pandemic started: 'This government will be judged on how many people become unemployed during the pandemic. You will be singularly judged on unemployment.' Well, with a 4.2 per cent unemployment rate and a prediction by many economists and leading lights in Australia that that number could potentially have a three in front of it by the end of the year, I think that we have probably passed Mr Chalmers's test of making sure that we protected Australians' jobs through the pandemic. We did this because we put in place JobKeeper and supported other Australians with the coronavirus supplement, to help Australians through this pandemic. In doing so, we ensured that our economy was strong and was able to rebound after the pandemic had gone through. So to come in here with these pathetic stunts, as the start of an election campaign, makes the Australian Greens look like the disgrace they really are.

Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (13:05): It is amazing, isn't it, that the Greens want to call a vote of no confidence. We see the Labor Party adopting the Greens policies. We see the Liberal Party adopting the Greens policies. We see the current Prime Minister, in the previous election campaign, smashing the Labor Party because they were in favour of a 2050 net zero policy. Now it's part of Liberal-National policy. So it looks like the Greens have no confidence in a government that is adopting Greens policies.

The Greens support forcibly injecting people against their will. The Greens have no data with which to back their climate claims, which are now impoverishing people and threatening coalminers' jobs in the Hunter Valley and in Queensland—a major part of Queensland's economy. They will stump the whole economy if we follow the path the government is going down. The Greens lie. They say the temperatures are rising—the temperatures have been flat since 1995, once one compensates for El Nino and La Nina. They are impoverishing the poor and misleading the country. So I have very little confidence in the government but even less confidence in the Labor-Greens alternative.

The Prime Minister, leading the government, says that there are no vaccine mandates in this country. That is a lie. It's a dishonest government. Senator Birmingham, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, said that the government has presided over lower fatalities—another falsity. Taiwan has just skittled us in the way it protected its vulnerable people and those with COVID. It has a much lower fatality rate—ours is 4.5 times higher than Taiwan's—because it has a management plan for the virus. Senator Birmingham said, 'We have higher injection rates,' and he was proud of that, proud of coercing everyday Australians, forcing them to get an injection by denying their kids food.

I was at a protest last week in Brisbane. The protest leader went over to the police supervising us, and the police said, 'Keep going, we've got to get away from this control.' One of the policemen said he was injected. The protest leader, Dan McDonald—a wonderful emergency services worker—said, 'How do you feel?' I will always remember this: a grown man saying 'owned'. He feels owned. What a debilitating thing for any man or woman to say. Yet I can understand that. That's not his fault. He has to put food on the table for his kids. It's this government's fault, ably supported by Labor and the Greens.

There is no plan for managing COVID. It's been completely mismanaged. They've abandoned the vulnerable. They've abandoned the desperate. They've withdrawn Australian citizens' access to a proven treatment, ivermectin. This is the first time in our country's history when healthy people have been forcibly injected. It's the first time when healthy people have been injected with something that can kill them—and is killing them—and it's the first time a government has withdrawn a treatment that is proven to be safe, effective and affordable. This is a government in which I have very little faith, but it's a government that shines because it hasn't quite adopted the Greens policies.

I oppose Senator Waters's motion to suspend standing orders, because it will have no effect. It's a stunt. It gives her time to misrepresent reality, yet again, and Senator Hanson and I do not vote for stunts. We will be opposing this suspension of standing orders.

Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (13:09): I rise to speak on the motion to suspend standing orders. During this great COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian community—disabled people, older Australians, First Nations peoples, young people—needed their government. They needed their government to listen to them and to act to provide help. And over the last two years this Morrison government, time and time again, have failed. They have let the Australian community down. The Australian community said, 'Let us have vaccinations. Let them get to the people that need them. Let's get it in quick; let's learn from the failures of other jurisdictions around the world as they battled the pandemic,' and the Morrison government let us down. The Australian community said, 'Let us have income supports so that we can focus on getting better, rather than worrying about where our next meal comes from,' and the Morrison government let the community down. The community said, 'Let us access, for everyone, the basics that we need to be safe during the pandemic. Let us access RATs and masks and proper ventilation in our schools to keep our kids safe,' and the Morrison government let the community down. Failure compounded failure, and the outcome was people put at risk and people dying.

Disabled people in this country will never forgive this feckless government for its disgraceful failure to keep that community safe, to keep our community safe. We will never forgive you, nor will the older Australians of this country, nor will the First Nations peoples of this country and nor will the immunocompromised of this country, for propagating the absolute lie, the total misrepresentation, that it is acceptable for our lives to be lost in this pandemic and that anybody with an underlying condition can be and should be written off as collateral damage. You have done so much harm in your time here. So much good work that needed to be done has gone undone. So much time has been squandered. The work of so many dedicated community members during this pandemic, attempting to keep each other safe, has been undermined by the reality that this government sees human lives far more in dollars and cents than it does in inherent human value.

For all these reasons and so much more, this government divided, this government benighted, this government failed and rambling into ruin, must now be swept from this place. A lack of confidence does not nearly cover it. Condemnation and allocation to the dustbin of history is all that you deserve. May you go there and never be thought of nor spoken of again.

The PRESIDENT: The question is that the suspension of standing orders be agreed to.

Senator WALSH (Victoria) (13:30): Today, thousands of shifts in aged care are going unfilled every week. Vulnerable residents are suffering appalling conditions and aged-care workers are at breaking point. This is the Morrison government's aged-care system at work in Australia today. And now, after nine years of Morrison government neglect, we're resorting to sending the troops into aged care.

The Prime Minister should have listened to the experts years ago. He should have acted on the royal commission's urgent call for more aged-care workers and for proper pay to keep the dedicated aged-care workers we have. But, in the middle of this crisis, instead of delivering a real plan to properly value these workers, the Prime Minister decided to insult them with a last-minute pre-election $400 bonus pay-off. I asked three aged-care workers what they thought about it. Julie told me, 'This bonus is just meant as a bribe.' Jude called it 'a desperate bid for votes'. Elizabeth said, 'It is insulting.' She also said: 'The Prime Minister should spend a week in a facility, first as a resident, then another in our shoes. If he is not heartbroken and exhausted after that, then he has no soul.'

The Prime Minister has had nine years to listen to the experts and to respect aged-care workers like Julie, Elizabeth and Jude by coming up with a real plan—a long-term plan to value our aged-care workers and residents. The Prime Minister has dismally failed aged-care workers, has tragically failed aged-care residents and has failed all Australians who expect their government to pass the most basic of tests: protecting our elderly.

Senator O'SULLIVAN (Western Australia) (13:32): I rise today to speak on the cashless debit card, as I have many times in this place. But today I rise with an update for the Senate—one that I'm particularly proud of and one that I've been working on personally. Last week I joined my friend from the other place the member for O'Connor, Rick Wilson, in the Goldfields to open up the first cashless debit card employment support hub. We on this side of the chamber believe in a strong welfare system that supports people into work. The cashless debit card, much maligned by those opposite, is part of this system.

While the CDC is proving to be a more responsible delivery of welfare payments, it's not the destination. Economic independence through employment is the goal. Employment won't change everything, but without it nothing will change. To this end the CDC is being further supported in the Goldfields by a network of hubs, designed to help those who need specialist assistance to break into the workforce. Whether this is something as simple as obtaining a driver's licence, sourcing necessary ID or accessing the services of an interpreter to better understand the prerequisite requirements, these services and this assistance will be available. Extra funding has also been committed to alcohol and drug rehabilitation services.

Another key role of the hubs is to engage with employers in the region to source employment opportunities. Employers are screaming out for suitably trained and capable employees. Employers are eager to work with the hubs to make sure they understand their requirements and to assist them in sourcing quality candidates and supporting them on the job. The Morrison government has made just under $2.4 million available for these services. I was very pleased to lead the consultation that has seen these services delivered. I thank the local governments across these areas, and I thank them for their support in stepping up to the plate.

Senator WHISH-WILSON (Tasmania) (13:34): Australians have around 100 days before this nation goes into one of the most important federal elections, if not the most important, in this country's history. For those Australians who care about the future and future generations of this country, about the environment, about our oceans and about climate action, this is it. This is your opportunity to cast a vote for climate action by voting Greens. We look at the record temperatures we've seen in Western Australia this summer—just another summer of record temperatures. But did we notice that, off the coast of Sydney and at the Great Barrier Reef, we had the warmest water temperatures ever recorded in history, another record from burning fossil fuels?

I'm proud to be part of a party that is keeping it very simple this election. We need to stop all new fossil fuel development in this country, and that's why our leader, Adam Bandt, made it very clear to the national media this week that that is going to be our ask in the next parliament. The Greens will be introducing a 'fight for our coastlines' bill that will do exactly that. Last year, 80,000 square kilometres of our ocean was handed over by this government for more exploration and more oil and gas drilling, putting our coastlines at risk. The Greens will be introducing this bill as soon as we can. I am once again proud to be standing up for coastal communities and those who love our oceans right around this country and saying that, at this time in history, we have no time left to waste before taking the strongest possible action on reducing our emissions, phasing out and ending all fossil fuel exploration and doing the right thing for future generations of this country. (Time expired)

Senator PRATT (Western Australia) (13:36): I draw the attention of the Senate today to the recent decision of the Morrison government to cut funding to peak health organisations across a range of health sectors. Governments, communities and health sectors rely on these trusted, credible services and peak bodies to provide advice and leadership, yet in 2021 the government cut the number of organisations funded and also cut out a number of well-established organisations from receiving funding at all under their peak organisation funding. At a time when we need mental health support and it couldn't be more pressing, the government ended its peak funding for Mental Health Australia and Lifeline.

This is made all the worse by coming just weeks after the Minister for Health assured organisations like the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations and the National Association of People with HIV Australia of the government's commitment to seeing an end to HIV transmission in Australia. We have seen great gains made in ending HIV transmission in Australia, and NAPWHA and AFAO have been heavily relied upon by the government in meeting those goals. This is not the time to cut their peak funding—a time when we are still to reach zero transmissions here in Australia, a goal that is entirely achievable but only with the support of these organisations, who have a great track record, who have been there since the beginning of the HIV pandemic and who bring the voice of affected communities to the table. Without that voice, governments cannot possibly deliver on these goals.

Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation) (13:38): [by video link] Today I put on the record One Nation's demand for the establishment of a royal commission into the management of the COVID-19 pandemic by Australian governments. It is essential that there be a comprehensive, honest and transparent examination of how federal, state and territory governments have handled this pandemic, because it has affected every single one of us. Many people have died, families have been separated, the education of our children has been severely disrupted, thousands of Australians have lost their jobs, countless businesses have been closed—in many cases permanently—hundreds of billions of taxpayers' dollars have been spent, and military personnel and resources have been deployed in Australia, with yet more set to reinforce an exhausted aged-care sector in crisis. How can we not have a royal commission into this unprecedented event? The Australian people deserve nothing less. If we don't learn from and understand the mistakes of this pandemic, we are doomed to repeat them. Last year, this Senate denied—yes, denied!—Australians a parliamentary inquiry into my bill outlawing COVID-19 vaccine discrimination. You denied Australians their say about the pandemic of discrimination that you unleashed upon us. You denied them a say, because you were so frightened your conspiracy to silence the Australian people would be exposed. The people deserve their say in an open and honest accounting of this wretched pandemic. The people deserve to see what justified the decisions which have destroyed so many lives these past two terrible years. One Nation will never stop fighting for a royal commission into this pandemic.

Senator DAVEY (New South Wales—Nationals Whip in the Senate) (13:40): I rise to shift the focus. I want to talk about not what the media are focused on but what the Nationals and the government are focused on. That is doing what we were elected to do: creating jobs and supporting businesses. Three years ago when I entered this place, we had seen 28 years of consecutive growth in Australia. COVID threw us a curveball, but it also gave us a unique opportunity to reset and refocus on driving productivity here in our country. That is what the Nationals are focused on doing before and after the coming election.

The key to this is grabbing the opportunities that are presented to us by our low-carbon future. Australia is already reaping the benefits of demand for more rare-earth minerals and lithium to build components of solar panels, wind turbines and solar and electric vehicle batteries. This mining adds to our already highly successful resources sector, which has underpinned our economy through COVID, along with the agricultural sector. We are also facilitating our farmers' ability to access new ways to garner carbon credits and new ways to manage their land without threat or fear. Our good commodity prices, our healthy economy despite COVID, and our government's job-ready training and apprenticeships packages have all contributed to unemployment being at an all time low: 4.2 per cent. That is our government's focus, that is the National Party's focus and that should be our nation's focus. That's what we are striving for.

Senator GRIFF (South Australia) (13:42): Of everything the ABC is known for, nothing is more important to Australians and to Australian democracy than its news service. All Australians depend on the ABC for its public interest journalism, but these services are particularly important in regional areas that would otherwise go without any local news coverage. This coverage is absolutely vital for Australians who live outside big metro areas and want to know what is going on in their communities and what their local governments and representatives are doing. The ABC's regional journalists do incredible work. They have won literally hundreds of awards for their coverage over the last decade. They have exposed corruption and wrongdoing and kept regional Australians safe and informed throughout times of crisis.

Funding for this work comes from the Enhanced Newsgathering Program, which sits outside the ABC's base funding. Why? Well, because it is not base funding. It is not automatically rolled over each funding cycle. This means regional journalists have no certainty whatsoever about their ongoing employment. The ABC struggles to attract and retain journalists, who need security in their careers and their finances. The government recently announced that they would extend the program for another three years and increase the funding. I've been advocating for this for years and emphatically welcome that commitment, but I would like the government to bite the bullet and roll this into ABC's base funding. This program deserves to be made permanent. It provides incredible value for money and an essential service to regional Australia. So let's make it a commitment today not to let down regional Australia in the future.

Senator URQUHART (Tasmania—Opposition Whip in the Senate) (13:44): While our students are preparing to return to school in Tasmania, the students, teachers and community of Hillcrest Primary School in Devonport and the wider Tasmanian community remember Peter Dodt, Jalailah Jayne-Maree Jones, Addison Stewart, Jye Sheehan, Zane Mellor and Chace Harrison. Their families now live forever with the tragic event that occurred on 16 December last year, when these six young children were playing on a jumping castle and with inflatable balls at their end-of-year break-up. Something happened that day that threw the castle and balls into the air, causing these children to fall from a great height. The community was rocked by the loss of these six young lives.

Tragically, the parents of these six young children will live with the loss of their child forever, a grief not all of us understand. My deepest condolences go to the families. The staff, the other children, the parents and the first responders were all faced with such a tragic event, which they will carry with them always. The Devonport community and the wider community of Tasmania, of Australia and in fact of the globe reached out with gestures of love and support. For the Hillcrest community, the start of school this year will be unlike any other. The school is working hard to manage the return to school carefully and sensitively.

I send to the Hillcrest community my thoughts and best wishes in healing the loss and hurt, which will be present for a very long time, as many of us still come to terms with that tragic day.

Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (13:46): You know that feeling you get when the big parties aren't working for you anymore? I think I found the reason why. It's pretty simple, actually: it's because normal people just can't afford them. Last week we found out that Liberal and Labor raked in tens of millions of dollars of hidden money in the 12 months to July 2021. That's a lot of very full brown paper bags. They're so full, there's more filling than a Tontine pillow. The worst of it is that we'll never know where the money came from or what it bought, but we know it's buying something—absolutely. No-one in their right mind is handing over millions of dollars because they want Australian democracy to run better. That's not happening. They are not there for the country. It's all about self-interest; I can assure you that much. Donors are dishing it out to look after their own skins. Money buys access. It buys influence and it buys outcomes. It shouldn't be that way, but that's the way it is. That's where we are in 2022, in parliament, in Australia.

I'm fighting to stamp out the Canberra corruption, and our candidates at the next election are too. We have the chance to get democracy back into voters' hands, where it belongs. It's the right thing to do, but it's an uphill battle. We don't have secret money coming from big business or big unions. We don't have megabucks up our sleeves. We do what the Australian people expect us to do: to go and earn our seats. We do not buy them. Buying seats in the Jacqui Lambie Network is just not spoken of, because it will never happen—not while I'm here and not while it wears my family name. We earn them, because that is the Australian way: with our boots on.

I've had a lot of people from across the country coming to me and saying they want big money out of politics. And do they want it out of politics? Absolutely. It's time for big money—political donations—to get out of politics; it doesn't belong here. (Time expired)

Senator VAN (Victoria) (13:48): Welcome back, Madam Acting Deputy President. Last year I rose to speak about why our defence forces should be proud of their efforts in Afghanistan. Today I rise to speak of the humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding there since the Taliban took control of the country again. There are 24 million Afghans in need of humanitarian assistance—more than half of the population—including 13 million children. As a result, Afghanistan now has the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world; over one million Afghan children are at risk of dying due to severe malnutrition.

Australia's commitment of $100 million in humanitarian assistance should be one we are proud of, but this should be delivered through the World Food Programme, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations Population Fund. It is these multilateral organisations that are best placed to address the humanitarian crisis. Some small NGOs have good local access in some parts of the country, but they can only do so much due to the precarious security environment, and we do not want to put their people at risk of further harm. Yes, there are criticisms of how slow the UN and WFP have been to get aid to the Afghan people, and, yes, they need to do more, but a two-track process is not the answer. The Australian government is not willing to put people at further risk.

NGOs are used to working with the UN and should be encouraging them to get aid moving faster. The UN can use peacekeeping forces if necessary to ensure aid gets to the people. I thank the NGOs for their brave work and encourage them to work with the UN WFP, not separately from it.

Senator PATRICK (South Australia) (13:50): If Russia invades the Ukraine there will be huge consequences for Australia. The EU depends on Russia for about a third of its gas supplies and will need alternative sources if there's a major conflict. Global gas prices will surge. Australia's big gas exporters and the government have rushed to offer additional LNG gas to the EU should Russia reduce or shut down the gas it supplies, but where will that leave our gas market?

The government's domestic gas policy is a total failure. It's an absurdity that Australia, a huge exporter of gas, is now building import terminals. We export our cheap gas to the Asian market and we leave the expensive gas here for our manufacturers. In the best of times the gas cartel makes sure our manufacturers are at a disadvantage. We have to take action on this, and back in 2019 I talked to the government about the need to have a reservation policy, which the government announced but has not implemented. It's a breach of an undertaking given to me in writing by the government in June 2019. Two and a half years later, that's another betrayal by this government, which is always putting big business ahead of manufacturers and Australian consumers.

We're now vulnerable to any disruption in the global market. If there's war in the Ukraine, Australian consumers, manufacturers and households will take another hit from a spike in gas prices, while the big exporters will be laughing all the way to the bank on our gas. That's apparently the government's perception of national security. What a joke!

Senator WATT (Queensland) (13:52): Welcome back, Madam Acting Deputy President Bilyk. It's great to see you back in Canberra.

I stand here now nearly 10 years after the election of this tired, stale Liberal-National government. What have we got to show, as a country, for 10 years of Liberal-National government? We have an aged-care system in crisis; we have Australian wages not keeping up with the cost of living; we have GP shortages across the country; and any business you talk to will tell you that they are screaming for skilled workers because of the skills shortages this government has presided over. On any measure, this government has been a complete failure, and it has a long list of things that it should be doing in the run-up to this election. Instead, what are the government focused on? They're focused on leaking text messages against each other. That is what is occupying the minds of the most senior people in this country as we come to the end of this term. The government have become a bad episode of Mean Girls—leaking on each other and spreading rumours about each other, rather than focusing on the things that matter to the Australian people.

What's happening around my home state of Queensland while the government choose just to leak on each other? The Jeta Gardens aged-care facility, south of Brisbane, is in complete meltdown, with the deaths from COVID of 15 aged residents, and 182 residents and staff testing positive for COVID. Further north, in Rockhampton, people are waiting a month to see a GP, with specialists' costs spiralling out of control under this government's watch. In Gracemere, outside Rocky, we've got GP clinics refusing to take on patients, because they can't employ enough doctors. In Emerald it takes six months to get an appointment with a psychologist. These are the things that this Liberal-National government should have fixed in nearly 10 years, rather than just spreading rumours and sending texts about each other. (Time expired)

Senator RICE (Victoria—Deputy Australian Greens Whip) (13:54): I received a text message from a trans woman this morning. She said:

Thoughts with you today as this hideous bill goes to debate. To be honest—

she said—

I'm scared. I'm scared of the already tenuous access to healthcare and support I have being further eroded. I'm scared of the increased abuse I will face for just walking down the street. Being trans is an ever present reality of having to be always on guard, always wondering if that next person will abuse you or attack you. We are so scared we are seriously thinking of leaving Australia. That is the reality of this divisive, hate-filled religious discrimination bill. It will increase discrimination …

And it will increase hate speech. She went on:

It will allow hurtful and harmful statements to be made against LGBTQA+ people, against women, against people with disabilities, against people with minority faiths. And it's not what the Australian community want. We saw the backlash last week when Citipointe Christian College wanted to impose appalling discrimination and … homophobic and transphobic attitudes on their communities.

Yet, in response, our government isn't proposing anything to address that. All Prime Minister Morrison is going to do, she said, is:

… remove the ability of schools to expel same sex attracted students, throwing trans kids under the bus. Prime Minister, this isn't 'fixing it' … trans kids will still be able to be expelled on the basis of their very identity … and schools will still be able to make the lives of same sex attracted and bisexual students hell.

Let alone queer … staff. Let alone workers in other workplaces who could be discriminated against in finding work …

And let alone people of minority faiths, who will be discriminated against. She concluded:

For the sake of protecting all people's rights, for the wellbeing of all Australians this bill must not pass.

Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia—Government Whip in the Senate) (13:56): Welcome back to you, Senator Bilyk.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Bilyk ): Thank you.

Senator DEAN SMITH: Over the summer, I again had the opportunity to travel across Western Australia's Kimberley region. Those of us who are familiar with the Kimberley will know it for its rugged charm, its waterways, particularly in the wet season that we're experiencing now, and most particularly, of course, the resilience of people living across Kimberley communities. But I'm disappointed to have to share with the Senate today what is a new and emerging challenge for those people and communities across the Kimberley who choose to make the Kimberley their home and the place of their small businesses.

During those travels, I was surprised to hear the depth of concern, frustration and disappointment from people who have lived in Kimberley towns and communities for years upon years—since their birth, in some cases—and to hear the stories they are now telling me of an escalation in crime and violence not seen before. We know there are many politicians who would be quick to point the finger at other politicians about the need to do more. But, in standing before the Senate today, I know that my colleagues Senator Dodson and Senator Cox, who have great passion for my home state of Western Australia and great passion for northern Australia, are interested in working together to make sure that we can tackle these issues.

Everyone will come to this debate with their own philosophical view. I am someone who believes that we should trust the data first. Let's have a look at what the data is telling us. I don't believe that more money is the answer. I do believe that greater coordination between state and federal officials is important. I do believe the federal government can take on a greater responsibility on some particular matters, and I'll name one of those. It's very clear on what has been shared with me by local people that social media is emboldening the attitudes of some very, very young people. TikTok—I'm not familiar with it, but this is an opportunity for the federal government to think laterally and to exercise much greater influence over these important but terrible issues— (Time expired)

Senator LINES (Western Australia—Deputy President and Chair of Committees) (13:58): The Amnesty International report published last week confirms that Israeli policies against Palestinians fit the definition of the international crime of apartheid. We are witnessing these policies enacted on a large scale through mass seizures of Palestinian land and property, forcible transfers, drastic movement restrictions and the denial of nationality and citizenship. It's also seen on an individual level, through forced family home expulsions and discriminatory judicial processes. The report follows a long list of other institutions and human rights organisations—international, Palestinian and Israeli—that have analysed the situation and confirmed that the policies of successive Israeli governments constitute apartheid.

APAN Vice President Nasser Mashni is a descendant of Palestinian refugees who fled their homes during the 1948 Nakba. He has experienced the apartheid policies firsthand as a Palestinian living in the diaspora. According to an APAN article:

'Apartheid meant that when my father passed away and his dying wish was to be buried next to his mother less than 10 km from Jerusalem in the West Bank, I had to call the Israeli Embassy for permission,' Mr Mashni said.

'Our requests were denied, and my father was buried in Melbourne.'

Amnesty International is calling on Israel to dismantle this cruel system, and the international community must pressure it to do so.

The PRESIDENT: Senator Lines, it being 2 pm, time for this debate has expired.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (14:00): by leave—I inform the Senate that Senator Reynolds, the Minister for Government Services and Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, will be absent from question time today, Tuesday 8 February, and tomorrow, Wednesday 9 February 2022, for medical reasons. During Senator Reynolds's absence, Senator Ruston will represent the Minister for Government Services and the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and Senator Cash will represent the Minister for Education and Youth.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (15:02): by leave—I move:

That today—

(a) the routine of business from 7.20 pm be consideration of the Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021 (second reading speeches only);

(b) the Senate adjourn without debate at 10 pm or at the conclusion of the second reading debate, whichever is the earlier; and

(c) if a division is called for after 7.20 pm, the matter before the Senate be adjourned until the next day of sitting at a time fixed by the Senate.

The PRESIDENT: Senator McKim, are you seeking to speak?

Senator McKIM (Tasmania—Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate and Australian Greens Whip) (15:03): I am, yes. I'd like to make a 15-second contribution.

The PRESIDENT: You can speak.

Senator McKIM: In that case, I'll crack into it, Mr President! As I indicated—

The PRESIDENT: You are time limited, but go ahead.

Senator McKIM: Very briefly: we won't be opposing this motion. We do understand the need for it and we don't want to stand in the way of that important legislation being debated. We just wanted to express our concern that one of the effects of this motion will be that we lose the open-ended adjournment debate this evening. We would ask the government please to consider restoring, by another motion tomorrow, the open-ended adjournment debate to tomorrow evening rather than this evening. The government will make their own response to that. I just wanted to be clear that, from the Greens' point of view, even though we're not going to oppose this motion, we are concerned that in effect it means the loss of a significant opportunity for all senators to make contributions to the adjournment debate.

Question agreed to.

Senator KENEALLY (New South Wales—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (15:04): I seek leave to move a motion relating to the performance of the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services.

Leave not granted.

Senator KENEALLY: Pursuant to contingent notice of motion standing in the name of Senator Wong, I move:

That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the performance of the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services.

Let me be clear from the outset: Senator Richard Colbeck has repeatedly demonstrated, over a prolonged period of time, that he is incapable of fulfilling the task of looking after the interests of older, vulnerable Australians. For this matter alone, this minister should resign. If he does not have the decency to resign, the integrity to resign, the self-awareness to resign, the Prime Minister should sack him. And, if the Prime Minister will not sack this minister, then he confirms he does not have the character to lead this nation.

Our aged-care sector is in an absolute crisis. It's the third year of this pandemic. There were almost 12,000 aged-care residents and workers infected with COVID in more than 1,100 facilities as of Friday. There have been over 600 deaths amongst aged-care residents this year. Tens of thousands of aged-care residents are still waiting for a booster dose. Aged-care facilities have been left without rapid antigen tests and PPE. Aged-care residents have been left without food, water and medical care because the government, in a third year of a pandemic, after last year's diabolical handling of COVID in aged care, failed to learn and failed to plan. This government always acts too little too late and only acts when there's an absolute crisis on its hands. We have had hundreds of Australians in aged care die of COVID. How many deaths would have been preventable if only this aged-care minister had acted?

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, we know that the Morrison-Joyce government ignored aged care. It's all there in one word: neglect. That is not my word. That is the word chosen by the royal commission into aged care to title their interim report: Neglect. This is a government that neglected older citizens in aged care before the pandemic, neglected them in the pandemic and continues to neglect them to this day. We had a clarion call from the former Liberal Premier of New South Wales, Mike Baird, who is now CEO of HammondCare, begging this government to send in the Australian Defence Force 26 days ago. The Prime Minister rejected it. This minister rejected it. This minister said the sector was performing exceptionally well. Those were his words. And he felt so relaxed and comfortable about the aged-care sector that he toddled off to the cricket for three days.

Senator KENEALLY: Well, he probably did get booed, Senator Bilyk; you make an excellent point. He got booed at the cricket and he should get booted out of his job. It is an absolute disgrace. It is an utter disaster. Disease is running rampant through under-resourced facilities. There are too few staff to care for those living there. Our greatest generation has been left unwashed and without food. Have you no shame? Have you no responsibility? Have you no care? What happened to ministerial responsibility under this government? Where has it gone? Was it ever there? If Richard Colbeck can have job security under this government, it is absolutely clear that there is almost nothing you can't fail at and still be confident of retaining your job under Mr Morrison, who takes no responsibility, who tried to blame the states and other people for the outbreaks of COVID in aged care. He was warned, by the way, on rapid antigen tests. So many people warned him. Katie Allen warned him. The call was coming from inside the House, by the way. The business community warned him. The Transport Workers Union warned him. He was warned that we would need rapid antigen tests and just like his 'It's not a race' approach to vaccines, it was not a race to get those rapid antigen tests—failing older Australians and leaving them behind. To those people who say, 'What would it do to change the minister?': it would send a clear message that this government gives a brass razoo about older people in aged care! Let somebody else—anybody else!—have responsibility for this portfolio, because surely nobody could do as bad a job as the incompetent aged-care minister in the absolute crisis—the C-word he dares not utter—in aged care. The Prime Minister has acknowledged there is a crisis. The Prime Minister backflipped and sent in the ADF. The next thing the Prime Minister needs to do is sack the minister for aged care.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Keneally, I just remind you to use the correct titles when referring to those in the other place and to senators.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (15:10): Well, we have yet another example that it's all politics and zero policy from those opposite. It's all personality attacks and little focusing on the substance of issues that need to be addressed. When you listen to those opposite, you'd be forgiven for thinking there is some sort of alternative universe Australia could operate in—an alternative universe in which COVID can be locked in a box and somehow kept away, an alternative universe in which omicron is not the significant global game changer it is. But that's not true. That is not the reality of the world we face. We face a global pandemic, a highly infectious global pandemic—a global pandemic which has produced new variants that are more infectious and more transmissible and that, through that, have created new challenges. Those variants have, however, become less lethal, thankfully, and less likely to lead to severe hospitalisation and severe health outcomes. We can be grateful for that. The reality is COVID is spreading throughout the world. Omicron has seen a huge surge in case load right throughout the world, and no country has demonstrated that, when you have omicron COVID spreading throughout your community, you're somehow going to be able to completely keep it out of different sectors of your community, such as the aged-care sector.

Rather than denigrate the aged-care sector and aged-care workers, our government thanks them; I want to, and I know Minister Colbeck does. Does this motion that Senator Keneally has moved today thank aged-care workers anywhere in it? No, it doesn't. Does this motion thank aged-care operators anywhere in it? No, it doesn't. Does it acknowledge the circumstances? No. It's just a political diatribe we're seeing here, typical of the Labor Party. If there were a silver bullet to address the challenges in aged care, in dealing with omicron COVID-19, not only would we have sought to deliver that as a government; it might have provided a policy idea for those opposite, because they've shown no policy idea in the aged-care sector today—not a single policy idea from those opposite.

Our government has ensured 100 per cent of residential aged-care facilities have been visited by in-reach clinics to deliver booster doses. We have provided surge workforce capacity. More than 80,000 shifts have been filled by surge workforce, including nurses, GPs, care workers, allied health workers and executive ancillary staff. There is the private health agreement in place to utilise private hospital staff, with furloughing changes made to minimise the loss of staff due to requirements to isolate. In terms of PPE, we have seen more than 42 million masks, more than 15 million gowns, more than 43 million gloves, more than 12 million goggles and nearly 11 million rapid antigen tests delivered throughout the aged-care sector. We have made sure 50,000 treatments have been sent out to aged-care facilities across the country, ensuring that we prioritise those facing outbreak.

Senator Keneally: When are they getting their boosters?

Senator BIRMINGHAM: Senator Keneally goes on: 'When are they getting their boosters?' All facilities have had the opportunity for people to have a booster, Senator Keneally. It is not the case that everybody will choose to have a booster. Some people won't choose to have a booster, because the reality is that some people in aged care are already in palliative care. Some people in aged care are part of end-of-life management. It is a sad reality, but it's a true reality that those opposite are blinkered to. They ignore the fact that these truths exist and pretend there is some sort of alternative universe. Even when we address the broader questions of aged care, this government, under Minister Colbeck and Minister Hunt, has provided an $18 billion response to the royal commission. It's a comprehensive response, dealing with more places in home care, dealing with minimum standards in residential care and lifting those standards in a range of different ways. We have responded comprehensively to the aged-care royal commission report, and our response contrasts with no response from those opposite—no response aside from the type of rubbish that is bowled up today, the type of politicisation that is bowled up today, rather than the acknowledgment of the challenges and the hard work of those who are helping this sector get through some of the most challenging times. (Time expired)

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Just before I go to Senator Rice, I was reluctant to interrupt the minister mid sentence, but I do remind senators he has the right, as does every senator, to be heard in silence. I would ask you to respect that right.

Senator RICE (Victoria—Deputy Australian Greens Whip) (15:15): The Greens will be supporting this motion today, because the minister for aged services, Minister Colbeck, has failed. He has failed in his most basic of duties as a government minister, and that is to be keeping people safe. We are supporting this motion today because of the 587 people who have died in aged care in just the first five weeks of 2022, on top of all of the people who have died of COVID in aged care throughout 2020 and 2021. The minister has failed. There would have been fewer deaths from COVID of people in aged care if this government had been competent.

They have failed in the vaccine rollout in aged care. They have failed to provide boosters to everyone in aged care who wanted to be boostered. They have failed to provide the PPE that workers and visitors in aged-care homes need. They have failed to provide the rapid antigen tests that are needed. We have a situation where nurses and aged-care workers still have to pay for their own RATs. They have failed to provide the adequate working conditions to support nurses and aged-care workers to continue working in aged care, and they have failed to provide that support such that we know that 20 per cent of nurses have said they want to leave working in aged care in the next year. Frankly, they have done an amazing job over the last years. I do not blame them because of the conditions they're having to be working under because of the actions of this government. This minister has failed to do all of that. But, of course, he didn't fail to get to the cricket. Apparently that was a priority! And never mind that he earnt more in that day he went to the cricket than the aged-care bonus they have promised workers.

For the Greens I want to say, particularly to the families who are mourning and grieving for the people they've lost: we share your grief. And to the residents who are tired and frustrated and anxious and locked down in aged-care homes: we hear your frustration. To the aged-care workers, who are doing ceaseless hours, waiting desperately for the support and recognition you deserve: we hear your anger. The minister may think that it's acceptable to go to the cricket while people die; we do not.

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (15:18): I will, of course, be supporting the motion moved by Senator Keneally today. To start at the very top: there is no fundamentally greater responsibility for any government than to keep its citizens safe. It's there to protect every Australian. What we have at the moment is a catastrophic failure of keeping elderly Australians safe. This minister and this government have been unable to do that. There is no greater example of the shambles that is this government—their disunity and their infighting and the distractions, taking away from actually dealing with the issues that everyday Australians face—than the crisis in aged care, the crisis in aged care that the minister for aged-care services refuses to acknowledge. There is a crisis. You cannot fix a situation if you don't acknowledge the crisis that is there right now. Everyone is saying it's a crisis. The workers in the sector, the families who have loved ones and individual residents are saying they've never seen the quality of care so poor as what they are experiencing right now. More than half of aged-care facilities have outbreaks, affecting thousands of staff and thousands of residents. There have been 587 deaths since January—587 deaths in the last 39 days—and the defence of that by this minister and Minister Hunt is, firstly, 'Oh well, you're old, so you're going to die anyway.' The second defence one is: 'Oh well, there's a lot of COVID out there. Therefore, sorry, aged care: you're just going to get it. And unfortunately, because you're old, it's going to be more severe for you.'

We have had the benefit of seeing what has happened in the Northern Hemisphere for two seasons now. And we saw what happened in Victoria. We understood the need to get vaccinated and to get boostered, and to keep those facilities safe with PPE, testing and a workforce. Yet here we are, with more widespread community transmission, and what do we see? We see failures of PPE, failures of workforce, failures of testing, and failures for people living in those facilities. They're isolated, dislocated, and in their dying moments are hoisted out of the facility and into hospital. And this minister went to the cricket.

I am sorry, Minister, if you think I'm misrepresenting this, but you told me you didn't want resources diverted away from dealing with what was happening in aged care. That's what you told me. I took that at face value. I didn't hold a hearing without your attendance, and you popped up at the cricket. That is exactly what happened. You said you were too busy dealing with the crisis and that you couldn't come. When you go outside and talk to people who are witnessing what's happening in aged care—and they talk to me about that—they don't think it passes the pub test. So don't try to rewrite it: you made the decision to go to the cricket when aged care was in crisis.

This minister, whom we are holding to account today, is not a new minister. This minister took on his first portfolio responsibilities in 2004. He has been minister for aged-care services for the last 2½ years—it's not like he is learning the job. We've had report after report. We've had an interim report from the royal commission entitled Neglect. Someone has to take responsibility for this failure. This government won't take responsibility. The Senate must stand up and speak on behalf of all of the people in aged care and the loved ones who are contacting my office, incredibly upset that they weren't able to be with their loved ones when they were passing away. They were locked out, hearing their loved one on the phone telling them they hadn't been showered or eaten any food. That's the anger out there about aged care. We are not playing politics with this. These are older Australians in their most vulnerable moments, and this government pretends it has done everything it can, saying, 'It's just a pandemic,' and, 'Then Omicron came.' Well, it's not good enough. That's why this minister should resign, and the Prime Minister should sack him if he doesn't. (Time expired)

Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (15:23): What will this achieve? Think about what's happening in my state of Queensland. Forced vaccinations by the federal government have driven aged-care workers into resignation. They've abandoned their jobs—after being heroes for 18 months. Staff are crying because they don't want to leave residents in aged-care facilities in the lurch but they also don't want to have that mandated injection. Look at what else is happening in Queensland. Forced vaccinations in health care are destroying our hospital system. We have a so-called pandemic—there's no pandemic of deaths, but we apparently have a threat—and the response from the state government is to destroy its own health system. A Labor state government is destroying health care. Nurses are resigning. Nurses are being left out because they don't want to get injected. At the same time, we are told we are going to face an imminent hospital crisis. This doesn't make sense, whether it's the Liberal Party, the National Party or the Labor Party.

In Queensland, at a time when there's increasing load on the police to enforce capricious lockdowns and other restrictions and we're taking police off duty to do those jobs, we're standing aside police officers because they won't get injected. We're threatening people such as our emergency services workers, staff in aged care, teachers, nurses, doctors, police, NDIS workers and firies. We're threatening them. We're sacking them so they can't feed their kids because we're going against a 3,000-year-old principle of doctor-patient confidentiality, privacy and bodily autotomy.

So it doesn't matter whether we look at this mob or this mob. They're both reckless and dishonest. So I ask them again: what will this achieve? The Labor Party is full of talk but no action. They've got two or three months until an election. Where is their plan? Instead of suspending the standing orders today, let's have their plan and put it to the people of Australia. Let's see them decide at the next election who is competent to manage this country. At the moment, neither of them are. That's why we keep saying to people, 'Put the majors last.' In 70 years, they have destroyed this country—absolutely destroyed it—by giving in to the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and now this rubbish. We will not be supporting the suspension of standing orders. There's an election. Let the people right across this country decide.

Senator COLBECK (Tasmania—Minister for Sport and Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) (15:27): It is really disappointing that the Labor Party are using this opportunity to play politics with the pandemic, rather than being constructive in actually dealing with it. They talk about the royal commission. It's nearly a year since the royal commission brought down its final report,Respect, care and dignity. Yet what is the plan from the Labor Party to deal with aged care after the royal commission report? It is a comprehensive report. We have not only responded to every recommendation but put over $18 billion on the table for the reform of the sector. But their response is, 'We'll spend more than the other mob.' That's it. That's all we get from Labor. They play their dirty, personal, nasty politics. That's what they do. That's what their whole plan is. We saw that before Christmas. That's what they do.

This is an extraordinarily difficult circumstance. It's not just a pandemic; this is a global pandemic. We have a deadly virus. People will contract it throughout the community and, tragically, some of them will die. We work, from the Prime Minister down, within this government every day in support of all Australians with respect to the pandemic. We took action early and closed the borders. We put the private hospital agreement in place to support the state health systems when they needed it, and they did need it during January of this year through the omicron outbreak. That private hospital agreement has also provided support for residents in aged care in the context of surge workforce and during 2020, in particular, beds for residents who needed them.

We vaccinated the aged-care population in 2021. We commenced the vaccination booster program for aged-care residents on 8 November last year. On 12 December, or thereabouts, we got advice to accelerate the program. On Christmas Eve, we got advice to accelerate it even further. The period between vaccination and booster was shortened. All through early January this year, we set out to bring forward the boosters for every facility in the country, and now every facility has received boosters, and we've started going around again. We've done over 130 facilities for a second time, and, as of last night, 77.4 per cent of those residents eligible for a booster have taken up that opportunity.

We continue to work in the interests of residents. We've provided vaccines. We've provided PPE throughout the program. Have there been some problems along the way? Yes, there have been. Of course there have been. We had supply chain problems earlier this year, which is what we were working out when the Senate and Senator Gallagher wanted us to be there on that morning when the hearings were supposed to be held. That morning, not while I was at the cricket, we were working on bringing the vaccines forward and we were working on ensuring that the rapid antigen tests and the PPE required were getting to aged-care facilities. Have there been some issues there? Yes. So we continue to do that.

The Labor Party can play their dirty, nasty personal politics, and we know that's their campaign strategy, but they have no plan. Why would you trust the mob that couldn't safely insulate your ceiling to run the response to a pandemic? Why would you trust them to do that? They could not build a school hall. How can they manage the recovery from a pandemic? How can they do that? We, from the Prime Minister down, have applied our attention to supporting Australians through the pandemic. We will continue to do that.

Tragically, some Australians are going to catch the virus, and, absolutely tragically, we all know the impact of a personal loss. We all feel that. We've all felt that loss. We extend our condolences to all those who have suffered that loss, but our focus will be on managing the pandemic, while the opposition play politics with the pandemic.

Senator WATT (Queensland) (15:32): As other speakers from Labor have said today, older Australians deserve our respect, our support and our love. Instead, from this minister and this government they get neglect, they get cuts and they get blame-shifting and excuses. Instead of our respect and our support, they have a minister who presides over a rolling crisis, a crisis that has existed since he took on the role and that has only got worse as we have faced COVID-19. Instead of our support and our respect, older Australians, their families and the aged-care workforce get a minister who sees aged care as a part-time job, something he fits around his trips to the cricket.

We have known about the horror stories in aged care for years. There was a royal commission into it which exposed the neglect, which exposed the elderly Australians sitting with open wounds, unable to get the care that they need because of staffing shortages, because of underpayment of aged-care workers, because of underresourcing of the sector. We have known about this for years, and yet we continue to read about it, to hear about it, to watch it, to see it with our own eyes, in our own families, everywhere around the country. Rather than knuckling down and actually getting these problems fixed, getting the workers paid what is needed to attract and keep people in the workforce, making sure that providers use the funding they get transparently so that funds are used to support the elderly Australians in aged-care facilities, we have a minister who decides his priority is going to see a cricket match for three days. It's not as if time couldn't have been spent in those three days continuing to fix the problems in the aged-care facilities. There's no shortage of problems. There's no shortage of recommendations about what needs to be done. Instead, this minister chose to go to the cricket and let things rip. In just one example that we've turned to today—the Jeta Gardens aged-care facility south of Brisbane—at the time this minister was at the cricket COVID was ripping right through that aged-care facility, and we now see 15 residents dead, as well as dozens more testing positive. This minister must go and he must go today.

The PRESIDENT: The time for the debate has now expired. The question is that the motion to suspend standing orders moved by Senator Keneally be agreed to.

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (15:42): I move:

That the Senate take note of answers given by the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services (Senator Colbeck) to questions without notice asked by Senators Gallagher, Bilyk and Watt today relating to aged care.

The crisis facing elderly Australians in our nursing homes is hardly new. For years now, since well before the royal commission into aged care, we've been hearing heartbreaking and harrowing stories from constituents about exactly what it's like for residents and workers in these facilities. Twenty-two reports and a royal commission on, however, and Australia's most vulnerable find themselves in the aged-care sector's deepest and most profound crisis yet, and we have a minister in charge who simply doesn't turn up and do the job that the aged-care sector need him to do. I've been getting constituent feedback, people reaching out, telling me exactly how difficult it is in aged care at the moment and how the response from government has been completely inadequate.

The government would have you believe that nobody could see this coming, that there was no way we could have protected people in residential aged care. That is simply not true. I accept that this crisis hasn't been made by COVID-19, because the structural weakness in aged care exists beyond that. For the last eight years—heading into their ninth year—the government have paid lip service to aged care. They have refused, following review after review, to do anything. Then, when it was reaching crisis point, this Prime Minister called a royal commission. In a way, it bought him another year not to fix the issues in aged care. Throughout those hearings we heard story after story about how the aged-care system wasn't able to deal with the pressures that exist. One of the fundamental issues is workforce—the fact that the government refuse to acknowledge that the aged-care workforce is undervalued and underpaid. They would rather point the finger at Labor, accuse us of spending more money than they do by supporting aged-care workers, than actually stump up and put a submission to the Fair Work Commission arguing for better wages for aged-care workers. It is simply not tenable to retain a professional workforce and pay them less than you would pay my teenager to work on the weekend. They do the caring in these facilities. They are the ones that provide the meals, that clean the rooms, that clean older Australians—and this government thinks it's completely acceptable for them to exist on $22 per hour, to do the work of angels and to be the heroes of this pandemic. That is one of the biggest pressures facing the aged-care system and one this government refuses to accept. It is one of the pressures that has caused the most challenges for elderly Australians living in aged care during the pandemic—because, the minute the workforce is out, the quality of care suffers.

And that's what we've seen in thousands of aged-care facilities right around the country: as workers got sick, this government's response was to change the criteria for how long they had to isolate. It was: 'Oh well, get back to work sooner, once you've got rid of COVID if you could, because we really need you in the workplace.' It wasn't to deal comprehensively with the issues these workers or facing or the stress they feel when they can't provide the care to the people they look after. I've heard deeply distressing stories from workers who have worked 16-hour shifts and been unable to spend time with people who are lonely and isolated and scared. The nature of the workforce means it attracts extremely caring people. For that situation to be there every single day as they work extended shifts and double shifts and come back the next day after five hours sleep is deeply distressing to them.

This government is disingenuous when it says it is dealing with the issues. It is not dealing with the issues. The sector has been in crisis for years. It's in complete crisis now and the government doesn't have a long-term plan about how to address those challenges. As long as they keep their head in the sand about workforce and the pay rates for aged-care workers, nothing is going to improve at all. The people who pay that price are older Australians who rely on those services. (Time expired)

Senator HUGHES (New South Wales) (15:47): I guess we can't expect anything different as we enter into an election year. The politicking, the smears, the constant creation of fear by all those on the other side is set to continue and, most likely, escalate. The last 45 minutes has demonstrated what all Australians who want to see this place achieve things can see is going to happen over the next couple of months. Stunts, smears and fear—it's all they've got, it's all the other side have to offer Australia. Australians are looking to come out from under the doona. Australians want government to get out of their lives. They want their lives to go back to normal. Australians are desperately hoping that their businesses can start to function as normal, that their kids can go to school as normal. They are hoping that their job security, their social lives and everything that goes on around their kids and the sport that they play—the dance lessons, the rugby season, the cricket—all goes back to normal and parents can start to participate again.

But not over there—no, no, no. There is no way they want Australians going back to any sort of normal life. So today the fear campaign is centred around aged care. Aged care has always been an incredibly difficult area of public policy. It is a sad part of the Australian experience and the Australian community. When people enter aged-care facilities—in particular, high-need aged-care facilities—it is not because they're in a great state of health. They don't go into these sort of situations because they're entering the prime of their lives. They are not. It is absolutely at the sunset of their lives. That's why it's called 'the sunset time of life'. I know this because my mother's in an aged-care home and has been in a high-needs facility for four years. Because of the pandemic, I haven't been able to see her for over 12 months, because no-one is allowed in.

As of today, 100 per cent of aged-care facilities have been offered a booster clinic and have had a booster clinic. But one reason why some people haven't had a booster shot is that their health wasn't able to take it at that point in time, or they were on other medication and they were advised not to receive the booster shot. But never let the truth of a situation get in the way of a smear campaign from those opposite.

We do want Australian families to be together. We do want Australian families to be able to spend time with their loved ones in aged care. We do know that omicron is spread far more easily, but we also know that, when people got omicron, they showed very few symptoms, if any at all. In fact, the vast majority of people didn't even know they had it; they didn't even know they were positive with COVID.

This is another problem that we've got with a lot of the state governments and their reporting. They're obsessed with how many daily cases of COVID there are. Then they start to talk about how many people are in hospital. Then they talk about the deaths from COVID. What they don't talk about is the fact that lots of women go into hospital every day to have a baby. When they go into hospital they're tested for COVID, and a remarkable number of them didn't even know they were COVID positive, but they are then counted in the numbers. We do, unfortunately, see people who have COVID die—and I know those opposite might have forgotten that, ultimately, every single one of us in here is going to die—but they may not have died from COVID. They could have died from cancer or from a gunshot wound to the stomach, but, if they had COVID, they're counted as a COVID death.

This is just continuing to perpetuate the fear that those opposite want to see Australians live under, because you don't like small business and you don't like family-run business. You love a government handout. You love boosting your union mates, making sure you can pay them all as much as possible and shutting down any entrepreneurship or Australian spirit of having a go. You want everyone hiding under the doona. We know that because the world's longest lockdown in history was overseen by your mate Dan Andrews, Premier of Victoria. In terms of federal government responsibility, guess what we also saw last year? It was only in Victoria that we saw the mass outbreak of deaths. The largest number of deaths occurred in Victoria, but no way was this in relation to Victoria! It had nothing to do with Premier Andrews! He was probably too busy trying to deal with Adem Somyurek and what happened with the red shirts, making sure IBAC and the Victorian police never looked into anything. You lot opposite won't ever look into anything if it involves a Victorian premier or a Labor premier. Palaszczuk had Queensland locked off. We know Western Australia can't even handle—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes, please refer to leaders in other parliaments by their correct titles.

Senator HUGHES: Premier Palaszczuk can't handle it; she just wants to lock down, as does Mr McGowan—shutting off the world. (Time expired)

Senator WATT (Queensland) (15:52): I speak again today on one of the most serious issues that's confronting our country right now, which is the ongoing aged-care crisis that we see on the watch of Minister Colbeck and the Morrison government as a whole.

As I was saying earlier, this is not a new crisis that we have seen. The system has been in crisis for years, and it is a direct result of the cuts that Prime Minister Scott Morrison imposed on the aged-care sector when he was the Treasurer only a couple of years ago. Tragically, the chickens are coming home to roost from the decision to cut aged-care funding. We see every night on our nightly news programs the neglect, the ill-treatment, the staff shortages and the disgraceful situation which so many older Australians face each and every day. Of course, it has got worse following the COVID pandemic, following this government again dropping the ball and failing to take responsibility for an area that is 100 per cent their responsibility: being aged care.

We know that this Prime Minister and this minister do everything they possibly can to blame-shift—to blame other people, particularly state governments—whenever a problem arises. This is one that they can't blame on other people because the federal government is 100 per cent responsible for aged care. They are 100 per cent responsible for their failure to make sure that we have the aged-care workforce that we need as a country and to make sure that aged-care workers are paid a decent wage, so they are attracted to working in the sector and remain in the sector for years to come. It is 100 per cent this government's responsibility that they did not provide the PPE or the rapid antigen tests that aged-care facilities needed as we opened up as a country and as omicron raged across the country, particularly in aged-care facilities. Tragically, we see the result of this government's failure to do its job in aged care in the form of the 587 deaths that we have seen in aged-care facilities just since 1 January this year.

This minister's performance in question time today, I think, made clear why he is not the man for the job. He seems to be living on another planet when it comes to what's happening in aged care at the moment. He tells us on the one hand that we have had 587 deaths since 1 January, but he won't admit that this is a crisis, even when his own Prime Minister does so himself. Minister Colbeck chooses instead to reel off all sorts of statistics to assure us that the situation in aged care is not as bad as we all think it is. Well, hello? As I say, what planet is he living on? Does he seriously think that 587 deaths in aged care since 1 January this year is an acceptable result, especially when so many of those deaths arise from failures of this government to do its job, to get the PPE into aged-care facilities, to get aged-care residents boostered, to get masks and to get rapid antigen tests into aged-care facilities for residents and workers? That didn't happen, and we now see the consequences.

We focused in question time on one particular example: the Jeta Gardens aged-care facility south of Brisbane. That is something I've been paying close attention to, as we've seen an outbreak rip through that aged-care facility and it has now cost the lives of 15 residents of that home. There are about 180 residents and staff in total at that one home who have tested positive for COVID. There are alarming reports that have surfaced today in the media in Queensland that there is a severe shortage of masks for staff. Even now at the end, as this outbreak has been going for over a month, we have reports in the media today that staff have been told to only change their masks if they need to, because there is such a shortage of masks there. We learnt from the minister today that booster shots didn't even start in this facility until 31 January, one month after the outbreak began—one month of people catching COVID and dying from COVID before booster shots even started. If that is not a great failure of responsibility from this federal government, I don't know what is.

What possibly makes what we're seeing in the Jeta Gardens facility right now even worse is that this government knew that there was a problem. Just last year, the government's own aged-care regulator prepared two reports which said that this aged-care facility was non-compliant in meeting aged-care standards. It raised serious questions about the safety of residents. It raised serious concerns about the lack of a COVID outbreak management plan. But what happened? Again, this minister was asleep at the wheel, and we see the tragic consequences in 15 people dying. He has got to go. This government has got to go once and for all.

Senator McLACHLAN (South Australia) (15:57): Can I start my contribution to this debate by thanking the Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Minister Colbeck, for his outstanding leadership in this difficult time in Australia and by pushing back on the arguments made by my honourable friend Senator Watt. From the outset of the pandemic, aged care has always been a key focus of this government, and it will remain so. The government fully accepts that it is distressing for families who have their members in aged care, particularly with the consequences of state laws or state directives preventing their loved ones from giving support.

The Australian government has been using rapid antigen tests in aged care since last August, having delivered 9.5 million, and there are further deliveries underway to all facilities. This is in addition to over 1.5 million PCR tests that have been conducted. From the National Medical Stockpile, 42.9 million masks, 15.7 million gowns, 43.7 million gloves, 12.5 million goggles and face shields, and 190,000 bottles of hand sanitiser have been provided to aged-care facilities. The Australian Defence Force is providing strategic logistical support to assist with the increased distributions to the aged-care sector. Supporting the aged-care workforce has always been a priority of this government, with more than 80,000 shifts having been filled by a surge workforce provided by this caring and well-led government, particularly under Minister Colbeck. One hundred per cent of facilities across the country have received a booster clinic. More than 76 per cent of eligible aged-care residents have received a booster, which is above the national booster rate by more than 20 per cent. These are startling statistics which demonstrate, brutally and clearly, the commitment of this government to support those in aged care.

The minister, in his answer, made reference to the $18 billion which the government has committed to the aged-care sector following the royal commission. The government is supplying information to the Fair Work Commission to assist in its deliberations and has not yet been directed to clarify its position in relation to a wage increase. It is not fair to characterise the government as not committed to aged-care workers. The government will provide $210 million to support the aged-care workforce to continue to care for older Australians during the pandemic. A bonus of $800 will be made in two payments of up to $400 each and will be paid to aged-care workers in government subsidised home care.

The government took the courageous decision to instruct that a royal commission be established, and it has committed itself to the findings. The $18.3 billion committed is a once-in-a-generation change. No government before this one has committed any more into aged care. The government will be delivering record investment over the forward estimates. From $13.3 billion in 2012-13, this is such a significant amount and out-matches anything even conceptualised by the Labor government when last on the treasury bench.

The royal commission, as referenced by the minister in his answer, made 148 recommendations. The vast majority have been accepted, and implementation is underway. The government's response includes a five-year implementation plan underpinned by five key pillars: home care, supporting Australians who choose to remain in their home; residential aged-care services and sustainability, improving and simplifying residential aged-care services and access; residential aged-care quality and safety, improving residential aged-care quality and safety; workforce, supporting a better skilled and growing workforce— (Time expired)

Senator WALSH (Victoria) (16:02): In question time today, Senator Colbeck again failed to acknowledge that there is a crisis in aged care. He has failed to acknowledge that we are in a state of emergency in aged care today. He has failed in his most fundamental and basic duty, and that is to keep our most vulnerable elderly Australians safe. He has failed. He has failed and he should go. This minister has ignored report after report and warning after warning from experts for too long. He has ignored the calls for help from workers, from residents, from providers and from families for too long. He has simply ignored his responsibility as a minister for too long. Australians have waited far too long for the Prime Minister to sack this incompetent minister.

Never forget that, as this crisis unfolded—when aged-care residents were locked in their rooms, when aged-care residents were going without food and going without water, when aged-care residents were going without basic care—this minister took himself off to the cricket for three days. For three days, he enjoyed the cricket while aged-care residents suffered. While aged-care workers worked back-to-back 14-hour shifts, this minister thought it was appropriate and acceptable to take himself off to the cricket not just for one day but for three days—right at the time when aged-care residents were going hungry, right at the time when aged-care residents were dying. It is a complete disgrace. This minister must go. He must resign, and if he won't the Prime Minister must sack him today.

There is one thing I can agree with in Senator Colbeck's comments in question time today—it is that this is no longer a crisis, because we've gone past that; this is an absolute catastrophe. It is a full-blown catastrophe. It is not just a catastrophe that has occurred during the COVID pandemic; it is a catastrophe that has been nine years in the making. It's a catastrophe that aged-care workers have been warning us about for years. You only need to talk to those workers to know exactly what is going on in aged care today.

That is why Senator Colbeck and the Prime Minister should have gone outside and spoken to the ANMF members who are here today to tell their stories. These are the workers who were trying, in the most difficult of conditions, to protect and keep safe our vulnerable aged-care residents—unlike Minister Colbeck and the Prime Minister. I listened to their stories today. I listened to what they've heard and seen over the past few months. They said that they are simply drowning. They said they've been underwater in aged care for a long time under this government, and today they are simply drowning. They were treading water last year; right now they're underwater and overwhelmed. There are no staff to fill the shifts that need to be filled. They are exhausted, burnt out and heartbroken, because on a day-to-day basis they are running between rooms trying to make decisions about who to help—whether to get someone off the floor or whether to go to a dementia patient who's in distress. These are the decisions that are facing aged-care workers today because the minister will not do his job, because he can't make the right decisions to keep our aged-care workers and our aged-care residents safe.

Our aged-care workers are making heartbreaking decisions. What they want is time. They just want the staff. They just want to be there for people. They want to hold their hands in their last moments, to listen to their stories, to give them the care and dignity they deserve. Instead, people are being locked in their rooms, isolated, lonely and distraught, because of the failures of this minister and this government.

Question agreed to.

Senator LAMBIE (Tasmania) (16:08): I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Birmingham) to a question without notice I asked today relating to politicians' travel allowances.

Seventy-five of the people sitting in parliament today own investment homes up here. Of those, 33 are Labor politicians and 42 are coalition politicians. It's a scam. The public is paying nearly $2 million a year for politicians to sleep in their own beds. It has to stop. It happens on the quiet; nobody ever talks about it. It's: 'Don't ask, Don't tell. Don't worry.'

Politicians are quietly squeezing free money out of taxpayers to line their own pockets, thanks to loopholes in the travel allowance rules in Canberra. When politicians have to travel for work, they have to stay in a hotel or a motel and they're paid a travel allowance to cover their room and their food. You only pay this if you're staying in commercial accommodation. If you're staying with a mate, you're not paying for a place to stay, so you shouldn't get travel allowance. Pretty straightforward, hey? Well, that's not how it works here in Canberra—oh no! In Canberra you get paid nearly $300 a night to stay wherever you like, and you get it tax free. It doesn't matter if you're sleeping at a hostel or the Hyatt; you get $300 a night from the taxpayer. They say Canberra is a bubble, and they might be right, because there's only one place in the country where you can charge everybody else to sleep in your own home. It doesn't matter if you sleep in a hotel or if you stay at your mate's place. It doesn't even matter if you stay in your very own apartment. You can sleep in the comfort of your own bed and you still get the same amount, nearly 300 bucks, every night when you're in Canberra.

This rule, as I've said, only applies in Canberra. How convenient! Nowhere else in the country do we pay politicians to have a mortgage—nowhere! Seventy-five politicians are charging you people out there over $20,000 tonight alone. All that money goes straight into their own pockets, not to mention the money they make out of it once they sell that housing property when they finish here. They buy a unit, leave it empty for half the year and then come to Canberra for sittings and charge us all to cover their mortgage. They make more than $1,000 every sitting week, tax free, tucked up in their pyjamas, and that's not including if they stay the weekend and don't go home!

There are Australians out there who can't even afford to pay their rent each week, let alone buy their first home, and we've got pollies giving themselves taxpayers' money to pay for their second one. Taxpayers are footing the bill for their mortgage, but the pollies keep the profits at the end. It is wrong. It is a rort. There is no reason for regular Australians to be paying for wealthy politicians to own investment properties in Canberra. Or, should I say, there's at least no good reason for that, because clearly there are 300 reasons—one for every one of the politicians, Liberal and Labor, who are happily jumping through the loophole to stay in their fancy Canberra flats this evening. They don't want to tell you that, though; they'll never admit that. Ask any politician up here why they should get nearly 300 bucks to sleep in their own home and they get pretty sheepish about it.

Let me tell you: look at Minister Birmingham this afternoon, and look at the opposition leader, who, last week, must have been pretty embarrassed to say he won't do anything to fix this rort—maybe because he knows he'll get caught out for raking in tens of thousands of dollars as well. What do they say when you ask them about it? This is what their excuse is: 'It's within the rules.' So what? Just because you can doesn't mean you should. The rules let you rip off taxpayers—so you're okay with that? I don't care about what the rules say, because, if the rules allow widescale rorting, the rules are wrong. The rules are a bad example. Go and ask anyone in your electorate. It doesn't pass the pub test. It honestly takes my breath away that anyone would have the stomach to sell themselves out for extra cash on taxpayers' dime.

The money isn't even the worst bit though; it's the attitude. Kickbacks to politicians happen because the Liberal and Labor parties write the rules for themselves. The government acts like taxpayer money is fair game for politicians to rort, and there is no opposition, because they're in on it too. Both of them have their snouts in the trough! What's new?

Public money is for the public; it's not for your mortgage. It's money that's supposed to be going to aged-care workers, rapid antigen tests and homes for people who can't afford them. These parties have ripped off taxpayers for so long it's like they can't see the problem anymore. But they're defending the indefensible and they know it. They have to stop thinking it's okay to write their own rules in a way that suits them, because Australians aren't going to put up with it for much longer. For goodness sake, find your conscience and fix it!

Question agreed to.

Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia—Government Whip in the Senate) (16:14): by leave—I move:

That leave of absence be granted to the following senators from 8 to 10 February 2022: Senators Askew, Reynolds and Scarr for COVID-19 medical and quarantine reasons, and Senators Hanson and Small on account of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Question agreed to.

Senator URQUHART (Tasmania—Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:14): by leave—I move:

That leave of absence be granted to the following senators from 8 to 10 February for personal reasons: Senators Wong, Sterle, Polley and Green.

Question agreed to.

Senator URQUHART (Tasmania—Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:14): I withdraw general business notice of motion No. 1298 standing in the names of Senators Dodson and McCarthy.

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate) (16:15): I withdraw general business notice of motion No. 1299 standing in my name for today.

Senator WATERS (Queensland—Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate) (16:15): Pursuant to standing order 78(1), I give notice of my intention, at the giving of notices on the next day of sitting, to withdraw business of the Senate notice of motion No. 6 standing in my name for today, proposing the disallowance of the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative—Electricity Generation from Landfill Gas) Methodology Determination 2021 made under the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Act 2011.

The PRESIDENT (16:16): It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death on 20 November 2021 of the Hon. Donald James Grimes AO, a former minister and senator for the state of Tasmania from 1974 to 1987.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (16:16): by leave—I move:

That the Senate expresses its sorrow at the death, on 20 November 2021, of the Honourable Donald James Grimes AO, former senator for Tasmania and Minister for Social Security and Minister for Community Services, places on record its gratitude for his service to the Parliament and the nation, and tenders its sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Today we take the opportunity to reflect on the life and lasting contributions of former senator Dr Don Grimes. We remember Don Grimes as a man of great compassion and decency whose legacy endures through the social policy reforms that he advanced.

Born on 4 October 1937 in Albury, New South Wales, Donald James Grimes was son to Walter and Nancy Grimes. His father worked as a fitter and turner with New South Wales Railways, and his mother, Nancy, worked as a nurse. I'm not too sure how many of us in the chamber today would have been all that familiar with Hansard at an early age. Nevertheless, in reflecting today on Don's upbringing, it's interesting to note that, despite a lack of books in his home, one of the few publications in the Grimes household—how I'm not quite clear—was apparently Hansard, of which Don was an avid reader, the first instance of a political thread that was to continue to weave itself through Don's journey through and beyond his service in public office.

Through his schooling at Fort Street High School and thereafter, Don was remembered as an exceptional sportsman who excelled in athletics, Rugby Union, Aussie Rules football and water polo. After matriculating in 1954, Don studied medicine at the University of Sydney, completing his clinical training at the Royal North Shore Hospital. Of note is that one of Don's lecturers during his medical training at the University of Sydney was a future colleague of his from across the aisle, Senator Peter Baume.

Through his work in regional Tasmania, Don observed the debilitating effects of poverty, domestic violence and illegal abortions, which would influence his approach to social policy. His work took him and his young family to the UK in 1965. Here his political views were consolidated by the experiences he had, which included joining the British Labour Party. Upon his return home to Australia in 1966, Don Grimes's political interest was piqued further by the challenges posed in Australia at that time by the Vietnam War, and in 1968 he made the life-altering decision to join the Australian Labor Party. Six years later, Don's active involvement in the Tasmanian branch of the Labor Party culminated in his election to the Australian Senate in 1974, just ahead of the tumult that was to occur in the Senate one year later. In his maiden speech to the Senate, Donald Grimes outlined his noble vision of an Australian future where:

… people should have the freedom and the opportunity to realise their reasonable ambitions without being exploited by others or indeed without exploiting others.

Don Grimes quickly ascended to the position of leadership on the opposition frontbench in January 1976, having been elected by the federal Labor caucus to serve as the shadow minister for social security. Grimes fostered strong relationships and a broad dialogue with interest groups and stakeholders in his portfolio right across the nation. In this way, he helped to craft the Labor Party's social security election platforms and cemented himself as an increasingly influential figure within the then modern-day Labor Party. He indeed helped to transform Labor's platform and policies to return the party to being an electable alternative following the crushing defeats of the Whitlam government, and in the 1977 election.

Administratively, Don Grimes also stepped up to serve as president of the then troubled Tasmanian branch of the ALP; when his party called upon him, holding multiple leadership roles, he helped to lead Labor back to government. Following Labor's election victory in March 1983, Donald Grimes was appointed Minister for Social Security in the Hawke government. He was an active minister—indeed, an activist minister. Through his time as minister, perhaps no achievement stands out more than the enactment of the Disability Services Act of 1986. The act enjoyed bipartisan support, reflective of widespread consultation that Don Grimes had undertaken. It provided linking government funding to organisations for specified outcomes for clients, providing recognition and dignity to people with disabilities. As those of us serving in this place through recent years reflect upon modern day reforms such as the NDIS, the first steps for real support by a Commonwealth government in disability services were taken very much during that era and under the leadership of Don Grimes.

Don Grimes was a true Labor believer, a true believer in the philosophies that underpin the Labor movement. During his time in government, he pursued a better and more equitable Australia. He also was there for some great challenges. Former Labor health minister Neal Blewett, a cabinet colleague of Don's, considered Grimes very much the architect of Labor's social reform agenda, and together Neal Blewett and Don Grimes are remembered for the work that they undertook in combatting the terrifying AIDS epidemic in Australia in the 1980s. The public health response to the AIDS crisis has long been lauded as one of the most effective in Australia, and that undertaken by the likes of Neal Blewett and Don Grimes at that time in Australia was recognised as one of the most effective in the world.

His advocacy in this space continued long after his service in the Australian parliament. Don Grimes also controversially was the architect of the reinstatement of the assets test on the age pension in Australia. In doing so, he took a difficult policy platform. He argued the case for the age pension to be applied in a manner that was truly needs based and to be reflective of the need for sustainability in the provision of such social services spending.

Indeed, it was that pursuit of sustainability that was also reflected in some of his less-successful attempts at policy reform. Don Grimes argued strongly for tax reform in Australia and for the Labor Party to pursue an enhancement of tax revenue raising, particularly through the pursuit of indirect taxes—the type of tax reform that would take some decades until it was enacted with the GST at a later stage. But he did so, arguing quite transparently that if the left of the Labor Party—as he thought was appropriate—were to pursue a bigger welfare state and a greater role for government, then it needed to be appropriately and fairly funded and that such indirect tax measures were a way to do so. He was true to himself, applying principles based, again, on the need for sustainability in budget and in welfare spending. But, unfortunately, at that time, he was unsuccessful in persuading his party to hold the line.

Don Grimes would leave parliament in 1987, following a number of health complications. From 1987 to 1991, Grimes served as Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands, having built strong relations through international socialist movements, particularly across European nations. During his service in the Netherlands, he again took on roles combatting AIDS and, in particular, leading parts of the World Health Organization response.

I note in particular one of Don Grimes's comments, made to a journalist in 1988, reflecting his view of Australia from afar. And, indeed, it is also reflective of Don Grimes's commitment to innovative, ambitious policy reform. From that overseas perspective, he said, 'In Australia there is a healthy suspicion of the new, but, sometimes, a pathological suspicion. Politicians there, including me at times, have been reluctant to try new programs in case they don't work. Unless you accept that when you try new approaches some will fail, then you will never get anywhere. There's an unfortunate corollary that when people do try new programs which fail they are reluctant to admit they have failed.' It's an insight that's well worth all of us recalling, even some decades later. As we navigate the challenges of coronavirus, rapid technological change and globalisation, and the strategic challenges within our region, it's important to remember the need for policy innovation, the need for policy ambition, the need to be willing to fail and the need to acknowledge failure.

Don's insights remain as pertinent today as they were 30 years ago. In recognition of his services to the Australian parliament and to international relations, Don was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1992. Mr President, we can and should all draw strength and encouragement from Don's posture towards the challenges of his time. His pursuit of policy with principle and purpose earned him respect and praise across factional boundaries, across party boundaries and across politics generally. He wasn't always successful, but he made real, meaningful, lasting and beneficial reforms to our nation. I know firsthand, from speaking to those who knew Don Grimes, even some of those who worked for Don Grimes, that he was admired, respected and loved by many. On behalf of the Australian government and the Australian Senate, I extend our sincerest condolences to Don's family and our thanks for his service to the nation.

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) (16:28): I rise on behalf of the Labor Party and the opposition to contribute to the condolence motion in honour of former senator Donald James Grimes, a former minister in the Hawke government and a proud public servant in this place. It's important that we take this time to reflect on Senator Grimes and the many significant, indelible contributions he made to our nation. He was a man of immense drive, pragmatism and integrity who was determined to correct injustice and inequality wherever he saw it. He would play a crucial role in the development and implementation of one of the most significant public policies in our nation's history.

The seeds of that success can be found in his childhood, where a lifelong commitment to social justice was forged. Senator Grimes was born in Albury, New South Wales, in 1937. With his mother dying at an early age, Don grew up in a single-parent, working-class family. His father, a fitter and turner with New South Wales railways, became a significant influence on Don and helped to shape his world view, one dominated by a sense of egalitarianism. Another aspect of his childhood would also have a profound effect on the young Don Grimes and begin a true love for the business of this place. There was a lack of books in the family home, but one of the few publications available was the parliament's Hansard, as the Leader of the Government in the Senate said in his remarks. Don was an avid reader, and his passion for politics and the issues of the day flourished from the records of debate in this great chamber. It served as a tremendous foreshadowing: his enlightening and impassioned speeches would go on to be transcribed in newer editions of his old favourite book.

In particular, Senator Grimes is remembered for his contributions which sought to amplify the voices of minority groups and shine a light on issues which were often overlooked. These contributions were often informed by Senator Grimes's early career in the field of medicine, one that exposed him to many stories too often ignored. Senator Grimes undertook his clinical training at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, followed by an internship at Royal Hobart Hospital and a stint in London. This whirlwind tour as a young GP showed Senator Grimes the contradictions of our society. His time at Royal Hobart Hospital contrasted starkly with his time at North Shore. In Hobart, he encountered patients far less fortunate than those he'd treated in Sydney. The Royal Hobart gave him a front-row seat to the devastating effects of poverty, domestic violence and illegal abortions.

Later, in London, he became acutely aware of the separation of classes in the United Kingdom, an awareness that inspired him to join the British Labour Party. This gave him exposure to the workings of European social democracies and helped him envisage a fairer and more equal Australia. These experiences had a profound impact on Senator Grimes, and he would later return to Tasmania and join the Australian Labor Party in the late 1960s, in part inspired by activism surrounding the ongoing Vietnam War. It would be the start of a political career which would culminate in his 13-year tenure as a senator for Tasmania.

When he came to this place, it was only fitting that one of the main priorities that he set out in his first speech was health care—specifically, the need for a national health insurance scheme. It would be an off-the-cuff remark—not just his commitment to health care but his entire speech. He had had little notice, less than 24 hours, to prepare his remarks, and even those hastily prepared notes were taken away from him by Attorney-General Lionel Murphy, who said that Grimes would perform far better on his feet. He was right. The new senator used his pulpit to decry the resistance by conservatives to change and reform, saying that it was a response to be expected from those of advantage and privilege. Senator Grimes concluded by saying, 'People should have the freedom and the opportunity to realise their reasonable ambitions without being exploited by others or indeed without exploiting others.' It was an impassioned start by a senator who would fight throughout his career for justice and equality.

In only his first few months as a senator, Don bravely and passionately participated in the debates over the Whitlam government's two Medibank bills: the Health Insurance Bill and the Health Insurance Commission Bill. Using his experience as a general practitioner, he challenged arguments that the bills amounted to communism, conscription and fascism, and asserted that health care was a core element of social security and thus should be funded by progressive taxation. He continued this fight for a universal healthcare system throughout the entirety of his career. Eventually, as Minister for Social Security and, later, Minister for Community Services under Prime Minister Hawke, he would see the program come to life under the name we now know it as: Medicare.

There are few public institutions more beloved in this nation than Medicare. Our public healthcare system is the envy of many in the world, and it stands as one of the greatest public policy achievements by an Australian government in our history. It took a number of tremendous individuals to create Medicare, and Senator Grimes was one of the very best. We owe him a great deal. His finest hour is now a right enjoyed by all Australians, and there is no more fitting legacy for a person like Don than the little green card in our wallets.

Senator Grimes was a passionate advocate for many other issues, and he was always more than willing to speak up on divisive topics and raise the voices of minorities in this country. Senator Grimes was instrumental in the Hawke government's effective and informed response to the AIDS crisis during the early 1980s. He answered the first question to parliament on AIDS, in May 1983, and advocated in the cabinet that the issue justified a fast, science based policy response free from politics. Given the stigma around the issue at the time, this further demonstrated the high premium he placed on the dignity of all Australians.

This trait was also shown in Senator Grimes's tireless work in the disability sector. In 1983, Don established the Disability Advisory Council of Australia. The council allowed people with a disability to do what he had been doing for them for so many years. He provided an avenue for people with a disability to directly advise the government on policies which affected their lives and their community. Perhaps his most significant achievement, alongside Medicare, in this space was the enactment of the Disability Services Act of 1986. By challenging the long-held views of professionals and peak bodies, he was able to advocate for a system which linked government funding to specific goals for clients who had a disability. In doing so, he believed he had given people with a disability 'a proper recognition of their rights and dignity and opportunity for the fullest possible participation in the community'.

Given his passionate advocacy across a range of controversial issues, you would imagine that Senator Grimes had many detractors in this place. But, in fact, it was quite the opposite. It speaks volumes of his character that Don was well liked by many of his colleagues right across the chamber. Senator Michael Tate dubbed him 'the quiet revolutionary' for his contribution to social policy, and his cabinet colleague Neal Blewett considered Senator Grimes to be the architect of much of Labor's social reform agenda. Senator Rosemary Crowley said that he was numbered amongst 'the very strong feminists' of her acquaintances, while Senator Susan Ryan acknowledged his 'enormously effective new programs' for the disadvantaged and the provision of 40,000 new childcare places, stating: 'He has done all of those things without great fuss, without pomposity or high-flown rhetoric. He is kind, decent, humane.'

After politics, Senator Grimes's sense of community and his willingness to stand up and speak for the disadvantaged took him all over the world, where he continued to advocate for change for all. He would serve as an ambassador to the Netherlands and chair a World Health Organization committee on AIDS in prisons. He would also serve on the Australian National Council on AIDS, work as a director of oncology in Kuala Lumpur and serve as a principal adviser to the health minister of Bahrain.

It was a life well lived, and one thoroughly decent and of great service to our nation. It was all part of his central ethos, a sentiment best summed up by this quote from his valedictory speech. Senator Don Grimes said that we should always strive for a 'more loving and caring society'. This is a core tenet of the philosophy of our party, and we seek to carry on Don's work and his legacy in this chamber today. My thoughts are with Senator Grimes's children, Roger, Jan, Jenny, Sally and Ben. I hope they are tremendously proud of their father's accomplishments, as we in this chamber are today.

Senator CAROL BROWN (Tasmania) (16:37): I would also like to express my condolences, and those of Tasmanian Labor, on the passing of former senator the Hon. Don Grimes. It is with sadness that we see the passing of a giant of the Labor Party. Don's contribution to the nation, and to Labor, was significant. His list of achievements in the service of Australia, Tasmania and his people is immense, ranging from grassroots involvement to the highest echelons of government—a local GP, a senator for Tasmania, a federal minister and an Australian ambassador. He was a leader on disability, women's refuge, Australia's response to HIV, and community and aged-care services. Don's contribution, and his legacy, has had long-lasting significance. He served as Minister for Social Security and Minister for Community Services in the Hawke government, as well as Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate. Don was a much-loved and well-known GP prior to entering politics, and his kindness and wit were appreciated by all who came across him.

I had the privilege of knowing Don Grimes. I first met Don in 1983 as a Young Labor member. He was larger than life. His reputation for genuine caring and being a generous man was always on display and was well earned. Not once did I hear him personally denigrate an individual to make a political point. He was a brilliant representative of his adopted state of Tasmania in the Senate and in government. Don didn't shy away from the challenges or a policy fight. He had an enviable reputation for pushing through and getting results.

Don moved to Tasmania in 1966 and made Launceston his home. He took on various medical roles, including providing general practice service in Launceston. It was here that Don joined the Australian Labor Party, acting on his disapproval for the Vietnam War and his support for Medibank. By 1974, he was representing Tasmania as a Labor senator. Legend has it that he worked on his first speech in the Senate the night before he was due to deliver it. He rose to begin his address when the then senator Lionel Murphy took the draft and told Don that he would perform better thinking on his feet. My dear friend former senator Alex Gallacher would have indeed approved of this action.

Don's passion for politics, public policy and equality were well known and widely regarded and never wavered. As many will recall, he was a great Minister for Social Security in the Hawke government. It was during this time that Don pioneered the first-ever federal Disability Advisory Council. He also established—and I note the language of the day—the Handicapped Programs Review, which was to examine the impact of social policies and procedures on people with disability. This was the first time that people with disability had been invited into the federal policymaking process. As a result of this review, the Disability Services Act 1986 was born. At the heart of the review and legislation was the principle that future government funds should be directed towards services and programs that provided people with disability the greatest amount of flexibility possible. Although the language of the day is clumsy, Don's recognition of the need for flexibility in directing funding towards disability services and supports was ahead of its time. In many respects, his long overdue recognition of the needs of people with disability at a federal level was the beginning of the journey towards the NDIS.

Don's experience in medicine and his passion for inclusion and equality also meant that he played a leading role in the Hawke government's effective and enlightened approach towards recognising and combating AIDS and supporting those with the virus. Don was adamant that any government action and policy should be science based—again, as Senator Gallagher has indicated. And, again, he was ahead of his time. Don would later go on to serve as the first-ever federal Minister for Community Services. During his time in this role, one of the most significant achievements was the funding of an additional 40,000 childcare places. To provide some perspective on how important this commitment was, it is equivalent to roughly one million additional places today.

One of his colleagues at the time, another great Labor minister former senator Susan Ryan, described Don's many social policy achievement as 'enormously effective new programs'. She went on to say: 'He has done all those things without great fuss, without pomposity or high-flown rhetoric. He's kind, decent and humane.' His contribution to the fight against AIDS was recognised while he was serving overseas as Australia's Ambassador to the Netherlands, when he was appointed as chair of the World Health Organization committee on AIDS in prisons. On returning to Australia, he continued his work and advocacy in this area by chairing the Australian National Council on AIDS from 1992 until 1996.

When Don announced his retirement from the Senate due to health reasons, he left an important departing message, calling on politicians and the wider community to develop a more loving and caring society. In making this call, Don urged people to reflect on what happens in times of national tragedy and disaster, when we see how members of our society come together and use their skills and resources to help one another, particularly those in difficulty. We have all witnessed many modern-day examples of this during the pandemic.

Don was loved and admired by many in Tasmania and throughout the Labor Party and the Labor movement. He was respected in the federal parliament, with friendships extending across party lines. His extensive involvement with public health administration was recognised by his appointments as a Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Medical Administrators and as a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 1992.

In retirement, Don returned to his home in Launceston to be closer to his children. In 2015 Don received a lifetime membership of the Tasmanian branch of the Labor Party—the highest honour the party can bestow on a member—for his outstanding service to the party and to the community. Supporting Don's honour were Michelle O'Byrne MP, the honourable member for Bass, and his longstanding good friend Anne O'Byrne. Both spoke strongly of Don's achievements and contribution, and fondly and warmly of the man as a good friend, a wit, a true believer and a true Labor man—there is no higher accolade.

While we mourn his passing, we acknowledge his many achievements on behalf of the party, the community and the nation. We thank his family for their support of him throughout his time in public life. I also acknowledge Senator Urquhart and Senator Bilyk—Labor senators from Tasmania—for being in the chamber today as we say farewell to Senator Don Grimes. My thoughts are with his cherished family and friends on his passing. He will be missed. Vale, Don.

Question agreed to, honourable senators standing in their places.

The PRESIDENT (16:47): It is with deep regret that I inform the Senate of the death, on 30 January 2022, of the Hon. Michael Eamon Beahan AM, a senator for the state of Western Australia from 1987 to 1996 and President of the Senate from 1994 to 1996. A motion of condolence will be arranged for a later date.

The PRESIDENT (16:48): I inform the Senate that 6 February 2022 marked the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (16:48): by leave—I move that the following address to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II be agreed to:

YOUR MAJESTY:

We, the President and Members of the Senate, express to Your Majesty our warm congratulations at this time of celebration of the Platinum Jubilee of your accession to the Throne. We express our respect and regard for the dedication you have displayed in the service of the Commonwealth and your deep and abiding commitment to Australia and her people.

Today we acknowledge the Platinum Jubilee of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II—70 years, a truly remarkable achievement. Whilst we will, through 2022, continue to celebrate this extraordinary milestone and mark it throughout the Australian community, we acknowledge that, for the Queen, this milestone also marks the anniversary of the passing of her father, King George VI.

Turning back to January 1952, after a Christmas spent in England a young Princess Elizabeth—just 25 years old—had set out with the Duke of Edinburgh for a tour that would include Australia and New Zealand. The young princess and her family had been buoyed by the apparent resurgence in the King's health. Hence it was with enormous shock that, en route to Australia, in Sigana, Kenya, Princess Elizabeth received the sad news of the King's death on 6 February 1952. The life of the then-Princess Elizabeth was turned upside down as she became Queen of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of the Commonwealth. As we look back on those early days of 1952, we find a time when Sir Robert Menzies was only a touch over two years into what would be his record-breaking postwar prime ministership. Very few of today's current parliamentarians were even born at that time.

In a broadcast following the Queen's coronation in 1953, Her Majesty reflected on the events of the day, remarking:

I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.

Strived she has, throughout all her life, and a very unique trust she has earned in Australia and around large parts of the world.

Her Majesty has been the reigning sovereign for 15 Australian prime ministers and 16 governors-general, pointing to the natural change that has occurred during her reign. Change—there has certainly been a lot of it over the last 70 years. What hasn't changed is the steadfast example the world has come to expect from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Around her there has been much progress, enormous societal change, significant geopolitical change, wars, issues and challenges—many to navigate. Today we see that as much as ever. In these difficult times and throughout difficult times it has become a custom for people across the Commonwealth and beyond to look to the Queen, with confidence that she will project herself a confidence and understanding, a steadfastness, that provides some degree of reassurance at those times of challenge.

In 2020 the Queen's wisdom continued to be a light and comfort in a time of sorrow, as it always has. As the world grappled with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Her Majesty remarked in a broadcast to the UK on 5 April 2020:

While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed—and that success will belong to every one of us.

At that time Her Majesty demonstrated a confidence and optimism that was reassuring, and, through that, provided the pathway ahead for the peoples of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and, of course, for people throughout the Commonwealth.

The Queen has, across her 70-year-long reign, remained a constant—a stabling presence in the ongoing story of our nation here in Australia and of the Commonwealth. Since her ascension to the throne, as a consequence of the way in which she has carried out her duties Australians have developed a respect and affection for the Queen that is rivalled by few, if any. There is no shortage of qualities in Her Majesty that I'm sure many could point to that have been a source of this adoration. Regardless of one's politics, regardless of one's views around constitutional structures or arrangements, the Queen's grace, compassion, diligence and dignity come to mind for many, to name just a few such qualities.

Her Majesty has indeed earned the trust and admiration of so many of the Australian people. As this year of her Platinum Jubilee progresses, Australians will have the opportunity to participate in the celebrations to mark her service. In step with these celebrations I encourage all Australians to take the opportunity to reflect on the period of service by Her Majesty, and, as I'm sure she would wish, to reflect upon their own lives as to how they too can give more in service in honour of Her Majesty.

On this anniversary I extend the gratitude of the Australian Senate for seven decades of unwavering public service and extend our warm wishes, congratulations and thanks to Her Majesty.

Senator PRATT (Western Australia) (16:54): Today the Senate recognises a remarkable milestone, the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Today is a landmark, the complete meaning of which is difficult to fully encapsulate in this place. It is something that has rarely been achieved by any monarch in world history. It is through a combination of circumstances that we celebrate the long reign of Australia's sovereign. Were it not for the abdication of her uncle, King Edward VIII, and then the premature death at the age of just 56 of her father, King George VI, the Queen would never have ascended to the throne at such a young age on 6 February in 1952. Now we observe 70 years since that occasion—the Platinum Jubilee.

It was nearly five years earlier on the occasion of her 21st birthday that the then Princess Elizabeth spoke to all the people of the Commonwealth from South Africa, and in doing so she made this solemn pledge:

I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

While now times have changed and we may no longer talk about the 'great imperial family', there can be no doubt that Her Majesty has fulfilled her commitment over her long life. We know that during the course of her reign much has changed—the Empire has now become the Commonwealth and many nations, over which Britain was once the colonial ruler or for which the Queen was head of state, have become independent republics.

For some of us, we would like to see a change in the head of state here in Australia, but this does not in any way diminish the recognition we give the Queen today for our appreciation of her life of duty, her role in Australia and in the family of the Commonwealth. Today, we join together in that community of nations that we now know as the Commonwealth as we pay tribute to Her Majesty for the extreme dedication with which she has served. When she made that very famous speech in South Africa, Princess Elizabeth spoke of her aspiration that the Commonwealth would grow to be 'more free, more prosperous, more happy and a more powerful influence for good in the world'.

It is also worth remembering that the Senate and the House of Representatives do not stand alone in our parliamentary system of government. Our own Senate Odgers advises us that parliament is 'a collective entity' consisting of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the monarch. So, in making this address today, we are also recognising the direct connection we have to the sovereign through our position as elected representatives in Australia's system of government here in the Australian Senate.

We particularly acknowledge today the way in which Her Majesty has maintained her engagement with our country, especially through her visits, perhaps most famously in 1954, when she became the first reigning monarch to visit Australia but also on many other occasions such as when she opened this parliament house in 1998 and, through my own personal anecdotes, her visit to Western Australia in 1979—150 years since colonialisation—and, indeed, CHOGM, in Western Australia as well. We've seen, as a nation, her humanity, standing with us in our own times of hardship even as she has endured her own. As the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Albanese, said earlier today: 'It is possible that we can be a republican nation and still have the deepest respect for the Queen.' The Queen has done her duty. She has done her duty with vitality, integrity, humanity and even with the slightest sense of humour coming through at times as well.

The opposition joins today with the government and other senators to express our sincere congratulations to the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee. We extend our very warmest regards on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (17:00): The British monarchy is a racist, colonial institution. It is a relic of the British Empire, and it shouldn't exist. But, sadly, here we are in this chamber discussing a motion to congratulate yet another monarch on whatever anniversary it is now.

We are in a moment in history when millions of people are marching to make black lives matter. Statues of slave owners are being torn down, and attempts to decolonise the systems are gathering pace. But these motions serve as a painful reminder to people of colour like me, who migrated here from a place that was colonised, ravaged and looted by this very British Empire. It is another of too many brutal reminders to First Nations people here in this country who live, to this day, in colonial Australia that not only is colonialism is alive and well but that its institutions are still celebrated and cherished here.

The British Crown sits on massive amounts of wealth that are the direct result of the theft of resources from colonised territories, the slave trade and occupation. The imperial colonisers ruthlessly extracted natural resources from the colonised countries to fill their coffers and feed their power and greed. This extractive, capitalist relationship is always predicated on taking more and more. In South Asia, where I come from, it was primarily the taking of resources; in Australia, it was the bloody possession of land and culture. Colonialism is not something of the past—something that is no longer relevant. The deep depravity of what was wrought may never be repaired. In many ways, colonialism has been merely transformed into the extractive and exploitative global corporations that control vast swathes of the world. You just have to look at the unabated extraction of coal and gas from sovereign land in this country.

There is nothing to celebrate here. The terrible legacies of colonial rule here and everywhere cannot be ignored. Almost all the territories occupied by British colonialists suffer to this day from underdevelopment, corruption, malnutrition, hunger and conflict introduced by the coloniser. I think of places like Palestine and Kashmir, where British colonialists created arbitrary borders and where to this day there is immense suffering. Generations of Kashmiris and Palestinians have grown up without the most basic of human rights: to live and to live in peace. They have known nothing but the conflict introduced by the British. There is nothing to celebrate here.

Make no mistake: motions congratulating the British royals moved in parliaments like ours are a celebration of centuries of systemic racism and exploitation by the British Empire. I, for one, will not stand for it. There is nothing to celebrate here.

Senator McKENZIE (Victoria—Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience, Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education and Leader of The Nationals in the Senate) (17:03): I stand here very, very proudly as the Leader of the National Party in the Senate to congratulate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on achieving such an extraordinary milestone.

We often talk about women in leadership. This particular woman has led her nation, the United Kingdom, and the Commonwealth for 70 years. She's seen tumultuous times and she's seen extraordinary change over that period—culturally, structurally and economically. What a fabulous example she is of how to do it right!

The sixth of February marked 70 years since Her Majesty acceded to the throne at the age of 25 following the death of her father, King George VI.

Our party, the Nationals, proudly recognises constitutional monarchy as a stable and strong foundation for liberal democracies such as ours. We're very proud to celebrate the values shared with the UK and the monarchy: faith, family and freedom. It is those three values which the constitutional monarchy of the British throne and the Commonwealth more broadly have sought to prosecute, particularly under Her Majesty's rule. She's spent an incredible 73 per cent of her life on the throne and, in 2015, surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning monarch in British history. No-one even questions that she happens also to be a woman. It's an extraordinary achievement.

Since ascending to the throne in 1952, Her Majesty has presided over a period of immense social, economic and political transformation both in Australia and across the Commonwealth. Throughout, the Queen has been a constant presence, a constant source of institutional stability—a rock. In fact, for over half of our history as a federation, the Queen has been our monarch, and this means that most Australians have known no other sovereign.

It was my great personal privilege to meet Her Majesty when she last visited Australia, when the Labor Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, introduced me to Her Majesty here in Parliament House. I was able to take my mother, who, as a very young girl, had waved Australian flags on the side of the road in Melbourne at the 1954 visit of Her Majesty.

The Queen has seen 15 prime ministers here in Australia, and there have been 12 National Party leaders during her reign. Over the past seven decades, Her Majesty has cultivated enduring ties with Australians, being the first reigning monarch to visit Australia in 1954. Her Majesty has undertaken 16 official tours of our nation, marking important milestones, anniversaries or celebrations of Australian culture and history, including the opening of Parliament House in 1988. So strong is her tie to this nation that she chose to send the future king to school here for a period of time. That was not an accidental occurrence; it was a deliberate decision by Her Majesty to make sure that the future monarch, Prince Charles, would have a very deep and real understanding of who we are as a country and how different we are from the UK at some levels. Those ties have gone through other family members as well. She's travelled across the vast expanse of our country, meeting countless Australians of all cultures and walks of life.

Like us in the National Party, the Queen has a deep love for and affiliation with rural life and all that it entails. She's a keen horsewoman and backs the racing industry as you wouldn't believe. I hear the Greens complaining, but what a fabulous industry! She's got some great bloodlines going. She spends every summer at her rural estate in Balmoral in the Highlands of Scotland. She's a farmer, and she's also a shooter. On any measure of rural living, that's the trifecta, and I'm very proud that she has so many affinities with rural and regional Australia on those particular issues.

Indeed, Her Majesty has always expressed her admiration for Australians' resilience and their 'stoic and determined spirit' in the face of extreme weather, droughts, floods and bushfires. It's best exemplified by her sending members of the royal family at our time of need to lift the spirits of those Australians, particularly in rural and regional areas, going through these natural disasters but also by her donation to drought relief for the heart and soul of Australia in 2018, when we were going through those horrific events. Thank you, Your Majesty, for that—thinking of us at that time of need.

I think it's fair to say that across Australia there is a deep respect and admiration for our Queen: for her wisdom, her kindness and her sense of duty. I love that her publicly published correspondence says: 'in your service'. I think her sense of duty and her complete commitment to living a life of service, in humility and through tough times, is again an example for us all. I'll finish with this quote from Her Majesty:

When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.

That, I believe, provides a clear insight into our Queen, both as a person and as a monarch. On behalf of the Nationals in the Senate, we sincerely thank Her Majesty for leading by example, for her unfailing service, for her dedication and for the unshakable sense of duty that our Queen has shown for Australia and for the Commonwealth over the past 70 years.

Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (17:10): The British monarchy is a racist institution that is founded upon the principle of white supremacy and which exists today in the modern world as a relic of a time when, nakedly and without question, white people bestrode the earth claiming all before them to be theirs and, in the name of that sentiment, in that belief, brought death and destruction upon so many peoples of the earth. In the 21st century, it is the cold, hard reality that this mentality lives to this very day. We need only look to the colonial attitudes of the nation states of Europe, of the United States and, indeed, of Australia in relation to our own region, or to the white people of this nation in relation to First Nations people, to see the continuing existence of white supremacy in this world.

It is an edifice that must be challenged and torn down. That great work, in which so many are now engaged, is hindered by the continual perpetuation of the myth, of the banality, of the British Empire. The British Empire was a cruel and extractive capitalist exercise which took the lives of millions across the world. The hollowed out, irrelevant edifice of the British monarchy which now stands in its place, looming over the continuing so-called Commonwealth, is the inheritor of that bloody legacy. We cannot and should not talk of it in this place without placing it in its context. To do so is to excuse and perpetuate its crimes.

I sit here as a proud member of the Australian Greens, a party avowedly committed to the establishment of Australia as a nation under treaty with its First Nations people. If, as part of that process of treaty, of truth-telling, of justice, it decides to take its place alongside the nations of the world that've cast off the moniker of monarchy and proclaimed themselves a republic, then that is what we believe that this country should be. One of the very many reasons that I believe that that is a course that we should take is that I am a democrat. I believe in democracy and that core democratic tenet that power is only legitimate when it is derived from the willing consent of the people over which that power is exercised. The reality of the British monarchy is that its power, in the absence of treaty, is illegitimate on this soil and has never been established according to key democratic principles. Sovereignty has never been ceded, and so it is the cruellest of jokes that this place would waste its valuable time uttering a sentence in relation to a foreign sovereign.

The last thing I'll say on this issue is as a young person. To young people, the British monarchy exists as a strange combination of two things. Firstly, it's as a strange, continually present reminder of that poison of imperialism which is so deeply imbibed into the heart of this country, a kind of soft sinew back to the deep-seated racism, the very beginning of the proposition of the continent of Australia, of that assertion of terra nullius, that assertion of superiority and the idea that there was a dirt here that needed cleansing. Simultaneously it exists to us as young people—the vast majority of us—as a bit of a joke, as an irrelevant edifice kept alive by the sycophantic expressions of journalists that have lost all rudder in their careers.

So many contributions in relation to the monarchy take the form of individuals that feel they have a personal connection to the monarchy and to the institution when nothing could be further from the truth. The reality of the British monarchy of the 21st century is that it is divided. It is, in many parts of the world, a disgraced institution. When it comes to certain members of that monarchy at the current time, it is on trial for crime. And so there is very little willingness in any part of our community to engage with it as anything more or less than a historical irrelevancy that should be cast off and done away with as part of a process of this country coming to terms with the truth of our history. Rather than hiding in the crevices of the past we should be embracing the wisdom and lived experience of the oldest continual civilisation on this earth, the oldest continuing culture. Embracing that wisdom, that knowledge and that holistic, inclusive conception of sovereignty is what we must do in this moment. We must join the nations of the world, like Barbados and so many others, that have finally, after all these years, stepped forward into themselves and stopped hiding behind an old idea that is grounded in immorality and a set of values that have no place in a modern Australia.

Senator HANSON (Queensland—Leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation) (17:19): [by video link] I rise to acknowledge Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne of England. Whatever you might think of monarchies, the Queen is admired throughout the Commonwealth and around the world. She has been a beacon of stability and tradition at a time of unprecedented change. When she was born in 1926, she was fourth in the line of succession and it was not believed she would ever be Queen. Her uncle Edward's decision to abdicate in 1936 thrust her father, George, onto the throne, something for which neither he nor Elizabeth had been prepared. Less than three years later, Britain was drawn into a world war in which it would have to fight for its very survival. Like many children her age, Elizabeth was evacuated from London when it came under attack in 1940. She was only 14 years old when she made her first public address on the BBC, speaking directly to the many children who'd been evacuated and separated from their parents. When she turned 18, she insisted on joining the war effort, enlisting in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She wasn't given a special rank in this role, although she had already been made an honorary colonel of the Grenadier Guards. The future queen trained as a mechanic in the ATS, and the word is that she still knows her way around an engine.

Elizabeth came to the throne 70 years ago, in 1952. Her coronation a year later was televised around the world—the first time this had ever happened. At the time, our Prime Minister was Sir Robert Menzies. Scott Morrison is now the 15th Prime Minister of Australia to serve during the Queen's reign. That is fully half of all the prime ministers we have had. The Queen is the first British monarch to reach a platinum jubilee. Few Australians alive today have ever known a time without Elizabeth as the Queen.

What I admire most about the Queen is her steadfast support for democracy in Australia as a constitutional monarchy. The Queen understands her role in this model like few others. The Queen understands it is the Australian people who govern our nation, and she has never interfered in our government or our elections. The Queen knows her history very well and knows that the authority of the Crown has been limited ever since the signing of the Magna Carta, which was in 1215. The last British monarch who tried to interfere directly in parliamentary government, by marching into the House of Commons to arrest some MPs—that was Charles I—started a civil war and was beheaded for treason. His descendants tried to restore the absolute rule of kings and queens, but in the end they failed. The authority of the British people, exercised through their elected parliament, has prevailed ever since. The authority of the people prevails in Australia too, or, at least, it did until this pandemic.

Our constitutional monarchy works well when its democratic principles are followed. This is why I do not support Australia becoming a republic. We are already in charge, not the Queen. We already have an Australian head of state, in our Governor-General. The Governor-General only acts on the advice of the elected Prime Minister of Australia. This system works, and, because it works, there is no need to change it. For those who do support a republic, I have this warning: the political class in Australia will never let you vote for a president; they will install their own president, and you will have no say over it. I shudder to think who might be installed. Let me think—Kevin Rudd, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Fitzsimmons, or maybe Paul Keating? Or let's go with Christopher Pyne! Can you imagine the chaos? There's no need to go down such a divisive road. In a constitutional monarchy there is no division over an appointed head of state. It's a figurehead role by convention, and that's the way it should stay. If any future Governor-General should get it into their head to go beyond this role, they have the Queen's example to show them what a stupid idea that would be.

I thank the Queen for her service to Australia and the Commonwealth and congratulate her on the unique achievement of a platinum jubilee. But I must also make my comments, or my thoughts, known with regard to the bedwetters and the haters. Where would they be, these ones that are complaining and whingeing about the monarchy and the Queen's service to the Commonwealth, if this country had been invaded—as they say, rather than 'settled'—by France, Spain or some other country? Would you have had the same opportunities to migrate here and have the life that you have? Here we have senators on the floor of parliament, such as the Greens, whinging, bitching and complaining about the monarchy. The fact is that it's because of the monarchy—and we are part of the Commonwealth—that you were given the opportunity to migrate to this country. You sit in the parliament now, under the Westminster system, the system under which you were elected, and have a very good lifestyle and a say in your country. It's called democracy.

So don't put out there the factors of why you believe the monarchy has destroyed our democracy, because it hasn't. We became a federation in 1901, voted on by the people in this nation. The whole fact is to push your agenda of what is actually happening in Australia, and you want to hand it back to the First Nations people? I can imagine what this country would look like. I don't agree with it. It comes down to the fact that the people of this nation voted in 1999 against a republic: the politicians' republic—the people who want to take over control and tell the people because they think they know better. I don't think that is right.

So I'm here to congratulate the Queen. I have the utmost respect for her, as do many other people. To raise her family and what might be happening there is not what we're celebrating today or acknowledging. I'm sure a lot of families can look in their own backyards to see the problems they have within their own families. They are no different from a lot of people around the world. Yes, they hold positions and, yes, they are quite well to do, but the fact is that they are still a family. To sit there and criticise this woman who's given her whole life to her country, above and beyond her family and her husband—I admire the woman. I admire her greatly for what she's done. That is called dedication, loving your country and your people and doing the job that you didn't even think you would ever have but took on because of a set of circumstances. So, to the Queen and to those people who believe in the monarchy, let's celebrate her 70 years on the throne and congratulate her. And I do from the bottom of my heart.

Senator DEAN SMITH (Western Australia—Government Whip in the Senate) (17:27): We've come to know the Queen in many different ways. We know the Queen as an image. We know the Queen through the passage of time. We know the Queen through her spirit, devotion and dedication. Sixteen presidents of the Australian Senate, 15 Australian prime ministers, 170 Commonwealth prime ministers and numerous presidents and popes—a record of public service that we could only dream of in this place. Indeed, in this Australian Senate, Senator Dodson was just four years and eight days old when the Queen ascended the throne. Senator Molan was just one year and nine months old when the Queen ascended the throne.

In my home state of Western Australia, we've been privileged to have her visit on six of the 16 occasions on which she's travelled to Australia. I like to think that six out of six is the number of times I perhaps stood by the road to catch a glimpse. But, of course, there are a variety of ways to look at this tremendous milestone. We can look at it through the lens of the societal and economic transformation that has taken place before her eyes. We can have a look at the durability of the Crown and the system of government that it has come to represent. We can also look at the subtle evolution of our own political system that has, over this tremendous period, also changed. And, of course, we can look at the Queen through the character of perseverance, devotion and service beyond self.

While today is a very important and auspicious occasion, it's also a very sad one. Of course, the Queen came to the throne only because of the passing of her father, the wartime monarch, George VI. I think it's important that, as we reflect on the virtues of this Queen, we also reflect on the tremendous virtues and, I would argue, tremendous unsung and unrecognised work of her father, George VI, during those bleakest hours not just in the United Kingdom and across continental Europe but, indeed, across the whole world. On the death of George VI, Menzies, in the other place, said that George VI had 'reigned over us with singular distinction, unfailing courage, and the most constant devotion'. When we reflect on the strengths of this Queen, I think we owe much to the fact that she was able to witness at first hand the tremendous contribution of her father and his ability to overcome physical difficulties and distrust in the British establishment. Of course, her father reigned for a comparatively short period of time.

Menzies also went on to say:

We … hope that Your Majesty's reign—

the reign of the new Queen—

may be a long and successful one, marked by the prosperity and progress of the countries of the Commonwealth.

The Queen's reign thus far has been synonymous with prosperity, discovery and scientific achievement. Of course, she's reigned in a world that has become more connected, not disconnected. Menzies could not have imagined how her reign has in fact realised those ambitions of prosperity and progress.

A decade ago, a prominent female, again in the other place, remarked on the Queen:

But beyond the statistics of this reign lies consideration of its quality and character. Today we honour a woman who has conducted herself with utmost propriety and dignity, who has served her people with wisdom, fidelity and an unfailing sense of duty. Elizabeth II has made history and become part of history. Today we honour her indelible place in the story of our nation. And we express thanks for the sense of loyalty and service she has shown as our monarch but also as our friend.

Over the decade since Julia Gillard made those remarks, much has changed, but of course the deep affection of so many Australians has only grown and become more entrenched. So, at the beginning of this Platinum Jubilee year, I am confident that Australians, whatever their political creed and whatever their ambitions for Australia's future form of government—and I remain totally committed to the preservation of constitutional monarchy—can all join together in an act of great unity and great grace in recognising what has been a most remarkable achievement thus far: service beyond self in a way that we cannot identify in any other.

I first met the Queen in my home town of Perth in Western Australia. I was sat on a rug in a school hall in Perth's northern suburbs. I happened to glance up, and there on the wall was a picture. I kid you not—I can still see it now. I think it must have been at the time of the Silver Jubilee, in 1977, which would fit with my early years at primary school. For some unexplainable reason, I've chosen to find in her a great, deep affection and, in my own way, try to live my life in public service as she lives hers: practically, with humility and constantly with grace, and never disturbed by the less gracious comments that might be made about her or around her.

On this great occasion, on behalf of all those Western Australians that share a deep affection for this Queen, like I do, I extend to her and all those that support her across the world our deepest affection, our congratulations and our very best wishes for what we hope will be an outstanding Platinum Jubilee year.

Senator COX (Western Australia) (17:35): I stand here today as a proud First Nations woman. I want to start this speech by saying the sovereignty of these lands and waters was never ceded, and it was certainly never ceded to the person that today's motion is about.

The devastating impacts of colonialism are still experienced by First Nations people across this continent every single day. The colonial project started more than 200 years ago, and for me it's never ended. It still continues in this country for all First Nations people. It has attacked the heart of what First Nations people have lived under for generations, an ancient culture that has five principles. There is the principle of language and the importance of that. We've seen eradication—350 languages existed pre-colonisation, and we are now down to about 143 languages. There is the land that is important to us. It is our mother—our boodjar, as we call her in Noongar culture. It was removed from us when we were herded into missions and reserves. There is our culture, where our old people were beaten for fraternising with their relatives. There is our kinship, our family groups, our disconnection—it's been heard about in this place, about the royal commission on the stolen generations that have existed here in Australia—and the constant removal of our children. In my state of Western Australia alone, I am 17 times more likely to have my children removed than any other woman in this country. The law that was administered by our old people was replaced by the Westminster law that so many have talked about here.

It is the greatest travesty that First Nations people on this continent are not treated equally in this country. We experience racism. We die decades earlier. And the trauma is intergenerational, is profound and is all caused by one foundational event—that is, the colonisation of this continent by the British Crown. It doesn't need to continue. This is not the end of this story. We know we cannot change the past but we can build a better future, and it starts with healing and bringing people together. But has to be grounded in humility and in seeking justice.

How do we do this? We achieve this together, and we achieve this, as has been so eloquently pointed out by my Australian Greens colleagues Senator Faruqi and Senator Steele-John, through a national treaty—an internationally recognised framework. Australia lags behind in relation to the way it treats its First Nations people but also in how it enters into these agreements, these treaties and a national treaty with First Nations people here.

As a recognised international leader, we have a significant role and responsibility to undertake this. Our journey to treaty involves truth-telling. This truth-telling will provide us with healing. We have to hear the stories and the lived experience of the generations of people who have been removed from country, who have been removed from their kinship connections and who have been removed from their language and culture. We have to hear that. We have to know that there is a black history attached to Australia's history and stop celebrating this facade. Our journey also involves making sure that we tackle the systemic discrimination and racism that exist in the system still, that are at the heart of colonialism.

The Australian Greens have already announced that we will begin this journey towards treaty by contributing $250 million to establish a national and independent truth and justice commission. This truth and justice commission will be an independent body that investigates and reveals past wrongdoings to resolve ongoing and historical conflict and to help us all heal from those things and continue this journey forward together. The commission will have the powers of a royal commission and will investigate and reveal wrongdoings and the human rights abuses perpetrated against First Nations people since colonisation and to this day.

This country needs to do better, because we know we can do better. We just need the courage and the political will to make that change. Together we need to explore, understand and reckon with our past and the impact it continues to have on First Nations people and their cultures so we can build that future together, walk that path together. The only way we can do that is to start here, in the Senate, the place of the people. And we can do it through a national treaty and treaties with First Nations people.

The PRESIDENT (17:41): There being no further contributions, I will close this debate. I wish to join in acknowledging the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our federation—indeed, this chamber—is 121 years old, and she has shared 70 of those years. Most Australians know no other way than the sacrifice and quiet acceptance of a role she did not choose but has inhabited without complaint and with unerring grace for all her life. We join in commemorating this moment with the community of 54 nations that we know today as the Commonwealth.

Her Majesty has been with us in person for some of the defining events of our nation. Her Majesty opened the Opera House in Sydney in 1973; in 1980, the High Court of Australia; and, in 1998, this building. Her Majesty's visit to open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2011 in my home state of Western Australia was her 16th visit to Australia. We hope to have her example of wise and enduring service for many years to come. I am sure all senators will join me in expressing our sincerest congratulations to Her Majesty and in extending our warmest regards on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

Question agreed to.

The PRESIDENT (17:44): We will now move on to notice of motion No. 1299 in the name of Senator Waters. Senator McKim, is that being withdrawn?

Senator McKIM (Tasmania—Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate and Australian Greens Whip) (17:44): Yes, that's correct.

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT (18:22): I inform the Senate that, at 8.30 am today, 22 proposals were received in accordance with standing order 75. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate that the following letter from Senator Chisholm was chosen:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today I propose to move 'That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The failure of leadership by the Prime Minister to address the behaviour of Senators Rennick and Antic, and Mr George Christensen MP, which is a risk to the health and good order of the Australian community by spreading disinformation about vaccinations and other COVID-19 public health measures; supporting anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown protests and their leaders, some of whom have publicly called for the violent overthrow of state and federal governments and the murder of public servants, including members of the Australian Defence Force; standing alongside protestors who attack the social and democratic institutions which have created a successful, prosperous, multicultural Australia; and whose behaviour may encourage others to emulate them by reason of their high profile and status.'

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders hav ing risen in their places—

The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales) (18:23): At the request of Senator Chisholm, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The failure of leadership by the Prime Minister to address the behaviour of Senators Rennick and Antic, and Mr George Christensen MP, which is a risk to the health and good order of the Australian community by spreading disinformation about vaccinations and other COVID-19 public health measures; supporting anti-vaccination and anti-lockdown protests and their leaders, some of whom have publicly called for the violent overthrow of state and federal governments and the murder of public servants, including members of the Australian Defence Force; standing alongside protestors who attack the social and democratic institutions which have created a successful, prosperous, multicultural Australia; and whose behaviour may encourage others to emulate them by reason of their high profile and status.

This morning I heard from Susan, an aged-care worker. Susan has been working in the aged-care sector for 17 years. She says that the facility she currently works for is at breaking point because of the pandemic and because of the government's failure to support that sector throughout this critical omicron phase.

Staff shortages mean that she finds herself solely responsible for a floor of 40 elderly people. And when two or three or four buzzers go off at the same time, as they always seem to do, she actually has to decide who she is going to help, whose needs she is going to prioritise and who is most important. She has to take responsibility. She has to make a choice. She doesn't have the option that Prime Minister Morrison gives himself time and time again, and that is to say that it's someone else's problem and shrug the responsibility off onto someone else.

I mention Susan because this morning, to meet with her, I had to go past a large crowd of people outside the parliament who are angry about lifesaving vaccinations and public health measures associated with the pandemic. This is a group of people that coalition members, members of the coalition party room and members of this Senate have been directly speaking to and encouraging for some time. It's been reported that some of the coalition party room were down there at the rally in person. Senator Rennick is reported in the media to have said that he is 'working to make sure that our children aren't vaccinated'. You would think, wouldn't you, that the Prime Minister might be concerned that members of his party room were spreading misinformation about the safety of vaccines? If not that, you'd think he might be concerned that members of his party room are addressing protests whose leaders have publicly called for the violent overthrow of state and federal governments and the murder of public servants. Apparently, he's not concerned about that, not interested in that. He's silent. It's not his responsibility and not his problem. It's a shame actually that the Prime Minister didn't meet with Susan because, if he did, he could have learned something about what it means to take responsibility and make difficult decisions.

Actually, calling out vaccine misinformation and extremism shouldn't be a difficult decision. It should be an easy choice for any leader with integrity. The reasons provided by the government for the cancellation of Novak Djokovic's visa actually spell out why it's dangerous for someone with a high profile and status to be stoking anti-vaccine sentiment. In the government's own words: 'It may encourage others to emulate him. If others were encouraged to take up or maintain resistance to vaccination or COVID-19 restrictions then that would present a problem for the health of individuals and the operation of Australia's hospital system.' They went on to say: 'His presence may lead to rallies and protests that may themselves be a source of community transmission.' They were the issues when it came to Mr Djokovic, but we have had members of the coalition party room doing all of these things and, in fact, much more.

We have had false medical claims from and distrust of science being provoked by Senator Rennick. He said, 'All the data says that they're neither safe nor effective.' What data is he referring to? He went on, on the basis of this false claim, to say, 'It is criminally negligent to roll out booster shots without any attempt at rectifying these serious safety issues first.' If distrust in science and medicine isn't bad enough, we then had Senator Antic, who has been out there peddling distrust in government. Here is a quote from Senator Antic:

Power hungry bureaucrats and a largely pedestrian media have fuelled fear in our community for two years.

On the rallies in Canberra this week, he said, 'We are with you all the way.' Mr Christensen, serial offender, went further and said:

I watched with pride over the past few days as thousands of Australians uprooted their lives and drove to the nation's capital to send a message to all politicians: we want our freedoms back!

That was an unsurprising statement in some ways. Mr Christensen gave a speech last year comparing vaccine mandates and COVID restrictions to a totalitarian regime. He then called for civil disobedience. This was at a time when protesters were constructing gallows out the front of a state parliamentary building. It comes on top of two years of Mr Christensen boosting unproven and dangerous alternative COVID treatments. During the time that Mr Craig Kelly was a member of the coalition party room, the Prime Minister stood idly by while Mr Kelly disseminated false COVID information and misinformation on social media. Facebook has taken more action against Mr Kelly than the Prime Minister.

Why hasn't the Prime Minister done anything? When asked why his government had acted on Novak Djokovic and not coalition backbenchers Mr Morrison said:

… you're conflating two different issues … In Australia, if you're an Australian, you're a citizen, you're resident and you're a citizen, you can be here and you can express your views.

What a hollow and vacuous response that trivialises the issues at stake! It also serves to minimise the Prime Minister's responsibility. The truth is, they are not merely Australian citizens, are they? They are members of the Prime Minister's party room. They are members of the government that he leads. He ought to take responsibility for their behaviour.

Deputy Prime Minister Joyce took time out from texting to say, 'What can we do?' As much as immigration minister Alex Hawke would like, he can't send any of our politicians to Serbia. Again, what a trivial response, because he's right: that's not an option for the PM. I'll tell you what the Prime Minister could do. He could publicly rebuke them. He could have called them out in a party room meeting. Calling people out in the party room happened this week and in any other week. He could have cornered them for a private conversation, like he did with Bridget Archer, when Mrs Archer had the temerity to cross the floor last year. Why hasn't he done anything like this? It's pretty obvious: it's because there is nothing in it for him. It's because, as former Premier Berejiklian allegedly wrote, the Prime Minister puts politics before people. He never takes responsibility.

But the Prime Minister's silence matters. The government's Federal Court submissions in the Djokovic matter make the point that antivaccine rhetoric can have a real impact on the health of individuals and the operation of Australia's health system. It means that people like Susan, the aged-care nurse, have even more elderly and sick patients to care for and more difficult choices to make about who they are able to care for. I tell you what, the health of our public debate matters as well. Any success that we have had in combatting this pandemic is due in no small part to the willingness of the Australian people to band together and to make sacrifices. Australians have worn masks. They have stayed home from work and school. They have rescheduled their weddings and, heartbreakingly, some of them have had virtual funerals.

The statements by some members of this coalition undermine that solidarity. They undermine faith in the science that has delivered the vaccines and the public health measures that have saved tens of thousands of Australian lives. They undermine the trust in government and in our public institutions that we will need to deal with the next pandemic or the next strain of this virus, or, indeed, the next crisis we confront as a nation.

The problem is broader than the pandemic. By encouraging and standing beside extremists, government members and senators are legitimising them. There is something qualitatively different about protests that call people traitors and that seek to dehumanise them. We've seen where that kind of politics leads in our history and in our global history, and it's not to a democratic place and it is not to a safe place. A leader of any integrity would call out the members of his own government who are spreading COVID misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, and encouraging violent protest. But where is Mr Morrison? There may be nothing in it for Mr Morrison politically, but he should use the weight of his position to defend the integrity of our public debate, because that is the right thing to do.

Senator McDONALD (Queensland) (18:33): I rise in defence of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, not just for my colleagues but for every single person in this place and, indeed, all of Australia. Western civilisation has been founded on the freedom to speak out, but Labor does not believe in free speech. Labor doesn't care about people, only ideologies that deny freedom for every parent, business owner, religious person and farmer. Surely the ability for every Australian to be fully engaged in this pandemic and its response is not only a good idea but a necessary idea for our mental health and our recovery from this situation.

This is the most left-wing Labor opposition we have seen in decades. After the last election it's lurched, if possible, even more to the left. They're quick to condemn conservative politicians for speaking out, but they're silent when those on the left support Invasion Day, anti-Christian rhetoric, shaming of conservative women and calls for quotas. How many Labor and Greens MPs support socialism, communism or violent left-wing groups such as Black Lives Matter and antifa? Do these groups get to express their views while others can't? Labor's double standards are a joke.

I don't agree with the stance taken by Mr Christensen and Senators Rennick and Antic, but I will fight every day for their right to represent those Australians who share their views, because parliament should be the one place where we can have an open and vigorous debate—where we can contest ideas. This idea that these people are calling for harm to police and politicians is truly outrageous. Those are certainly not the actions and words of these named members and senators.

In fact, hundreds of thousands of Australians have raised these issues and have marched against mandates without incident. These are everyday men, women and children, from CEOs to pensioners, pilots, nurses and teachers. They are not enemies of the state. My office has taken scores of calls from doctors, nurses, tradies, truckies, lawyers, cleaners, parents, grandparents, dairy farmers and others against mandates. I and others in this place have publicly supported that view, while Senators Rennick and Antic and Mr Christensen are showing their support in different ways.

Vaccination rates in Australia are amongst the highest in the world. Close to 90 per cent of people are getting their health advice from doctors, not from politicians. However, it was not that long ago that, in Queensland, the Chief Health Officer suggested that the AstraZeneca vaccine was going to kill young people. That was the beginning of serious concern in our community over the AstraZeneca vaccine.

It is Labor who are playing politics with public health. In January 2021, the Labor candidate for Higgins, Dr Ananda-Rajah, tweeted multiple times undermining the effectiveness of—yes—the AstraZeneca vaccine. The doctor has also criticised Doherty institute director Sharon Lewin and former Victorian deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng for lacking 'any real expertise in pandemic planning or response'. As two of Australia's foremost public health experts, who have worked tirelessly to assist both the Commonwealth and state governments to respond to the pandemic and to save lives, Professor Lewin and Dr Cheng should be praised for their efforts. Indeed, this federal Labor opposition is preferencing an Independent COVID antivaxxer ahead of the Nationals in the upcoming state by-election in Monaro. The double standards are extraordinary.

To use a now-common phrase: how dare you? How dare you in Labor look down on those people who have different views to you—Australians who hold different views? How dare you smear those with genuinely held concerns and beliefs as would-be thugs and murderers? You want to deny a person's lawful right to speak and protest, because Labor is now the epitome of the new, sneering elite. The unvaccinated are a minority, but they're not the correct type of minority for Labor, so their views and concerns don't matter.

Instead of crusading against freedom, how about you get into regional Queensland and ask what's important to them? In Queensland, my great state, it has been the sort of misinformation that has been spread on social media after comments like those I've already quoted—the vaccine hesitancy about AstraZeneca—which has allowed a whole lot of views to grow up. As a federal government, our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of world-leading. We were able to stem the tide of COVID in this nation to allow time for people to become vaccinated, to save jobs and save lives, and to ensure that our unemployment rate is now down to 4.2 per cent so that Australians are able to get off social security, to have a job and to engage in the world and the life that they want. That is because the government's priority is the safety and wellbeing of all Australians. To that end, the government has spent significant money and effort in combating this misinformation. There is a COVID-19 misinformation portal for COVID-19 mythbusting on the australia.gov.au website that corrects myths and misinformation. The Department of Home Affairs reviews and refers online misinformation about COVID-19 to social media platforms to request that it be taken down, and $116.1 million has been committed to the National COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign. We know that has been successful—look at our vaccination rates in this country. As I said at the beginning, Australians generally take their medical advice from a health professional and not from politicians, and that is a wise decision.

This misinformation that has been allowed to spread has created genuine concern in people right across this nation, and it is our responsibility to talk to them, to hold out our hand, to listen and to understand those genuine concerns and try and assist them to understand what is the best medical assistance and the best medical advice for them, for their families and for their children. That is our role. It is not in any way our role to look down on these people as somehow being wrong or stupid, and it certainly is not our role to suggest that they can't hold these views at all. That's not the sort of country we are.

As for those members and senators who have listened to those people and are trying to represent their views and ensure that they are heard in order to allow for better government planning and better government responses, that is only the right thing to do, instead of this elitist, sneering response from Labor—this 'holier than thou, smarter than you, inner city' kind of response that we in regional Australia are sick of. We're sick of feeling disconnected from Labor and we're sick of them having no understanding of our industries and infrastructure and the genuine concerns that we hold. We are the part of the nation that does the mining, grows the agriculture and has the terrific communities that we're so very proud of.

I will continue to defend the rights of Mr Christensen and Senators Antic and Rennick to support Australians right across this country who have genuine concerns and genuine misgivings. It's our responsibility to assist them—not sneer at them. (Time expired)

Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (18:43): I speak as a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia. It's a matter of urgency that our elected parliamentary representatives are increasingly not a reflection of the typical, everyday Australian. It's fundamental to our Australian democracy that people can demonstrate against incursions of their freedoms. I applaud any politician who has the guts, the integrity and the resolve to make a stand for the people, even if it is against their party line.

Senator Chisholm has done well to show his true self in this MOU, where he believes that only good order should reign at the expense of individual voices. Senator Chisholm clearly believes politicians ought not to use their public profile and status to represent the deep concerns of the people. Does Senator Chisholm suggest politicians use their high profile and status to be solely compliant and silent? I believe that politicians have a duty to listen to our consciences and speak out when we believe something is not in the interests of the Australian people. Senator Chisholm's urgency motion says more about his narrow Labor perspective on life than it does about the topic or about the Australian people. Personally, I'm proud to stand beside anyone who has the courage of their convictions and who is brave enough to take their unpopular stand and risk ridicule for their beliefs. I admire anyone, particularly politicians, who have not lost sight of the Australian people, our democracy, our values or our freedoms and who will stand with the people regardless of the party line. I have done so and will proudly continue to do so.

Senators Rennick and Antic, and Mr George Christensen and Mr Craig Kelly, have the mettle to stand for a broader Australia. I support their efforts to question, expose and call out the deliberate misuse and abuse of science—the fraudulent use of science—as a basis for lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Senator Chisholm's motion has demonstrated his belief that there should be only one world view held by all, and Senator Chisholm will decide what that view is no matter how far removed this groupthink is from how Australians see ourselves. The good order of the Australian community requires debate and dissent, compliance and cohesion, and, most of all, robustness and honesty. Our social and democratic institutions—failing, as they are, to protect the rights and freedoms of the people—must be robust enough to embrace a debate from the people and from politicians who represent them.

Why is there low, and declining, trust in MPs? Here is a quote from someone today: 'Declining trust in our institutions is not the problem. It is the solution.' We need to have less of the institutions. It's a sad day when any politician, whose career and life is predominantly political, thinks that his narrow world perspective has any resonance with the Australian people at large. Senators Rennick and Antic, and Mr Christensen, are fighting for the people because they themselves are of the people, having carved out independent careers from the city to the land, facing uncertainties along the way. Senator Hanson and I have this same grounding in real life. From their actions these representatives, like us, feel what the people are feeling. They know, as One Nation knows, that unnecessary lockdowns, debilitating and inhuman vaccine mandates, and an absence of longitudinal testing on vaccines is just not good enough. They know that the people deserve better and are willing to stand up for what is right.

They also talk about ivermectin—a proven, safe, effective, affordable and accessible treatment that has stopped COVID wherever it has been used properly. The government falls silent on it and actually withdrew that from the people. The real matter of urgency here is that too many Labor, Liberal, National and Greens politicians do not have the courage to stand against this attack on our freedom and basic human rights. Too many in this place stand meek and silent while businesses fail and while everyday Australians are coerced into a repeated, unproven medical experimental procedure in order to feed their families. It's time that gutless, groupthink politicians are consigned to the biowaste bin of history.

Senator AYRES (New South Wales) (18:48): I rise to speak on this urgency motion. This debate is in no way a debate about free speech. Australians have free speech. It's in no way a debate about the right to protest. I've been involved in plenty of protests. This is a debate about political leadership and about whether the office of Prime Minister is going to be used for political leadership. I listened carefully to Senator McDonald, and I have to say that, until this moment, I had no idea how degraded the Nationals commitment to political liberalism has become.

Former senator Ron Boswell recognised the threat to Australian democracy that the One Nation Party posed. He fought them and opposed them right through Queensland, in this place and at the ballot box. The modern National Party just seeks to incorporate those views. It doesn't recognise the threat to Australian democracy that's posed by the kinds of views being put out there in a systematic way by Mr Christensen.

Mr Christensen, in the material that he propagates around the place, supports violent extremism. He cosies up to people who—let's call a spade a spade—are fascists. They are a threat to democracy. I had a look at Mr Christensen's website before coming in here. He caught support from some of the darkest recesses of far-Right movements overseas. He has a page on there that says 'Reject the Great Reset'. It's got references, in the usual anti-Semitic tropes used by these extremists, to poor old Mr George Soros; I don't know what he ever did to offend these people. It's the usual anti-Semitic tropes—'new world order', 'global elites'. It's the kind of terminology that, on that side of this place and in Mr Morrison's office, has become a political plaything for people who don't recognise the seriousness of the threat and don't understand their political responsibility.

This is not about free speech; people can say whatever they like. This is about whether Mr Morrison is prepared to act in the national interest, in the interests of Australian democracy and in the interests of what used to be the party that represented the liberalist trend in Australian political thinking. It has now drifted to the far Right, not become more conservative. Traditional conservatives—former leaders, former prime ministers, former Liberal leaders, former Nationals leaders—are repulsed. John McEwen would be repulsed by the ideology being propagated by this group.

In the United Kingdom a Labour MP was murdered by people professing the same ideology being propagated by Mr Christensen. More recently a Conservative MP was murdered doing their day-to-day work as a politician, because people like Mr Johnson in the United Kingdom have decided, in desperate political circumstances, that it's okay to propagate far-Right political conspiracy theories and mobilise people around those ideals to try and damage your political opponents. These things have consequences in our democracy. Nobody is arguing that people don't have the right to protest, nobody is arguing that people don't have the capacity for free speech; what we're after is political leadership.

Outside, of course, there are people who have different views. More people should listen to the science about the COVID-19 pandemic, about the important role that vaccinations must play in keeping us all safe and about the role of the public health measures. There has been enormous pain in our community as a result of the public health measures that have had to be taken, in no small part because of the failure of Mr Morrison to deliver vaccines on time, to get rapid antigen tests out there and to ensure there's personal protective equipment in aged care. These are the things that have driven the pandemic and made things harder for ordinary Australians. But what we've got out the front, which Senator Rennick and Senator Antic and Mr Christensen are urging on with all the others down there, is a group of fascists and fringe dwellers and some fixated persons. A person was arrested out there with a sawn-off rifle last week, and there are people over here, and Mr Morrison, who think that's not a problem. What does it take for the modern Liberal Party, and what passes for the National Party these days, to take these things seriously? When people assemble outside parliaments with nooses, it has consequences. It's not reasonable debate; it's a threat of violence. I saw yesterday what happened to the British Labour leader, with loops and extremists chasing him down the street. The good work of the protective services in the United Kingdom is what saved him from a very serious assault.

The truth is that Australians do not support this madness. They have voted with their feet. Well over 90 per cent have received two doses of the vaccine. Australians trust scientists, they trust healthcare professionals and they trust each other. But Mr Morrison has failed to stand up to the extremists on his own back bench, and we know why. In one of his occasional truth bombs—we had another one last week, via text—Mr Joyce made it clear why Mr Morrison won't take Mr Christensen on: it's because Mr Morrison relies upon Mr Christensen's vote over there in the House, and Mr Joyce relies upon Mr Christensen's vote in the Nationals party room. There's not an ounce of political courage or principle left in this Prime Minister—no courage and no principle. He has kowtowed to extremists and kowtowed to violent political extremism, and, as a consequence, it's become more and more prominent in the Liberal Party.

Mr Christensen still sits in the party room. He still has a vote in the caucus, and those opposite, who know this man much better than we do, have known for a very long time how dangerously off course he has gone. I've said it; I wrote to Minister Andrews in November last year, and to the Australian Federal Police, when I saw threats of political violence—direct threats—made on Mr Christensen's Telegram account. There have been crickets from Minister Andrews and crickets from Mr Morrison. They have no capacity to stand up. And what do we have revealed today? Mr Christensen is spending tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money, public money, every month—hundreds of thousands of dollars over his term in office—to propagate extremist political ideology, to make things worse and to undermine the public health message. Yet all we have here, and what I anticipate we're about to have, is some quisling defence based on free speech, as if anybody is arguing here about free speech.

We just want a prime minister who puts the national interest first, puts Australia first and puts Australian democracy first. I'm afraid we're going to have to wait for an election before we get one.

Senator ABETZ (Tasmania) (18:58): What we're witnessing this afternoon is Labor's attempt at a tawdry reinvention of Hillary Clinton's 'deplorables'—a comment which divided United States society and saw the person who was going to be elected as the President of the United States defeated by the people because of their repulsion at this sort of politics that Hillary Clinton failed to execute and that, I predict, Labor will fail to execute with this tawdry motion. Isn't it amazing that this motion is put forward by a Queensland senator? The Queensland state Labor government was the government that sought to scare people from the AstraZeneca vaccine. Oh, there's no mention of that in the contributions—no mention whatsoever.

In the motion, if you read it in detail, you will see that these gentlemen are being condemned for even standing alongside certain people. Well, the acting leader of the opposition in this place got caught out recently, didn't she, standing alongside operatives of the Communist Party of China, that brutal dictatorship? She was standing alongside such an operative. Does the Labor Party condemn her for that? There's stony silence. Indeed, the acting leader of the Labor Party in this place—I would suggest possibly unwittingly—appointed people that have now served jail terms to her ministry and the Labor Party while she was Premier of New South Wales. How did they defend the criminally convicted Craig Thomson when he was sitting in the House of Representatives? The list of Labor debacles in this space goes on and on. One wonders how this Labor motion even saw the light of day. The lack of self-awareness in this motion is genuinely and truly concerning.

In this debate, sure, there is a narrative at the moment as to the best way to deal with COVID. Let's remind ourselves that Denmark, Sweden and Norway are not in the dark recesses of far-Right clutches but they have just determined to remove all barriers whatsoever in relation to COVID—no more mandates, no more mask wearing and no more limits on crowd numbers—based on their medical advice. 'Listen to the science' is often used as a mantra to shut others down, to cancel them. There are alternative points of view held by men and women skilled in science. Often they are quoted by my colleagues. Do we agree with them? That's not the issue. The issue is: do they have the right to put those views to the public? They do.

I'll just remind people in this place that men and women of good faith and who are highly intelligent can actually come to differing conclusions on exactly the same matters. I refer to the High Court: seven men and women who are sworn into office, who are of a high intellect and who are capable lawyers. They hear the same evidence and apply the same law, and then these seven men and women sometimes come to a 4-3 decision. Are they somehow in the clutches of some conspiratorial force? No, they are not. They are men and women of good faith who have exercised a judgement in relation to a certain matter. If High Court judges can be so divided on these matters, why can't Australian citizens be divided in relation to mandates, mask wearing or whether or not they want to have a vaccine?

That is why I have consistently been against the concept of mandates. I don't want to see a divided society. I don't want to see a two-tiered society based on those that are vaccinated and those that are not vaccinated. Those men and women who make a choice are entitled to their jobs. We are, as we speak, seeing university students in Tasmania being told, 'You cannot continue with your studies if you are not vaccinated,' as a result of which their dreams are shattered, the public is denied their expertise and, halfway through, they have a HECS debt that they were expecting to pay off after graduation. They're now being denied that opportunity but are still being left with a debt. The same applies to TAFE in my home state of Tasmania. It's completely unacceptable that apprentices should be denied the opportunity. We have a shortage of tradesmen. We have a shortage of nurses, doctors and surgeons, and they're now being denied the right to practise and be of service to the community. I happen to be pro-vaccination but antimandates, and that is a right and proper position to hold, and I will defend it most vehemently with those who have an alternative view to mine in relation to vaccination. My view has always been that in this debate we should seek to educate and not discriminate. We should seek to convince and not coerce. That is the way a civilised society and community seeks to go about a discussion. And, yes, what I would say to colleagues and others is: if you are so convinced of your position, you should have no fear of an opposite view being put to you. If anything, your counter to that view will show that your initial view is in fact correct, whereas, if you cannot counter it properly, what it informs you to do is to nuance your position to accept that that which has been countering your view has some merit to it, and you need to adjust your position.

What is most disappointing about this debate is not only Labor's hypocrisy in putting forward this motion but the relentless negativity of Labor and their failure to put forward an alternative point of view and an alternative platform. Where are they in this debate? Their big criticism is for three members of the coalition. You know what? The average Australian is not concerned about two senators and a House of Representatives member; they're concerned about the fundamentals of Australian government. Allow me to read the following list. It's why the Australian Labor Party don't want to talk real policy. We have had 1.1 million jobs created since the pandemic hit. How about a motion of congratulations in relation to that? Deathly silence from Labor. To continue: 11.5 million Australians are benefiting from tax relief, 700,000 jobs were saved through JobKeeper, 71.3 per cent of trade and exports are now covered by free trade agreements, there were 815,600 female business operators in Australia as of August 2021, 220,000 trade apprentices is a record high, there has been a 20 per cent reduction in emissions since 2005, and electricity bills are down eight per cent in the past two years. They're the sorts of things people talk about: apprenticeships for their sons and daughters and their electricity bill and how can they afford to pay it. These are the real issues, and they are what the Labor Party formerly discussed on a regular basis. But today—no, no, no. Those cost-of-living issues, those things that are actually discussed under the corrugated iron roofs of our suburbs, are no longer the matters that excite the interest of the Australian Labor Party. What excites them are political stunts and their attempts to divide our society. If anybody disagrees with their elitist view of the world, they need to be shut down.

In the moments left, how about 1,213 major transport projects supporting 100,000 jobs and over 99 per cent of homes and businesses with NBN access? Despite COVID, the Morrison government has done a fantastic job, and all that Labor can point to is some illusory view about three coalition backbenchers.

Senator WHISH-WILSON (Tasmania) (19:08): To quote Russell Crowe from Gladiator, Senator Abetz, the time for honouring yourself and your government will soon be at an end. Sitting here listening to the achievements of this government, I find it no wonder that Australians are so exasperated, so frustrated and so despairing at the state of politics in this country. We have maybe five days in this parliament this year; that's it. With five sitting days before, almost certainly, an election that has to be held for this august chamber by 22 May, what do we have on the agenda?

We have a government fighting culture wars, bringing in a religious discrimination bill to discriminate against transgender individuals—citizens in this country who have rights. We see in the media, making up the bulk of news stories, exchanges of text messages between senior members of the LNP, Mr Peter Dutton in the other place and the Prime Minister, and we see Mr Barnaby Joyce calling the Prime Minister a psycho and a psychopath and who knows what else. This government is just a long series of dumpster fires. This parliament has been non-stop chaos, scandal and corruption. And, in just a few months time—in fact, in less than 100 days—Australians have a chance to go to the polls and take back the power from this government.

I and many other Australians are most despairing of the fact that this chaos is distracting from so many important things and so much reform we need in this place, and from the great challenges of our time. I accept that COVID has been a very difficult few years for all of us, for all Australians and, in fact, the whole international community, and we're not out of the woods yet. But we also are still seeing a relentless assault on our environment by big corporations hell-bent on propping up their balance sheets, hell-bent on growing their earnings per share so they can keep their share prices up, and going out and exploring 80,000 kilometres of new ocean acreage for oil and gas at a time when the International Energy Agency tells us that 2021 has to be the last year of oil and gas exploration on this planet if we're to stick to 1.5 degrees of warming.

I despair when I look at my home state of Tasmania where the Tarkine is still under assault. Mining company MMG, a company that cares only about money and its own profits, wants to go into some of the most precious Gondwana rainforest left on this planet—which, according to information recently released by the Bob Brown Foundation released information is a breeding ground for the rare and endangered masked owls—and build a toxic tailings dam on a beautiful river in the Tarkine and goldmine a forest. And in Blue Derby, where mountain biking has turned that town into a transition town, so-called Sustainable Timbers Tasmania want to log right up to the mountain bike tracks, even though the reason that this place has been so successful is because of its beauty, its rareness and its geology. It is on the international map, yet we still want to log it, even after tens of millions of dollars of federal and state money have gone into investing in a different future to forestry. But we just can't let go. And we see oil and gas companies, as usual, getting the run of the roost in this place.

It will be different in three months time. I have absolute faith and confidence that Australians have had enough of the chaos and enough of the corruption and they want change. I believe that, and I believe I will be vindicated on election night. We can take this country in a new direction.

Senator CICCO NE (Victoria—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (19:13): It is interesting to listen to the contributions this evening by senators in this place. For the past two years Australians have come together to get through this pandemic. Essentially that's been the core message from the motion of Senator Chisholm: how many Australians are coming together, and have come together, to get through these very difficult and unprecedented times. However, by respecting one another and receiving advice from leaders and experts, we have kept safe our friends and families and many other loved ones throughout our various communities, which are represented in this place.

Of course there have been rules that have been difficult to follow, and there have been different rules in different parts of the country. While some directions might not have been intuitive to some of us, the vast majority of Australians have understood that defeating COVID is the core goal here. Defeating COVID is important, because if we don't then there will be other consequences that we will face. What we have seen around the world is that for those that have not been at the front of the curve there have been thousands upon thousands upon thousands of deaths every single week.

Despite the Morrison-Joyce government completely bungling the vaccine rollout, most Australians turned up to get their jab as soon as they could. That was because of many decisions that were taken by state governments, rather than by the federal government. Many of these Australians—in fact, over 90 per cent of these Australians, the vast majority of Australians—have trusted the science. They've trusted their doctors. They have trusted the many experts in the healthcare professions and they got vaccinated not just to protect themselves but to protect their loved ones. This trust is the very foundation of our society. None of us can be an expert on everything, and I don't think anyone in this place claims to be, but we do trust in others to provide us with advice and guidance on very complicated and complex issues. That's why we have departments. That's why we listen to experts. I know there are many individuals in this place and in the other place who are very sceptical about some of the advice that they receive, but, thankfully, the vast majority of us do take on advice from scientists.

Certain members of the government—and many have been outlined in Senator Chisholm's motion—have consistently undermined and attacked the information that Australians are relying on to keep them safe, and that is core to our debate today. Members of this government have used their platforms as elected representatives to spread mistruths and disinformation about vaccines and about other important public health measures. It's interesting to listen to those opposite who claim that we somehow are lecturing them. If you listened to the contributions that were made then one might have to say that it is a bit of a lecture from others to tell us that we are wrong when we point out that health experts should be taken seriously. Yes, they can be critiqued, and, yes, we should be able to question their advice, but at the end of the day, when you have multiple health experts around the country in very different jurisdictions saying the same thing, one has to ask: how can they be wrong?

These members of the government have stoked the flames of division in our communities, feeding the worst of our instincts. They have done their best to turn Australians against each other rather than unite them. Thanks to those members, some Australians now no longer trust their family doctor. If you believe some of their harmful ideas, our hardworking nurses and paramedics are all part of a worldwide conspiracy instead of being the selfless heroes most of us know they are. Instead of focusing on creating jobs and cutting bills, members of this government are detracting from the efforts of all Australians to beat this virus and get on with their lives.

Senator O'SULLIVAN (Western Australia) (19:18): I had a fulsome speech prepared, but given the lateness of the hour I won't make it. I'll just make this point: getting vaccinated is a sensible and responsible thing to do. That's why Australians have taken up the opportunity to do that. But, I have to say, I am against mandating vaccination. In my home state we are seeing extraordinary measures being taken to coerce people to get vaccinated. As I said, it's the sensible and responsible thing to do. I myself am triple dosed, and I encourage people to do it. But you can't even go to a drive-through bottle shop in Western Australia without showing your vaccination certification. That's just a vindictive attitude, I think, that the state government have taken against Western Australians who, on the balance of all the evidence they have, have decided for themselves that they don't want that medical procedure. They're only putting themselves at risk. The data is showing that you're protecting yourself, but it's not doing much actually to reduce transmission.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Chandler ): It being 7.20 pm, pursuant to order agreed to earlier today, the debate is now interrupted.

The PRESIDENT: The question is that the urgency motion be agreed to.