PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: I also rise this evening to speak against the Early Years Quality Fund Special Account Bill 2013. While the objectives of the bill may be sound, it has some deleterious consequences. The member who spoke very eloquently before me outlined many of them here this evening. Before I go into my concerns—and…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: I seek leave to speak on these two committee reports. I was also a member for House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Employment, which inquired into these two important bills over recent weeks. I would like to make some brief comments in relation to the dissenting reports that we have…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: I rise in support of the redevelopment of the Boronia Heights Primary School. Boronia Heights is a terrific school in the corner of my electorate, in the foothills of the Dandenongs. It caters for just under 500 students, from prep to year 6, and is ably led by Principal Mark Flack. The…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: We need an additional post office in Wellington Village in Rowville in my electorate. This is just a few kilometres away from the Stud Park Post Office, but that post office is now almost at capacity and there is an enormous growth corridor out the Rowville direction down Wellington Road. I have…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: Perhaps the key difference between the Coalition and the Labor Party is our view on the size and the role of government. The Labor Party, with its socialist roots, has always believed in big government. It believes that the government should be at the centre of economic activity, as Kevin Rudd has…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: Just over 12 months ago, I launched in conjunction with the major veterans and services organisations a campaign to build an honour roll in the Knox municipality to honour those fallen servicemen and servicewomen from the past. It is something which is missing in our community presently. This will be an honour…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: At the beginning of this debate about these amendments, the minister said that these 71 pages of amendments provide funding certainty for our schools. That is the claim that he made and I would like to put on the record that these amendments do no such thing. It is an extraordinary claim…
PALRIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: I rise to speak on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2013. In some respects this is a non controversial bill because all it does is extend for a further year the funding of three particular initiatives. So the Coalition will not be opposing this bill, but I do have some concerns…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: I rise also to speak on the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Lifetime Health Cover Loading and Other Measures) Bill 2012 and the cognate bill in front of the parliament today and express my grave concerns in relation to them. These bills represent another hit to the private health insurance rebate by the…
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra: I rise to speak on the Aged Care (Living Longer Living Better) Bill 2013 and the package of bills before us. The aged-care sector is at a crossroads. We have an ageing population. We have providers who are operating in the red, and we have a sector which has been reviewed and…