ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – COST OF LIVING
I thank the member for Cooper for her time in her career as a health professional, and I acknowledge the fact that she was the 10th president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. When you are heading a union body, wages are important, but so are real wages, and, when those opposite come in […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS – RESOURCES SECTOR
During COVID, when the nation largely shut down, there were two sectors in particular that kept the lights on, kept exports going and kept our nation’s economy afloat. They were agriculture and resources. All too often in this place—and elsewhere, for that matter—the resources sector is demonised, particularly by those opposite. Whilst I appreciate that […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – COST OF LIVING
There’s a scene in the movie Troy where Brad Pitt, playing Achilles, says to a young kid who asked him why he wanted to go and fight this huge giant, ‘No one will remember your name.’ We do remember Billy Hughes’ name, and I can’t believe the member for Fenner has disparaged a former Labor […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – BILLS – TREASURY LAWS AMENDMENT (REFINING AND IMPROVING OUR TAX SYSTEM) BILL 2023 – SECOND READING
The member for Moreton was right when he said that the Treasury Laws Amendment (Refining and Improving Our Tax System) Bill 2023 would have been part of a red tape day in a previous iteration of this place. Indeed, red tape day did get through a lot of good things. I appreciate that at the […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – BILLS – VETERANS’ AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (MISCELLANEOUS MEASURES) BILL 2023 – SECOND READING
I thank other members who have spoken on this important bill, the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2023, this non-controversial bill insofar as it has bipartisan support—and so it should. Veterans are important. As previous members have noted, today is the 50th anniversary of America’s withdrawal from Vietnam, a conflict which claimed the […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – COST OF LIVING
Do you know what else we’ll oppose, Member for Macquarie? We will oppose and fight all the way to the ballot box the truckie tax—the 10 per cent hike that Labor is going to introduce on our truckies. If there was one industry that kept this country going and kept goods moving throughout the COVID […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – BILLS – WORKPLACE GENDER EQUALITY AMENDMENT (CLOSING THE GENDER PAY GAP) BILL 2023 – SECOND READING
On 8 March, International Women’s Day, my recently married daughter, Georgina Bell, had this to say on Facebook: ‘Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.’ Powerful words. I’m proud of her, as I am of my wife, Catherine, for what they have done in the workplace […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – BILLS – SPECIAL RECREATIONAL VESSELS AMENDMENT BILL 2023 – SECOND READING
Captain Stubing would be so unimpressed by that last speech. Of course, he was the skipper on TheLove Boat. ‘The love boat soon will be …’—yes, you know the theme song. Of course, it sailed around the Pacific and other wonderful places. But they didn’t worry too much about what the member for Ryan was […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – BILLS – SOCIAL SECURITY (ADMINISTRATION) AMENDMENT (INCOME MANAGEMENT REFORM) BILL 2023 – SECOND READING
Late last year, with a cross-party delegation, I visited Kenya in Africa, looking at the famine there. Four failed rainy seasons have caused such heartache, such hardship. Indeed, it has resulted in the worst drought in 40 years, and 942,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished. The delegation, which included Liberal members—Labor […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – LABOR GOVERNMENT
I disagree with the motion and I disagree with the principles behind it. I’m glad the member for Kennedy is in the chamber, because he, like me, knows full well the benefit of regional spending, of funding for country people. He, like me, wants to see an aquatic centre for Mornington Shire. The mayor there, […]