The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 09:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
Treasury Legislation Amendment (Repeal Day 2015) Bill 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Amendment Bill 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Omnibus Repeal Day (Spring 2015) Bill 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Amending Acts 1990 to 1999 Repeal Bill 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 3) 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Export Control Amendment (Quotas) Bill 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Tax Laws Amendment (Gifts) Bill 2015
That this bill be now read a second time.
Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015
That Mr Ramsey be appointed a member of the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts.
Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Bill 2015
Register of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land Bill 2015
Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015
… the Parliament recognises that Australian citizenship is a common bond, involving reciprocal rights and obligations, and that citizens may, through certain conduct incompatible with the shared values of the Australian community, demonstrate that they have severed that bond and repudiated their allegiance to Australia.
(a) engaging in international terrorist activities using explosive or lethal devices;
(b) engaging in a terrorist act;
(c) providing or receiving training connected with preparation for, engagement in, or assistance in a terrorist act;
(d) directing the activities of a terrorist organisation;
(e) recruiting for a terrorist organisation;
(f) financing terrorism;
(g) financing a terrorist;
(h) engaging in foreign incursions and recruitment.
Tax Laws Amendment (Combating Multinational Tax Avoidance) Bill 2015
That the amendments be disagreed to.
The House divided. [11:24]
(The Deputy Speaker—Mr Mitchell)
That the reasons be adopted.
Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015
1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect, and whose laws I will uphold and obey.
… the Government's advice is that the laws, if challenged in the High Court, would be upheld.
… a person who is a national or citizen of a country other than Australia renounces their Australian citizenship if the person acts inconsistently with their allegiance to Australia by engaging in—
… connected with preparation for, engagement in, or assistance in a terrorist act;
(d) directing the activities of a terrorist organisation;
(e) recruiting …;
(f) financing terrorism;
… … …
(h) engaging in foreign incursions and recruitment.
I think it is also very sad that there are some people in this country that have taken up citizenship and seek to change this country in a fundamental way. By that I mean those who have recently been convicted in the Sydney terrorist trial are from families that have come to this country and used the superior freedoms and liberties of this country while finding fault with this country and seeking to change it with their extremism and fundamentalism. I think it is all very well that we have the ability to grant citizenship, but what we should have is the ability to withdraw that citizenship from those who seek to betray this nation with acts of murder and terror.
On a related point, all would be aware of recent commentary in the media about persons holding Australian citizenship going to train for war and fighting as a mercenary or volunteer in Syria. Several years ago I spoke in parliament with reference to those who had been granted Australian citizenship as refugees only to travel to places like Yemen to undertake terrorist training. Those people represent a great threat to the security of this country. Similarly, we should view anyone who travels to Syria to take up arms with great suspicion. When people raise their right hand and make the oath or affirmation of citizenship it does actually mean something. When they pledge their loyalty to Australia and its people and that they will uphold and obey our laws, their pledge to this nation is broken when they take up arms and attribute that to some religious authority. I therefore encourage the immigration minister to examine the options of the withdrawal of citizenship for those who break their pledge to Australia. I appreciate the difficulties in ascertaining the facts, but those who already hold the citizenship of another nation and who break faith with this country through crime should be held accountable, and the withdrawal of citizenship should be an option. I supported this option before I was elected and I support it now.
What also concerns me is that there are likely to be Australians who have signed up to be part of such an evil organisation, and I certainly commend the government on their attempts to stop people leaving this country by cancelling passports to stop their involvement. I would also say that where such people have dual citizenship they are exactly the sort of people from whom we should remove Australian citizenship. We do not want them in this country in the future.
The truth remains that we do have traitors in this country. They are Australians who believe in Islamic State and in violent Wahhabism. These people, and their supporters, must be stopped and prosecuted before they leave Australia or provide support. Dual citizens must have their citizenship revoked. Terrorists are traitors to this nation, they are a threat to this nation and they must be dealt with very firmly in order to protect this nation from terrorism.
I move:
That this House:
(1) notes the increasing instances of Australian citizens taking up arms for foreign military and extremist causes including, but not limited to, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, representing a threat to good order in international affairs and the safety of Australian citizens;
(2) acknowledges:
(a) that by taking up arms or supporting such causes, those citizens have failed to comply with the pledge they made when they became an Australian citizen, to uphold the laws of Australia; and
(b) those who have taken up arms or supported such causes, and
were born Australian citizens but have a second also repudiated their allegiance to Australia; and
(3) urges the Government to amend the Australian have Citizenship Act ' to allow the revocation of the status of citizen for those who take up arms, or provide material and/or financial support for military/extremist causes, except where such action is at the direction of the Government.
To ensure clarity of these necessary changes, a purpose clause has been inserted into the bill. It states that, by these amendments, the parliament recognises that Australian citizenship is a common bond, involving reciprocal rights and obligations, and that citizens may, through certain conduct incompatible with the safety and shared values of the Australian community, demonstrate that they have severed that bond and renounced their allegiance to Australia … The purpose clause uses concepts from the existing preamble in the Citizenship Act.
From this time forward, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its peoples, whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I will uphold and obey.
Fairer is what is it all about. Fairness has got to be the key priority.
Once again the government does need to settle the agenda here as to whether an increase to the GST is or is not on the table.
I've been on the record for some time talking about need to increase the GST …
The reality is now that in the 15 years that the GST has been in place… we've seen a shift back to reliance on taxes on income, a significant shift.
So we need to rebalance the system … and take the weight off bracket creep on ordinary earners.
Labor's National Broadband Network will solve Ascot's broadband problems.
The Government's plan to hit the household budgets of all Australians by jacking up the GST.
So the fact is, whether it is goods that are taxed with GST or goods that are free from GST, invariably there is a regressive element in it.
A GST on health would penalise the poorest and the sickest in the community when they are ill.
Customs Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015
Customs Tariff Amendment (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2015
Health Legislation Amendment (eHealth) Bill 2015
Social Services Legislation Amendment (More Generous Means Testing for Youth Payments) Bill 2015
Crimes Legislation Amendment (Harming Australians) Bill 2015
That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , the following proposed work be referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works for consideration and report: Australian Chancery Project Paris, France—Base building refurbishment, International Energy Agency tenancy fit-out.
Australian Citizenship Amendment (Allegiance to Australia) Bill 2015
The Committee supports the policy intention of the Bill to help protect the community from persons who have clearly renounced their allegiance to Australia by engaging in serious terrorism-related acts that harm Australians or Australian interests.
… the Senate, on the run and at the last minute, has sought to dramatically amend this bill and to include a raft of peripheral additions.
… … …
This is a very shabby process that cannot be supported and should not be encouraged.
… … …
This is the type of cynical, old politics that Australians are sick of.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again—
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Landry ) took the chair at 9:30.
Whilst I support the census and understand the need to collect data, I find this survey is demanding very personal information which is sensitive to me. It imposes a considerable burden of time and effort. Since being approached to do this survey, I have felt stressed and anxious and I feel my personal space has been invaded. I cannot relax in my home in case an unknown person turns up at my door requesting information and time.
… winding back a lot of support they give to not-for-profits that we can pass on to support people,” …
“With the government trying to roll back … I think we’re in danger of forgetting people in need.
“There are people with such complex issues — it’s not (as simple as) throwing money into work for the dole.
“Those that are low income and those that are struggling — Christmas is just as meaningful to them as anyone else.”
While the wealth of a country was reflected in its educational facilities, the heart of a country was reflected by those inside.
The Courier-Mail can reveal today some of the members have serious criminal histories, have threatened to kill people, used weapons in their crimes and sold drugs on commercial scale.
We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism … We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert.
… it is highly inequitable to expect new home buyers to pay potentially thousands of dollars in additional fees to connect to the NBN, when existing households will receive the network for free.
I'm not confident that the delivery of the NBN will benefit the people as this government hopes. For example: I have cable, which I believe is HFC. I also believe it's using DOCSIS 1. This technology can provide 48Mbps. Until recently I typically managed 8 to 20Mbps. However now I barely manage 1Mbps. So slow in the evening both FaceTime and Skype often exhibit poor performance or outage.
I'm required to travel to Manila to attend workshops with my team every two months and not having a reliable internet connection is painful when I have trouble Skyping with my family.
As with a lot of Kings Langley residents we are limited even on ADSL2 lines as we are at the maximum length of the copper lines. With the ADSL technology, the further you are away from the exchange on a copper line, the slower the signal gets. The majority of Kings Langley is supplied from the Blacktown exchange, some 4kms away, so even with ADSL2 plans we can only achieve a bit better than standard speeds. With children in mid teens to late teens a faster service for home would be beneficial with further education past school.
I saw a beautiful parcel of land with wide open spaces, children going to school, couples taking romantic walks in the park, families building the dream home and busy professionals taking the train to work. It was so clear my mind. The next step was to take what was in my mind and make it into a reality.
Given the additional health impacts from diesel particulates, exposure to this mixture of chemicals should be reduced worldwide.
I am a student of Belmont High School and soon to be a younger voter in your electorate. I am writing to you today to bring to your attention the outrageous inequalities in this world, in hope of you bringing this to the government's attention and increasing our foreign aid. In Australia we are currently ranked in top 5 of the wealthiest countries in the world yet Australia spends $5.03 billion on foreign aid – that's only 0.32% of our gross national income; we should increase this. Recent cuts by the liberal government have drastically lowered our aid spending. New cuts recently introduced from the May Federal Budget lowered Australian aid to 22 cents in every $100 of our national income. This is the lowest level ever of Australian aid in its 60-year history. We should be increasing our aid and striving to meet the UKs national aid of 70 cents in every $100. I strongly believe with the labor party on my side we can change the world for the better by making the simple necessities available to everyone; things such as shelter, food, water, and education. Help the new generation have the choices we do.
Water is a vital necessity for human life. People use it to wash, cook, drink and water crops. The world is roughly about 80% water yet there are thousands of people in countries such as Africa, Asia and Latin America that die from dehydration or other water related deficiencies each day.
In Africa, accessing water means walking long distances to collect in containers each day. This is typically done by children and women each day like you and I. How would you like to walk for hours every day in blistering heat to collect water that you aren't even sure is safe to drink? In Australia we are lucky enough to have access to clean drinking water due to the dams and places that improve water equality, in places like Africa they can't afford to have as many as these as we do and only the rich can afford this.
Shelter inequality is getting to far out of hand as the population grows and there is a lack of access to shelter in many places. Hunger is related very much to poverty. Poverty traps people in a downward spiral or cycle—lack of food which leads to poor health, which leads to even greater poverty and the cycle, continues. Many of the world's cities are growing at such rapid rate which makes it hard for proper housing to be provided. People move from the country to find work in the city. Nairobi Africa is a large rapidly growing city and the poor people that go to work there end up on the out skirts in slums. These 'slums' have a lack of access to basic services such as water, sewerage and electricity.
There is enough food to feed everybody in the world but food is unequally distributed in the world. An adequate diet is essential for life. Poor diet causes malnutrition. Without a healthy body, malnourished people face a greater risk from infections and other diseases. Around 850 million people worldwide are considered to be malnourished, and most of these lead in poorer countries of the world. Over 9 million people die each year from hunger and malnutrition. Out of these, 5 million are children. In the world today, a child dies every three seconds as a result from the poverty they are forced to live in. What if one of these children were yours, how would you feel knowing that you could do nothing about it? Many of these deaths are in Africa. Africa needs our help now, but rather than helping them we have cut funding, as the Australian government thinks we have our own problems that need help.
Australia should be helping as many countries as possible to make allies, if a country tries to invade Australia, what is there to stop them as they have no army. Help the world become a better place and help innocent people to have the choices we do.
I will never forget, as long as I live, the colour of the sky on the day the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on that city on 9 August 1945. The sky was crimson.
There is, in fact, an axiom of proliferation. It states that as long as any state holds nuclear weapons, others will seek to acquire them.
… I can only begin to imagine the horrific experiences people suffered.
I welcome this apology and support the motion and encourage all my fellow colleagues to support it and the forgotten Australians. We must not forget reparation. I call on the governments, churches and charities to deal with this now, not later. We can now only be judged as a nation by our ability to repair and rebuild these Australian lives, because we have failed these children in the construction of them. We have failed them in the nurturing and care that they would have expected to get from institutions, the nurturing and care they would have got in a family home. We have failed them by treating them with systematic abuse.
Everyone asks about the reasons for children being in orphanages—whether it was an economic situation or a breakdown of the family unit. There are numerous reasons, and I have even heard of people putting their children into orphanages to prevent them from being a burden on the rest of their family.
In closing, today we have heard stories from forgotten Australians with a range of emotions and experiences. We have heard about having trouble creating relationships, about having trouble trusting particularly authorities but anyone, about the abuse that these individuals suffered and about the lack of nurturing and care and love.
For each Ministerial office since 7 September 2013, excluding payments associated with the change of Government, (a) what is the total cost of separation payments to Ministerial staff, and (b) how many Ministerial staff have (i) resigned, and (ii) been made redundant.
(a) For the period 7 September 2013 to 9 February 2015, the total cost of separation payments (severance benefits) paid to Ministerial staff is $511,498.93, excluding leave entitlements.
(b) (i) For the period 7 September 2013 to 9 February 2015, 55 Ministerial staff have resigned (including 19 who returned to Public Sector employment). In addition, 5 Ministerial staff ceased by reason of age retirement.
(ii) Nil.
(1) As a result of changes to the Ministry announced on 21 December 2014, how many Ministerial staff had their employment terminated, and of those, (a) what is the (i) date of termination for each employee, and (ii) total cost of separation payments (as a lump sum), and (b) how many were subsequently re-employed.
(2) Of those subsequently re-employed, what was the commencement date of re-employment for each employee.
(3) If the date of termination for any staff member falls outside of the normal notice period for Members of Parliament (Staff) employees, what is the (i) reason for this extension, and (ii) total cost for all such extensions.
(1) and (2) On 23 December 2014 the then Special Minister of State signed Direction 2014/10 to defer the termination of the employment of the affected MOP(S) Act staff until 30 January 2015. On 23 January 2015, the Prime Minister's Office advised that the termination of employment for two staff had been further deferred until 13 February 2015.
Of the affected personal staff, 77 were re-employed, 16 were terminated due to loss of office.
Total severance benefits paid to the 16 personal staff terminated due to loss of office was $599,203.57.
(3)The normal notice period for Ministerial staff is two weeks, excluding elections. Extensions are approved by the Prime Minister or Special Minister of State. The total cost for the period beyond two weeks is $143,760.43.
What sum was spent by the Minister's department(s) on advertising and associated services in 2014-15, and what policy areas did this relate to.
Ad vertising expenditure 2014-15— Department of Finance *
The three Medibank-related items in this table relate to the successful Medibank Private share offer which returned $5.7 billion in proceeds, to be re-invested in job creating infrastructure.
Transaction costs for the Medibank Private share offer were provisioned in the 2014-15 Budget, providing a total of $90.9 million over two years to support the sale (Budget Paper 2, p. 117).
The full value of each of the Medibank-related contracts was reported on AusTender on the following dates:
* This table has been compiled using the reporting Requirements for Annual Reports for Departments, Executive Agencies and other Non-Corporate Commonwealth Entities ' with regard to advertising and market research. Under these requirements, Departments are required to disclose payments of $12,565 or more for advertising and market research.
* * For the purpose of responding to this question, payments under the threshold have been included but are shown as a total only.
In respect of staff in the Minister's office in 2014-15, how many (a) were employed, and what roles did they perform, (b) staff members ceased employment, and what roles did they perform, and (c) new staff members commenced employment, and what roles did they perform.
1084 Prime Minister.
1085 Minister representing the Minister for Indigenous Affairs.
1087 Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development.
1089 Minister for Foreign Affairs.
1090 Minister for Trade and Investment.
1091 Minister representing the Minister for Employment.
1093 Minister representing the Attorney-General.
1094 Minister representing the Minister for the Arts.
1095 Minister for Justice.
1096 Treasurer.
1097 Minister for Small Business.
1098 Assistant Treasurer.
1099 Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources.
1100 Minister representing the Minister for Education and Training.
1102 Minister for Social Services.
1104 Minister for Human Services.
1105 Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.
1106 Minister representing the Minister for Defence.
1107 Minister for Veterans' Affairs.
1109 Minister representing the Minister for Communications.
1110 Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.
1112 Minister for the Environment.
1113 Minister representing the Minister for Finance.
1114 Special Minister of State.
1115 Minister for Health.
1117 Minister for Sport.
(a) As at 30 June 2015 there were 391 staff employed across all Ministers' offices,
(b) In 2014-15 80 staff ceased employment in all Ministers' offices,
(c) In 2014-15 85 staff commenced in Ministers' offices.
Individual roles of staff employed by Ministers are agreed between them and their employing Minister, and are not known by the Department of Finance.
In respect of Ministerial office staff, (a) how many redundancies were made in 2014-15, and (b) what is the total cost of payments associated with these redundancies.
1136 Prime Minister.
1137 Minister representing the Minister for Indigenous Affairs.
1139 Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development.
1141 Minister for Foreign Affairs.
1142 Minister for Trade and Investment.
1143 Minister representing the Minister for Employment.
1145 Minister representing the Attorney-General.
1146 Minister representing the Minister for the Arts.
1147 Minister for Justice.
1148 Treasurer.
1149 Minister for Small Business.
1150 Assistant Treasurer.
1151 Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources.
1152 Minister representing the Minister for Education and Training.
1154 Minister for Social Services.
1156 Minister for Human Services.
1157 Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science.
1158 Minister representing the Minister for Defence.
1159 Minister for Veterans' Affairs.
1161 Minister representing the Minister for Communications.
1162 Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.
1164 Minister for the Environment.
1165 Minister representing the Minister for Finance.
1166 Special Minister of State.
1167 Minister for Health.
1169 Minister for Sport.
(a) There were 31 redundancies in 2014-15, in respect of all Ministerial office staff.
(b) $1,339,022.32.
In 2014-15, what sum was spent on replacing lost, stolen or misplaced equipment of Ministerial staff, and what goods were replaced.
Nil.
In respect of ministerial costs for media events and photo opportunities in 2014-15, what (a) date was each event held, (b) location was each event held at, (c) sum was spent on each event, (d) announcement and/or issue did the event relate to, and (e) was the expenditure for.
The former Special Minister of State incurred nil costs for media events and photo opportunities in 2014-15.
Did the Minister host any conferences in 2014-15; if so (a) on what date(s) did each conference occur, and at what location(s), (b) what total sum was spent on each conference, and of this, what sum was spent on (i) meals and accommodation, and what are the details, (ii) travel, and what are the details, and (iii) social events, and what are the details, and (c) what outcomes were achieved at each conference.
The Minister did not host any conferences in 2014-15.
Did the Minister host any conferences in 2014-15; if so (a) on what date(s) did each conference occur, and at what location(s), (b) what total sum was spent on each conference, and of this, what sum was spent on (i) meals and accommodation, and what are the details, (ii) travel, and what are the details, and (iii) social events, and what are the details, (iv) travel, and what are the details, and (c) what outcomes were achieved at each conference.
Nil. The former Special Minister of State did not host any conferences in 2014-15.
In respect of catering and hospitality by the Minister in 2014-15, (a) what total sum was spent, (b) for what functions was the catering and hospitality, (c) on what date(s) did each function occur, and at what location(s), and (d) for each function, what sum was spent on (i) meals, (ii) drinks, (iii) hospitality staff, and (iv) other costs.
For the former Special Minister of State:
(a) Nil.
(b) to (d) N/A.
In respect of the $19,037.38 tender to Parmelia Hilton for 'Venue hire & meeting facilities' (CN3290791), (a) to which event does this tender pertain, (b) who was in attendance, including (i) Ministerial staff, and (ii) departmental staff, (c) what is the objective of the event, and (d) what is the itinerary for the event.
My Department has advised that:
(a) The event that this tender pertained was the 2015 Aged Care Changes Roadshow sector briefings, Perth session on 24 March 2015.
(b) 260 people from the sector were in attendance:
(i) no ministerial staff were in attendance
(ii) seven officers were in attendance from the Department of Social Services.
(c) The key objectives of the 2015 Aged Care Changes Roadshow were to:
(i) provide comprehensive information to the aged care sector about the 1 July 2015 changes to aged care
(ii) provide an update to the sector on the Department of Human Services' (DHS) payments system
(iii) offer an opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions, and
(iv) mitigate the risk of confusion or misinformation amongst stakeholders.
(d) The itinerary included four sessions over a full day covering the following topics:
(i) Session 1: Home Care Packages – Consumer Directed Care presentation
(ii) Session 2: DHS aged care update
(iii) Session 3: My Aged Care presentation, and
(iv) Session 4: Commonwealth Home Support Programme.
Please note the expenses were incurred when Ageing and Aged Care was managed under the Portfolio of the former Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison MP.
In respect of the $19,021.10 tender to Sofitel Sydney Wentworth for venue hire and meeting facilities (CN3291004), (a) which event was this for, (b) how many (i) Ministerial staff, (ii) departmental staff, and (iii) other parties, were in attendance, and (c) can his department provide an itemised account of all costs incurred associated with this event.
(a) The event was for the National Roundtable Responding to Violence against Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Women and their Children and the meeting of Commonwealth, state and territory Ministers responsible for the implementation of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 .
(b) (i) 12 Ministerial staff attended, (ii) 14 Department of Social Services staff attended (iii) Other parties, 15 officials from all jurisdictions and 85 participants attended.
(c) There were other associated costs with supporting the event. Itemised account of the $19,021.10 for the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth venue and catering costs for Roundtable and Ministerial meeting is as follows:
In respect of the Minister's appointment on 21 September 2015, will the Minister's department provide an itemised account of all associated costs, including(a) signage, (b) stationery, including business cards and letterheads, (c) web design and IT services, (d) vehicular signage and painting, and (e) marketing materials, including logos, pamphlets, and audio-visual materials such as DVDs.
As at 15 October 2015:
(a) no costs were incurred for signage
(b) $1,676 for stationery (envelopes and business cards). Letterheads are made available online through the department's intranet and letters are only printed as needed.
(c) Web design and IT services costs are performed in-house, within existing Departmental resources where possible.
(d) no costs were incurred for vehicular signage or painting
(e) no costs were incurred for marketing materials.
When will the Minister or the Minster's department provide a determination on an application lodged by my constituent, Ms Trudy Rainey, with the Department of Finance under section 65 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 in March 2015.
A determination of Ms Rainey's act of grace application was made by the Assistant Minister for Productivity, the Hon Dr Peter Hendy MP, as my authorised representative, on Wednesday, 4 November 2015.