Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment Bill 2012
I rise to speak on the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment Bill 2012. In doing so, I need to point out that serving and retired members of the Australian Defence Force should not be treated as less than worthy citizens when it comes to superannuation entitlements. This is, unfortunately, exactly how they are faring under this Labor government.
Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011 Consideration in Detail
It is most important to get information on the record on the amendment to the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill. It is a pleasure to follow the members for Gippsland and Wannon. The member for Wannon made some very valid remarks about the risks inherent in this, following the trade subcommittee’s recent report, from which I quote:
PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BUSINESS: Carbon Pricing
I have known Greg Carroll all my life. He is a typical country bloke. He is a family man, he is a community minded person and he was an outstanding sportsman whose family name is synonymous with Australian football in my area. And Greg is a businessman—and a good one. He owns and operates the grain handling company M C Croker Pty Ltd, which has depots in Coolamon, Cootamundra, Griffith, Ladysmith and Marrar.
PRIVATE MEMBERS BUSINESS: National Disability Insurance Scheme Committee
I commend the member for Dawson for calling for the establishment of a Joint Select Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. As a member of parliament who grew up in a household with disability pensioners as parents, the member for Dawson has formed a strong social justice conscience.
CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS: Riverina Electorate: Altina Wildlife Park
I had the rare honour yesterday of officially opening a new lion enclosure at what is a truly remarkable wildlife park in the Riverina. Altina Wildlife Park near Darlington Point, a little more than 50 kilometres west of Narrandera on the Sturt Highway, is a 207-hectare sanctuary run by Gino Altin and his wife, Gloria, with daughter, Rebecca Surian, as head animal keeper.
Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Improvements) Bill (No. 3) 2012
I am so glad to follow the member for Kingston, who was worried about the growing influence of the National Party. She should be. The Nationals stand for fairness; we stand for farmers; we stand for regional Australia—
STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE: Hughes, Mr Robert Studley Forrest, AO
From the very first page of his mighty work The Fatal Shore, the late Robert Hughes gets the reader in with his superb use of words:
In 1770 Captain James Cook had made landfall on the unexplored east coast of this utterly enigmatic continent, stopped for a short while at a place named Botany Bay and gone north again.
STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE:70th Anniversary of the Operations of Bomber Command
They were in many ways the forgotten heroes of World War II, perhaps due to high civilian casualties from bombing campaigns against the German mainland to disrupt industrial weapons production and German air force operations. However, in the words of the great British Prime Minister Winston Churchill:
CONDOLENCES: Diddams, Sergeant Blaine Flower
Sergeant Blaine Diddams was gunned down during a mission against an insurgent commander’s compound near Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan on 2 July. The 40-year-old father of two was a Special Forces soldier and a member of the Perth based Special Air Service Regiment.
Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011
Migration has been good for Australia. Australia has been good to migrants. It works both ways. I rise to speak tonight on this Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and Other Measures) Bill 2011 as a member for an electorate which has many migrants.