Speech: Wave of Respect, North Coogee

16 December 2005
Initiated by the Member for Kingsford Smith, Peter Garrett, Wave of Respect is a statement in response to events at Cronulla and Maroubra last week and was presented to the media at Dunningham Reserve, North Coogee.

Parliament: Matters of Public Importance - Howard Government

08 December 2005
The Deputy Leader of the House refers to the number of questions that have been asked in this House on the Wheat Board affair and other matters. What he does not acknowledge is the failure to answer those questions.

Parliament: Private Members Business - Health

05 December 2005
I thank the member for McPherson for moving a motion that is intended to encourage the government to pursue policies which would see a greater emphasis on actions, particularly in education, which would increase the awareness and uptake of preventative health measures.

Parliament: Migration and Ombudsman Legislation Amendment Bill 2005

30 November 2005
If we reflect on the events of a number of years past up to this present point in time in relation to immigration issues in this country, and if we consider the plethora of inquiries, media coverage of what has happened in relation to the immigration department and a headline such as ‘Something rotten in Immigration’ ...

Parliament: Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005

29 November 2005
I will continue my remarks on the Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005. As I was saying yesterday, numerous legal organisations and senior practitioners, including Peter Gray SC from the Sydney bar, who provided an opinion to me specifically on this matter, have stated that these laws could in fact capture artistic expression.

Parliament: Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005

28 November 2005
When we consider legislation of the scope of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005, we ought as a parliament first remind ourselves of the inherent features of our democratic system, noting its great strengths and capacities.

Parliament: Committees - Environment and Heritage Committee Report

09 November 2005
I join with other honourable members in welcoming the release of the report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage entitled Sustainable cities and in confirming what I think is a very encouraging degree of unanimity around the House for both the recommendations and the bipartisan nature in which the report reached its conclusions and was supported.

Parliament: Adjournment - Antiterrorism Legislation

07 November 2005
The Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005 is law which plainly undermines the legal and constitutional practices of our Federation. If ‘freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose’ we are in danger of really losing precious freedoms.

Parliament: Workplace Relations Amendment Bill

07 November 2005
I rise to speak on the Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill 2005 and add my voice to colleagues on this side of the House, including the member for Denison.

Parliament: Energy Efficiency Opportunities Bill, Main Committee

02 November 2005
I welcome the comments from the member for New England. Indeed he is right to identify the impacts on human health, amongst many others, that not moving rapidly to both energy efficient and non-polluting productive capacities and processes means for us.

Parliament: Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2005

02 November 2005
I am astonished that the member for Tangney can put a proposition to the House that the production of nuclear materials results in there being less radioactivity.

Parliament: Matters of Public Importance - Funding for Agricultural and Renewable Energy Research

01 November 2005
I have listened with interest to the member for Eden-Monaro reflecting on the history of science and science research, but I think it is important for us to reflect on what is actually in this report and what it signals for basic research and research on renewable energy in this country.

Parliament: Adjournment - Make Indigenous Poverty History

01 November 2005
I rise to support a very good initiative, Make Indigenous Poverty History, which I want to make reference to, as will other speakers, in the House this evening.

Speech (extract): Friends of Ventnor House Fundraiser

29 October 2005

I want to briefly address a matter of real consequence which I know is troubling many in the community. The Howard government since taking control of the Senate has railroaded legislation through Parliament, for example with the sale of Telstra, without allowing adequate opportunity to scrutinise or debate new laws.

Speech: National Reconciliation Forum, Kalgoorlie

25 October 2005
I applaud the commitment by the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to host this National Reconciliation Forum for the second year running.

Speech: Arts & Public Life, Currency House

20 October 2005
Thank you very much Angry for your honesty and your very kind words. Thank you, Katharine Brisbane and Malcolm Duncan of Currency House for the invitation to speak this morning.

Parliament: Statements by Members - Iraq

12 October 2005
I rise to add my voice to the growing number of people concerned about the prospects for any kind of peaceful future for Iraq in the near term and to repeat a number of questions that have been put to the government in relation to thi s issue both by the opposition here in the parliament and by the public and my constituents.

Parliament: Adjournment - Human Rights

12 October 2005
I rise in the House to reflect on the attitude and the track record of the Howard government in relation to the issue of human rights and democratic freedoms—rights and freedoms which Australians enjoy and, at the least, ought to expect to be present and protected in a liberal democracy.

Parliament: Indonesia - Terrorist Attacks

11 October 2005
I rise to join with parliamentary colleagues across the chamber to register my profound sympathy for the families of those who lost their lives in Bali and to express my very strong condolences to the families of the victims and all those involved.

Parliament: Adjournment - West Papua

15 September 2005
I rise to speak on the matter of West Papua. The Australian Labor Party has a long and proud record on human rights, and it is an area of real interest to me as a member of this parliament.

Parliament: Copyright Amendment (film Directors' Rights) Bill 2005

13 September 2005
I thank the member for Watson for showing his thorough and acute appreciation of some of the issues surrounding the legislation that we are looking at today.

Parliament: Statements by Members - La Perouse Public School

07 September 2005
I want to place on record my admiration for the terrific efforts that teachers, kids and their extended families at La Perouse Public School put in for my visit to the school on the first day of spring last week.

Parliament: Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005

06 September 2005
I rise to oppose the Workplace Relations Amendment (Better Bargaining) Bill 2005.

Parliament: Adjournment, Make Poverty History Campaign

05 September 2005
I rise to reaffirm in this House the importance of, and to encourage members on both sides to embrace, the Make Poverty History campaign, which many Australians would be aware of through the Live 8 concerts of July, held in London, Berlin, Rome, Tokyo and Johannesburg ...

Parliament: Arts Legislation Amendment (Maritime Museum and Film, Television and Radio School) Bill

18 August 2005
The opposition supports these minor amendments, recognising that they make some sensible adjustments to the existing legislation.

Speech: Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture, SPAA Conference

14 August 2005
Thanks very much to the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) for the invitation to give this year’s Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture. Whilst I stand up here as Labor’s spokesperson for the Arts, of course I’ve already spent a fair bit of my working life as an artist, with a group of people who very much valued the act of creating.

Parliament: Statements by Members - East Timor

23 July 2005
Holding in my left hand a Timorese scarf given to me as a gift by Xanana Gusmao, I rise in the House this afternoon to express on behalf of millions of Australians, including many in this parliament, our profound support for East Timorese aspirations for economic and ongoing political independence.

Parliament: Adjournment - Cane Toads

29 June 2005
I rise to speak on a matter of great urgency—namely, the relentless march of cane toads across Australia.

Parliament: Private Members Business - Racial and religious tolerance

20 June 2005
I appreciate the observations and arguments put forward by members on all sides of the House to the motion on racial and religious tolerance moved by the member for Cook.

Parliament: Statements by Members - Education Petitions

20 June 2005
I have received petitions from Our Lady of the Annunciation Primary School Pagewood and St Aidan’s Primary School Maroubra.

Parliament: Avoiding Dangerous cliamte Change (Kyoto Protocol Ratification) Bill

20 June 2005
I rise to support the Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol Ratification) Bill 2005.

Parliament: Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2005-06, Consideration in Detail

20 June 2005
I want to draw attention to the end of a practice which had bipartisan support, at least for a number of years, in this parliament, and that was the giving of grants to conservation organisations at a national and state level and which by the action of the environment minister have now been reduced to virtually nil.

Speech: NSW ALP Conference Environment Debate

12 June 2005
I seconded and spoke to Anthony Albanese's motion on nuclear energy during Conference's Environment Debate. The resolution passed without opposition.

Parliament: Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment bill 2005

02 June 2005
I rise to speak on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2005. I note, as my colleague the member for Banks did, that the net effect of the bill, which is to provide new tutorial assistance and a transfer of VET funds, is a decrease in appropriations to Indigenous education by nearly $4 million.

Parliament: Main Committee - Principal for a Day

01 June 2005
I rise to record my experience as Principal for a Day—a program run in New South Wales, and perhaps in other states, whereby community, business and opinion leaders, and politicians are invited to spend a day, or a portion thereof, with the principal of a public school in order to gain first-hand insight into the current state of public education—its challenges and its achievements.

Parliament: Appropriation Bills 2005-06, 2004-05

31 May 2005
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2005-2006
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2005-2006
Appropriation Bill (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2005-2006
Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2004-2005
Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2004-2005

Parliament: Adjournment - Whaling

26 May 2005
I rise to speak about the Japanese government continuing to perpetuate the sham of scientific whaling in Australian waters. This has resulted in the slaughter of some 400 whales.

Parliament: Adjournment - Airport and Port Security

24 May 2005
Mr Speaker I rise in the House to raise again, as was raised by the Leader of the Opposition in the House yesterday – the issue of security, namely the existing security measures that are in place in Australia but which are not working effectively and the lack of oversight of security risks at Australian ports and airports.

Speech: Spin, circumstance and possibility - The Chifley legacy in 2005, Melbourne University

03 May 2005
Thank you for the invitation to give the 2005 Chifley Lecture to the Australian Fabian Society (Victoria) and student Labor Clubs from Victorian Universities.

Speech: Australia - After Kyoto, Sydney Institute

06 April 2005
This week sees a number of conferences and high level meetings devoted to the issue of climate change taking place around Australia. Both the UK based The Climate Group and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change headquartered in America are in town, talking about life after Kyoto.

Parliament: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Amendment Bill 2005

16 March 2005
I have heard a number of heartfelt speeches on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Amendment Bill 2005 from members on both sides of the House.

Parliament: Adjournment - National Ageing Policy

15 March 2005
I rise to draw to the attention of the House an issue I believe is of real interest to the people of Kingsford Smith and the community at large.

Parliament: Environment - Water Management

07 March 2005
The House would be aware that the recent Western Australian state election was convincingly won by the Labor Party under Premier Geoff Gallop. Mr Gallop deserved to win, not least because his more prudent approach to addressing Perth and Western Australia's considerable problems in relation to securing long-term water supplies was manifestly superior to that spruiked by the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr Barnett.

Parliament: Adjournment – Kyoto Protocol

16 February 2005
I rise in the House on this most important of days—Kyoto Day. It is a day on which the headlines proclaim that ‘Climate change is upon us’.

Parliament: Private Members’ Business - Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol Ratification Bill 2005)

14 February 2005
Global warming is one of the most profound challenges of our time; there is no question about that. It is in our national and international interests to respond comprehensively and vigorously.

Parliament: Condolence Motion, Asian Tsunami

08 February 2005
I join with members on both sides of the House as we support the motion before us and record our sympathy for those affected by the Boxing Day tsunami and our appreciation of – as is the phrase that has been used in this House – the great generosity of spirit that has been shown by Australians following this event.