Parliament

I rise to speak to the National Rental Affordability Scheme Amendment Bill 2019 on behalf of the Greens. While the Greens will be supporting this bill, I want to make it very clear that this bill does not address the real issues of rental affordability and housing stress that the community is facing more and more every single day. We know that our housing system is completely broken. There are no ifs and buts about that whatsoever. For many years now we have gone from one news headline to another about the housing crisis, only to be met with lukewarm policy responses by this government.

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Royal National Park in New South Wales has enormous heritage value, including being the first national park in Australia, as well as one of the first in the world, and

(ii) it has been six years since the Federal and New South Wales State Governments committed to nominating the Royal National Park for World Heritage status; and

I rise to speak on the government's disastrous $158 billion tax bill that is being rushed through parliament. This is a $158 billion mistake. This is a terribly irresponsible choice that the people of Australia will be forced to wear the consequences of for decades to come. How can this government look the 700,000 people barely surviving on Newstart in the eye and say: 'You know what? We can't afford to increase Newstart. We can't afford to support you, but you won't believe what we can afford to do for the very rich.' Shame on you.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (14:40): My question is to Minister Birmingham, the minister representing the Minister for Education. Minister, in the last three years, your government has slashed the repayment threshold for study loans by nearly 20 per cent, in effect cutting the pay of low-income workers. Just this week, the government slugged another 136,000 Australians by cutting the threshold by another $6,000.

I am honoured to introduce the Greens' Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill 2019, because we know that the live export trade is inevitably cruel and causes untold animal suffering.

Animals are not mere cargo. They are living, breathing, sentient beings. The reality is that live export cannot be made safe for sheep, cattle or any animal. It is a business model that is simply incompatible with animal welfare.

I rise today to show my solidarity with the people of Sudan, who are demanding an end to human rights abuses and violence, and a genuine transition to democratic, civilian rule. In December last year peaceful protests broke out across Sudan calling for economic reforms and an end to the 30-year rule of the dictator Omar al-Bashir. This incredible social movement saw thousands of people put their lives at risk. Hundreds, perhaps more, were killed protesting against the government.

'The department has failed as a regulator.' This is the beginning of the draft report provided to the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources on 17 December 2018. Ten days later, when the final version was released by the minister, those words had been removed. Let's remember that the independent Review of the Regulatory Capability and Culture of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources in the Regulation of Live Animal Exports, known as the Moss review, was set up in response to the horrific abuse we saw on five separate voyages of the Awassi Express.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (14:15): My question is to Senator Canavan, representing the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. The Greens forced the government to release various draft versions of the Moss review into the regulation of live export by the department of agriculture.