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 23 of 26.
“I didn't want to go to Moscow, anyway—or anywhere else in Russia, for that matter. If they don't want me, that's fine. But, as the member for New England said, they are amongst us—not just Russians but people who we, quite frankly, don't want to have in our country. They come here under the guise of being visitors and great diplomats et cetera. But they come here to try to subvert people. They come here to this building to sway people to do the wrong thing. We need to be aware of that.”
“I say that because I know he was one of former prime minister Kevin Rudd's chief intelligence people, and I know he had a role in 2024 and up to the election as Special Envoy for Social Cohesion. I've had a number of discussions with the member for Wills in relation to security and public safety, and I regard his experience very highly. It's good that we've got people on both sides of the chamber who are very adept in this regard. I note that the member for Canning, the shadow minister for home affairs, has a deep and abiding interest in this as well. He is a highly regarded and decorated former member of the SAS. We need people like that in our parliament; we truly do. I've got a ban from Russia for being the deputy prime minister during the Morrison years. I wear that as a badge of honour, actually.”
“In fact, there is a person appearing in court next month in Wagga Wagga for the window displays that he put up. That will be a real test case for this sort of situation. I'll leave the court to worry about that. That is their place to do that. But ASIO needs the powers necessary to do everything it can to keep Australians safe. I have to give plaudits to the people who do keep us safe—these ASIO officials, these top-level intelligence agents. We have very good people in those areas. Mike Burgess and others have done a power of good in keeping us safe. If we know about some of the incidents that have happened, heaven only knows the incidents that perhaps none of us know about that they've actually saved us from and kept Australians safe from. I also want to give a shout-out to the new Assistant Minister for Defence, the member for Wills.”
“But, more than that, the member for New England and I know how important they are because we've heard, we've seen and we've lived the sort of evidence you get before that committee. You know that the government has a responsibility—and it is a huge responsibility—to take every precaution to keep our citizens safe. We've seen in recent times, for example, the Dural caravan incident. You turn on the television on any given day and see incidents around the world, but, more specifically, they're happening on an increasing basis here at home. Often, they are mad, bad and sad people, but they are occurring. Since 7 October 2023, in capital cities but also in my hometown of Wagga Wagga, we've seen people taking the Middle East situation way too far.”
“It's not about worrying about reds under the bed. It's not about being alarmist. It's about making sure that we have the measures in place, in a world being taken over by artificial intelligence, in a world being overtaken by nefarious characters, in a world where sometimes the great unknown is very much on our doorstep. We have to be ready. The price of peace is eternal vigilance, and when you have two former deputy chairs of the National Security Committee, the No. 1 security committee in this nation, willing to speak on this, you know it's an important topic, you know it's an important bill. These complementary bills seek to extend and expand the compulsory questioning powers in division 3 of part III of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (ASIO Act). That's what these bills are about. That's the substance.”
“I appreciate that, for social media exercises, reducing HECS debt sees just about every Labor member on their feet making 10-minute statements, even though the legislation has long since left the House of Representatives. I understand that. We live in a political environment. We do what we need to do. But, when it comes to bills such as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 1) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2 ) 2025, I am a little bit disappointed that there aren't more—any—Labor speakers who want to get to their feet and talk about this, because it is important. Our national security has to be the No. 1 issue facing the government, this parliament, because keeping our people safe is our main objective. The member for New England summed that up very succinctly.”
“I am surprised that there is not a long list of people wishing to address this issue. It's been left up to the member for New England and me to talk on this very important topic. Nobody gets it better than two former deputy chairs of the National Security Committee. We have both seen and heard things within the framework of that role that are very disturbing, and no doubt the government also has information before it that is a worry. Why else would the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister for Defence, the member for Corio, say that we live in the most precarious times since World War II? That is why this bill and other measures that the government is taking are important.”
“We won't seek to delay the passage of this bill—Australians deserve better than broken promises and more procrastination and delay by this Albanese Labor government; I understand that—but these changes have to be scrutinised to ensure the process of reform can be implemented in the best way possible, because, at the end of the day, our society is ageing, and we need to provide the very best quality of care. But, for want of a better word, there also needs to be the quantity of care, and, in regional Australia at the moment, it's tough. It's tough for these providers to make ends meet. They do a grand job. I take my hat off to them. And people, like those who are running the centre at Gundagai, are doing it really tough. Question agreed to. Bill read a second time. Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.”
“They then have to be packed up and shipped away to far-off aged-care centres in communities they are not familiar with, with people they do not know. Whilst I appreciate that they will still be provided, hopefully, quality care, it's just got to be more than that. We have to be more empathetic and more sympathetic to the needs of our aged-care residents and also our aged-care providers in regional, rural and especially remote Australia.”
“When ministers and even bureaucrats are making these sorts of reforms, they really should reach out, particularly to those NFPs I mentioned earlier to see these community-led and community-run organisations and what they're doing, and ask: 'How is this going to affect what you do? How is this going to affect your bottom line?' They are not making riches, trust me. What they are doing is putting in place measures to keep the lights on, keep the doors open and keep the beds for people who are seeking to go into aged care and who have lived in those local communities all of their lives. It is simply not right that they are left high and dry because of decisions made in this city which affect their lives.”
“I say that, even though I do believe ministers have a responsibility to not just tick-and-flick the in-tray proliferation which secretaries and departments sometimes put in front of them. I know—I've been a minister. I know how this is the case. We remain increasingly concerned and disappointed by the lack of transparency this government has shown during the process of reform. Those 325 changes to Labor's own legislation is not an insignificant number. And 197 repeals to Labor's own legislation is also not an insignificant number. Many of these are a result of Labor's lack of consultation with older Australians and the broader aged-care sector.”
“But it still doesn't equate to some of the money being earned in the NDIS space, and we have lost a lot of good workers, people who had qualifications, people who went to TAFE and elsewhere to gain those qualifications and are now leaving the aged-care sector and going to work in the NDIS space because they can earn a lot more money. Their skills have been lost to aged care, and that is a great shame. It's no surprise that in the first week of the 48th Parliament the government has introduced this bill to amend 325 items of Labor's own legislation, passed just months ago. That's why we seek to have this bill set to committee—to ensure appropriate scrutiny is placed upon the proposed amendments.”
“I know the member for Indi talked about the number of Australians who are still waiting for their home-care packages to come through, and this delay is not helping matters. One of the situations with the staffing arrangements in rural Australia is not helped by the number of people who are now going to work on the National Disability Insurance Scheme and getting out of aged care. I appreciate the government—and I do appreciate it, I mean that in every sense of the word—has increased the pay for aged-care workers, and I commend the government for that. They are doing a wonderful job for, in some cases, Australia's most vulnerable.”
“Through the coalition's persistent negotiations on the act, we were able to achieve significant improvements to the government's reforms—albeit proposed at the time—to protect the interests of older Australians and future generations. I know a lot of our aged-care centres in rural Australia are often community-led, community-run and community-supported organisations. They are locals who form committees and trusts, and run these places not for profit, and, by gee, they do a remarkable job. One of the most critical outcomes of our efforts was the introduction of grandfathering arrangements. These arrangements guarantee that Australians who are already in residential aged care on a home-care package, or are assessed as waiting for their allocated home-care package, will not see any changes to their existing arrangements. That is important.”
“Let me tell you, the beds were filled very, very quickly. Coolamon is not that far from Wagga Wagga, but, even in Wagga Wagga, the aged-care beds are all taken up very, very quickly. With the passage of the Albanese government's Aged Care Act 2024 in the last parliament, the coalition upheld its commitment to a rights based act for older Australians to guarantee a world-class aged-care system into the future. We are absolutely going to be needing a world-class aged-care system into the future because we're all getting older, and the older we get, the more that aged-care centre looms. We should all be very nice to our children, because I think it's ultimately them who are going to make the decisions about where we go and when we go!”
“Temora, like many of our regional cities, towns, villages, hamlets and districts, has an ageing population, and particularly so. We want to see people be able to age in place. The Coolamon aged-care centre recently reopened a wing of around 10 to a dozen beds, which had been closed because they couldn't find staff, and that's another big problem. I appreciate, Deputy Speaker Payne, that you're from Canberra. It wouldn't be the issue for the aged-care centres in your electorate that it is in the Riverina. My electorate now shares a common boundary with yours, but that line on that map—there's a big difference between the haves and have-nots, let me tell you. It's more than just a line on a map. At Coolamon, they couldn't find staff. They had to go and get special provisions to get staff in from overseas so that they could reopen that wing.”
“I know that Mayor Rick Firman OAM, who is actually in parliament today, is still keen to see the $3.7 million that was allocated by the coalition government to Whiddon homes in Temora see the light of day. They made changes to the infrastructure that they were going to provide. It was COVID. There were a whole lot of other factors that came into play, but now they're still waiting and wondering where their money is, and they're not seeing any gratification from the Labor government, which says it's going to be a government for all and leave no-one behind. Well, unfortunately, Temora is being left behind in this regard. I would urge and implore the aged-care minister to pay attention to that request by Whiddon homes in Temora.”
“It's an unintended consequence, I appreciate, of what I guess was a well-intended recommendation of the royal commission, but it is placing such a burden on aged-care providers in regional Australia, which were already struggling to make ends meet. In the main, they were doing a wonderful job. They really were. Yes, you're always going to get examples of bad eggs doing the wrong thing and putting the making of money first and the provision of health care for our vulnerable aged people second. But, in the main, particularly in regional Australia, our providers are doing a great job. I visited a centre at an aged-care provider at Boorowa recently, and they're doing a fantastic job. I pay great credit to them.”
“You can't just have those three people working all year around. You need about five or six people. When you've got those little centres looking after 20 people who are pretty healthy, it does provide a huge impost on their finances. They can only afford to charge as much as they can. What we then end up seeing is a lot of the little aged-care providers closing down—and they're often in little towns—and then people cannot age in place. So what happens is that a person who has lived in a little town all of their lives all of a sudden gets packed up and shipped off to a large rural hub in a regional city, and then they don't get the visitors. They don't have their family close by. People cannot visit them. All too often, we see this happening across regional Australia.”
“Let's just take a little facility such as one that I know of within an easy drive of Wagga Wagga. It had around 20 clients, most of whom did not require the sort of care that would need a nurse on hand 24/7, but all of a sudden they have to provide that around-the-clock supervision by an RN. Now, for an aged-care provider such as this, it's not just one person. When we take into account annual leave, stress leave, maternity leave and domestic violence leave—all the sorts of leave for an RN that is part and parcel of any workplace these days—you need about five people to cover that one position 24/7. Obviously, people can only work a certain number of hours each day, preferably around eight. Therefore, you're going to need three people a day to cover that 24-hour around-the-clock supervision.”
“Now, when it comes to aged care, I represent a lot of aged-care centres, and, whether they're in Cootamundra, Cowra, Harden-Murrumburrah, Junee, Temora, Young or even a large centre such as Wagga Wagga, they are really struggling at the moment. I know that the interim report of the royal commission into aged care had 'neglect' in its title, and some of the examples that were exposed and came to light because of that investigation were horrendous—there's absolutely no question about that. But the government then, in a kneejerk response, adopted that recommendation to just have registered nurses 24/7 for each and every aged-care centre. This has placed so much pressure on aged-care centres in rural and remote Australia, and they are closing at far too rapid a rate. We need them to be opening, not closing.”
“In this government we have a lot of ministers who are very cautious and careful about the NACC and about the ability for a person to make anonymous complaints about a minister who doesn't abide by the wishes of their secretary or their department. Therefore, they are nervous about making a decision and very nervous about a referral to the National Anti-Corruption Commission. I think we elect ministers to be ministers. Secretaries will never have their names on a ballot paper, nor will faceless officials or bureaucrats. Ministers are there to be ministers, and I think this is going to be so important.”
“In regard to the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, it is important to put on the record some of the concerns that the coalition has in relation to aged care. I just listened to the member for Indi very closely. She is concerned about some changes whereby the minister would have all of the say over changes that would previously have been legislative. You'd expect a crossbencher to say that. I think we do need to allow ministers to be ministers. They have oversight of departments and of secretaries of departments, and I would like to actually see, in one sense, ministers not just be a tick and flick for departments and for secretaries. I think that is occurring way too much.”
“Clearly he would have known about the health department's data before waving that Medicare card around. In an election situation, when people are looking to cast their vote, they'll listen to that and see that little grab on the news, and that's what they'll go with. But the true reality is that people are still having to pay, shell out their own money, to see a GP. And, of course, there's a coalition, as you'd expect, opposition—”
“The Prime Minister told Australians that under Labor all you'll need is your Medicare card, not your credit card. But that's not the lived experience of so many Australians, particularly Australians who live in rural, regional, and especially remote areas. The department of health's incoming government brief, released under FOI, estimates that a quarter—23 per cent—of GP clinics across Australia will not bulk-bill, despite all the Labor government's promises. Doctors need to make money. I appreciate that. They run clinics. They're under strain as well, particularly in regional settings, but so too are people in the cost-of-living crisis, a cost-of-living crisis that has worsened under the Labor government. It is appalling that this Prime Minister is willing to mislead Australians about only needing the Medicare card. That's not correct.”
“But the data that I just talked about—the decrease in bulk-billing from 88 per cent to 77 per cent, the 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits and Australians paying 45 per cent more of the cost to see a GP—are from the government's own national accounts. It shows that more Australians are having to use that little green and yellow card that the Prime Minister is so fond of pulling out in question time and in press conferences. He can do that as often as he likes. It doesn't take away the fact that more Australians are having to use their credit card along with their own Medicare card. They're being charged the highest amount of out-of-pocket costs on record. Despite Labor's protestations to the opposite, we are seeing more Australians having to pay more in a cost-of-living crisis.”
“My family doctor, Dr Ayman Shenouda, is a member of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. He has done a power of good for country doctors. Not only has he tried to lift immunisation rates and been a spokesperson for GPs generally; he has also provided wonderful health care at Glenrock. GPs in Glenrock, by and large, bulk-bill, but a lot of practices in and around Wagga Wagga and in and around the Riverina do not. Australians are now paying 45 per cent more of the cost to see a GP from their own pocket, and out-of-pocket costs have literally reached the highest level on record. So it's all well and good for Labor members to come in and spruik about Medicare. It is the brainchild of Labor. I appreciate that.”
“When questioned about bulk-billing rates and the proliferation thereof, Minister Butler came out with this famous quote during the last term of government. He said: 'If you can't get a doctor to bulk-bill you, don't worry about that appointment. Pick the phone up and get the next doctor and see if they'll bulk-bill you.' That might be all well and good in the leafy suburbs of Adelaide, but, I'll tell you what: when you're out in regional Australia, you take the first doctor's appointment you can get, and usually that doctor's appointment is weeks down the track, because they're just not available like they are in capital cities. That is a truism. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not catastrophising. I'm not being alarmist. It is the truth. We appreciate what our doctors do.”
“The opposition leader has said we will certainly divide on bills where we must, but, when there's good policy put forward, we'll agree with it. But we do get this feeling from the Labor members—and I appreciate that Medicare started under Labor—that they think they're the only party for health provision in this country. And Labor is not. I appreciate that the urgent care clinics are great—good luck if you have one—but GP bulk-billing fell from 88 per cent to 77 per cent and there have been 40 million fewer GP bulk-billed GP visits in the last year alone under the Albanese government. That issue is particularly exacerbated in rural and regional areas, where you don't have the luxury of having a number of GPs. We have quality GPs. We just don't have the quantity of GPs.”
“I know that, with the big, new, shiny buildings that are being erected and finished, there is the opportunity under that $94.5 million program to have more students come on board, because heaven knows we need more doctors. This particular bill, the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025, removes the fees imposed on the pathology sector for certain categories of pathology applications. It responds to the findings of the 2022 Health Portfolio Charging Review by doing a couple of things—firstly, addressing the misalignment of fees charged under the pathology fees act with the charging framework and, secondly, providing fee relief and reducing the administrative burden on the pathology sector. You're not going to get the coalition complaining about that.”
“I had negotiations with then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to get that Murray-Darling network of rural medical schools—so very important. They're in Orange, Mildura, Shepparton, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo—the list goes on. Just take Wagga Wagga, for example, which each year is providing 30 new doctors the opportunity to train from start to finish in a rural setting. And we all know that, if you train doctors from start to finish in a rural setting, where there are unique challenges and unique opportunities for rural medicine, such as snake bites and road trauma that you don't see in the middle of capital cities, where some of the sandstone universities are providing clinical and medical schools—you do see that in regional settings. It is providing the hope and the opportunity for those young people in Wagga Wagga with 30 places each year.”
“That was the local, friendly pharmacist—the local, friendly chemist—who for years had provided services because they didn't have a doctor, they didn't have an urgent care clinic or an endometriosis or pelvic pain clinic and they didn't have a headspace. They were doing it all on their own. And, all of a sudden, when the coalition—it was the Nationals, in fact—said, 'Enough's enough; we have to support our pharmacists,' we saw some action. I've heard members of Labor in their first speeches talking about what Labor's doing as far as funding training for rural medical students. Well, that came under the Nationals. That is probably the legacy that I leave, because I know that the negotiations I had with then prime minister Turnbull— Thank you, Dr Freelander.”
“I hear this great clamour from Labor members—and I appreciate we're severely outnumbered at the moment—about cheaper medicines and cheaper scripts. The fact remains that the government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to come to the table to sign the latest accord in the pharmacy situation. We all remember the white coats when the Pharmacy Guild were in the public galleries complaining about Minister Butler's lack of empathy, care and concern for their needs. In fact, for many hundreds of those country centres, they faced the prospect of losing—and it was a very real threat—their only health professional in town.”
“We'd very much like one in Wagga Wagga for the Riverina. That is an important topic. I note Dr Freelander is in the chamber; I know how important it is for the western suburbs seat of Macarthur that he represents—how important it is for him—too. Now, we talk about urgent care clinics. The problem with urgent care clinics is that they have been placed in areas of political necessity for the government, not necessarily where they are most needed. If you look in rural, regional and, particularly, remote Australia, people don't have the ability to just walk in, produce a Medicare card and receive the services that they so desperately desire. All too often, particularly in remote Australia, it's, 'When in pain, catch the plane.' There's no treatment available there. People actually have to go to a capital city to get the treatment they need.”
“On 11 July, we had the member for Dobell, the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health, the minister who assists the Minister for Health and Ageing with the prevention of suicide, in Wagga Wagga. She was attending the local headspace, a walk-in clinic. She made some announcements that were very well appreciated. That walk-in clinic, in Baylis Street, is open to people seeking to obtain the services that they desire. Particularly for regional people who are doing it tough, that's a welcome addition. I acknowledge the good work Assistant Minister McBride is doing in rural and regional health, because it is so very important. The member for Robertson mentioned the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. They were also mentioned by the member for Dickson, who spoke previously on the bill.”
“That was a good speech by the member for Robertson. I commend him on many aspects of it and acknowledge the fact that he said that one of the reasons he became a Labor candidate was the lack of services within his local area. I'll just point out this: if he came to some of those rural and regional areas where there is a severe lack of services, he might well have become a Nationals candidate, because we all support our own electorates. We all stick up for those people who send us to Canberra to do a job. I also acknowledge the fact that he is still working in his local hospital and I appreciate that. It must be very good for the patients of Robertson, the electorate he represents. And I acknowledge the fact that he talked about mental health being a taboo topic. For many, many years it was, particularly amongst men.”
“It's their health. It's their future. People in rural and regional Australia have had enough, and they are saying, 'Stop this nonsense.'”
“But the area in the Riverina where they are plonking these wind towers, at a height of 260 metres—90 of them between Binalong and Bowning—is not a REZ. It's not a renewable energy zone. That hasn't stopped these multinational corporations. That has not stopped these spivs. And, if you're not accepting what one of these spivs says, just wait, because six weeks later they'll send out another community engagement liaison person. What happened at Mangoplah was that the proponent dropped a whole heap of brochures into the local farm centre and said, 'Would you mind distributing these?' That's simply not good enough. They want to plonk battery energy storage systems all over the area. The local rural fire service volunteers have said that they won't put out their fires, because they're worried about the toxicity of the flames.”
“And many of those kids are in Australia. When we are taking up arable farmland with solar panels, wind towers and transmission lines, it means that we can't grow the food that we once were able to. It means that our farmers are leasing their land to largely multinational corporations. And these people are shysters. They have come into my Riverina electorate and divided families and communities. They have ended friendships that have lasted generations, all for the sake of the almighty dollar. For them, it's not about saving the planet; it's about making money. They have deep pockets, they have no conscience and they are dividing communities. I won't stand for it, and neither will the communities. I heard the new member for Whitlam talking about renewable energy zones. Good luck to her; I wish her communities well with those proposals.”
“Labor's reckless race to 82 per cent renewables by 2030 means that 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines are going to be put across prime agricultural land, native bushland and pristine coastline. We are all sent here to do a job; we are all sent here by our constituents to represent them, to stick up for them, to back them, and this is what I'm doing with the net zero approach that I have adopted. By constructing tens of thousands of kilometres of transmission lines across rural and regional Australia in pursuit of a false ideology, the government is industrialising fertile rural farmland on a massive scale. I do believe the greatest moral challenge facing humankind is to be able to grow enough food to feed a hungry world. There are too many children across the globe who are going to bed with hungry stomachs at the moment.”
“I believe that the measures being put in place by this government to ban social media for under-16s are a good thing. People can bleat until the cows come home about whatever they think about that, but I think we are expecting our children to grow up much too quickly. I heard the member for Fisher in the Federation Chamber talking about the proliferation of pornography, which is just a few clicks away for kids as young as eight who are then able to access dreadful images online. This bill allows three things. They are to financially penalise providers, allow name-and-shame provisions and enable authorised officers to conduct unannounced visits. That is a good thing.”
“I know the Prime Minister, a person of good heart, understands that as well. I was just speaking to him in the corridor then about any number of topics and he, too—like any parent, any politician and any normal person—is appalled about what has transpired in Victoria. We are unwavering in our support for the changes, which better protect children in care settings. We have to give confidence to the one million families who rely on child care. You could imagine the angst, the anguish, the heartache and the not knowing of those parents whose children are now having to undergo checks and medical procedures. What effect does that have on those children? Maybe some of them will be too young to know. But others will have recurring flashbacks to what should have been a happy childhood. I think that kids in our society are growing up too quickly.”
“That's where they belong, and that's where they should spend the rest of their natural lives. I'm not a judge and I'm not a magistrate, but I think people expect that there's no coming back from where that person's mind is despite whatever rehabilitation they might receive in the King's pleasure, as it was once called. They do not deserve to be let out. Elsewhere, we've had reports and investigations. We've had all these sorts of things, but the time for talk is over. The Commonwealth will do whatever it can, in the provisions that it has at its disposal, to work with state and local authorities to make sure that our children's safety is first and foremost and to make sure that kids are well looked after. As the Leader of the Opposition said, child safety is above politics. She's absolutely right.”
“They do the right thing by those kids. When you have incidents such as this one out of Victoria recently it is absolutely beyond words. Unfortunately, it's not an isolated case. As bad as it is and as widespread as it seems to be according to the police reports, there have been other allegations of dreadful activities taking place in childcare settings. We know about Operation Tenterfield in August 2023, where a Queensland man was charged and later convicted of 1,623 child abuse offences against 91 children in Brisbane, in Sydney and overseas over a five-year period up to 2022. Words absolutely fail me sometimes—when you think about what sort of mind, what sort of man, what sort of evil monster this person is. They should never, ever see the light of day again. I'm sorry, but they just shouldn't be let out of any prison facility.”
“Parents need to be absolutely certain that the childcare centres that we have are going to look after their children and that their children are going to be happy and healthy in those carers' care. When they drop them off in the morning, or whatever the case may be, and they pick them up in the afternoon they need to know that that child has been looked after. As a parent and as a grandparent I know how important this is. I know how much my daughter and son are going to need child care in the future for their children, and I know that, certainly, when they do drop their children off they expect to be able to have that child looked after 100 per cent, every bit as well and as good as they would look after that child. In the main, our childcare providers, our childcare carers, do an amazing and remarkable job. They love children.”
“If we go through the particular points I just mentioned, whether providers can receive the very generous subsidies provided federally to continue their operations is of paramount importance, because if they're not doing the right thing—in any way, shape or form—then they shouldn't be providing child care. In a cost-of-living crisis—in a modern, functioning society—there are often two-parent families going out and needing to work to bring home the money to be able to afford to live, to be able to afford to provide the best lifestyles for their children. Single-parent families—whatever the case may be, families need to have child care. In rural, regional and, particularly, remote Australia it's not so much affordability of child care; it's availability of child care. There's a childcare desert, but that is another matter entirely.”
“The Early Childhood Education and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Bill 2025 amends the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to prioritise quality and safety considerations when assessing whether providers can receive the Commonwealth's childcare subsidy. It also expands powers to publicise actions taken against providers, and it enables authorised officers to conduct unannounced service visits and spot checks. In the main, that's what this bill will do. As Leader of the Opposition Ley has said, when there is good legislation or sound policy being brought forward, the coalition will support it. The coalition will certainly support any measure, any provision, to protect children; it absolutely will. The bill also includes additional administrative matters.”
“I saw the interview Senator Duniam did on Insiders just recently in relation to this. Senator Duniam from Tasmania served on the committee on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. He has made some very good, sound, sensible, sane comments in relation to this. I've heard the opposition leader, the member for Farrer, also express her outrage as a mum, as a grandparent and as a good person in relation to what has been reported out of Victoria. The Prime Minister spoke about it too. I was doing a television interview when the story first broke—and I know the Victorian Greens tried to make some mileage out of this—and I said this was, in the early stages, very unfair to Premier Jacinta Allan and her initial reaction and what she has put in place in that state to respond to these dreadful allegations.”
“Probably nothing before the parliament today will be more important than this particular bill, the Early Childhood Education and Care (Strengthening Regulation of Early Education) Bill 2025, and I commend the member for Lalor. She is absolutely 100 per cent correct when she talks about the necessity of having the building blocks in place for children to ensure their safety is paramount. The foundation of our society is our kids, and to preserve and protect them and give them every opportunity has to be first and foremost in all our considerations. Anyone who is a parent or a grandparent, any sane thinking person—anyone at all—would be horrified in recent weeks by what has allegedly happened in Victorian childcare centres. I heard the member for Fisher talk about this yesterday in the Federation Chamber.”
“When you take into account the road infrastructure funding cutbacks, the fuel prices and all of the things that are unfortunately being inflicted upon this sector, it doesn't bode well for the trucking industry or for regional Australia. You've got companies that are family owned and companies that have been generationally owned—they've been there for decades—going to the wall, and it's on Labor's watch. Something has to give. Peter Rodney wants more work, he wants more staff and he wants to see light at the end of the tunnel, but, unfortunately, all he sees is roadblocks that are being put there by the Labor government. Shame.”