2021-03-23 46 1 5 House of Reps 0 1

Tuesday, 23 March 2021

The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 12:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.

 

BILLS 1 BILLS Higher Education Support Amendment (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020, Social Services Legislation Amendment (Strengthening Income Support) Bill 2021, Treasury Laws Amendment (Reuniting More Superannuation) Bill 2020 1

Higher Education Support Amendment (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Strengthening Income Support) Bill 2021

Treasury Laws Amendment (Reuniting More Superannuation) Bill 2020

Assent 1 BUSINESS 1 BUSINESS Rearrangement 1 12:01 Ms STEGGALL 175696 Warringah I seek leave to move the following motion: (1) That the House notes: (a) the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Law Council of Australia have identified that the Sex Discrimination Act does not prohibit sexual harassment in all circumstance and workplaces; (b) the events exposed in Parliament House over the past month have highlighted the urgent need to amend the Act to ensure that Members of Parliament are liable for and protected from sexual harassment; (c) in 2008, the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs recommended amending the Act to include a broad prohibition on sexual harassment in any area of public life; (d) following the Dyson Heydon inquiry, the Law Council of Australia launched its National Action Plan to Address Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession which recommends that the Sex Discrimination Act be amended to include the language that "a person must not sexually harass another person"; and (e) the Sex Discrimination Act (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill 2021 seeks to make that amendment; and (2) that so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent private Members' business order of the day No. 29, the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill 2021, being called on immediately and given priority over all other business for final determination of the House. Leave not granted. Ms STEGGALL 175696 I move: That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Warringah from moving the following motion immediately— (1) That the House notes: (a) the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Law Council of Australia have identified that the Sex Discrimination Act does not prohibit sexual harassment in all circumstance and workplaces; (b) the events exposed in Parliament House over the past month have highlighted the urgent need to amend the Act to ensure that Members of Parliament are liable for and protected from sexual harassment; (c) in 2008, the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs recommended amending the Act to include a broad prohibition on sexual harassment in any area of public life; (d) following the Dyson Heydon inquiry, the Law Council of Australia launched its National Action Plan to Address Sexual Harassment in the Legal Profession which recommends that the Sex Discrimination Act be amended to include the language that "a person must not sexually harass another person"; and (e) the Sex Discrimination Act (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill 2021 seeks to make that amendment; and (2) that so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent private Members' business order of the day No. 29, the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill 2021, being called on immediately and given priority over all other business for final determination of the House. The reason this is so important should be clear to all. The events of the last month—the allegations of conduct occurring in this place—have so profoundly shocked many, many Australians, and every person in this place should also be shocked and moved to action. The time for words has passed. We do not need a new inquiry. We need some action, and that should occur today. The events highlighted in the media yesterday indicate a profound issue: that this very workplace is not safe from sexual harassment, from conduct—for example, the events occurring in an MPs office—that could very certainly be seen as sexual harassment. This loophole in the law should be addressed without delay. The motion addresses that the Sex Discrimination Act does not adequately capture the full range of employment circumstances in which sexual harassment may occur, and, alarmingly, some circumstances in parliament are not covered. Members of parliament and statutory appointees are not adequately protected from or liable for sexual harassment. The events that we have seen play out in the media—even so soon as yesterday, with reports of coalition staffers performing lewd acts on MPs' desks—highlight the urgent need to address this gap. Sexual harassment is not currently adequately addressed in this very workplace. We must do something about it. We have heard examples of members of parliament being both the targets and the alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment. We must act on this, and the amendment bill that is the subject of this motion seeks to do that. Women and men in this place should not go a day longer than necessary without appropriate standards and laws being in place. I urge the government to, rather than spend the day debating appropriations bills, debate this bill. This an urgent motion, because the people of Australia want to see action on the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. The Prime Minister himself this morning called a press conference to address this issue, but we still don't see any actual action being brought to this place that will change the laws, that will change conduct. We need to close these loopholes. So many women around Australia—men and women—came down to this place and marched last Monday to say, 'Enough is enough', to say that it is time to take action. The firm action that we can take in this place is to address it through legislation. That can start with this sex discrimination amendment bill. We saw the law profession rocked by the allegations in respect of former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon in 2019. Their investigation revealed the need for statutory appointees to be personally liable for their actions. Now these very serious allegations are occurring in this place, and there is no doubt in my mind—and I would hope no doubt in the minds of the members in this place—that it really is well past time to change the culture, to change the attitude. We cannot have another day of a laissez faire approach to sexual harassment and misconduct in this place. The nature of work has changed. We need to ensure that new realities of working from home, gig economies and self-employed workers are all adequately protected. That's what the amendment bill that is the subject of this motion seeks to do. We need a broad prohibition of sexual harassment in all areas of public life. That is what the bill seeks to do. It is so crucial, now more than ever, that we move on this. It's baffling that amendments have not already been implemented, and even more so that the government did not take up the many invitations to present such a motion themselves. Sexual harassment in public life is not illegal in all circumstances. This is something that has come as quite a shock to many, many people. It's been raised, ironically, since 2008 with the Australian Human Rights Commission, who'd already made that submission. So, when we hear more evidence of lewd acts being done and shocking behaviour occurring in this parliament, it must surely be the case that it is urgent that we address these loopholes, that we address sexual harassment in all areas of public life. There cannot be any more delay on addressing this. The Respect@Work report delivered by the Australian Human Rights Commission to the government in March 2020, over a year ago, held 55 recommendations. Only three have been partially implemented. It's not good enough. The forward of that report indicated that Australia was once a leader in prohibiting sexual harassment. However, over 35 years on, the rate of change has been disappointingly slow, and we now lag behind other countries in preventing and responding to sexual harassment. The Australian Human Rights Commission survey has found that one in three people experienced sexual harassment in work in the last five years. That is a huge problem. The Human Rights Commission has found that the current legal and regulatory system is simply not fit for purpose and must be addressed. In the last 12 months, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found that 1.6 million people were sexually harassed, the majority of which were not formally reported—201,000 people were allegedly sexually assaulted, and police were notified of only 23,000 of these assaults, which is just over 10 per cent of the cases, and only approximately 5,000 people were convicted of sexual assault. These are damning statistics and point to a very big problem that needs more than words; it needs action in this place. This has a dramatic impact on the health and wellbeing of so many within our community. If it's not our responsibility in this place to fix this loophole, to send a very clear message to men and women around Australia that sexual harassment will not be condoned in any circumstance, then I'm really at a loss as to what greater purpose we could have in this place than keeping all Australians safe and ensuring they have an equal opportunity to work and to enjoy participating in their public life, whether it be educational facilities or their work or the gig economy—or MPs in this place. We should not be subject to sexual harassment. We should actually be protected from it. But we also need to make sure all members in this case are liable for it if they, for some reason, think this is, in any way, acceptable conduct. The people of Australia are tired of words, and I have to say, as a newcomer to this place, I have been profoundly shocked by the continued allegations that have come out of recent weeks, but I've also been shocked by the response. What we've seen is a continuation of pushing off the problem, of saying, 'Well, we may have a problem but the other side also has a problem,' or, 'Today we saw in a press conference the media has a problem as well.' You cannot get this problem fixed if you don't address your own house first. So I say to the Prime Minister: get your own house in order. That should start today with cleaning up and amending the Sex Discrimination Act. The SPEAKER 10000 Is the motion seconded? 12:13 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo I second the motion. Time really is of the essence. We need to debate urgently the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Prohibiting All Sexual Harassment) Bill 2021 that was brought forward by the member for Warringah. We must send a very clear message to the Australian community that we believe we need to change in here. As long as it's just words and it's not action, nothing will change in this place. All that's happening is that the whole of the Australian community has even less respect for us as members of parliament. What this piece of legislation will do is say to the Australian public that we believe that we are all the same before the law. Right now, members of parliament and judicial officers are exempt from the legislation. We could sexually harass our staff or other people in the workplace and we are exempt, and that is outrageous. I can't believe that, when this was first brought to their attention more than a year ago as one of the recommendations in the Respect@Work report, the government did not walk into this place and immediately change the laws. But they didn't, and we still haven't. What we have for today's debate list is the appropriations bill, for the entire day. It's not as if we have a huge legislative agenda to get through. We have time in this place. Our first job in this place is that of legislators. What we need to send to the Australian community is, firstly, that none of us will tolerate any longer the behaviour that's been happening in this place, that we will hold a mirror up to ourselves first and foremost, and that we will address this straight away. We need to show that we all recognise that this is a matter of urgency in this place—not just words but actions. We need to close this loophole. There were 55 recommendations in the Respect@work report and hardly anything has been addressed. Enough is enough—that's what the women, and good men, said last Monday when they came to the front lawns of the parliament. They said, 'Enough is enough and we need change.' Well, I'm sure that we have plenty of time today to address this in this place. When there were needles in strawberries, my goodness, did we address that quickly in here! It flew through both chambers. Let's do that with this. This is a critical issue; the Australian public wants better of us and are demanding change, and we must be the change. 12:16 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer I appreciate the motion being raised, although we disagree with the suspension of standing orders. In consultation with the clerks, I understand that the selection committee meets today to decide the order of business for the next sitting of parliament and the timing of debate for private member's bills. Having been someone who has introduced a private member's bill as a backbencher in this place, I do understand how the system works. I also, by the way, appreciate the presence of the opposition spokesperson for women and her interest in this subject, as well as the other women, including the member for Mayo, who seconded the bill here in the House today. The presence of these women matters, and it matters in a bipartisan sense. And there will be opportunities for other members in this place to speak on the subject matter. In terms of the suspension and the bringing on of the debate: the government, as managers and business in this place, can't agree to that. But we recognise the importance of the subject, particularly today and particularly after the events of the last few weeks and, indeed, yesterday. I can say that the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, who is a person respected across the parliament, addressed my party room and the minister at the table's party room this morning—the combined coalition party room. She gave us a sense of where her review is heading and the opportunities for so many people to speak to that review. I felt a sense of optimism—and 'optimism' is a difficult word to use on a day like this. But I will always say that when circumstances are dreadful and when the whole parliament appears to be tarnished by events, we know, as the Prime Minister said, that it is time to get our house in order. It's time to accept that the experiences of women in this place have been buried for too long; the hurt has been buried and the disrespect and unkindness across the board, but they have found a voice. So that's my message today as I walk around the corridors. We're all so busy, rushing between the chamber, our meetings, our committees and our ministerial business. No-one in this building is any more important than anyone else, by the way, but we're all very busy! It is time to lift our eyes and to look into the eyes of the people who pass us in the corridors and to understand some of the hurt, some of the shame and some of the distress, but to turn that into action. For many women, this has been a period of time where they have looked into their own circumstances and their own life experiences—things that have happened to them in the past. I haven't been exceptional in that view; I've done the same thing. But it isn't about us. Every second we spend talking in this place across the chamber about us and what it means to us or the body politic more broadly or the political jibe that we just feel we have to say, every time we do that, we discredit the hundreds and thousands of women who haven't got a voice, who are, in some cases, unable to leave their house because they're not allowed to or are in rural and regional corners of Australia, where there are, for example, very few services for them. Because if you step up as a victim of family violence in some of our small communities, everybody knows who you are and you feel you can't do that. So every second that we spend talking about ourselves is time that we waste in talking for the women out in Australia who are counting on us. They're counting us to do better. They're counting on us to take the events that have happened to us and not talk about it anymore in-house than we need to—and, of course, we do need to—but to lift our eyes, raise the profile of issues for women more broadly and talk it up. I was listening to the minister at the table talk this morning on the media and he spoke very well for the men in this place too. But If I look back over the 20 years I've been in this place, I think we both agree that we are proud of our workplace. We are proud of the work that our staff do for us. We are proud of the extra mile they go in preparing our briefs, in watching Senate estimates, in giving us what we need to appear in front of this dispatch box. I'm very defensive of the workplace and I intend to use my voice and the conversations that I am having and the networks we have as women in this building to do better. We are not an exemplary workplace. We are not shining a light out as a beacon of high standards when it comes to respect in the workplace. I don't just mean respect for women; I mean respect more broadly. We haven't done that well. But we have an opportunity to do better. I really saw the Prime Minister's remarks this morning as a turning point for that. I want to just reflect again on Kate Jenkins and the words she spoke to us all. Yes, there's been commentary about the 55 Respect@Work recommendations. I have read them carefully—at close to 900 pages, perhaps not every page carefully. But I appreciate, understand and accept the sentiment in those. Some of those things will start to happen. I'm really confident that there is more action coming. There is change coming. Change is in the air. We know that we need to reflect that change here in this place, because today the Prime Minister said what many women are thinking: again, that it's time to get our house in order, to do better for the women of Australia, to care deeply for their circumstances. In my mother's and grandmother's days, sexism in the workplace was very overt. Maybe I made the mistake in the last few years of thinking that, because you never talk about it, maybe it's not really happening. But, unfortunately, it is. The same dynamic is at play. The same negativity about women, the same sense of shame that women feel in response, it's all there. It's all there. It's just not obvious. It's not spoken about; it's buried. So we actually haven't come as far as we thought we had. That's something I have had to tell myself: we have not come as far as we thought we had and we have not come as far as we need to. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I would like to invite the member for Sydney to conclude my remarks. 12:23 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney I thank the minister. The women of Australia are tired of waiting. The women of Australia are tired of fighting. The women of Australia are tired of being patronised and patted on the head when it comes to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. Labor supports this suspension of standing orders in order to debate the member's private member's bill because we think it's well past time that members of parliament, members of the judiciary, are treated in the same way as people working in every other workplace around Australia. We believe it is well past time that members of parliament and members of the judiciary face the same scrutiny, face the same rules, as people in every workplace in Australia. It just seems so basic, doesn't it—that you should be safe at work and safe at home and safe walking down the street, in the evening, safe in your community and safe wherever you are? Yet we know the statistics for Australian women. We know that the system is stacked against victims of sexual assault. We know that the system is stacked against victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. We know that our laws don't adequately protect Australian women from domestic violence. It is beyond time that we acted. That's why we support the suspension of the standing orders today. More than a year ago our sex discrimination commissioner presented to the government a report with 55 recommendations to better protect people in the workplace from sexual harassment. In more than a year no substantial gains have been made on those 55 recommendations. Why does it take so long? What is the point of doing inquiry after inquiry if nothing actually changes? Why would our staff have confidence to come forward to the next Jenkins inquiry when the last Jenkins inquiry hasn't been acted upon? That's why we support the suspension of standing orders today. Until there is action, victims of sexual harassment in our workplace will wonder: 'Why should I put my hand up? Why should I raise my voice? Why should I go through all the excruciating rawness that coming forward and making a complaint entails for too many victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence if nothing changes because of my testimony?' I'm grateful to the minister for giving me time to make a few remarks. I say to the member for Warringah: we are absolutely supportive of this being debated in this parliament now because the time for words is over. It is time for action. It's no longer time for words. We want to make sure that our staff in this workplace are protected. Until people who work in the building that is the beating heart of the Australian democracy are safe how can we suggest for a moment that retail assistants, hospitality workers, bus drivers, factory workers, first-year medical interns and young women on their first appointment in the Defence Force are safe? If the people in the beating heart of our democracy are not safe from sexual harassment in the workplace, how can we convince those women—and some men too—in workplaces around Australia that they can be safe and that we have their interests at heart? How can we convince them that we get it if we're not prepared right here to enact the recommendations that the sex discrimination commissioner made to this government more than a year ago? The SPEAKER 10000 We've reached the end of the time for the debate. There were 25 minutes for the debate, so 12:28:30 closes out the debate. I need to put the question. The question is that the motion moved by the member for Warringah be disagreed to. All of that opinion say aye and to the contrary no. I think the ayes have it. Is a division required? In accordance with standing order 133, the division is deferred until after the discussion of the matter of public importance. The debate on this item is, therefore, adjourned until that time. BILLS 5 BILLS Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021 5

Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021

Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021

Second Reading 5 12:29 Ms RYAN 249224 Lalor I rise today to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021, and to make some points about how on earth we in this place can be taken seriously in terms of any bills while the debate about the culture in this place, the culture that is owned by the government of the day, rages around the country. There can be no shirking of that responsibility at all. The way this parliament operates, as a parliament and as a workplace, rests on the shoulders of those opposite. They fought to fill those benches. They wanted to form government. The Prime Minister wanted to be elected Prime Minister of this country. They must take responsibility for the culture in this place, but not just in this place; when you form government you take responsibility for the country, for the culture in our schools, for the culture in our workplaces, for the delivery of health and education across our nation—yes, for Treasury, and, yes, for appropriation, but also for everything else that happens across this country. After eight years this government must be held responsible for the culture, for the misogyny and for the sexual harassment and sexual assault of people working in this building. I know that my colleagues will not walk away from this. We will stand and remind this government and the rest of the country every day that misogyny has no place in this chamber, in this building, in any town or suburb in this country and in Australia. We will not be the country we were destined to be until we reach gender equality, and what we have seen in the past week is an incredible pull-up—a reminder to every man, woman and child in this country that we are so far from reaching that goal. If you check the things the government determine they're going to legislate in this place, you will see that culture writ large. It doesn't take much to dig through it. I come into this chamber today and see sitting on the frontbench ministers who were sacked or who resigned as ministers but returned to the ministry. As a schoolteacher and as a parent, let me tell you: if you pull the detention or withdraw the punishment, you have condoned the behaviour. When ministers resign in disgrace or are asked to leave because they have breached ministerial standards and then return to the frontbench after allowing an amount of time to pass, it's a very strong message that ministerial standards don't matter in this place. That's the culture this government has set. That is the absolute culture of this place. The reports last night of the behaviour of some people in this place are not a surprise to me. Of that behaviour, I would say one thing: we have come across the last month. Every woman and man in this building is dealing with the fact that an alleged rape occurred in this building, that it was not the first time the accused had been reported and that no action was taken. We're all coming to terms with that having happened in our workplace. We're coming to terms with the fact that people who are employed in this building feel that they have a right to rape a colleague. Last night we saw absolute disregard for the dignity of this place and this building in the reports we heard about staff members' behaviour. Let's make no mistake rape is about power. Everyone has been twisting their words about what the video supposedly showed last night in terms of that lewd act. It has been described a millions ways. It was an act of absolute misogyny is what it was. It was a put down of a female MP in this place. It was a male staff member saying, 'I'm the boss around here' that's what it was. Don't kid yourself it was anything else. That's what it was. That is what rape is. We are at an absolutely critical point in the Australian parliament, in every state parliament around the country, in every classroom around the country. What culture do we want to create? What culture do we want to sustain? How do we go about improving that culture? The Prime Minister talked for 40 minutes today and my takeaway was: 'It's all too hard. It's not my job. Please somebody—it happens everywhere. It is not my responsibility.' Prime Minister, when you raised your hand to be Prime Minister you took on that responsibility. I want to go back in time. I want to say to the women opposite who sit on those chambers: please, we are your colleagues. We will support you. Critical mass is the secret to this. Getting more women on your benches is the way through this—a critical mass of women. As the shadow minister for women said this morning: 'We women in this place are not here to police men's behaviour but it's amazing how men's behaviour changes when you put women in the place.' On this side we're very proud of our feminist tradition in the Labor Party. We're very proud of it. I've been haunted today by a speech made by my predecessor Julia Gillard where she warned that if we installed a Liberal government women's voices would be taken out of the centre of government and replaced by men in blue ties. Gillard is a warrior for me. She's someone that I look up to. She's somebody who took this place seriously. She's someone who managed to put through more pieces of legislation than we've seen since. She's someone who managed to lead a minority government, someone who managed to ensure that the members of the government were in their seats when a vote was to be taken every day and never lost a vote. She was a warrior. She is a woman very proud to have taken her place in this chamber and her place as Prime Minister. I say to those opposite, particularly the women opposite, whoever is your warrior—be it Xena, be it Thatcher, be it Cowan—channel her this week in this place. Stand firm. Let Australia know that you will not be leaving this building. In fact you will be planning to bring more women into this building because we need you to bring more women into this building. We need you to do the work that my predecessors in the Labor Party did. We need you to dig deep to challenge the men in your party, to stand for pre-selection, to get yourselves to this place because we will not change the culture here until that happens. We will not change the culture while we have a government that says, 'You've crossed a line. Ministerial standards have been breached here. Off you go to the back bench', but then brings them back and puts them back on the front bench. We will not change the culture while we have scandals like sports rorts going on. We won't change the culture while the public think that if you're in a Liberal or a National electorate you're likely to get a bigger cut of the pie—and I'm sorry but that's what the public think. They think that because this government has demonstrated to them that that's what they think, not just in those sports grants but also in the community grants. Let's not forget, when I first came to this place there was a stronger regions grant, that a Labor government had introduced, that was available to every region in the country. One of the first acts of this government was to reduce that to only—let's be blunt—National seats. A region like mine—a growth corridor that is growing at a rate of knots—was completely locked out of that program. People who live in my community understand what that means. The people in my community sent me here. They sent a woman to this parliament. Men and women voted to send a woman here, and everyone in my community that votes for me knows they're sending someone to this parliament who's going to stand up and call the rubbish out. That's what I'm doing today; I'm going to call the rubbish out. I watched the Prime Minister's press conference and I was appalled. On Friday, I sat with students in my electorate, in my SRC forums—in the morning with primary school student leaders and in the afternoon with high school student leaders. I lost sleep about doing this forum on Friday after the month we'd had, after the whole world was looking at this place and wondering what on earth we do up here. I reminded myself that these young people are student leaders from schools in the electorate and every year, when I do this work with them, they can all tell me that their schools have stated values and that they're asked to live those values. When they shared them on Friday, no surprise, what's the No. 1 value that schools in my electorate choose to list and state in their foyers and around their playgrounds? The No. 1value is respect. Those young people, as young as grade 4, know that they're part of building a culture. They know what culture it is that they're expected to uphold in their school. They know that, as leaders in that school, they should have a plan to sustain that culture, build on that culture and improve that culture. If they understand it, Prime Minister, why can't you understand it? Leadership means that you take responsibility for the culture. As Prime Minister, you take responsibility for the culture of our nation. So if you don't intend to make this country more equal, if you don't intend to pursue gender equity, come inside here and say so. Be honest with the Australian public. If it's not your work, whose is it? Everybody who sits on the government bench has to take responsibility as well. You're leaders in your own communities. What have you had to say about what we've learnt in this place in the last month? What did you have to say about ministers removing themselves, or being removed, because of breaches of ministerial standards? What did you have to say when they were publicly brought back onto the front bench? What did you have to say about sports rorts? You are the culture. We are leaders in this place of this country, and school children around the nation are looking at us now. They understand it. You should understand it. As a government, you are failing Australia now. Be honest. Set out your agenda. If your agenda doesn't include gender equity, if it doesn't include action on ensuring women's safety, say so. I can assure you that, in my electorate, men, women and children want to know that that is your objective. They want to know that you have the highest aspirations for this country—and those aspirations start with equity, those aspirations start with making sure that every Australian counts. As a woman, I need to know that you value me as much as you do my colleague the member for Bruce. I need to know that you value all of us; that's what I need to know. With only a minute left in my contribution on the appropriation bills, I say to the Prime Minister: if you show leadership in this, you will be amazed at the response you receive. If you can demonstrate that you care about equity, if you demonstrate that you care about women's safety in this building—let's face it, Prime Minister, the journey to make every woman safe in every work place, in every place, in every street and in every home starts in this place. We can't rely on 'ground up' here, Prime Minister. Do your job. 12:45 Ms MADELEINE KING 102376 Brand by leave—It is 10 years since a group of Liberal MPs, including the then Liberal Leader of the Opposition and now senior minister and another MP who has just been appointed to the Fair Work Commission, stood in front of unmissable placards and banners that were clearly misogynistic and sexist in nature and directed against the first woman to be Prime Minister of this country, Julia Gillard. It was a low watermark in politics in the country that senior members of the Liberal Party and their leader could not be aware of the violent and sexist language they were endorsing 10 years ago today. These were not signs opportunistically propped up behind unaware elected members. It was a set-up for those Liberal members to stand up in front of and to endorse. Even if you disagree that it was a set-up, there was nothing stopping members walking away and distancing themselves from such vile sentiments. The sexualised and violent attacks on former Prime Minister Julia Gillard continued for her entire term as Prime Minister and beyond. All Prime Ministers of this country should rightly be subject to scrutiny and criticism but not the extraordinary treatment that was levelled at the first Prime Minister who was a woman. A popular commentator, indeed, called for our Prime Minister to be put in a chaff bag and thrown into the sea—such violent words to suggest a Prime Minister be drowned in the ocean. What we do here sets a tone for the nation. What happened that day 10 years ago out the front of this place set a tone for the nation. It is two years ago to the day that Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped in the office of the defence minister of the Commonwealth of Australia. I acknowledge the courage of Ms Higgins in coming forward so publicly. What happened to her two years ago in this place will affect her life forever. Because of her brave choices since, that traumatic event—and events since—should change this place forever. It was staggering to hear on Four Corners last night that a security guard who witnessed the events two years ago has not been spoken to by police or anyone else, besides an investigative journalist. How can that be? Last night we heard of the latest degrading of this place and the women who work here by male staff. This is behaviour designed to humiliate, embarrass and degrade women—the elected members and their staff and all the other women who work here. It has been filmed and shared among male staff of the Liberal Party. What do these men think of the women here, women everywhere and women who employ them? What led to this kind of behaviour? We all know culture starts from the top. It's all about a culture of entitlement, that it's acceptable to stand in front of signs and endorse sexism, misogyny and violence. It's a culture of entitlement that sees a young woman lured to allegedly be raped in a minister's office and demonstrations of entitlement and warped power that see a group of men share videos of themselves masturbating on a woman's desk. I haven't even got to the degradation of the prayer and meditation room in this place. I pay tribute to the staff that today took a stand and reclaimed the meditation room. It reminds me of my time at uni when we went on marches to 'reclaim the night' because women didn't feel safe walking alone at night. So I congratulate those staff that went up to the prayer and meditation room today and took back that room for what it should be used for: peaceful reflection on the events of the day. There was bipartisan support among the staff and press gallery in this place for the action of solidarity with all women that feel assaulted by the latest vile revelations of behaviour designed to humiliate and threaten women. I fully support the action of my staff member Ms Georgia Tree and other staff members who brought together this group in solidarity to reclaim their workplace and demand that it be safe and women be free from such ongoing humiliation. It is important to note that it is an act of solidarity for people to gather in support of the women in this place, given what we have heard. As the Prime Minister has said, it's been more focused over the last five weeks, but people in this place have been talking about violence against women, sexism and misogyny in this place for many years. I acknowledge the work of the member for Newcastle, who every year lists the names of women who have been killed by partners or former partners. Every single year, the member for Newcastle does this; it's a heart-wrenching thing to watch. These things have been talked about in this place for many years but, clearly, no-one has been listening—or not listening enough. I call on the government to actually take action to make sure that this kind of thing is never seen again. It is humiliating to women, it must end and it must end now. 12:50 Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 Dawson It brings me no great pleasure to have to correct the member for Brand on one of the allegations that was made just then. As someone who was actually there at the protest rally against the carbon tax, I saw what happened with that sign that was erected. It did have a slur against then Prime Minister Gillard on it. I witnessed, and was one of, the coalition members in attendance who asked the person who was holding it to remove it. We asked repeatedly, and the only way we could have removed it was if we tried to do that forcibly. That would have been breaking the law, which is also an inappropriate act for a member of parliament. More than that, the people who had that sign held up behind them were unaware that the sign was being held up until it was broadcast. Now, the member for Brand wasn't there but I was there, and I saw with my own eyes exactly what occurred that day. So, please, there is such a thing as sexism and sexual harassment but let's not— Ms Wells interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER M3E The member for Lilley! Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 look for it under every rock for political purposes—please. It does the issue no favours. What I want to talk about is the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2021-2021, at a time when the country is still recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has effectively— Ms Wells interjecting— Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 I'm going to take these interjections. I will take them. This person who is yelling across the chamber inappropriately was not there at that event and did not ask for that sign to be removed. I asked for it to be removed and many other people asked for it to be removed. They weren't here in the chamber when a person, a coalition woman sitting in the chair that you're in, Mr Deputy Speaker Mitchell, was repeatedly called a witch. So let's not throw stones. Ms Wells interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER M3E The member for Lilley—enough, please! Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 Again, I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2021-2021 at a time when the country is still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, which has effectively reversed a lot of the good work that the government had done to properly manage national expenditure. It must be acknowledged, however, that the government's excellent fiscal management has put us in a recoverable position, rather than sending this country broke. A range of relief packages and incentives were rolled out for both workers and businesses to prevent job losses and business closures, and to enable our economy to recover quickly with minimal long-term impacts. Further to these emergency measures, the Morrison Liberal-National government has been proactively investing in job-creating areas, such as manufacturing, upgrading our infrastructure, brokering new trade deals and upskilling the nation's workforce to encourage growth and to have a strong and prosperous future. Over the last few years, the federal government has invested more than $3 billion into the Dawson electorate and the surrounding regions. That has gone into the Bruce Highway and other critical roads, key infrastructure projects and local roads— Mr Hill interjecting— Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 The member for Bruce loves that highway's name! He would love to know that around 390 kilometres of the Bruce Highway run straight through the heart of my electorate, from Mackay to Townsville. It's the most essential piece of infrastructure in North Queensland. This is recognised by the Morrison Liberal-National government through major investments in upgrades and projects on that highway. There are projects such as the Horton River Floodplain Upgrade, a complete restructure of a 13½-kilometre section of the highway between Ayr and Townsville, including the raising of both lanes and the construction of a new bridge at a cost of just over half a billion dollars. This project will help to flood-proof the Bruce Highway and ensure that commuters, travellers and freight can all keep moving throughout heavy downpours, which are part and parcel of living in North Queensland—and part and parcel of what's happening in New South Wales at the moment too, sadly. It was also a great pleasure to attend the opening of the $497 million Mackay Ring Road stage 1 project in September of last year. That project has made huge improvements to safety in Mackay for local commuters. It has improved freight efficiency on the Bruce Highway, and it has reduced traffic congestion for local motorists throughout the centre of Mackay. We've seen $280 million of federal funding go to ring road stage 2, or the Mackay Port Access Road—a purpose-built road linking the Bruce Highway to the Mackay Harbour, maximising Mackay's import-export potential and taking all of the heavy vehicles off the smaller suburban roads. The $120 million Mackay Northern Access Upgrade Project is in full swing. That is another project which will significantly improve safety for locals and ease congestion through one of our busiest intersections by adding additional lanes as well as making important safety improvements. These are all significant road infrastructure projects throughout Dawson which will equip North Queensland with the tools to grow and give our communities the infrastructure they need, and deserve, to cope with that growth. The Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program has provided over $5.8 million to four local councils in the electorate of Dawson which enabled them to deliver some necessary upgrades to local roads as well as to community infrastructure, such as playgrounds and parks. As well, $29.6 million from the Roads of Strategic Importance program has gone towards important upgrades on the Shute Harbour Road, which is the only road into the tourist haven of Airlie Beach. Airlie is the gateway to the beautiful Whitsundays. Most tourists who visit the island arrive via the Proserpine Airport or the Bruce Highway, and they have to go down Shute Harbour Road to get to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. This road is a key access road for tourists visiting the Whitsundays. As our regional tourism industry bounces back and grows, we'll see this road being put under increasing demand, so I would call on the Queensland government, which has delayed and delayed and delayed accessing and using that funding, to get going because we want to see Shute Harbour Road improved and we particularly want to see that improved before we have tourism back in full swing. Now is the time to do it. Now is the time to get going. Please, state government, get going. The Cannon Valley reservoir will deliver water to Airlie Beach, Cannonvale, Jubilee Pocket and Shute Harbour thanks to a $3.75 million upgrade project through the Building Better Regions Fund that the Morrison Liberal-National government has awarded to the Whitsunday Regional Council. A 12.5 megalitre bit of water infrastructure will ensure water security for the fastest-growing area of the Whitsundays well into the future. We are also getting big water security projects off the ground. Ten million dollars in funding was awarded to get the Urannah Dam project going. That is a one million megalitre water storage project. This dam will transform North Queensland. It will open up huge tracts of agricultural land and provide long-term water security for the region. The federal government's Supporting Reliable Energy Infrastructure Program has also provided an additional $2 million for planning work into the pumped hydro capabilities of Urannah Dam. Power generation is also going to enable the dam to tackle two of the biggest issues facing farmers today—water costs and power costs. Speaking of power costs, the Collinsville power station will bring down power prices in the north. Four million dollars was provided through the Supporting Reliable Energy Infrastructure Program to assess the case for a clean high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power station in North Queensland. That Collinsville power station will allow us to dig and burn our own beautiful coal and reduce household power prices, business power prices, industry power prices, agriculture power prices, and manufacturing industry power prices in the north. It's interesting that we have this ethical dilemma, apparently, on the Left, where we can dig up the coal here in Australia and ship it overseas for places like Japan, China and other countries to burn in their ultra-supercritical HELE 'clean' coal-fired power stations. But, when we try to do it ourselves, it's crazy, it's unethical and it's harming the environment. That view, my friends, is nuts. We have to use our own coal to actually get cheaper power in this country. We can do that through the Collinsville Power Station. We have also allocated over $10 million to the Great Barrier Reef Arena which will be built in Harrup Park, making Mackay the regional cricketing capital of the country. The state government did delay by about 18 months before matching funding, conveniently just before the last state election, for that project but that project is now going full steam ahead. There's going to be a lot of great matches held there. But before the matches are held, we have 18 months' worth of jobs and work—90 construction jobs, 90 ongoing jobs. That is what the Morrison Liberal-National government has delivered in community and sporting infrastructure in Mackay that is creating jobs. As I said, Mackay is now going to be the regional cricketing capital of the nation. We are going to have all sorts of events—big bashs, international events. It's going to be international broadcast standard. With all of those matches are going to come more tourists to our region, stimulating the local economy. More than $5.8 million in Roads to Recovery funding, almost $200,000 in Black Spot funding, over $420,00 in Bridges Renewal funding, over $5.8 million in Building Better Regions funding has gone into the electorate of Dawson. There is Stronger Communities funding of $150,000 coming to a range of different local groups. Over $3.1 million in Community Development Grants Program funds and over $3 million in Regional Growth Fund is being delivered. Over $4,000,000 in Regional Jobs and Investment Packages funding is being delivered in the electorate. Financial assistance grants helping councils and defraying costs for ratepayers by almost $22.5 million is a substantial investment by this government in the electorate of Dawson. I'm very proud to have overseen that as the local member but there are more matters than local that need to be fought for in this place. To that end, I have ummed and ahed about whether or not I was going to renominate as the member for Dawson and I have decided this very week that I will be doing that. I'm doing that for a very good reason. There are several things. An opposition member: Shame. Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 On the left, I'm sure that they will say 'shame' because it will hopefully mean that I will be back here after the next election. But we need to deal with some serious issues in this place. I want voices here that are going to be fighting on those issues. I want to be one of those voices who are standing up on issues like the threat that big tech social media platforms and giants pose to free speech and democracy in this country; the existential threat that is posed to our nation, to our sovereignty, to our democracy, by The People's Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party; the threat that they pose to humanity through their persecution of Uighurs; their persecution of pro-democracy activists; their persecution of Hong Kong sovereignty activists; their threats towards Taiwan; their threats and persecution of people of faith. They all need to be dealt with. I want to be here to push our government and our side to legislate a Magnitsky act. That is something that is going to be important for protecting our democracy and sending a signal to these monsters in other countries that are not only undermining global law but are undermining human rights, and the CCP has got to be targeted. It's a big call but I fear in the next decade that there is conflict coming in our part of the world. That is a serious, serious thing for any member of parliament to say but you only have to look at the geopolitical situation, read the tea leaves, to expect that that is probably going to happen. So I want to be part of the push to ensure that our critical supplies in this country—fuel, manufacturing of critical supplies—are sacrosanct, that we have that ability in this country before there is a substantial issue with shipping lanes because of international conflict. It is coming, and we need to be prepared in this place for that. I also want to continue to push on measures that are about the issue that I hold above every other issue—that is, protecting human life, including in the womb. That's why I'm going to continue to push for my Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2021, coming to this place as a private member's bill. I also want to push against the new, woke, globalist, corporate push for the so called great reset. It has been called many names before. There are a lot of people who are going to be asking us to adopt these things. It's just socialism by any other name. What we need free enterprise again in this country to pick up, after the pandemic, for small business to go out there and create the jobs, create the investment and recreate this nation to make it great once again. 13:05 Dr GILLESPIE 72184 Lyne With the previous speaker, the member for Dawson, I can see Donald Trump has emerged in Australia! I would like to start with a little history. It's 10 years to the day that there was an infamous, disgraceful rally outside this place. It was the most appalling misogyny on display and, given what's going on in this place over the last few weeks and months, it can't go unremarked. It's been 10 years to the day. You'd have thought this place would have learnt more. Here's hoping that it won't take another 10 years before the real change that's needed occurs. I would like to start with some other history. A little more than a decade ago, the then Labor government needed to stimulate the Australian economy to keep the global recession at bay. One of the measures implemented was to provide every school in the country with a new building. As well as to provide a useful long-term asset for schools, it would keep tradies in jobs. That sounds familiar. The Building the Education Revolution program was supposed to cost $16 billion, but ended up costing $17.5 billion. 'A $1.5 billion major cost blow out' is how The Australian newspaper reported it. That blow out was big news for a long time. It was splashed across the front pages of newspapers across the nation. Columnists and talkback shock jocks said it was evidence Labor could not be trusted with money. Liberals lined up on TV shows to say the same thing. Let's fast forward to 2020. The Liberal government needs to stimulate the Australian economy to keep a pandemic-induced recession at bay. One of the measures implemented is to provide eligible businesses with a temporary wage subsidy to keep on employees who might otherwise get sacked, causing mass unemployment. Businesses need to predict or prove a significant drop in sales to be eligible. JobKeeper cost $100 billion and it had Labor's support. In fact, it had Labor's support before it had the Prime Minister's support. To get the money out quickly, we voted for what was, admittedly, pretty rushed legislation. Speed was of the essence; the money had to get out. Critically, Labor gave the Treasurer the authority to amend the program and patch any loopholes as he saw fit without having to return to the parliament. That's important, as it soon emerged that some businesses were getting the wage subsidy despite not being in distress and, in fact, some were having their best year ever. For those companies, staff wages were being paid by taxpayers while the owners and the executives pocketed big profits, big dividends and big bonuses. It's not right. It's not how it's meant to work. Income support in Australia has always been predicated on need. We make old aged pensioners, people with disabilities, the unemployed and young people meet stringent, unyielding criteria in order to qualify for benefits of less than $300 to $400 a week. Yet here were companies dining out on the taxpayer dollar to the tune of not millions but billions. Every cent of it was borrowed as part of the nation's ballooning debt. The Treasurer could have fixed this. He chose not to. He also chose to keep secret, from Australian taxpayers, the details of which companies received JobKeeper and how much. That's information that would have been helpful in identifying how much of JobKeeper has been misdirected. Smarter people than me—the member for Fenner being one of them—estimates that of the $100 billion JobKeeper program, at least $10 billion and perhaps as much as $20 billion has gone to companies that did not need it. And there has hardly been a peep in the media. Remember, a $1.5 billion blowout of the BER, which provided buildings to every school in the country—which are still in daily use—was front-page news for months, while a $10 billion to $20 billion blowout of JobKeeper has gone relatively unremarked upon. That is 10 times the blowout and not even a tenth of the media coverage. But it's not the expenditure that upsets me; it's the lost possibilities. If we take even the lower end of the scale—the $10 billion, rather than the $20 billion—what else could that amount of money have achieved if it had not gone into the pockets of those who demonstrably did not need it? That $10 billion could have built 40,000 affordable homes across the country; $10 billion could have provided one million pensioners with a $10,000 grant each, to make their kitchens and their bathrooms safer, or could have built 2,000 bridges across regional Australia. The better ways that $10 billion could have been used are countless. Instead, it's gone into the pockets of those who simply did not need it—and all with the blessing of the Treasurer and the Prime Minister. They head a government that threatens pensioners with prison for overclaiming Centrelink but they do nothing about trying to get this money back. This scandalous waste of JobKeeper goes to the wider issue of the Liberals' startling economic incompetence. The MYEFO for 2020-21 forecasts a $197.7 billion deficit this financial year and $456 billion of cumulative deficits over the forwards. We have seen net debt triple this year, to $692 billion. In four years it will be $950 billion, and it will be well over a trillion dollars within a decade. Gross debt will be more than a trillion dollars within four years. These are huge numbers—absolutely huge. For context, the Liberals screamed blue murder about a $200 million debt under Labor's recession-busting measures, calling it a 'budget emergency' and a 'debt and deficit disaster'; they screamed economic Armageddon in the Murdoch tabloids. There was no free pass for Labor about saving the place from recession, but that's what they expect from us. The constant wall-to-wall criticism set a tone in the community that Labor could not be trusted with the economy. Funnily enough, the papers—predominantly the Murdoch papers—are silent now that debt and deficit under the Liberals is slated to be five times as high as it was under Labor. What was a 'disaster' under Labor is apparently manageable and appropriate when it's five times as high under the Liberals. It's a disgraceful double standard. The Liberals have jealously guarded their reputation as the supposed better economic managers. It is a reputation that they never earned. It is a reputation that is completely false. It is Labor governments that have been the big economic game changers in this country, from Chifley's postwar reconstruction and Snowy Hydro to Whitlam's education revolution that paved the way for the Hawke-Keating microeconomic reforms of the 1980s—which continue to be directly responsible for 30 years of near-uninterrupted economic growth, broken only last year under a Liberal government. What has been the Liberals' big contributor to the nation's economy? They introduced the goods and services tax—a tax increase. That's their legacy. In fact, nothing tells the tale of the Liberals in government better than the fact that Holden started making cars in this country under a Labor government and were chased out of the country under a Liberal government, taking our components and manufacturing capabilities with them. Under this Liberal government the Australian economy was struggling long before anyone had heard of coronavirus. In 2019 real wages in Australia were 0.7 per cent lower than when the Liberals came to office six years earlier; they've dropped. In 2019 Australia was in third-last place among 35 OECD countries for wages growth, well behind comparable economies like Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the US. But the Liberals are happy with this, because low wages for Australian workers are, as former finance minister Mathias Cormann admitted on TV, a deliberate feature of the Liberal's economic architecture. Lower wages means workers struggling to survive. That keeps them compliant and less likely to make demands for higher pay and better conditions. And it means businesses can spend less on wages and more on investing in their business so they can employ more workers on low wages. And, if there aren't enough workers in Australia willing to work for low wages, they'll just bring in more workers from overseas on short-term visas to do the job instead. We see the disgraceful example this week of Liberal MPs pushing to have short-term visa applicants displace Australians overseas trying to get home. That's what they're doing. They'd rather see workers coming from overseas on short-term visas than see Australians come home on the limited places that are available on aeroplanes. That's the Liberal vision for Australia: low wages. As for productivity, that all-important indicator of the nation's economic strength, it's been steadily falling under the Liberals not just in real terms but also in comparison to other nations. In 2013 Australian workers' productivity was growing at 1.7 per cent per year, ranking us the 10th highest amongst OECD nations. After five years of a Liberal government, Australia in 2018 ranked 5th last in the OECD, with productivity going backwards in real terms by 0.3 per cent. On every measure that matters to Australian workers and their families—wages, wages growth, productivity, debt and deficit—Australia is weaker under the Liberals and stronger under Labor. 'Look at the falling unemployment,' they will cry over there. On this side of the House we will always welcome news that more people are joining the workforce, especially if they're in well-paid full-time jobs. But it's a little early to be popping the champagne and breaking out the cigars. The grim fact is that under this Liberal government two million Australians remain unemployed or underemployed, and their prospects are bleak. For those who do get a job, this government wants them to earn less and have fewer protections at work. For those who do not get a job, this government wants to strip back payments and support. Just this week, the government gutted its own industrial relations bill, taking out measures the government had put in to protect workers from wage theft. The government had acknowledged that wage theft was a problem by including those measures in the bill but then it decided it would rather allow employers to keep stealing workers' wages than take steps to crack down. It's unfathomable. You know there's a problem with wage theft. You choose to do nothing about it. Under the Liberals, we've had penalty rates cut, we've had flat wages, we've had no increase to superannuation after eight years and now we have the Liberals doing nothing about stopping dodgy employers from stealing their own workers' pay. In the short time remaining, I'd like to speak briefly about housing. Australia is the third most unaffordable housing market within the OECD. For a generation of young Australians—and I see there are some young people up in the gallery—the great Australian dream is becoming the great Australian fantasy. House prices have risen faster, much faster than Australians' incomes. The Real Estate Institute of Tasmania is warning that affordability for many to own their own home is fast becoming a distant pipedream. Housing stress in Tasmania has reached an all-time high. Across the market, demand is outstripping supply. Properties are selling in an average of nine days. Buyers are purchasing sight unseen, and multiple buyers are throwing offers at the same house. Great news for sellers but terrible for buyers. Recent data shows that housing affordability in Tasmania declined in the December quarter, where the amount of income required to meet repayments increased by 2.2 percentage points, up to 31.1 per cent, in one quarter. ' Sure, if your parents own property they can take out an equity loan and provide you with a deposit. But not every kid's parent has property. Not every kid's parent has the sort of equity required these days for a deposit, which can be $60,000 or more—even for a modest two-bedroom home. Since when did Australia become a country where kids had to rely on their parents' wealth to get ahead? It's getting harder and more expensive to buy a home unless you already have one, and it's also getting harder and more expensive to rent. The more expensive it is to rent, the harder it is to save for a deposit. Anyone living in a rental property today is going to find it next to impossible to buy tomorrow. On every indication this government is failing this country and failing the young people of this country, who are our future. 13:20 Mr WALLACE 265967 Fisher I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. There are many important parts of the government's investment agenda, but perhaps none as long-awaited and much needed as the Morrison government's program of infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast. Under this coalition government the Sunshine Coast has seen more investment of federal government funds in transport infrastructure than ever before. Sunshine Coast locals are well aware of the transformational change going on in our region, and most understand the pivotal role that this government's investment has played. Apparently the only person who has missed this investment in our community is Queensland state Labor minister for transport Mark Bailey. It is a sign of how little interest Minister Bailey has in the Sunshine Coast that he knows absolutely nothing about the federal government's $3½ billion worth of works underway or in the pipeline in our region right now. On a near weekly basis he appears in the Sunshine Coast media, parading his abject ignorance of all that the federal government is doing in our community. All he can do is call ever more for Commonwealth funds to bail him out on projects for which the state is wholly responsible and on which the state has wholly failed. Residents of the Sunshine Coast are rightly concerned about the competence of a state government minister who not only refuses to do his job in providing a fair share of state government infrastructure spending to our region but is apparently totally uninformed about the many major Commonwealth funded projects underway on the coast today—especially when you consider that it is his department which is responsible for the construction of most of them. For the avoidance of doubt, and for the education of Minister Bailey, I will use my time today to review the unprecedented strategic investment the Morrison government is making in infrastructure on the Sunshine Coast and compare it to the meagre scraps tossed by the Queensland Labor government to our long-suffering region. Though you wouldn't know it from the number and range of projects we are undertaking on the coast, the Commonwealth government is responsible for only one piece of infrastructure in our region—the Bruce Highway. Unlike the state Labor government, we are not just living up to our responsibilities; we are far exceeding them. In my electorate of Fisher locals will be very familiar with the upgrades currently nearing completion on the Bruce Highway between Caloundra Road and the Sunshine Motorway. These upgrades are adding an extra lane each way between these two intersections, creating more than 100 kilometres of ancillary roads, and upgrading two dangerous interchanges to create capacity for more vehicles. The federal government is contributing $745.6 million to this project. The state government is just contributing $186.5 million. Work has also begun on a major upgrade of Caboolture-Bribie Island Road to the southern Steve Irwin Way intersection. This section of the highway is getting an additional lane each way, with upgraded bridges along the entire stretch. The Morrison government is paying $530 million towards this upgrade. Mark Bailey and his colleagues in state Labor are paying just $132½ million. It's the same story up and down the Bruce Highway between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane. Upgrades which will directly benefit my constituents are underway or in the pipeline for the Deception Bay interchange, where the federal government is contributing $130 million compared to the state government's $32 million; between the Mons Road and Maroochydore Road interchanges, where the federal government is contributing $241 million compared to Labor's $60 million; and between Pine River and Caloundra Road, where the federal government is paying $84 million compared to the state's $21 million. In total the federal government is investing more than $3.2 billion in improvements to the Bruce Highway between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane, which constitutes an unprecedented investment in my community and is four times the amount that Minister Bailey and state Labor have committed. This is far from the end of the Morrison government's investment in our community. While the Bruce Highway has always been a shared responsibility between the Commonwealth and state governments, on a 80 to 20 split, rail in Queensland is the sole domain of the state government. After decades of neglect from successive Queensland Labor governments, however, the north coast rail is in a parlous state. Operating on a single track in parts, more than a century old and located nowhere near the coast's contemporary population centres this rail is in desperate need of upgrades. In the face of continuing inaction from Labor something drastic had to be done. The coalition federal government has once again stepped up and offered to pay a full 50 per cent of the cost of the duplication of the north coat rail at a cost of $390 million to the federal government. Did Mark Bailey and state Labor accept this half price payment? Did they accept it gratefully? Not on your nelly. They simply demanded more. Minister Bailey offered a pathetic $161 million, just 20 per cent of the funds we need. As a result the project has had to be scaled back to a bare minimum, disappointing resident throughout my region. However, Mark Bailey's rail fail does not end there. The existing north coast rail line is located some 20 kilometres inland from the major population centres of Caloundra, Kawana and Maroochydore. It's clear that transformative change for our community could be delivered by the construction of a new heavy rail line along the already reserved land corridor through these population centres and on to Brisbane via Beerwah. Following my advocacy for the project, the Morrison government invested $6.75 million in a detailed business case for fast rail along the corridor, which has just been evaluated by Infrastructure Australia. However, despite its great value to our community, Infrastructure Australia has not named it on their priority project list. Why? I hear you ask. Why wouldn't they do this? Because so lazy, and contemptuous of our communities, is Minister Mark Bailey that the Queensland Labor government have refused to even agree in principle to build the project, even if funding had been arranged. It's the federal government that's doing the heavy lifting on the Bruce Highway in my community. On rail it's the federal government that's making a difference for Sunshine Coast residents. Most damming for this Queensland state Labor government, however, even on state government roads of our region it is the federal government that's having to take the lead. Steve Irwin Way is one of the coast's most important state government roads. As I have seen on my 'tour de fisher' rides around the region, it's dangerous and getting older as we speak. We have committed $14.4 million to upgrading the Steve Irwin Way on a safety package. The state government, on its own road, just $3.6 million. In Kawana and Caloundra we have many extremely congested state government roads: Kawana Way, Nicklin Way, Caloundra Road. They're already at more than capacity during peak hour and the situation is only deteriorating. Minister Bailey's response to this dire situation has been a traffic light here, a traffic light there, an additional lane around a roundabout. It is not good enough. Sunshine Coast residents demand more from this Labor state government than what they are getting. I see this being repeated right across the great state of Queensland. Even with the smallest of our council and state government roads the state is doing very little, if anything, to assist. You compare that to what we're doing in the federal government: providing $12 million for a brand new bridge over the Mayes Canal on Brisbane Road to assist the council with their Mooloolaba transport corridor upgrade. Between February 2020 and today the Morrison government has delivered $5.2 million in funding for safety upgrades of more local and state government roads across the region. Why are we doing this? Because the state is nowhere to be seen. Quite frankly, unfortunately, the more this federal government puts in and saves this hapless state government the more they demand. We have created a noose around our neck by continuing to help this state government, but we have got to do that because our Queensland residents demand more than what they are getting from the state. The problem with this, of course, is the more we do the more the state government just takes a back seat. The Queensland government is very happy to create a top-down population plan in South-East Queensland. It wants to introduce another 170,000 people into my electorate but is not prepared to lift a finger to provide the funding we need for it. Enough is enough. It's time for Minister Bailey and the Queensland state Labor government to get on and help support the Sunshine Coast. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265991 The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. The member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed. STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS 14 STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS Science Meets Parliament 14 13:30 Dr MULINO 132880 Fraser Earlier today I had the pleasure of meeting some of Australia's extraordinary scientists as part of the Science Meets Parliament program. COVID-19 has reunited us with our respect for science. In an extraordinarily short period of time the world has gone from having no vaccines against coronaviruses to a multitude of safe, effective vaccine options. This enormous advance has been driven by unprecedented collaboration between scientists, universities, pharmaceutical companies and governments. Science Meets Parliament is a wonderful showcase of the breadth of talent, passion and commitment that exists in Australia's scientific community. Today I met a woman working at the cutting-edge of seismology, physics and geology. She's helping us to gain a better understanding of tectonics and greater warning of earthquakes. Today I met a woman working at the interface of medicine and engineering. She's helping Australia to be a world leader in biomedical manufacturing while also improving patient care and outcomes. I also met a woman and a man working in a large private sector organisation involved in cutting-edge machine-learning research and improving ways in which to ensure equal access to STEM education for all in our community. Labor is committed to growing the pipeline of talented Australian women and men entering STEM disciplines and professions. We know that science will be core to Australia's future economic growth and our progress as a nation. Our policies have always supported R&D investment, and we know the value in commercialising new technology and knowledge. (Time expired) National Local Day 15 13:31 Mrs ARCHER 282237 Bass We can reflect this week on where we were a year ago—the unease, the uncertainty and the feeling of knowing that the implications of the pandemic that had been somewhat in the background for weeks were becoming a full-blown reality. On this day, 23 March, 2020 hospitality owners across the country were reeling from the news that their bars, pubs and clubs would be closing down to help keep our communities healthy and safe. It was undoubtedly a dark day for owners and their employees who serve us our after-work drinks, on our night out or when we're catching up for a good pub lunch with friends on the weekend. Launceston alderman and owner of Sporties Hotel, Nick Daking, has not forgotten the stress that he felt that day. He said: 'I always say that what's worse than a pub without beer is a pub without people. On 23 March we had both.' For employees of Boag's Brewery, our state's most iconic brewer located in the heart of Launceston, 23 March marked the first time that the brewery had to stop its keg line. A year on, owner and operator of Boag's, Lion, has marked today as National Local Day to recognise the resilience our pubs and clubs have shown over the difficult 12 months. I call on all of us to head out tonight or on the weekend to our local pub, order a local beer or spirit and throw our support behind our hospitality venues. Those in Northern Tasmania, whether your local is the Scottsdale pub, Sporties, Saint John, the Metz, Alchemy or any other number of incredible venues, should get out and support our local industry. National Local Day 15 13:33 Ms RYAN 249224 Lalor I join the member for Bass, my colleague opposite, to celebrate the inaugural National Local Day. It's 12 months today since the national cabinet made the decision to shut our pubs and hotels. Today is all about celebrating our local pubs and encouraging locals to support these businesses that can truly be the heart of local communities in many ways. On Friday I popped into my new local the Bridge Hotel in Werribee to try my hand at pouring a beer and have a chat to the owners and staff. The Bridge has come back online after many years sitting vacant, and locals are loving it. It has been a tough environment for all hospitality businesses, but it has been wonderful to see how quickly the redeveloped Bridge Hotel has become embedded in our community. Given the political discussion at the start of 2021, I want to share my family's proud connection to our local hotel. The pub can be considered a pretty blokey place but I'm proud to say that, on a Werribee Cup day around 1970, it was my mum Dot who refused to leave the front bar at the Bridge and was the first woman to receive a beer poured for her in that front bar. I encourage everyone in Lalor to support our hospitality industry by having a meal at the Bridge Hotel, a beer at Hotel520 or a wine at the Park Hotel or by heading to the Hoppers Club, the RSL, the Italian Social Club or the bowling club—wherever it is that you meet your friends. COVID-19: National Local Day 15 13:34 Mr PASIN 240756 Barker It must be infectious, because I too rise today to raise my voice for the inaugural National Local Day. Today, 23 March, marks one year since what many would describe as the darkest day in history for the Australian hospitality industry. It was on 23 March last year that, for the first time in our history, pubs and clubs had to close their doors to their communities. Their actions saved lives and gave our nation time to prepare for the incoming pandemic. I want to take this opportunity to thank publicans and staff for their sacrifice. Although the government assisted them, their losses continue to resonate. Our pubs and clubs have done their bit. It is now up to us to get our world-class venues back on their feet. Whether you're ordering a meal with friends or family, having a midweek knock-off drink or going through the bottle shop, I encourage everyone to get behind their local. These businesses support our community sporting clubs. They are where we celebrate cherished occasions and are often the meeting place for communities to come together. I am sure few would disagree with me about the importance of our hospitality venues. I implore everyone to do their bit to support these local venues. While you're there, have some fun. We deserve it. Members of Parliament: Staff 15 13:36 Ms COKER 263547 Corangamite Today marks 10 years since Tony Abbott's stood on the lawns of this parliament and ridiculed our first female Prime Minister with signs instructing Australia to 'ditch the witch'. It was disgusting, despicable behaviour. And not much has changed. Today we see the Prime Minister berating journalists and questioning their right to probe him and his ministers on the government's handling of sexual harassment in this place. It is a pattern: berate, undermine, nothing to see here. But these are not small misdemeanours: we're talking about rape, sexual assault and lewd, unacceptable behaviour. Until the Prime Minister steps up and takes some responsibility and shows leadership, nothing will change. The Prime Minister could have stood up on live TV today and offered answers and committed to real and meaningful action. Instead, all he committed to was fake remorse and crocodile tears. Women want to see our Prime Minister put aside the spin and show more compassion and care for all those women who have bravely stepped forward. All women want systematic change. I will continue to fight every day to create a place where women feel valued, respected and supported and where, above all, when women step up and speak out, we listen and we act. We are leaders and the community expects us to do nothing less. This has reached a tipping point. We must do better. Johnston, Mr Ivan 16 13:37 Mr PEARCE 282306 Braddon Today I rise to pay tribute to a dedicated servant of the north-west coast of Tasmania, Mr Ivan Johnston, who recently passed away aged 84. Ivan's legacy is one of service, achievement, leadership, loyalty and mentorship. At 18, Ivan undertook national service and in 1973 joined the Army reserve, where he was a musician and drum major with the Australian Army Band for 13 years. He undertook leadership roles with the National Servicemen's Association, the RSL, Rotary and lawn bowls clubs across the region. For 37 years, Ivan led the region's much loved Ulverstone Municipal Band as drum major. He commenced with the band in 1964, was appointed drum major in 1973 and continued to play with the band until last year. If you attend an event on the north-west coast of Tasmania the Ulverstone Municipal Band will be there to entertain you. For four decades, it was led by Ivan Johnston. Ivan's long list of achievements includes the National Band Council of Australia 50 years-plus award, the Tasmanian Band League life member award and the badge of honour. He was drum major 15 times at a national level and five times at an international level. Ivan was a true gentleman. He was generous in giving to all. He will be deeply missed but he will always be respected. JobKeeper Payment 16 13:39 Mr KHALIL 101351 Wills There are just five days until this government ends JobKeeper. I spoke last month on behalf of local businesses in my electorate of Wills that will have to shut down when JobKeeper ends. All this government has done since I last spoke is hand out discounted airline tickets. They have no comprehensive plan to give targeted support to sectors that are still recovering. One example is independent cinemas. Last December, the independent Palace Cinema opened in my electorate in Coburg and, in February, I visited and met with the CEO, Benjamin Zeccola, and talked about the devastating impact of the pandemic. I've always loved going to the cinema. I remember going to the Astor, the beautiful Art Deco theatre, and I remember the excitement of watching a great cinema classic. Now I take my kids to the new Palace Cinema in Coburg so they can experience the magic of cinema. Independent cinemas are an incredibly important part of our cultural experience, but, with attendance restrictions and limited film production due to COVID-19, many cinemas will simply not survive when JobKeeper ends, yet the government has no plan for support. I ask the government to come up with a plan for targeted support to save our independent cinemas. I have launched a petition to save indie cinema. The government plan to end JobKeeper on 28 March will hurt people. It will hurt family businesses. It will hurt our culture. I call on the Treasurer to extend JobKeeper to support those who still need it. Kadina Hockey Club 16 13:40 Mr RAMSEY HWS Grey Last Sunday I had the great honour, along with Copper Coast Mayor Ros Talbot and the member for Narungga, Fraser Ellis, to open the new Kadina synthetic hockey pitch. It is testament to a great team effort. The federal government put up $422,000 through the local sporting infrastructure grants; the local council put up $290,000 and then loaned $300,000 to the hockey club; $117,000 came from the state government; and there was $15,000 in community content from the local community. We also used the day to mark the great contributions to the club by the president, John Duka, and the secretary, Bethany Paterson, who have steered this project from the beginning until finality. They were both awarded their life memberships on the day. They are great contributors. They are great fans and great supporters of hockey and great supporters of junior sport. These organisations do wonderful jobs in our local communities. I say to people that junior sport is not just about sporting skills; it's about skills of leadership and of learning your place in making a contribution and giving back to the community. Well done to the Kadina Hockey Club! Long may they live, and I hope they don't burn their knees on the new carpet! Warringah Electorate: Economic Security 16 13:42 Ms STEGGALL 175696 Warringah Shortly, business owners will be holding their breath as JobKeeper comes to an end and the current level of JobSeeker plummets, taking much needed funds out of local economies. While some businesses are struggling to find staff and are requesting that the student visa cap of 20 hours be lifted, others face the prospect of closing their doors as the much-needed safety net of JobKeeper disappears. In Warringah, we currently have over 4,000 businesses on JobKeeper. Many will likely shift some of their workforce over to JobSeeker at the end of the month. This drop-off in support places people in Warringah in a very difficult position. For businesses on the Northern Beaches, this comes on top of the extra three weeks of hardship experienced during the lockdown ordered over the Christmas and new year period. For many businesses, particularly in the popular tourist area of Manly, 60 per cent of their annual revenue is generated during the mid-December to early January trading period. That period was lost, and there is no support coming from this government. To compound the problem, locals are now being encouraged to spend their recreation dollars away from the area, through the offer of cheap airfares to interstate locations. The government, by not including capital cities in the list of destinations for discounted airfares, is essentially failing to acknowledge that hospitality and tourism businesses in places like Manly are hurting and need support. Natoli, Ms Rachael 17 13:43 Mr SHARMA 274506 Wentworth I rise to acknowledge an inspiring community leader in my own electorate, Rachael Natoli, who is the founder and CEO of the Lokahi Foundation, an organisation that is empowering women in the eastern suburbs to reclaim their lives after domestic violence. Rachael formed the Lokahi Foundation in 2016 after leaving a long-term abusive relationship. Her story is, sadly, a familiar one for too many women. She was subjected to physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse by her partner. Rachael told me that she couldn't have survived the stress and difficulty of leaving without the support of her caseworker who went above and beyond in the level of care she provided. Rachael said that, if everyone had a caseworker like hers, more domestic violence victims would leave for good and rebuild their lives independently. And so the idea for the Lokahi Foundation was born. Last month, together with Rachael, I helped celebrate the official opening for Lokahi in a space that will be a hub to support victims-survivors in the eastern suburbs. I was so pleased to help Rachael secure almost $180,000 of federal government funding to expand their services. I first met Rachael a few years ago and was struck immediately by her warmth, passion, strength and ambition. Her success in turning Lokahi from a vision into a reality is a reflection on what can be achieved when victims-survivors are fully supported and empowered to move forward with their lives. I thank Rachael and the entire team for their leadership, as the work they are doing will no doubt change lives. Veterans 17 13:45 Ms McBAIN 281988 Eden-Monaro The grey skies of Monday suited the mood as veterans from Jerrabomberra, Cooma, Bega and beyond gathered on the lawns in front of this place. Those women and men slept easier last night knowing that a motion calling for a .royal commission into veteran suicide passed the House of Representatives unopposed. For too long we have been aware that the suicide rate amongst our veterans is nearly twice that of the general population. As we approach Anzac Day, the Prime Minister needs to respect the will of this parliament, do the right thing and give grieving families of veterans the proper investigation they deserve. It's been my privilege to listen to MPs on both sides of the chamber talk about their own experiences. I particularly acknowledge the member for Solomon, Luke Gosling. Gos shared the words of Russ Swan, a Vietnam veteran from Darwin. 'Consider this,' Russ said. 'You sign up to serve your country and, as a result, afterwards you are so disillusioned you would rather die than live and enjoy being a grandfather or grandmother.' Those are simply heartbreaking words that need to galvanise our work. Those efforts start with this royal commission. As we stand at dawn this Anzac Day, as always, let us acknowledge those who have served in our defence forces. But, with special focus, let's remember those women and men who have suffered the despair that Russ from Darwin points to and the people they leave behind. To the veterans still living with that sadness, know that you are loved and needed. Please reach out and get the support that is rightfully yours. Veterans 17 13:46 Mr SIMMONDS 282983 Ryan I rise today to affirm my support for veterans. Ryan is home to the Gallipoli Barracks and almost 8,000 serving personnel. We are also home to many former serving personnel who have chosen to stay on and live in our wonderful community of Ryan after finishing their service. We have close to 2,500 veterans in our community, and we are so lucky to have them continuing to make a contribution locally, often in a role that directly supports other veterans in our amazing RSLs and local veteran groups. It is a priority for me to make sure that they are well supported. I want to thank them and reaffirm to them that I am listening, that we in the government are listening and that we all in this place are listening. I want to commend the courage of my colleagues on both sides of the chamber, like the members for Herbert and Braddon, who shared their powerful and incredible stories in this place. Those of us who have not worn the uniform will, I am sure, never truly fully understand the sacrifices made by our serving personnel, but we can commit to helping them in any way we possibly can. We have already put in place measures in this place for free lifetime health care for ADF personnel, immediate income support for those with mental health claims, assistance dogs for veterans with PTSD and expansion of counselling services through Open Arms. We know there is more to do, and we will continue to work for you and with you. Members of Parliament: Staff 18 13:48 Ms THWAITES 282212 Jagajaga It feels like every time I've reached the point where my rage at this place is dying down, it dials up to white-hot anger once again. My privilege is that I have a voice in this chamber and I can channel my rage into demanding change in this place and across our country. But there are thousands of women in our community who don't have a voice here and who are still not being heard. So this is for them. What is going on in this building does not just happen by itself. It happens because of a culture of impunity, a culture where people think that disrespect and harm to women is okay. That is in fact a culture that, in some corners of this building, seems to be the norm. Permitting that culture of impunity starts from the top. It flourishes when the Prime Minister comes into this chamber and refuses to be straight about what he and his office knew about what happened to Brittany Higgins and when the Prime Minister stands up at a press conference to explain how he's finally had his light-bulb moment and he now gets it. And yet, in that very press conference, he weaponised a woman's disclosure as a political defence strategy. This is not the serious reckoning we need in this place. This is not the leadership women are demanding. Enough is enough. Women should be safe in this building and they should be safe in every workplace across this country. Enough is enough. Defence Procurement 18 13:49 Mr STEVENS 176304 Sturt I would like to welcome the announcement this morning from Naval Group and the Commonwealth that there will be a minimum in the submarine contract of 60 per cent of contract value happen within Australia. This is an important development, a very important milestone. It should be a minimum that 60 per cent is spent in country. My hope is that will grow right up into the 90s, if not get to 100 per cent, by the end of the program. It is very important that this is put into the contract, that these commitments are made. I appreciate the fact that the global chief executive of Naval Group, Pierre-Eric Pommellet, was here in Australia a few weeks ago. I think that was a very important show of faith from him to come to Australia, to quarantine here, to have meetings with ministers and with Defence department officials. Now, coming out of that visit, we have this commitment going into the contract. It is not only important for my home state of South Australia but it is important for defence industry across this country. The capability we're acquiring is very important but what is just as important is the sovereign capability and that, at the end of this program, we have the ability in this country to produce submarines in a sovereign way into the future. I welcome this development. I am looking forward to fighting for a lot more than 60 per cent occurring in Australia but this is a very good start. It is a very good floor. I look forward to working with everyone in this House and building on this commitment into the future. Gilmore Electorate: Comedy For A Cause 18 13:51 Mrs PHILLIPS 147140 Gilmore With everything that has been going on lately—bushfires, COVID, floods—it is wonderful to have a good excuse to laugh. Earlier in March, I had just that when I attended Comedy For A Cause at the Pavilion Kiama, raising money for fantastic Kiama Lions Club projects and Kiama Community Radio. This was a real treat and I was so delighted to be there, along with a large contingent of locals, looking for a good old belly laugh. Club President Veronica said that after the last year she felt our community needed a laugh, and did we ever! The Kiama community has certainly had a tough year, tougher than many across the country. But the Kiama Lions club has been there every step of the way, supporting local people and helping them through it. Clubs like this are instrumental to country communities like ours but we see their value most during the tough times. It was a great double whammy to have some fun and to raise some money for a wonderful cause. For those who don't know, Comedy For A Cause is a not-for-profit organisation created by comedians to help local clubs fundraise. It helps to give comedians a place to showcase their talents, and we know how hard that has been during COVID as well. Thank you to the Kiama Lions Club for everything you have done to support our community this year and always. Thank you as well to the many community members who turned out in support of this great event, sponsors, organisers and everyone involved. Herbert Electorate: Law Enforcement 19 13:53 Mr THOMPSON 281826 Herbert Townsville's crime problem has gone unaddressed for so long I am now receiving letters from children worried about their own safety. Recently, 12-year-old Ryley wrote to me and wanted me to share her story with the House: 'Dear Philip, I am a 12-year-old girl from Townsville and have taken it upon me that kids that are stealing cars aren't being dealt with properly. This matter is hurting families who have lost someone from these silly kids that get away with it because the judges can't say no to a child or teenager. If it were their or your family getting hurt, or even killed, I am sure you would want them to be put away. The only reason it is getting worse is because no-one is doing anything and these kids think they can get away with it. From all this going on, I sometimes don't feel safe or I feel scared that it will happen to someone I love or, worse, me. You just have to think: what would your children be living like in the future? I have been watching the news lately and I have seen how miserable these families are and it is making feel so annoyed that I have come to write this. I hope you will take this into mind and think about what would happen if your family had an incident like these kids in cars?' Ryley, you're right. We need to be doing better, we need to be doing better, and I call on the state to make the appropriate changes and tougher changes to Queensland's Youth Justice Act. Dunkley Electorate: JobKeeper Payment 19 13:54 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley In just a matter of days almost 10,000 workers in my electorate of Dunkley are going to have JobKeeper ripped away from them. These people are plumbers, cleaners, waitresses, chefs, electricians, writers, counsellors and physios. They're men and women; they're young and old. They are not just numbers; they are real people. They also are workers at some 3,184 businesses in my electorate. My electorate, the people I represent, deserve a comprehensive jobs plan to get them through the recovery from the recession, and they don't have one from this government. Half-price tickets to everywhere except Melbourne isn't going to help the people in Frankston. There is no mention of Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula and no mention of my travel agents, who call me day after day in despair at a lack of support from this government. Yet we hear about businesses who have taken millions and millions of dollars in JobKeeper for bonuses for CEOs and for profits for the business. And this government says it can't find the money to help the businesses and the workers in my electorate who, within days, are facing having their unemployment benefits slashed to below the poverty line. It is not good enough. (Time expired) Prime Minister 19 13:56 Mr CONNELLY 282984 Stirling Like most people, I've had both good and bad leaders, firstly in the Australian Army and then in spending a decade and a half in business. Every leader knows that leadership brings a burden of service, of sacrifice and of intense loneliness. I can tell you, having now spent two years working with my current boss, that this is the best leader I have had. This is a man who is leading our COVID response, to the envy of the entire world. He shut our borders early and kept Australians safe and at the same time kept our national economy afloat and kept Australians in jobs. Now, in light of disturbing allegations that have arisen around sexual harassment associated with all parties and the media, this PM is again stepping up. He has announced that there will be a Commonwealth parliamentary workplace review led by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner. He's also taken immediate action to expand advice, education and support services to everyone in parliament, and I know that my staff appreciate those efforts. The PM made impassioned comments at this morning's press conference, and I will be sharing that link. Our Prime Minister continues to lead by example. He is listening and acting, and I stand as a fiercely proud member of his team. Mr Dreyfus interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Isaacs will cease interjecting. Floods, JobKeeper Payment 19 13:57 Ms SWANSON 264170 Paterson My parents lived through the 1955 floods in Maitland. My mother was pregnant; my father was deeply impacted, and he always told us, 'Don't buy on a flood plain. He said, 'The mud and the stench are the things that stick for so long.' I want to acknowledge the fantastic work of the State Emergency Service and their volunteers. They do a fantastic job for our region—for all our regions. I am privileged that the northern zone headquarters is in Rutherford, in my electorate. My heart goes out to all those who've experienced loss because of this natural disaster. I also want to acknowledge my colleagues, many of the MPs who are unable to be here with us this week because of this flooding. The challenge is so great for many. The disaster has put increased pressure on local economic recovery. Many businesses in affected regions have literally been ruined overnight by the devastation of this disaster. It concerns me that some of these businesses are about to lose JobKeeper. Yes, I know, this scheme was designed to help during COVID. But surely, Prime Minister and Treasurer, you can understand that continued support for these businesses and their staff is vital at this time. I urge the government to make every resource available to the people of New South Wales, who are truly at breaking point. And just remember, Prime Minister: the mud and the stench stick. (Time expired) Fisher Electorate: Rail Infrastructure 20 13:59 Mr WALLACE 265967 Fisher The long-awaited proposal for faster rail on the Sunshine Coast has failed to make it onto Infrastructure Australia's priority list because of the total contempt shown for the project and for my electorate of Fisher by the Queensland state Labor government. Infrastructure Australia acknowledged in their evaluation that the coast needs new infrastructure, including rail, to deal with our growing population and increasing congestion. An honourable member interjecting— Mr WALLACE 265967 Just listen; you might learn something. The Minister for Urban Infrastructure informs me that the project could still receive state and federal government funding in the future. However, no progress will happen without a clear indication from the Queensland state Labor government that they are willing to get behind this project— The SPEAKER 10000 The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE 20 STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE New South Wales: Floods 20 14:00 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I want to acknowledge the members of parliament who have to leave the parliament today. As the member for Paterson also just acknowledged, there are Labor members who are doing the same thing. This flood crisis continues and we thank all of those who continue to do such selfless work, volunteering to keep others safe. Please follow the local instructions as this crisis continues. We continue to stand with all of those doing so much great work for their fellow Australians at this time. 14:00 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler I join with the Prime Minister in thanking our emergency services, particularly our SES workers. And I want to thank Minister Littleproud for this morning, when I had a comprehensive briefing from Joe Buffone, the Director-General of Emergency Management Australia and his staff. That was also provided to Senator Watt, our shadow minister. Importantly, we were able to get Susan Templeman, the member for Macquarie on the phone as well. The people of Macquarie have had the lot thrown at them over recent years. They're doing it really tough and our thoughts are with all those who continue to suffer from these devastating floods. We urge them to follow the advice of the authorities. But, once again, I thank the minister for the briefing. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 20 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Parliament House: Staff 20 14:01 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister were really listening to the concerns of women, why hasn't he started by listening to the concerns of Brittany Higgins and ask his own staff what they knew and when about her reported sexual assault only metres from his office and, as well, ask his own staff whether they have undermined the loved ones of Brittany Higgins? Why does the Prime Minister claim he's listening when he's not only failing to listen but, more importantly, failing to act? 14:02 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I have asked my staff regarding the matter involving the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins and I've reported to this very House on that matter. I did that in answer to numerous questions, when they first became aware of it on 12 February and when I became aware of it on 15 February. That was my evidence to this very House and I stand by that. I've been very clear about this the entire time. Australian Floods 20 14:02 Ms BELL 282981 Moncrieff My question is also to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister please outline to the House how the Morrison government continues to act in providing much-needed support to flood ravaged communities across Australia, including in New South Wales and in my home state of Queensland? 14:03 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the member for Moncrieff for her question. It's important to hear from the member for Moncrieff, as a representative of South-East Queensland. As we know, the devastation that is occurring in the floods across New South Wales is not just in New South Wales; South-East Queensland has similarly been impacted. That's why it's so important that we understand this current flood crisis extends beyond and across many state borders. Once again, today I met with the Director-General of Emergency Management Australia, Joe Buffone, who is doing an absolutely sensational job. It was also Joe Buffone who acted for the government in leading the government's response at the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre, and he did a tremendous job there. He is doing another tremendous job now as the head of Emergency Management Australia. I also met with the Chief of Defence Force, General Campbell, along with the minister for emergency management, who is also doing an extraordinary job, as he always does on these occasions. And of course there was also the acting Minister for Defence. We know that the rain and flood situation remains incredibly dynamic. There is a trough on the east coast that has merged with a trough extending from the Kimberleys to the east coast, causing heavy rain and inland flooding. There is severe weather, high winds and damaging surf, and heavy rain is forecast for the east coast. Western New South Wales, north-eastern South Australia, south-western Queensland and eastern Western Australia have been affected by inland flooding. Queensland, Brisbane and the Gold Coast have been impacted by heavy rain causing flash flooding. In New South Wales there are some 1,700 SES volunteers responding, together with the New South Wales RFS and the fire and rescue squad, of which they form a part. Some 18,000 people have been impacted by evacuation orders. The defence forces are now marshalling together to support the clean-up effort; that was the basis of the meeting I had earlier today with the Chief of the Defence Force, as we put in plans to ensure we can move within days, and work in concert with the New South Wales government, to begin that clean-up operation. For now, they are very much involved with the services out of Nowra, supporting particularly the South Coast of New South Wales. As both the members for Gilmore and Eden-Monaro would be aware, today the risk very much moves to the South Coast of New South Wales, with heavy winds and the potential for trees to be felled and for people to be put at great risk. As a result the defence forces have also mobilised to that. I want to thank the staff at Services Australia. They received 19,600 calls yesterday. Over $3 million in assistance has already been paid out, with much more assistance still to be provided. The government is responding to this crisis, and the government is standing with the state governments and working closely with them to ensure those efforts are coordinated. I thank everybody for the great work they are doing at this difficult time. Sexual Harassment 21 14:06 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney My question is to the Prime Minister. Today the Prime Minister sought to use a confidential complaint about alleged workplace misconduct inside a media organisation to dismiss questions. Is it any wonder victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment in this building and around Australia are afraid of coming forward when the Prime Minister of this country uses a confidential complaint in a nationally televised media conference as a way to try and stop journalists asking questions about these important issues? 14:06 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook That is not what I was doing today. I was simply making the broader point about the matters that we are dealing with in this place. All members of this place have a responsibility for getting this House in order when it comes to these issues. These issues are not confined to any one side of politics, as we have read in the reports over this past month. These things being reported are disgusting and shameful, and they have no place in this House. I was simply making the point that the problems we are experiencing in this country are not confined simply to the offices of members, senators and ministers in this place; they go well beyond that. The way I referred to these matters today was in an anonymised way. Mr Conroy interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Shortland! Mr MORRISON E3L The broader point is the one I sought to highlight today—the broader problem of women having to put up with this rubbish for so long. It has to stop, and it will take all of us to stop it. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 Members on both sides! The member for Eden-Monaro, the member for Cowan and many others—I have mentioned the member for Shortland. I will simply make use of standing order 94(a) if interjectors continue in the fashion they have been. Australian Floods 22 14:08 Mr DRUM 56430 Nicholls My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. Will the Deputy Prime Minister please inform the House how the Morrison-McCormack government is supporting those communities impacted by flooding in regional Australia? 14:08 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina I thank the member for Nicholls for his question. As the floods continue, we stand with those communities affected as a government, as a parliament, as people. Our priority as a government is to support emergency measures, ensuring people remain safe and secure. In times such as these, our country relies on those first responders, those magnificent SES, police, ambulance, fire—all of those people. They are magnificent. That is not to mention our ADF, who are already supporting the efforts to deal with these floods. Around 18,000 people have already been evacuated from their homes. Many of them are now in evacuation centres or relying upon family and friends. At the worst of times, you see the best in Australians. People need to be vigilant. They need to be patient. They need to listen to the advice of local emergency services and they absolutely need to act accordingly. It's not just the east coast; the Kimberley region in Western Australia has seen more than 700 millimetres of rain between Fitzroy Crossing and Derby. To put this in further context, Derby's annual rainfall last year was 703.6 millimetres, so it's actually received its annual rainfall in just a matter of days. Some parts of New South Wales will see between 100 and 300 millimetres of rainfall over the next 24 hours, which is not isolated to coastal areas. Moree and surrounding areas of the member for Parkes' electorate received 200 millimetres of rain yesterday and overnight, and there's more on the way. I know the member has told me that he's never seen Warialda Creek as high as it is at the moment. The Gwydir is rising. Local schools and supermarkets in some parts of his electorate are closing to ensure the safety of students and staff. Peter Prosser is a stock and station agent based in Mungindi, in New South Wales. He's currently in Tamworth and is unable to travel home because of the flood impact on roads between Narrabri and Moree and through to Mungindi. He's unable to cart stock to market and he's unable to reach his property in Tenterfield to assess damage or to recover any assets. This is just one individual example of what's happening right across the east coast, right across our inland areas. There are road closures of major transport arteries across New South Wales. I've heard the Prime Minister say—I know the opposition leader joins in this—that, if there are flood waters across roads, don't enter them. Do not think that you can get across, because you don't know the depth and you don't know how tragic the consequences could be for yourself and, indeed, for those people who may have to come and rescue you. So please follow the advice given by emergency management and personnel. We will rebuild. We will get through this. We will be better for it, as we always are. These are times of crisis, and we're here to help. Members of Parliament: Staff 22 14:11 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney My question is again to the Prime Minister. Why is it that the Prime Minister knew about a confidential complaint in a media organisation but claims for two years he didn't know about a reported sexual assault that allegedly occurred just metres from his office? 14:12 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Because it's the truth. Sexual Harassment 22 14:12 Dr HAINES 282335 Indi My question is to the Prime Minister. The nation is watching this parliament's response to the events of the past month and is crying out for action on the appalling treatment of women. Right now there are two bills before the House: the sex discrimination commissioner bill from the member for Warringah and the parliamentary standards bill I introduced in October. These are two good faith bills that, if passed, would make a concrete difference and demonstrate to the nation that the Prime Minister is willing to finally act and show real leadership. Why won't you support these bills so we can pass them as a matter of urgency? 14:13 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the member for her question. Our national parliament should aim to be a model workplace. That's the standard that we must set together in this place, and I'm sure all members would agree with that very statement. We have taken a number of steps in the past few weeks to address the concerns raised by current and former staff and by parliamentarians. The members will be aware of the changes that have already been made to the counselling support service. I hope to receive very shortly recommendations from the deputy secretary of my department regarding a complaints process that can be put in place as an interim and before awaiting the outcome of the Jenkins review that is being done on a multipartisan basis. The government has announced an independent review into the Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces, which is being led by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Ms Kate Jenkins. And we're going to await the findings of that review before doing an assessment of the issues raised in the bill, but I'm saying that we will be acting on the matters that are being forward by the deputy secretary, which I think will make a real change in terms of the workplace practices in this building. I have no doubt that those types of changes will be supported. So whether it is the matters that are raised in the bill that you have referred to that has been brought forward under your own name or those that have been brought forward by the member for Warringah, we appreciate that all efforts need to be taken to address sexual harassment. The draft bill that has been put forward by the member for Warringah, as I noted, does represent a fundamental change to the application of the Sex Discrimination Act so that it might apply to all areas of people's public and private lives. Among others, this would have the effect of expanding the Australian Human Rights Commission's function to matters arising in private life. That is my understanding of that arrangement, on the advice that I have. The bill would also make the Sex Discrimination Act out of step with other antidiscrimination legislation, which focuses on discrimination in public life. I'm looking forward to, shortly, being able to provide a response to the Respect@Work report, which I also believe should have been done well before this time. I look forward to doing that in the very near future. We will take action on that, as we have taken action on the national health plan in the past, and we will continue to take action on these important matters. The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Indi? Dr Haines 282335 On relevance: I also asked about the Commonwealth Parliamentary Standards Bill. The SPEAKER 10000 The Prime Minister has concluded his answer, so I need to move to the next question. Economy 23 14:15 Mrs WICKS 241590 Robertson My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House how strong economic recovery is helping the Morrison government to provide support during unprecedented events like the COVID-19 pandemic and also the severe flooding that we are currently experiencing in large parts of the country? 14:16 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong I thank the member for Robertson for her question, and I acknowledge her experience in the private sector as a very fierce and staunch advocate for the people of the Central Coast. More than 17,000 people in the member's electorate have graduated from JobKeeper. I had the opportunity to visit the member's electorate and to meet with one of the successful small businesses, Terrigal Electrical Services, to hear how the government's apprentice incentive scheme has helped see that business take on its first female apprentice electrician. The Australian economy has been tested over the course of the last 18 months. We have seen the drought, we have seen floods, we have seen fire and, of course, we have seen the COVID-19 pandemic. Today our economy is being tested again, in Queensland and New South Wales, with the terrible floods. The government is responding with payments of $1,000 to adults and $400 to children as well as income support, getting that money out the door as quickly as possible to those communities in need. When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have committed, as a government, $251 billion. That's the equivalent of around 13 per cent of GDP. It's more than twice what all the states and territories combined have committed. More than $150 billion is out the door already, with $86 billion on JobKeeper, $35 billion on the cash flow boost, $20 billion on the coronavirus supplement, and $12 billion in four payments—two of $750 and two of $250—to millions of veterans, carers, pensioners and others across our community, who are on income support. This economic support is helping drive the economic recovery. We saw economic growth in the December quarter of 3.1 per cent. The first time our country has seen consecutive quarters of economic growth of more than three per cent. What was particularly pleasing is it was being led by the private sector, with higher business investment, higher investment in housing, a greater number of motor vehicle sales and, of course, higher household consumption. We've seen our labour market rebound strongly, with an unemployment rate of 5.8 per cent. I've said to this House before that Chris Richardson, a noted economist, said it was a stunning result in our labour market, with 5.8 per cent unemployment and the fact that all of those 88,700 jobs created in February were full-time jobs, with more than 80 per cent going to women and more than 40 per cent going to younger people. Our economy is being tested, but we are delivering jobs, jobs and more jobs. Members of Parliament: Staff 24 14:19 Mr BRENDAN O'CONNOR 00AN3 Gorton My question is to the Prime Minister. The Ten Network reported government staffers had allegedly brought in sex workers to Parliament House for government MPs, including a minister. What steps has the Prime Minister taken to investigate these very serious allegations, which constitute a blackmail risk and potentially jeopardise national security. 14:19 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the member for his question. It is indeed a very, very serious issue that was reported yesterday afternoon—deeply distressing, deeply shocking. I understand the report referred to a former minister, not a current minister. So I would simply make that point. I don't think that's disputed or any other implication was being suggested by the member in the question that was raised. Two things are directly being done. Obviously we are seeking to pursue those matters with those who are already known to us. There is only one individual that was the subject of the reports yesterday, and that person has had their employment terminated. But we have reached out through whatever avenues we have for people who have knowledge of that to bring that knowledge forward so it can be addressed by the government or any proper authorities, for that matter. I have no doubt for the presiding officers as well, regarding the use of certain parts of this building, it would be equally distressing and shocking. I find it just absolutely abhorrent that this could occur. We are in no position to establish its truth or accuracy. That has not been established. But, if anyone has information on this issue, I would be very keen for them to make that available to us. Australian Floods 24 14:21 Mr FALINSKI G86 Mackellar My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management. Will the minister update the House as to how the Morrison government is supporting flood affected victims in New South Wales, Queensland and other states? What other critical assistance is the Morrison government providing? 14:21 Mr LITTLEPROUD 265585 Maranoa I thank the member for his question and his interest in this very dynamic situation that spreads from Western Australia across to the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. In fact, only in the last couple of minutes I received an update from the Bureau of Meteorology that it now has flood warnings for both Victoria and parts of Tasmania, such is the scale of this event. It is one in which our emergency services have done an outstanding job protecting Australian lives. There's been not one fatality. Those men and women who have put themselves on the frontline have done an outstanding job in keeping us safe. To put that in perspective, there have been over 850 rescues and 9,500 requests for help. There are now 18,000 Australians who aren't in their homes today because of this rain event. But they will continue to work with not only the state governments in all those jurisdictions but also the federal government. Today I can advise the House that I initiated the National Coordination Mechanism as a result of feedback from Senator Payne and the member for Macquarie around shortages in supermarkets in Western Sydney. I can advise the House that I've only just been advised by Coles that they intend to helicopter goods into their North Richmond store this afternoon as soon as arrangements can be made. So we will continue to make sure that that mechanism is worked through in every community where there are shortages and where we are unable to get trucks or boats across to support these communities in their hour of need. We are also working with NBN and Telstra to make sure that they are ready to pivot into these communities where telecommunications have been brought down so we can restore them as quickly as we can. Last night, after a request from the New South Wales government, we allowed the support of two helicopters for rescue to be used in addition to their aircraft as well as standing up ADF's personnel to come in for the clean-up. So we are preparing for the clean-up as we speak now, understanding that this will take a considerable amount of time. We are working with those states around the assessments of the damage and we will build on the initial support that the federal government has outlined is there for those Australians who have endured damage to their properties, which is a disaster recovery repayment of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child. That applies to over 34 local government areas in New South Wales alone, but we are expecting the other states to make applications for that very soon. When they do, we will approve that and the money will flow through Centrelink, as it has already—over $3.5 million. There is also income support for anyone whose income has been impacted. There is 13 weeks of income support at JobSeeker and Austudy levels. We encourage no-one to self-assess. The road to recovery for anyone who has been impacted will be a long one, but they should take solace from the fact that the Australian people will stand with them on that road to recovery in getting them back up and going again. Members of Parliament: Staff 25 14:24 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley My question is to the Prime Minister. It has been reported that for two years no-one talked to the security guard who discovered Brittany Higgins after her reported sexual assault in the defence minister's office. How is this possible? Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 Members on my left, I want to hear from the Leader of the House in silence. Mr Dutton 00AKI Mr Speaker, I want to make a couple of points. Firstly, there are matters in this House that are properly dealt with by the presiding officer, so questions are best put to the Speaker or, in the other place, to the President. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 Members will remain silent. Mr Dutton 00AKI That's the appropriate course of action in relation to some of these matters. The second point is that the Australian Federal Police commissioner, Mr Kershaw, has been very clear in relation to the Brittany Higgins matter. That is, there is a police investigation underway at the moment. It may well result in an arrest and a criminal trial here in the ACT or in some other jurisdiction. He has made it very clear to members in this House that his preference is to allow the police to conduct their operation without further public commentary that may potentially compromise either an investigation, the gathering of evidence or, indeed, a successful prosecution. I would ask that, on that basis, the Leader of the Opposition should reconsider the appropriateness of that question. Mr Albanese R36 I didn't ask it. Mr Dutton 00AKI You didn't ask it, but you directed it to be asked, and you should withdraw it and consider the view of the police commissioner. I think that view should prevail in this matter. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Isaacs won't be here very long if he keeps that up. I'm going to hear the Manager of Opposition Business on the point of order. Mr Burke DYW On the point of order, Mr Speaker, the Leader of the House's points all presume that this question works on the basis that it could have only been the police who were asking questions of the security guard. That's not the question that's in front of us. The question that's in front of us is that no-one asked questions. Given that we are talking about something that happened to a member of staff within the ministerial wing and given that the Prime Minister has subsequently initiated a number of different inquiries, there are many different points at which questions could have been asked. None have. I don't discount for a minute the issues that have been raised, had the question presumed that we were asking: why haven't the police asked? But that's not what this question says. The SPEAKER 10000 I'm going to rule on this very clearly for the benefit of all members. Not all members will have been watching Senate estimates yesterday, but the President of the Senate made very clear his approach and, indeed, my approach to answering questions once a criminal investigation has begun. He made that abundantly clear, and I completely concur with him. Statements on our behalf have made that very clear. I've listened to the Manager of Opposition Business. I've listened to what he has had to say, but the question, as it's framed, is not within the responsibility of the Prime Minister. I'll move to the next question. Australian Floods 25 14:28 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is providing critical ADF support to those communities impacted by flooding and stands ready to respond to further requests for assistance? 14:28 Mr DUTTON 00AKI Dickson Obviously the highest priority for the government at the moment is to make sure that Australians are safe from COVID and to make sure that those people who are suffering as a result of the floods at the moment are given every protection, not only now but in the recovery phase as well. The government is determined to work very closely with the emergency service personnel in New South Wales and in Queensland and, potentially, in Victoria as well. We want to make sure that every Commonwealth asset possible will be provided to support these Australians who, in many cases, have lost their homes, livestock, assets and the life that they knew only a week ago. The Australian Defence Force has one of the greatest capacities in the world to deal with threats offshore and domestically, but they also have an incredible skill base to provide support to Australians. As the minister earlier pointed out, the Australian Defence Force has now committed assets, both personnel and helicopters, that be will based out of RAAF Base Richmond and also Nowra and Bega. It will be a 24-hour operation. They will provide support to protect the safety of life, which is the highest priority now. They will provide support to people as they evacuate. They will provide support to people in situations where they may seek to go into flooded crossings and river ways. They will provide support in the recovery phase as well. We want to help people get back to their normal life as quickly as possible but this is a very, very dramatic situation. Our plea again today to those Australians who want to wade into river crossings to rescue animals or to try and preserve their belongings, which is understandable, is: please do not do it. We've seen countless lives lost in our country over many years where people, with good intent, have gone into those waterways. The rapid nature of them means that you cannot compete: whether you're in a four-wheel drive, a tractor or a motor vehicle, it is just not a fair competition. Listen to the advice of the police and emergency services authorities, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland at the moment. Don't enter those waterways. Australians will see, once again, the familiar uniform of the Australian Defence Force going to the assistance of Australians in need. We will do whatever it takes to provide assistance to those Australians now and through the recovery phase. Members of Parliament: Staff 26 14:31 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Why, nine days after Mr Gaetjens told the Prime Minister he was putting his inquiry on hold, did the Prime Minister tell the House about the inquiry 'Those inquiries are being made,' 'This work is being done by the secretary of my department, and 'He has not provided me with a further update,' when, in fact, inquiries were not being made, the work was not being done and Mr Gaetjens had provided an update? Why did the Prime Minister mislead the House? 14:32 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I have not. The Leader of the Opposition says 'end quote'. But it wasn't the end of the quote, was it? Because I said 'He has not provided me with a further update about when I might expect that report'— Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 Members on both sides! Mr MORRISON E3L and he did not give me a date or a time when that report would be provided. And, as I responded to a question on this in my media conference this morning, the secretary was continuing to conduct interviews. So what the Leader of the Opposition has brought into this place, in a desperate attempt to smear, is not true. This Leader of the Opposition seeks to only smear, when, in a time like this, he should be seeking to engage in productive effort. The SPEAKER 10000 The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order? Mr Albanese R36 I ask that it be withdrawn. The SPEAKER 10000 The interjections were so loud. I don't want you to repeat what it was, but when you weren't interjecting many others behind you were. Mr Albanese R36 Mr Speaker, it was a very straight question. I quoted what the Prime Minister said, and the gap between that and what's actually happened, and he responds with abuse. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 Members on both sides! Ms Kearney interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Cooper will cease interjecting! If unparliamentary remarks are made—I've mentioned this before—and there's a wall of interjections, it's very difficult for me to make a judgement on that. What I'm judging, from the Leader of the Opposition, is that he didn't like the way the Prime Minister was answering the question. But if members want me to be able to rule on these matters they need to cease interjecting. It's a timely point now, at halfway through question time, that I will issue a general warning. I call the member for North Sydney. Australian Floods 26 14:34 Mr ZIMMERMAN 203092 North Sydney My question is for Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is ensuring assistance is reaching flood-affected Australians immediately, particularly through eligible disaster payments? How can Australians access this support now? 14:35 Mr ROBERT HWT Fadden I thank the member for his question. As at 11.30 am this morning Services Australia has now granted over 4,300 claims. That's 1,800 claims being paid in the first 3½ hours of this morning. It equates to $5.7 million going straight to families and communities. The House should be aware that there are over 1,000 Services Australia staff from all over the country, as an all of nation effect, operating until 8 pm tonight. Then from 8 am to 8 pm seven days a weeks until such time as the disaster has passed us. The majority of claims are being finalised over the phone. With the government's new payment platform money is paid into the family's bank account within an hour. I encourage all Australians who find themselves impacted to call the emergency number at 1802266. To give the House an idea of the sheer extent of where claims are coming from, as at last night there were: 469 claims from the Central Coast Council area, 425 claims from the MidCoast Council area, 321 claims from the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council area, 179 claims from Kempsey, 145 claims from Coffs Harbour, 136 claims from Cessnock. This is across Dobell, Robertson, Lyne, Cowper, Hunter and Shortland and the numbers continue. Australians are calling and meeting eligibility because they're seriously injured; because they have got significant damage to their home, making it uninhabitable, destroyed, structurally unsound or there's major flooding inside making it unliveable; or because they've got significant damage to major assets. Australians are doing it tough right across the country at present but especially in New South Wales. I would encourage all Australians impacted to call 1802266 for the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment, $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per child. For a family of five, that's two partners and three kids, that is $3,200. If an individual's work is impacted please call to access the Disaster Recovery Allowance, which is a 13-week income support payment. Australians should also be aware that all debts for the affected LGAs for any citizen that may have a debt have been suspended. They don't need to do anything. No Australian in those areas needs to do anything. You can call Services Australia for advice but those debt pauses have occurred automatically to ensure Australians won't be overly burdened during a difficult period. Prime Minister 27 14:37 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Why does the Prime Minister fail to take responsibility even when he himself misleads parliament? Why is someone else always to blame? 14:38 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Mr Speaker, wrapping up a whole bunch of abuse into a question, and making unfounded allegations, when I very clearly answered the matters the Leader of the Opposition has raised, goes to the character of the Leader of the Opposition not to the Prime Minister. Domestic and Family Violence 27 14:38 Dr MARTIN 282982 Reid My question is to minister representing the Minister for Women. Will the minister outline to the House how the next National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children is being established and developed to address the scourge of domestic violence? 14:39 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer I thank the member for Reid for her question and commend her on her strong work in parliamentary committees on this issue and note that she spoke about domestic violence in her first speech to this place. There is no excuse for family, domestic or sexual violence. Excuses like, 'It's not that bad,' 'I can't help it, 'Someone else made me do it' are no excuse, which is why we will not rest and there is always more work to be done. One in six women have experienced physical or sexual violence by a current or previous partner since the age of 15. Sadly, things that draw communities together can also tear families apart. We saw that during COVID when we all stayed home to stay safe. But for many women, home was not a safe place to be. Last year the Morrison government was able to deliver $150 million in a domestic violence response package because of the changing needs of COVID, in addition to our $340 million record investment in the fourth action plan. As we across the parliament address some of the shocking allegations and behaviours that have come to light, it's important that we focus on outcomes—outcomes for the women we represent, outcomes for the women who are counting on us out there. Ms Collins interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Franklin will leave under standing order 94a. I have issued a general warning. I have asked her to stop interjecting. I have asked on a number of days. After asking her just then, she interjected again. The minister has the call. Ms LEY 00AMN Governments have a crucial role to play but so does each and every one of us. Research has shown that, while four in five people agree that violence against women starts with disrespect, many people are not confident that they know how to confront the issue. Taking action on the issue can seem overwhelming but, if we all take steps together, it will add up to positive change for Australia. I encourage everyone to look at the suite of resources on respect.gov.au and start a conversation about respect with the people in their lives. With respect to the sexual violence we have seen in our workplace, it is never okay. The Prime Minister and each and every one of us in this House has made that clear. Change is coming. We all need to be part of that change. We all need to be part of getting our House in order. As we develop the consultation leading up to the fifth national action plan to reduce violence against women and their children, we will hear from all of the voices out there that have been raised in support of women, in support of equal opportunity and in support of human rights, and we are determined to leave no-one behind. Members of Parliament: Staff 28 14:42 Mr MARLES HWQ Corio My question is to the Prime Minister. Why did the Department of Finance ask for the scheduled cleaning of the Defence Minister's office to be brought forward to a Saturday, the day Brittany Higgins was found? 14:42 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I am not aware of any instructions that were provided by any ministers or anyone else in relation to that matter. That was an administrative matter determined by the department. If there is any other suggestion that has been made then I think that's a very serious suggestion to have been made. That is a matter that was dealt with by officials of the Department of Finance. That's what I'm advised. Manufacturing Industry 28 14:43 Ms LIU 282918 Chisholm My question is to the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is backing Australia's medical products manufacturers to grow and create new jobs as we continue our recovery from COVID-19 recession? 14:43 Mrs ANDREWS 230886 McPherson I thank the member for Chisholm for her question. Last Friday, I was thrilled to be in the member for Chisholm's electorate. We officially opened a new manufacturing wing of Planet Innovation, a cutting-edge med-tech and commercialisation company in the electorate of Chisholm. Planet Innovation stepped up during COVID-19. They were involved in the manufacture of ventilators. They are really a very good example of the sorts of businesses that are helping to drive our economy post COVID-19. When it comes to manufacturing, Planet Innovation does the whole lot from research and design, right the way through to in-house production. They create breakthrough products as well as commercially successful spinoff businesses. What they are doing is actually demonstrating what this government is planning to achieve through our modern manufacturing strategy, which is to start to bring the entire smiling curve into manufacturing, which goes all the way from research and development and design, through the production processes, through to the distribution, after sales and marketing at the end of it. They're a very good example of that. They are doing such great work in the medical products sector, which is exactly what this Morrison government is hoping to achieve. Over the last 12 months alone they have created an additional 100 jobs in manufacturing. They have plans over the next four years to grow that number so that there will be an additional 700 jobs. This again is exactly what we will be achieving through the $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy, which we are already rolling out right across Australia. It's a clear demonstration of why medical products is one of our very significant six national manufacturing priorities. We do have a very strong and very proud history of pioneering many commercially successful medical products that have made it onto the world stage, from the green whistle pain reliever through to cochlear implants and, of course, the cervical cancer vaccine. Australia does really bat above its weight here. We have a significantly strong medical products sector. The Morrison government is absolutely committed to doing all it can to support that sector to grow so that it can create more jobs so that the manufacturing sector here in Australia can continue to grow and make sure that there are jobs for future generations of Australians. Members of Parliament: Staff 28 14:46 Ms CATHERINE KING 00AMR Ballarat My question is to the Prime Minister. I ask for the 12th time: is it true that the Prime Minister's staff sought to undermine Brittany Higgins's loved ones? Has the Prime Minister asked his staff? If not, why not? 14:46 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I have no information to suggest that. My answer is the same that I provided to the question on every other occasion. Telecommunications 28 14:46 Dr WEBSTER 281688 Mallee My question is to the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison-McCormack government is working to provide critical telecommunications disaster relief? 14:47 Mr FLETCHER L6B Bradfield I do thank the member for Mallee for her question. She, like all in this House, is obviously very concerned about the impact of the present floods in New South Wales, Queensland and, increasingly, other parts of Australia as well. Just before coming into question time I spoke to the chief executives of both NBN and Telstra to be updated on the work they're doing. In New South Wales the latest information we have is that some 69 NBN network sites are affected and some 5,300 services are impacted. The main cause of the loss of service is the loss of power. Where possible, NBN is using backup generators, although that does depend on whether it can get access to locations. In some circumstances that is not yet feasible as it's too dangerous. In terms of Telstra, at the moment there is a loss of coverage across 35 mobile sites in the Telstra network. Telstra advises me that it has instigated its regional management emergency services plan. It's directly engaging with relevant state emergency services. Its focus is on mobile service restoration. That's the highest priority. On 21 March, Telstra announced a disaster relief assistance package for affected customers. One of the commitments that we made following the bushfires was to establish STAND, Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters. As part of that, NBN has already been funded and has acquired five new satellite dish equipped Road Muster trucks and 12 satellite dishes in transportable kits. These resources are available to be deployed as required should emergency services organisations request them. One of those Road Muster trucks is in Coffs Harbour and is available to be deployed as required. We have seen earlier versions of these trucks used in natural disasters. These trucks can go into towns where communication has been lost. By connecting to the satellite they can immediately provide wi-fi connectivity to people who are in close proximity to the truck. Similarly, the flyaway kits, the temporary satellite dishes, also provide that facility. That's a very important service, and those facilities are available on stand-by for the emergency services organisations, should they request them. Both NBN and Telstra are staying very closely engaged with state emergency services. The government is staying closely involved with NBN, Telstra and the other telcos to do everything that can be done to maintain network continuity of service. As floodwaters recede, there will be work to do to restore affected facilities. JobMaker Hiring Credit 29 14:50 Dr CHALMERS 37998 Rankin My question is to the Treasurer. On budget night in October last year, the Treasurer announced his hiring credit for under 35s would 'support around 450,000 jobs for young people'. Can the Treasurer confirm that, as of this month, only 521 new hires have been delivered under his scheme? 14:50 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong We have provided that information, as the shadow Treasurer understands, but the key point is this program is still in its early stages. Dr Chalmers interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Rankin has asked his question. Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Only the member for Rankin would ask a question about the labour market after it had had a stunning result. When it comes to the JobMaker hiring credit, the member for Rankin has indicated what's been in the media reports over the last few days as a result of this program's early take-up. We know that when it comes to the labour market— Dr Chalmers interjecting— The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Rankin is on thin ice! Mr FRYDENBERG FKL the unemployment rate for those under the age of 35 today is 8.5 per cent. For those over 35 the unemployment rate is 4.2 per cent. What we have taken from Australia's experience with previous recessions is that the scarring of the labour market can be particularly acute when it comes to young people. That is why we designed a program to get younger people who are unemployed into work. We know that there have been 876,000 jobs created in the last nine months, and we saw in the jobs numbers for February that more than 40 per cent of the 88,700 jobs created went to young people. So the reality is that the labour market is showing remarkable resilience, but there is still a challenge getting younger people aged under 35 into work. I repeat: the unemployment rate is 8.5 per cent for those aged under 35, while it is 4.2 per cent for those aged above 35. That is what the JobMaker hiring credit is designed to do, and we on this side of the House are focused on getting more people into work. COVID-19: Papua New Guinea, COVID-19: Vaccination 30 14:53 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please update the House on how Australia is supporting our Pacific neighbours in the battle against COVID-19 as well as how international and domestic vaccine developments are helping to protect Australian lives and livelihoods? 14:53 Mr HUNT 00AMV Flinders I thank the member for Higgins not just for her question but for her service to the Australian people through her medical work over many years and many decades. Sadly, as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued, having improved over recent months it has deteriorated in recent weeks. There have been 486,000 cases in the last 24 hours, 7,500 lives lost, over 2.7 million lives lost in all—and those are just the official figures. At the same time we have been blessed in Australia to have zero cases of community transmission for the 51st day this year—an extraordinary result. As we look to our near neighbours in Papua New Guinea, we see there have been almost 400 recorded cases in the last 24 hours. As a consequence, Australia is stepping in and stepping up to assist our neighbours. The AUSMAT team has been dispatched today with almost 8,500 vaccines as well as consumables to support that rollout, to assist the health workers of PNG. There's more to come, from the National Medical Stockpile and from our international inventories of vaccines, as we push to have those released. At the same time as that action with PNG has been taken, there's also been very important news for the world. The AstraZeneca clinical trial results were released overnight, showing, among over 32,000 patients, 100 per cent effectiveness against serious illness, hospitalisation or loss of life. That is an extraordinary result, which should lead to a great deal of confidence not just here in Australia but around the world. These vaccines are literally saving and protecting lives, and we are fortunate to have that access to 50 million domestically produced, Australian made—CSL produced—AstraZeneca vaccines. Over the last 24 hours we've seen a 10 per cent growth in our entire national vaccination rate, to now over 312,000 vaccinations having occurred in Australia, including 62,000 within our aged-care sector—634 aged-care facilities with first doses and 110 aged-care facilities with second doses. People around the country have been putting themselves forward, and general practices around the country have been participating in the program. I want to thank all those who've come forward to be engaged, all those who have participated in this program. What we are seeing now is action that will save lives both here in Australia and across the waters in PNG. JobKeeper Payment: Tourism Industry 30 14:56 Ms COKER 263547 Corangamite My question is to the Prime Minister. Liz, Lynne, Nicole, Matt, Jess and Kim work at a travel agency in Waurn Ponds. They're all worried that they will lose their jobs when JobKeeper is ripped away later this month. Their boss, Greg, is working four jobs just to keep afloat. Subsidised flights won't help this business. Why is the Prime Minister ripping away JobKeeper while it's still needed by hardworking small-business owners like Greg and his employees? 14:57 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook The minister will add further to my answer. One of the key elements of the support that has been put in place through the measure of a 50 per cent discount on flights is to ensure that travel agencies are working closely with aviation operators and our airlines to put together packages to take people into travel agents to give them that business. But, more importantly, the $250 million—the quarter of a billion dollars—of direct assistance into the travel agent sector is directly targeted towards supporting those businesses, who have been one of the most affected through the crisis. But I'll ask the minister to add further to the answer. 14:57 Mr TEHAN 210911 Wannon Further to the Prime Minister, I thank the member for Corangamite for her question, because it's an incredibly important question. The government is providing over a quarter of a billion dollars of support to our travel agents. We've done that through an initial $128 million program, and so far, as of 18 March, almost $91 million in grant funding has been paid and 2,656 travel agents have received payments under the program, and another 437 are being processed at the moment. Can I also say to travel agents, at the moment we're designing and putting the final parameters around the new $130 million program. We had a meeting between Austrade and the four representative bodies last week. There will be further meetings this week. As a matter of fact, I'll be doing some consultations this afternoon on the new $130 million program. We want to make sure it is targeted and will provide the assistance and relief that the travel agents need. We also know that our discount flight program is working. It will start— Opposition members interjecting— Mr TEHAN 210911 You might scoff, on the other side. But seriously, you scoffed on HomeBuilder. This is the feedback we've had already, and it hasn't even started yet. We have seen an over 40 per cent increase in bookings for Virgin and Qantas before the program has even started. Do you know why? It's because it's given confidence to peoples' will and want to travel, which is what it was designed to do. When it kicks off in April, my message to all Australians is: grab those discount flights and do so through your travel agents. That way not only will you be helping the broader travel industry you'll be helping travel agents as well. Australian Floods 31 15:00 Mr THOMPSON 281826 Herbert My question is for the Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia. Will the minister outline to the House the work and research Geoscience Australia has been undertaking to support and assist our communities in managing the impact of floods? 15:00 Mr PITT 148150 Hinkler I thank the honourable member for Herbert for his question. What we're seeing through New South Wales, Queensland and other areas at the moment in terms of floods is absolutely devastating. I know the member for Herbert as a candidate was out on the ground in the Townsville floods, filling sandbags and talking to communities. I want to commend all of those individuals who are out there putting their lives at risk, who are out assisting communities, whether they are the SES, other emergency services or community members themselves. I come from a community that has suffered similar devastation, as many members in this place do. For my mob, I know that what's currently going on is bringing back very bad memories for them. However, I'm very pleased to advise the House that, through one of the agencies of the Commonwealth, Geoscience Australia, we are actively supporting the emergency management at Australia's Crisis Coordination Centre during the current floods with world-class spatial support and information. Geoscience Australia is generating data from satellite imagery, including delineation and damage assessment maps and reports that are being used right now to assist in the emergency response. Geoscience Australia is providing access to the rapid damage assessments that will give the Crisis Coordination Centre the most accurate record of houses affected by floods. In addition, GA are compiling all of the imagery and data from these events into the Australian Flood Risk Information Portal to better prepare us for the future. Whilst we're in the middle of the response and there are Australians doing it very tough and in very difficult circumstances, we are looking to the recovery and we are looking to the future for resilience. Just because an area hasn't flooded in the past, doesn't mean that it won't flood in the future. It does not. So it's incredibly important that we map the characteristics of these floods as they occur. That's why GA is in there with that world-leading satellite data and flood mapping. Flood-mapping data from historical and recent flood events will be available for communities to make decisions about how they will rebuild and prepare for the next event. That's an important point. When it comes to resilience, we must bring communities with us on that journey into the future. Access to the Australian Flood Risk Information Portal, as well as the water observations from space, provides engineers and insurance planners with flood map information down to street level. That's so experts can better understand risks and take appropriate mitigation action. It is about local response and working with local communities and planning into the future in terms of resilience. Our agencies, including Geoscience Australia, are out there doing that right now. I want to commend our colleagues—and I say 'our' colleagues—who are out in their communities right now working very closely with those individuals who are affected. Right across government, we will continue to provide that support. Energy 31 15:03 Mr BOWEN DZS McMahon My question is for the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. I refer to the minister's pre-election commitment to spend $4 million of taxpayers' money to deliver a feasibility study for a Collinsville power plant. Can the minister confirm the Auditor-General's finding that the company said it couldn't deliver a feasibility study with this grant but the government gave the grant away anyway? Doesn't the Auditor-General's scathing finding confirm that this was a grant to deliver votes, not energy, and now it won't even deliver a piece of paper? 15:05 Mr TAYLOR 231027 Hume I thank the member for McMahon for his question, his first question in his new role after his predecessor was sacked. This is a question that relates to the coal industry. We know his views on the coal industry, but we took to the election a commitment to a feasibility study for new generation projects and other projects to support the stability and security of the grid in Queensland, based on work that was done that said that security needed to be looked after. We're supporting a 1.5 gigawatt hydro scheme at Urannah. We're working with the Queensland government on the electrification of Curtis Island. And, of course, there's the feasibility study that he, a moment ago, referred to. Let me be clear in response to his question: the department recommended the grant. The department made the unequivocal recommendation. Let me read from the ANAO report. It said that the two funding recommendations met the requirement for clear recommendations that funding be awarded to each applicant. That's what the department said, because, unlike those opposite, the department understands that Australia needs affordable, reliable generation in this country. It needs a balance of energy sources to do that, whether it's renewables, gas or coal. Those opposite are opposed to the reliable, affordable generation that Australians need. Trade 32 15:06 Ms FLINT 245550 Boothby My question is for the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is working to open up new trade opportunities for Australian businesses to create more jobs for more Australians? 15:06 Mr TEHAN 210911 Wannon I thank the member for Boothby for her question and for her advocacy for trade liberalisation. I know she believes how important it is, especially for regional Australia, that we continue to pursue open markets for our regional and rural exporters. Last night there was a meeting of the Ottawa Group, which is a small group of ministers who are committed to seeing World Trade Organization reform take place. We met with the new Director-General of the World Trade Organization. In only three weeks she has shown passion and commitment to making sure we drive World Trade Organization reform to make sure that the independent umpire is playing its role and is going to be key for driving further market liberalisation. All countries on that call were absolutely committed to giving the World Trade Organization back its pre-eminence and making sure it is a driver for good when it comes to market liberalisation. Under her stewardship, I'm absolutely confident that we are going to be able to see reform of the Appellate Body and important work done on things like fisheries subsidies, on agricultural subsidies and on access to health products. They're very important things that the global economy needs right at the moment. At the multilateral level, we are engaging and we are doing what we can to make sure we're going to get meaningful outcomes for our exporters. We're also pursuing huge opportunities bilaterally, both with the European Union and the United Kingdom. Our negotiators, when it comes to the United Kingdom free trade agreement, have just finalised the fourth round of negotiations. Good progress is being made on that free trade agreement. As all of us know, given what has happened historically, 50 years ago, to be able to bring our two economies back together in a way that we haven't seen for half a century would be fantastic not only for the Australian economy but also for the UK economy. I'm looking forward to continuing those negotiations. The tenth round of negotiations have also just concluded with the European Union. Once again, substantial progress was made. As a matter of fact, our chief negotiator Alison Burrows said to me that more progress was made in the tenth round than has been in the previous nine, so that's a really positive sign. This will open up 515 million consumers for Australian exporters. They're two incredibly important markets for us and they're two which will help our export growth and importantly drive jobs growth in this nation. (Time expired) Veterans: Suicide 32 15:09 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Now that both the House of Representatives and the Senate have called for the government to establish a royal commission into veterans' suicide, will he now respect the will of the people and our parliamentary democracy by unequivocally announcing that he will establish one? 15:10 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook As the Leader of the Opposition would know, I have never opposed the establishment of a royal commission. What we've been seeking to do as a government is to put in place a permanent statutory independent commission with the powers of a royal commission to address these issues. I have made it very clear in the way that the government has responded to that motion that we do intend to go down this path, but I'm working through those issues currently. I'm also working with crossbenchers in the Senate, because I believe that both of these mechanisms are very important. I would call on the opposition to support the government's bill that deals with the independent statutory commission; that can ensure that we have actions and powers in place now as well. I would invite the opposition to support that— Mr Gosling 245392 It won't work! The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Solomon! Mr MORRISON E3L I would invite them to join us in that. I think that both measures can support veterans, which is what I think we all want. Kennedy Electorate: Hughenden Irrigation Scheme 33 15:11 Mr KATTER HX4 Kennedy Prime Minister, is it 93 per cent of Australia's surface area that is populated by fewer than one million people? Your government's 20,000-hectare Hughenden irrigation scheme will create 200 farms and a pastoral paradise for 500 families. Won't 15 other such schemes support over 200,000 people into inland Australia? Is not the Hughenden model critical to the creation of a new and more wonderful nation? 15:11 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook The short answer to that question is yes. Certainly, I will take the specifications that the member has outlined, as he has read them out. This is a big project; it is a nation-building project and a nation-changing project, particularly for North Queensland, a part of the country that was so ravaged two years ago. Today, we're seeing the floods which are ravaging New South Wales, South-East Queensland and other parts of the country, and, increasingly, over the next few days we'll see it in parts of inland Australia. Two years ago it was in North Queensland, and I want to thank the member for his support as we stood together in facing that great challenge up there in North Queensland. The recovery effort that has come into place now in that part of the country is a great testament to the wonderful people of North Queensland and those in his electorate. The Commonwealth has provided some $10 million towards a detailed business case, due to be completed by February 2022. The member knows, as I know, that I would like to see this done as soon as possible and for things to move as quickly as they possibly can. The Queensland government has said that they will only consider co-funding once a detailed business case is completed, so we are getting on with that work. The project is managed by the NQWIA. The preliminary business case examines multiple configurations and capacity options, and proposes the development of a rockfill embankment with a clay core adjacent to the Flinders River and the Saego Station. This will create an off-stream water storage facility in the order, as the member has said, of 200,000 megalitres. The proposed off-stream water storage facility will enable 84,000 megalitres per year, with a yield of some 80 per cent reliability, to support an irrigation area of up to 10,000 hectares of diversified crops over the extensive grasslands of the southern side of the Flinders River. The member is correct and, if he might indulge me: if Dame Mary—Aunt Mary—were alive today she would write a verse about this project. I'm sure the member would be very apt at being able to recite it. On that note, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper. PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 33 PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 15:13 Mr KATTER HX4 Kennedy I wish to make a personal explanation. The SPEAKER 10000 Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented? Mr KATTER HX4 Yes. The SPEAKER 10000 Please proceed. Mr KATTER HX4 The member for Moreton claimed that it was my legislation that led to the current situation with First Australians. The complete and utter opposite is true. There were 700 people employed in Indigenous housing. All houses were built exclusively by local Indigenous labour. Your government, member for Moreton, abolished the scheme and wiped out 740 jobs— The SPEAKER 10000 No, the member for Kennedy needs to go to where he was misrepresented. Mr KATTER HX4 Right. Well, he said that it was my legislation. The SPEAKER 10000 And you've made that point. Mr KATTER HX4 My legislation was abolished, and I'll be very specific: the land legislation, which they called—I'm embarrassed because I had nothing to do with it really—the Katter leases, was for freehold inalienable type of leases. I doubt whether a hundred leases have been granted since the legislation, my legislation, was overturned. So he's wrong on every single count as far as house building goes, as far as land ownership goes and as far as jobs go. We were sailing, and they sunk the ship. They sunk the ship. The SPEAKER 10000 The member for Kennedy has made his point where he was misrepresented. MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE 33 MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE Energy 33 15:16 The SPEAKER 00APG I have received a letter from the honourable member for McMahon proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The Government's mismanagement of the energy portfolio. I call upon all those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places. More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places— 15:16 Mr BOWEN DZS McMahon For most governments and for most ministers having an Auditor-General's report which finds the misuse of millions of dollars of taxpayers' money would be a scandal. For this government it's called Thursday and for this minister it doesn't even touch the side. We heard him in question time: 'Nothing to see! All tickety-boo!' Three million dollars was given to a company which told the minister they couldn't do a feasibility study; he wouldn't take no for an answer, he was so determined to give away taxpayer dollars. This report, which was released after the parliament rose last Thursday, should be categorised by the Parliamentary Library under 'H' for 'horror stories'. Even by this minister's standards, this is a damning indictment of his mismanagement. This report finds that the allocation of the funding was not fully informed by an appropriate assessment process and sound advice on the award of grant funding. It found that there was no probity framework covering the entire program and that appropriate arrangements had not been implemented to manage conflicts of interest. It found that Sion energy, as I said, told the government they couldn't deliver. It found that the department told the minister that there were real risks that the project would not be delivered. And it found that this company, which the minister was so determined to give almost $4 million to, had assets of $100 and debts of $70,000 with no other form of income. They have never delivered a coal-fired power station, let alone any other type of energy facility, yet this minister was very determined to give taxpayer money away. When a government is soaked in scandal, it's our country that pays the price. When a government is so obsessed with spin and survival over policies and priorities, it's our country that pays the price. This government and this building are dealing with the most serious of issues at the moment. The most important thing is to ensure that women feel safe and valued in our national capital and in our national parliament. It's vitally important, and this minister will not use it as an alibi for his mismanagement. This minister will not use it as an excuse for his mismanagement. This is a minister who is a walking advertisement for the need for a national integrity commission in this country. This minister is a walking advertisement for the need for a federal ICAC. Our country pays the price for his maladministration of his portfolio. To understand the context of the Auditor-General's report, we need to go back a little to the last election campaign. We need to go back to the Liberal and National parties telling the people of North Queensland and Australia that they had an answer for Australia's energy needs: it was a coal-fired power station in North Queensland. There were some on that side who said it shouldn't happen. There were members and cabinet ministers who said it will never happen. The member for New England said it was a firm commitment. He said there would be a coal-fired power station in Collinsville; he talked up that commitment. They were at war about whether to have a coal-fired power station in Collinsville. They knew that the private sector would never fund such an investment. They knew the private sector would never invest in a coal-fired power station in Collinsville or anywhere else. So these free market warriors, these protectors of our free enterprise system, came up with a cunning plan, a taxpayer funded coal-fired power station! But the minister at the table couldn't get the commitment to build it. So he promised decisive action, a feasibility study funded by the taxpayer! So this maladministration started with dishonesty. The Auditor-General's report confirms, for anybody who's interested, that this was all about getting votes from North Queensland, not delivering energy to North Queensland. The people of Collinsville were promised a coal-fired power station. Now they're not even going to get a piece of paper for the $3 million which has been expended. This all comes down to the fundamental dishonesty of the government in the lead-up to the last election campaign. We in this chamber are all used to 'Taylor-made scandals'; we've seen them and heard about them. What the minister at the table hasn't learned in dealing with these Taylor-made scandals is the old lesson that the cover-up is normally even worse than the crime. The minister told us at question time that everything's fine, tickety-boo: 'We may have spent $3 million, and we're not even going to get a feasibility study, but, apart from that, the project worked perfectly well. The surgery went very well. The patient may have died but the operation was a success,' the minister told us. His other alibi is that, all the way through, he was informed by an independent strategic study. This independent strategic study apparently told the minister he had no choice but to go down this road: 'It had to be done. We needed a coal-fired power station. We needed the feasibility study. We need to do this because of the independent strategic study.' That's very interesting given that the minister announced the study in March 2019 but commissioned the independent strategic study seven months later. And the Auditor-General pointed out that, as of last January, he had not yet been briefed on the independent strategic study, which he had regarded as so important for this decision. All of this has a real cost for our country and all of this is part of a pattern of behaviour by this minister. It's all part of a pattern of behaviour by this minister who, as a priority, engages in sledging the Sydney City Council based on the latest and best information he has at hand—which he downloaded from a website and has never really fessed up about where he got it from or who gave it to him. This is a minister who's very quick to get access to other cabinet ministers about things which are important to him. But is he so quick to get access to cabinet ministers about things that are important to Australia? What is important to Australia, as we've been talking about on this side of the House, are the opportunities of getting energy policy right in this country, the opportunities of actually getting emissions and energy prices down—because that's what good climate change policy and good industry policy, working together, do. What is important are the opportunities for manufacturing in Australia, the opportunities for getting energy prices down, the opportunities for regional Australia—those areas which have built our country through cheap and reliable energy, who are the same places who can deliver cheap and reliable energy into the few future with the right policies; those areas with access to ports and railway lines and pipelines, with space for renewable infrastructure. They are the areas that can build our future. They are the areas that can power our economy into the future but they need policies. They need the right policy framework. They need a minister focused on the job at hand. They need a minister who understands the opportunities, not a minister who dishonestly plays games with the people of North Queensland—before the last election—and can't even implement that dishonesty with a degree of professionalism. This minister can't even implement a feasibility study without the Auditor-General finding the need to bring out a report—which is very innocuously named Award of funding under the Supporting the Reliable Energy Infrastructure Program, but is a damning indictment of him and his management of his portfolio. This is a minister who told us the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Bill was a milestone for Australia. His personal talisman, his great legacy that he was going to leave—a milestone for Australia. It has been introduced into the House. We've all spoken on it. It's all been processed. I wake up every morning and I get the House of Representatives blue thinking, 'Maybe today's the day where it's going to come on for a vote. Maybe today's the day where we can see how the vote will go.' No, the minister doesn't bring it on for a vote. I have to say to you, Mr Deputy Speaker, we'll never see it again. We will never see the bill again, because this minister is too incompetent to deliver it. He can't even deliver government policy, a bill to this chamber, let alone a policy for the country. He can't even deliver a framework for investment for our country. The people of regional Queensland deserve better. The people of North Queensland deserve better. The people of Australia deserve better. They're not going get it while this government is in office. They're certainly not going to get it while this minister is in office. 15:26 Mr TAYLOR 231027 Hume What a tawdry performance from the member for McMahon. What else would you expect from the member from McMahon? It was absolutely tawdry. He is the shadow minister who wanted to tax Australians out of existence. Now he wants to impose a carbon tax. We all know it. He only got the job because his predecessor was sacked. His predecessor, the member for Hindmarsh, was sacked. One of the member for Hindmarsh's own colleagues—he might be over there actually, who knows?—called him, 'as useless as a vegan in a butcher shop'. That's a quote. Here are some more glowing reviews of the policies we're seeing from those opposite. We hear Tony Maher describing those policies as, 'a gratuitous insult to the workers and communities whose livelihoods depend on them'. That's been reflected in comments from the AWU. They took a very similar dim view to Labor's policies on energy. We had a former Victorian Labor minister who named the member for Hindmarsh as one of the two people who lost Labor the last election—I think the other one is just over there—thanks to their economy-wrecking targets. The member for Hunter had it right on this issue, when he was talking about energy policy from those opposite, 'It hasn't turned out very well for us'. Well, it hasn't, because the member for McMahon's got the job now, not so ably supported by the member for Shortland, who helped put together Labor's carbon tax with Greg Combet. We all know about that. A sneaky carbon tax now though. He's moved away from an explicit one. Now he wants it to be a sneaky one. I remember sitting, waiting to go on to be interviewed on ABC regional radio several years ago and there was a member for Shortland, who was asked about whether their policy was a carbon tax. He said, 'an implicit carbon tax'. That's what those opposite want to do. When I look to whether a policy is working I look at the outcomes. What we're seeing is a record eight consecutive quarters of year-on-year CPI reductions—a 9.2 per cent reduction in the last 12 months alone. I did a comparison with what we saw under Labor and the time they were in government: 23 consecutive quarters of CPI electricity price increases. The best quarter, the lowest increase, was 6.8 per cent in March 2009. The worst was in June 2012—they were building momentum like a snowball—an 18.5 per cent increase in one quarter. The average over their time was a 12 per cent increase. That's not over the whole time they were in government; that's each quarter. That is the comparison. We've seen a 50 per cent wholesale price reduction since 2018, in the time since I've been the minister. We've seen the lowest December quarter wholesale prices since 2014. Unlike those opposite we are lowering prices, while they raised them. Of course, central to that is more gas into our system, unlocking supply, efficient transportation and empowering customers. We've seen a 40 per cent reduction in the gas price; it is 40 per cent lower than it was in 2019. This is delivering results. I'll come back to that in a moment. Before I do, we are achieving that at the same time as we are reducing emissions. We beat our Kyoto era targets by 459 million tonnes—almost a year's worth of emissions. Over the last two years alone we've improved our performance on emissions by 630 million tonnes; that's the equivalent of taking every car in this country off the road for 15 years, but we don't have to do that. Those opposite would do that; that's the kind of policy they would champion. But we don't need to do that. We, indeed, will strengthen and do strengthen our economy as we bring down emissions. Between 2005 and 2018 our emissions fell faster than Canada's and New Zealand's; theirs were flat. Ours are now down 19 per cent. Indeed, in the domestic economy there is a 36 per cent reduction. We have faster reductions than Japan and the United States. Mr Conroy interjecting— Mr TAYLOR 231027 I'll take that interjection. Those opposite hate our exports. The member for Shortland lives in a region that is a coal exporter, and he hates the coal industry. Mr Conroy interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265991 The minister will pause. The member for Shortland is warned. Any other members who don't want to be in the chamber for any subsequent divisions post this MPI are warned they won't be. Mr TAYLOR 231027 The member for McMahon, who is pretending that he likes the coal industry, went up to Queensland, visited a metallurgical coalmine and refused to do any media so that he could come back to the coffee shops of Sydney and Melbourne and explain to people that he in fact doesn't support the coal industry after all—just like his colleague the member for Shortland, who never supported the coal industry and is quite happy to see his constituents losing their jobs. The member for McMahon mentioned the ANAO report. I make the very simple point that the ANAO report recognises that the department made a clear recommendation that the funding be approved. He can say whatever he likes but that was a clear recommendation, and it is focused on making sure we have the secure, reliable, affordable supply that Australians need. Ultimately this is about protecting jobs and creating opportunities for Australia—not destroying jobs, like those opposite would have us do. The strength of our commitment to jobs and opportunities for all Australians was demonstrated just last week, on Friday, when the Prime Minister announced a package alongside the energy generators for the Portland aluminium smelter that will secure 500 jobs. Those are direct jobs for the Portland aluminium smelter. Mr Bowen interjecting— Mr TAYLOR 231027 I'll take the interjection from the member opposite—150 jobs, from a single contractor who I met this morning who will benefit. Mr Bowen interjecting— Mr TAYLOR 231027 That's right—150 jobs that will be protected, because they provide contractors to the Portland aluminium smelter. The member for McMahon wouldn't know that, because, as the member for Hunter has said, he's got his training wheels on. We'll provide up to $77 million as part of that package over four years to secure Portland's participation in reducing energy demand at peak times. This is a unique role that aluminium smelters can play, but those opposite wouldn't understand. Certainly, the member for McMahon, with his training wheels on, wouldn't have a clue. What you can do with an aluminium smelter is make sure you keep the lights on and keep prices down at those peak demand times, and that's what we're recognising in this package. But it's alongside very aggressive, low wholesale electricity prices that were offered by the electricity generators as part of this package, and that is only possible because of the policies of this government to make sure we have affordable reliable energy in this country, in stark contrast to what we saw from those opposite when they were last in power. We saw shining examples of mismanagement from those opposite when they were last in office. Indeed, based on the work of the member for Shortland, of course, and with the strong encouragement of the member for McMahon who wrote about this in glowing terms in his book, Labor in partnership with the Greens imposed a carbon tax that destroyed the Kurri Kurri aluminium smelter, ending the careers of more than 300 people. It shut and announced its closure in the time when those opposite had imposed a carbon tax. This is the same carbon tax that the member for McMahon has gone out of his way to defend. He has never seen a tax he didn't like, whether it's a housing tax or a retiree tax, and now he's been put in this job to put in place a carbon tax, because what he loves more than anything else is taxing Australians. 15:36 Mr CONROY 249127 Shortland What a weak effort from a weak minister! I see he didn't have the guts to mention Shine Energy even once, and there's a good reason for that. It's because, as Kerry Packer said, you only get one Alan Bond in your life, and Shine Energy only got one member for Hume in their life. Just imagine that you're Shine Energy. You're a company that's got $100 in the bank and you happen to owe $70,000 to everyone else. You've got $100 and you owe $70,000 and, along comes the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, who says, 'Take $3.3 million off me.' Shine Energy say, 'Hold on, no. I'm sorry.' In a fit of honesty, they say, 'Even if you give us the money, we can't do this study,' but the member for Hume, being the upstanding minister that he is, says: 'I insist. Take this $3.3 million.' What a joke! What a very lucky company to have run into the minister for energy in that corridor. The tragedy is knowing what we could have done with that $3.3 million. That would have paid electricity bills for 2½ thousand struggling families in my electorate in Windale, for example. I'm sure every MP sitting here knows of families who struggle to pay electricity bills every day, and that money could have been used for them. It was interesting that the minister started quoting CPI statistics from the ABS. I went and had a look at those stats before question time. The minister always get very selective about when he starts the time series. What if you actually go back to when they won government, because they haven't been in power for only two years. They've had three prime ministers; they had to kill two prime ministers before we got the current one. They've been in power for almost eight years, and what has occurred on electricity prices in that period? Electricity prices since 2012-13 have gone up by 16.4 per cent. They haven't fallen, despite the minister's protestations; they have gone up by 16.4 per cent. That is a direct hit to the budget of every single family in this country. What about wholesale energy prices? He had some other rubbish statistic that he was quoting there. According to the Australian Energy Regulator, wholesale spot prices in New South Wales in that period, for example, have increased by 50 per cent. So, during this period, we've had retail prices up 16 per cent and wholesale prices—the cost of generating electricity—up by 50 per cent. This minister is a joke. He is a joke who has presided over power prices going through the roof. At the same time, he's presided over renewable energy investment going through the floor. Since 2017, renewable energy investment has fallen by 80 per cent. One would say it's incompetence, but I actually think it's the minister's intention, because this is the same minister who said in 2018 there was 'already too much wind and solar in the grid'. So, clearly, he had a policy goal to destroy it. He has also said that the new climate religion 'has little basis in fact' and he said of large-scale wind that 'it's very clear that it's not economic on any grounds'. He has certainly worked very hard to make sure it's not very economic. This is a minister who has driven prices up and renewable energy investment through the floor. He attacked Labor's hydrogen policy before the last election and stole it after the election. An opposition member: He'll botch it. Mr CONROY 249127 And he is botching it. This is a minister who is part of a government that's had 22 energy policies in eight years, including four in 14 days. There was this glorious period in the middle of August 2018 when they had four energy policies in 14 days. Think about that. Think about the innovation and creativity, to change policies four times in 14 days. What about emissions? The minister brags about emissions. This is another one where the minister cherrypicks data. The truth is that in the six years Labor was in government we cut greenhouse gas emissions by 93 million tonnes. In the eight years they've been in power they have, thanks to the member for New England, who was the policy powerhouse of this government, cut greenhouse gas emissions by nine million tonnes—nothing close to ours. The tragedy is that under this government emissions have stagnated—they're not falling; emissions have stagnated—power prices have gone up and our renewable energy investment has fallen through the floor. This is the tragedy of an incompetent minister who can't even hand over money to a Queensland company properly. They will be condemned by history for this incompetence. (Time expired) 15:41 Mr PITT 148150 Hinkler I've got to say, I walked into this MPI with the normal expectations, and they've been fulfilled by those opposite. Usually you can sit here and listen to a couple of those opposite make a few notes and come forward with some points to push back on what it is they're putting forward. I made a few notes about what they're talking about, and all I've got is 'Angus, Angus, Angus, Angus, Angus, Angus, Angus, Angus, Angus'—not a lot; not a lot at all about process, about policy, about what they propose. We hear a lot about feasibility studies for the north. Well, we can say very clearly that our government has delivered on our election commitments. A feasibility study is about one thing, and that's determining whether a project is feasible. That's why you line up engineers. That's why you talk to people. That's why you put together business cases. A feasibility study is about the feasibility of a particular project. So, I thought, given that there's not much in anything they've said, I could move to the other piece, which is of course the differential, the split in those opposite when it comes to coal. But unfortunately the member for Hunter got up and walked out as well. He wasn't too interested in what was going on. So, I've lost one—the member for Hunter versus the rest, and the Otis group. It's all out the door, because the debate from those opposite is about one thing and one thing only: it's about coal workers and the coal industry, and they cannot bring themselves to support them. This is an industry that delivers tens of thousands of jobs to regional Australia—billions of dollars into the Australian economy. It's what these individuals use to pay for their houses, to pay their mortgages and to put their kids through school, and it should be supported by both sides of the parliament. We hear a lot about the future of the coal sector, and I can tell you that the forecast I have is that there will continue to be increased demand for at least the next 10 years—at least—and even if there is some reduction over the next few decades it is not going to be significant. The reason we will continue to drive coal exports from this country is pretty straightforward: we have one of the best-quality products in the world. It is in demand right around the world. It has a high calorific content. It tends to be low-sulphur and low-ash. That is why individual companies in other countries use our coal—because it is some of the best. It should be supported by both sides of the parliament, not demonised, as it is by those opposite. Quite simply, they cannot land a position. Our plan around the technology road map is about utilising technology for the benefit of the Australian people based on the resources we have in this country—resources that have been granted to us, which we will continue to utilise for the benefit of all those individuals in Australia. And we should continue to do that, because it drives so many jobs across the resources sector—some 264,000. What do those opposite have to say about coal? Their current deputy leader said it would be a good thing if thermal coal prices collapsed. I don't think that would be good news for the individuals who work in the resources sector every single day. We want them to have a job. In fact, at the moment thermal coal prices are up. The spot price today is over $90. That is good news for Australia's thermal coal producers. Once again I see the member for McMahon has wandered off. He spent a lot of time wandering around Queensland in recent weeks. I am sure he had a guide with him; he wouldn't find his way to a mine otherwise! But I do welcome the fact that the member for McMahon has gone to a mine to inform himself about the hard work of those individuals in the resources sector. As we continue to come through the effects of the pandemic, the resources sector has been the shining light of our economy. That is off the back of the hard work of the men and women that are in it. They are the ones who have been out there doing the hard yards. They've been away from their families and children. They are the ones who have been in isolation for long periods and doing longer shifts. I've got to tell you that I know they are getting tired. They are currently fatigued. There have been some significant challenges, particularly around proposals to shut, and I think that is likely to come to a head soon. I support the resources sector. I support the work that we are doing around energy. I certainly support the minister for energy and the things he is trying to do around gas, because we need to continue to ensure we keep prices low and that electricity is reliable for those that utilise it, particularly in heavy industry. We know that those opposite are absolutely riven. They do not know what to do. They are torn. They do not support the resources sector, and those people out there don't believe a word they say. 15:46 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley Let's perhaps take a step back from the machismo of calling each other names for a moment and talk about what we need in Australia, which is an energy policy— A government member interjecting— Ms MURPHY 133646 I'm sorry; am I interrupting your conversation with yourself? The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265991 The member will direct her comments through the chair. Ms MURPHY 133646 Yes. I was just wondering whether I was interrupting the member's conversation with himself there. What we need in this country is an energy policy that fosters renewable energy and promotes it, that reduces emissions and that reduces energy and electricity prices. What we need in this country is an energy policy that lasts. Let's just go to a term of government, shall we? Let's start with a term of government. The fact of the matter is that over the last eight years there have been 22 energy policies. Why is that so bad? Apart from the instability that it gives to the market that this government professes to love so much, the instability that it gives to investors and the instability that it gives to the Australian public, 22 energy policies in eight years have given this country higher electricity prices. Retail electricity prices, as the member for Shortland has said, have increased by 16.4 per cent under this government, which has to stop trying to pretend it only just got elected. Twenty-two energy policies in eight years has led to increases in wholesale electricity prices of up to 50 per cent. These are numbers. I'll tell you who aren't numbers: the pensioners in my electorate of Dunkley who contact me all of the time wondering how they're going to keep the heat on in winter because they can't afford to pay for their electricity. I'll tell you who aren't numbers: it's the age pensioners in Dunkley who swelter through summer because they can't afford to put on an air conditioner. Or, if they do, they can't afford to buy food. They're real people; they're not just numbers. What have 22 energy policies in eight years delivered for this country? Higher greenhouse emissions. You know, the actual annual emissions in this country remain nearly four per cent above the low point of March 2014. For the six years the Labor Party was in government, greenhouse emissions were cut by 93 million tonnes and in eight years, as the member for Shortland said, this government has reduced them by nine million tonnes. That's what you get with 22 energy policies in eight years. Here's a tip to the Minister and the government: those emissions and electricity costs are supposed to be going down, and renewable energy investment and delivery is supposed to be going up and it's not because this government isn't supporting it and it's not delivering it. It's bad for the economy, it's bad for the environment and it's bad for people. You must care about one of those three things—the environment, the economy or people. We on this side care about all three of them. That's why we have to have a modern energy policy. That's why we need to have an electricity grid that is fit for purpose now and for the energy delivery of the future. You don't hear this government talking about implementing the AEMO's report about rewiring our electricity grid for the jobs, to support renewables, for the good of the future. That's what we want in my electorate of Dunkley. We don't want this machismo of yelling and defending yourselves. 15:51 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins As a scientist, I know that it is vital we take ambitious and practical action on climate change. As the member for Higgins, with approximately 28,000 small and family businesses across my electorate, I understand the need for guaranteed access to low-cost energy. That is why the Morrison government has a clear and comprehensive plan for affordable and reliable energy that simultaneously ensures a green sustainable future for all Australians. We on this side of the House are not focused on the 'if' we get there but on 'how' we get there. And we will get there by unleashing the capabilities of the new technologies that are coming to light. As the global economy transitions, a future of net-zero carbon emissions is what we are committed to. We will support that by also supporting the electricity grid security, providing low-cost energy to consumers and therefore protecting the future of our planet. That is why the Morrison government has developed Australia's first technology road map. We understand that prioritising new and emerging technologies will support the creation of 130,000 jobs and assist in our recovery from the COVID-19 recession. This approach will see the development and deployment of low-emissions technology supported by businesses, customers and the free market. Those opposite don't have a single plan or policy to reduce emissions. It's all talk on that side, not action. Not only does our plan complement our future obligations which we will again meet and beat but also provides a clear pathway for business, industry and entrepreneurs to thrive. Vitally this will be achieved through technology, not taxes. There is no doubt that the optimal means to achieve our ambitious targets to tackle emissions is to harness innovation, technology and enterprise. We on this side understand that energy prices are critical to business. We've put energy companies on notice with the introduction of our big-stick legislation. This includes electricity caps for families and small businesses and the ban we have placed on unreasonable late payment fees. Importantly, these measures are achieving results. Report after report is telling us that the Morrison government's plan is working, with wholesale electricity prices falling for 18 consecutive months. Prices are now at their lowest level in six years and this is because of our actions to back in businesses. With wholesale costs making up approximately a third of residential electrical bills and even more for industry, these savings are being passed on to hundreds of thousands of families and small businesses across Australia. They have benefitted directly from the reforms that we have put in place, including almost 28,000 small businesses across Higgins who all rely on more affordable energy. There are still better deals to be had, and I encourage my constituents and businesses in Higgins to find the best possible deal by going to the Energy Made Easy website. They can shop around for the best possible deal so that they have access to the affordable and reliable energy that they require and that we have made possible through our big-stick legislation. On this side of the House we realise the importance of practical action on climate change. It's not some sort of pie-in-the-sky concept where, hopefully, we'll get there in the future; this is about getting there with practical, costed plans. In 2020 the Morrison government exceeded our achievement of the 2005 Kyoto targets by 459 million tonnes. We have also seen Australian emissions fall faster than the average of G20 countries and fall at a much greater compared rate to our New Zealand neighbours, or even our Canadian friends. They have barely budged on their reductions in emissions. Moreover, the recently released December 2020 forecast further demonstrates our credentials on climate action, with Australia on track to meet and beat our 2030 Paris targets. Indeed, over the past two years our position against 2030 targets has improved by 630 million tonnes. That's the equivalent of taking all of Australia's 14 million cars off the road for 15 years. Make no mistake, this is important stuff. Our plan is delivering results—results for energy which hit the three targets of being affordable and reliable while also driving down emissions. This is a plan, and it's working. 15:56 Mr JOSH WILSON 265970 Fremantle It is hard to believe that a third-term, eight-year-old government cannot manage to settle a national energy policy. That would be extraordinary at any time in our history. It is extraordinarily harmful to be in that position at the time when Australia and the rest of the world are going through an energy transformation. We're going through that transformation in order to combat dangerous climate change and in order to set the foundation for a 21st century economy based on clean and affordable energy and based on new energy investment, innovation and jobs. We are blessed in this country with the highest-quality natural resources, when it comes to clean energy innovation, and the highest-quality human resources. We are lucky to be in that position. We should be a renewable energy superpower and, in time to come, we should be a renewable energy exporter. It's inevitable that the world will go down that path and Australia actually has a lot to gain from leading the way internationally and in our region. But we're not on that track because we have a government that cannot settle a national energy policy. If you ask people out in the community what a national energy policy would mean to them, they would say, 'It's the kind of basic administrative competence and leadership I expect of my government in order to deliver cheap and affordable energy and in order to lower emissions and combat climate change.' For those opposite, settling a national energy policy is a euphemism for having some almighty ding-dong battle that results in the demise of the latest Prime Minister. Every single time they have had even half enough courage to approach that task, that has been the result. If upon coming into government they had simply left the settings, programs and policies that Labor had put in place we would be in a lot better position than we are now. Unfortunately, it hasn't even been as good as that; it hasn't even been as good as them hopping in the vehicle and leaving the satnav set as it was. Instead, they have actively undermined the progress that was made under the previous Labor government. They have attempted to defund the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and they have attempted to distort and pervert the Clean Energy Finance Corporation at every opportunity. That's something that is in train in this parliament at the moment: they have extreme members of the coalition backbench hoping to pin amendments onto that bill so that it becomes capable of funding coal-fired power and even nuclear energy, which is just utterly ridiculous. They've abandoned the Renewable Energy Target, but they talk about the progress that has been made in relation to renewable energy, which has been achieved entirely by the trailing value of Labor's reforms—the CFC, ARENA and the Renewable Energy Target, which, unfortunately, was allowed to run out last year. They've done nothing yet to address grid stability and transmission capability and investment. They currently have some discussion paper after eight years, three prime ministers, 21 aborted policies and God knows how many ministers. They have no electric vehicle policy. When it comes to liquid fuel security in this country, our liquid fuel demand is higher than in almost every other comparable OECD country. Our mining and agricultural sectors are 90 per cent reliant on diesel fuel and our transport sector as a whole is 99 per cent reliant on liquid fuels, yet we have an uptake of electric vehicles that is one-seventh the rate of countries like Canada and the United States. Our energy security is at risk, not least because of the policy failures and inaction of this government. When it comes at the end of the day to the absolutely critical area of energy policy and the national management of our energy transformation, the only conclusion the Australian people can reach, sadly, is that the government has been worse than useless. If it had done nothing and left the settings it inherited as they were, we would be in a better position than we are now. This government has gone out of its way to cut support, to gut programs, to play games and to indulge in ridiculous scare campaigns around electric vehicles. It has subjected Australia to an energy policy blackout. It has been a stinking, pestilent wet blanket on energy policy in this country. What does that mean in the end? It means higher prices, higher emissions, no innovation and fewer jobs. 16:01 Mr THOMPSON 281826 Herbert It's a bit rich for those opposite to be harping on about energy policy and the cost of power when their colleagues in the Queensland state Labor government are continuing to ensure that people in North Queensland pay more than anywhere else in the country for power. An honourable member interjecting— Mr THOMPSON 281826 And WA. This is one of the top five issues raised with me every single day in the electorate. The cost of power is crippling people there. Ms Wells interjecting— Mr THOMPSON 281826 I'm happy to take the interjection from the member for Lilley, who lives in the south-east corner, which has competition to get a lower price. In North Queensland there is only one provider and it is owned by the state Labor government. We need competition in the north. I think that it's reasonable that somewhere like Townsville has competition to let the market decide and dictate power prices, like in Brisbane and in the south-east corner in the member for Lilley's electorate. If there's no competition, there's no opportunity to shop around for a better deal and there's no such thing as the standard offer, which means the federal government is left with very little opportunity to step in and help. This is something I wrote to the Premier about just weeks after being elected. I asked if we could introduce competition and I was told, flat out, no. It was not, 'Maybe.' It was not: 'Thank you for your correspondence. Let's work together.' It was not, 'How can we do better for the people of North Queensland?' It was just no. I urge those opposite to do the right thing and chat to their Queensland Labor colleagues in Brisbane and ask for competition in the market to drive down the prices in North Queensland. I think we can all agree that people in the north of Queensland and Western Australia deserve to have cheaper power prices. Because the lousy Labor state government in Queensland doesn't want to play ball we need to be doing what's right and be doing more in this space. We haven't sat by and done nothing. I've mentioned plenty of times in this place that we have backed CopperString 2.0. This is a massive project that starts in the electorate of Herbert and runs all the way out to Mount Isa. It's a major transmission line that will connect the north-west minerals province with the NEM, adding more supply to the market and driving down power prices for locals. We want people to invest in North Queensland. We want businesses to get out of the south-east corner and the capital and go to the regions. If power prices are too high, how do we get them there? CopperString will drive power prices down. One of the biggest problems we have with the Queensland state government's renewable energy policy is that all this money has been injected into renewable projects but it doesn't seem to worry too much about the infrastructure needed to connect them to the grid. For example, there's a new solar farm in my electorate, which generates a lot of power throughout the day, but the grid can't handle it when it's at full, so a lot of energy is completely wasted. CopperString 2.0 will connect up Mount Isa and Townsville as well as all the generators in between, along the line. We'll put a fair bit of money into it—$11 million—to assist CopperString to work up to their proposal to the point where an investment decision can be made. They've signed deals with two contractors to build the project, thanks to this investment. This is already sparking a bunch of other projects, with new players coming into the market knowing that this one is on the horizon. For example, yesterday it was reported that planning work for a $600 million Vast Solar renewable energy project in Mount Isa will begin soon. So, we're delivering in North Queensland in a very tangible way through CopperString 2.0. I've always said that we need to have a blended model when it comes to energy. We need to have renewable energy, we need to have coal, we need to have solar, we need to have wind and we need to back them all, because they create not just the energy market but also thousands of thousands of jobs. I also want to highlight that we will not be turning our back on the coal sector. We will be investing in new technologies while these continue to provide opportunities to the existing ones. In 2018 coal made up just over 75 per cent of Queensland's energy generation capacity. We can't just flick the switch off, and we won't just flick the switch off. It brings a lot of revenue, not just into my electorate and not just into the state but into the country. It also creates thousands of thousands of jobs. I know that a lot of people in this place, on both sides, support the mining and resource sector, and we will continue to back the coal and the resources that come with that. 16:06 Mrs PHILLIPS 147140 Gilmore We are facing one of the greatest challenges of our time, and the Morrison government is wasting precious time with its inaction. We need a clear and coherent energy plan, and we need it now. We are getting closer and closer to a real energy crisis. We know some of the ways we can address that crisis but, without guidance and support from the government, industry will continue to be backed against a wall. Climate change is a real and genuine threat. But moving towards a renewable energy future also holds a wealth of opportunity. What frustrates me more than anything with this government's failure on energy is the opportunity for job creation that we are wasting. This is going to take time. These industries won't pop up overnight. We won't suddenly become 100 per cent reliable on renewables tomorrow. It isn't possible—and, frankly, it would be irresponsible. This is what those opposite don't seem to understand. What we are talking about is a transition, and transitions take time. They take careful planning—making sure we help those who are moving out of old industries at the same time that we are helping people move into new ones. We have to build the skills, which means we have to have a healthy vocational educational system—yes, I am talking about TAFE, another aspect that this government and the New South Wales Liberal government also seem to be conveniently forgetting about. TAFE needs to play a critical role in this, training apprentices, teaching people the skills they need for the future. Education is essential. But even now we are seeing more and more funding being ripped out of TAFE and more and more jobs lost. It sounds like a different issue, but as a former TAFE teacher I can tell you it's not. It should all be forming part of the plan. But this government doesn't have a plan. I often feel like I'm yelling into a black void over so many things, because I can see the potential, I can see what needs to be done, and so can many in my community. In March I've spent a lot of time talking with organisations about energy. I learnt so much, and I was so proud of what I saw. I met with Phil from Innovate Energy at farmer Tim's farm; he is one of the farmers involved in Australia's first biogas waste energy plant, near Nowra. I've spoken about our cow poo energy project before, but I'm just so excited about it that I can't stop talking about it. Local farmers have been pushing to do this for years, and now it's becoming a reality. I got a first-hand run-through from Phil and Tim. There's another plant on its way, at Kangaroo Valley. Because of the work done by Shoalhaven City Council over many years to develop the Reclaimed Water Management System, which is another fabulous energy innovation, this will be up and running in no time—12 or more months—with South Coast dairy farmers leading the way on energy in Australia. Then there is Repower Shoalhaven, whose solar farm project is moving along so quickly. It is looking to be up and running by the end of the year. How fantastic is that! They have partnered with Flow Power. I was delighted to get an update only a couple of weeks ago on where things are at. Local businesses are excited to be involved, and it won't be long before the Shoalhaven solar farm becomes a real staple in our local energy market. I also met with the Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance in Moruya to talk about how they are helping the Far South Coast community become more energy resilient. They are focusing on strengthening the grid locally and, in only five days, they managed to secure 860 signatures in support of a feasibility study into microgrids across the Eurobodalla. This is remarkable, and it just goes to show that local people want to see us looking to our energy future and formulating a plan now that will help us build that future that will have all those mutual benefits for communities—job creation, lower power bills and addressing climate change. I want to sincerely thank all the local organisations who are working at this every day. Thank you to those who met with me over the last few weeks to show me how you are leading the way towards our energy future. Now it's time for the Morrison government to step up and do the same. 16:11 Mr STEVENS 176304 Sturt I always appreciate the opportunity to talk about energy policy in this House, particularly as a South Australian, given that we've had a rocky few years when it comes to reliability and prices. I would say that three fundamentals of an energy policy are a reliable system, a system that's affordable and one where you're reducing emissions, particularly against international agreements we are making. I will address each of those three elements in my contribution. Firstly, I will speak about reliability. In South Australia, we have had significant reliability issues in years gone by, and, thankfully, we seem to have moved beyond that. No-one from South Australia will forget the statewide blackout that happened in 2016. In early 2017, we had rolling load-shedding incidents that led the then government to have to purchase diesel generators to underpin our system. There's nothing worse than generating electricity through dirty diesel. But, when you don't plan for a reliable system and you don't have the firm base-load capacity in place, as was the situation that developed in South Australia, that's the sort of thing you have to resort to. Thankfully, we are progressing with an interconnector between South Australia and New South Wales which will give us around 850 megawatts of interconnection between those two grids, on top of the 800 megawatts we've got between South Australia and Victoria. That's obviously going to double the amount of electricity we can bring into the system. More importantly, South Australia can export out of the system, and that's going to unlock a lot of investment in South Australia. But, in terms of reliability, it's going to ensure that we will never risk a repeat of the situation we faced in 2016 when the entire grid collapsed. That sort of reliability is going to be fundamental for the other important challenges in energy policy for us. The second point is affordability. Thankfully, again, there have been good developments in the last few years since the change of government in South Australia. In the 2019 financial year, the wholesale price per megawatt hour was $109.80. In the 2020 financial year, it was $62.04. In this year to date—bearing in mind that we're towards the end of March, so we've gone through the summer period which usually puts the higher price pressures on—the average wholesale price is down to $36.48. So, in just three years, we've seen wholesale prices fall to one-third of what they were. That's a great story for families, a great story for businesses and a great story for future investment in the South Australian economy, because affordable electricity was one of the great strengths that South Australia brought to the proposition of attracting investment and job creation in our state, and it certainly can be a great strength again. I welcome those falls in prices. Of course, we have to be ever vigilant there. We need a lot more investment, but we're attracting that investment into South Australia because, with more generation, particularly on the back of the interconnector that we will have switched on, hopefully, by 2023, there's a sound opportunity not just to generate electricity in South Australia for the South Australian market but to export electricity into the rest of the National Electricity Market. That is going to ensure that we keep downward pressure on prices. But to have a wholesale megawatt-hour price of $36.48 in South Australia is truly remarkable. Finally: on reducing emissions. We're very lucky in this country and in my home state that we've had good investment in recent years and that we continue to have record investment in renewable energy. What is vital is that that's underpinned by firm, reliable dispatchable electricity so that all the renewable energy that we're putting into place is not just intermittent. That's fine when the wind is blowing or when the sun is shining, but it doesn't help you very much when neither of those factors are in place. I am particularly proud of the Commonwealth government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the work that we've been doing in supporting households investing in home-scale battery systems so that they connect those to rooftop solar. They can store energy when they're generating it and they can use it when they need it. This is one of the very practical examples of our technology-rather-than-taxes approach to reducing emissions and also to the other two pillars—reducing prices and ensuring reliability. I am very hopeful for the future of the electricity market in my home state and in this nation because of the Morrison government's approach to this and because we're focused on investing in and backing technology so that we can have that affordability and reliability, coupled with the emissions reductions we need into the future. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265991 The discussion has concluded. BUSINESS 43 BUSINESS Rearrangement 43 16:21 The SPEAKER 00APG In accordance with standing order 133, I shall now proceed to put the question on the motion moved earlier today by the member for Warringah on which a division was called for and deferred in accordance with standing orders. The question is that the motion moved by the honourable member for Warringah be disagreed to.

The House divided. [16:21]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)

 62 AYES Alexander, JG Allen, K Andrews, KJ Andrews, KL Archer, BK Bell, AM Broadbent, RE Buchholz, S Chester, D Christensen, GR Connelly, V Coulton, M Drum, DK (teller) Dutton, PC Entsch, WG Falinski, JG Fletcher, PW Flint, NJ Frydenberg, JA Gee, AR Goodenough, IR Hamilton, GR Hammond, CM Hastie, AW Hawke, AG Hunt, GA Irons, SJ Joyce, BT Kelly, C Laming, A Landry, ML Ley, SP Littleproud, D Liu, G Martin, FB McCormack, MF Morrison, SJ O'Brien, T O'Dowd, KD Pasin, A Pearce, GB Pitt, KJ Price, ML Ramsey, RE (teller) Robert, SR Sharma, DN Simmonds, J Stevens, J Sukkar, MS Taylor, AJ Tehan, DT Thompson, P Tudge, AE van Manen, AJ Wallace, AB Webster, AE Wicks, LE Wilson, RJ Wilson, TR Wyatt, KG Young, T Zimmerman, T 59 NOES Aly, A Bandt, AP Bird, SL Bowen, CE Burke, AS Burney, LJ Burns, J Butler, MC Butler, TM Chalmers, JE Champion, ND Clare, JD Claydon, SC Coker, EA Collins, JM Conroy, PM Dick, MD Dreyfus, MA Fitzgibbon, JA Freelander, MR (teller) Giles, AJ Gorman, P Gosling, LJ Haines, H Hayes, CP Hill, JC Jones, SP Katter, RC Kearney, G Keogh, MJ King, CF King, MMH Marles, RD McBain, KL McBride, EM Mitchell, RG Mulino, D Murphy, PJ O'Connor, BPJ O'Neil, CE Owens, JA Payne, AE Perrett, GD Phillips, FE Ryan, JC (teller) Sharkie, RCC Shorten, WR Smith, DPB Snowdon, WE Steggall, Z Swanson, MJ Thistlethwaite, MJ Thwaites, KL Vamvakinou, M Watts, TG Wells, AS Wilkie, AD Wilson, JH Zappia, A 14 PAIRS Coleman, DB Georganas, S Conaghan, PJ Rishworth, AL Evans, TM Chesters, LM Gillespie, DA Rowland, MA Hogan, KJ Albanese, AN Howarth, LR Byrne, AM Leeser, J Neumann, SK Marino, NB Husic, EN McIntosh, MI Stanley, AM Morton, B Khalil, P O'Brien, LS Leigh, AK Porter, CC Templeman, SR Vasta, RX Plibersek, TJ Wood, JP Mitchell, B

Question agreed to.

 COMMITTEES 45 COMMITTEES Agriculture and Water Resources Committee 45 Report 45 16:26 Mr RICK WILSON 198084 O'Connor On behalf of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources, I present the committee's report entitled Aussie logs for Aussie jobs: The inquiry into the timber supply chain constraints in the Australian plantation sector, together with the minutes of proceedings. Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e). Mr RICK WILSON 198084 by leave—The timber industry provides a vital source of income for regional Australia. It remains a key industry in many communities generating much needed employment and revenue yet the steady decline in the extent of the plantation estate has domestic supply chains under significant strain. Because plantations can take up to 30 years to mature, they require a long-term investment horizon. Business decisions made today will affect the industry for decades to come. As more and more land is removed from the estate, domestic processors will continue to face difficulties securing local timber supply. The recent devastation of the Black Summer bushfires has shown just how fragile supply chains can be. The Agriculture and Water Resources Committee acknowledges that reversing the decline in the plantation estate has been a goal of governments, both state and federal, for many years. However, it must be noted that to date these policies have had limited success. Though the committee welcomes the Australian government's plan to grow a billion new trees within the next decade, it has not yet resulted in a tangible expansion of the plantation estate. It is anticipated that plans to introduce a concessional loan scheme for new timber plantations will improve the viability of potential projects and help drive future investment. The committee therefore urges the government to proceed with this scheme for the betterment of this estate. The committee also welcomes the establishment of nine regional forestry hubs across Australia. This will ensure that new plantations are located where they can be harvested economically and will avoid the previous shortcomings of the managed investment schemes. The committee has heard calls from industry to establish two additional hubs in the Northern Territory and south-east New South Wales. It recommends that the hub model be extended to these locations. Notwithstanding the positive steps taken by governments to strengthen the domestic supply chains, it is clear more needs to be done if the timber industry in Australia is to flourish in the future. Fortunately, opportunities abound for meaningful change in the sector which will benefit processors and producers alike. The committee was pleased to take evidence from industry experts and stakeholders who believe that many present challenges can be met with sound solutions. From greater investment in Australia's forestry research and development capabilities, farm forestry, and exciting new possibilities presented by carbon storage initiatives, the industry is ripe for innovation and growth. Australia is a net timber importer, importing timber valued at nearly $6 billion and exporting timber valued at nearly $4 billion. While the committee does not suggest we dispense with export markets, the size of the figures involved gives a sense of the growth opportunities available to the processing sector if they could access the supply they need to support investment and drive growth. The lack of transparency in softwood pricing is illustrative of the current challenges which could be remedied with appropriate action. The committee was pleased to hear from producers that they aim to prioritise domestic processing wherever possible. Processors stress that they are willing to pay fair prices if only they can determine what those fair prices are. However, one key difficulty facing processors is their inability to accurately ascertain export prices for the timber they want to purchase. One solution to this problem could lie in the development of a voluntary code of conduct for the timber industry to facilitate long-term supply contracts between producers and processors. For the mutual benefit of both, it is anticipated that such an arrangement would better support the growth of an efficient domestic processing sector, while reducing the risk to plantation owners inherent in relying on export markets alone. The committee believes that it is not the role of government to be involved in contract negotiations unless there is clear market failure. This is not the case, so it maintains that such a code should be generated by the industry itself, but recommends that stakeholders be supported by the Australian government in this worthy endeavour. A sensible solution such as this should go a long way to overcoming the complex challenges which have hindered the domestic timber industry for too long. From the evidence gathered by the committee, there is no doubt the Australian timber industry can grow once again and, indeed, thrive. In conclusion, I recommend the report to all members of the parliament. I would like to thank the many organisations and individuals who contributed to this inquiry, in particular, Ross Hampton and the Australian Forest Products Association. And I particularly want to mention Mr Peter Badenoch of Mount Gambier, who took the time to convey to me his enormous understanding of and passion for the timber industry and its importance to his community. I would also like to thank my fellow committee members for their constructive contributions and, last but by no means least, the inquiry secretary, Tim Brennan, who has now moved onto the Parliamentary Library, and the committee secretary, Jenny Adams, for their assistance throughout the inquiry. I commend the report to the House. 16:31 Mr BRIAN MITCHELL 129164 Lyons by leave—Today I rise to make a short statement on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources' report Aussie logs for Aussie jobs: Inquiry into timber supply chain constraints in the Australian plantation sector. It is with great pleasure that I speak about this report, as the deputy chair of the standing committee. The report concerns the nature of wood supply from Australia's plantation sector, including the projected timber volumes available over the next 30 years and the grades of logs available. The report also concerns the current and future demand for logs in domestic use, the competitiveness of log pricing and the opportunities that exist to increase Australia's wood supply. This includes the role that governments, federal and state—and territory, of course—have in assisting with and addressing problems faced by the industry. May I take this opportunity to thank the many individuals, local businesses and stakeholders who took the time to make a submission to the inquiry. It was very helpful to read and hear the firsthand experience of Australians working in the plantation forestry industry, especially their insights into what is working well and what government can do to help assist development and to increase opportunity. The report hands down 10 bipartisan recommendations for how Australia's wood supply from the plantation sector can be secured and grown. In particular, the report identifies ways in which government can take measures to assist. The report recommends the adoption of a voluntary code of conduct which can both facilitate access to timber by Australian softwood processors and underpin and strengthen the relationship between plantation owners and timber processors. This would ensure that cohesion between stakeholders in the timber industry can be had and that the growth of the industry can continue to occur. Committee members agreed that plantation forestry works best according to free-market principles but we are alive to the fact that processors have encountered difficulty in sourcing timber, even when prepared to offer comparable prices to offshore buyers. There was broad agreement amongst committee members that if local processors are prepared to offer comparable or higher prices then the principle of Aussie logs for Aussie jobs should take precedence and that a firm signal should be issued to growers about this principle. Ideally, of course, we would like to be in the position where plantation supply is sufficient to meet the needs of both local processors and a growing export market. The report also recommends that the Productivity Commission undertake a review of the regulatory settings relating to the establishment of plantations in Australia. In doing so, incentives and barriers for plantation farmers could be identified. This will give government the best possible way of identifying the issues in the sector and how government can better support the timber industry. I do note that prior to the May 2019 election, the government promised a program to plant one billion trees over 10 years. Nearly two years later we are barely scratching the surface of that promise and look nowhere near close to achieving even one-quarter of the goal unless drastic measures are taken. In short, the government needs to do less announcing and more planting. I do urge Minister Duniam to put on his wellies, grab some seedlings and get to work. Forestry has a long and proud history in Tasmania in particular. The recommendations in this report, if implemented by government, will help sustain industry viability for the future. Plantation forestry is an industry we should be proud of. It provides jobs and livelihoods for regional communities and a material that is natural and recyclable. Timber isn't just good for house frames and paper pulp, it can replace concrete in multistorey projects and the millions of tonnes of fossil fuel based plastics that bedevil our planet. Just imagine a world where everything that is plastic is replaced with a cellulose based and biodegradable natural fibre. That's the promise of plantations—where our cities can take shape from timber and composites. The future is better with forestry in it. It is with great pleasure that I commend the report and its recommendations to the House. Like the chair, I thank all members of the committee for the collegial way in which we undertook this inquiry. I especially thank the hard work of the secretariat, led by Jenny Adams. I commend the report to the House. 16:36 Mr RICK WILSON 198084 O'Connor I move: That the House take note of the report. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 265991 The debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. Reference to Federation Chamber 47 16:36 Mr RICK WILSON 198084 O'Connor I move: That the order of the day be referred to the Federation Chamber for debate. Question agreed to. BILLS 47 BILLS Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021 47

Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021

Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021

Second Reading 47 16:39 The DEPUTY SPEAKER HK5 Before the debate is resumed on this bill, I remind the House it has been agreed that a general debate be allowed covering this bill and Appropriation Bill (No.4) 2020-2021. The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Kingsford Smith has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. If it suits the House, I will state the question in the form that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question. 16:37 Ms STANLEY 265990 Werriwa I rise to make my contribution to the debate on the Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2020-2021 and the related bills. It has been six months since the budget and it is becoming clearer that the title of the 'greatest economic managers' is just another empty label which this government crowns itself. The Morrison government lauds itself for a slight improvement in the economy, however, we have a trillion dollars in debt. The government has no plan to tackle the jobs crisis billed for the future or help struggling families and small businesses. We also have a continuing crisis in aged care that is continually neglected. On top of that we have persistent growth in inequality. The Morrison government's so-called improvements will be short lived as their budget has done little to address many of the underlying issues Australia faces. Budgets are about making choices. They are about the direction that families, businesses, corporations and the government will choose. Unfortunately this government made the deliberate choice to deliver little in the long term for the people of Werriwa and Australia as a whole. What the pandemic exposed is that no matter what, big business will benefit from the government's plans. According to this government when times are good the top gets taxpayer funded handouts. When times are bad we continue to do the same. In December the combined worth of Australian billionaires was 52.2 per cent higher than exactly a year before. This reminds us of the stark inequality in Australia. We should focus government efforts on changing it. JobKeeper is a good example of the mishandling of huge budget expenses, as well as exposing the inequality of top-down economics. In theory JobKeeper provides money to businesses so they can avoid closing. It keeps relationships with their staff. However, as time passed the more we learned about the mishandling of this scheme. Big businesses profited from JobKeeper. The Accent Group received $45 million, yet its 2020 profits were up 40 per cent. The group paid its CEO a $1 million-plus bonus. Shareholders received $65 million in dividends and $11 million of that went overseas to a Monaco billionaire. Bentley dealer Autosports received $2 million in JobKeeper and doubled its profit. Investment bank Moelis got $3 million in JobKeeper and paid $4 million in executive bonuses. Unfortunately, there are many others—like Crown Perth, Empired, Janison and MaxiTRANS—who are profiting from Australia's pain. A public backlash has led to a few companies returning the JobKeeper money. The problem is that the government isn't asking corporations to pay back their undeserved handout. The Treasurer had the ability to make the scheme do what it was intended to do: save the jobs of workers and prepare for the importance of the economy this year. But, given these examples, it is not how it's worked. In comparison, successive coalition governments inflicted pain and anguish on already disadvantaged Australians with the inexcusable robodebt scheme—driving some Australians to suicide—to illegally take back money from the most vulnerable of Australians. These debts were often levied on the basis that you had to prove the government wrong. But when taxpayer money unfairly aids corporate bonuses the response from the government is: 'This is how it should work.' How can it be that an overseas billionaire is provided more care than a working Australian? Although difficult to comprehend, this is the situation in Australia at the moment with this government at the helm. There are thousands of unemployed Australians and people in sectors such as tourism and manufacturing that desperately need government support—like travel agents in my electorate, who face no future and have not been helped. They are the people who will get our economy going again. They're the people who need JobKeeper to continue after the end of this month. It is troubling that the inequality in Australia is higher than it was a generation ago—and there's no pandemic defence the government can use to hide that fact. That's why it's critical to reiterate that budgets are more than just numbers; they are priorities and a vision for the people for the future. Peoples' livelihoods are at stake. Their bottom line doesn't mean they can't invest next month; it means they can't feed their family. The Mid-Year Economic Fiscal Outlook forecast a $198 billion deficit this financial year, with $456 billion of cumulative deficits over the forward estimates. The budget will be in deficit for the next decade, which is understandable given the circumstances we face. The issue lies in where these funds are going and whether the average Australian is going to benefit from it in the long term. This government has chosen a short-term temporary fix that will come back to haunt us. The truth is that those struggling before the pandemic will also have a tough 2021. I also fear that, beyond 2021, there will be nothing to alleviate the struggle of many Australians. A government that chooses short-term gains is not on the side of working families—for example, the JobMaker hiring credit that the government announced in the budget. Getting a job over the age of 35 was already difficult, and for those over 60 it is near impossible. I have heard from many constituents aged over 60 who have unexpectedly lost their jobs during the pandemic. They have had to use their nest egg before they could access income support; but the prospect of gaining employment, no matter how many jobs they apply for, is next to impossible. There must be safeguards for all Australians. This measure is intended to assist. However, it's merely short-term—and it's clear in the numbers. Almost every age group saw an increase in unemployment or insecure work over the year. A total of 940,000 people were unemployed in January 2021. That rose from 875,000 in December 2020. Over 65,000 Australians received unemployment as their Christmas present. We are back to mid-pandemic levels of unemployment. And what do we have to show for it? The casualisation of the work force, giving more power to employers and fewer rights to the employee. Again, it is a temporary fix for the economy and the employer, but there is no delivery of long-term, secure jobs. The fact is that the budget did not have a plan for good, secure jobs and fair pay and conditions. Job security, better pay and improving fairness in industrial relations is core to Labor policy. It is good for the economy, and people have the confidence to spend. By no means are you casual if you do the same shift continually for more than a year. For Australia to recover from the COVID recession we need secure jobs and incomes. We need the confidence to spend money and stimulate the economy. Secure employment, fair wages and good conditions are the foundations of a strong economy. But, as I said earlier, the budget is not just about numbers; it's about people. The people in the aged-care sector are in dire need of support. The government can announce home-care packages but they don't seem to be able to deliver them. Services just aren't there for people in certain areas, such as Green Valley in my electorate. There aren't enough and, in some cases, there are no services for people who want simple tasks done, like lawn mowing or house cleaning. I can't tell you how many constituents have contacted my office saying that they have been approved for a package but that they can't even join a waiting list because those people just don't exist to help them. Many people in this place know someone or have family members in the aged-care system. We also know how much the system is failing. This includes the 6,000 younger people with a disability that are currently in residential aged care. What we want for them is a system that works and provides the best possible care. A young person in an aged-care facility is just not right. Unfortunately, as is clear from the royal commission into aged care, it is in crisis. The government provides more than 75 per cent of the funding for aged care and is 100 per cent responsible for quality and safeguards, and yet it's this government that cut funding by $1.7 billion and, as a result, services have been capped and resources strangled. Some private operators behave like profiteers, resulting in substandard food and care for our most vulnerable. According to the latest population trends, 38.3 per cent of Australian men and 55.4 per cent of women will need support from the aged-care system, especially residential aged care, and they're going to stay there for two to three years. Now is the time to make sure their stay is what they deserve. We know that many of the hardworking and caring staff in the aged-care services are doing a wonderful and very difficult job with the resources they have. But, as the royal commission has highlighted, the standard we accept should be much better across the sector. After eight years of the Morrison government, it's time that we accept a higher standard for our older Australians. There must be structural change in the way aged care is managed, rather than allowing private companies to profit on the sector's depression. If it means using the government's responsibility for aged care to ensure that the funding is efficiently used and benefits the whole sector, then so be it. In aged care and social housing, these investments will benefit Australia in the long term. Labor has also put forward a plan to invest in our tradies, creating thousands of jobs for brickies, electricians and carpenters. We saw during the GFC that every dollar spent in construction will flow through to the rest of the economy several times over. Fast tracking urgent repairs in social housing would not only create secure jobs but also secure housing for those who most need it. There is an urgent crisis in housing and homelessness that the government continues to ignore. Shamefully, the budget does not include a single dollar for social housing, while 100,000 homes need urgent repair and maintenance. In my electorate there is upwards of a 20-year wait for support, like social housing. Having a policy will generate work for the local tradies and fix the homes that need to be fixed. It's grassroots economics. Creating a fair and equitable baseline of living is what Australia is all about. There's no such thing as: 'If you're good at your job, you'll get a job', 'Pull yourself up by your bootstraps', or 'If you have a go, you'll get a go.' Australia's working life can't be described by catchphrases like it is a 1980 sitcom. These are real people and they have real needs. Not everybody can flick a switch and turn their life around. They need support. The pandemic exposed this when so many people lost their jobs and income. It exposed how many people were on the edge, and the government has failed these Australians. This budget was an opportunity to pull us out of our first recession in 30 years—the worst downturn in close to a century. They even had a template on how to manage a global recession from the Rudd government. Yet, I am sad to say, it seems this government chose their own template of partisan politics and short-term gain. The deficit was not unprecedented and neither was the pandemic months before lockdown. This government chose to treat it lightly until the last second, and we're going to pay for it now and into the future. The budget was an opportunity to deliver on creating secure jobs and future proofed training to ensure quality child care and aged care, to rebuild our manufacturing sector and to add power to our recovery with clean energy. But it seems we are left with giving hundreds of millions of dollars in dividends to the top and job losses at the bottom. The government is failing the people it should be protecting most. 16:50 Mr YOUNG 201906 Longman Working in parliament has been the biggest privilege of my life. I have been fighting hard to improve the lives of the people in my electorate of Longman. As everyone who has worked in government knows, delivering funding for a local project or services isn't necessarily guaranteed. We as representatives of our communities here in parliament have to fight hard to deliver for our communities. There are electorates in every corner of this great country of ours, all competing over limited funding, whether it is to fix a road, build some new infrastructure or improve access to social services. I am fighting each and every day to ensure that people living in Longman are getting their fair share. My vision while in office is to help make Longman the best place to live in Australia. It is a lofty goal, but it is one I truly believe we can achieve over time. But I know that I can't do it on my own. When I was first elected, even though I'd lived in the area for over 40 years, I had no idea how many great community support groups there were in the electorate. They all do great things and have their own unique niche that help with varied needs in our community. I knew in a small way as someone who had been in small business in the area for many years how generous the business community is and, having been involved for decades in various sporting clubs, how awesome the sporting community is. The issue I saw was that, while we had all these great community and sporting groups and businesses that wanted what I want, which is to improve the lives of every person in our community, they were all doing their own thing and many of them didn't know about each other. That is why I've established a regular community networking event I've called Vision Builders. Vision Builders is a forum where local business, community and sporting groups, schools and local councils can connect, share experiences, learn from each other and talk about what they do all in the name of creating a better community for all of us. At these events I get various locals to share what it is they do in our community. We have had business owners such as Allan Sandilands and his daughter Amy from Taipan hoses, Michael and Gale Hudson from Pies Galore and Chris and Karen Dutton from Woodford Gardens. We've had representatives from community and sporting groups share what drives them to do what they do for our community—groups like Spiders Boxing, the business and professional women's group, Intercept Youth and Family Service, as well as community leaders like the head of campus from our university at the Sunshine Coast campus. As a result of this, we are starting to see some fantastic things happen as the people within the group are starting to work together and refer people they may not have been able to help to someone else in the group. They are using local services and businesses that they may have not previously known about. It's my belief this will lead to the outcome we are all seeking ,and that is to fulfil my vision to make Longman the best place in Australia to live. A big part of this vision is to help those people who want to work into a job. As an employer and a small-business owner, this is one of the things I am most passionate about. We all know that, when people work, they feel better about themselves, they become better citizens, the crime rates drop and drug use drops. So I am committed to making this happen. I have been advocating for jobs creation and encouraging businesses to invest in the electorate, and we have seen some great results. This is because the electorate of Longman has one of the highest unemployment rates in Australia, and I am determined to get that down. To help combat this, early last year I held a jobs forum in conjunction with the federal government. It was a huge success. We had 1,981 jobseekers come through the doors and 40 exhibiters, including over 29 local businesses and apprenticeship, traineeship and service providers, offering a range of diverse employment opportunities. I know for a fact there are many businesses in Longman who are looking for new employees to join their team right now. My Berries, run by the McGruddy family, are always on the lookout for young workers to join their team and pick some fruit. But it is not just fruit pickers; there are also other jobs in Longman. I've spoken to a local roof tiler who has had two apprenticeships going since last July and can't get anyone to take those jobs on. I've also got a big manufacturing sector there that employs almost 5,000 people. There are jobs in those sectors, but when I go out and speak to employers they are struggling to find workers. We've got the Narangba industrial estate. We've got the brand new Corporate Park East, at Caboolture East. It's a massive development; they've got 1,000 square-metre, 2,000 square-metre, 5,000 square-metre and 16,000 square-metre sites. It's general industry; if anyone out there wants to get around a lot of the council regulations that stop businesses from performing, general industry is how you want it zoned so you can do whatever you like there. That is selling fast. Stage 1 is out, and there are only two blocks left. The government's $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy will further harness our local manufacturing capability, and it's helping drive our economic recovery. Manufacturing is critical to our local economy. It's key to almost every supply chain. Over time we will deliver even more manufacturing capability to further drive the sector in Longman and create new jobs for locals. People in my electorate from Bribie Island to Dakabin, from Narangba to Woodford, expect me to deliver on infrastructure for their communities, and that's what I'm doing. Right now in Longman there are three major road projects underway thanks to a $680 million investment by this government. Work to widen the Bruce Highway to six lanes between Caboolture and Beerburrum has begun at a cost of $662½ million, with a federal government contribution of $530 million. Work has also begun on the $163 million New Settlement Road overpass in Narangba. This overpass is long overdue, as the traffic for residents, particularly in morning peak hour, has simply been unacceptable; I had to endure it for about five years myself. I'm pleased to say the federal government contributed over $130 million of the $163 million for this project. There is also the $30.4 million Bribie Island-Old Toorbul Point Road upgrade, which we contributed $20 million towards. It's only a few months away from completion. We are all about getting stuff done. The congestion on the roads between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, which go right through my electorate, is a nightmare on a Friday afternoon and a Sunday afternoon. It has to be fixed, and we are fixing it. These three major road projects are important investments in my electorate, but just as important are the smaller projects that deliver a massive benefit in our communities. I have advocated and delivered funding for the Bribie Island after hours health service. When I got elected I thought, 'I'm going to try a new concept; I'm going to get out and talk to some locals, and see what they want.' The people on Bribie Island told me they were struggling. They were waiting for up to two weeks to see a GP. That just wasn't right. After some consultation with the PHN—who I want to commend for their service in this area—we were able to secure funding from Minister Hunt. Thanks to Minister Hunt we got $500,000 for a three-year trial for some after hours service on Bribie Island. So we fixed that. Patients now won't have to drive 20 kilometres to Caboolture Hospital, because you can't get a doctor after five o'clock on Bribie Island. That is just not good enough. I also found out a lot of the residents on Bribie Island are on the older side of the population. Having an 85-year-old father and an 80-year-old mother, I understand what that means: they sometimes don't like technology. There is no Services Australia agency or office on Bribie Island, so they were driving to Caboolture. A lot of them didn't like that; it's a 25-minute drive. A lot of them didn't want to jump online and do the stuff. So I went and saw the minister, Stuart Robert, and said, 'Can we help these people?' He said, 'We do have a thing called an agency.' We've just been through the tender process, and last week it was announced that we've got a winner for that agency, and we now have a Medicare and a Centrelink agency on Bribie Island. That is fantastic. Again, we have listened to what the people need and we have delivered. To me, that's what good government is about. The other great thing is we've done a lot of work with the local council. The Moreton Bay Regional Council have been terrific to deal with. Through some of our funding we have been able to contribute and do some joint projects. Some of the projects that I'm proud of include upgrading the lights at the Sandstone Point sporting fields, at a cost of $220,000, and upgrading some roads under the Roads to Recovery Program, with funding of $2 million for Keane Street; $1.5 million for traffic lights at Lear Jet Drive; and $1 million to upgrade Pates Road, Wamuran, to name just a few. And it's not just those bigger projects. It's the smaller programs, like the Stronger Communities grants, that really make a difference to some of these small community groups that did it tough through COVID, whether it's a tennis court for St Paul's Lutheran School, a trailer for the Boys' Brigade, or storage and a canteen for Caboolture Little Athletics. That stuff is just as important to the community as those bigger projects. We've also declared war on drugs and alcohol abuse in my electorate of Longman. At a cost of $11 million, we funded the Wunya rehabilitation centre, and I'm pleased to say it's operational. It operates 24 hours a day. People go in and they'll stay there for 12 weeks and get cleaned up. I was there recently, not as a patient but as an observer, and I spoke to one of the people who was in there. He was so delighted; it has turned his life around. He has actually done the 12-week course twice. Now he's looking forward to becoming a productive member of society and getting himself a job, which is fantastic. 17:04 Dr LEIGH BU8 Fenner The issue of sexual harassment has been roiling this building and has a significant economic cost. It is also an issue about which the government could be doing much more. So, I intend to use my opportunity today in this appropriations debate to discuss the issue of sexual harassment and what can be done to reduce it in Australia. Australian women are angry. We saw this from the March 4 Justice. We've seen it from so many women who've written to parliamentarians, calling for Australia to do better. This is a moment at which Australia needs leadership, and we didn't get that leadership this morning. We've seen advisers being shown the door. Last week an adviser to the member for Deakin was dismissed after being accused in the Tasmanian parliament of using a sexist slur—which I won't deign to repeat here. We've also had the dismissal today of another coalition staffer, who was engaged in abominable behaviour. And we still have the questions as to what the Prime Minister knew about the alleged rape in a minister's office two years ago. The Prime Minister has not been straight with the parliament in his discussion of the review taking place by the secretary of his department, Phil Gaetjens. He told parliament on 18 March, 'He has not provided me with a further update about when I might expect that report.' In fact, Mr Gaetjens had given the Prime Minister an update, on 9 March, that he had paused the inquiry. By failing to let parliament know that the inquiry had been paused, he was, in David Crowe's words, 'caught out being too tricky by half'. We need a Prime Minister who will act on these serious charges. As Katharine Murphy has said: Australian women will need more than words from the prime minister, they will need action. Yet today we saw from the Prime Minister, after some heartfelt opening words, an extraordinary exchange with Sky News journalist Andrew Clennell. When asked whether he'd lost control of his ministerial staff, the Prime Minister told Andrew Clennell: … you would be aware in your own organisation, there is a person who has had a complaint made against them for harassment … And that matter is being pursued by your own HR department. He went on, extraordinarily, to repeat specifics of the alleged incident. Andrew Clennell, as I understand, was not aware of that complaint. But it does make it even more extraordinary that the Prime Minister has the temerity to traffic in gossip about what's going in news organisations yet still claims to be unaware of an alleged rape in a ministerial office just metres from where his own office his. Today the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia held a forum in Parliament House. It was on the theme 'Gender, power, violence: creating a better normal'. The contributions reflected what social science can bring to our understanding of sexual harassment and to reducing it. Pauline Grosjean pointed out that sexism has a cost for the economy and that violence between men tends to be related to violence in the home. She noted that sexism has deep historical roots, noting the findings of her own research that the gender ratio in 19th-century Australia still has an impact on masculine attitudes and gender norms in Australia today. And she noted that social attitudes are shaped by the views of neighbours, pointing to a survey from Saudi Arabia that found that a large majority of Saudi men favoured women working in the paid workforce but thought that most other men didn't. When given information about other men's beliefs they became much more positive about the issue. Pauline Grosjean also talked about the importance of intervening at the school level on respectful relationships and sexual harassment. Michael Flood pointed out that it is possible to change the patterns of violence, it is possible for communities to have real change put in place and it is possible for this to happen driven not only by communities at the local level but also by governments. He noted that too many men have stayed silent in the face of the clear evidence of sexual harassment in the community and that they can do three things: look at their own behaviour, challenge misbehaviour by other men and support better policies. He called on male politicians to break ranks from the boys club and bring parliament into the 21st century. JaneMaree Maher pointed out that a sense of male privilege can lead to a sense of entitlement which can lead to violence and she talked about the importance of unconscious bias shaping the world in which men and women work. She gave the example in academia of student evaluations systematically being higher for male lecturers than for female lecturers and discussed the way in which class, race and disability intersect with the issue of gender bias. She also made clear that it is important for leaders to act even in the absence of a formal complaint. As JaneMaree Maher pointed out, if an employer saw somebody sending substandard correspondence out of the organisation then they would bring the person in to correct that. They wouldn't wait for the recipient of that correspondence to complain. Similarly, she said that, if employers know that somebody is being a sex pest, they need to call that behaviour out immediately, not wait for a complainant to come to them. JaneMaree Maher also spoke about the importance of putting in place quotas. This is something that this side of the House did in 1994. We instituted a quota saying that, for winnable seats, 35 per cent of Labor candidates would be women by 2002. That level was raised to 40 per cent in 2012. At the time there were suggestions that that would lead to a diminution in the quality of Labor candidates, but, if anything, the opposite was true. Labor went out in that era and identified candidates like Julia Gillard, Jenny Macklin, Nicola Roxon and Tanya Plibersek—among Labor's star performers in the last generation. It is ironic that when the other side of the House are putting together a cabinet they have quotas for the number of Nationals, they have quotas on a state level and they have quotas between the hard Right and the moderates, but they reject quotas when it comes to choosing candidates for parliament. I think that's a mistake. I think the Liberal and National parties would be better off if they considered the role of quotas in improving their work. Then there's the Respect@Work report handed down by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins last year. As Jenna Price has written: … but here we are: we have a government responsible for implementing it that appears riddled with people who have a complete disdain for women parliamentarians and staffers. And, unsurprisingly, well over a year since the report was handed to the Attorney-General only one recommendation is in action. This is an important report. It notes that Australia used to be a leader on questions of gender equity. As well as being one of the earliest countries to extend the franchise to women, we put in place in the 1970s state antidiscrimination laws on the basis of sex and the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984. Yet we've fallen behind other countries in acting on the crucial issue of sexual harassment. This is despite the fact that the 2018 survey on sexual harassment found that 39 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the previous five years. It's despite the fact that we have in Australia 38 per cent of corporate boards with no women, compared to just 0.8 per cent of corporate boards with no men. Only 17 per cent of Australian CEOs are women. And, while many young men have more progressive attitudes on gender equity than older generations, we have the scourge of ubiquitous pornography, which Maree Crabbe has written about, that is reshaping attitudes towards sex and sexuality in potentially dangerous ways that can undermine the progress that's being made on gender equity. The Respect@Work report notes that workplace sexual harassment can sometimes end in sexual assault. It observes that sexual harassment, when it occurs, occurs sometimes electronically through technology but sometimes in person. Fifty-two per cent of those who were sexually harassed said it occurred at their workstation or where they worked. Those workplaces which are particularly subject to sexual harassment include workplaces that are male dominated, workplaces where the work is considered non-traditional for women, workplaces where there is masculine workplace culture, workplaces where there is high-level contact with third parties and workplaces where it is organised according to a hierarchical structure. I note in passing that all of that describes the federal parliament. Sexual harassment, the report notes, also reduces productivity. It increases turnover. It does damage to the reputation of firms. It has a negative impact on workplace culture. Deloitte has conservatively measured that the impact of sexual harassment on the Australian economy is $3.8 billion. But, even if there was no dollar cost, we should all be committed to stamping out sexual harassment because it is simply wrong. Yet we know that there is a cost. We know that this is one of the chief causes of the gender pay gap. My former colleague at the Australian National University Deborah Cobb-Clark has worked extensively on the relationship between sexual harassment and the gender pay gap in Australia, noting that it can particularly be a cause of the high gender pay gap among professionals, and we know that the gender pay gap, as a percentage, steadily rises as you go up the wage distribution. The recommendations that flow out of the Respect@Work report include recommendation 26: that the Australian government work with state and territory governments to amend state and territory human rights and antidiscrimination legislation to achieve consistency with the Sex Discrimination Act without limiting or reducing protections. It includes the recommendation that the fair work system be reviewed to ensure and clarify that sexual harassment, using the definition in the Sex Discrimination Act, is expressly prohibited. Recommendation 29 is that there be a 'stop sexual harassment' order, equivalent to the 'stop bullying' order in the Fair Work Act, designed to facilitate the order's restorative aim. And recommendation 30 is that section 387 of the Fair Work Act be amended to clarify that sexual harassment can be conduct amounting to a valid reason for dismissal in determining whether a dismissal was harsh, unjust or unreasonable. The government must pay greater attention to the Respect@Work report. It is a crucial piece of work in stamping out sexual harassment. But the government also needs to look more closely at its own culture, at its own ranks. The Prime Minister needs to stop seeing this issue as one for which you can find a quick political fix and to recognise that this is a seismic moment in Australian history. He has the opportunity to do what Paul Keating did after the Mabo decision or what John Howard did after the Port Arthur massacre—to show Australians that he's fundamentally different from the boys club in which he has been brought up, that there are problems deep-seated in this parliament and that to date many of the problems that have emerged have been in coalition ranks, and that if he leads Australia will be the better for it. We will be a more inclusive nation, a more productive nation, a more equal nation and a nation which moves with the rest of the world in addressing issues of sexual harassment and gender equity. 17:19 Mr FALINSKI G86 Mackellar Today we debate the appropriation bills. The name is arcane but its content is anything but. For it is in these bills that this parliament renews its ancient vow to faithfully serve the people of the Commonwealth, to ensure their freedom and rights to equality of opportunity, to give meaning to those rights that come not from the state but from the hands of God and allow us to build a fair community for prosperity and peace. The mere presence of many of us in this place point to the success of the Australian dream. From the beginning, this nation was cast out as the last refuge of the dammed, a place that our settlers wanted to be known around the world as hell on earth. Instead, it became the world's last best hope for any person who wanted to live a life of hope and opportunity. British governors were replaced when reports of our nation's opportunities were reported to them in Europe. The great project of our nation, whose goals can never be achieved, is a journey. It is our journey, a journey towards a more perfect nation. As each challenge is met and conquered, a new one begins, so it falls to us to bring about a new justice for a new generation that can no longer wait. So let us begin. My story begins in many places, from the cold tundra of Kurdistan, a surrounded city in Russia's north, an ancient enclave in Poland's south and the safe surrounds of Collaroy on the beaches. From a father who came here as practically a refugee without even his own father to a mother who was always here but whose parents came from two warring tribes, an English Protestant and an Irish Catholic, they built a large business and then began again without bemoaning once their loss. The amazing thing about this story is that it is so common in this nation yet so very rare everywhere else. I believe that the story of my parents and my family is different yet it rhymes with so many others in so many other parts of the community I represent. I come from a part of Australia that saved Christmas and then saved new year. This achievement was not without its selfless sacrifice from so many, like the 77-year-old grandmother who could not see her family on Christmas Day, the family that had cancelled their holidays for a fourth time that year. The businesses that were geared up for peak season did not let a person go, because that is not how we do it on the Northern Beaches, that suffered losses and are still waiting for proper compensation from any level of government. Over the pandemic, their federal government has had their back. More than $500 million has been sent directly to businesses on the Northern Beaches through JobKeeper. The cash flow boost added even more. During the Christmas lockdown, the federal government paid over a million dollars in pandemic pay. For some, this is not enough and, indeed, I would fall into that camp. However, I note that it stands in stark contrast to the help given by other levels of government. This was a local outbreak with a local lockdown that required a local response. But too many who bear responsibility sought to duck and weave rather than stand up for their community when it mattered most. Too many self-appointed community groups that were meant to work for the benefit of their community instead chose to ingratiate themselves with local power brokers. If we cannot respond to a crisis without politicising it then we are all diminished. So it was during this lockdown and it is a matter of grave disappointment. Everyone wanted to see all three levels of government working together, because my community always works together. It is my regret to report to this House that that did not happen. However, there were two points of light where there should have been a thousand. They were Chris Kavanagh from the Mona Vale and Newport chambers of commerce and Stu Cameron from Pittwater Business. Never have two people so forcefully and persistently represented the interests of small business in our area. Once again, the Northern Beaches community was the North Star of bringing out the best in all of us. That was from sporting and rescue groups, who protect our community through selfless volunteerism, through community groups who coordinate volunteers to make this world a better place to some of the most innovative and creative companies in the world, which started and thrived on the northern beaches. Unfortunately, there is not enough time to mention by name all of these fantastic groups and all the fantastic people who made them fantastic. However, as is common on the northern beaches, do not let practical considerations get in the way of ambition. Our community is home to more surf-lifesaving clubs than any other place in the world. Andrew Pearce, of Whale Beach Surf Lifesaving Club, has set the standard that others follow when it comes to giving back. As Andrew famously said, 'Volunteering is the rent we pay for living on this planet.' It is such a good quote that Muhammad Ali used it about 30 years earlier! The South Narrabeen Surf Life Saving Club and its executive, Martin Heywood, Richard Dowling and Claudia Ritter, run the Bush to Beach program, which brings underprivileged Aboriginal Australians from Brewarrina to the beach each year. It's a fabulous program that shows how surf lifesaving gives much more than it takes. That is why I was so proud to help secure funding for the Long Reef Surf Lifesaving Club to replace their temporary clubhouse of some 70 years of age. Peter Kinsey and Rob Pearson show what it means to never, never, never, never, never, ever, ever, ever, never give up. Hilariously, and consistent with this project's history, the build has only just begun and already it is two years behind schedule. Then, of course, about a month ago the Prime Minister made a visit to Greg Broome, president of the Collaroy Surf Lifesaving Club, where he announced more than $10 million for training and equipment to help them to save others. The northern beaches also has more Rural Fire Service brigades than any other equivalent area in Australia. It also has the most famous one, at Davidson, which is run by the indefatigable Trent Dowling, and includes Tony Abbott as one of its members. The now commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Five Service, of course, started learning how to put out fires when he was a member of the Belrose brigade. I'll also mention that the three best Marine Rescue groups in Australia are housed on the northern beaches, at Broken Bay, Cottage Point and Terrey Hills. The Broken Bay brigade is overseen by Jimmy Arteaga and the Terrey Hills brigade can tell you where every single boat off the coast of New South Wales is currently located. Recently, after a mere 14 years of complaining, arguing and besieging, the Liberal government was able to secure funding for improved telecommunications services at Cottage Point. Optus has stepped in and this project is proof that in Australia anything is truly possible. Rotary is a mainstay of so many communities and mine is no different. There are so many people to mention, but allow me to focus on just two: Liz McDougall at Dee Why and Rob Haynes from the Upper Northern Beaches Rotary club. Rotarians have, in one way or another, made this world a better place. Together, they set us on a course to eliminate polio from the face of this planet, while at the same time they have also ensured that their feet are planted on the ground by removing graffiti from walls or organising fun runs that raise money for local charities. There is little that Rotary has not turned its mind to. A couple of weeks ago I attended the Zonta breakfast at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club to hear the announcement of the Pittwater Woman of the Year. This year's award went to Lynleigh Greig. Lynleigh gave one of the best speeches I have heard, both on the cuff or off. Of course, that was helped by the fact that her home contains many snakes and one very large goanna—always good material for an off-the-cuff speech! Her sense of purpose and life, and what one person can achieve in one area, is boundless. She is an example of the spirit that we have on the northern beaches. Zonta does so much in the world—so much good in this world. Susan Benson and her executive have only enhanced the work of this group. Their breakfast reminded me that educating women, especially in developing nation, has so many widespread benefits. It is something that I hope that this parliament can recommit itself to anew. And then there are the entrepreneurs, the dreamers and the mad people, who believe when all others told them that they would fail but still did it anyway. Where some saw problems, they saw challenges. Together, they have created some of the most enterprising companies in the world. Marcus Blackmore and Toby Browne of Blackmores and PharmaCare have created the world's leading alternative medicines. They have done what few other countries could do. When you think of the supplementary medicines, wherever you are in the world you will be thinking of PharmaCare and Blackmores and what was created by these two companies. Brett Crowther, of Incat Crowther, is designing ships for the US military, not because he wanted to and not because he won a tender but because they are literally the only boat designing company in the world that can actually develop such ships, such is the technical capability of the people of the Northern Beaches. North Sails ranks as one of the best sail-making companies in the world. And then there's HIFraser. When you want to keep a submarine dry on the inside, you go to HIFraser to get a seal. There's Medical Devices Australia, which has provided robots for 30 per cent of operating theatres in Australia and is at the leading edge of some of the medical devices in this country. When a high-end restaurant wants high-end kitchenware, they don't learn French and ring a company in France; they go to Roband, even if they're in sitting in Europe, Beijing or Singapore, such is the capacity of our great nation and such is the capacity of the community I'm honoured to represent. In one way or another, the thing that all of the above have in common is that they belong to the working class. I got elected so I could represent this group of people in our nation's capital. Their values, their concerns, their hopes and dreams are my values and my concerns. I care about ensuring that they have a fair chance of achieving their hopes and dreams. I belong to a philosophical tradition and a political movement that has always stood for the proposition that it does not matter where you come from but where you are going. The working class in this country believes that the problem with our politics is not too much moral argument but too little. Politics is overheated because it is mostly vacant—empty of moral and spiritual content. It fails to engage with big questions that people care about. Liberals, above all, understand that a free society is a precondition of a fair society, because no enslaved nation has ever set a single person free. But the surest path to serfdom is a government that seeks only equality of outcome and imposes its values on people and obliterates the equality of opportunity. To those who say that a compassionate society only exists if imposed by a benevolent government rather than enabling people to live lives of full potential, we say that history has borne witness far too often to horrible compassion. Compassion cannot be found in the actions of a bureaucracy but rather in a civil society of free people, like our friends, families and those organisations that we choose to join. We've seen, all too often, the awful consequences of up-ending tradition for no better reason than it associates and ideologue or earns the unearned applause of an obeying crowd. The laws which pretend to protect the vulnerable only ever end up serving the powerful on whose advocacy we too often unquestioningly accept. Because no nation's wealth should be judged by the treasures we possess but in the gifts we share, empowering people through economic opportunity, making their lives easier and giving them the tools to care for their families, friends and communities is our great project. These bills set out the very nature of this commitment. 17:34 Mr BYRNE 008K0 Holt I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No.4) 2020-2021, which provide appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the annual services of government for the remainder of 2021. I do so within the context of how our nation should proceed with the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. I was reflecting on this. I remember having a discussion with a member of the government at the first iteration of the coronavirus—when it first showed itself here in this country and first manifested itself in a way that brought itself to the public attention. We spoke about the government response and what might happen to this country after that. We knew that our country, as a consequence of this pandemic, had changed, and will change, irrevocably, in ways I don't think we could possibly imagine. I think we're still trying to see and determine what has happened to our country. It's like a gigantic rock has been thrown into a pond and we're trying to gauge the reverberations of the pandemic on our society and our community, and the actions of our government. In that discussion I had with the member of the government, I said that, given the sacrifices that we were about to ask the Australian community to make, we had an opportunity to reimagine Australia, to reboot Australia, to put a vision forward of Australia—an Australia that could be, not just the Australia that was. And what we did and watched, post March 2020, was Australians making the sacrifice that governments called upon them to make to keep each other and our country safe in peaceful ways, in ways of common sacrifice and communal sacrifice that we perhaps haven't seen in other countries in the world. We asked people to do things in this country that they haven't done before; and they did so, primarily peacefully, for the common good. In that contract, given what we had asked them to do, given the sacrifices that we had asked them to make, we would have imagined and created a better future for this country. Politics wouldn't have been the normal form of politics. We would see a newer country, a reimagined country. We would have, as the previous speaker said, a debate about the big issues, the big picture, the way forward—Australia's national identity, its place in the world, the future, what we might imagine ourselves to be. After what we have seen in the past four weeks can anyone say we have reimagined Australia? Really? Have we? Do you think that what we have seen under this gigantic flag and flag pole does justice to the millions of Australians who made a sacrifice during the COVID pandemic? Do you think that they think our parliament's become more accountable as a consequence of the COVID pandemic? Do you think that they think we've become more transparent? Do you think that they think we've become less arrogant? Do you think that they think we have a future, that we've sat and dictated a future, that we've created a better future for those people who locked themselves away in homes for months on end, who didn't see their families for months on end, who couldn't attend the funerals of loved ones, who couldn't attend weddings? We asked them to stop doing the things that made them human. Does the community think that we have honoured the sacrifices that have been made by the Australian people? No, we have not—not at all. We've done a disservice to our country and to the Australian people, and we have to do better. We've asked the Australian community to make the sacrifices. They've fulfilled their part of the bargain; they've made their sacrifice. We, as leaders of the community and as people that represent the community, have to reflect their will and imagine a better future for them. We have to point a way towards a better future for them, create that better future for them, give the incentives to them and give a clear direction to them. We don't and we haven't; particularly this government hasn't. I'm not going to make this a party political speech. I remember being attracted to politics because of the vision of Australia that was put forward in particular by Paul Keating when he was Treasurer of this nation and by Bob Hawke when he was Prime Minister of this country. I remember being inspired as a young man by the changes that were wrought by Gough Whitlam—universal education, a universal health system and a whole swathe of social changes that made it easier for Australians to succeed, to prosper and to be more equal. We created an equality of opportunity for all. We liberated the economy in the eighties. We created a new class—the entrepreneurial class, if you like. I remember being very proud of that. I really did think, in watching what we had asked again and what this government had done, that we would see similar great reforms of this country being put forward—new manufacturing, new resilience. I've heard the terms; I've had the discussions. We need new resilient supply chains. I've heard it. Do you think many Australians in the outer suburbs would know what really is being done in terms of the new form of employment and the new economy? What are we doing? I tell you what Australians are confronting at the present time. We have many businesses—and I see this in the outer suburbs—which are on survival mode and which may well close after Easter, and many more Australians may become unemployed. I know in the coming weeks and months ahead that many sectors of the economy, especially small business, will be struggling to ensure that jobs are maintained and that businesses can remain viable once JobKeeper is withdrawn—and it will be withdrawn quickly—from the economy. We know that international borders are not going to be opening any time soon, so we're going to need to provide much more support to Australians in that section of the economy. The COVID-19 recovery will last at least a decade, and it should provide us with an opportunity to invest in the future of Australia. The question we've got to continue to ask ourselves is: do we want to be simply a mining and energy-producing nation that has a vibrant service sector or could we expand the Australian economy to be dynamic and diverse and be a world leader in sectors like the global technological revolution and the arts? As former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said recently at the National Press Club: With technology re-writing the rules of economic competition around the world, why aren't we inventing, innovating and commercializing our own breakthroughs at scale – in IT, bio-technology and artificial intelligence, using our deep capital markets established by three decades of compulsory superannuation. Why have our rates of R&D investment and research commercialisation plummeted when the rest of the OECD is headed north? Our failure to make Australia an essential part of the global technology revolution will turn us into a second-tier economy faster than we think. We have an opportunity with this great global economic transformation and upheaval that is being undertaken and that has happened as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic to fully participate in new disruptive technologies, particularly when Asia continues to play a central role. We can't allow that to just pass us by. I want to give an example of this, and it does tie into Australia and how we see ourselves. It relates to Screen Producers Australia who recently came to parliament to lobby for more support for the Australian film and television industry. The film and television industry was obviously lobbying the Morrison government to impose a 20 per cent local content quota on Netflix and other streaming giants, saying that the measure could sustain as many as 10,000 jobs once the recent flurry of Hollywood interest dissipates. I had the privilege of meeting a delegation of local actors and producers—Simon Baker, Marta Dusseldorp, Bryan Brown and Justine Clark—who were basically talking about this temporary boom that we have with foreign companies coming in as a passing sugar hit. That is what Simon Baker said. What we need in fact, what Simon said, is to help develop a richer, stronger, more potent Australian voice. This ties into my perspective about reimagining Australia. I fully support the plan to impose a 20 per cent local content quota on Netflix and other streaming giants. We do need to hold the power of tech giants like Netflix to account to ensure that Australians and the world can continue to enjoy Australian film and content. That was driven home to me specifically when I saw a movie recently that was filmed in the Victorian Wimmera called The Dry. It has certainly become one of my favourite Australian movies. Talking to some of the actors and talking to the Australian people who have gone to see it, particularly in the outer suburbs, a number of people said it reminds us of who we are. You might think why am I talking about arts? Why am I talking about actors? Why am I talking about the film industry, the acting industry and the theatre industry? Because arts define who we are as a country. Arts define who we are as a people. They are a mirror to the national soul of a people. The fact that this government allowed that, that expression of the Australian soul and its spirit, to wither at the vine during this crisis says a lot about the priorities of this government. When I asked members of the actors guild about how many actors were employed during the coronavirus pandemic—and we understand that there were restrictions—they said three per cent. Three per cent of Australian actors were employed during the coronavirus pandemic. That is a disgrace. We saw governments move at light speed with respect to certain things and certain industries. The sporting industry is classic case in point. I am sorry, but I actually think the arts industry is as important as the sports industry. Does it generate as much revenue as a local AFL game?—I am a great AFL supporter—no, it doesn't. But do we need the arts industry to survive because it is an essential conduit, it is an essential window, it is an essential part of defining who we are as an Australian people? Of course we do. The fact that I was just gobsmacked by was the fact that I watched it basically being allowed to wither at the vine. It's really important that we continue to discuss who we are because what things like the arts, the film industry and the TV industry do is they help sustain us. People were talking about how they were binge watching Netflix, Amazon Prime—a whole range of things—and a lot of people were saying they were going back to old Australian TV series. Why do you think that might have been? Because it shows you a window into a time, into a society that defines itself. As we continue to transition out we need to talk again about who we are. We need to provide a national direction. As a country we need to talk about the industries of the future and invest in them in tangible ways, ways that people can hold onto, because there isn't a lot that they can hold onto at the present period of time in this sea of uncertainty that has been created. We need to provide them and this government needs to provide them with a direction, with an idea, with an Australia that could become. I believe—and I am in furious agreement with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott—that Australia's best days are yet to come. Let's use this opportunity of COVID-19 to imagine and create that future, not throw Australia up against a wall. 17:49 Mrs ARCHER 282237 Bass From small businesses who have been operating for less than five years to some of Northern Tasmania's most iconic and long-term retail shops, thousands of northern Tasmanian businesses benefited from our government's JobKeeper package. It was an absolute pleasure to welcome the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to our region a few weeks ago where he met a few of the more than 12,000 business owners in the state who benefited from JobKeeper and have since graduated from the program, businesses like Elysian Beauty and Wellness in the Launceston CBD. Owner and manager, Bronte Clinton, launched the business just over two years ago in a small one-room premises in the city. The business was going from strength to strength, moving to a larger premises and hiring two further employees towards the end of 2019. Like all businesses in the industry, Elysian had to close its doors suddenly a little over a year ago and were not able to resume trade until the middle of June. Like the thousands and thousands of businesses on JobKeeper last year, the program kept the business running. It's a thrill to see Elysian thriving, with an apprentice hired before the end of last year and a new fully qualified therapist coming on board and kicking off her time at Elysian on the very day of the Treasurer's visit. Elysian and the other businesses we visited that day, Neil Pitt's menswear and Jim Hughes and Sons Jewellers, are just a few examples of how businesses in my electorate have been able to weather the darkest days of the pandemic, particularly during lockdown. JobKeeper was the program that Bass businesses and individuals needed to survive the pandemic. In Launceston, around 19,200 individuals received payments over the period April to September 2020 compared with 6,000 over the period October to December 2020, a fall of 61 per cent. Our state's unemployment rate after peaking at 8.2 per cent in October 2020 was at that point the highest of any state. Since then, it has experienced a strong recovery in its jobs market, with unemployment falling to 5.9 per cent, the lowest of any state and below the national rate of 6.4 per cent. Tasmania's employment recovery continues to be strong. Some 17,500 Tasmanians entered employment between May 2020 and January 2021, a 7.3 per cent increase compared to a 6.7 per cent increase nationally over this period. As a government, we must look at what we can do to continue to support our most vulnerable industries as we move into the next stage of our economic recovery. The recently announced support package for the tourism sector is a good example. When Tasmania's borders shut last year, Tara Howell, director of the award winning Blue Derby Pods Ride, saw 100 per cent of her bookings vanish overnight. As Tara told me, to watch the business she put her heart and soul into suddenly become obsolete almost overnight was frightening and devastating. Almost a year later, Pods is going from strength to strength. With borders opening towards the end of last year, the business which, prior to the pandemic, relied on interstate tourists for more than 75 per cent of its bookings, has just come off a bumper summer season and autumn bookings are looking strong. Like many Tasmanian tourism and hospitality businesses, it is the winter season that can be difficult to get through financially. After such a difficult year last year, many in the industry are wondering what this cold season will bring. So many businesses have been able to survive thanks to JobKeeper and, like Blue Derby Pods, have graduated off the program, but the quiet winter months still present some challenges. After supporting our tourism sector through JobKeeper as well as targeted support programs like the billion-dollar COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Fund, I was thrilled to join Tara and Assistant Minister for Industry development, Senator Duniam, to announce the government's half-price ticket program that will directly benefit the northern Tasmanian economy. I was pleased to see the Launceston Airport—incidentally, located in Lyons not in Bass, but it is the main airport servicing my electorate—was chosen as one of the initial 13 key regional sites to benefit from the 50 per cent flights in and out of Launceston to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This program will provide an incredible boost to local hotels, restaurants, bars, caravan parks and tourism operators offering mainlanders a chance to visit what I think is the most beautiful region in the country. As Tara told me last week, this investment by the government is brilliant and just what the industry and businesses like hers need. She said: 'It's going to help our business dramatically, and it is coming at a time when the tourism industry here usually dips. It's winter and the lowest point of the year. The fact this program doesn't start until 1 April is also great, as it gives operators time to prepare a winter offering.' For the local airport, which prior to the pandemic employed close to 400 people and generated $44 million to the north of the state, seeing it bounce back to pre-COVID days is critical. Our recent measures to support the aviation sector do exactly that, with support available for regular passenger airports like Launceston to meet their domestic security screening costs. Like Tara, I believe this new package is what the industry needs now. JobKeeper kept businesses afloat and employers engaged, but now we need to be giving them an opportunity to grow and thrive. As the head of our local Launceston Chamber of Commerce said last week, JobKeeper has done 'an admirable job of keeping the country's economy functional'. He stated that many members in their chamber 'have already transitioned away from JobKeeper in the second round'. Let's not forget the cashflow boost, which has provided tens of billions of dollars in payments to help keep hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses afloat. Another critical funding program that has supported our region through COVID and will continue to have a positive effect for years to come is the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy program. The Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements program has to date assisted almost 40,000 businesses to take on a new Australian apprentice or trainee. The initiative has supported the creation of more than 8,000 bricklayer jobs, 6,000 electrician jobs and almost 11,000 positions in retail and hospitality work. It has so far helped create 100,000 new registered apprentice and trainee places. In Northern Tasmania alone there have been 524 apprentices signed up to the subsidy, supporting local businesses and providing an important pathway for getting young people into jobs, to ensure there is a skills pipeline to meet the future needs of employers. By expanding the wage subsidy for another 12 months we will help businesses to create more jobs, further supporting our national economic recovery plan for Australia. Lastly, our communities cannot flourish without the invaluable support of so many not-for-profit community organisations who do so much of the quiet work behind the scenes. The most recent round of the Stronger Communities Program funded 100 per cent of eligible projects. I'm sure my office wasn't the only one inundated with community organisations wanting to apply for the program, particularly as all fundraising activities ground to a halt last year. This funding will make a tangible difference, as will the recent announcement from the federal Assistant Minister for Children and Families that the 2020-21 Volunteer Grants round has been doubled for each electorate. These small grants are essential to supporting our community organisations, equipping local champions with the tools and resources that they need on the ground. 17:58 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler I rise to speak on the government's Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. It is important that there be proper debate in this House about fiscal management. We need to manage public money properly so that we can deliver for people who really need it, so we can ensure not only that investment goes to the right places to grow the economy and support jobs but also that we don't leave people behind. For this government, though, as we have seen during the pandemic and as we also saw beforehand, its focus isn't really fiscal policy. It's not monetary policy, it's not social policy and it's not economic policy; it's just political management. It doesn't matter what the issue is; the focus is, 'How do we manage it?' That's why, before the pandemic hit, it created a circumstance where it was a government in search of a reason for existence—a government that presided over wage stagnation over eight long years, a government that presided over productivity which was going backwards, a government with consumer confidence going backwards, a government with no social policy agenda advancing any great big reforms. That is why we're debating just one item all day today in this chamber—appropriations. Normally this would be up in the Federation Chamber, because we'd be busy dealing with legislation. But under this government, that hasn't occurred. The pandemic came along, and once again, just as during the bushfires, the Prime Minister showed an incapacity to lead, an incapacity to show leadership, an incapacity to take responsibility for the issues that were there. The first big error was to announce an increase in JobSeeker without announcing a wage subsidies program. So, we saw the queues outside Centrelink, with people being laid off, because the message the government had sent was that people were going to be looked after if they lost their job, rather than asking, 'How do we keep people in employment?' One of the things wage subsidies do is to keep a relationship between an employer and an employee at a time of crisis. We know that is still the case for so many businesses and sectors, such as in Far North Queensland in the tourism sector. But we know it's all going to end at the end of this month because the government now says we can't afford it. That's why it's worthwhile looking at how this government has managed fiscal policy. At the end of this process we'll have a trillion dollars of debt, we'll have no productivity improvements or productivity agenda, and not a single new major infrastructure project will have been announced. That's not a bad effort, to rack up a trillion dollars of debt without having a major infrastructure initiative across the board or a major skills initiative—not a single dollar into, for example, public and community housing; they have not one thing to show for it there. But we do know, from appropriations and from the government's fiscal position, that they have found a billion dollars to spend on advertising—a billion dollars on ads to say how well they're going. One of the things they do is market research that's available only to the government. It's cabinet-in-confidence. And the companies that look after the Liberal Party's campaign get the coin from taxpayers in order to do that—and there'd be no cross-subsidisation there, of course, would there? Nothing at all, from this government—nothing to see here! Another thing that defines this government is that they're all photo op and no follow-up. Remember, when we were talking about budgets, that famous statement from the Treasurer? We were 'back in black'. They even had the mugs to prove it. But they were treating the Australian people like mugs. Mr Thompson interjecting— Mr ALBANESE R36 The member for Herbert says he's still got the mug. Well, hang on to it, son! It'll be a collector's item, because it's the closest a coalition government are going to do to deliver a budget that's back in black. We see it across the board. The government said that at the end of this month there'd be four million vaccinations completed. What are they up to? Well, they're not quite up to 300,000. It's 23 March, and they're still more than 3.7 million short. But that pales into insignificance compared with the JobMaker program. A total of 450,000 people were going to participate in that program. And what are they up to, do you think, out of that 450,000? I'll give you a clue: they're 449,479 short of that figure. They missed by this much! They're on 521, out of 450,000. Then you get to the waste—the $40 billion blowout in subs and the $27.5 billion on the NBN. Whilst trashing fibre to the home and business, they produce a second-rate copper system that they've got to go back and retrofit because it's redundant before it's even rolled out, and it costs $27.5 billion more than they said it would. Then there's the COVID app. Remember that? We all got told we had to download the COVID app. See if you can find anyone who's actually used the COVID app. It cost $70 million. But, of course, they did produce another thing connected with COVID: their trade logo that looked like the coronavirus! That cost $10 million. Then this week we've had the report of the National Audit Office into the Collinsville new coal-fired power plant proposal. I've done a few infrastructure projects in my time. We never funded proponents of a proposal to do the feasibility study first who had never built a thing. Perhaps they built something at home with Meccano or Lego, but they had no background in doing any of that at all, and so the audit office have called them out. The audit office have said that the company won't be able to deliver the feasibility study with the money from the grant. They had $100 in assets. Seriously: $100 in assets! Not $100 million, they had $100 in assets, and this mob want to give them $4 million to do a feasibility study. Unbelievable! They knew that this proposal wasn't going to stack up, because the market had spoken. Yet what they did was, in order to be dishonest to the people of North Queensland, they said: 'Here you go. Here's $4 million.' He knows it's not going to be built. Everyone knows it's not going to be built. Then you look at JobKeeper. We're out there arguing for wage subsidies while the government and the Prime Minister were saying it was a dangerous idea. But they managed to design a program that is the most wasteful in Australian political history. As outlined in the report from Ownership Matters, a fifth of the JobKeeper subsidies that went to ASX 300 firms went to businesses that increased their profits during that period. They didn't go down; they went up. If their formula was applied across all businesses, they've run up pretty close to $10 billion going to companies that were making profits. We raised this in question time. What did the Treasurer say about this? The Treasurer said, 'Profitable businesses are a good thing.' Of course they are. But they shouldn't be paid for directly by the taxpayer, money which then goes straight into bonuses for corporate executives. How does that compare with what they did on robodebt? Alan Tudge, the minister in charge, in announcing the program, at one stage said this: We'll find you, we'll track you down and you will have to repay those debts and you may end up in prison. So: 'If you're an unemployed person who got 50 bucks too much, we'll track you down and put you in prison,' but, 'If you are the wealthy corporate executive who's got tens of millions of dollars in increases in your wealth'—and we saw a lot of that on the weekend with the big riches list—'then good on you. You're making profits. Good on you!' Strong against the weak, but weak against the strong: that sums up this government. The fact is that, if you look at where money has gone in this appropriations bill, we know that $30 million went for land around Badgerys Creek that's worth $3 million. We know that the government spent money appointing a new Fair Work Commissioner today, Sophie Mirabella. When you think 'conciliation', you think the former member for Indi! You really do think of bringing people together. She's the person who used taxpayer funds to fly outside my electorate office with someone demonstrating—the same person who was here with the 'ditch the witch' demo outside Parliament House—with a coffin with my name on it. She spoke at that meeting outside my electorate office in Marrickville. She has been appointed to the Fair Work Commission. Apparently, the AAT was full with former Liberal and National party MPs. This is a government that just won't take responsibility for anything. This Prime Minister is an empathy vacuum and an accountability black hole. He didn't take responsibility for the bushfires. He didn't take responsibility for aged care. A reported sexual assault occurred just metres from the Prime Minister's office and he won't answer questions. Today we saw in turn on Sky News and News Corp the same attitude that he has in this chamber. He raised an issue that was confidential. He knew about that. He didn't know about the reported sexual assault that occurred two years ago in a minister's office until it was reported in the media. This is a government that's on its own side. In contrast, Labor says to the Australian people: 'We're on your side. We're on your side when it comes to better wages and conditions. We're on your side when it comes to reviving manufacturing. We're on your side when it comes to cheaper child care. We're on your side when it comes to addressing the problems in aged care. We're on your side when it comes to ensuring that Australians have opportunity through skills and education. We're on your side when it comes to creating a national integrity commission that stops the corruption that is undermining political credibility in this country and confidence in this parliament.' This is a government without vision for the nation. This is a government that has been in office now for eight long years and just says: 'It's alright. Don't worry about no wage growth. Don't worry about no productivity. Don't worry about the fact that the relationship with China, as the major destination for our exports, has gone backwards and there are all these problems. Don't worry about it. Just keep with us and we'll just keep things going.' If you question anything, you are un-Australian and you're engaging in abuse. That's what the Prime Minister says. News Corp copped that today and they saw a government that really is out of touch and out of time. I say to Australians that our answer to the issues confronting our nation is very simple: 'We're on your side and we will deliver for you.' The DEPUTY SPEAKER 203092 I call the member for Nicholls, who seems to have drawn quite a crowd. 18:13 Mr DRUM 56430 Nicholls It's always interesting to get a lecture from the Labor Party on waste. It certainly makes us all feel somewhat inadequate— Honourable members interjecting— Mr DRUM 56430 The Labor Party effectively say that our debt is somehow or other too big and yet, when they get the opportunity to talk about all the programs and spending that we haven't done, obviously our debt is not big enough. They have an each-way bet on every particular issue that they run: yes, we should be going after these moneys that were overpaid; no, we should never have got involved in robodebt. They never mention the continual debt that they racked up when they were in government and the spending they set in stone for the years after they vacated the government side of this House. When you're doing an appropriation speech you have to acknowledge where we came from and certainly the fact that we as a nation were spending $36 billion a year more than we were actually bringing into the coffers. This is something that always seems to be overlooked by the Labor Party. But that $36 billion worked out to be about $100 million a day that they were spending that they didn't have. Yet they still signed up for, and promised, money that they could never pay in the education sector. They signed up for and promised money that they couldn't pay in the disability sector. They signed up for a whole raft of spending programs that were just going to keep Australia heading down into a mire of debt. Credit has to be given to the coalition governments that we have had in the last seven years that we were actually able to bring this nation back to the point where we were actually producing a modest profit prior to the COVID pandemic and to a situation where we could effectively pay for our NDIS without putting any additional funding onto our Medicare levy and where we could actually pay for the amazing education systems that we have in place. It enables us to now go and look at how we as a nation are going to pay for the aged-care provisions that are going to need to be introduced. But, again, it's only this government that's done this. There is nobody around the world and very, very few people in Australia that are not Labor Party members that would be critical of the way that this government has handled COVID-19, with JobKeeper, JobSeeker and the other programs that it has put in place. As the local member in Nicholls, the major project that I've been very, very proud of has been the Echuca-Moama Bridge, a $324 million project initially split relatively evenly between the New South Wales government and the Victorian government. Money was put aside by Peter Ryan as the Victorian National Party leader. That money sat on the books until 2016. The New South Wales government National Party roads minister put their share on the table. Darren Chester was the federal minister for infrastructure who was able to bring all of that together and get the Echuca-Moama Bridge started. That project had been talked about for 50 years by various state governments in New South Wales and Victoria and various federal governments, but to actually get it signed off and now to see that bridge being built is quite a spectacular sight. That bridge is effectively looking to be finished towards the end of this year. Although when the actual spans meet and it's fully completed may be some time next year. But it has been an amazing investment, with over 400 jobs and 1,100 indirect jobs going into that project alone. Another investment in tourism in the Shepparton area is the Shepparton Art Museum, an amazing project that has come in at just under $50 million. The federal government has been a substantial partner in that project. The Goulburn Valley is not known for its tourism assets, but certainly the Shepparton Art Museum, with its very strong link to our First Nations people, is going to be an amazing asset right at the entrance to Shepparton, right on the foreshore of Lake Victoria. It certainly is going to be an amazing asset for Shepparton. We are expecting that to be officially opened later this year. Certainly the $15 million that has been put into this project by the federal government is going to be incredibly well received. This is all part of what the coalition government has put in place as a $110 billion infrastructure pipeline, making sure that these funding announcements can be delivered so that it's a continual rolling list of projects and that we allow for each one of these to be delivered on time. One of the major aspects is $320 million for rail improvements. It's well and truly known that that North East line, the line after Shepparton, is still operating old diesels that are actually dragging the trains up to Shepparton. It's a ridiculously poor service of only four services a day. Also there's the line which continues on towards Benalla, Wangaratta and Wodonga. Again, that particular area has been the poorest when it comes to turning up on time. Punctuality has been absolutely abysmal on the North East line, and the Shepparton line has been atrocious. There is $244 million for the North East line and $320 million for the Shepparton line. It's money that should have been put up by the state government, but they have simply ignored that part of Victoria and poured all of their funding for rail upgrades into Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong—and everybody would know that to be the case. On top of all of that, we have the nation's biggest infrastructure project, the $14.5 billion Inland Rail project. At 1,700 kilometres in length, it will be one of the biggest inland rail projects in the world when it is completed. It's going to be an amazing boost to the Goulburn Valley. With its proximity to the port of Melbourne, the produce from the Goulburn Valley, which is normally worth about $2 billion every year, will be able to go out to the port and also to the north on trains if it is necessary for that produce to go further north. A fact about the Goulburn Valley that's not well-known is that about 25 per cent of all the trucks in Victoria are registered in the Goulburn Valley. The junction of the Midland Highway and the Goulburn Valley Highway has been the home for so much of the produce that is produced in the area. It certainly makes it quite a hub for that type of investment. But we have also seen a whole raft of other investments go into the area from the federal government. We've had $10 million for the Murray Valley Highway upgrade between Echuca and Yarrawonga. That work is going to really improve the safety component of the highway. And there's $10 million for the Shepparton alternative route—to upgrade some big roundabouts to make them safer. We've had $5 million for the Doyles Road interchange, and that's been an important part of it. We have $2 million for bridge work and $6.7 million for local governments to do some bridge renewal and vehicle safety programs as well. We have $208 million on the table for the Shepparton bypass. We are struggling to get the Victorian government to come to the table with its cost-benefit analysis of that project. They've been waiting for 3½ years to do a business case on this. They put $10 million on the table about three budgets ago. When this next budget is handed down, two budgets will have already passed without any support from the Victorian government for the Shepparton bypass. It's been very poor work. The city has waited for two decades to get that work done and get those big heavy vehicles out of the main streets of Shepparton. We've also had serious investment in the Regional Jobs and Investment program—some $20 million around the area. And we have some tourist products. The Museum of Vehicle Evolution, Yarrawonga Tourism Trail and Murray River Paddlesteamers have been recipients of some of those funds. And some private firms have put their own funding in. Furphy Engineering; JN & R Engineering, in Kyabram; and Aquatec and Rubicon, from Shepparton, are doing some amazing work. Rubicon is working on water-saving projects that are seriously leading the world throughout the Americas and Asia. We have also seen investment in other processing companies such as ACM; Wine by Sam, in Seymour; and Ryan's Meats, at Nathalia. They are fantastic family businesses. The Turnbull Brothers and Ky-D-Pak are amazing businesses that have been beneficiaries of that investment as well. It really does show the credibility of this government when it is working in partnership with these communities and also with these local businesses. We only wish there was more to go around so that we could partner up with so many other businesses that would love to have a little bit of assistance as well. I think one of the great things about this job is your ability to be able to work with community. One of the communities in my electorate is that of the town of Cobram. In Cobram in 2010 they had a fire that burnt down their local cinema. In 2012 there were 96 members from the Cobram Youth Group who launched a fundraising drive to build a new cinema. They raised over $700,000. It was great that the federal government were able to assist the township of Cobram with $526,000 through the Building Better Regions Fund. Together that money has now returned a twin cinema to Cobram. Very seldom will you see a project so good be driven by the youth of a district so I really want to congratulate them and thank them for what they have done. This is an amazing tribute to this government, the way that they are able to invest in this electorate—like they have invested in every part of Australia. Their reach has been thorough. Their ability to have their members go into the area, connect with their communities and then deliver on the projects that are necessary to take this nation forward makes us very proud to be part of this coalition. We now find ourselves in a very, very tough situation, because of COVID and because of the assistance packages that we have put in place, but, again, I don't think there's anybody in this chamber who would suggest that we take that money back. I don't think there's anybody in this chamber who would suggest that we got it wrong. I don't think there's anybody in this chamber who would argue that JobKeeper should have been delayed or that JobKeeper should have been a lesser amount. We've got what we've got now because we acted in the best interests of our people. I think we will live and die by those decisions each and every day—when you are in the coalition. On this side of the House we believe very firmly that we have done the right thing by our people to support them in the way we have. At the same time as we are doing that, we are continuing to support our communities with this infrastructure spending as well. 18:27 Mr NEUMANN HVO Blair Before I was elected to this place I ran a business for 20 years. I started a law practice with one of my partners and another partner came along. Then we grew into a multimillion-dollar operation. I later became a shareholder and director in that business. When you are actually running a business you get mugged by reality. You understands concepts like profit and loss, debt and deficit. You understand things like revenue and expenditure, assets and liabilities. Unfortunately, the member for Nicholls doesn't understand any of these concepts because he can't understand that every dollar this government spent they borrowed. They doubled the debt before the COVID-19 pandemic hit these shores. They doubled it. They were good on slogans in opposition: debt and deficit disasters, debt trucks. I wonder where those debt trucks that went around the country are. They are probably at the wreckers now. I guarantee you won't see them at the next federal election later this year or early next year. You will not see a debt truck with an LNP slogan on it because they have racked up the debt. Contrary to what the member for Nicholls had to say in terms of infrastructure, they will leave no legacy on infrastructure because what they have taken is the debt from $200 billion up to a trillion dollars and not a road project to show for it—nothing for it. Even on the infrastructure spend in the budget, when it comes to bridges renewal, blackspot funding, roads to recovery—which every government does—this government announces it and doesn't deliver on it. Every single time there's a budget or a MYEFO, every single time they're asked questions in Senate estimates, guess what? They underspend. It's announcements and no expenditure or little expenditure every single time. This government is all about the show. A government by the mates for the mates. Sophie Mirabella was appointed for a role today. No-one could possibly think that she was moderate, sensible or understanding when it came to issues of industrial relations. Perhaps they couldn't find a tribunal—AAT—or any other place they could plonk her. Honestly, for the government to do that today of all days is an utter disgrace. When it comes to disgrace, nothing speaks more of disgrace than the NBN opposing fibre to the premises. Tony Windsor said 'do it once, do it right, do it with fibre'. The government, when in opposition, were pretending all the time that they could do it with this copper based system. In 2021, how about we roll out an old Toyota from 1983 and think that will do the job for Australia, a used Toyota Corolla or something like that? That is what they were doing when it came to telecommunications. This is a government that couldn't manage the Ruby Princess or the vaccination program or JobMaker correctly and can't even get the right figures for JobKeeper. It expects to be lauded for an increase on JobSeeker that will amount to a cup of coffee at a cafe in the high street in a regional town or city across the country. This government can't manage money. The government have increased the debt five times—doubled it before the pandemic—and left no lasting infrastructure legacy afterwards. What we see is them expecting to be patted on the back with 5.8 per cent unemployment, 8.5 underemployment, over two million Australians languishing. What does the Commonwealth Bank say? The Commonwealth Bank says when JobKeeper goes off on 28 March, 110,000 people lose their jobs. Treasury says 100,000. In my electorate there's about 1,100 businesses with 3,336 people on JobKeeper whose jobs are all at risk come 28 March. The government couldn't even calculate correctly how much JobKeeper would be and wanted a pat on the back when they underspent. This is not a government that gets things right. It's not a government that cares for people and it certainly doesn't care for the 40,000 Australians who were promised they would be home by Christmas and were left stranded overseas during the pandemic. There wouldn't be a federal MP in this place who wouldn't have had to deal with the challenges—the tears from parents. I can think of young dancers from Ipswich who were stuck overseas. I can think of people stuck in India, stuck in America, stuck in the UK, stuck in Germany and other places who contacted my office during this time. And the government—what did they do? Not very much at all. The government promised, again, they would all be home by Christmas but 40,000 Australians were still stuck overseas. What about the rorts—the sports rorts, the land rorts? Again and again Senate estimates shows what is happening in this government. They're not managing money. This is a government for their mates, appointing their mates, deciding for their mates. This is a government that seems to think you can persecute poor people on robodebt—$1.2 billion, a fiasco. No-one has lost their job over there on that side, no-one, because the Prime Minister and the current minister are in it up to their eyeballs. They have all had a hand in robodebt, with $1.2 billion of taxpayers' money gone. There were legal fees spent on behalf of the Australian people to defend this nonsense. There were threatening letters that each one of us as MPs would have seen from constituents. How many times did people appeal those? We had cases in my electorate where people were alleged to be owing to the Australian government up to $40,000 or more and, in the end, were refunded. This is what happened. The minister over there shouldn't be there. The LNP member for that Gold Coast seat shouldn't be there as a minister. It's a disgrace, what's happened with the government. Talk about wastage. The attitude of those opposite towards robodebt, towards people who are poor and disabled, towards people who are aged, and towards people who are on JobSeeker is one thing but what about JobKeeper for their mates—profits, dividends, executive bonuses? Honestly, for the Prime Minister to have a go at Christine Holgate and the way he treated her compared to the attitude when it comes to JobKeeper. So much of that money was wasted and given to people who were wealthy. It's enriching the rich for so many people. The figures clearly show that, in report after report. I want to praise the member for Fenner who has led the charge to show the wastage. He has done a fantastic job in this area, with speech after speech and interview after interview. He led the charge to show that a good program was wasted and mismanaged by this government. What are they doing? It's some sort of corporate largess to give to the wealthy companies in this country. And what do they do? They say: 'Give it back if you feel like doing so. It's okay, we won't charge you. We won't challenge you. We won't go to court in relation to it. We'll just let you go. If you're a nice boy or girl, give it back to us.' Talk about pathetic. This government is pathetic when it comes to these issues. Absolutely pathetic. Two million Australians unemployed or underemployed. There were so many people excluded from JobKeeper: people in the child-care sector, the local government sector, the arts community and the universities sector. There are the people who are on temporary visa situations and those who have been casuals for under a year in their jobs. So many people who could have been included, if the government had got the program right in the first place, were excluded from JobKeeper. The government was clumsy and inept. Having thought that the program and the idea of a wage subsidy was dangerous at first, the government brings in this blunt instrument and then has the temerity to say that Labor wastes money. This evening I have given example after example of how the government has wasted money on programs that should never have gone on, like robodebt. The JobKeeper arrangement should have been better targeted, not given to wealthy companies to go in corporate bonuses, profits and dividends. If that was to happen, the government should have used every resource of the state to reclaim that money or ask for the money back but, no, they haven't. The government run around the countryside giving us lectures on financial prudence but they will spend this money left, right and centre. Every dollar they've spent on their corporate largess to their friends in the corporate world is a borrowed dollar that we, and future generations, will have to pay. During the global financial crisis, this government, then in opposition—and I was here at the time—gave us lectures and pretended we shouldn't have borrowed money. They voted against it. Even when we kept the country out of a recession, they pretended that, if we hadn't borrowed the money to support the jobs and infrastructure it was spent on, we would have still stayed out of recession. But that didn't happen. The country would have gone into recession, if the Gillard government and the Rudd government hadn't done what they did, but they weren't honest enough in opposition. Now they pretend, in government, that they can spend this money without consequence and blame us for it. They're forgetting all about what they said, for year, after year, after year and in campaign, after campaign, after campaign. We don't oppose the appropriation bills. Why? Because we take a principled position that the Labor Party doesn't oppose appropriation bills. Why? Because we can remember, in 1975 when there was a Labor government, that the coalition in the Senate—in the place down the road, before this building was built—opposed the elected Labor government, that was the Whitlam Labor government. We remember it. This government, the Liberal and National Parties, are ashamed of what they did in the 1970s. We always remind them. Every time I make a speech on the appropriations bills, I remind them about this. We have a principled position to support the appropriation bills, because the government of the day, elected by the Australian public, has the right to bring appropriation bills and pass it through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Even if we don't agree with a lot of what the government does, as a matter of principle Labor supports appropriations bills. Those opposite, when in opposition, pretended for a start that we could keep the country out of recession during the global financial crisis but not borrow money. Now they say the debt is entirely manageable. They confuse debt and deficit—like the member for Nicholls, who doesn't understand basic business concepts—and pretend to give us lectures. I spent 20 years running a business, I know what it's like and how hard it is when it's your own business and your financial future on the line. This government will leave no legacy afterwards. You might borrow money for a house, end up with a house and land, work hard, pay it off and end up with something at the end. This government has borrowed so much money but left nothing at the end. Our future generations will be in a position where they will have to pay back this debt. What's there? What are they left with? The assets I referred to in the balance sheet will not be there, because the government has given them to its mates—corporate largess. The government should never ever call people dole bludgers, not when it's given so much money to its mates and won't even reclaim it. This government should hang its head in shame over the way it's conducted itself in terms of budgetary management in this country and the inconsistent messages it has perpetuated and perpetrated in campaign after campaign. I look forward to going around Australia some time and looking for the mythical debt truck. It's probably there somewhere, like the Tasmanian tiger or the yowie—somewhere up in Kilcoy or somewhere like that. That debt truck is probably lurking somewhere! I wonder whether there is a rusty LNP logo somewhere on that truck? I can guarantee they will never wheel it out—probably not in my time in politics or anyone else in this place's time in politics. It will be in the time of people much younger than me. This government has a shocking record of economic management and has an incredibly hypocritical approach when it comes to economic management and campaigning in this country. The people should remember the different messages between campaigning and governing. This government has a shocking record in this area. In terms of jobs, there are two million people plus who are unemployed or underemployed and who face a stark reality at the end of March this year. I hope the government remembers them. 18:42 Mrs WICKS 241590 Robertson I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. The Morrison government is committed to ensuring the Australian economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of our economic plan we are investing in local infrastructure programs to stimulate economic growth and boost jobs. This includes in my electorate of Robertson, on the New South Wales Central Coast, where a number of important sporting, education, telecommunications and other infrastructure projects are being rolled out to improve the lives of Central Coast residents. Last Friday I joined the Minister for Education and Youth in opening renovated learning facilities at ET Australia Secondary College, in Gosford. This included new classrooms, a science lab, two computer labs, breakout study areas and learning enrichment rooms—all made possible through a $1 million investment under the Morrison government's Capital Grants Program. This investment is part of our record funding for schools across the country to deliver real needs based funding and drive better results and outcomes. The new learning facilities look fantastic, I have to say. They are state of the art, and they are going to give our students on the Central Coast the chance to learn in high-quality, purpose-built facilities, and, combined with the school's unique teaching methods, ensure our young people are equipped with the skills to be successful both during and after school. It was a pleasure to visit ET Australia to see these new facilities, and I look forward to hearing about the positive impact that this school, its teachers, its staff and its students will have on the school community and our community as well. The Morrison government is also delivering for residents along the Hawkesbury River, in Spencer, Marlow and Wendoree Park, with a new mobile base station recently being turned on. This will significantly improve the ability of residents to make calls, browse the internet, stay connected with loved ones, do business and access education. Improved mobile coverage has been a long-held dream for residents in this region, and I'm really pleased to be part of a government that has listened to their needs and concerns, and delivered. The new mobile base station was completed by Optus and is the latest of four sites across my electorate to receive new or improved coverage under the program. This improved service is thanks to the government's $380 million Mobile Black Spot Program. The first five rounds of this program are funding more than 1,200 mobile base stations around the country, with more than 900 already on air and providing much-needed mobile connectivity to rural and regional areas. I know that this new mobile base station will be particularly important following the devastating bushfires last summer, with residents in Spencer, Marlow and Wendoree Park expressing their relief that connectivity will be improved significantly in an emergency. I just want to note that residents in that community are facing some very challenging conditions at the moment due to the adverse weather. On behalf of my community, I will extend our thoughts to them at this time. Spencer resident, Robyn Downer, said that communities on the Lower Hawkesbury, which is a region only half an hour's drive north of Sydney, had dealt with poor mobile coverage for many years and had been campaigning for improved telecommunications services since November 2015. Robyn says that she's finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel after delivery of this important project. I congratulate the local Spencer community for their advocacy on this issue and I'm really pleased to see improved mobile coverage across this important local region. Last Friday I was also pleased to attend the start of work on the new 'missing link' pathway, connecting Davistown and Kincumber, a cycleway in my electorate of Robertson. The Central Coast Council is constructing the new shared pathway to provide a dedicated off-road route for pedestrians and cyclists, with stage 1 works focusing on a 320-metre section along Malinya Avenue at Davistown. Works also include construction of curb and guttering, improvements to the road shoulder, adjustments to property access and improvements to stormwater drainage. Over $900,000 of funding has been provided for the project under the government's Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, helping to improve our already fantastic walking and cycling tracks used by both locals and visitors. I'd really like to thank the Davistown Progress Association, especially its president, Jenny Mcculla. They have really worked tirelessly to make these upgrades a reality. Jenny said that she's delighted to see funding for this much-needed pathway so that residents can walk safely to school, medical appointments or the local shopping village. I know it's really important as well for those who choose to cycle along that path, particularly for families. Construction has also begun on the redevelopment of the Narara Skate Park, made possible through federal government funding. Feedback from local skaters played a key role in the final design and will ensure that it caters to all skill levels and skating styles. The park also incorporates elements which will enable it to be used for future competitions and riding workshops. The redevelopment is expected to be completed by mid 2021, and I look forward to visiting the skate park to see these improvements. It's a really important commitment for my electorate. The Morrison government has also committed to delivering improved sporting facilities to ensure that we have places to exercise and enjoy the sports that we love. This includes on the Peninsula, where I was pleased to open new women's change rooms and facility upgrades at James Brown Oval in Woy Woy. This project was made possible following an investment of more than $480,000 by the federal government. The facilities are so much more than just a place for sport. They really enhance team spirit, create a sense of belonging for players and ensure that women's sports are supported across our region. The president of the Southern & Ettalong Football Club, Glen Balneaves, said that the new change rooms will help to create equality within the club and lift morale for women and girls who play football across the Peninsula. A new $80,000 digital scoreboard for Woy Woy Oval has also been delivered, completing the state-of the-art facility for local and regional events. The multipurpose scoreboard will display game scores, player names and statistics as well as information for community events. I want to thank Woy Woy rugby union and Woy Woy rugby league for their advocacy on this important project. In Ettalong Beach, the Morrison government is delivering $1.45 million for a new amenities block and clubhouse at Lemon Grove Netball Courts. The upgrade will provide state-of-the-art amenities for netballers on the Peninsula. I am advised that it is on track, with the detailed engineering design package commenced and the clubhouse due to be opened to players in the 2021-22 financial year. Lisa Coakley from the Woy Woy Peninsula Netball Association said that the club had been advocating for better amenities to ensure members can enjoy world-class facilities and that the executive can't wait to see this new clubhouse built. In Umina, the $8.25 million Peninsula Recreation Precinct upgrade is being delivered by the Central Coast Council. Early consultation, I'm advised, has been held with various sporting groups, and I'm advised that the project management unit at the council has continued to liaise with the Umina Community Group. A site survey, geotechnical investigations and an electrical audit have been undertaken to inform design development. I look forward to these upgrades being completed as soon as possible. It is important to acknowledge that this project would not have happened except for the work of local community groups, such as the Umina Community Group, who advocated for improved facilities for the region's young people over a number of years. They brought the community together and developed a petition, and the delivery of this project is proof that their voice made a difference. Finally, the Morrison government is delivering improved parking and road infrastructure for Central Coast residents, helping them to shorten commuting times and get home sooner and safer. Thirty million dollars has been committed to deliver commuter parking at Gosford station and there is $5 million for Woy Woy station. Commuter car parking is congestion-busting infrastructure that gets cars off the road and helps Australians to get to work more quickly. At Woy Woy, Transport for NSW has completed a rapid viability assessment and identified four suitable sites. Preparation work is being finalised, and I will be able to say more on the delivery time frames once a site has been determined. The Morrison government's $86.5 million Central Coast Roads Package is delivering for local residents and is also assisting our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by supporting 190 direct and indirect jobs, based on government estimates. A number of upgrades have been completed, including Mutu Street, Woy Woy, Glenrock Parade, Tascott, Maidens Brush Road, Wyoming, Springfield Road, Springfield and Gem Road, Pearl Beach. Upgrades to important local roads, such as Del Monte Place in Copacabana and Ridgway Road in Avoca Beach, are underway. Design works have also commenced on Steyne Road at Saratoga, Lushington Street in East Gosford and Shelly Beach Road in Empire Bay. Those last three roads, I know, were very important roads for the local community. They advocated incredibly hard to see that funding delivered, and I'm very pleased to have been able to deliver that funding. It will make a tremendous difference in the lives of those people who are living in those communities. These upgrades will make a huge difference to the lives of people who live and travel on all of these roads across the Central Coast every day, including people like Lindsay Cunningham, who said that the upgrade to Ridgway Road in Avoca Beach will ensure that local students can walk home safely from school and Kevin Dewar, who has previously told me that the Ocean Beach Road intersection upgrades were much needed to address congestion that has been getting worse over many years. These are just some of the many investments in infrastructure being delivered right across the electorate of Robertson. I know that the Morrison government will continue to implement our economic plan to assist Australia's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and I will continue to fight to ensure that we do see more and better infrastructure delivered to a region like the Central Coast, the very best region in the best country in the world. 18:53 Mr BURKE DYW Watson The announcement today from the government that they're appointing former member for Indi Sophie Mirabella to the Fair Work Commission did not come out of a vacuum. This is not just one bad appointment—one crazy ideological appointment; it's actually part of a very deliberate strategy of hard-line ideology from this government. For the commission to function as it's meant to function, there needs to be a balance between the employer and the employee representatives, but, for eight long years now, this government has been stacking the commission with employer reps only and conservative ideologues to make sure that workers have less of a voice. And now they have gone to make the blatant political appointment of a former Liberal MP, the least conciliatory member of this House in living memory, to be in charge of conciliation for every workplace in Australia. Are they just trying to stack the Fair Work Commission? Are they trying to undermine its credibility? Because this can do both. This is a government hell-bent not just on attacking the Labor Party but on attacking the rights of workers themselves. Ideologically, Australia was meant to be in a different position to countries like the United States. More than a hundred years ago, we had a world-leading decision with the Harvester judgement, and, in doing that, we decided as a nation that there would be a social contract, that there would effectively be a settlement, that the livelihoods and wages of workers would not only be based on the profits of the companies but actually be based on the needs of the individuals. That settlement for a long time was respected by each side of politics. We had some outbreaks with the Bruce government. We had outbreaks with work choices from the Howard government. But that principle has basically been at the core of the Australian concept of a fair go—that settlement: that workers, their rights and their needs are how you work out what their minimum wage needs to be. But today's appointment is not the beginning of the government trying to undermine that settlement. They did it with the trade union royal commission by appointing somebody who was also appearing as the featured guest for Liberal Party fundraisers as the alleged impartial judge. They did it with the politicised ABCC; the politicised Registered Organisations Commission; the failed anti-union ensuring integrity laws; the failed anti-worker IR reforms last week, which, when they were presented to this parliament, were, in black and white, a how-to guide for cutting wages. And they did it with the endless stacking of the Fair Work Commission in favour of employers and hardline ideologists. The attacks on workers never end. When you get a new player going in there like the gig economy which is entirely working on a race to the bottom on wages, where people are being paid less than the legal minimum, what's the response from the government? It's: 'Fixing that is complicated. It's complicated.' No, sorry, it's the exact same principle that the Harvester judgement was fixing more than a century ago—that, if all you look at is a race to the bottom on wages, then you don't give people dignity. Australia was meant to be above that, but this government is clearly not above a race to the bottom when it comes to wages for the Australian workforce. Then we end up with the Sophie Mirabella appointment. What chance do you think you'll have if you've got an anti-bullying claim and you take it to the commission and you discover Commissioner Mirabella—or deputy president; we don't know which title she'll be given yet—is actually in charge of judging whether or not you've been bullied or treated unfairly based on your gender? This is the same person who, just outside the chamber, when the 'ditch the witch' signs were there, was there with other members of the parliament who still occupy the front bench on that side of politics. This is the same person who turned up outside a Labor electorate office with a coffin as a prop, and the government thinks that's the sort of person who should be in charge of deciding whether or not vulnerable workers have been bullied. That's the sort of person who's now going to be in charge of deciding whether or not you're being treated fairly at work. That's the sort of person who's going to be put in charge of conciliation. The least conciliatory human you could get in this place is now in charge of making the peace. A person who described John Howard's work choices as 'big but fair' and 'significant but necessary' will earn around $400,000 a year for the next 13 years to oversee Australia's workplaces. That ought to send a chill down the spine of every Australian worker. This is not just a one-off appointment; this is part of a stacking operation by this government. Let's not pretend this is just, 'Oh, yes, the government appoints their people, but we'd appoint ours if we were in government.' No. Labor made sure we were appointing people from both sides of the bargaining table, because that's how the commission had worked for more than a century. But this government has decided, in terms of appointments, it's winner takes all. What that means in terms of disputes is that workers lose all. That's where that gets you. But, as I say, this is not the only appointment that creates a problem and it's not just the general trend. Also in the papers today we have one of their other appointments, Deputy President Gerard Boyce. This is someone who is meant to work out whether or not you could go with a dispute saying: 'There are sexualised images in my workplace. I don't feel comfortable at work. I want the commission to be able to properly hear the matter.' What chance do you have when the commissioner himself brought to his workplace, the commission, scantily clad, erotic anime figures? He decorated his own office in the exact way that workers are meant to be protected from in their workplace. And he's put in charge to be the umpire? Then, when people complained about it, he decided he would show how impartial he was. How did he do that? He brought in a life-size cardboard cut-out of Donald Trump. Then, when he was worried about people looking at what in his office, he put up fake surveillance equipment to scare people off. Then, at the Christmas party last year in New South Wales, where fireworks are unlawful, he started throwing explosive devices down from a balcony. Do I need to go through the list of what he's meant to be defending? It's workplace health and safety, the rule of law, people having safe workplaces and people being able to work in an environment that's free from offensive images. This is not talking about some random person who turned up at a Liberal Party fundraiser and someone got a photograph with him and we're saying, 'It's outrageous this is who you associate with.' This is who the government appointed. He gets paid $470,000 a year as a deputy president. And, because it's a quasi-judicial appointment, he is there until the year 2038. Will anyone from the other side defend this as a good appointment? It didn't go through the parliament. I'll tell you where it went through. It went through the cabinet of Australia. I say to those backbenchers opposite, those people who are not members of cabinet: the people who your side has decided have the best judgement available on your side of the chamber decided he should be put in charge of every Australian workplace. They decided Sophie Mirabella should be put in charge of every Australian workplace. They decided to put protagonists in as umpires. If they were doing it on both sides even-handedly you could say, 'It'll work out in the wash through a series of appeals to the commission.' But, no. Every single decision goes the same way. Every single appointment goes the same way. It's a stacking of the industrial commission and a deliberate strategy to undermine the workforce of Australia. Those opposite might not care, because for those opposite it would be years since any of them were reliant on an award wage. But I'll tell you what; the people on this side of the House will defend people who rely on award wages. The people on this side of the House will defend people who are reliant on a wage in an enterprise agreement. The people on this side of the House know that, if the umpires are no good, the outcomes are going to be no good. I say to those opposite: think of how many times you have watched a sporting match. Maybe that's something you'll understand if you don't understand workplace law. How many times have you thought, 'That umpire made a weighted decision.' Then think that you are responsible for putting umpires who are not up to the job in charge of every workplace in Australia. When people aren't getting a pay rise, don't think, 'I wonder how that happened?' You will have done that. When agreements get past that leave workers worse off, don't think, 'That's just the system.' No. You own those outcomes. If you make these appointments, you own those outcomes. If you abandon or up-end the concept of a settlement between the labour workforce and getting a fair share of profit then when people are worse off it is not an accident; it's because you did it. Only two weeks ago I was with workers who are living some of these outcomes right now, and they need better industrial relations laws. I was with the leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, and the member for Hotham, Clare O'Neil, at the McCormick dispute. These are workers who for five years have not had a pay rise—five years. Go back and check your tax records and see what you were earning five years ago and think, would you even like to go back to that? I tell you what, you were always earning a hell of a lot more than these workers are. And for these workers, after not getting a pay rise for five years, what do you think the offer from the company was, if they didn't want to lose their penalty rates, which would see them go backwards? The offer from the company, for the next enterprise agreement, if they were not willing to give up penalty rates and other entitlements, was zero—a zero percentage increase. If they agreed to that, it would leave them for eight years without a pay rise. This is real. This is what's happening in the Australian workforce out there. And those opposite—worse than turning a blind eye to it—are contributing to low wages outcomes in this country by the appointments they're making and by the refusal to provide changes to industrial laws that would actually deliver improvements rather than further cuts. McCormick—you might not know their name, but I tell you what, you know their products. They make the sauces for McDonald's, for KFC, for Nando's, for Subway and for other famous herb-and-spice brands, such as Keen's mustard and curry. They are a substantial multinational business, and they can afford to pay. There's one thing that lets them think they can get away without giving a pay rise, and it is the Morrison government. That gives them heart, because they know that if they don't agree to another enterprise agreement there are not going to be industrial laws forcing their hand. They know that, if they continue to provide zero percentage increases to people's wages, no-one's going to improve things for those people. I met Mary, age 55. She's worked there for 33 years. We went through worker after worker on the picket line. These are loyal, hardworking workers who are being treated appallingly by this company. In return for their loyalty they get a zero per cent pay rise. They deserve better. And every time the government wants to run some scare campaign about unions, I would share this simple fact; those opposite are doing nothing to get them the pay rise. But the UWU is trying to get them a pay rise. I met union officials who were standing with those workers on the picket line, trying to make sure they get a pay rise. And when I came back here, what did I find that the government was doing? The government was getting rid of its laws on wage theft. The government was wanting to make it easier to casualise people. The government was making appointments to make sure it's easier to keep wages low and it's easier to make sure people have their entitlements removed. Those opposite often see workplace relations, industrial relations, as some sort of complex, clubby policy area. It's not. It's about the take-home pay of the majority of Australians, and those opposite are making sure that it is less secure and that it stays low. 19:08 Mr PEARCE 282306 Braddon One thing I've said many times in this place since being elected is that I'm Braddon's voice in Canberra, not the other way around. This commitment remains my priority. As I move around the electorate, through the north-west, the west coast and King Island, I'm grateful for all those who take the time to update me on how things are going in their local communities. Whether you're representing your own views or those of your business or organisation, it's important that I know and understand what is working and what isn't—what the success stories are and what challenges remain. Last week's labour force figures show the strength and resilience of the Australian economy. The unemployment rate dropped from a revised 6.3 per cent in January to 5.8 per cent in February. Around 88,700 jobs were created across Australia during the month, all of them full time. More than 80 per cent of these jobs went to women, and more than 40 per cent went to young people—and this is important. It's also important that the participation rate remains at a record high. The level of unemployment is now back to prepandemic levels. Tasmania's economic recovery is in full swing. The economy is growing. Our state has consistently been rated as the best performing and most confident in the nation. We have the lowest unemployment rate of all of the states. Our job numbers are at prepandemic rates. Our job vacancy ads in February led the nation and were over 52 per cent higher than the previous year, more than double the national growth for that year. A range of jobs across a variety of sectors are available right now across our region. I encourage all jobseekers to consider the opportunities when they become available and how they can make the most of them. Again, if there are barriers to you getting a job in Braddon then I need to know about it, so please let me know. The months ahead are going to continue to be challenging for some sectors, but the labour force figures and other economic data should give confidence that the Morrison government's economic recovery plan is working as we emerge from the most significant financial crisis in more than 100 years. Our future looks positive. As your federal member for Braddon I will continue to listen to you and to raise the challenges that you are facing and represent the needs and interests of the north-west, the west coast and King Island in Canberra. I will continue to fight the good fight and keep fighting for job-creating enterprises and services that our region so desperately needs to regain its full potential. Education is a key pillar of my region's future prosperity, whether it is schooling, vocational education, TAFE, university or on-the-job training. Ensuring that everybody across the north-west, the west coast and King Island has access to first-rate education is crucial if our region is to reach its full potential. As opportunities present themselves we need to make sure that we're skilled up so that everyone can take advantage of these jobs and prosper. I'm particularly proud of our west coast study hub. In fact, I was at the opening of this hub in Zeehan. It was one of the first things I did when I was elected to this place. Those who live on the west coast of Tasmania know that there is a significant divide when it comes to accessing higher education. The further you move away from the big capital cities the worse the educational opportunities are. The statistic is that you are 50 per cent less likely to achieve a bachelor's degree by age 35 if you live in a rural or regional community. This is not good enough. It's a significant financial burden to move away from home to study. There's also the social and emotional toll that leaving families and friends behind brings. Regional study hubs are one way to address these barriers. They allow students to study and to continue to live at home in their own townships. I'm very happy to report to the House that the Morrison government's investment in higher education on the west coast of Tasmania is reaping rewards. It's doing exactly what it was designed to do. It's working. I'd like to see it expanded. Through the hub there has been a continual flow of students of all ages. There have been locals looking to undertake university courses, vocational programs and upskilling. Critically, the hub has been accessed by many learners who are choosing to access higher education for the very first time. I think this is a great outcome. I'm incredibly excited about what's happening on the west coast. The region is creating a community of learners who are being linked to education and employment outcomes. The west coast hub has proved to be such an effective model and an excellent investment that that centre is now looking to develop outreach programs in Circular Head and King Island, as I said earlier. I look forward to continuing to support these ventures in our regional communities and to work hard to close the gap in the educational outcomes between the city and the bush. The Morrison government's commitment to education is not limited to the west coast study hub. I'm very pleased to report to the House that the construction of the University of Tasmania's new Burnie campus is nearing completion. It's looking great. This is a once-in-a-generation investment by the Morrison government. It is a crucial element to improving educational outcomes in our region. It will build the north-west region's reputation as a distinctive learning destination. This investment goes well beyond the educational benefits that it will bring to the region. It will create vibrancy close to Burnie's CBD, it will foster economic benefits and it will pave the way for increased community-industry partnerships that enable the region to prosper and to grow. These new facilities will support and deliver the new degrees and industry aligned courses, increasing opportunities for students right across the region as they graduate from university and gain job-ready qualifications. I welcome UTas's commitment to focusing on leveraging on the strengths of our region. This will ensure that the courses offered meet the specific needs of our regional communities, align with our future workforce needs and continue to attract students from right across Australia and the world. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending a few days on King Island. It was great to see the island bustling. I'm happy to report that the King Island Show was an absolute credit to all those involved. It had everything you would expect, plus more. Congratulations to everybody who was involved in organising the great King Island Show. I had the pleasure of officially opening the King Island early childhood centre upgrade and extension. This investment is another example of the Morrison government linking education and jobs together. This project upgraded the main facility to comply with the current building code. It improved operational efficiency, as well as constructing a new standalone building and increasing enrolment capacity to further strengthen and grow the King Island community. It's a great outcome. Spending time with Murphy Summers and her team at the early childhood centre and seeing how the little ones were thriving under their care reinforced for me the value of our commitment and how critical this is to our small regional communities. More parents are now able to return to work. They know that their child is receiving the care and the early learning that they need to have the best possible start in life. It's so important. Over the past few weeks I've also had the pleasure of officially opening two new school redevelopments focused on STEM. Burnie's Leighland Christian School and Devonport Christian School received funding through the capital grants program. This investment by the Morrison government reflects our ongoing commitment to today's students. They know we are willing to back them and ensure they are equipped with the skills that they need for the jobs of the future. If the students at Leighland Christian School and Devonport Christian School reflect the students right across the nation then our future is in good hands indeed. Their excitement to embrace this new technology, their willingness to learn and the way they challenge themselves across STEM subjects was absolutely impressive and infectious. I'm so proud of them. No longer is science, technology engineering and mathematics something that is taught from a textbook; it's a hands-on and immersive subject, and students are loving it. Congratulations to the principals—Elizabeth Scheu and Chad Smit—and the teachers, support staff and parents of these great kids, who all play such an important part in the education of these kids. Thank you for making your students' journey through education a positive and exciting one and for ensuring they are ready to take advantage of every opportunity that's laid before them. Last year the Morrison government and the Tasmanian government signed a state energy and emission reduction deal that will create thousands of jobs and deliver an affordable power supply to Tasmania and the broader electricity market. Under the agreement, both governments will work closely to deliver the Battery of the Nation and Marinus links to better connect Tasmania with mainland Australia and the National Energy Market whilst improving energy security, keeping prices low and reducing emissions. Delivering the Marinus Link and Battery of the Nation projects is key to the federal government's JobMaker plan to shore up affordable and reliable energy in the east coast energy grid. Both Marinus and pumped hydro will maintain downward pressure on electricity prices and this is one of our government's key priorities. So households can keep more of what they earn. This will also develop the backbone of reliably lower emissions in the National Electricity Market for the next decade and beyond. It is forecasted that these projects will create up to 2,800 jobs, which will be absolutely crucial to my regional communities as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Marinus Link will also provide the additional interconnection needed to export the electricity grid to the Battery of the Nation on the mainland. In doing so it will unlock a pipeline of renewable energy investment, including pumped hydro, and create energy storage. Having already achieved more than 100 per cent self-sufficiency in renewables, Tasmania is punching well above its weight when it comes to generating low-cost, reliable, clean energy for the nation. This will help us achieve our target to double our renewable energy generation to 200 per cent of our current needs by 2040. It's a great goer! The anticipated increased energy interconnection between the mainland and Tasmania will also improve energy security, helping put downward pressure and lower prices on our state's domestic electricity market. It will also enhance growing opportunities for renewable generation in our state. The Morrison government has contributed $150 million towards the Marinus Link project to date, guiding it through its development and approval stage. The Morrison government is continuing to invest in the electorate of Braddon across all sectors, as you can clearly see from my speech tonight. Almost everywhere I turn, every local government area I visit has federally funded projects being undertaken. It's a wonderful thing. From roads and bridge maintenance, large infrastructure projects and smaller capital grants projects that are important to our small regional communities to supporting our volunteer sector—those volunteers are absolutely crucial to our regions—and our local junior sports champions—the list goes on and on and on. Thank you to everyone across the north-west, the west coast and King Island for how you have responded to the challenges we have all been through together in the last year. Together we are building stronger communities and we are building a stronger Tasmania. Our region has always had a glass-half-full approach. We have taken on our challenges and we have met them with the same determination we always have, and we are winning. I look forward to working with everyone in my electorate in the years to come, working together to realise our goals and seize our opportunities as they present themselves, ensuring everyone is equipped with the skills they need to be the very best Tasmanian they can ever be. 19:22 Mr HILL 86256 Bruce I rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. I want to acknowledge the celebration this weekend of the Holi festival—'the festival of colours', as it's widely known. It's an ancient Hindu festival also known as 'the festival of spring' or 'the festival of love'. It originated in India but is now celebrated across much of Asia and the Western world because of the fast-growing and vibrant Indian diaspora communities across so much of the world. It's a festival celebrated now by over a billion people worldwide—'the festival of lights'—including many hundreds of thousands of Australians of Indian origin. It's about the triumph of good over evil. Of course the most widely known part of Holi is where people smear each other with colour and drench each other with water. It's enormously good fun, I must say. I'm proud to represent a vibrant and fast-growing Indian diaspora community in the electorate of Bruce. Unfortunately, I fear that again this year COVID restrictions will limit and curtail somewhat the celebration of the Holi festival in my community and in many parts of Australia. I say to any Australian who hasn't experienced the Holi festival: whenever you can, whenever you have the opportunity, go and experience it. The community are so welcoming in talking to you about their traditions. I would also say: wear some old clothes or an old suit. That is a good tip! Do have some fun but also reflect on the message of Holi—'good over evil'. It's an opportunity to rid yourself of past errors, to forgive others and to end conflicts—be they in your family, community or workplace, or wherever—and to spread positivity around you. I wish everyone celebrating Holi a happy Holi, and I thank the Australian Indian community for their contribution to modern Australia. You enrich our community and participate in every aspect of Australian life while continuing to share your culture and traditions with your children and the broader community. I have spoken before about the mess the Liberal government has made of partner visas in this country. We have had nearly 100,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents desperately waiting for years for a visa for their partner, their husband, their wife, their fiancee, their spouse, their loved one. To fall in love with people from overseas is quintessentially Australian. It's been part of modern Australia for decades. It should be no surprise to even this government that, as the population grows and we see more migration, we see young Australians travelling the world and living overseas in their formative years. They meet people and fall in love and want to come back here and build a life. We see the government blaming COVID for why people are waiting so long. That's an excuse. This mess has been years in the making. When Labor left office, it took six to nine months on average to get a visa for your partner, your loved one. Under this government, it has blown out to close to two years. In many cases, people are waiting years and, for certain categories, now there is no hope in sight. The government has taken the waiting times off the list. Just pay your $8,000 or $15,000 or whatever it costs you, good luck. The government say they put caps and cut the number of visas they issue each year. The caps are illegal; they contravene the Migration Act. The minister has no power to impose caps over partner visas and child visas. They have cut the number of visas they are issuing each year in a naked, blatantly political little sop to Pauline Hanson to say, 'Oh, we have cut migration.' They haven't cut migration; they have just cut the number of permanent visas they issue while temporary migration has blown out. So many of these partners come here and wait on visitor visas for years. They haven't cut the number of people in Australia. They haven't busted congestion. They have just broken up the relationships and the love of Australians and made people miserable waiting, unable to start their lives. Even this government detected the rising anger and said in the budget they were going to issue more partner visas, increase the number of places. That's a good thing. We don't know how many places though. We don't know how they are going. Are they on track? A few people lucky enough to be onshore might have their visa granted because of the campaign that we ran, that I supported and that the government finally caved in to, to let these visas be granted. But there are a lot of unlucky people. There are people who live in the city whose love apparently is not worth the same as someone living in the regions. They are being discriminated against by this government. If you fall in love with someone from Africa or the Middle East, you are not going to get a visitor visa to come here under this government, so don't fall in love with people from those countries. You had better fall in love with someone from a nice white English-speaking country then you can get a visa to come here and wait. For everyone else, you are in the far queue waiting an indefinite amount of time; they have taken the time off the website. I just want to make a few brief remarks about another unlucky category of people. People who applied for the 300 prospective marriage visa are often the fiancees of Australians. Even if they have the visa issued, have paid their $8,000 and have waited years, they are not getting travel authorisations to come here. There's enormous sadness and anger amongst Australians that they are being discriminated against because of the visa which their partner applied for. These visa holders have already proved the genuineness of their relationship to the department. They are only a wedding certificate away from being called 'spouse' but they are not allowed to come here and have the wedding. It's a chicken-and-egg problem. For the travel exemption, people have to prove they have this de facto status, which means living together for at least a year or more. In real life, it is often impossible for couples to physically live together in the same house for a year, either because they are having long-distance relationships for years or they might have children from previous marriages or be moving from country to country. They might have family commitments. They might not want to physically live together until their kids are grown up or for religious and cultural reasons. In many cultures, it is normal for people to not physically cohabitate together even though the relationship is genuine and may have been continuing for years. People go off and do PhDs and maintain their relationships. These are legitimate reasons and real relationships. Fiancees are family too yet thousands of Australian couples have been separated for years with no hope in sight. The government is letting business and investment visa holders get automatic travel exemptions. It's also an issue for fertility. We have a falling fertility rate and—I can tell you—the saddest people to talk to in this situation are people whose biological clocking is ticking. This is not hyperbole. I've sent letters to the immigration department with IVF letters attached saying, 'This woman is 41. The only opportunity she has to ever have children and start a family is to get the travel authorisation and be with her partner to start the IVF.' The government's response: nothing! The clock is ticking. I call on the government to show some compassion and to revisit their approach to fiancees and the 300 prospective marriage visa. If you've lived together for one year and been together for one year, that's okay. But if you've been together for five years but you haven't lived together for one year then apparently that's not okay. It's discrimination. Debate interrupted. ADJOURNMENT 73 ADJOURNMENT COVID-19: Vaccination 73 19:30 Ms CATHERINE KING 00AMR Ballarat We all know that our best chance of getting to some sort of COVID normal is if the government gets the vaccination program right. Vaccine is the only way Australians will be able to safely and confidently travel and for international travel to start, and it's the only way our nation can return to some sort of COVID normal. Right now, the government's most important job—the one which should be occupying it every single minute—is to deliver vaccines as quickly and effectively as possible to communities across this country. The government has barely begun its program to roll out vaccines; it's far slower than comparable nations around the world. But instead of using this very slow start to fine tune procedures and get the rollout ready, the more we hear about the rollout the less we seem to understand how well it's going. Last week my office was inundated with calls from residents confused by the Prime Minister's rushed announcement that they were able to book for their COVID vaccinations straightaway. This announcement was of course made before GPs were notified and before the website was even up and ready. It wasn't fair to older residents of our community and it wasn't fair to GPs and their staff, who were left trying to explain what was going on. These systems should have been tested and finalised weeks ago. Instead, all that Australians and GPs have experienced is chaos and confusion. Our community wants to get vaccinated, but the government absolutely needs to get this right. After the rushed announcement, we have to ask what the Prime Minister was trying to do by rushing that announcement out last week. It was pretty clear that there were some other things he would have liked not to be talking about. I heard directly from a Ballarat GP clinic, and I want to quote a bit from what they had to say in my contribution. They told me that the last two weeks '… have been extremely taxing for our staff, dealing with multiple errors and incorrect advice from the staff of the Department of Health Vaccine Taskforce.' They said that the government's rushed announcement last Wednesday: '… showed a callous disregard for the staff of all the GP clinics, who were inundated with phone calls from patients when they were not able to accommodate their requests. It also shows a disregard for the Australian community. Many patients are already stressed and anxious about receiving the vaccine, and those who hung on the phone for hours, only to be told that they couldn't make an appointment yet, will be even more worried at this point.' This is directly from a GP clinic in my community. They said that the Morrison government has shown a callous disregard for them and our community. It's an absolute indictment on what the government did last week. Last week, this single GP clinic faced a whole range of issues, and I want to quote some of these. Firstly, the fridge to be supplied by the department arrived a day after the vaccines arrived. The clinic app and booking app were not provided, so the GPs could not record vaccinations and clinical information. Sharps containers and needles were not delivered. The drawing-up needles, which were supposed to be part of the consumables as part of the contract, were not available, and when the clinic queried where they were, the department had no answer because it had not actually even thought about this as an issue. They were told to keep an eye on the portal in case they came up as an item they could order. Their account for ordering vaccines had the wrong contact name and address and they were not able to update it, and they received correspondence from the task force that was actually meant for another clinic. And the government website directed people to another site operated by the same GP clinic; the problem was that it was not the site actually offering vaccinations. This is an incredibly important job, and the government needs to get it right if people are to have confidence in it. It's up to the Prime Minister to do his job and ensure that this vaccination program actually works. The Prime Minister told Australians that four million of us would be vaccinated by the end of March. That's not us holding that out as a target; that is the government stating that that is what it would do. They are a long, long way from that. You can't keep raising expectations to try and get yourself out of political problems when it comes to the vaccination program and then somehow expect that GPs, people trying to deliver these services and our community will not be angry about it. Prime Minister and the minister for health, it is time you did your job. (Time expired) Women 74 19:35 Ms BELL 282981 Moncrieff I rise to talk about 'boys to men'. We know that some boys grow up to be men who disrespect women and children of both sexes. It's not exclusively men, but, overwhelmingly, it is males who perpetrate against the most vulnerable in our society. Women will not gain respect by simply demanding it. It's about men extending respect through learning, or relearning, where the boundaries lie for women and children to be respected. It is disrespect that leads to harassment, innuendo, advances or, at its worst, the sexual abuse and violence which exists across all political colours. It's across demographics, in the home, in workplaces, in public, across our country, and, most importantly, it's across generations and is intergenerational. I want to add to the current national debate that men and women must unite on this issue, not be divided. It is together that we can effect the most change and the best change. It's like occupational health and safety; it is everybody's responsibility. It's for all of us to respect each and every one of us. There is an abundance of good men, including here in this place, and I believe the future of this issue lies in part with them. Good men hold the key as role models to inspire and educate the future generation of good men who do not abuse or harass women and children. The good men at MOB Academy, or Men of Business, in Southport in my electorate are making a difference by building better men. Their mantra is to effectively support the large portion of students with varying levels of social and emotional issues with an extensive support program to help engage students in learning and assist them to develop the necessary life skills that will support them to become happy, healthy, successful and contributing members of our community. When one at-risk boy has a positive role model to help him grow into a fine young man, it affects his whole community. His family, his peers, his workmates, his own life and, importantly, the women and girls around him are respected. I applaud the efforts of the good men Marco Renai and Damien Gow at MOB Academy who have inspired and educated over 1,000 at-risk boys to date, with 100 at the academy on the Gold Coast right now. I applaud men who care deeply about these issues that affect the lives of Australians, whether it's direct generational abuse or the violence, crime or bad and inappropriate behaviour that is a symptom of it. Men and women must work together to stop this cycle. The solution is not singular, but intervention at a critical age, as MOB Academy does, builds better men. The other areas of improvement that I want to talk about are the recent shake-up of the federal family law court to minimise delays and costs to families. It's an important step in the right direction, but more can always be done. I and other colleagues have made representations to the minister about the importance of equity and adequacy issues for women's economic security and superannuation. I think there should be also a lens applied across all portfolios that delivers better outcomes for women through policy applications. This is a broader approach to a problem that is broad and far reaching. Finally, I would like to see the inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence due out next week highlighted on the national cabinet standing agenda, to look at how to improve outcomes for women who live daily with this threat and this reality. I am interested in addressing the root cause. The bandaid solution of wrap-around services provided by the states to support women and children who face domestic violence and sexual abuse helps victims greatly, but it's not sustainable into the future and does not change the behaviour or address the problem. I would like to finish by reassuring those who voted for me to come here to this place that my personal experience has been a good one. I have not been disrespected by men in the LNP. In fact, I'm pleased that I am here in this place while our parliament and our country change our culture. Very many men—too many to mention, but they know who they are—have supported me to represent my community and add to this very debate. Let's not forget that, without their support and their respect, I and many other women would not be here. I say to Australians that I do not support men who abuse, violate or disrespect women, nor does my party, nor does my government, and nor does my Prime Minister—your Prime Minister, a good man who is doing the right thing for all Australians. Western Australia State Election 75 19:40 Ms MADELEINE KING 102376 Brand On Saturday 13 March West Australians went to the polls. From Kununurra in the north to Albany in the south the people of my vast home state cast their votes in a democratic exercise that saw 50 per cent of voters go to the polls early. The result was tremendous for the West Australian Labor Party and the state government of Premier Mark McGowan. I congratulate the Premier on winning a second term in office. It is truly well deserved. The extent of WA Labor's victory was something nobody could have predicted. Labor will have 53 seats in the legislative assembly, while the Nationals have won four seats and the Liberals are reduced to simply two. Vote counting continues in the legislative council but it appears Labor will also have a majority of seats there. The big lesson to be learned from this recent WA election result is that strong leadership counts. The McGowan government took decisive action during the pandemic to keep West Australians safe and this was widely recognised across the community. Mark McGowan stood up to Clive Palmer and the Morrison government, who joined forces in the High Court to stop the border controls designed to protect the health of all Western Australians. The High Court, of course, rebuffed Mr Palmer, the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General, ruling that the McGowan government's border restrictions were sensible and constitutional. As a result of the decision to impose a hard border during the dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic the people of WA were kept safe and life remained relatively normal, as other parts of Australia and the world suffered tragic deaths and lengthy lock downs. Another result was that the Western Australian economy was able to open up faster than anywhere else in the world. Some of Labor's critics have suggested that this election win was a fait accompli because COVID-19 automatically favours incumbent governments. You only have to look at states like South Australia and Queensland to understand that the scale of WA Labor's win is not normal. Those states have had similar COVID success but they haven't seen anything like the wipe-out of the WA Liberals that occurred in Western Australia on 13 March. This stunning victory was built on four years of disciplined government that delivered on its promises, such as creating local jobs and producing a budget surplus. I want to acknowledge that losing an election is difficult. It is a very hard time for incumbents who have served the community for many years. I would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of those who lost their seats recently in the WA election. I want to recognise the dedication of their staff and the many volunteers who have also served electorates across the state of Western Australia. Many people lost their jobs on 13 March as the government picked up many more seats than expected. That human cost of elections, where many jobs are lost, should not be forgotten by any of us. Another important aspect of this election was the strong work done in choosing sensible candidates from the community. Now 50 per cent of the Labor caucus in WA are women and that is how parliament should be. I would like to congratulate all of the new Labor members, 13 women and six men, who will soon enter the legislative assembly: Caitlin Collins, Stuart Aubrey, Paul Lilburne, Lisa Munday, Lara Dalton, Ali Kent, Kim Giddens, Dr Jags Krishnan, Geoff Baker, Jane Kelsbie, Dr Katrina Stratton in Nedlands—can you believe Labor won Nedlands?—Christine Tonkin and Hugh Jones. New members took on seats for retiring members: Rebecca Stephens in Albany, David Scaife in Cockburn, Jodie Hanns in Collie-Preston, Divina D'Anna in Kimberley, Meredith Hammat in Mirrabooka and Hannah Beazley in Victoria Park. It is good to have a Beazley back in the WA state parliament. All of these people ran magnificent campaigns and all of you deserve to be there in the legislative assembly of WA. I would like to thank the four state Labor MPs in my federal electorate of Brand: Mark McGowan in Rockingham, Roger Cook in Kwinana, Paul Papalia in Warnbro and Reece Whitby in Baldivis. I congratulate Reece on his elevation to the ministry in the WA state government. In Brand we are very well served in this community by these outstanding and very popular local members. A big thanks and my gratitude to Labor's state secretary, Tim Picton, and deputy state secretary, Ellie Whitaker, and to everyone else in the party office who worked so hard over many months and contributed to such a successful campaign for WA Labor. And I want to thank all of Labor's amazing volunteers. We know we rely on and depend on our volunteers in elections. They turn out every single year. And it was a difficult poling day. With 50 per cent of the people having already voted, it was a little slower than usual, but I thank each and every one of our volunteers who turned out. I also thank all of the Western Australians who cast a vote for WA Labor. Women in Parliament 76 19:45 Mr BROADBENT MT4 Monash I am the member for Monash and I represent the Liberal Party in this House. Throughout my career, I have had the benefit of being surrounded by very strong women, from the traditions of Edith Cowan to Dame Margaret Guilfoyle. If I wanted to speak about the strong women within the LNP, I would be using my whole five minutes just sprouting names of those who have enabled me, through times of defeat and disaster politically. They held me up so I could continue to carry on and be here today. I said in my maiden speech that, without the women who surrounded me at that time, I wouldn't be here today. I made the mistake of naming them. I want to go to a more contemporary place: quite often we get accused of having some toxic problems with women in the Liberal Party. Let me tell you about who has been pre-selected and elected to represent us here in the party. Katie Allen took the safe seat of Higgins. She is a medical professional in her own right. She is highly regarded by her peers and, more than that, has a life's experience of all that has been, in the struggles that she has had, to get to this place. She is here and is a great contributor. There's Celia Hammond. I call her my partner in crime, because, prior to COVID, we sat down there together. I've been able to get to know a very special person from Western Australia who reached the top of her profession before she came to this place. She has a wide worldly experience that she brings here with great gusto. Angie Bell is the member for Moncrieff—another safe seat. Angie Bell had a life in the professions but also one of the hardest professions that anyone can face that I know, and that's as a professional musician. You're working when everybody else is playing, and you're on deck the whole time. Angie Bell brings a special talent to this place that no-one else can bring. Anne Webster is from the Mallee. It's a safe seat—our coalition partner. She is a professional in her own right, widely experienced and extremely tied into her local community. She knows the Mallee. Everything she says in this place is about regional people and how they're effected and how her constituents are effected. She's able to do that because of her wide experience before she came to the House. Each one of those four had a huge pre-selection battle to get here. They didn't just walk in and say: 'I'm here. Aren't you lucky to have me?' They had to fight to get into this place. Some terrible things were said about a number of those people by their enemies, but they're here. And then we've got, in our less safe seats, but I hope they'll make them safe: Bridget Archer in Bass, a cracker; Fiona Martin in Reid, a professional; and Gladys Liu in Chisholm. Gladys has had a world of experience behind her before she came to this place, before she had the opportunity to stand and risk her reputation and time and energy to win the seat of Chisholm when the world thought she couldn't win. But she won. There's Melissa McIntosh in Lindsay, another cracker member of parliament here. Any one of these women that represent the Liberal Party could take a senior role in any area of our leadership today. Every one of them has the capability to step into a higher role. And I know that in the future each one of these will be household names that you will know about because of the contribution they make at a higher level in this place. It is not often that someone comes into this place and goes straight onto the front bench in government in their first term. But you can guarantee that Katie Allen, Celia Hammond, Angie Bell, Anne Webster, Bridget, Fiona, Gladys and Melissa will have long careers in here if they're supported by their communities. So, please, just remember that the Liberal Party has a long history of powerful, strong and talented women who will contribute to this nation's wellbeing. Superannuation 77 19:50 Mr HILL 86256 Bruce I rise to call out the Liberal government's attacks on Australia's world-leading superannuation system. This is a system of which Australians should rightly be so proud. Right now we have $3 trillion under management in the system, rising to $10 trillion by 2040. Politicians are often rightly criticised for not thinking about the long term for the country. In the 1980s, the Labor government put in place superannuation as a way of raising the living standards of ordinary Australians, taking what used to be for only a privileged few—the elite—that is, proper retirement standards for them and the pension for everyone else, and putting this in place. It was also about offsetting our ageing population. It created a savings pool of capital that is owned by ordinary people, not multinationals and big companies. Superannuation in this country is now part of your wage. The simple truth is that a cut to super is a cut to your wage, and every Australian understands that. I call on the government to rule out cutting superannuation and continuing their attacks by cutting wages—to rule that out in the next budget. They're still flirting with it and they still have the backbench trying to push the Treasurer by saying, 'Let's cut the superannuation guarantee,' which is another way of cutting wages. They should rule that out. I also call on them to stop vandalising and attacking superannuation; it's not a piggy bank for every problem that the government won't take responsibility for, it's for retirement savings. They effectively privatised the first six months of the recovery. Shamefully, in those first six months people had spent more from their superannuation—usually low-income people withdrawing from their superannuation—than the government had spent on JobKeeper and JobSeeker combined. As a result of that, $37 billion has been withdrawn from superannuation and 600,000 Australians now have zero dollars in their retirement savings accounts. And the economic geniuses over there got low-income people to withdraw their last bits of super at the bottom of the market, the very worst time to withdraw superannuation. Then, of course, there was the appalling proposal to let family violence victims withdraw $10,000 from their super, asking women to subsidise their own escape from domestic violence and the guarantee of their children's safety by cashing in and trashing their super, leading to long-term poverty. At the very moment that women need the community and society to support them, the Liberal government's response was, 'Well, let's privatise your response; you're on your own.' Finally, after three years of trying to push this measure, the Minister for Women announced in Senate estimates yesterday that it was being dropped. That wasn't because of common sense—they could have listened to people for three years telling them that this was a dumb idea—but because of the prevailing political circumstances; these geniuses realised that it wasn't sustainable. But if anyone thinks those two ideas were bad enough, the prize for the dumbest proposal to undermine superannuation—the gold medal for policy stupidity—is the idea to let people withdraw their superannuation to buy houses. It's hard to think of any policy that does so much bad in one go. It's a triple whammy: reducing retirement savings, like the other two, but pushing up housing prices and creating a transfer of wealth from young people to older people unprecedented in this country. That's what that would do. Labor believes that superannuation is good and home ownership is good, but that you don't have to choose between the two. We're trying to protect super and the Liberals are trying to destroy super. But the biggest lie in this policy is that it's not about first home buyers at all. The only people who would benefit—the only person who would benefit—is the person selling the house. You're not making it easier to get into the market if you're pushing the house prices up. Think about it: if you have two young people bidding at an auction and each of them has managed to withdraw, say, 20 grand—probably all the super they have if they're in their 20s—then they're each there bidding with 20 grand so they're just going to pay 20 grand more on the house price! The only person who benefits is the person, usually the guy, selling the house. It's like taking a vacuum cleaner, putting it in your super account and sucking all the cash out into the pocket of the person selling the house. The modelling released by Industry Super Australia—that's independent modelling, despite what those opposite say—showed that this policy would have an impact of an increase of eight to 16 per cent on the median house price in the capital cities. Even when Joe Hockey floated this thought bubble of an idea when he was Treasurer in 2015 he had to rule it out quickly, because he was pounced on by Mathias Cormann, the then finance minister, saying: 'That's a dumb idea. We wouldn't do that because house prices would go up.' The advice from the Grattan Institute and leading economists like Saul Eslake hasn't changed, Malcolm Turnbull is out there telling us it's a stupid idea. You don't make housing more affordable by making it more expensive. So I call on the Treasurer to put this idea out of its misery. Put the member for Goldstein and all these backbenchers trying to get their names in the paper back in their box and rule this out. Myanmar 78 19:55 Mr CHRISTENSEN 230485 Dawson On Saturday, a demonstration was held in Mackay regarding the Myanmar military junta and the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Myanmar. That demonstration was organised by a local doctor, Dr Nang Nguyen. While I could not be there for that because I was en route to this place, I sent my best regards on behalf of the people of Dawson to those who were protesting, because this is quite a serious issue. This is an issue that all Australians should be concerned about. The Myanmar military, led by commander in chief Min Aung Hlaing, seized control of the democratically elected government on 1 February this year following a general election last year in which Aung San Suu Kyi and her civilian National League for Democracy party won a very large majority. The armed forces backed the opposition, who were demanding a rerun of the vote, claiming widespread fraud. But that claim has been disputed by the independent election commission in Myanmar, which says there is no evidence to support those claims. The coup took place as a new session of the parliament was set to open. Mrs Suu Kyi has been held at an unknown location since the coup. She is facing various jumped-up charges. One of them is violating COVID-19 restrictions. It sounds like something from your state, unfortunately, Mr Speaker. That is the kind of thing that she is being charged with and held on now. According to the UN, 149 people have been killed during the civil disobedience, as the state claims, since 1 February. 'Civil disobedience' is another phrase for protests, and many of these have been peaceful protests. Some media outlets are saying that number is understating the fact and there could have been up to 250 deaths. We know that thousands have been arrested. And we know that earlier this month the police opened fire on peaceful protesters with submachine guns. There was taken what is going to be a famous photo that should be an emblem for peace in that part of the world and an emblem against oppression. That was the photo of Sister Ann Rose Lasang Nu Tawng, who was kneeling in front of police officers, pleading for them not to fire upon innocent people in the crowd but to kill her, to take her life. I have to say that that was a sign of true Christianity at play—a woman willing to lay down her own life. She brought police officers to their knees but, ultimately, the police did what they were going to do and fired on these people, killing people. They have low-accuracy guns, used for close-quarters combat. The use of them against a crowd would indicate that they were firing indiscriminately. Video clips of the protesters being executed at point-blank range in the street have been circulated widely. Reports of protesters being shot in the head in order to kill them instantly have been out there also. It is now law that protesters, even peaceful protesters, will receive an unappealable death penalty. Many have been slaughtered in the street. Some are taken to a cell and then executed. It is very interesting that, in January this year, the junta leader met with the Chinese communist minister for foreign affairs, Wang Yi, who palled up to him and said that Myanmar was a brother under his leadership and then all of this happened. Many in Myanmar believe that China not only knew about the military takeover beforehand but sent soldiers over the border to assist the army. We don't know what the proof of that is. Both of these countries are now under dictatorial control. Myanmar has done the Chinese thing by cutting off the internet to its citizens and blocking most of the outside world from knowing what the hell is going on there. What we do know is that China are the major arms supplier to the Myanmar military and that weapons that are being used to kill Myanmar citizens have been supplied by the Chinese. We know that the Chinese Communist Party are certainly not opposing what is going on in Myanmar. I am very, very worried that the CCP may have tried to gain, and may have successfully gained, a beachhead in Myanmar that will be the propagation of the sort of totalitarian oppression and dictatorship we have become used to in their country. We in a democratic nation like Australia need to do all we can in backing democracy restoration in Myanmar and the people of Myanmar. House adjourned at 20:00 NOTICES 78 NOTICES

Tuesday, 23 March 2021

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Wicks) took the chair at 16:00.

CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS 80 CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS Salisbury Electorate: Festa di San Giuseppe 80 16:00 Mr ZAPPIA HWB Makin On Sunday I attended the annual Festa di San Giuseppe, otherwise referred to as the Feast of St Joseph, in Salisbury. It is one of around 30 Italian religious and cultural festivals held in South Australia each year, all of which honour the patron saint of one of the many different regions from where Italian Australians originate. For the past year, because of COVID-19, most of the festivals have been cancelled, so there was an added sense of excitement to the celebration of religion and Italian food, music and culture because it was a resumption. This year was also a special celebration because it marked the 150th anniversary of St Joseph being declared the Patron Saint of the Universal Church. The religious service was led by Catholic Archbishop Patrick O'Regan and Father Francis Trinh Van Phat. In his sermon, Archbishop O'Regan spoke of St Joseph being a comforter, a protector and a defender, qualities which are so greatly needed in today's world. The St Joseph's feasts began 49 years ago, and, understandably, many of the founders have passed. However, the tradition and celebrations have continued, with younger people taking on the responsibility for organising the event. As with all the festivals, the St Joseph's feast is organised and run by volunteers, who make an extraordinary commitment to the event. I acknowledge President Rocco Carpentieri; his predecessor for many years and current vice president, Sam Garreffa; the committee members; and the dozens of volunteers, who together, even with the additional COVID compliance conditions, ensured a well-organised festival. I particularly acknowledge the tireless work of committee member Sister Elda Sbarra, who last year clocked up 60 years as a Canossian Sister and who, for years, has been a driving force for the St Joseph's feast. I also thank Adelaide's two Italian-language radio stations, FM Radio Italia Uno and AM Radio Italiana 531, for their live broadcast of the day's proceedings, which allowed elderly people and others confined to home to listen to the church service and the live entertainment. This year I couldn't stay for the afternoon and evening celebrations as I was returning to Canberra, but, after all the COVID restrictions and with Sunday's good weather in Adelaide, I know that people were looking forward to coming out for an enjoyable day of entertainment in the company of friends and acquaintances whom the COVID restrictions had kept them apart from. It was exactly what so many people needed to lift their spirits after so much disruption and hardship over the past year, and I compliment everyone who in any way contributed to the St Joseph's festivities. Allen, Mr Kenneth Craig, AM, AO 80 16:03 Mr FALINSKI G86 Mackellar The greatest assets our nation has have never been our natural resources but are our people. The Australia Day Awards recognise the work and achievements of those who have served their community. It was a proud moment in the history of the northern beaches when awards were given to eight residents in the electorate of Mackellar. Recipients were from all walks of life. However, they all had one thing in common: they lived our Australian values, which put their community first. Frequently their work went unrecognised. Standing out amongst candidates throughout Australia, Ken Allen was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia. It recognised his distinguished service in representing Australia on the international stage. Of particular note was his work as our Consul-General in New York when 9/11 took place—a time of trial for both Australia and the United States, when we needed those with deep international expertise. It was moments such as these which showed just how critical is the maintenance of an international network of friends and allies, the value of soft diplomacy and the importance of supporting Australians abroad. Given this, Ken pioneered and led the development of Advance, a global information-sharing network for expatriate Australian professionals. Ken recognised that one of the greatest strengths of our nation was that we were outward-looking, our population being highly mobile. Advance is fundamentally about Australians helping Australians helping the world. Keeping our citizens abroad connected ensures that we are able to draw on our international talent, particularly in times of need. This is critical in delivering for Australians at home as we expand our ties with other nations. By empowering this smart grid of human capital, Ken was harnessing some of our best and brightest to make a genuine impact. In many ways, this network helps equip what you might call the next generation of Kens, whose work sees them travel extensively. His capacity to draw on international connections and experience remains one of Ken's most important value-adds. What I personally admire about this organisation is how it empowers successive generations of Australians who are following their aspirations in building a better Australia and a better world. As of January 2021, Ken is now an Officer of the Order of Australia. This honour recognises his continued work and dedication to charitable organisations and to helping this nation's young professionals. Calwell Electorate: Indian Community Organisations 81 16:06 Ms VAMVAKINOU 00AMT Calwell I have a very fast-growing Indian community in my electorate, and many of them have come to Australia as international students, skilled migrants and on partner and spouse visas. Their settlement here also sees them bring to Australia their aged parents, in order to help support them and their young families. There are many challenges that new migrants face when settling in a new country, and, given that India is one of our top source countries for migration, it's very important that we understand some of the issues associated with their settlement journey. Unfortunately, I've seen firsthand reports which highlight a dangerous combination of social isolation and family violence that is emerging as a major issue of concern for my local community. I want to acknowledge the important initiative taken by some of the women in my electorate in establishing support groups to help members of the Indian community who are experiencing family violence. I recently attended the official launch of the Sahara Welfare Resource Centre in Craigieburn, and I want to take this opportunity to commend the work of Mrs Neelam Sharma, who is the president of Sahara; Mr Sushi Sharma, the executive adviser; and Ms Ravinder Kaur, the organisation secretary. The launch of the first of four chapters of this organisation, each covering a metropolitan region, aims to provide community support services for Indian community members dealing with issues of family violence and an unfortunate situation which involves the abuse of the elderly. The approach is very much driven by the community itself and aims to use early intervention measures—involving experienced, culturally-appropriate teams of elders and professionals—as well as to direct victims to the appropriate authorities and service providers. The Oorja Foundation is also a community led, volunteer based organisation, which was established in 2014 to give support in incidents of family violence across the Hume City and Whittlesea areas. In that time, the Oorja Foundation has assisted thousands of community members, ranging from four years of age to 85 years of age, through various social, cultural and educational awareness workshops and events. They have supported around 300 family violence victims through early intervention, mandatory reporting to police and referrals to legal and social support groups and by organising emergency relief and support. Both Sahara and Oorja are driven by wonderful women, who bridge an important gap between the community and the services available, driven by the knowledge that we need to work in partnership with communities to deliver support. I want to applaud my local women and thank them for their compassion and their willingness to be a part of helping deal with challenging issues that are confronting members of their community. It's a huge challenge but one that can only be successfully dealt with if we involve the cultural know-how of our various communities. Bishop, Dr Lyn, OAM 81 16:09 Mr LAMING E0H Bowman After more than 25 years spent creating one of Queensland's most outstanding independent schools, Dr Lyn Bishop has announced her plan to step down this year from her role as Principal of Sheldon College. Lyn has dedicated her life to young people's education. She notes that teaching is not a profession but a calling. It's ironic that, after ill health early in her life and the advice from a careers guidance officer that she should choose something more within her range of abilities, she has achieved what she has. Those words made her only more determined. Now, with multiple bachelor's and master's degrees and a PhD in Education Administration, Lyn is a fully qualified psychologist and JP and has lectured in the Master of Business Administration program at QUT. In 1999 Dr Bishop was awarded AIM Professional Manager of the Year, and in 2019 she was awarded the OAM for service to education in Queensland and the prestigious EY Queensland Entrepreneur of the Year and Australian Entrepreneur of the Year for a Community, Social and Not-For-Profit Enterprise, the first time it had been awarded in the field of education—not bad for someone who'd been told that they wouldn't amount to much. At that time, of course, the glass ceiling was not insignificant for women in the professions, but Lyn never saw it that way. She viewed it as a self-imposed limitation. In describing it she says: 'After all, no-one has control over your mental attitude except you. It's really about what you think you are not that holds you back.' Over 25 years, Dr Bishop has proved that very little has. Dr Bishop was the executive director of the metropolitan east region and acting director of quality assurance in the central office. Ironically, her travel was taking her away from her work with children, which she loved the most. Her first love, being children, brought her to resign from Education Queensland in 1996. Remarkably, it was in 1997, one year later, that she started Sheldon College. That vision was against all the odds. The story goes back 50 years or so, when she moved with her mum to Tambo. Her grandfather was a shearer, and Lyn led a very hard life, but they were the origins of her designing what would ultimately become Sheldon College. She did it around a kitchen table. No-one was willing to back her ideas. Eventually it was David Jull, the federal member for Bowman at the time, who was the first politician to back her. Banks wouldn't—families had to give collateral—but ultimately it happened. In a recent letter to parents, Dr Bishop noted that she's confident the college will continue to achieve extraordinary outcomes into the future. She added that she's incredibly proud of what she has achieved as a principal, just as my city is so proud of what she has done over 2½ decades. Those students who have gone through Sheldon College carry within them a gem that will allow them to change the world. For every woman who was inspired by Lyn Bishop and for those in the future who will benefit from the college, the entire south-east of Queensland, and my city of Redlands in particular, say a sincere thankyou. Lilley Electorate: Stories of Service 82 16:12 Ms WELLS 264121 Lilley In my electorate of Lilley, the mighty Aspley State School runs a fantastic program with the Geebung RSL subbranch. It's called Stories of Service, where grade 6 students are buddied up with local veterans. Students interview veterans about their service and write a biography to present to them. For the students it was a bonding experience with the veterans. Many of them were blown away by the exciting tales of young men and women who weren't that much older than themselves when they served their country. It was also a cathartic experience for many of the veterans, who hadn't stopped to reflect on some of their fondest memories in a very long time. It is my honour to share with the Chamber today a few brief excerpts of their stories. Hannah and Mahi were paired with Evelyn Radford. Hannah and Mahi wrote: Evelyn remembered her first few days in service like the back of her hand. She went in on a Tuesday, received her uniform, signed some papers and was asked if she would be available next Tuesday to start work. Evelyn was then sent out to a camp at Shoalwater for sixteen days. She didn't find it as hard as she thought it would be; however she did have to get used to sleeping and eating and overall doing things the way they did. Dylan was paired with Barbara Dawson, who's a well-known identity on the north side. Dylan wrote: When Barbara first applied to serve, she learned no women were required. Several years later, opportunities opened to enlist. Barbara didn't hesitate to sign up! Enlisting in the Women's Royal Australian Army Corps in 1952 at 18 years of age, Barbara completed 'rookie' induction and services training in Victoria and was then posted to Brisbane. The people she met during these years were important to Barbara. Many of the friendships she made then are still sustained to this day. Angus and Raphael paired with Fred Huntley. Angus and Raphael wrote: Fred was a normal kid in the Depression and was the oldest in the family of 3, which was poor. The Great Depression was when all the banks were bankrupt and 80% of the population were unemployed. He was born in a time that everything was a lot cheaper, like a loaf of bread was 5c and now it's $3. Fred joined the air force on 20th of November 1954 and left the service on 8th of May 1999. There were many jobs that Fred did during his time in service, including a demolition instructor, ground defence and weapon instructor. I would like to congratulate Hannah, Mahi, Dylan, Angus and Raphael and all the students at Aspley State School for their fantastic veterans' biographies. I would like to thank the Geebung RSL sub-branch for their contribution to this and so many other initiatives in our community. I also commend Aspley State School principal Leann Griffith-Baker for developing a fantastic community program in her school. With my remaining time, may I say that I was very proud to be part of the protest calling for a royal commission into veteran suicide earlier this week. I am so pleased that this place will be moving forward on that, due to lobbying from mothers like Julie-Ann Finney, from veterans from both sides and from the Labor Party. Maclean Show, Brailsford, Ms Paris 82 16:15 Mr HOGAN 218019 Page After having been cancelled last year, it's great to see many of our country shows bouncing back this year. The Maclean Show is one of the first on the calendar in my region. I'd like to acknowledge those competing in the showgirl sections. The junior showgirls include Neeve Fischer, Ella Jeffery, Emily Connelly, April Shannon, Skye Harrison and Madeline Hollis, and the senior showgirls competing this year are Grace Boulton, Hayley Johnson, Maneesha Davis, Alyssa Luland and Amber Gravolin. I'd also like to acknowledge the show executive, who make this event happen—Brian Ferrie, Leigh-Ann Messer, Nicole Cowling, Jackie Sykes and Pru Ensby. Other members include Endessa Schradar, Brian Farrell, Col Marsh, Robbie Sutherland, Ashley Lee, Tracy Moran, Warren Apps, Brian Donaghy and Narelle Green. Jane Jesser is coordinating the activities from the Clydesdale Building, and John McLennan is in charge of the show jumping. Also assisting with the pavilions are Louise Ferrie, Helen Hamilton and Marilyn Donalen, and George Sutherland is coordinating this year's Young Farmer Challenge. I can't talk about this year's Maclean Show without mentioning the late Bruce Green, who sadly passed away earlier in the year. He was deeply involved in many of the Clarence Valley shows, and 'Greenie' will be missed this year. The show takes place— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 16:17 to 16:29 Mr HOGAN 218019 I'd like to recognise a great young leader of my community who is the 2021 ABC Heywire winner. Paris Brailsford is in year 12 at Maclean High School and has a great history of volunteering, youth advocacy and leadership positions. Her winning story in this year's Heywire is a very moving recount of the recent bushfires. Paris was mentally prepared for the worst, that the villages of Angourie and Wooloweyah would be no more because of the fire. All that stood between the fire and the villages was a band of courageous firies who had left their homes to fight for others. As she woke up the next day over breakfast and heard the news that not one single home was lost, she knew that we owed it all to our firefighters. The last sentence of her story was: Heroes don't always wear capes; my heroes wear helmets. It was a great contribution to Heywire. Paris is also a volunteer surf lifesaver and has been awarded numerous awards, including the Junior Surf Lifesaver of the Year in 2018. She's an avid member of the Student Representative Council. She has taken part in student leadership conferences, UN Youth Australia, Young Australians in International Affairs, and the Country to Canberra program. She's been elected as a youth MP twice at the New South Wales Youth Parliament. She's participated in a range of public speaking, debating and political negotiation competitions, placing fourth in Australia and first in New South Wales at the My First Speech Competition with her speech on racism. She's also just been appointed a member of the Regional Youth Taskforce for the New South Wales government. Congratulations, Paris, on your wonderful achievements. Papua New Guinea 83 16:31 Mr WATTS 193430 Gellibrand I rise today to highlight the unfolding COVID-19 crisis in our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea. Australia and Papua New Guinea share a very tight bond. Indeed, the Commonwealth star on the Australian flag has seven points to this day, as a point was added for Papua New Guinea at the start of the 20th century. This is a bond that was obviously forged in blood in the shared mateship and sacrifice of Australia and PNG in the Second World War. Like many members of this chamber who have visited Papua New Guinea, I fell in love with the place when I saw it in person. There's the incredible diversity and courage of the population, and you just can't help but want these people to succeed. But they are facing a very significant challenge at the moment. Last night, I and other members attended a briefing with Save the Children, who do excellent work in Papua New Guinea, on the current state of the COVID outbreak there. This is a crisis that should alarm us all. The seven-day rolling average of cases in PNG has increased 15-fold in just one month. There have been 3,359 cases and 36 deaths as at Saturday. There are reports that the situation is considerably worse than the numbers suggest. The case numbers are increasing exponentially because they have very few rapid testing kits—something that Labor has called for the government to provide for some time. Indeed, the CEO of Port Moresby General Hospital, Dr Paki Molumi, has warned about the significant challenges posed to the country by the number of COVID-19 cases. There are serious concerns that we are approaching what has been call the perfect storm of COVID spread. A health crisis can often be a precursor to economic collapse. PNG's biggest industries, like resources, are grinding to a halt under this health burden. If we don't get on top of this outbreak in PNG quickly, we also risk the virus spreading to the Torres Strait Islands and to Australia. Left to spread through PNG's population unchecked and to their nearest neighbours risks new variants developing which could undermine Australia's vaccine rollout. Helping PNG is the right thing to do from a humanitarian perspective and it's also in Australia's national interest. Labor has been calling for the government to step up and help PNG, and we're pleased that the government has announced that it will send them 8,000 of our vaccine doses. But that will be insufficient if we can't get injections into the arms of the PNG people. One of the biggest barriers to this is vaccine hesitancy and the disinformation being spread on Facebook about the vaccine rollout in that country. Australia has an important role to play in helping to combat this disinformation and increase confidence in the vaccine. We need trusted high-profile voices that are credible in PNG telling people publicly to get the vaccine—voices like members of the NRL, Australian National Rugby League players, who are heroes in PNG. The Melbourne Storm, from my home town, are particularly huge in PNG and players like Marcus Bai really are legends in that country. Getting them to have the jab and broadcasting that process on social media, just as we've done here with our pollies, would be a great place to start. It's vitally important that we stay on stop of this outbreak and be proactive in helping stop the spread in PNG. I call on the Morrison government and the NRL to help make this happen. Space Industry 84 16:34 Mr JOYCE E5D New England Australia must, within the next couple of years, have the capacity to construct and deliver a satellite into space. From the tip of the rocket to the propulsion mechanism, with sovereign technology we have to develop this skill. This is based on a whole range of issues. We see Elon Musk and what he is able to do, as a private individual. In Australia we currently have a disparate group of people with extremely pertinent technologies, but we need the capacity to organise them into a structure such that we can deliver our own rocket, with our own payload, into space. It is essential for the defence of our nation. It is essential for the agricultural economy of our nation. And it's essential to be able to show the students who are currently going through high school that there exists for them yet another avenue in STEM subjects. Why do we need to do this? Currently we rely on GPS from the US. There is GLONASS, which operates from Russia. The Chinese have BeiDou. The Japanese have Quasi-Zenith. The Indians have NavIC. This means that those countries are creating their own sovereign capacity for one of the most pertinent things that operate a modern economy, GPS technology, which stands for Global Positioning System, which actually is the name for the United States system. This phone relies on space technology, Madam Deputy Speaker. Your car these days relies on space technology. Remote medicine relies on space technology. Communications obviously rely on space technology. There is so much. Of course, if we lost that capacity in defence, then we would lose the strategic part of the battlefield and we would lose the war. If there were the capacity to deal with the interface between US space technology and Australia, that would create immense problems for us. So what we have to do is reach back. Australia has a minor task. Other people were there before us. We used to be very prolific and evident in the space sector around the 1960s, and then we fell out. To quote Kennedy, this goal 'will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills' over the next few years. It is incredibly important. He directed the United States people to put their energies towards a task so as to deliver an outcome. To this purpose, we have a number of inquiries, and one will be in Armidale on 20 April. It is especially pertinent for people in the agriculture sector, and here today I would like to invite them to that to make their submissions and be part of this task. Women 84 16:37 Mr JOSH WILSON 265970 Fremantle Women in the Fremantle community are adding their voices to the nationwide chorus of women expressing anger, indignation, pain, bewilderment and despair based on their experience of sexism and misogyny in all their many forms and awful consequences. But women are also expressing a fierce resolve to break what has been a harmful silence and to achieve change. I'm listening to the messages sent directly to me as a local member. I'm listening to colleagues in this place, including the speech you gave at the end of last of week, Deputy Speaker Wicks. And I was grateful to listen last Monday, at the March 4 Justice, to Aunty Violet Sheridan, Michele O'Neil, Sally McManus and Brittany Higgins. There is no doubt this is a long-overdue reckoning, a reckoning that needs to deliver cultural and structural change in many areas of life—in education, in the workplace and in the justice system but also in the fair representation of women in leadership, whether it's in politics, public service or business. Last week I had a look at some of the details with respect to the House of Representatives. There have been 1,204 members since the House was formed in 1901. Only 133 of those members have been women. Forty-seven of those 133 are members of the House of Representatives right now. It's worth reflecting that, while there have been only 133 women as members, there have been some 90 men called John. There are still 68 seats out of the 151 that have never been represented by a woman. Only 29 electorates have been represented by more than one woman, a too-small group of seats that I'm happy to say does include Fremantle. Clearly we've got a lot of ground to make up, and that requires not just words but action and tangible change. It does require parties to get serious about undoing the discrimination that prevents the parliament from reflecting the gender balance in our society as a whole. Labor has taken some of those steps. That's why our caucus is presently 48 per cent comprised of women. We are on track to achieve balance. But there is no doubt we need far-reaching change across our society. We still don't have fairness in the economy when there's a persistent gender pay gap, when women retire with a superannuation balance that's half that of men, and when we don't have a childcare system that enables a full participation of women in the workforce. Indeed, we have, unfortunately, this year seen retrograde steps in terms of women's safety and wellbeing as a result the abolition of the Family Court. It has been a bleak month here in Parliament House, but that's because of a reckoning that is long overdue with the sexism and patriarchal injustice that is acute and entrenched in Australia. People in my community, especially women, are rightly saying enough is enough. It is time for all of us, but especially for men, to listen to those who have suffered prejudice, harassment and worse, to reflect without defensiveness or anger or deflection, and to change and to support change. 16:40 Ms LANDRY 249764 Capricornia This morning I made some comments when asked by the media about the appalling goings on in Parliament House, as reported on Network 10 last night. In the reporting, my comments were then selectively taken out of context to provoke outrage against me as well as the government, to fill the 24-hour news cycle. I expressed my concern for the sacked staffer's mental health, and I also said I did not want to join the national pile on with regards to this staff member, who was rightfully dismissed for his actions. What I also said was that I was horrified by what I saw on the news last night. I said that there is a real behavioural problem in parliament, and we must address it. I said that I always set the highest standards for myself and my staff, and I called for a strict code for all MPs, senators and staff to adhere to, and that they should behave themselves. Hardly any of this was reported, and I find my comments taken out of context and being used as clickbait for the amusement of the baying mob on the cesspit that is social media. Today I have been subject to a pile on and a form of bullying on social media the size of which I haven't seen for a while but have become used to in my day-to-day life as a politician. I have always prided myself not only on going out of my way to help all constituents of Capricornia in any way I can but also on dealing fairly and reasonably with those who disagree with me. However, in return for this, I, too, have been subjected to a kind of treatment by some of my opponents—not only people in the Labor party but friends and supporters of militant unions and fringe groups—that is designed to break a candidate's spirit. These opponents—whose right to oppose I do not object to, by the way—have issued death threats to my family; have tried to intimidate bully, and harass my staff and volunteers; and have often organised loud and boisterous protests with state and federal Labor members outside my office in Rockhampton. For years, MPs and their staff and families and volunteers have quietly put up with the threats, have quietly put up with the abuse and have quietly put up with the intimidation. But no more. It is time to call it out for the outrage that it is. As I said, I do not in any way object to those who wish to oppose my view of the world—that is democracy—but to use intimidation, bullying and misogyny to target me, my family and female volunteers is not democracy and never will be. Within these walls, I have treated all my parliamentary colleagues with respect and have received it in return. I am proud to represent the people of Capricornia and will never take that for granted. I can assure you that, despite the threats of violence, I will continue to serve the voters of Capricornia and the vast non-violent majority it contains. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 241590 In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members' constituency statements has concluded. COMMITTEES 85 COMMITTEES Joint Standing Committee on Migration 85 Report 85 16:43 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong I've been part of many inquiries in this space; most have sought long-term solutions to long-term problems, bringing a bipartisan eye to fixing the issues which outlast the ebbs and flows of a three-year political cycle. The long-term lens of these inquiries is a vital part of our democracy. But perhaps more important is the impartial and bipartisan view that this longer time frame allows for, which, in turn, places the facts derived from experts ahead of the political games of the day. Many inquiries have changed tack. In 2020 and 2021 long-term plans have become less certain, as the pandemic threw our expectations up in the air. Predicting when we would return to normal or what normal might even look like has become much more risky. As a result, many inquiries have turned their focus to now and look to turning around our economy now. A case in point is the infrastructure committee, which I chair, in which the 2019 inquiry looked at the futureproofing of our road infrastructure, anticipating the electric and hydrogen vehicle revolution of the next 30 years, while the 2020 inquiry looked at ways to substantially fund our infrastructure rollout now to prevent a recession, without burdening future generations with more debt. But skilled migration is a multifaceted problem. It can be a tool for regrowth now, but to do so to the detriment of future planning could set us back. Furthermore, the system as it stands is clunky and needed reform before the coronavirus pandemic upended the system anyway. So this inquiry comes in two parts: one to fix the now and one to fix the later. The second half of this inquiry is still ongoing, but the first part pertains to decisions that need to be made now, hence the tabling of this interim report. Before I address the report itself, I would like to address the dissenting report which has been added to it. The dissenting report is right in that we must recognise the huge amounts of pain that Australians are suffering right now, and the large amount of unemployment that is affecting people across our nation. While we can all celebrate the dramatic reduction in unemployment in the latest figures—and, indeed, we can all congratulate ourselves on the speed with which this has happened, six months ahead of predictions—the people who remain unemployed are hurting more than normal. I congratulate the government on the economic supports they had put in place to see us through 2020. I also agree with the government that it is time to move from a broad based support to support targeted at the industries and regions that need it. But there remains uncertainty about just how the economy and unemployment rates will look when JobKeeper goes and it is replaced by more targeted schemes, and this unpredictability ties into the concerns of the dissenting report. But I have a fundamental disagreement with the dissenting report. I firmly believe that this is not a zero-sum game. This inquiry is not about picking winners and deciding who gets the limited number of jobs—locals or immigrants. That is specious reasoning. We are looking at skilled migration because it can add value to our existing skills. Take an example from my electorate. I regularly say that Bennelong is Australia's capital of innovation, and some of the great Australian inventions have come out of our suburbs—not least, wi-fi. But, while we can claim local breakthroughs and innovative companies like Cochlear, we're also home to dozens of top-end multinationals. These groups don't just bring their knowledge and expertise to Australia; they also bring jobs. AstraZeneca is one in such a group. Although everyone knows them today as 'the COVID vaccine', what they may not know is that for decades they've been producing medicines right in the heart of Bennelong, adding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of production lines in the last five years alone, harnessing our access to Asian markets to build high-end manufacturing in Sydney. AstraZeneca are not alone, and many of the companies of 'Pill Hill' have domestic manufacturing arms. But, being multinationals, the intellectual property and unique capabilities often reside with their inventors offshore. If we want to put in this plant or that component, it doesn't just come in a box; it comes with an engineer, a scientist or a developer who can train up local talent on that particular widget. Without this migrant, it doesn't come. The factory doesn't work and the local jobs won't exist. Correctly targeting skilled migration breeds local jobs. It goes without saying that we need to be fostering local high-tech startups here, which is an issue that goes to education and economic support and probably isn't particularly on topic here. Similarly, I've spoken at length about our need to build up sovereign capabilities in areas where we can use our competitive advantage. I commend the government on their manufacturing road map, part of which I joined Minister Andrews in launching at Cochlear a fortnight ago. But, again, this is tangential to the issue we are discussing here. The government is committed to minimising the impact of COVID-19 on the Australian economy by safeguarding jobs for Australians, supporting critical industries and assisting with the rapid recovery post COVID-19. But, if we want that sustainable sovereign capability, there will be times when we will need the spark to come from overseas. That's okay, and that's what we need to be addressing through inquiries like this. We can also be confident that finding the people will not be a challenge. In 2019, in looking around the world, there were few places that were better to live in than Australia. We had a strong economy, a great climate, a progressive and free society and opportunity everywhere. I've lived overseas for much of my life and can objectively say that Australia is one of the great locations to live, work and raise a family in. But in 2020, as the world struggled to cope with the pandemic and as the cases, followed by caskets, mounted in the capitals of Europe and the financial centres of the Americas and Asia, our colleagues in the desirable-location contest have fallen away. If we look at the above economic and societal considerations and add safety, we are clearly the leader in the pack. If I were an engineer looking around the world for the best place to bring my career and knowledge, at the top of the list would be Australia. This is why we needed this inquiry now. We needed this inquiry to work out not only how to bring people in but how to bring the right people in—the ones who will create jobs, support our industries and grow our economy for all Australians. Bennelong is one of the most multicultural electorates in the country. Since our suburbs were delineated, we have been home first to English and Italians and more recently to Chinese and Koreans as well as a countless host of smaller diasporas, which are too numerous to mention here. In looking at how our local economy has thrived and grown, I know that migration is not a dirty word. It is most desirable. Aside from Indigenous Australians, we have all been migrants at some point. Migration has made our economy stronger, but it has also made our community richer, and our diversity is unequivocally one of our greatest strengths. The return of skilled migration will be great for this country, and, in these unpredictable times, the only question is how to do it best. 16:52 Ms VAMVAKINOU 00AMT Calwell I appreciate the member for Bennelong's contribution to the debate. I want to reflect on the fact that he and I have been on the Joint Standing Committee on Migration for a couple of terms together. Indeed, in this term, in the 46th Parliament, the Joint Standing Committee on Migration has conducted what is now its third inquiry. We began with trying to examine regional migration and how we might better promote settlement in the regions and address the obvious labour workforce shortages in the regions. Of course, the COVID pandemic meant that it was impossible for us to continue with that particular inquiry, so we then moved on to examining the very pressing issue of the great shortage of labour, again in regional Australia, in our horticultural industry. We examined the working holiday-maker visas and the backpackers and the absence of those people and the impact that that's having on our skills shortages. At present, we're examining Australia's skilled migration program. Opposition and other members have worked together and have managed to work through some of the differences that we may have had—and we managed to improve our recommendations in the previous inquiries. But while I understand the immediate need to address an issue around skills, given COVID, on this particular occasion we feel that the pressing need to come back with some recommendations has also had the effect of rushing the inquiry. I use the word 'rushing' because this is an important inquiry. It needs a period of time for us to examine the diversity of evidence that is put before us in order to effectively underpin our recommendations with what is happening on the ground and the facts that are on the ground. This is the reason why the opposition members have put in their dissenting report. Clearly there are areas where we, as an opposition, have great difficulty in agreeing with the government. I want to go, in particular, to three of the recommendations in the dissenting report to try and shed some light on how concerned we are about the possible adverse effects should the list of recommendations be implemented as proposed in the report. In the first recommendation, Labor members of the committee do oppose the streamlining of the labour market testing or other exemptions for businesses that provide incentives that we believe disadvantage Australian workers. We have a concern about streamlining or interfering with the labour market testing, because there is an element of suspicion in the community based often on evidence of bad practice from employers. Some of the people that have put evidence before us have even suggested that we abolish labour market testing altogether. I think when you go down that path, whilst you might be trying to find a way of addressing a problem in the short term, you might actually be opening up an area of disadvantage that may impact negatively on the job market in relation to local employment opportunities. We also oppose the proposed funding cuts to skills and training provided through funding the Skilling Australians Fund. There was some concern raised about the impact or the effect of the Skilling Australia Fund, whether in actual fact it is doing what it's supposed to be doing, and that is skilling Australians to fill these many jobs that are on the shortages list. So, in the absence of not being fully convinced that the fund is redundant or should be done away with, we will continue to support the Skilling Australia Fund. On the issue of expanding the number of occupations on the skills shortages list, this was where many opposition members had great difficulty with understanding, and, in fact, I think one of the government members on the committee had similar difficulties, that occupations would be expanded to include chefs, vets—vets I can understand to a certain extent, but—cafe and restaurant managers, civil engineers, electrical engineers, motor mechanics, cooks, carpenters, electricians and other roles in hospitality, health, trades, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. That covers a very large gamut of jobs and employment and professions in Australia, and I'm left wondering: do we not have people who are training for these positions? I think it's a question that we really need to examine, and I actually look forward to examining it as we progress in this inquiry. In fact, it was at our instigation that we are seeking to receive evidence from the very institutions, such as TAFEs in particular, who are supposed to be training tradies. I know for a fact in my own electorate a lot of young people and, indeed, mature-aged people who become unemployed actually want to re-skill. They want to be part of what is clearly a lucrative tradie profession, but for some reason something is going fundamentally wrong with apprentices. I'm coming across young people who can't get an apprenticeship or who have very bad experiences in their first year of apprenticeship or who can't get a second year apprenticeship. Whilst all of that is going on building our local capacity, it is really worrying, because the problem is if we bring in, for a short-term fix, all of these professions I'll be left wondering: will any of our local people ever get an opportunity to train and be employed in those areas? I think that's one of the reasons that we are objecting to expanding the skills shortages list. It seems to me that it's covering such a wide range of employment areas that, quite rightly, a lot of my local people will feel that perhaps they will be squeezed out of future opportunities to find employment and training in these areas. No-one's going to be able to accuse me of being anti-migration—never. I came to this country under the Arthur Calwell migration program. My parents and their generation were brought here because this country needed people. It needed to grow population. It needed people to work in its manufacturing and infrastructure and to build it. Today we are a very successful country. We will always look to migration in order to fill gaps. But we need to do it in a way that balances opportunity to grow our own capacity here in this country and the opportunity for young people and mature-aged people, certainly in my electorate, who are trying to get skilled and trying to get these jobs, balancing that with the reality of exactly how much of a shortage we have. We also need to take into consideration that it's right that we should feel a bit concerned about how employers, especially big employers, may take advantage of some of these opportunities and in fact go for the quick fixes and ignore their responsibility to employ and grow our local capacity. So the reason for our dissenting report is based on a belief that we really need to find a balance between the two. I look forward to the rest of this inquiry. I know we're going to examine these areas. We're going to talk to the TAFEs and the unions. We're going to talk to a diversity of people so we can be better informed about what really is happening in building our domestic capacity. 17:01 Mr DRUM 56430 Nicholls It was a rushed process in getting the interim report presented to the parliament when we did. However, the evidence that we heard in this inquiry was stark. It was repeated time and time again. It was very, very clear. The evidence is that there are so many jobs out there and yet we are still held back by an old-fashioned system. In relation to the first recommendation that's been opposed by the Labor Party, talking about how we streamline market testing, right at the moment you can go online and check and see how many jobs there are available. You can see how many jobs there are for a qualified chef. It's over 5,000. You can see how many jobs there are for a restaurant manager. You can see it with your own eyes on one website. Yet when it comes to market testing, these electronic online forums are not counted, so the only way that market testing can work is if you physically go and pay for the very expensive process of advertising in a paper. When anybody wants to work in the restaurant system or in the cafe system or the hospitality system, the first thing they do is go online and check and see what's available. They don't go through the papers. Yet here we are with these old-fashioned regulations saying that market testing doesn't work unless you use the old newspaper system. Bringing this aspect of looking for work into the 21st Century is something we should be very, very proud of. This is not, as the Labor Party would suggest, that we are trashing the system. I think it's very, very disappointing that they have taken this approach. The evidence that we heard was stark. It wasn't made up. It was clear from every witness, witness after every witness, that there's a whole raft of jobs out there that Australians simply don't want to do. It starts off with the abattoirs—dirty work, tough, hard work—it starts off with horticulture work, which can be done in the heat—difficult work—but then it moves into the trades, into diesel mechanics, motor mechanics, a lot of what they call the wet trades. Then it moves into some of the more glamorous trades of carpentry and electrical work. So there's a whole raft of jobs out there that clearly cannot be filled and that Australians don't want to fill. The Labor Party suggested that we put in place a whole range of incentives to make it easier for Australians to work in the horticultural sector. So we did that; but we warned them that the take-up would be minimal, and it was minimal. I believe the recommendations that we have put forward are very well balanced and reflect the evidence that we heard. This is what's disappointing when the Labor Party heard exactly the same evidence. They had exactly the same facts and figures presented to them. They have an issue and are simply unable to bend their policies, and therefore they have to come out with a dissenting report. The concept that, right now, there are 5,000 jobs available for the position of chef in Australia is stark and alarming. I certainly wouldn't try to make it easier, because I'm the very proud father of Gabrielle Drum, who's just finished a 12-month, full-time pastry chef course at William Angliss. I'm not going to bring out competition for my daughter! What we find when we look into the hospitality sector is that, if you can bring in a chef at the back of a restaurant or you can bring in a restaurant manager at the front of the restaurant, then they can bring with them about five Australian jobs in the hospitality sector for each of the cornerstone jobs that go with the restaurant industry. A very real way to grow Australian jobs and Australian businesses is to use overseas workers when we cannot find Australian workers to fill the roles. We need to look at the abattoir industry, because the abattoir industry is so critical for our agricultural sector. Farmers are currently building up their stocks and their herds. In 15 to 18 months, there will be an incredibly more significant amount of cattle that will need to be processed and we simply won't have the workers to do that. The committee heard that we need to urgently expand the list of jobs on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List. Something that we heard time and time again is that we need to do that. There were also incredible delays in place throughout the Department of Home Affairs. There seemed to be lack of transparency. Employers weren't able to ascertain the stage of their application. They didn't know where their applications were in the queue. As I said earlier, this not just about what we might call dirty, tough jobs—unattractive work. We've found that we have a whole range of other trades for which employers are really struggling to fill apprenticeships. We've put an enormous amount of incentives around looking after first-year apprentices, yet we are still struggling to fill the roles. Like the previous speaker, I'm looking forward to getting in touch with the TAFE colleges, the learning institutions, to find out why young Australians are not moving into some of the trades. I was very happy and very proud to became a qualified carpenter in my younger years. It gave me the greatest start I could have hoped for. It's such a fantastic opportunity for so many young Australians to take up the opportunity to be a qualified tradie. One of the recommendations we put in place is that the federal government work much more cohesively with the states and their peak bodies to recruit additional people under the Seasonal Worker Program and also the Pacific Labour Scheme. What we have seen this year is one of the greatest failures of government policy I have witnessed in my nearly 20 years in parliament. We have farmers in the horticultural sector that have developed the best fruit and the best strains of their particular commodity. They have had a bumper crop. They beat the rains, the heat, the pests, the birds, the frost and the hail—they beat it all—and created an absolutely bumper crop, only to be let down by state governments that didn't want the workers to come and get the crops off. They didn't want to put in place the quarantine processes. The industry was ready to pay for all of this, but, certainly in Victoria, under the Labor government, they simply didn't have the will to help those people on the farms by bringing in the labour to get the crops off. There are losses running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, of fruit just sitting there rotting on the trees and then finally falling to the ground. It's absolutely heartbreaking to see these responses from a government that simply didn't want to get involved in the work it needed to do in that regard. So we've still got plenty of work to do. We've still got a lot of work to do. We haven't mentioned in here the problem that we have with undocumented workers, but that sort of fits hand in glove with what we're doing with skilled migrants and bringing additional people into this country. We've already got a large portion of people here who are working within horticulture who are effectively undocumented and have zero status because they overstayed whatever visa it was that they turned up on. So we've got plenty of work to do, but the first thing I think we need to do is bring this labour market testing into the modern era. Let's accept that the way Australians look for a job today is go online. The first thing they do is they go online and they check it out thoroughly. We need to acknowledge that, if there are jobs that are available online, then that should be market tested and the people that are working within the departments should have a much better understanding of how each particular sector sits in relation to the people available to take those jobs or not available to take those jobs. Therefore, they should know once and for all, on a continual basis, which jobs need to be market tested and which jobs do not. 17:11 Mr GEORGANAS DZY Adelaide I too rise to speak on this interim report on Australia's skilled migration program. Can I just start off by saying that, as the member for Calwell said, I'm a child of migrants myself. My parents migrated here. My father came out on the system that Mr Calwell, the Prime Minister, first introduced, which was carried on by the Menzies government, where workers were asked to come out on a three-year contract. The agreement was that they would come here to fill positions for three years, and then, if they wanted to stay, they could stay, or they could go back. But three years was the minimum that they had to do. At that time—I'm talking the early fifties—Australia's program on migration basically had a two-pronged approach. One was to fill a lot of manufacturing jobs and labouring jobs that couldn't be filled here in Australia, and the other one was to assist and help populate this vast country of ours. And that was the intention of that particular program. At the time, both the Menzies government and prior Labor governments had put in place a long-term measure—not a short-term fix, but a long-term measure—that benefited the nation, and our migration continued like that for a number of years, right through to the eighties. The department and researchers would look at where the shortages were and what the needs of the nation were and then would come up with the plan for migration. They'd basically say that we need 50,000, 100,000 or 80,000—depending. Those people would come here on that particular program and would immediately become permanent residents—immediately. You may ask why I am raising this in the context of this particular inquiry. It's because we've been doing a skills program and point systems for a number of years, and they are not fulfilling our needs. We still have shortages in certain areas. We still need to grow our population if we want our economy to grow, our productivity to grow and the creation of jobs. What we've been doing is plugging holes. I think we have to revisit entirely the way that we do our migration in this nation. We have produced two-tier systems, where overseas workers are brought in specifically on a work visa for a short period. The majority of those people will put measures into place to get permanent visas down the track, costing them thousands of dollars in visiting migration agents et cetera. Nearly 80 to 90 per cent end up becoming permanent residents after a period of years and a lot of frustration and work. Secondly, there's the system at the workplace. We've heard, as to this report, that the government members wanted to agree to watering down the market testing. Now, that would be very wrong—and it's not for a philosophical or ideological reason that I'm saying that—because, if we want to fill a position in Australia, I think it is our absolute duty, as employers and as governments, to ensure that there is not an unemployed person here in this country who could fill that position. When you can prove that, then you can be allowed to bring someone over. Taking that test away will make it open slather, for unscrupulous bosses as well, to bring people over and to keep on building on that two-tier system. There is a two-tier system. While the majority of businesses are very ethical and they do care about their workers et cetera, there are many around—and I've seen this firsthand, because I've had constituents come and see me—where people are brought over, their passports are taken, they have to pay a certain amount back to the employer for bringing them here and for rent, food and a whole range of things, and, at the end, they're left with nearly zero. We've seen instances of this, and I'm sure my colleagues on this side and on the other side have seen instances of this. Even if this is happening at a very minimal level, we are giving the opportunity for it to happen more by taking away that market testing. Market testing is an important part of skilled migration. It is an important part of work visas. There is nothing wrong with an employer having to prove that he has done all that is possible to fill that position with someone here in this country who is looking for work. It's not an unreasonable thing to have a market test so that you can prove that there is a need. What this does is to water it down completely. In some of the occupations, they want to extend the occupations—everything from hairdressers to seafarers, which I found really hard to believe, when seafaring in this country is being diminished. It was only last week that I was speaking with a secretary of the MUA, Jamie Newlyn, who was telling me that most of the shipping companies and mining companies that run their own ships have basically gone offshore. There is absolutely no work for seafarers. There are no new people coming into it. Yet it is on the list. Hairdressing is another occupation that's on the list. There may be a shortage—I don't know. That's why we, on the committee, have asked to have all the TAFEs and training organisations and the departments that analyse skills and shortages to come and talk to us and tell us exactly how they came to the view that, in these particular occupations, there are shortages and why there are shortages. We heard the member for Nicholls, Mr Drum, talk about chefs. There may be shortages of chefs in certain parts of Australia. But certainly in my seat—and I specifically made a point of going to talk to some of the restaurants and cafes et cetera—they told me that, yes, sure, there is a bit of a shortage, and people come and go, but the majority of the time they manage quite well. It could be very different in other parts, but that is no reason to take market testing away. One of the other recommendations that we didn't agree to was the proposed funding cuts to skills and training provided through funding to the Skilling Australians Fund. That is the fund that employers pay into to assist with training. So it puts a bit of an onus on the industry to train people up, to look towards the future and train people up to be able to fill those positions. When you cut nearly $3 billion out of TAFE, as has been done by this government over the last eight years, you're going to have difficulty in getting people through apprenticeships et cetera. Let's not just throw everything out because there are shortages in some areas—and there are; no-one's denying it—but look at the systemic reasons that it is happening. One is skills and training. As I said, $3 billion has been cut out of TAFE. Surely it's going to have an effect when there are fewer staff at TAFE and fewer training courses and a whole range of other things? Secondly, the market testing should remain because it is important. Thirdly, we have to overhaul entirely the way we look at migration so we don't fall into the trap of a two-tier system of workers. Workers who know their rights and what they're entitled to can speak out—and certainly they should be able to speak out, because we have a system in this country where we are all seen as equals—but underlying all of this are the overseas workers who come in and are unaware of their rights. They're unaware of what they can and can't do to speak out and ensure they're getting proper pay and are not being used at work, working extra hours. Only recently in South Australia an overseas worker in a cafe was physically abused. That is before the commission at the moment. We certainly do not support this interim report. (Time expired) 17:21 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley I rise to take note of the report into Australia's skilled migration program. On the weekend, somewhat to my surprise, I was privileged to be invited to the family celebration of a family I had never met before. The Joseph family invited me to their barbecue at Ballam Park in Frankston to celebrate 50 years since the Joseph siblings had come to Australia. Their family was originally from India and they had lived and worked in Karachi, but, because of the disruptions of war and the economic circumstances in India and Pakistan, they had to flee, and they came to Australia. Fifty years later, the Josephs are the picture of multicultural Australia. They have family members of Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan descent. They've got German heritage, Croatian heritage, Irish heritage—they are a big, happy, loving, wonderful Australian migrant story. What's really important about this country is that we do have a very welcoming approach to migration, and we should always have an incredibly welcoming approach to migration. We also need to make sure that people who are in Australia now have the skills and training to get the jobs that exist now and the jobs that are going to exist in the future. There are more than 1.3 million Australians on either JobSeeker—soon to be returned to Newstart, at $43.75 a day—or youth allowance. There are more than two million Australians who are looking either for work or for more work. We live in a country where, for the last eight years under this Liberal government, some $3 billion has been cut from TAFE and training systems and apprenticeships have been lost. We know because of this report that we live in a country where there are significant skills shortages in various industries, and those of us who talk to employers, young people and workers in our electorates know that there is a skills shortage. Before I entered this parliament I was on the board of Peninsula Health, and I was shocked to hear at one of the meetings that we were advertising in the UK for mental health nurses because we couldn't get Australian trained mental health nurses for the hospital. That should never be the case. We have magnificent medical practitioners at Frankston Hospital and Peninsula Health who have come from all over the world. When I think about the people that work there—for example, Professor Srikanth, the amazing medical research director, who came from India—I am so pleased that we have people from all over the world working in our health system in Frankston. But it cannot be the case that, because we can attract the best talent, we neglect to train up our own people at the same time. It should not be the case that we have 40,000 Australians stranded overseas wanting to come home, and yet we have a government that is looking to weaken labour market testing to expand the number of occupations on the skill shortage list to include chefs, veterinarians, seafarers, motor mechanics, cooks, carpenters, electricians, cafe managers and other hospitality roles. Each of those occupations are pretty popular in Dunkley. Seafarers—we don't have as many as some other electorates, that's true! But the others are pretty popular occupations in Dunkley, yet we're not training up our own people enough so that they can get jobs that they need. It's an indictment of this government that it has failed to properly appreciate the role of skills, traineeships and, most importantly, the public TAFE system over the eight years in which it's been the government. The approach to skill shortages needs to be training up Australian workers and then turning to overseas workers to fill skill gaps, while at the same time attracting the best and brightest to come and work here. That's a comprehensive approach. This is a government that, by stealth, is pretty happy for our public TAFE system to be outsourced and privatised. We've seen it happen with employment services. Not a day goes by that my electorate office doesn't have a constituent contact us about difficulties with their job service provider, most of which are staffed by magnificent people, but the privatised system isn't working for the people that need the help. TAFE is fundamentally important to my community. Frankston TAFE, now part of the Chisholm Institute, is geographically at the heart of Frankston and it's now at the magnificent heart of Frankston, thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars of investment from the state Labor government, with a building and training facilities that are second to none. It's also at the heart of the future of many of the constituents in my electorate, and we're really proud of it. I thank the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the shadow minister for national reconstruction, who came with me recently to see what a first-class public TAFE and training facility really should look like. We need this government to act now. We can't wait for a Labor government, but I can tell you a federal Labor government would be investing in and supporting public TAFE at the heart of the skills and training system. TAFE is a public institution at heart. We need a strong and sustainable public network of regionally accessible world-class vocational education and training. We need an active industry policy, which doesn't exist at the moment under this government, that is good for the economy and good for industry, and trains up and supports our people to work in the industries of the future. We have to have education and training providers, with industry and federal and state governments working together for a training system. I commend to this government recent reviews undertaken in both New South Wales and Victoria by, among others, Jenny Macklin, who was one of the best policy thinkers in this federal parliament before she left and is now one of the best policy thinkers not in this federal parliament in the whole country. Look at those reports and actually consider what a holistic, properly constructed skills and training program looks like, remembering that the Productivity Commission's role and public TAFE have to be at the heart of it. 17:29 Mr GILES 243609 Scullin I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to make a few brief comments on this interim report of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration. My comments will highlight why it's significant that this is an interim report, because, frankly, the government members of this committee need to do better. I just want to take a bit of time to explain why this is so and why it matters so much to all of us but particularly to Australia's reconstruction, as my friend the member for Dunkley was just touching upon—an issue dear to all of us on this side of the House, an issue in which respect of which members opposite seem all too often to be oblivious. I think our starting point should be this. Modern Australia is a nation that has been built on migration. The multiculturalism that has come through successive waves of migration is, I believe, our greatest achievement. It has brought us enormous economic benefit together with great social and cultural benefits. This is something has got to be at the heart of any Australian government worth its salt. Those of us who are in this place right now have an opportunity and an obligation to do something that hasn't been done for 70 years, and that is to restart a migration program. The work of this committee should shape that conversation, but frankly the majority recommendations would actually take us back. I urge government members to spend a bit of time looking at the work of my Labor colleagues and the recommendations that they have put as an alternative framework, because these set down some markers that the government should have regard to. Before going to those recommendations, there are a couple of contextual remarks that need to be made. Firstly, when we're talking about temporary migration, we can't ignore the attitude of this government at the start of the pandemic, when it simply abandoned so many people in this country, at a great cost to them and a great cost to all of us. We remember the rhetoric about 'going home' and the harm that did—the harm to individuals, the harm to our community, the economic harm that will endure long after those words were spoken. What we see here is a failure to grapple with that. It's also a failure to grapple with this government's inability to do one of its most fundamental jobs, which is to look after Australian citizens, to honour the promise the government made to our people. Forty thousand remain overseas, shamefully, despite the promise of the Prime Minister last September that everyone would be home by Christmas. We wonder which Christmas he was referring to when we see the recommendation that places that should be set aside for them should instead be allocated otherwise. What an absurd remark. What an absurd recommendation, which should be reconsidered. What also should be reconsidered is this lazy, reflexive attitude to policymaking. The member for Dunkley very effectively set out the skills challenge that should be part of any government. We shouldn't simply be relying on turning on and off taps in other areas of our policymaking arsenal to deal with the skills challenge—and the secure jobs challenge, which also should be at the heart of this government's work. There are so many elements of the majority report that I am concerned with. I urge government members to take great advantage of the fact that this is an interim report, to look at the work of my Labor colleagues on this, to engage with communities, with unions and with businesses and to think about the first principles that should inform a decent immigration policy that values immigration, as we do on this side of the House, and that recognises every dimension of our national interest. 17:34 Mr KHALIL 101351 Wills The priority of any federal government, any Australian government, should always be the Australian people. We as parliamentarians are elected to serve the Australian people and are elected by the Australian people to do so. Every decision that this parliament makes should have the Australian people at its centre. That's why I'm slightly embarrassed to be standing here speaking on the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration's interim report into Australia's skilled migration program, which fail to put the Australian people first. There are still two million Australians either unemployed and looking for work or underemployed and looking for more work, and this figure is only set to rise at the end of the month when the government ends JobKeeper. Despite this, we have this report which recommends a new migration plan that would prioritise foreign workers over Australians for jobs like hairdressers, carpenters, electricians, seafarers, cooks, motor mechanics and many more. These recommendations do not put Australians first. This will undermine the ability of Australians to get jobs by making it easier for businesses to bring in migrant workers. And the report recommends that the government weaken labour market testing and expand the number of occupations on the skills shortage list to include chefs, veterinarians, cafe managers, seafarers, motor mechanics, cooks, carpenters, electricians and many other hospitality roles, with no consideration of what this means for Australians looking for jobs now. These recommendations also see the scarce quarantine spots and scarce spots on flights to Australia go to some of these migrant temporary workers. This is when there are still 40,000 Aussies stuck overseas trying to get home. In September, the Prime Minister promised stranded Australians that he would get them home by Christmas. That didn't happen. It's March and we're still waiting. And now government MPs on this joint standing committee on migration think that it's a great idea to start filling up those all-too-rare spots on flights and in quarantine with foreign temporary workers. It makes no sense. For the government to end JobKeeper and increase JobSeeker by a mere $3.57 per day and now place businesses and foreign temporary workers ahead of unemployed Australians and Australians stuck overseas—all in the same month—is really an insult. The issue here is what we have as a vision for this country, with respect to our immigration program. As a son of migrants, the immigration debate does not offend me, and here's why. I'm an Australian. I'm very proud to be an Australian. My parents came from Egypt 50 years ago to settle in this country. I think we have to have the debate about immigration and migration to ensure our best economic, social and cultural future. Prime Minister Morrison's contribution to this debate is to make a virtue of reducing permanent migration. He stated back in 2019, before the pandemic: … we brought the permanent migration rate down to its lowest level in a decade by focusing on the integrity of the visa system and prioritising Australians for Australian jobs. That's what the Prime Minister said in late 2019. I have a message for the Prime Minister: when I talk about Australian jobs, it's about Australian citizens. I'm talking about people with Greek, Chinese, Vietnamese, African, Latin American, Lebanese, Italian, Irish and Indian backgrounds, and new Australians from every— An honourable member interjecting— Mr KHALIL 101351 And Egyptian! Thank you. I'll take that interjection. We came from every part of the world. That's who we are as Australians. We've come from everywhere. That's part of our permanent migration program. We've settled here, we've made a life here and we've contributed. When I talk about jobs for Australians, that's what I'm talking about. Permanent migration has actually made us one of the most economically prosperous and successful multicultural nations in the world. The way the Prime Minister put it, he was proud to declare that he'd reduced permanent migration, as if this were a good thing. And here's the rub: not only was he talking up the reduction in permanent migration as a virtue; while he was doing that, what was really actually happening under his watch, both as immigration minister and later as Prime Minister, was an increase to the numbers of temporary migrant workers into this country. We, as a nation, have a history of welcoming migrants to this country, asking them to join us not just temporarily but as new Australian citizens. Like I said, immigrants like my parents from Egypt and millions of other Australians have been central to our cultural life, our social life and our economic prosperity. When our borders do reopen, I know, and my colleagues on my side of politics know, that we must repeat this success—the success that we saw, in particular, post World War II—and renew our commitment to increasing permanent migration post COVID-19. And this migration program must continue to reflect the principle that our acceptance of migrants is not based on their ethnicity, their faith, their place of birth or their gender. Of course, with that principle come proper stringent health checks, security vetting and so on that migrants need to meet to ensure that they can come into the country. I want to make a point about the temporary migration that I touched on. It's a stopgap. It's there to fill skills shortages. It's important to keep our economy ticking over—absolutely. When you've got shortages, you need those workers if you can't fill them with Australians to do those jobs, but there are also a lot of problems, and we've seen this: wage theft, breaches of workplace rights and poor conditions for these temporary workers. That needs to be addressed. There was a 2019 report which suggested that as many as 50 per cent of temporary migrant workers may be underpaid in their employment. For eight long years, this coalition government has moved by stealth to what we would know in some parts of the world as a guest-worker model. The rise in the number of temporary work visas has been astounding. There are, I think, two million temporary work visas, mainly in Sydney and Melbourne. That puts a lie to the Prime Minister talking about congestion-busting when he reduces permanent migration. All the while, he's increased the number of temporary migrants that have created some of the pressures in the housing market or in other parts of our economy. For eight years, this government has moved to this model while dropping the permanent migration numbers. This government is breaking the immigration model at the heart of our success as a nation post World War 2. We are only going to succeed post COVID in our economic recovery if we get the migrant composition right. If we go back to the model where we are really serious about permanent migration, skilled migration, people will want to come to this country and give everything of themselves to their new country—to settle here, not to be here for a couple of years or send money away and then go again—and become Australians. That's what we want to see. That's what will help us succeed in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery phase. Our future as a nation depends on us getting this policy right. Debate adjourned. GRIEVANCE DEBATE 93 GRIEVANCE DEBATE Members of Parliament: Staff, Veteran Suicide, JobKeeper Payment, Child Care, Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct 93 17 Mr ROB MITCHELL M3E McEwen Talking about grievances at this point in time, I grieve for democracy and what we're seeing in the halls of parliament. It is embarrassing, it is disgusting and it belittles all of us. Each of us has a duty to address this situation quickly, properly, efficiently and with no obfuscation. One of the other things I wish to speak about is veteran suicide. I spoke about this yesterday in the debate on the royal commission. Something that is close to my heart is the mental health of those who have served this country proudly. Yesterday, a motion calling for a royal commission into veteran suicide was passed in the House of Representatives unopposed. I say 'unopposed' because it was not universally supported. It should have been something that gave the Prime Minister an opportunity to come into parliament, do the right thing by veterans and support a royal commission, but he never supported it. He did not oppose it, but he never supported it. Even today in parliament, the opportunity came for him to stand up and be a leader, and as usual he failed miserably. The government is dragging its heels when it comes to actually establishing a royal commission. As at December last year, 500 former servicemen had lost their lives to suicide since the war in Afghanistan. Compare that to the 41 lives lost on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a harrowing statistic. Sadly, we've seen more people die by suicide than in war in the last 20 years. It's time for a proper examination of what is going on. All the evidence shows clearly that something is happening to veterans after they leave the service. They feel unsupported by the agencies which are built to supposedly support them. I just can't understand why the government would not want to get to the bottom of the issues that are plaguing veterans. Suicide rates amongst serving personnel are less than half of the average in the community, but they absolutely skyrocket once people leave the forces. And it's not just a male thing. The rate of suicide among female veterans is a staggering 127 times higher than in the general population. Something needs to change. We called for a royal commission in 2019, but the Prime Minister only wanted a national commissioner. We wanted the national commissioner to be independent, but we were shocked—and, I dare say, not surprised—when they appointed a friend of the Minister for Defence. There was not enough independence and scope for the national commissioner to report at arm's length on this government. The national commissioner would be put into the Attorney-General's Department and would issue a report on 400 suicides in 12 months. At the end of the day, it was almost like a glorified version of a coroner. Sadly, both those ministers are not here, so we can't actually ask them questions and find out what's going on. Veterans' lives matter. They matter to us, they matter to their families and they matter to our communities. We need to be able to have confidence that the government has the backs of the people it sends out and puts into tough situations. I want to pay tribute to the extraordinary courage of women like Julie-Ann Finney, who has campaigned on behalf of her late son. She has shown resilience and shown courage, and I respect and applaud her today. People like her want this royal commission and oppose the government's national commission. The feedback from RSLs and the ADF is to overwhelmingly oppose a national commission. If people on the ground are saying it's a dud, then for God's sake, Prime Minister, listen to them. It's time for a royal commission for our veterans. Another thing that's concerning us at the moment, of course, is that JobKeeper will end in five days. Wages will be cut, JobKeeper support will be axed and childcare costs will still remain way too high. Add this to the broken promises of sports rorts, the dodgy land deals, a dud NBN and $1 trillion of debt, and you've got to ask: what has the government been focusing on? There have been a bunch of businesses who've been given hundreds of millions—if not billions—of dollars who didn't need it. If the government hadn't been giving money to all those people who didn't need it, they could afford to extend it to businesses that do, businesses like Wendy Clayton's travel agency in our electorate, which has only been keeping afloat because of the lifeline JobKeeper has given her during this pandemic. She said: 'The extension of JobKeeper is an imperative for me to pay my bills. It will provide certainty and allow me to keep my business intact.' My message to the Treasurer is: listen to Wendy Clayton. She needs help. Gerry Harvey doesn't. JobKeeper should not be paid in executive bonuses. It was supposed to be to help struggling employers keep employees on staff. These employees will be left high and dry come 1 April. There are a million people on JobKeeper who are going to face a serious cut at the end of the month. There are two million people who are either unemployed or underemployed—it's a great scourge of this nation—and can't find the hours that they need to support their families. We need to put things into a bit of perspective here. The government wants to do the whole 'mission accomplished' thing, when a lot of people are going to be unemployed in the next few days. Entire sectors, including tourism and hospitality, will be denied government support, and job losses are inevitable. Instead of a plan to get Australians back to work, the Prime Minister is leaving people behind to let it go. Another thing that's concerning, of course—and I said this last week—is around child care. Child care is one of the issues that holds back productivity in this nation. When the median childcare costs of Victorian families are up to $546 a week, you've got to say there is a real problem. There is a problem for people that wish to go to work, contribute to society and do the right thing, but they can't, because of the federal government's appalling track record on child care. I want to quote a constituent from McEwen who said: 'It's a broken system.' We expect families to work and try and set up their future, but we don't offer them the support to do this properly. The government might be viewing child care as a second-order issue, but the Labor Party doesn't. An Albanese Labor government will introduce the Working Family Child Care Boost to cut childcare fees and put more money into the pockets of working families straightaway. Child-care fees in Australia are some of the highest in the world. Under our plan, we will scrap the $10,560 child-care subsidy cap, which sees women losing money. They have to not work extra days to ensure that they keep their places. We'll lift the maximum child-care subsidy rate to 90 per cent, increase child-care subsidy rates and taper them for every family earning less than $530,000. What does this mean? It means that the reform will help 97 per cent of families in the system. They will save between $600 and $2,900 a year. Families are not going to be worse off; they're going to be better off. Importantly, we will task the ACCC with designing a price regulation mechanism to shed light on costs and fees that drive them down for good. Our plan for cheaper child care will reward working families, not punish them. It will allow more second-income earners, who are usually women, to work more and contribute more to the economic recovery. We will keep working to fix Australia's broken child-care system, which currently locks out more than 100,000 families because they can't afford it. We will keep working and keep fighting, because that's what we do. We know that affordable early education and care is not just vital as infrastructure for parents and children; it's also vital for Australia's economic recovery. Australia needs an early education care system that ensures that early learning is affordable and accessible to families. We need to keep educators in jobs and protect the viability of the businesses that they work in. I will continue to stand up for communities and our families to make sure that child care is foremost front and centre of policy development that we do. Another thing I want to talk about quickly is the Macedon Ranges Regional Sports Precinct. This is a regional sports hub, a fully planned project; but the federal government is destroying our community's ability to play sport in proper facilities by not funding it. The Macedon Ranges Shire Council has put in $10.7 million. The Victorian government has put in $11.6 million, and even the AFL committed $100,000 to this project. But you know who hasn't committed to it? The federal government. Despite their Liberal candidate, after the election, saying yes this is a great idea, the government has still steadfastly refused to do it. They keep saying to the council, just go back and have another crack at the grants program. Well, that's not the case. You can't keep rejecting facilities in some of the fastest-growing areas of this nation. You can't keep hiding behind it's about time Victoria received its fair share. Even the Deputy Prime Minister acknowledged the need to make this project a reality, with the business plan in2018. This project has continued to involve solid partnerships with community groups, sporting associations, the community, myself, the state government and the local council. It's a state-of-the-art sports precinct that needs to be built, and the only thing stopping it is this government's lack— (Time expired) Mental Health 95 17:52 Mrs WICKS 241590 Robertson I rise today to speak about the importance of mental health in my community on the Central Coast. It's a deeply personal and important issue that affects all of us. We've all been impacted by stories, whether it's been people we know in our community, perhaps people in our own social circle, our own network. I've had that experience, and also much closer to home. It really is an issue that impacts all of us, regardless of the region in which we live, but I want to place the spotlight tonight on my region of the Central Coast. It's estimated that one in seven Australians will experience depression in their life and one in four will experience an anxiety condition. While statistics show that around half of all people with a mental health condition are now seeking treatment, we've still got a way to go to ensure that we address stigma and encourage those affected to get help. The tragedy of suicide is far too common. According to data from HealthStats NSW, the overall rate of suicide on the Central Coast is higher than across New South Wales. ABS statistics indicate that suicide accounts for over one-third of deaths of 18- to 25-year-olds. We should pause for a moment and think about the impact that that has on our younger generation, our next generation who should be the leaders of tomorrow. I've heard too many stories of families and communities, men and women, young people and our seniors, who have been impacted by this. Too many of our local high schools have been touched by this issue, with students devastated by the loss of their peers and grappling with tough questions about their own mental health. Too many of our local veterans have struggled silently after serving our nation. These are significant challenges for our community, but there are so many hardworking organisations and primary healthcare providers that do an incredible job in this space. In my local electorate they include the Central Coast Local Health District, the Brisbane Waters Local Area Command, Central Coast Primary Care, Lifeline, headspace, Suicide Prevention Central Coast and many more. In the past year I convened a mental health roundtable with representatives from a number of these groups. One of the key messages that came out of the committee's meeting was that there is a lack of coordination of services aimed at preventing suicide across our region, although all of the services do an incredibly important job and are very committed to the work that they do. The committee identified that the most significant factors influencing suicide rates on the Central Coast include a lack of men's mental health support, relationship breakdowns, long commuting times and poor engagement with support services. In response, the committee has discussed the need for some community based models to sit alongside existing intervention and preventive services, to seek to increase community participation on mental health issues and to boost social connectedness for all. I've heard from a number of members of the committee, including Naomi Sirio, a mental health educator and trainer in our region. She said mental health was a particularly important issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, with her practice seeing a hundred-per cent increase in demand over the last 12 months. She said she sees locals struggling daily and we have to pay particular attention to the increases in domestic and family violence and the flow-on effect on the mental health of children, individuals and our community. Dom Brook, from Musicians Making a Difference, said that mental health is an issue that we need to tackle head on as a community and that the committee's suggestions would help empower and connect Central Coast organisations on the front line for the benefit of young people across our region. I do want to thank Dom and all the other committee members for their important work on this issue. I'm proud to be part of a government that has been taking strong action on this issue. I want to commend the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Aged Care for their leadership and for the measures they have already implemented. These include doubling the number of Medicare-subsidised individual psychological therapy sessions nationally—providing up to 20 sessions per year—and providing funding for the establishment of adult mental health hubs and residential eating disorder centres. I was able to announce $13 million for the establishment of a residential centre for the treatment of eating disorders, which, for example, will service residents in my broader local region. The centre will provide much needed services for those affected by these conditions and will change the way that eating disorders are diagnosed and treated, by providing 24/7 intensive care and support as well as training, education and advocacy. Having had a lived experience with someone I deeply, deeply care for, I know how important this service will be for those who need it. We know that homelessness is also a key risk factor for mental health challenges, so the Morrison government is also delivering funding for a unique homelessness outreach program, Health on the Streets, designed to take health care to those on the Central Coast sleeping rough. It's a clinical outreach program where clinicians undertake primary health and mental health assessments at no cost to the community. In the first 12 months of its operation, almost 1,500 hours of outreach were delivered to over 190 people, with 862 clinical interventions by the Help on the Streets team. For people experiencing homelessness, being able to access treatment for their specific issues and challenges has an untold flow-on effect for those people and our whole community. We were also able to dramatically expand youth mental health services, including by increasing the number of headspace sites, from 56 in 2013 to 153 by 2022, and delivering $500 million in direct support to respond to the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know there's a lot more to do, and the government are committed to ensuring that we continue to deliver important funding and programs to improve mental health. On this topic and on the mental health of women here and right across Australia, it would be wrong to neglect events over the past few weeks, and specifically the actions that were brought to light last night. The acts were completely inappropriate and need to be condemned. They demeaned and degraded female MPs and this institution, the very symbol of democracy in our country. They were a clear demonstration of a total lack of respect for others and for the values we hold dear. These revelations, and the instances of the gross mistreatment of women both here and around the nation, have brought back some horrible memories for many of us, including me, in my personal life and in the workplace. As the Prime Minister said today, these events have triggered—right across this building and, indeed, right across the country—women who have put up with rubbish for their entire lives, as their mothers did and as their grandmothers did. It's been going on. We have been talking about it in this place for a month; they have been living with it all their lives. This is simply not okay. I was really struck by some comments made by the member for Brand last night in the House on this issue. The member said in her speech: One hopes that if the culture of this place changes we can do some very good things right across the country, where the systematic abuse of women and domestic violence can come to an end. If it can't start here and be successful here, I guess there's little hope for it happening across the nation. I couldn't agree with her more. Let's work together to build on this as a parliament, regardless of political aspiration, because if we can do this together we can lead the way in bringing about the change we need to see in our nation. This is a daunting task, but it's one we shouldn't shy away from. We owe it to future generations to set an example, ensuring we foster healthy workplaces and communities for all. It's up to all of us, as Australians, to work together across this parliament but also in our homes, in our communities and across the nation to create that change for good, to create change that lasts a lifetime, to create change that lasts beyond our lifetimes—change that not only ends this cycle but reverses it. I'd like to conclude by reminding members here, and anyone who may be listening, that none of us really know what someone may be dealing with even now—even tonight or tomorrow, or over this week. The importance of kindness and understanding can never be underestimated at a time like this, and I'd like to encourage everyone in this place to continue to look out for their loved ones, family and friends, as I know you do so well. We never know what the impact of our actions may be. Climate Change 97 18:02 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo Australia is a country of drought and flooding rains and, sadly bushfire. As we speak in here, a natural disaster is unfolding. This is on the back of bushfires in many parts of the country that are now flooding, and, of course, we've had a pandemic. I know that in my community our thoughts are really with all those who are currently facing such disaster, and it brings home how much the rest of Australia helped my community when we were in the grips of bushfire. These events have only strengthened the conviction and resolve of my community, and many communities around the nation, to demand urgent, sustained and consistent action to address climate change and to tackle emissions. The vacuum of meaningful, effective climate action policy continues to frustrate. Back in the previous parliament, I instigated the first Parliamentary Friends of Climate Action. My aim as a crossbench MP was to create a safe space, a neutral space, where all members could come and hear from experts. When this parliament resumed, I worked with the member for Indi and the member for Warringah to start another group. Just last week we hosted a forum on transport emissions, and we even offered members the chance to get up close and personal to a Mercedes electric vehicle. Transport is the third largest source of emissions in Australia, and emissions are rebounding back to pre-COVID levels as the restrictions are lifting. COVID has taught the world many things. One of them is that if there is sufficient urgency, we can deliver—such as with the vaccine. That happened in a year. COVID has taught us the importance of building sovereign capability. Australia needs to improve our ability to adapt and to respond rapidly to change and to manufacture, and we need to do this on our own soil. One of the guest speakers at the transport forum was the Norwegian Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Paul Larsen. Seventy per cent of new cars in Norway are electric vehicles, and this country of just five million people have more Teslas than any nation except the United States. Norway has a fraction of our land mass and road network, but it is similar to Australia in that it is a large producer and exporter of fossil fuels, namely oil and gas. But Norway sources almost 100 cent of its electricity from renewable hydropower, and it has embraced both a carrot and a stick approach to reaching ambitious emissions targets. They embrace technology as well as tax and financial incentives to reach targets. When it comes to electric vehicles they have been incentivising for the past decade. Mr Larsen said that people want to be green but that economic incentives are also important. Australia can introduce incentives. The federal government can offer tax credits for up-front EV purchases and remove the luxury car tax, which is obsolete in a nation that no longer manufactures its own vehicles. The government can offer grants and low-interest loans to roll out changing infrastructure. In my electorate, the local council has been working with Regional Development Australia. We now have an electric highway linking Kangaroo Island to the Fleurieu Peninsula and the Adelaide Hills. That has been a huge reason for many people with electric vehicles to come to my electorate and have a holiday. The government can also change the fringe benefits tax to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles in corporate fleets to boost the flow of good, quality-priced EVs into the domestic market. Government can lead by example and buy their own fleet. We're not doing any of that, are we? In fact, Victoria is introducing a road tax from 1 July, and my state of South Australia is looking on with the intention of doing the same. As Tim Washington, the chair of Australia's Electric Vehicle Council, and another guest at our forum, said: 'Australia isn't just lagging in the electric vehicle race. We're not even in the race.' Elsewhere, nations are seeing the economic and employment opportunities that come from global energy transformation and looking to the manufacturing opportunities of electric vehicles. Australia could do the same. Australia should do the same. Until recently, Australia had a strong and proud tradition in automotive manufacturing, especially in my home state of South Australia. There was Holden. My dad worked at Mitsubishi for a very long time. The loss of automotive manufacturing jobs resulted in hundreds of direct and indirect job losses. We should not accept the closure of traditional high-volume manufacturing as if it were the end of all vehicle manufacturing endeavours in Australia. The introduction of many new electric vehicle manufacturers across the globe demonstrates that there is enormous opportunity. We just need the will. We built high-quality, high-volume vehicles in the past and we could now produce high-value, high-performance cars. There is a future in Australia, with the renewed interest in Australian based manufacturing, if we pool the experiences, capabilities and knowledge that still exists in our nation to build cars again. We can also learn from the experience of global manufacturers. Our forum was a conversation starter, and it was pleasing to see so many government members there. I hope that we can move beyond a discussion and start mapping out an exciting future of what could be possible. The tackling of emissions from transport is just one way that our country must address our responsibilities and obligations to reduce the impact we have on the environment. Methane, while shorter lived than carbon dioxide, has a much greater impact. In Australia, agriculture is the main source of methane production, but, to the credit of the agriculture sector, their total methane production has continued to decline. This is a consequence of a proactive sector that has actively endorsed policies leading to better management of livestock, manure and landfill. This sector has demonstrated that change is possible and that there is an appetite to investigate and adopt scientific research. Wouldn't it be exciting if we did that in here? One exciting and recent development in the sector is the production of seaweed supplements to feed cattle. While seaweed supplement studies are not new, the longest field test undertaken to date used a seaweed genus that contains bromoform, which reduces the production of methane in cows and could potentially reduce the total production of methane in livestock by 80 per cent. That is huge. That is a game changer. To put this into perspective, Future Feed, which is a partnership between the CSIRO, Meat & Livestock Australia and James Cook University, stated: If 10% of the livestock producers added 1.0% of … Seaweed Meal to the daily feed intake of … livestock, it is like removing 100 million cars off the road. The study found that there were no changes in meat taste and that, over time, the gut microbes became more efficient, suggesting lower feed supplementation may produce the same result, given time for the animal's gut to adopt the new feeding regime. While this study is undergoing field trials, and early celebrations should be tempered, we should applaud the agriculture sector's commitment to engaging and embracing scientific research to mitigate their environmental impact. Indeed, leaders have established forums and groups to provide a recognised voice for the sector, and one such organisation is Farmers for Climate Action, a movement of farmers, ag leaders and rural Australians collectively working to be part of the change. I've talked about the value of seaweed. I'm now going to talk about the value of seagrass—again, we're one great big island; let's do this, it's so exciting—and its role in blue carbon production, a concept that is attracting global attention and one that offers countries such as Australia, with a diverse coastline, the ability to really address our emissions. Blue carbon is a natural phenomenon of carbon capture and storage in our coastal ecosystems, including seagrass meadows, salt marshes and mangroves, and these ecosystems act as enormous carbon sinks by accumulating and retaining carbon in the plants and soil at rates of up to four times as much carbon per area as land based forest. Australia has millions of hectares of these ecosystems along our glorious coastline, South Australia's being the sixth largest in the nation. With the knowledge of how effective our coastal ecosystems are at capturing carbon storage, I think it's really important that we ask all of the people who are members of the Parliamentary Friends of Climate Action to come along and hear about blue carbon. We'll be doing something in August, and I'm very excited that a lovely young woman from my electorate called Mikayla Schwarz will be coming here. She is an expert in blue carbon and she'll be coming here to teach us all about it and tell us what a wonderful opportunity it is for our nation. We could do so much more, but we just sit back and watch the rest of the world leap ahead, day by day. We are being left behind. I would urge every member to come along. I think you'll find it very valuable. Western Australia: Energy 98 18:12 Mr RICK WILSON 198084 O'Connor I rise this afternoon to use this grievance debate to repudiate the energy policy that was proposed by the WA Liberal Party in the lead-up to the Western Australian state election. While I'll always be loyal to the Liberal Party, for me, my constituents came first. That means that, when the state Liberal Party releases a policy that would cause great harm to an important community in O'Connor, I will stand by those constituents and be their voice in parliament. Coal has historically been an integral part of power generation in Western Australia, and the tight-knit town of Collie is central to this. Coal was first discovered in Collie in the 1880s and, over the past 130 years, has provided thousands of people with jobs and a good living in the South-West of WA. There are now two coalmines in Collie, the only operating coalmines in WA, producing about 700 million tonnes a year. I'm very proud of those coalminers, who work hard, in my communities. Coalmining is a tough job. Those workers experience harsh working conditions, and, while it's a come a long way from underground days, open-cut mining is still a pretty tough job. It's hard, dangerous work. I can tell you they certainly breed them tough in Collie. The majority of Collie's coal is used to power three power stations, which generate about 50 per cent of the state's electricity. Two of those power stations, Collie and Muja, are operated by Synergy, a state government owned entity. An 'ambitious' plan—inverted commas are needed—announced by former leader of the WA Liberal Party Zak Kirkup would have seen the Collie and Muja power stations close their doors for good in 2025. This plan showed no regard for the Collie community and no concern for the people who rely on those power stations for employment and to provide for their families. No consideration was given to the consequences for the many small, medium and large businesses who rely on these industries. The Worsley Alumina refinery down the road also employs 3,000 people and relies on baseload power that is produced by the Collie Power Station. Worsley employs so many people and puts an incredible amount of wealth back into the local economy in the South-West of Western Australia. The McGowan Labor government had already announced that two of the four operating units at Muja Power Station would be retired in October 2022, equating to about 80 job losses. But Zak Kirkup's plan would have seen hundreds more jobs go over the next four years, which would have been a disaster for Collie. It's obvious this green-energy plan was a last-ditch attempt by Kirkup and his team to swing Greens voters in the western suburbs of Perth to vote Liberal. It was foolish and it was unsuccessful. The energy plan included building a 1,500-megawatt solar and wind energy project in the mid-west of the state to power Perth, the south-west, the Wheatbelt and Kalgoorlie. In conjunction with the private sector, they also planned to construct a further 4,500 megawatts of wind and solar energy by 2030 to convert water into over 250,000 tonnes of hydrogen for export per year to power a new green steel industry. This is all very virtuous, but, at the end of the day, if you look at the intermittent energy that's produced by these sources, you see very quickly that you need a firming source, and, of course, in Western Australia that firming source comes from the Collie power stations. The plan proposed would supposedly see the state government reduce emissions to zero by 2030. Not only is this clearly not going to work but the plan was doomed from the outset because obviously the numbers didn't add up and it was undeliverable. There is no way that you could close two power stations and expect to power a state without costing billions of dollars and decreasing reliability. There are existing coal supply contracts in place until 2030 between Synergy and one of the local coalmining companies. To break that supply contract would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to pay out the contracts, which is a complete waste of finance and resources. The Collie Power Station's A unit has plenty of life left in it and could continue to operate until 2040. To close it prematurely is a complete waste of resources. We've now witnessed firsthand what the voters thought of this energy policy, with the WA Liberal Party reduced to two members in the lower house and the Labor Party gaining control of both houses. It's essential we work together to create a prosperous future for Collie to diversify the economy and provide new industries for the town going forward. It is inevitable at some point in the future that we will see the closure and reduction of coalmining in Collie. The Collie community has also accepted it needs to diversify its economy to provide long-term jobs, but any move to this must be balanced with a sound energy plan that will support the Collie community and its workforce. Kirkup's policy to force the closure of coal-fired power stations by 2025 is not the answer to drive down emissions. This policy is in stark contrast to the well-considered energy policy of the Morrison government. Our policy is focused on securing affordable and reliable energy for hardworking Australians while also reducing emissions. Australia's competitive advantage has always been based on cheap energy, and gas will be central to our ongoing economic recovery. We will work with industry to ensure the Australian gas market is working for the benefit of all Australians. While ambition is important, achievement and outcomes are what matter. We smashed our Kyoto era emissions target by 459 million tonnes. Australia's emissions have fallen faster than the G20 average, faster than the OECD average and much faster than similar developed economies, like Canada and New Zealand. Between 2005 and 2018, our emissions fell by more than 13 per cent. New Zealand's emissions have barely budged, while Canada's fell by less than one per cent. The latest figures have us 19 per cent below 2005 levels and we're on track to meet and beat our 2030 target of reducing emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels. On a per-person basis, our 2030 target is more ambitious than Norway, Canada, Germany, New Zealand or France. It's important to say that this is merely a floor in our ambition. We want to meet and beat that target. The latest emissions projections published in December 2020 show we're on track to do exactly that. As the PM said, we want to achieve net zero emissions as soon as possible. But we are committed to the principle of technology. We won't sacrifice jobs and industry in regional Australia for no global emissions benefit. We also won't increase taxes to get there. Instead, the government is focused on the how. It is focused on breakthroughs in technology that will needed to make zero net emissions possible here and around the world. Action and outcomes are what matter, and our track record is one that all Australians can be proud of. Emissions in the national electricity market have fallen to their lowest level since records began, down five per cent in 12 months, with record levels of investment in renewables continuing. In 2020, a record seven gigawatts of renewables capacity was installed in Australia. That's more renewables in one year under the Morrison government than under the whole of the previous Labor government. Emissions are lower than in any year under a previous Labor government. To keep this momentum going, we have developed Australia's Technology Investment Roadmap. Our commitment is clear: to lower electricity prices and keep the lights on. Meanwhile, we are continuing to do our bit to reduce global emissions. Advancing the next generation of low emissions technology is crucial to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. The development and deployment of new technology is the way to reduce emissions while continuing to grow our economy and maintain a reliable and secure energy supply. Australia's experience has been that, when new technologies become economically competitive, they are rapidly adopted by Australian businesses and households. We're seeing that happen right now with the adoption of renewables in Australia at 10 times the global average—four times higher than China, Japan, the US and Europe. Earlier this year, the Morrison government committed $3.9 million to the Renergi project. The $9.4 million project includes the construction and operation of a new waste-to-energy demonstration plant in the aforementioned Collie. It will help create around 34 local jobs and is expected to be operational within two years. The project will not only boost employment in regional WA but also help solve waste disposal issues while producing useful energy products. WA should not be penalised with a clean energy target that puts pressure on WA's main power source and favours renewables. If we proceed with a clean energy target, we must introduce legislation to enable the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in carbon capture and storage. This will safeguard the future of the coal industry and ensure emissions from coal-fired power stations are kept out of the atmosphere. Gudinski, Mr Michael Solomon, AM, Burrows, Mr Donald Vernon, AO MBE, Reddy, Ms Helen Maxine 100 18:21 Mr BURKE DYW Watson Tomorrow there's a state memorial service in Victoria for a friend of mine, and I noticed, following the death of Michael Gudinski, that, so often, we're really good in the parliament at making speeches about sporting heroes or significant businesspeople or ministers when we lose them but, when we lose someone who's been intrinsic to the artistic and cultural life of Australia, it often goes without note. I may have missed something. I'm unaware, for example, of any official government statement going out, following the death of Michael, and so what I'd like to do is: there are three people who I do believe deserve to have speeches in this parliament, where I'm not aware of them having been given, and so let me go through those three. The first is the most recent: Michael Gudinski. Michael was born in Melbourne, in Caulfield, in 1952 of Russian immigrant parents. His entrepreneurial streak began early, and he started organising dances, booking acts, from the age of 15 onwards, and even at the age of 15 was earning $500 a week, which, in the late sixties, for a 15 year old—he clearly had a talent for this. He said: The minute my father got home, and I'd left school, I was thrown dead straight out of the house … it certainly made me realise that I'd made a serious commitment, and the journey began from there. In 1972, his first tour of Australia: John Mayall and the Blues Breakers—the same year that Mushroom Records was born in St Kilda, followed by Mushroom Music Publishing the year after. But, by all accounts, in trying to establish an Australian music label, commercial success continued to be just out of reach. Bankruptcy was always, always beckoning, and the early years were really tough. But things changed in 1975, with the Australian band Skyhooks. Michael was fond of telling young acts when they got started, if something had gone bad, that Skyhooks had been booed off stage and then he found them and got them back to No. 1. Then, of course, shortly after the Living in the 70's album, Michael started working with Split Enz; Jimmy Barnes followed; and, of course, years later, Kylie Minogue, Paul Kelly and many more, and he was also championing First Nations artists like Archie Roach, Dan Sultan and Yothu Yindi. Every time I caught up with Michael he'd start with the old war stories of a Chisel gig, a Barnsey concert, something relating to Kylie or a Skyhooks story. But then, once he had your attention, he'd say, 'But there's this new artist I want you to listen to.' It might have been Julia Jacklin; it might have been Gordi—there was always a new artist that he wanted to talk to you about to grab your attention so you'd listen to whoever he thought would be next in line to provide the soundtrack of Australia. When COVID hit, the music industry, in many ways, was smashed. But Michael decided to push for something that had not been possible on commercial television for a long time, and that was to get live music back on TV. So, in the most difficult of environments, on Anzac Day last year Music from the Home Front was broadcast, and it was a commercial ratings hit. As a result, the ABC, which had run the set for a few years but hadn't recommitted to it, decided there was an audience to watch live music on TV again, and The Sound came back. The years of Countdown that we thought would never return have started to find their way back into living rooms. As well as The Sound, we now find The Set back for another season. I have an endless array of friends whose careers have been in lockstep with the efforts of Michael Gudinski at different points. I wish I could be with them tomorrow but, because of parliament, I can't be. I certainly wish all of them—including Michael's wife, Sue; his son, Matt, and Matt's partner, Cara; his daughter, Kate, and her husband, Andrew; and their children, Nina-Rose and Lulu—deepest sympathies. Not so many months ago we lost Don Burrows. Don was rightly known as the father of Australian jazz. He had an incredible influence on Australian music, including getting the jazz program properly going at the Conservatorium. His talent was prodigious. He performed with greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. One thing that isn't widely known about Don Burrows is that from 2000 on—and there were earlier examples as well—he spent a lot of time in First Nations communities. Don, in maintaining the principle of the trained musician—and I think the member for Parramatta, who alone of those in the House was a concert pianist, would appreciate this—said, 'Playing to one child under a tree in Arnhem Land, I'd still be trying as hard as I would anywhere else.' One of Don Burrows's students, James Morrison, would later become a close friend and collaborator. Ultimately, after Don suffered a stroke in 2013, James Morrison helped him to learn to play again—an extraordinary effort from a friend. It's no exaggeration, as I said before, to call Don Burrows the father of Australian jazz. There was no-one like him. Given his dedication to shaping and teaching the next generation of Australian jazz musicians, the jazz scene in Australia will be forever in his debt. I saved the next one till last because there's a personal story I want to tell with it. I remain stunned that we never had speeches at the beginning of question time following the death of Helen Reddy—absolutely stunned. Helen Reddy didn't just provide music and songs on the international stage; she performed the anthem for a global movement. Yet, as a parliament, we never marked that. We marked it effectively outside the parliament, though, last week. Helen was born in 1941 in Melbourne to an actress, singer and dancer mother and a writer, producer and actor father. She was on the Vaudeville circuit with them from the age of four. In the late sixties she won a talent contest—before Countdown, there was Bandstand. Helen Reddy won, and the deal was the winner would get a trip to New York to meet with a record studio, Mercury Records. What wasn't explained was that you only got to meet with them; you didn't actually get to put out your album. Helen Reddy was there as a single mother. Things were going very badly and eventually she moved to LA, and at that point she managed to record a cover of the song I Don't Know How to Love Him—the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice song from Jesus Christ Superstar—which was a commercial success. At that point, Helen Reddy said—they're extraordinary words—'I realised the song I was looking for didn't exist and I was going to have to write it myself.' That song was 'I Am Woman'. Having written it, she then went to the record company, and they didn't even want to put it on the album, because they were convinced there was not an audience for this song. Eventually it was agreed they would put it on the album but they would bury it on the album and not release it as a single. What Helen Reddy did then was perform gig to gig and make sure that, when she performed that song, she effectively ignored the men in the audience and focused on the women. They then started ringing the radio stations saying, 'I want that Helen Reddy song "I Am Woman" played.' With no help at all from the institutions, the women first of the United States and then of the world had a song by an Australian become their anthem. The song reached No. 1 in the charts in 1972. She won the Grammy for best female vocal pop performance in 1973. In 2002 she moved back to Australia, announcing her retirement from singing and completing a degree in hypnotherapy. She tried to retire but ended up being lured to do a tour in 2012. That song was the reason my mum, once I started school, went back and did teaching and then worked as a teacher for the remainder of her working life. Those stories are all around the world and all around our nation as well. At some point, I just urge us all to wake up and acknowledge the role that our artists have in touching our souls. I'd say may they rest in peace, but I think they'd prefer to rest in harmony, and I wish them that. COVID-19: Young People 102 18:31 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins I rise today to recognise the resilience of Australia's youth throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and to recognise some of the ongoing challenges, especially with regard to employment opportunities, including particularly in my electorate of Higgins. I'd also like to highlight how the government, through a plethora of policies, directly and indirectly are benefiting young Australians and ensuring that the youth of Australia have every possibility to succeed in a post-pandemic Australia. I praise Australia's youth for the incredible resilience shown throughout what was undoubtedly an extremely challenging period for us all, from having to do homeschooling and being separated from their school peers, to doing VCE exams in a very difficult year for year 12 students, to missing out on celebrating milestones such as 18th and 21st birthdays, going to schoolies, school formals or even just everyday social interactions. It hasn't been easy for the children and youth of Australia. I know firsthand that it was tough for my electorate of Higgins. We have a disproportionately youthful electorate, with 31,644 constituents aged under 34—almost 30 per cent of my entire electorate. I've also got four adult kids, and they have told me some of the travails that they have dealt with in 2020. However, I draw inspiration from the sense of community demonstrated by my electorate throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, I've heard how the residents of Carnegie banded together via the Carnegie and Friends Kindness Community Facebook group, where they offered help with everything from grocery shopping for elderly and vulnerable residents and meeting those who lived alone for a walk or coffee, to organising teddy bear treasure hunts for the children of Carnegie. I'd also like to acknowledge John Mainland, a constituent in Higgins who, together with a bunch of like-minded young university students, sent flyers out to the local people in Higgins in the early stages of the pandemic saying, 'If there's anything we can do to help, particularly for those who are older, with your shopping or with picking up medication, we're here to help.' It's those heartwarming stories that we need to tell to remind ourselves about the great Australian spirit and the community-mindedness of the people that we all live with. Similarly, I endlessly admire the leadership of eight-year-old Higgins constituent Grace Halifax, who championed and conducted a virtual coding class to teach other Higgins students this valuable skill. Grace came to me in the middle of lockdown and said, 'I really want to start an "ABC of coding" club for kids aged eight, nine and 10. She provided a six-week course online called 'ABC of Coding', co-supervised with her mum, who is a data engineer. More than 200 kids signed up for this Zoom class. It was amazing to see. They did it every week for six weeks. We even got the then Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, to join this wonderful group of people. But she used what was a difficult period of lockdown to connect kids, and they enthusiastically supported her leadership on this point. We know that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic young Australians lost their jobs at a greater level than other age groups. Young Australians are over-represented in industries that were and continue to be heavily affected by COVID-19 restrictions, such as hospitality and the arts. In February 2021, unfortunately, the youth unemployment rate stands at 12.9 per cent. That's more than double the 5.8 per cent recorded for all persons. As Professor Jeff Borland told the Senate Economics committee, failing to target support to these young people now will not just hurt them in the short term but harm Australia's long-term labour force productivity. This is about our future. This is about the youth of Australia stepping up to finding gainful employment. That is why the government is taking action to support businesses to create employment opportunities targeted at young Australians. The coalition government has a strong record of supporting young people to participate in the labour market and build their economic security. We know that the youth of Australia want to contribute, not only to shape their own futures and realise their goals, but also to give back to society. From speaking to my youthful constituents in Higgins I know that making a positive social impact is a fundamental career objective for many young Australians. To allow them to do so we must ensure the opportunities are there for them. Our government is committed to helping these young people move into work or appropriate training, including through the JobMaker Hiring Credit. The JobMaker Hiring Credit is available to employers for each new job they create over the next 12 months for which they hire an eligible young person. In light of the stronger than predicted economic recovery the Treasurer has also left open the opportunity for flexibility in further tailoring this policy to better reflect the environment come budget time in May. The $4 billion investment in the JobMaker Hiring Credit is in addition to the $1 billion JobTrainer fund, which is jointly funded with the states and territories. JobTrainer will provide around 300,000 additional free or low-fee training places to help young people, including school leavers, and jobseekers have the skills they need to get a job. We know that if people don't get that first job, if they don't get that first foot on the ladder, then they do suffer in the long term. Building on these measures, the government is also heavily investing in employment services targeted to help young Australians become job ready and obtain and stay in a job. This is because we understand how important it is to build a strong and future-proof skill set early on in one's career and to find one's place in the working world through real-life work experience. I know this myself, having been a medical researcher at the Murdoch, as so many young people come and spend time with me in a voluntary capacity. I'd get to know them, they'd get to know me, then I'd work hard to find some funds for them to have a part-time job and then hopefully to move into full-time employment. The government is doing this in a more formal way. It's investing $699 million in a successful Youth Jobs PaTH program over four years from 2020-21. The program helps young people gain skills and work experience. It includes the Youth Bonus wage subsidy of up to $10,000 to support the employment of young people. We recognise that not everyone has access to the same opportunities when it comes to education and work. That's why we're investing $781 million in the Transition to Work service over four years to provide intensive support to help disadvantaged young Australians to move into work or further study. The government has also committed $50 million to trial industry training hubs in 10 regions with high youth unemployment across Australia. The training hubs aim to improve opportunities for young people and target year 11 and year 12 students. For a long time now we've heard that our youth want flexible employment options. They understand that jobs of the future are going to have to have flexible and portable job skills. That includes other areas of education and training outside higher education. That is why I'm pleased that not only are apprenticeships a key pathway to employment for young people, with 64 per cent of apprentices aged under 24 years, but they teach many in-demand skills and help us to create jobs for people that will make them have a prosperous lifelong career. With this in mind, the government announced $1.2 billion to encourage employers to take on apprentices and trainees through the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements wage subsidy that was rolled out in October 2020. This wage subsidy will help to prevent a future skills shortage and create opportunities for young people, including recent school leavers. Lastly, the government is giving our youth the greatest chance of success by helping ensure that they re-address the issues of mental health. There is no denying that there is a very rapid increase in mental health illness right across the spectrum, but it does unfairly target our young, and that is partly because of the unique stresses that are facing us in a modern-day world. The government recognises that a person's mental health can have a significant impact on the capacity to build and sustain strong connections to the labour market, and that is why jobactive providers are required to have organisational strategies in place to provide individually tailored services for all jobseekers, including the provision of in-house counsellors or referral pathways to psychological support or other mental health services where necessary. There is a massive investment by the government going into our youth and into the future of our youth of Australia. We must ensure that this transformative investment helps to change the lives of our young so that they can face the challenges presented to them by the COVID-19 pandemic. I acknowledge the challenges that are still in front of us, but I have no doubt that our younger generations have the resilience to be able to deal with those and all the difficulties that are still to come. I would like to finish by saying that the people of Higgins have put their faith in me and I'm very honoured to be their representative. A shout-out to the young of Higgins: keep on going. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 00AMT The time for the grievous debate has expired and the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192B. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. Federation Chamber adjourned at 18:42