ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – PRIME MINISTER
Jayawardene, Daryll Cullinan and Gary Kirsten all share the same highest test score. I know the member for Banks here is a bit of a cricket tragic, like me. He would know that that highest score is a number that the Prime Minister won’t ever talk about, because it’s 275. And I say that because […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS – MOBILE BLACK SPOT PROGRAM
It takes a special kind of bias—a special kind of Labor bias—to roll out the mobile coverage black spot round that they have just done. Never before have we seen in New South Wales 25 out of 26 go to Labor seats. If you look at the list, you will see that Dobell got two, […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – PACIFIC AUSTRALIA LABOUR MOBILITY
I move: That this House: (1) notes the Coalition’s strong track record of delivering for Pacific Island economies through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, which has been instrumental in setting up Pacific workers and farmers for success; (2) acknowledges that: (a) there are currently 35,000 PALM workers in Australia; and (b) during the […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – UKRAINE
When His Excellency Vasyl Myroshnychenko pitched to be Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia he felt, given his background, it would be a role about commerce, economic development and trade. Building business links between his nation and ours was to be a priority for this Chevening scholar, who has a master’s in sciences in politics of the […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – TEACHERS
I acknowledge the member for Reid and her important motion to the House. I acknowledge the member for Lalor and her important contribution to the teaching ranks and what she did to help students, because teachers can be transformational. I remember my schooling years well, and I remember teachers such as John Egan, my year […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS – RIVERINA ELECTORATE: Citizens of the Year
Volunteers are the lifeblood of all our communities, and today I pay tribute to the citizens of the year, those people who have led the way in the Riverina and Central West. In Bland shire, Greg McIntyre, for the past 15 years, has created and sustained the Can Assist annual charity walk. It’s one of […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS – NATIONAL APOLOGY TO THE STOLEN GENERATIONS: 15th Anniversary
I acknowledge that we are meeting on Ngunnawal and Ngambri territory. I also acknowledge the Wiradjuri people who are the custodians of the Riverina electorate that I proudly serve in this place. I acknowledge two proud Wiradjuri elders, Aunty Kath Withers and Aunty Isabel Reid, who recently, on the eve of Australia Day, were awarded […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – GRIEVANCE DEBATE – RIVERINA ELECTORATE: COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA
I have a real grievance with bank closures. I’ll give credit where credit’s due. I received a letter yesterday from the regional general manager of the customer service network at the Commonwealth Bank, Norm Swift. He wrote to me advising that, following consideration of a request from the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional […]
ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT – MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – DEFENCE
At the outset, Madam Deputy Speaker, I’ll say that I heard the member for Wills—and I might have misheard him—call out to the shadow minister for defence, ‘Walk the walk.’ If anybody has walked the walk in this place, it’s this bloke behind me. He was a member of the SAS regiment, and there’s no […]
Address to Parliament- PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Northern Territory Safe Measures Bill 2023
‘Suffer the little children,’ somebody far wiser and greater than me said. Certainly in the Northern Territory at the moment we have a crisis. Some of the most vulnerable members of that community are suffering: children. I know that a cashless debit card wasn’t the panacea or the cure-all for all the ills in the […]