Speeches

Cybersafety Committee Report on Cybercrime Convention Legislation

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Friday 19th August 2011, 5:20pm
in

 


Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (12:40): I am very pleased to follow Senator Bilyk's remarks, the chair of the Committee on Cyber-Safety. I will be fairly brief. First of all, I would like to thank the chair, the deputy chair and the rest of the committee for putting together what I think is a very important and very focused report in a very, very short time frame. As usual when bills such as these come through from the Attorney-General's Department, they are always in an inordinate hurry and they are always on fire for the parliament to urgently to dispose of the bills. I thank the efforts of the chair, the deputy chair and the secretariat for getting a coherent report into this bill.

I think the chair, Senator Bilyk, has perhaps undersold the efforts of the committee to the extent that the committee majority report made some very strong recommendations for changes to the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011. I hope that the Attorney-General does not simply give the report of the cyber-safety committee a once-over and present the bill unamended to the chamber next week. I strongly advise the government against pursuing that course of action and advise it to read the report and to read the unanimous recommendations that the committee put forward because they actually recommend major surgery to this bill both in terms of amendments and in terms of clarifications.

Milne on apple imports from New Zealand

Speech | Spokesperson Christine Milne
Thursday 18th August 2011, 9:49am
in

Senator MILNE» (Tasmania-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens) (18:02): I rise to take note of the ministerial statement tabled in relation to the import of New Zealand apples, in particular the risk of fire blight. This parliament has considered this issue for many years. It has been before rural and regional committees many times and we have spoken to people in the department very often on this subject. The fact of the matter is that several years ago officials before our committee accepted that fire blight would come to Australia. That was accepted-it will come here. Let us not pretend that we are having any discussion other than an acceptance of the fact that, whatever quality assurance processes are put in place, the reality is that one way or another fire blight will come to Australia.

Seeking answers to my questions on Burma's alleged nuclear weapons program

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 17th August 2011, 7:45pm
in

Pursuant to standing order 74(5), I ask the Minister representing the Foreign Minister, Minister Conroy, for an explanation as to why answers have not been provided to questions on notice Nos 338 and 364 asked on 6 and 17 December 2010.

Senator CONROY: I appreciate the senator's keen interest and concern regarding Burma's alleged nuclear activities. I am advised that a number of months ago the Minister for Foreign Affairs offered for the Director-General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office to brief Senator Ludlam on this issue and other matters which he has raised in the course of Senate estimates. I understand that Senator Ludlam plans to take this meeting next week and I expect that answers to his questions will be formally provided following this meeting.

Senator LUDLAM: I thank the minister. I move: That the Senate take note of the explanation.

That is a very brief explanation for two questions on very similar issues that I gave notice of last December. The briefing with Dr Floyd, the new director-general of ASNO, was only offered about a fortnight ago. That officer has only just recently taken up that position. I recognise that Minister Conroy is outside his portfolio but I find that explanation to be wholly inadequate given that these questions were put on the Notice Paper in December.

Question and Speech - is coal seam gas as polluting as coal?

Speech | Spokesperson Christine Milne
Tuesday 16th August 2011, 5:21pm
in

Senator MILNE (Tasmania-Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens) (14:45): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Senator Wong. Can the minister inform the Senate whether coal seam gas extracted in Australia is less greenhouse gas intensive than black coal on a life cycle analysis basis and, if so, by what percentage?

Debate on the War Powers Bill

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Thursday 7th July 2011, 6:03pm
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Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (16:13): I am really proud to speak to this bill today. I am going to go into a bit of detail about how this has been a very long time coming, some of this history of this bill and the reasons why the Australian Greens believe that it is such an important piece of legislation. We on the crossbenches do not put forward a huge number of private senator's bills before this parliament, but this is certainly the most important one that I have carriage of. Today, we are debating the question as to whether we as legislators and representatives of our electorates across this country are competent and able to make the decision about whether or not to deploy Australian troops into theatres of war. This is not about exercises; this is not about routine training. This is about who makes the final decision. Is it this parliament on behalf of the Australian public and on behalf of the families who will lose loved ones when we send Australians into harms way? Who should make that decision? Should it be this parliament-this chamber and the other place-or should it be the executive? I am very pleased that we are debating this bill today.

Migration Charater Test

Speech | Spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young
Tuesday 5th July 2011, 3:39pm
in

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia)


(20:40): I rise to speak to the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill 2011. After listening to Senator Cash's contribution, I am still unclear as to why the opposition are voting for this legislation. While I and the Greens have a very different reason for why we will not be supporting this legislation, the point was made very clearly by Senator Cash that the powers that the minister has spoken publicly about and that this bill would give him already exist within the current legislative framework. We know that he already has powers to ensure that people who hold convictions for serious criminal acts can be judged on that in terms of their character test when applying for permanent protection or permanent residency in Australia.


 


I struggle to see exactly why the opposition would support this bill, despite Senator Cash-with all due respect-spending the entire speech saying how the government does not need this particular piece of legislation. I agree: the government does not need this piece of legislation. I think it is simply for show. It is a knee-jerk reaction by the government of the day, in the aftermath of some pretty awful and horrific events in detention centres on Christmas Island and in Villawood, as to how to deal with the public concern about what was going on in immigration detention centres.


 


We know that the big problem within the current system is the length of time people are detained without access to information about their cases. They start to dwell, often leading to a deterioration of their mental health, of their feelings and, of course, of their hope that at some stage down the track their application process will be resolved.


 

Intelligence Services Amendment - "Wikileaks Amendment"

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 4th July 2011, 8:19pm
in

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (17:54): I start my remarks by congratulating you, Deputy President Parry, on the role that you now hold. I know that it was a bit of a close call for you this morning but congratulations nonetheless.

I would like to add some comments on behalf of the Australian Greens. We have very strong reservations about the bill. I will go through the parts of the bill that we believe are extremely controversial and also touch on those that are not. Senator Humphries has managed to skirt around most of the main issues that the Australian Greens have concerns about and, with just a shift of emphasis, has informed us that the coalition sees no problem in waving this bill through.

Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Monday 27th June 2011, 12:06pm
in


Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (18:03): I also rise to speak briefly on the Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill 2011, mostly on schedule 3, after first acknowledging the huge amount of time and energy that Senator Milne has put into pursuing this particular perverse incentive in our tax system. By the end of that very long road, it was really difficult to find anybody who would speak in favour of it, so it is good that the government has taken this opportunity to finally just kick it over. There are many others there.

Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill 2011 - NRAS Provisions

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Friday 24th June 2011, 12:49pm
in

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (18:03): SENATE Thursday, 23 June 2011

I also rise to speak briefly on the Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill 2011, mostly on schedule 3, after first acknowledging the huge amount of time and energy that Senator Milne has put into pursuing this particular perverse incentive in our tax system. By the end of that very long road, it was really difficult to find anybody who would speak in favour of it, so it is good that the government has taken this opportunity to finally just kick it over. There are many others there.

Schedule 3 of this bill relates to the National Rental Affordability Scheme, NRAS, which was designed to stimulate the construction and supply of affordable rental dwellings. It is a good initiative. It is not a homelessness initiative as such but is designed to increase the supply of affordable housing for key workers and low- to middle-income earners, and to encourage investment on a large scale, an institutional scale-that is, to get investors back into the business of funding affordable housing rather than the kinds of property investments which investors, large and small, have been making over the last couple of decades.

Protecting the Kimberley

Speech | Spokesperson Scott Ludlam
Wednesday 22nd June 2011, 3:55pm
in

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (13:14): I rise to speak on what is happening at the moment up in the West Kimberley in my home state of WA. There are scenes being played out that are reminiscent of Noonkanbah in the West Kimberley-for people with long-enough memories-where Aboriginal people and their supporters blocked access to country by bulldozers that were protected by the Police and even Army units sent up by the then Premier Charles Court to allow an American drilling company access to a sacred site, which they duly violated. With a touch of irony, there was no oil there and the entire exercise was a complete waste of time. Those scenes were absolutely formative in the West Kimberley. They are the reason that we have an Aboriginal Heritage Act, such as it is, in WA.