I rise this evening to pay tribute to a lady, Denise Jeitz, who passed away earlier this year after a long battle with cancer. I'd like to recognise Denise not just because she was a good friend of mine but because, while most people in this chamber wouldn't have known Denise, I think all of us would know someone like Denise in our political parties. It is people like Denise that make all of this possible and, for me, and I know for many others, make it all worth it. Denise never sought the accolades and never sought office within our political party—the Liberal-National Party, and before that the National Party—but she was a tireless supporter behind the scenes. Without people like Denise, a lot of people wouldn't even be here. I count myself in that category. Without people like Denise, there wouldn't be lamingtons and jam scrolls and cups of tea at all our functions, and, without people like Denise, you wouldn't have as much fun, that's for sure! This game can be quite tawdry and dirty from time to time. Read more

The Senate leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Waters, quoted a lot from professors and people from other political parties about whether or not this should happen. But, nobody that I heard her quote—I missed the beginning of Senator Waters' remarks, but I doubt there were any quotes—actually live in Collinsville or even live in North Queensland. I know, visiting Collinsville many, many times, that they would love to see this job-creating project in this region. Read more

I note that we are not taking any more time for the Nationals than was agreed. Senator McKenzie did cut her time. We're not seeking at all to deny other senators their appropriate times. I want to add quick thoughts on this motion and particularly something that I don't think has been mentioned during this debate: I, as an Australian, am incredibly proud about what we have built as a nation in the Murray-Darling. There's been very little mention of the hard work, the pioneering effort that went into building the dams and the farms that actually feed us today, providing 40 per cent of our nation's food. We would really be in serious trouble—in as much trouble as the early settlers—if we didn't have the Murray-Darling here in Australia. We should recognise the sweat, the toil and the desperation that many people before us went through to get that to happen. I heard Senator Patrick say before, 'Let's just get rid of the dams,' as if that would mean nothing for the rest of the country! How would we feed ourselves? How would we be able to provide for other people in this country? Read more

I think it's great that the Greens have moved this motion this evening in the Senate, because it once again highlights the difficulty that the Greens political party seem to have in conceiving the concept of democracy. It's, I thought, a pretty simple system we have here—a tough system, but a simple one—where we have these things called elections in our country every three years for the federal parliament. There are certain policies put forward by different political parties at those elections. The Australian people choose which of those parties or groups they'd like to rule them, and those policies then are generally, hopefully, implemented and promises are kept, hopefully, and passed through this place. Read more

This is an important time in Australian history as we emerge out of the coronavirus pandemic. I know it's sometimes tough in modern times to unify the country, but there has been a level of unity in the nation in response to the pandemic. I think there's also a level of unity around what we need to do in the future. One of the most common refrains I have heard over the past year is the need to restore Australia's manufacturing strength, that we need to get back to making things in this country so that we can respond better to crises like those we've seen over the past year, and also respond to new crises that may emerge, particularly as the security challenges in our region increase. Read more

I too would like to echo the celebration of a great Australian leader in this chamber this afternoon. Doug Anthony was a leader that I don't think any other country in the world could have produced. He was quintessentially Australian, identifiably Australian. Perhaps he might not be the type of leader we ever see again in Australia. I hope not; I hope we haven't lost his down-to-earth nature, his country charm and, of course, his larrikin spirit. Doug was our longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister. He led our country through great change and transition—changes and transitions that impacted the then Country Party, now the National Party, greatly—and he did so extremely successfully. As I said, he was a real Australian larrikin as a leader. That comes through in the stories that have been told here this afternoon—the beachside caravan, the calls from the Prime Minister on the payphone that his kids were operating. Read more

In Senator Waters' contribution we really only heard Australia being compared to one country, the United Kingdom, and I'll come to that country in a second. But there was no comparison with any other country, so I for one at first thought maybe we'd gone back into some twilight zone where we were once again a colony of the United Kingdom and we were being told what to do by, according to Senator Waters, our colonial masters in London. Yes, our colonial masters in London would love us to cripple our own industry so they can continue to compete with us. They'd love us to impose huge costs on our own country in a way that many other nations are not doing. But I for one am proud of and cherish the independence that this nation has achieved since we threw off the colonial chains and became an independent country. So, no, I don't think we should slavishly follow what Mr Johnson in London wants us to do. Good luck to him. He's the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and he can decide what the policies are for the United Kingdom. Read more

I thought this MPI was going to focus on the failure to deliver for Australians during coronavirus. That's what Senator Ayres was focused on for most of his contribution, but you could tell he ran out of steam because he didn't have much more to say by the end and started talking about energy policy and all these other things that we have disagreements on. Read more

Part of me feels a little sorry for the opposition at the moment. I know it's their job to come into this place and hold the government to account. It's their job to be a critic, effectively, of what's happening, but they are really clutching at straws at the moment. They are struggling a little to be a critic through this crisis.  Read more

When I came into the chamber to make my contribution on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Superannuation, Your Choice) Bill 2019, I did a bit of a double take, because I thought I heard Senator Watt say that he is supportive, or that the Labor Party are supportive, of this bill. I thought, 'Well, that's news,' because we have been trying to provide more choice for Australians to determine how their own money is invested for basically five years now, and the Labor Party have fought tooth and nail for those five years against those workers' rights to choose where their money is invested. Read more