Michael McCormack
Riverina · National Party · Australia
“She told the local newspaper, the Daily Advertiser : He shared his personal story and he was just such a brave, compassionate man— and we heard that from the member for Chifley a moment ago. She continued: He was the most warm, caring, generous man.”
“He knew that he was going to succumb to the diseases that were afflicting his body, and yet he used his final months, weeks, days and hours to send a message to the nation about what can be done, what should be done and how we should act.”
“The coalition has concerns from the sector itself about the consultation process, including but not limited to the fact universities had not seen the bill before it was tabled. There are elements of the drafting surprising the actual sector.”
“My thoughts and love and condolences go out to Katie and his children, Emily, Matthew and Lucy. It is a profound loss that they have suffered. I listened closely to the words of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Health and Ageing yesterday before question time.”
“There are a lot of Australians out there at the moment who are very angry, and, when there is anger, there is unfortunately a race to the bottom when it comes to healthy debate. I don't need to remind the House about the sovereign citizen movement and what that can do to Australia and the nature and discourse of debate.”
“I do believe that children should be allowed to be children. We saw it in the veterans legislation, where there is now going to be a $5,000 cap on allied health for veterans to access important services. The Labor Party said: 'Trust us. We'll do the consultation over the next 12 months.' It's not good enough.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,285 lines we hold for Michael McCormack, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 26.
“I asked the Minister for Climate Change and Energy what I thought was a very reasonable question in question time today. I put to him: why hasn't anyone—just anybody at all—in the Albanese Labor government taken responsibility and just said sorry for failing to deliver the $275 energy bill reduction promised to Australian families? And what did he do back to me? He quoted Taylor Swift. Well, I want to quote another political philosopher, Shania Twain, who once famously said: 'That don't impress me much—oh, oh, ooh. So you got the brains, but have you got the touch?' Well, I would argue about the minister and brains—I will give him some credit—but he's certainly lost touch with ordinary, everyday Australians. They are hurting.”
“My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Why hasn't anyone, anybody at all, in the Albanese government taken responsibility and apologised for failing to deliver the $275 energy bill reduction promised to Australian families?”
“They are against Australia. The member for Bruce finished by saying some people hate Australia—well, these are people who do. They do hate our nation. They do hate what we stand for. They hate our traditions and they hate everything that we stand for. The police are right in doing what they do to protect the normal, good, everyday, ordinary citizens who've had a gutful of these scum.”
“I'll tell you what, if I got bitten on the thumb, I would probably react the same way the police did as well. These protesters are professional activists. We've got a right to demonstrate in this nation—we do. It's a free and fair and democratic society in which we live. The right to demonstrate peaceably is there, but they do not have a right to hold up our cities and our country towns over and over and over again. Paul Nicolaou from the Sydney business chamber is right when he says that Sydney business has had a gutful. Those CBD businesses which open their doors and just want to trade are being stopped at every step of the way by these annoying activist protesters, many of whom are nothing more than scum. I'm sorry, but they are. That's all they are. I don't care if you react, because they are scum. There is no other word for them.”
“It was lost, thankfully, 106 to eight. We need to be a cohesive society. I will agree with the member for Bruce on that score. At the moment, what we've seen in metropolitan protests but also in country towns is alarming and disturbing. I have to say I support the New South Wales Police 100 per cent. They have been under more pressure than they have needed to be. Premier Chris Minns has said that New South Wales Police are not punching bags, and he is right. There should not have been those protests. The protests should not have been heading in the direction they were, and you see on the footage that is put up that in some of the actions taken by the protesters they had the mobile phones and the cameras all set up and ready to go and then they produced stunts which the police then moved them on from, and now the police are in trouble.”
“What worries me is that when Labor and the Greens get their hands on the Murray-Darling system what you end up with is a system that is imbalanced. It tips way too much in favour of green groups. What we do need is our farmers to be able to get the water that they pay for. Whenever the government enters the water buyback place and space, the price of water goes through the roof, and it is such a shame. It is such a shame. The appropriation bills also need to cover national security measures. I'll tell you what, if ever we need good and tight national security and safety measures, it is right now. I was amazed this morning that on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation vote we had eight people—the Green in this House, the member for Ryan and some independents—voting against the motion that the government put forward.”
“I appreciate that some of us have moved on and taken other roles—Victoria is a bit of a mess at the moment, and I look forward to seeing a new government in place there—but I acknowledge the work that was done back in 2020, when things were grim. These are appropriations—it's about spending, stripping back and putting in place rules and regulations over water buybacks and water allocations. Murray Watt, the senator for Queensland, in Goolwa just the other day talked about the stripping back of environmental protections that he alleges the coalition did. What the coalition did was ensured that the river system was protected whilst at the same time acknowledging the vital role that our irrigation farmers and towns play in producing the food and fibre that Australia and many other countries need.”
“Jacinta Allan, the then minister for transport and infrastructure in Victoria, and Mark Bailey, the then minister for transport and main roads in Queensland, as Labor ministers, in the national interest, worked with me to make sure that trucks carrying vital vaccines and, just as importantly, food were able to get over the border. When given the task, it was taking four hours. After the cooperation I was given by those two ministers—Rita Saffioti in Western Australia was very, very good too—but also the other ministers, Liberal and Labor alike, trucks were able to get over the border in four minutes, not four hours. I acknowledge the work.”
“I acknowledge that, last week, the Prime Minister worked through National Cabinet to, he says, achieve better outcomes for the state public hospital system. I acknowledge that because health is crucially important. Working through that National Cabinet process at the start, at the outset of COVID-19, when the National Cabinet was set up, there was good cooperation too. I also acknowledge—and the member for Wannon might pick something up and throw it at me in a minute—the work that I was able to achieve in getting trucks over borders. It doesn't sound like much these days.”
“Losing government was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was a bit like Winston Churchill losing office after doing so much to protect Great Britain from the perils of the Nazis in World War II. But that's politics. You move on and you try to do your best in the national interest, and indeed that's what we did. But I have to say it does gall me when the member for Rankin, the Treasurer, then thumbs his nose at the work that was done during those dark years. We were trying to keep the doors of businesses open. We were trying to stop people from going into Great Depression-like food queues and job queues. We saved Australians. We saved the lives of so many tens of thousands of Australians who are alive, vital and healthy today because of what we did as a government. I'm proud of what we did. It was difficult.”
“Yet, despite those ominous warnings given by Dr Murphy, what we managed to do as a government was achieve a worldwide status, which the Johns Hopkins centre acknowledged, of being the second-best nation for preparedness to COVID. Through the rollout of the vaccines, we saved many, many lives—not only in Australia but also in the islands of the Pacific. We looked after our close neighbours; we looked after the regional rim of the blue Pacific. Closer to home, there was JobKeeper. Through JobKeeper, 1.1 million jobs were created in those three years since the pandemic hit—or the two-and-a-bit years from the time we lost government—and 700,000 jobs were saved.”
“I always acknowledge the role that you've played, particularly in paediatrics, Member for Macarthur. I can recall the meeting where the chief health officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, described to us the situation. If we did not act, within weeks there would potentially be 50,000 to 55,000 deaths from this virus emanating from China. It was early 2020, and we closed the borders to China. We did everything that we could, as a responsible government would, to ensure that Australians were kept safe. There weren't too many in that room. There was the Chief of the Defence Force; there was the Prime Minister, of course—at the time, Scott Morrison—and there was the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, who was a fine health minister and the member for Flinders. There were others besides, but there were only a few of the executive government in that room.”
“When the coalition government left office in May 2022, the debt was nowhere near a trillion dollars. It was not. It was high, yes, it was. We as a coalition were approaching a budget surplus—the first for many years. Of course, then COVID hit, and COVID brought with it a number of almighty challenges this nation had not faced ever, you could say. Certainly for a hundred years we had not had a global pandemic. A virus was killing, elsewhere in the world, many, many people, such that there were open graves being dug on Manhattan Island in New York, and churches in Italy were being used as morgues to place coffins of people who had succumbed to this new disease. Italy and the United States of America have good health systems. They do, and you would know that, Deputy Speaker Freelander, from your experience in the medical field.”
“It's all well and good for the leafy suburbs of the teal-voting centres of Sydney, but it's not good enough when you've got a country town supporting more than half of the green energy projects in the state getting put into blackouts all of the time. The Australian editorial of 12 February, today, talks of the trillion-dollar-debt milestone drawing close. It reads: As Australia's debt soars towards the $1 trillion mark in a matter of weeks, before the May budget, Wednesday was a dreadful day for the nation's economic outlook. A parliamentary hearing uncovered a previously undisclosed $54bn blowout in the government's medium-term budget position. We hear the Treasurer in question time all the time talking about $1 trillion worth of Liberal Party debt. Fact-checked, it's a nonsense. It truly is.”
“As extraordinary as that sounds, when it represents about 53 per cent of the total green energy projects in the state, time and again that town is cast into blackness, into darkness, because it doesn't have enough power to support itself. The proposal put the town on diesel generator back-ups. That's the folly of this system, and that's just a microcosm of the future that awaits Australia. Crookwell has an aged-care home. Crookwell has a childcare centre. Crookwell has a hospital. When it is pitched into darkness, when the power goes off, those important facilities need to have energy to continue to operate. That can lead to dramas with people being kept alive, quite frankly.”
“She was telling me about the concern in Upper Lachlan Shire about the number of wind turbines, those monstrosities that are being rolled out supposedly to get Australia to net zero. They are being rolled out in a reckless way. In Upper Lachlan, the 11 wind factories support 340 wind turbines ranging from 126 metres high to 185 metres high. There is a proposal on the books to have another wind factory in that shire which won't even be connected to the grid. Why on Earth would they want to build such a piece of infrastructure when it is not going to be connected to the grid, when it is not going to supply power to the energy system? Crookwell suffers from blackouts all the time.”
“The opposition does not, as you would expect, support all of the policies and programs in the federal budget. However, the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026, the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2025-2026 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 do provide the legislative mechanism by which the policies and programs of the government's 2025-26 budget need to be funded. Of course the opposition does not oppose or delay this. Supply needs to be given. I won't quite go as far as to say 'confidence', because there are many people across the country in metropolitan cities, in regional Australia and in remote communities who do not have confidence in this government, and for good reason. I've just finished a meeting with Jo Marshall from Crookwell, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Agricultural Centre.”
“I know the PJCIS plays an important role in that, and I commend the government for at least making sure that the questions that we raised in the middle of last year were addressed. Thank you. That's to be commended, because national security is too important to place at any risk and ASIO deserves the very best help and everything that it requires. Those concerns included the view from some individuals and organisations that compulsory-questioning powers are excessive measures for an intelligence agency to possess and they ordinarily should not be broadened, but some also argue that the infrequent use of these powers in the past makes the case that there is no need for their extension. We do support these bills. They are important. I'm glad that the PJCIS has run ruler over them, and I commend them to the House.”
“There is a requirement to make sure that people who want to speak, wish to speak and should speak on bills are given the opportunity to do so, and there is an obligation and a duty upon the government of the day, irrespective of the majority it might have in the House of Representatives, to ensure that it does listen to the opposition. I appreciate that things have been interesting of late, but there are very serious people with very serious and qualified backgrounds in the opposition to assist the government, particularly on bills such as this involving national security and involving our national security organisations. Those experienced and qualified views should be listened to.”
“I have this genuine concern that, given the Labor government's huge role in the House of Representatives, there is a bit of complacency setting in, that the government is not taking seriously the stakeholder engagement and the consultation it should on each piece of legislation. I fear that there is this inclination to just push things through the House of Representatives and then do the negotiations with those who hold the balance of power in the Senate to get it through. But that's not the way parliament's intended. That's not the way parliament should run.”
“If the Greens got in trouble, the first thing they'd do is pick up the phone and dial triple zero, and the first people who'd be responding would be the police, and they'd expect that. Yet they turn on the police every step of the way. I don't know why; they just seem to hate the way our country is run. In the course of the months since the middle of last year, when the member for Canning, as shadow home affairs minister at the time, made the points about this bill I referred to earlier, these issues have, we believe, been satisfactorily examined and addressed, especially in the form of questioning of a number of witnesses, including ASIO, as part of that PJCIS inquiry. So, that's good. And I think the government needs to listen.”
“He knows, as does the member for Cowper, the importance of the PJCIS, the importance of putting the ruler over every line of this and making sure we give it the full accountability it requires. I acknowledge the role the member for Cowper has played in police work, because police work also goes to the nub of security. We should give thanks not only to organisations such as ASIO but also to the people who don a uniform and go to work every day. I note the member for Solomon opposite, and I acknowledge the part he played in the Australian Army. When people require assistance, the first people they run to are the police. And if things get so bad, the first people those under threat require to do the job for them is our Australian defence forces. Earlier I mentioned the Greens.”
“I appreciate, too—and I do need to make mention of this—that concerns have been expressed by the coalition that the bill promotes some overreach. I know our then shadow home affairs minister, the member for Canning, who I have a lot of respect for regarding the role of national security and the importance of ensuring that national security is front and centre of everything we do, said on 30 July last year, in his speech in the second reading debate on the predecessor bill, 'It should be noted that there are people on both sides of the House who have concerns in relation to the extension of the powers at the heart of this kind of legislation.' He added that in the opposition we were alive to those concerns and that we should also explore them as part of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security inquiry into this bill, and that's important.”
“That is why it's so important that the PJCIS and those sorts of organisations are run by the serious people within the parliament, and I think everybody in this room knows exactly who I mean by 'the serious people'. There are people in this parliament who, quite frankly, just don't like the organisation, the administration and the way our country is run. How they get elected is beyond me—but anyway; we move on. Bill No. 2 also amends the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to permit the PJCIS to undertake a further review of the operation, effectiveness and implications of the framework three years after the commencement of this bill. The PJCIS plays an important role in national security and the way things are done through the parliament as far as defence and security are concerned.”
“I know these things are under constant review, and that last point about repealing the sunset provision is noteworthy, but I think many of the aspects related to this bill are very much bipartisan in the sense that the major political parties get it. We just do. We understand it, and I appreciate that you do too, Deputy Speaker Haines. I know that integrity is one of the hallmarks of your political advocacy. But we do have elements within this building who do not always value the role that fundamental organisations such as ASIO play in this nation. They always want to try to completely tear down the very precepts and concepts of what administering the law means. By that I mean that they're always trying to change things.”
“There are several points pertaining to this. It widens the scope of adult questioning warrants to include promotion of communal violence, sabotage, attacks on Australia's defence system and serious threats to Australia's territorial and border integrity. It amends the eligibility and termination provisions for proscribed authorities to ensure the independence and impartiality of persons appointed to the role. It introduces additional reporting requirements to ensure the Attorney-General is made aware of any relevant information regarding conduct under a compulsory questioning warrant. It requires that post-charge questioning occur only before a proscribed authority who is a retired judge and it makes the framework permanent by repealing the sunset provision. That is important too.”
“What we've seen in recent nights in Sydney has been simply unacceptable, and I have to say hate speech on our streets leads to hate events in our communities. It has to be stopped. I know that ASIO very much looks at these on a on an overall level and look at these on an overall basis, but it starts with us as a society following the laws of the land. When these protests go beyond the laws of the land, well, what we see result is what occurred, in particular, two nights ago in Sydney. It's unacceptable. For the Greens to do what they do as a political party—to encourage that sort of hatred in our society—is reprehensible, is abhorrent. I just cannot understand it. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025 amends the compulsory questioning powers in the ASIO Act.”
“We thank them, and anything that we can do to help them has to be encouraged and has to be followed through. I know that sometimes there are nefarious and evil-minded people whose activities slip through the cracks—not always but sometimes. We see incidents such as 14 December on Bondi Beach, where out of the blue these acts of terror occur and these people who perpetrate these acts and to and who help others to do just that have to be have to be stopped. It should never happen. They must be prevented from carrying out their terror in the future. And I thank everybody who has a part to play in that, because, indeed, we are very much a peace-loving nation and that is just something that goes against everything we stand for—the traditions and the norms on which our society is based.”
“I know that the work that ASIO and other organisations have done, particularly since that point in time, has been truly remarkable. Yes, we've had incidents. Yes, we've had some people who would who want the destruction of our society because they hate us. They have been curtailed in their attempts to wreak havoc amongst our peace-loving and law-abiding citizens. Many of those attempts, of course, we never know about. I've been 2IC of the security committee, the peak body here in Australia—not that I'll go into what is said and put across that table, of course—and rest assured it's very comforting to know that our people, ASIO and others, are the best that they can be and the work that they do is always ongoing. It's 24/7. It's 365 days a year.”
“We are facing, in this nation and throughout the world, a time where people who seek to do us harm are everywhere and endeavouring to infiltrate organisations, even down to local councils and businesses. This is a critical time that we invest, both in resources and people, what is needed to ensure that our intelligence agencies, especially ASIO, are the best that they can be. We should thank them, because we have some incredible people, some amazing and talented people, in ASIO and in our intelligence organisations here and abroad working for us and on our behalf, working to ensure that the safety and security of Australians is paramount. The world changed with 9/11, with the hijacking of aeroplanes in the United States. Ten Australians were killed in the World Trade Center. I've been to Ground Zero; it's a very sobering and sombre place.”
“The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, ASIO, was established in 1949 to fill a really important need in Australia at that time. The end of World War II had happened only four years earlier, and there was a lot going on in our nation at that time—the rise of communism, a fear of communism. There was so much subversive activity going on to get information about Australia, about its organisations, about its defence capability and the like. The establishment of ASIO was a critical part of making sure that we kept in front of state organisations in other countries that would seek to do us harm. Never has there been a more important time for the role of ASIO to be at its peak, to be at its utmost level of capability than right now.”
“Both sides of government are accountable for this—I'll be perfectly upfront and say that—but it's now up to Labor, who are in government, to do what they can to help rectify a very sad and bad situation for those investors, many of whom now have nothing. They've got absolutely nothing, and they were looking to rely on that to live out their lives in reasonable prosperity, and they have now been left high and dry. I commend to the House the amendment that's been moved by the member for Fairfax. The legislation has way too much packed into it, in typical Labor fashion.”
“I know we've had situations that have occurred previously, but it's not right. It's simply not right. The collapses of the First Guardian and Shield schemes have, as the ABC quite correctly reported, exposed deep flaws in the regulation of Australia's $4.3 trillion superannuation sector. It's a massive amount of money, but the ordinary, average, everyday Australians relied on that super. They relied on those two major companies, Shield and First Guardian, and now they have nothing. They face a very bleak prospect. The ABC also says: The scandal has also thrown into the spotlight gaps in the regulation of parts of the financial services industry. Both First Guardian and Shield were managed investment schemes, a type of fund first established in the late 1990s— and the story goes on.”
“We should have been onto this, and ASIC should have perhaps been doing more to ensure that these companies just don't go under. If you're somebody near retirement, if you're somebody looking forward to putting your feet up and enjoying your twilight years, knowing that you've got so much invested in these superannuation funds, and that will be what you live off for the rest of your life, and all of a sudden that money disappears—place yourself in their shoes. It must be so worrying, so bad for your health. I know parliamentarians across the aisle feel for those people. We should, we must and we have to in order to do better as parliamentarians. ASIC must do better. Corporate watchdogs must. We must absolutely ensure that this cannot happen again. I know it's happened before.”
“The ABC article continues: About 12,000 Australians— not a small number— poured $1.1 billion in retirement savings into the two funds, which collapsed in 2024 and 2025 amid what incoming ASIC chair Sarah Court has described as "industrial-scale misconduct". Investors in First Guardian, many of whom switched from highly regulated super funds into the product, face little prospect of recovery directly from the fund, with liquidators in December saying just $1.6 million of $446 million tipped into it had been recovered—not enough to pay their fees. In order to recover money for investors, the corporate watchdog has instead launched a series of lawsuits against companies responsible for overseeing the fund. Now, at the risk of Labor just saying, 'Well, what did you do when you were in government?' as a parliament entirety, what was done?”
“I know that the then shadow Assistant Treasurer, the member for Cowper, was very strong and extremely vocal on this. The ABC reported as recently as 10 February: The government is planning to tighten the rules around managed investment schemes and give corporate watchdog ASIC more power to demand information. So it should. The article continues: It comes following the collapse of major funds Shield Master Fund and First Guardian. Consultation on Treasury's proposals closes on the 27th of this month. I do hope earnestly that the government has thrown the net out wide enough to get the proper consultation, and I do hope that the right people have been eyeballing those most affected by this corporate collapse—this collapse of superannuation funds for so many people.”
“When it comes to superannuation, we also understand that it is one of those things that we all have and that we all need, but it's something that we probably hold at arm's length. Not a lot of people truly understand the power of superannuation, but I'll tell you who do understand the power of superannuation: those Australians caught up in the First Guardian and Shield collapse. That, for some, is an absolute tragedy—their life savings just gone in an instant. People don't need, at that stage of their lives, to have the rug pulled out from underneath them, as they have. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, ASIC, is taking further steps to support thousands of Australians who invested in the Shield Master Fund and the First Guardian Master Fund after the collapse. So they should. I really worry about this whole situation.”
“Labor has stitched together a series of largely unrelated measures and wrapped them around contentious superannuation changes that it knows we oppose. It is clever. It's what Labor does. They are always good at politics and never really that great at policy. This approach is designed to force a false choice on the parliament: accept the superannuation changes or be accused of blocking sensible unrelated measures. It's wedge politics. It's not good lawmaking, but it's what, unfortunately, Labor does. We know that Labor has a 50 seat majority, and we know that this bill will pass. We know that it'll go to the Senate, and we know that Labor will do deals with the senators who hold the balance of power, and so on we go.”
“I have to say that in any tariff arrangements or free trade agreements that are signed—and I know Senator Farrell is well aware of this. He likes a good red. I have been with him on a trip or two, and he knows the value of making sure that our winemakers are looked after in any trade arrangements. I know that the member for Page did a good deal of shadowing in that trade phase, but he also, as a minister in the former coalition government, understood the value of getting the right arrangements when it comes to free trade agreements. I could mention the member for Wannon there too. We do support many measures in this bill, but—and this probably comes to the very core—it shouldn't have been bundled in this way. Those six schedules are, you could argue, disparate.”
“That's cool-climate wine country, and it's tourism country. It should not be, in the reckless race to renewables, taken up with those monstrosities that they call wind turbines. These wines that I mentioned just a little bit earlier from Murrumbateman and elsewhere around the Yass Valley appear on curated wine lists at restaurants around the world as well as the dinner tables in the Riverina and also sometimes in the Hunter Valley, in South Australia and elsewhere—Margaret River; I could go on. They're very good wine-producing country too, but they all know the value of Riverina and southern New South Wales wines. The coalition successfully implemented the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement, which removed the five per cent tariffs on Riverina wines destined for the UK. This was a win for our producers and the British public.”
“Charles Sturt University is doing some great research, and it's home to the next generation of, we hope, Australian and international winemakers, so their own wine stands out as well. In the world renowned Tumbarumba region, we have premium cool-climate wine and grapes, with 19 vineyards and 3,000 tonnes of grapes crushed annually. They're reasonable numbers for a regional winery. The Murrumbateman wine region is home to 20 world-class boutique wineries: Clonkilla, Nick O'Leary Wines, Helm Wines, Shaw Wines—all outstanding, just to name a few. I know the mayor of Yass Valley Council, Jasmin Jones, is one of the great promoters of the wineries there, and she's also very worried about what she describes as an industrial junkyard with the take-up of arable farmland with 260-metre-high wind towers. She's extremely worried, as she should be.”
“Some of those names are synonymous of course not just throughout Australia but worldwide. Yellowtail and other iconic brand names have done so much to boost win production in that outstanding winegrowing area of New South Wales. Demand for cool-climate wines from the Riverina—again, not just the electorate but the regional geographic areas—is strong. Riesling is seeing a great resurgence domestically. Then you look at the vineyards at Cottontail Wines, Wagga Wagga, Borambola Wines—it's been operating for more than 30 years; the McMullens are there. They're doing an outstanding job. These wineries add to the dynamic regional tourism offering and provide perfect venues for birthday parties, meetings and weddings. The Wild Vine are out on the road to Oura. They're an outstanding wedding venue, and their vineyards are very well looked after.”
“This rebate will hopefully keep small and medium winegrowers afloat, and, particularly in regional Australia, this is imperative. The Riverina is Australia's second largest wine-producing region. When I say Riverina, I'm being a little bit generous. The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area has long been in the Riverina. The Riverina, some could argue, starts at Narrandera and go west. It takes in Griffith, Yenda—amazing wine country. That is well represented by the member for Farrer. You look on any given tourism schedule, any given Wikipedia entry, and it's considered the Riverina, and it is. Five of New South Wales's 16 winegrowing regions are in the Riverina. Wine is also linked to the great immigration stories of southern New South Wales, particularly through Italian communities. You've got the Casellas, the De Bortolis—I could go on and on.”
“This bill before the House, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025, contains six schedules providing employers and agents with access to employees' staple fund information earlier, restrictions on superannuation advertising during onboarding, Rugby World Cup tax exemptions, Australia-Portugal tax treaty deductible gift recipient listings and schedule 6, which is an increase to the wine equalisation tax producer rebate cap. At the early part of my contribution, I want to refer to schedule 6, which is about changes to the WET. Increases to the Wine Equalisation Tax producer rebate cap are important because currently producers can claim refunds of excise up to $350,000 per annum. The bill will increase that refund amount to $400,000 per year.”
“The amendment moved by the member for Fairfax will be supported by the coalition, and I'm glad that the member for Hunter has acknowledged in his contribution the truck drivers of this country and the freight industry as a whole, because, at the moment, the trucking and transport sector is in freefall. I really think that, as a matter of urgency, the Labor government needs to call a summit and needs to hear solutions to what is a calamity in our country when you have companies such as Ron Crouch Transport and Don Watson Transport going to the wall and third-generation, decades-old companies doing it tough. It's so, so difficult because everything, as you know, gets delivered on a truck. Everything—our food, just about every good—at one stage of the chain process gets delivered on a truck.”
“It is one of those cities that take our current serving personnel very seriously and ensures that they are welcomed and very much part and parcel of our community—indeed, not just those who are currently wearing a uniform but their partners, their families, their children. I know that providing access to child care, to health services and to all of that—the full gamut—is so very important. Particularly for our veterans, ensuing that the provision of mental health services, welfare and support is there is a crucial part of understanding what our veterans are going through and what they need and ensuring that they can continue to contribute mightily to our nation.”
“Parliament was asked to wade through a complex oversight body with very limited visibility and limited stakeholder engagement, and that is not how serious veterans policy should be made. It is not. So I would urge and encourage that we ensure we take the time with this commission and with this bill. I know it will pass this place; it's got the support of the coalition. But we also need to ensure that, if there are any fine-tuning legislative measures that may happen in the house of review, in the Senate, in the upper house, then there's the time taken to do that as well. Establishing this commission will very much have a flow-on effect throughout our veteran community—certainly in Wagga Wagga, which, as I said, is a triservice military city. It is one of those cities that take our veterans very seriously.”
“Make sure that you do that on any piece of legislation—on this and others. That's why we, from the very beginning of this piece of legislation, urged and encouraged the government to do the work to get it right. Our veterans deserve that bare minimum. They deserve everything that we can do for them. We need to make sure, particularly with veterans legislation, that we don't rush the process—that we don't put it through parliament in record time. A major structural reform body should never be created through a last-minute legislative insertion. It undermines the confidence of sectors in the system, in the people elected to do the job on their behalf. Our veterans do look to us for support, and it must come from both sides.”
“I appreciate the government has a huge majority in the House of Representatives. That's the people's wish, and I understand that; I acknowledge that. But don't use that majority to push through legislation, because legislation needs to be debated. Legislation needs to have proper consultation with the stakeholders who will feel its effects the most. Proper consultation through peak groups—and others—is really important because it enables the parliament to get lawmaking right. We have an obligation and a responsibility to the people of Australia to get lawmaking right. We do. I do fear that there is a growing trend that this government is abusing its huge majority in the House of Representatives to push its agenda through. Take the time. Be patient. Be practical; be pragmatic.”
“That's not what this should be about. I acknowledge the role that the government is playing to endeavour to ensure that that doesn't occur. Establishing the commission through standalone legislation is the right model, and it's the model that the coalition argued for from the very outset. The government's original attempt to create the commission through a late amendment to unrelated legislation, I have to say, wasn't well done. It was poorly handled. It lacked the proper consultation. One thing I would really urge and encourage this government not to do is rush legislation through this House in haste, because haste leads to poor outcomes. Unfortunately, we have seen that this year already, with the extraordinary sittings of the parliament in January. The thing is: I know the government has a legislative agenda.”