Parliament

I rise to speak on the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Amendment Bill 2019. I'll say from the outset that we all know that our housing system is broken. In fact it is monumentally messed up; there are no ifs or buts about it. For many years we've gone from one news headline to another about the housing crisis only to be met with a very lukewarm policy response from the government. Here we are today with another one that will not work.

I rise to speak to the Customs Amendment (Safer Cladding) Bill 2019. The bill amends the Customs Act 1901 to expressly ban the importation of polyethylene aluminium composite panels, which are a type of flammable cladding. I support the comments by Senator Patrick and Senator Pratt with regards to banning this type of cladding.

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) dolphins are highly intelligent animals, with complex physical and behavioural needs – in the wild, they live in intricate social networks, are migratory and can travel more than 100 kilometres in a single day,

(ii) captive environments are incapable of meeting the needs of dolphins and can severely impact their health and welfare, and

(iii) the Parliament of Canada has passed legislation banning whales, dolphins and porpoises from being bred or held in captivity in most circumstances; and

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) Meat Free Week, organised by Bowel Cancer Australia, runs from 23 to 29 September 2019, and challenges participants to give up meat for seven days,

(ii) intensive animal agriculture is not only cruel to animals, but is a key contributor to the climate crisis, and

(iii) reducing the amount of meat we consume is better for our health, better for animal welfare and better for the environment; and

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the New South Wales (NSW) Youth Council held their 'Unleash the Future' Conference from 13 to 15 September 2019 in Rooty Hill, and

(ii) young people from across NSW came together to workshop issues, including the need for emergency action on the climate crisis, the role of advocacy, gender and cultural diversity, mental health, youth and family violence, and the importance of having young voices at all levels of Australian government;

I rise on behalf of the Greens to make a short statement on the disallowance of the Fair Work Amendment (Casual Loading Offset) Regulations 2018. We all know that casualisation is up. We know that rising job insecurity is stretching people to breaking point. Working people are under attack like never before. They now have less certainty and fewer rights at work than at any time in recent history. Let me be blunt: insecure work is wrecking people's lives, yet this government is only about protecting big business.

I just want to say: let's not make any mistake about what's happening here today. The government is making good its promise of big cash for the private school sector without doing a single thing for public schools. Nothing any of you have said—and you really haven't said much—can paper over the fact that you are voting for widening the divide between the haves and the have-nots of the Australian education system.

I move:

That the Australian Education Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Regulations 2019, made under the Australian Education Act 2013, be disallowed [F2019L00558].

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) welcomes the Australian Government's commitment to work with states and territories to end the domestic trade of ivory and rhino horn; and

(b) calls on both levels of government to implement the ban as quickly as practicable.

HANSARD LINK

Senator FARUQI: My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Senator McKenzie. Minister, the Moss review was highly critical of the Department of Agriculture as the regulator of live exports, and there is immense public concern about the cruelty of live animal exports. Despite this, your department has recently refused a freedom-of-information request from RSPCA Australia for footage taken aboard the 2018 voyage of MW Al Shuwaikh on which 609 sheep died, including many from smothering. Does the minister consider it appropriate for this footage to be hidden from the public?