I will make a very brief contribution on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Family Payments Structural Reform and Participation Measures) Bill 2015, as I am a very strong supporter of the need to ensure that our tax system does not reflect the costs of growing and raising a family.  Read more

It is also a great pleasure to rise to support this particular piece of legislation and associate myself with the comments of my colleague Senator Fawcett, who was right to say it is extremely important that we maintain the competitiveness and cost-effectiveness of our university sector if we want it to maintain its position as a very attractive place for international students to come to study. I certainly want to maintain that position.  Read more

Tonight I would like to speak about the importance of our commercial fishing sector and also, of course, how important it is for all Australians to support that sector, particularly over this period of the year, when many of us will be tucking into very delicious seafood over the Christmas break.  Read more

I was not going to contribute to this debate on the Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015, but after those last two contributions from the crossbench I do want to add some thoughts. Firstly, I want to commend the contribution by Senator Muir. Read more

I will start my contribution to this debate in recognising that I respect Senator Waters as a very intelligent senator and contributor to this place. I am sure she is very well read and considers these matters very deeply.  Read more

It is pretty obvious what the Labor Party are going for and strategising about at the moment. It is pretty obvious that they are on a 'GST' campaign—a 'Give Shorten a Try' scare campaign!  Read more

At the very least, in this debate it is good to see that some senators on the Labor side are just as agile and nimble as this government. They are showing a level of agility and—I do not know if 'nimbility' is a word!—nimbleness.  Read more

I rise tonight to speak again about the drought in Queensland, primarily. I believe it was the last topic I spoke about in an adjournment speech in this place. Read more

I feel a bit sorry for the Labor Party at the moment because things are not going all that well. They are not going to plan. They are stuck with a leader who is massively unpopular. They cannot get rid of him. They cannot change their rules.  Read more

I would like to start off where Senator Dastyari left off: I think all views should be respected in this debate, and I certainly respect colleagues, friends and family who have a different view to my own—which is in support of traditional marriage.  Read more