Defence and Veterans’ Service Commissioner Bill 2025, Defence and Veterans’ Service Commissioner (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (10:50): Like the member for Paterson, who has just finished her contribution—a good one at that—I too acknowledge Julie-Ann Finney and her role in supporting not just her son’s legacy but indeed veterans per se. I acknowledge the veteran serving members in the chamber at the moment and thank them for their service: […]
Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (18:07): The amendment moved by the member for Fairfax will be supported by the coalition, and I’m glad that the member for Hunter has acknowledged in his contribution the truck drivers of this country and the freight industry as a whole, because, at the moment, the trucking and transport sector is in freefall. […]
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (11:16): The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, was established in 1949 to fill a really important need in Australia at that time. The end of World War II had happened only four years earlier, and there was a lot going on in our nation at that time—the rise of communism, a fear of […]
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2025-2026, Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (13:09): The opposition does not, as you would expect, support all of the policies and programs in the federal budget. However, the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026, the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2025-2026 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 do provide the legislative mechanism by which the policies and programs […]
MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE – Cost of Living
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (16:06): I asked the Minister for Climate Change and Energy what I thought was a very reasonable question in question time today. I put to him: why hasn’t anyone—just anybody at all—in the Albanese Labor government taken responsibility and just said sorry for failing to deliver the $275 energy bill reduction promised to […]
Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (16:35): This legislation is being referred to as the UOMO legislation. It could also be called the FOMO legislation. I appreciate that UOMO means universal outdoor mobile obligation. FOMO, of course, means ‘fear of missing out’, and there’ll be a lot of people across Australia who will have FOMO when they hear what […]
PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Small Business
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (17:33): I’m in furious agreement with member for Adelaide when he says that we need to do all we can to help small businesses. Indeed, he is right. He talked about the instant asset write-off, but what the member for Adelaide didn’t tell the chamber was how much the instant asset write-off is […]
PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS – Aviation Industry
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (18:08): The member for Leichhardt quoted Love Actually, and that’s a favourite movie of mine too. I promise I won’t show the chamber the little Love Actually clip I once shot whilst I was Deputy Prime Minister—maybe it might come out one day! But, to quote the airport scene, the Prime Minister, Hugh Grant, said this: […]
Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026, Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (18:40): The Treasurer has some explaining to do. He really does, because this legislation bells the cat on his failure. On his watch, what we saw was a proposal by the Australian Labor Party to put in an unrealised capital gain. Who would that have hurt the most? It would have hurt farmers, […]
Commonwealth Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (17:34): The Commonwealth Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 is, supposedly, presented as a governance modernisation measure. It is aimed at aligning certain statutory office holders with, apparently, contemporary accountability standards. It applies to the following entities: the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, the Australian Safeguards and […]