The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 09:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
That the time for the presentation of the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters on its inquiry into financing of the participants in the political process be extended until 22 June 2016.
Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 2) 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Statute Update Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Transparency Measures) Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Choice of Fund) Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2016 Measures No. 2) Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a second time.
Australian Crime Commission Amendment (National Policing Information) Bill 2015
Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Amendment Bill 2016
Debate resumed on the motion:
That this bill be now read a second time.
The important thing is this: that, under such government recognition as we may give to that which is beneficent and wholesome in large business organizations, we shall be most vigilant never to allow them to crystallize into a condition which shall make private initiative difficult.
It is of the utmost importance that in the future we shall keep the broad path of opportunity just as open and easy for our children as it was for our fathers during the period which has been the glory of America’s industrial history—that it shall be not only possible but easy for an ambitious man, whose character has so impressed itself upon his neighbors that they are willing to give him capital and credit, to start in business for himself, and, if his superior efficiency deserves it, to triumph over the biggest organization that may happen to exist in his particular field.
The Robinson-Patman act has been referred to as the Magna Carta of small business. We consider it the Magna Carta of agriculture also. The farmer must have competition in the market place. If he is to deal with giant monopolies either in buying or selling, he perforce becomes an economic slave.
"Their payment system is broken and deliberately so. Payments come slowly and in dribs and drabs," said one supplier, who supplies products to all Woolworths divisions, including home improvement and BIG W.
"One of my terms is 28 days and I have invoices that are 90 and 120 days old," the supplier said. "They're way outside payment terms."
Another supplier said: "Invoices aren't being paid on time. You get a contract with settlement terms and they never meet the settlement terms. In any one week we'd be chasing 30 invoices at Masters and Woolworths. Sometimes they haven't paid at least 20 per cent of the invoices."
Conduct that is predatory in economic terms and anti-competitive may not be captured by s 46 simply because the predator does not have substantial market power when it sets out on its course to deter or injure competitors …
Section 46 is ill drawn to deal with claims of predatory pricing under these conditions.
… the combination of shallow journalism and shallow politics is ruining our governance.
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
The first thing that springs to mind in terms of this agreement is how good for jobs in both countries is what I regard as the frankly stunning complementarity between the two economies. Australia, in my view, is to be congratulated on the extremely high standards and the sophistication that you've achieved.
Indonesia needs expertise and training and teaching, and Australians have excelled in the education space, the polytechnic space, in systems and quality control and discipline. And conversely of course Indonesia offers a very large market and a very large economy, but to progress it, to develop it, we need exactly all the things that Australia has to offer, and of course Australia will make a pretty penny, as you might say, providing those services to us I think.
I'm hopeful that we can go beyond last generation trade talks and really be very forward-looking to 21st Century issues like the digital economy, the services sector, which as you and Prime Minister Turnbull have pointed out, results in the highest quality jobs for both Australians and Indonesians.
No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia. If we fail to get this relationship right, and nurture and develop it, the whole web of our foreign relations is incomplete.
Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Amendment Bill 2016
Australia's political system is failing to deliver the results needed for the nation, its growth in living standards and its self-esteem. The process of debate, competition and elections leading to national progress has broken down.
Unless the trend is reversed, Australia will undergo a steady economic and social deterioration until a circuit-breaker or nasty economic crunch arrives.
That this bill be now read a third time.
Social Services Legislation Amendment (Interest Charge) Bill 2016
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives
This petition of the concerned residents, tourists and campers of Kevington, Victoria, 3723, draws to the attention of The House the urgent need for mobile phone coverage for the Kevington township and surrounding area.
Kevington valley is a remote area of Victoria which has been assessed by fire authorities as having an extreme bush fire risk. In emergency situations the only reliable communication is UHF Radio, which is funded by the local community. However in heavy smoke conditions reception is adversely affected. The landline phone is unreliable at the best of times and the overhead telephone line is likely to be down during emergencies, as occurred in the 2006 fires.
Kevington is on a major tourist route from Gippsland to North East Victoria (one road in and out). The road is partially sealed and subject to emergencies caused by falling trees, rock slides, floods and fire. Whilst there is a small permanent resident population at Kevington, there are thousands of visitors during peak holiday times and weekends who do not have any form of communication. Thus mobile phone communication for residents and visitors is critical.
The Mansfield Shire has partnered with the Kevington community in seeking funding under the Black Spot Program and we are actively supported by CFA, Police, SES and DELWP.
We respectfully petition The House to include our application for funding under The Black Spot Program to establish a new base station for Kevington.
To the Honourable Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives
This Petition of the concerned residents, tourists and visitors of Kevington, 3723, Victoria draws to the attention of The House the urgent need for a Mobile Telecommunication Tower.
We therefore ask The House to implement the roll out of a Mobile Communication Tower for Kevington.
It is time to put this issue to rest once and for all with a yes vote in a referendum to change the constitution to recognize Indigenous people and remove racism. We can do no less and we cannot delay this issue or consign it to the scrapheap of history or rubbish tip of time.
To The Honourable The Speaker And Members Of The House Of Representatives
"BOOMERANG PETITION"
This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House:
The concern raised by the Expert Panel reporting on the Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in January 2012 was the need to remedy the historical exclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from Australia's Constitution and the need to remove discrimination.
We therefore ask the House to:
Educate the Australian nation about the need for constitutional change and hold a referendum within two years to:
... fixing section 46 will promote merit-based competition.
The changes to the law will fix section 46 of the Act to put consumer welfare at its heart ...
When there is effective competition in any market, this is good for consumers. In the best circumstances, it means more options and lower prices ...
The federal government's decision to adopt an ethics test is rightly focused on protecting the competitive process rather than on protecting individual competitors. This focus is critical if we are to lift our emphasis on innovation and to encourage investment by business of all sizes.
We put our plans out there. We put our plans for FuelWatch which, all the objective evidence indicates, puts downward pressure on fuel prices by about 2 cents a litre at a cost of $20 million.
FuelWatch is a very good plan. We've put out our plan ...
FuelWatch brings down petrol prices ...
You've got to have a bit of credibility about this, you've got to weigh up the value of these plans.
… worse recidivist in the history of the common law.
The Rudd Labor Government—
will make no major changes to superannuation tax policy for five-year periods, promoting confidence and stability in the superannuation system.
That the member for Lilley be suspended from the service of the House.
The House divided. [15:13]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
That leave of absence to be given to every member of the House of Representatives from the determination of this sitting of the House to the date of its next sitting.
That standing order 31 (automatic adjournment of the House) and standing order 33 (limit on business after normal time of adjournment) be suspended for this sitting.
In particular, the Panel noted the success of the CDBS—
in targeting the oral health of young Australians at an age where preventative measures can be most effective. It supported the right of every child to access dental treatment from both the private and the public sectors. The Panel agreed that it would make clear recommendations to Government to ensure the ongoing success and effectiveness of the CDBS.
The Panel agreed that the CDBS has been poorly promoted, and noted that the current eligibility notification did not provide readily recognisable advice of an entitlement.
In government, Labor worked with the medical profession to improve the quality and safety of Medicare, and where savings were realised, they were reinvested back into the health system.
Some of those savings did go back into the health Budget, not all of them.
It won't necessarily alter Medicare because it's the structure of Medicare—what money you get for what service—that matters, not who does the running of it.
… the opposition would be kidding itself if it didn't recognise there were challenges in the budget and that savings needed to be found …
There is no area that is going to be exempt—
That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969 , it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament:
AIR 5431 Phases 2 and 3 Air Traffic Management and Control System Facilities and Australian Defence Force Air Traffic Control Complex Infrastructure Project.
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:
AIR 5428 Phase 1—Pilot Training System Facilities Project.
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:
Fit-out of new leased premises for the Australian Federal Police at 45 Commercial Road, Newstead, Qld.
I think it is fair to say that not only is the trade and investment agenda with Qatar an evolving one but the political and strategic engagement that we have is also at a much higher level now that it would have been … I do not see that diminishing. In fact, if anything, I can see it increasing.
… particularly focused on … the increased prospect that we will need to work closely with Qatar to handle foreign terrorist fighters. One of the things about the geography of Australia and the region in the Middle East where foreign terrorist fighters have to go is that most of them transit the Gulf on the way there. We are increasingly having to work closely with … Qatar on people transiting through Doha to get to the Middle East, and also on their way back … but more broadly there is an awful lot of work that we can do on the counterterrorism front with our Qatari counterparts.
Social Services Legislation Amendment (Interest Charge) Bill 2016
That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969, it is expedient to carry out the following proposed work which was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works and on which the committee has duly reported to Parliament: Fit-out of the new Australian Embassy, Doha, Qatar.
Social Services Legislation Amendment (Interest Charge) Bill 2016
That this bill be now read a third time.
Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Bill 2016
That the amendments be agreed to.
The House divided. [15:27]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)
Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Increasing Consumer Choice) Bill 2016
Tax Laws Amendment (Norfolk Island CGT Exemption) Bill 2016
Business Services Wage Assessment Tool Payment Scheme Amendment Bill 2016
Corporations Amendment (Financial Advice Measures) 2016
Tax Laws Amendment (Implementation of the Common Reporting Standard) 2016
Courts Administration Legislation Amendment 2016
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2015-2016
Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2015-2016
Dairy Produce Amendment (Dairy Service Levy Poll) Bill 2016
Law and Justice Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory Local Court) Bill 2016
Trade Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2016
Biological Control Amendment Bill 2016
Migration Legislation Amendment (Cessation of Visa Labels) Bill 2015
Passenger Movement Charge Amendment (Norfolk Island) Bill 2016
Territories Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
That the House do now adjourn.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Landry ) took the chair at 09:29.
When Lord Krishna was young, he envied the fair skin of Radha. To express his envy, Krishna rubbed color onto Radha's face. This act of showering another person with color is now considered to be an expression of friendship and love. This story forms the well-known tradition of showering other people with color during Holi celebrations.
The size of many tenders prohibits locals from tendering and [we] have to be content with a subcontractor role, which has its own issues with payment terms.
Government tenders, especially for small local companies, can be very confusing and very labour intensive … less red tape is the key.
Tendering is more about completing the 100-plus pages of jargon and not about the quality, local skills, services and goods on offer.
I have found the intransigence of the medical profession in refusing to investigate, diagnose and treat patients with tick-borne infections beyond belief and bordering on criminal negligence. The evidence indicating the lack of tick-borne infection appears to be incontrovertible in Louis'scase. The lack of clinical evidence and accepted diagnosis and treatment protocols arising from this medical intransigence also has adverse impacts on all aspects of the healthcare system and associated legal and financial consequences. We must rely on expensive and frequently inaccurate overseas testing, and, in our case, expensive diagnosis and treatments through Skype consultations with a practitioner in the US. We also have to rely on diagnosis and treatment outside accepted peer reviewed science, and risks entailing such ineffective treatment and effects of long-term antibiotic use.
I have listened to a broad spectrum of the community and given the current pressures facing maternity services, it makes no sense to close Bentley Hospital at this time.
The Coalition will help ensure child care is more accessible, affordable and flexible for Australian parents.