Shayne Neumann
Blair · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“The new service will be built at Rosewood State School to help local families avoid the double drop-off in the morning—and in the afternoon, I might add—and help students to make a smoother transition to school.”
“It builds on our landmark schools funding agreement with the Queensland government to provide a record $2.8 billion in additional Commonwealth funding to Queensland state schools over the next 10 years, all tied to reforms to lift education standards.”
“The second capital upgrade involved $850,000 for a new custom amenities block at Linville State School, a little country school in the northern Somerset region, which has delivered modern facilities to ensure students' health and safety needs are met.”
“Labor is the party of education. The Albanese Labor government is building the education infrastructure we need in my electorate and building a better and fairer education system from preschool to tertiary.”
“An upgrade to the Mount Crosby interchange on the Warrego Highway is critical to the lives, lifestyle and livelihoods of the people of Ipswich. Last night, I was appalled to hear media reports that the Queensland LNP government is proposing in this week's budget to cut funding for the Mount Crosby interchange in my electorate.”
“I remember being in this House, in this parliament, when the coalition voted against the natural disaster funding, much of which was going to local councils in Queensland. It cost $11 billion of taxpayers' funding to rebuild Queensland after the 2011 floods.”
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“ASPI has backed it in—John Coyne and James Corera from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. I can tell you that that is not a body affiliated with the Australia Labor Party. They have praised the decision in an article on ASPI's website. What we've done has got the support of security intelligence experts, and those opposite are criticising us about it. ASPI wrote on their website that institutional integration, for example, brings ASIO and the AFP under one minister alongside cyber, immigration and citizenship and will allow for better coordination between national security operations and strategic policymaking. How about you listen to the experts? In the areas of science, they don't want to listen to the experts. In areas of education, they don't want to listen to the experts.”
“Now, our Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, the member for Grayndler, has been upfront about the fact that this change is partly as a result of the need for better sharing of information as a result Dural caravan incident. We're going to make sure to learn from that experience. We make no apologies for the necessary steps that we've undertaken to make sure Australia's safe. We're not engaging in party political and factional tug-of-war circa 2016-17-18, as we saw under the coalition. This is a deliberate and considered move. It's about prioritising national security. It's not surprising that a number of national security experts have backed it in, including John Blaxland, Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at the Australian National University.”
“You only have to look at it to see some of the toughest language you have ever seen from the Auditor-General in relation to it. What we have done here are machinery of government changes, and all governments do this. It's routine. It's important for better coordination and communication, and sharing of information for national security agencies and departments. Under the previous government, you had only to see survey after survey in the Department of Home Affairs to see morale was worse in the Department of Home Affairs than in any other department in the Commonwealth government. So you had speaker after speaker from the Liberal and National parties here giving us lectures when their own departmental public servants were so critical of their administration.”
“Let me tell you, there were 27,000 people left on temporary protection visas in sheds who languished all the way through under the Department of Home Affairs. Now, remember that figure because there's another 27,000 figure—27,931 people who, in 2018, in the year of the creation of the Department of Home Affairs, asked for protection visas when they arrived here by planes. So they're tough on boats but weak on planes. They were very gentle on the applications for visas for nannies for Liberal Party mates—very gentle—and very gracious and charitable on contracts for people who happened to have connections in relation to this issue. They were criticised up hill and down dale by the Auditor-General for their administration of the Department of Home Affairs.”
“He was elected in 2015 after a distinguished military career, but in 2017, and all the way up from the time he was elected to the creation of the Department of Home Affairs in 2017, you had George Brandis from the liberal wing of the Liberal Party—the Attorney-General—fighting against the concept of the creation of the Department of Home Affairs—led by the arch conservatives and the then Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Peter Dutton, the then member for Dickson—on the front page of the national media. They did press about it. It was totally ridiculous. Don't accuse us of playing factional and party political when you saw the LNP Queensland branch—liberal and conservative wings—on full display in the creation of the Department of Home Affairs.”
“I get that the shadow minister for home affairs wants to make a splash in his new portfolio, and I know he's ambitious, particularly for his leader, but this motion is absolutely ridiculous. He went through a history of the creation of the Department of Home Affairs and claimed that what we were doing was factional and party political.”
“During the last federal election, having talked this up again and again, all the LNP opposition here in Canberra could eventually do was follow our lead on this issue. I want to say this to the Crisafulli government: how about you have a look at the state of the Brisbane Valley Highway? You completely botched the upgrade there. We've put in $40 million—$20 million in the election commitment and another $20 million in the city deal. I want to say to the Crisafulli government that I reckon Queensland's Minister for Transport and Main Roads should have a drive on that highway, because you're responsible through TMR to maintain it and fix it and improve it, and you haven't done so. It's money wasted by the Crisafulli government.”
“They had billboards on the side of the road during the last federal election saying, 'No more plans; no more business cases—let's just fund this.' But the LNP government in Queensland failed to come up with the $200 million to match our commitment that we made and, actually, didn't come up with any funding on that in opposition across three terms. Federal and state Labor governments made a $20 million commitment for the safety upgrade along that highway and some business-case development and looking at what we need to do on the Ripley roundabout and the Swanbank roundabout as well. What we're doing here is investing money in Ipswich. In opposition and in government, the Crisafulli government has failed to do so.”
“But, really, in the budget there's hardly anything for my local community in terms of infrastructure plans. They loved to hold that glossy brochure before the last state election. I went through the glossy brochure that they produced in the state government budget. It's a boulevard of broken promises. There's no plan for Ipswich and no big-ticket transport items at all. There's no matching of funding, for example, for the federal Labor government's commitment of $200 million for the Amberley interchange upgrade.”
“Before the last Queensland state election, the Crisafulli opposition talked a big game, and, in government, they have failed to deliver for my local community. Their first budget was not a fresh start for Ipswich and Somerset but a false start. One thing I do want to thank them for is the thousand homes that they're going to build in the Boost to Buy scheme, which is akin to the 40,000 homes we're going to build in the Help to Buy scheme. The great irony of this is that the coalition in the last term opposed that type of scheme, but, at a state level, at least they've experienced a sort of road-to-Damascus conversion and supported that concept. It was a winner at a state level in a variety of different states, but the LNP opposition here in Canberra couldn't bring themselves to support it.”
“My question is to the Minister for Education. How is the Albanese Labor government helping young Australians with student debt, why is delivering on this commitment so important and what has been the response?”
“I want to congratulate the president, Susan Pratten; senior vice-president, David Moffett; junior vice-president, Alastair MacDonald; secretary, Lisa Kirkman; and treasurer, Tracy MacDonald. Last year, the Kilcoy show society was so successful in their show that they contributed $2,000 extra at the end for local organisations. I want to thank all the sponsors, exhibitors and volunteers who assist all of the country shows in my electorate. The talent, skills and abilities from showing cattle and horses, through to the quilting, painting, crafts and crocheting is there and on display. I want to thank all of them for what they do. It's a magnificent contribution to our local community. This is the lifeblood of rural communities, and I'm pleased to represent a rural and regional electorate in South East Queensland.”
“The show society movement is the biggest volunteer movement in the Commonwealth of Australia, and the show societies contribute about $1 billion to the Australian economy. I am blessed to have seven country shows in my electorate: Ipswich, Rosewood, Marburg, Lowood, Esk, Toogoolawah and Kilcoy. I look forward to working with the Ipswich Show Society with the millions of dollars that we're investing in the show society for their evacuation plans and upgrades to the necessary facilities that they have there. Last weekend, I was pleased to attend and, of course, sponsor and assist the Kilcoy show society with their biggest and best country show they've ever had.”
“Whether it was as the director of the board at Bendigo Bank in Rosewood, Rosewood Lions, the Cabanda Care aged-care facility or the Rosewood Uniting Church, he was such a big part of life at Rosewood. Clyde was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 but remained active until very recently. His funeral, held at his beloved Rosewood Uniting Church, was a very moving ceremony, and those who attended were fortunate to hear about his earlier life from his children. I extend my condolences to Delma and his whole family and his many friends. A life well lived, Clyde. You will be missed by many. Your legacy will live on. Vale, Clyde. Rest in peace.”
“Recently, we lost Clyde Nicoll, who was a dedicated community champion from the small town of Rosewood, in Ipswich, in my electorate. In many ways, Clyde was the unofficial mayor of Rosewood. He was Citizen of the Year in 2005. Clyde was born in Brisbane on 8 December 1941 and passed away on 23 June 2025 in Ipswich hospice at the age of 90. He was a former teacher and principal at Rosewood State High School. His contribution to the school and its students was recognised earlier this year when he was asked to open the new Clyde Nicoll Senior Schooling Learning Centre, which was named in his honour. Clyde was always heavily involved in his local community.”
“I look forward to delivering on my election commitments and I've already hit the ground running. I look forward to this coming term and getting those much-needed projects I've talked about going for the people of Blair, so we can build a better future for my local community.”
“I especially want to thank the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, for launching my campaign, and Senator Anthony Chisholm for making a number of announcements in Blair. So many of them could have rented a flat in Ipswich! I also want to thank Senator Deb O'Neill for her constant support, encouragement and financial help. Thanks to now Senator Corinne Mulholland for her pre-poll help and regular campaign assistance. They are more than just colleagues; they're friends, brothers and sisters in arms—comrades. We share similar values and a desire for a better future for our communities and for the nation. We believe in social justice, equality of opportunity and a fair go for all. That's what I've believed in all my life. I remain energetic, enthusiastic and excited about representing my local community and the people of Blair for another three years.”
“My mum is like the godmother of the Labor Party in Ipswich. Thank you to all those wonderful individuals. My victory is a victory for you, as I am just the front person. I am just the representative. This is a victory for the true believers in Blair, a victory for the Labor Party and the union movement. I go into every campaign holding two tickets in my pocket: (1) a Labor Party ticket and (2) my services union ticket. I don't forget that the Labor Party has all been for the trade union movement. I thank all the unions for their fantastic support. In closing, I thank my colleagues, particularly those ministers who visited my electorate and my colleagues with whom I spend so much time in Canberra—you become good friends with so many!”
“Thank you to all those who helped me fundraise and contributed financially in any way. Finally, a big thanks to my family for their love and moral support. To my wife, Carolyn, who's been my biggest backer. Next year we celebrate 40 years as a married couple. Despite her ongoing health battle, she has provided ongoing family support. Thanks, Carolyn. To my daughters, Alex and Jacqui, and their families: thank you for your love and support. To my brothers, friends and confidants, Regan and Darrin, together with Darrin's wife, Claire, and their children, who provided great support up in Kilcoy and Mount Kilcoy: a big thankyou. They know the local LNP people and get on quite well with them up there. Also, a big shout-out to my mum, Joy Butler, and her husband, Rob, for their ongoing support and home cooking.”
“Thanks to Paul Whewell in Raceview, Arthur Needham in Karana Downs, Geoff Beattie in Glamorgan Vale, Malcolm Scott in Kilcoy, the greater Springfield 'cartel' of the Labor Party branch members, the wider multicultural and refugee communities across Ipswich and Springfield and all the regular and first-time volunteers. Thank you to my praetorian guard from the Bundamba branch of the Labor Party, especially Alison Young, Lachlan Enshaw, Brad Snow and so many others. Thanks to the North Ipswich Tigers rugby league club for hosting a jubilant election night. It certainly was when Antony Green announced the result so early. To the Witch Hotel in West Ipswich, a place where all the journalists from the Queensland Times used to hang out, for hosting a volunteer thankyou function as well.”
“These are some of the elder statespeople whose wisdom and advice I find invaluable, along with my mate, the head of the Clem Jones Foundation, Peter Johnstone. To my good friend and supporter, Everald Compton, who spoke at senior forums and provided personal support and good company. He's a great raconteur. He's one of Australia's true independents, according to Wayne Swan. Thanks for your support, Everald. Meanwhile, Beryce Nelson, who served as a cabinet minister in conservative governments at state level but is now a supporter of mine in Toogoolawah, is a fierce community advocate and wonderful supporter. The Toogoolawah booth was staffed entirely by community members, like Charlie and Jade Lewis, along with people like Carolyn Barker.”
“Thank you as well to Somerset Regional Council member Michael Bishop for his wisdom and support in the rural areas and also to Bud Smith for his corflute help and constant campaigning in the Somerset region. We are blessed to have a number of former MPs who give so much back to the party. This is why the Labor Party believes in lifelong calling. There are people like former state environment minister Pat Comben, whose withering biography of Peter Dutton helpfully came out during the campaign. There were former state member up in Gladstone, Neil Bennett, and the former federal member for Ryan and first female member for Ryan, Leonie Short, while former Ipswich state MPs Rachel Nolan and David Hamill provided useful sounding boards.”
“Jeremy became the campaign hi-vis whiz, ensuring teams of people were standing on street corners, engaging with commuters and passers-by months out from the election. Thanks to Mick Watkins, who worked with a small team to get the signs up and keep them up in the face of daily vandalism across the electorate. Once again Mick transformed his ute into a mobile billboard and became a regular troubleshooter. Thanks also to the many campaign volunteers, supporters and branch members. I want to thank local state Labor MPs Wendy Bourne, Charis Mullen and Lance McCallum; and Ipswich councillors and Labor members Jacob Madsen, Marnie Doyle and Paul Tully for their support. Paul, to you on the loss of your wife, Lisa: my deepest condolences. In addition, I thank councillors Andrew Antoniolli and David Martin for their support and friendship.”
“To policy adviser Chris Condon, who helped pull together my election commitments and campaign announcements: I don't know what I would've done without you, Chris. Chris was vital in prepping me for the many candidate forums we had in Blair. They seemed to go on forever—right to the eve of the election. He made sure I was on message and well briefed. He was an indispensable part of our campaign team. I can't thank enough Paul Cantrall and William Hartley from my office. They made tens of thousands of calls to constituents and volunteered much of their spare time. Thanks to Jeremy Wong, who worked with me in doorknocking and calls, organised the young people and made sure I was always up there on the leader board of the Labor candidates around the country and certainly up near the top of the leader board in Queensland.”
“Blair has over 50 booths; it's a big regional and rural electorate. Despite having to deal with a range of challenges, Nicole and Cate ensured we had the best booth rosters I've ever seen in Blair. Nicole is secretary of the Blair federal organising council and, along with the treasurer, Nick Hughes, ensured the t's were crossed and the i's were dotted. Thanks, Nicole, and thanks, Nick. A big thanks to my diary manager, Kerry Silver, who kept the electorate office going and made sure I knew where I needed to be. She was an indispensable part of the campaign and fundraising team. Kerry worked closely with my former electorate officer, Janice Cumming, who still is much loved in the local community, on postal votes and aged-care facility voting. To my then media adviser and the former award-winning journalist Brian Bennion: thanks mate.”
“Madonna was the point person who worked with me to develop our campaign plan and then liaised with everyone from party office to campaign HQ, ministers' offices, unions and branch members just to make it all happen. Thanks, Mad, you were absolutely fantastic. Madonna transformed her house into a campaign staging post, the nerve centre of the operation, possibly to the chagrin of her local neighbours. I've known Madonna for decades, and I thank you for your friendship and leadership in the Blair campaign. My constituent and community liaison manager, Cate Oliver, kept the administrative side of things running smoothly and provided huge logistical support on election day, keeping volunteers fed and watered—also known as Cate's café. Both Cate and Nicole Chapple from my office organised the booth rosters and handled the prepolls.”
“I had amazing support from so many Young Labor members who mucked in and did high-visibility campaigning, doorknocking, letterboxing and making phone calls. I recognise the valuable work of people like Chris, Jacinto, Kyall and Brodie, whose dedication and youthful exuberance were inspiring. There are many hundreds of branch members across Blair. I want to thank them all, including those in my own branch, the Raceview Flinders branch, which is the biggest Labor Party branch west of Brisbane. These people are the backbone of the campaign. I want to thank the local branches from Somerset to the greater Springfield area. I especially want to thank my campaign director, Madonna Stott, for her relentless work ethic, campaign discipline, wise guidance and strong leadership.”
“Thanks to Stacey Schinnerl, Joey Kaiser, Luke Richmond, Max Braddy and the mighty AWU and all their members who provided such hands-on support. Stacey even worked through election eve with her team, setting up election booths. Thanks to Gerard Dwyer, Justin Power and the SDA, the shoppies, for their generous support for members who doorknocked and letterboxed whole suburbs and country towns and worked polling booths across Blair, with Justin spending election day in the country town of Esk with Lionel and Doreen Shaw. Thanks to Josh Millroy and the TWU for providing valuable personal and logistics support, especially setting up and staffing polling booths. Thanks to Sally Gunner and the CPSU for their help. Thanks to the Queensland Teachers' Union and those teachers who fought for public education at polling booths.”
“It's fair to say the incredible results we got in Queensland reflect the strong leadership and directions that Kate and Zac provided at the state level. I want to thank my Queensland Labor organiser, Bella Scattini, and my field organiser, Jeremy Wong, for their work on the ground and behind the scenes in keeping me on the straight and narrow. I want to thank the unions as well, including the Queensland Council of Unions and the general secretary, Jacqueline King, who came and handed out our how-to-vote cards for me at prepoll and on election day. I've been a member of the Services Union for a very long time. Thanks to Jen Thomas and Neil Henderson for their ongoing support, and thanks to all the ASU members who came out to stand on polling booths for me.”
“I thank the traditional owners of my area, the Yagara and Yuggera and Yugarabul people, and pay my respects to the work that they do and to their elders past, present and emerging and also to the fact of the tens of thousands of years they have cared for country in my area. I want to thank all the local Labor Party branches and unions who supported me and the local residents and community activists who helped me on the ground. To the ALP national secretary, Paul Erickson, and assistant secretary, Jen Light: thanks for your leadership, your extensive research and the resources provided to me. I also want to thank former Queensland state secretary Kate Flanders and assistant secretary Zac Beers for their support. I look forward to working with the new incoming state secretary, Ben Driscoll.”
“As a result, they lost many moderates, middle-of-the-road voters, who want a centrist, liberal free enterprise party. I was proud that Labor put One Nation last—as we always do—in Blair. The LNP should have done the same thing. I was fortunate to have so much help from so many quarters during the campaign. I thank the Prime Minister for his support and leadership. Congratulations on an historic victory. There were so many people involved, and I want to thank them. There are probably too many to name, but I want to do my best. First of all, I want to thank the voters of Blair for putting their faith and trust in me. I won't let you down.”
“I believe the coordinated conduct of the LNP and the Exclusive Brethren in this campaign in Blair and elsewhere—all around the country—highlights why we should consider a truth-in-political-advertising framework at a federal level, like they have in South Australia and the ACT. We also need stronger and better electoral rules and laws around groups like the Exclusive Brethren operating as an unofficial third party. I certainly hope that parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, JSCEM, takes these issues up as part of its post-election inquiry. Yet, despite everything we had to put up with in terms of the final result, these ugly tactics backfired and blew up in the LNP's face. Critically, the LNP wrecked their voter base by preferencing One Nation and doing a deal for second preferences.”
“On top of this, they regularly defaced and destroyed my campaign signs and plastered the electorate with LNP signs, which really just succeeded in annoying voters. In the social media space, several times during the campaign, my posts appeared to be swarmed by coalition, Advance and other extreme-right trolls and bots from all over the country. To be clear, there is no issue with people of faith or no faith campaigning. After all, I'm a Christian by faith and a member of my local Baptist church. They flooded the pre-poll. A number of female voters told me and my Labor volunteers they felt intimidated by these hordes of Exclusive Brethren men, in LNP garb, haranguing and yelling at them as they attempted to make their way into polling booths. This is backed up by voters on social media posts in Ipswich.”
“Exclusive Brethren members stood in front of Labor volunteers and verbally abused them—men and women—physically blocked them from handing out how-to-vote cards, filmed Labor volunteers and other volunteers on their phones and made petty and vexatious complaints to polling booth returning officers. Yet they themselves refused to obey lawful directions by the AEC at pre-polls, and I saw this myself. The Exclusive Brethren even harassed and stalked me and my campaign staff during the campaign. On election day they even followed me and my car at one point, from booth to booth. They followed my campaign workers at night, doing laps of polling booths, heckling and yahooing. When I went to Ipswich State High School, on the last day, they abused and abused and abused me as I walked in to hand out how-to-vote cards for the Labor Party.”
“Perhaps what is less well known is their presence in the LNP campaign in Blair. There was a clear arrangement, a quid pro quo, between the LNP and the Exclusive Brethren. What did the LNP get out of it? In Blair, they recruited the Exclusive Brethren in their hundreds—up to 20 people on a polling booth—to campaign on issues like road funding. I doubt, by the way, very few of them could even name five streets in Ipswich or in Esk. Not only that, we saw bullying, and aggressive, intimidating and offensive behaviour at polling booths by the Exclusive Brethren in LNP paraphernalia.”
“In contrast, the coalition shot themselves in the foot by running one of the most negative and nasty campaigns I've seen anywhere in all of my 40 years of local campaigning for the Labor Party—that cuts across 15 federal campaigns. I make no apology for describing the LNP's 2025 campaign in Blair as toxic and a new low in local politics. The LNP engaged in disgraceful personal attacks on me. There was no record of me anywhere, verbally or personally, attacking the LNP candidate, yet they spent much of their campaign caricaturing me, alleging false things about me, even accusing me of being responsible for alleged rising crime in Blair. There's been extensive national media reporting on the role of the fringe Plymouth Brethren Christian Church—also known as the Exclusive Brethren—in this election.”
“At a national level, voters connected with the Albanese government's clear plans for the nation's future: delivering cost-of-living relief with tax cuts for every taxpayer, more affordable health care, help for first home buyers, free TAFE, cheaper child care and cuts to HECS debt. Ipswich is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. We're grappling with infrastructure needs, housing pressures and youth unemployment, so our positive policies and local commitments really resonated with Blair's booming suburbs like Ripley and Spring Mountain. The result reflected the strong local support for our agenda in areas like this.”
“We made numerous election commitments during the campaign—things like $200 million in funding a long-term fix for the notorious Amberley Interchange, major upgrades to the Brisbane Valley Highway and the Mount Crosby interchange, a new rugby league and sports centre in the Ripley corridor, upgrades to the Ipswich basketball stadium and Fernvale Sports Park, expanding the Chuwar Koala and Native Fauna Conservation Park, a new headspace mental health centre in Redbank Plains, a new House of India community and cultural centre in Springfield, a major upgrade to the Lowood pool and upgrades to the Springfield Central YMCA.”
“You didn't have to be very long in a polling booth to meet people coming through saying that they couldn't bring themselves to vote for Mr Dutton. It was a negative for the coalition. As they always do, the LNP talked up a big game in Blair and talked up their chances, but in the end their message struggled to gain traction. For our part, we ran a disciplined, well-organised grassroots campaign, and I'm confident we had the right message for voters. At the end of the day, you don't win a rugby league grand final by just turning up in the semifinals. You have to work hard and campaign continuously. Our campaign focused on cost-of-living relief, health and delivering the road and community infrastructure needed in my rapidly growing electorate.”
“The future of our party, our government and our country is indeed bright. I also want to congratulate my neighbour in Ipswich, the member for Oxley, on his re-election as Speaker, and I look forward to working with him and all the deputy speakers over the next three years. Thanks, Speaker, for the cooperation on all the joint booths in Ipswich. Again, I want to thank the good people of Blair for putting their faith in me to continue to represent them in federal parliament. I look forward to continuing to work hard for my local community as part of a re-elected and re-energised Albanese Labor government. It was a hard-fought victory for Labor in Blair and ultimately a rejection of the coalition and its former leader, Peter Dutton.”
“It's wonderful to be back in this place having been elected for a record seventh term in my electorate of Blair. I'm humbled by the election result and indebted to the people and communities of Ipswich, the Somerset region and the Karana Downs area for their support. It's an honour and privilege to represent an area in which my family has lived for seven generations, but I couldn't have done it without the hard work and dedication of so many volunteers and supporters. For me, the highlight apart from increasing my majority in a marginal seat was seeing Labor re-elected. I'm immensely proud to have come through what was a very bitter and hard-fought local campaign. At the same time, I'm encouraged to see so many new Labor MPs and senators elected. I take this opportunity to congratulate them all on their success.”
“A vice-president, treasurer or secretary of nearly every party unit and a former state conference delegate, she was an absolute treasure, and I enjoyed her wise counsel, good humour and loyal support. You could always rely upon Margie to hand out Labor Party how-to-vote cards on election day. I was honoured to attend Margie's funeral with so many people in Ipswich. The church was nearly full. My deepest condolences go to Margie's family and her many friends. Vale, Margaret, and many thanks.”
“I wish to pay tribute to a friend of mine, a pillar of the Labor Party in Ipswich, Margaret Doran. Margie was born in Ipswich on 15 April 1935 and died after a short illness at St Andrew's Hospital, Ipswich, on 25 June 2025 at the age of 90. Margie had been an inspiration for so many, and her passing leaves a huge gaping hole in the city of Ipswich. Margie was a life member of the Labor Party, a devout Christian and a fixture at St Mary's Catholic Church, Woodend in Ipswich. She was a proud teacher-librarian. Margaret was a life member of the Queensland Teachers' Union. She dedicated her life to public education and social justice. She was a formidable figure. She was the philosophical and spiritual compass of the Labor Party in Ipswich.”
“No-one wants to get rid of the market, but we want to make sure that the market works better. It will provide improved pathways for ACMA and other government agencies to educate carriage service providers on their regulatory obligations and to streamline complaints and compliance processes. And I think it will create a better situation in terms of the market overall. We do live in a free enterprise economy, and we want to make sure that that market works for everyone fairly and justly. At the moment, it doesn't. Empowering ACMA, under this legislation, to take greater powers and greater tools to rebalance the unequal situation between consumers and telcos is a very important thing, and the legislation is a very worthy piece of legislation that deserves support.”
“They need to boost their compliance and improve their functioning, and there needs to be fairness in the sector. There's an incredible imbalance of power between telcos and consumers, so ACMA needs to be that body that brings in some sort of equilibrium to the sector and rebalances that imperfect power arrangement between consumers and telcos. This bill is another way that the government is putting consumers at the centre of the telco industry. It's going to beef up enforcement and compliance. It's going to establish a carriage service provider registration scheme, increasing the visibility of the carriage service providers, and enable ACMA to stop providers operating in a market when it believes they pose an unacceptable risk to consumers or cause significant harm. It will increase the visibility in the market.”
“We want to make sure that there's visibility of providers operating in the market. We want to make sure that people know about the establishment of a carrier service provider registration scheme. We want to make sure that the bill equips ACMA with the kinds of tools and powers it needs, and these changes need to be a powerful deterrent. I think they will be. I think getting rid of that two-step process will be. If you look at the bill and if you look at the legislation and the extra powers that ACMA will have under this bill, it gives ACMA more teeth through more weapons and more tools. I think it incentivises those telcos to educate themselves to make sure they behave, and they've really got to not just communicate with their consumers but fulfill their obligations to those consumers.”
“An additional change will expand and clarify the government's ability to increase the infringement notice penalties that ACMA can issue for applicable breaches, including consumer protection rules. But, at the end of the day, no-one wants an industry that sees penalties as a slap on the wrist. They don't. And I've seen that happen, by the way, in industries like the waste industry around my electorate in Ipswich, where, for so long, I've seen the waste industry pay a penalty or do little when faced with litigation by the Queensland government. Indeed, I've seen so many people in the waste industry fight those cases, but it's almost like it's a price of doing business. I don't single out anyone in particular, but I've seen that happen. We want to make sure that that doesn't happen here.”
“It's going to go up from $250,000 to approximately $10 million—a very significant increase and quite appropriate. Further changes will allow penalties for breaches of codes, standards and determinations to be based on the value of the benefit obtained by the offending conduct or the turnover of the relevant provider, allowing for penalties greater than $10 million in certain circumstances. This penalty framework will incentivise community and industry compliance, and it will make sure that there's a better alignment with competition and consumer law around the country. ACMA is going to get a number of enforcement weapons or tools at its disposal.”
“The proposed changes mean that ACMA can take direct and immediate enforcement action against telecommunications providers that have breached their obligations to consumers under industry codes, and they remove the current two-step process whereby ACMA must issue a direction to comply to an offending telco, no matter how significant the breach—which is quite a clumsy arrangement. This two-step process will go, effectively, so that action can be taken immediately. It means that ACMA can respond quickly and appropriately to breaches, to immediately address consumer harm and hold the telcos to account. I think one of the most important things here is the raising of the maximum general penalty for breaches of industry codes and standards under the Telecommunications Act 1997.”
“We have revised the Telecommunications Consumer Protections Code and improved telecommunications for people with disability. We've listened to a whole range of feedback, from consumer advocates to industry, regulators and the TIO. So, on 12 February this year, the Minister for Communications introduced new legislation to the parliament to make these improvements. The bill gives effect to a number of the significant reforms to boost enforcement powers and penalties. They will enable ACMA to be a better and more effective regulator.”