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 26 of 26.
“It was a deeply personal speech in February 2022, I think, and the whole parliament stopped to listen. That speech had great ramifications, and it was quite moving. He came to Wagga Wagga in June last year for a scams conference. I well remember not just was it a well-attended scams conference—it was very bipartisan on this extremely significant issue—but he was so kind and gentle to a lady in her 90s Barbara Parnell, who's a lifelong member of the National Party. He was just so nice to her, as you would expect any member of parliament to be, and he brought that genuine warmth and sincerity. The fact that he praised me not only to Barb but also at the scams conference—I will remain indebted to him for that.”
“on indulgence—'The Jones Boy': The whole town's saying he was a good boy A nice boy A swell boy My apologies to the 1953 hit. I came into the parliament with the member for Whitlam in 2010. He was then the member for Throsby, and his seat had a name change. He's always been a friend of mine and a colleague of mine. I used to love the way every time—and I was a bit disappointed that in his valedictory he didn't use it—he would use that hand-shaking movement, rubbishing the Nationals and those Liberals, but he might have an opportunity tomorrow to rectify that. I've always admired anyone who worked prior to parliament in the disability sector, and the member for Whitlam did that. I will never forget that speech he gave on behalf of his nephew.”
“All we had was a divisive referendum that did nothing to help this nation and did nothing to help Indigenous Australians close the gap. I've just had a meeting with Wes Lambert, the Australian Restaurant & Cafe Association CEO. There are business insolvencies that really are hurting the catering association. We in the coalition have a better plan. We are going to get this country back on track; rest assured we will. We won't be in a governance arrangement with the Greens. We would never do that; rest assured we wouldn't do that. The cost of living is out of control under Labor.”
“The member for Melbourne, the Greens leader, just belled the cat: if the Greens are able to form a governance-sharing arrangement after the next election, woe beside Australia and Australians, particularly regional Australians, because it's the Greens who have policies that want to change the social fabric of this nation. Horseracing will be gone. Australia Day will be gone. All the traditions that this nation is based on will be gone if the Greens get a share of the governance arrangements. Things are crook in Tallarook, and they're crook because of those opposite. The cost-of-living crisis is out of control. For the first 12 to 18 months we didn't hear about the cost-of-living pressures on ordinary households or small businesses.”
“I really like the member for Paterson. I think she's a great egg. She is the parliamentary co-chair of the friends of soil. I acknowledge her work, and I acknowledge her experience in that regard. But, sadly, the Labor government took away the position in August 2023 of the Soils Advocate. Penny Wensley was doing a great job, and it's just one example of how Labor has let down our agriculture sector. It's no fault of the member for Paterson. I want to place that firmly on the record. She is a good advocate. But her colleagues and certainly the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry—who knows who it was at the time—let the nation down.”
“The former member for Warringah, Tony Abbott, when prime minister, brought in a great 'tools of the trade' benefit so that they could get the tools by which they could do their occupations and do them well. We have always had incentives in their for our apprentices. It's only a coalition government that will look after apprentices. It's only a coalition government that will address the cost-of-living pressures that apprentices are under.”
“To the point about fee-free TAFE, it is a bit of a furphy, because those other private providers do such a great job—yes, in competition with TAFE, they've been neglected by this government. They've been overlooked by this government. Their efforts have been overshadowed by this government. We need to do the very best we can for apprentices. One of the first things that we can do for apprentices is reduce the cost of living. But those opposite forgot about the cost of living. They didn't talk about the cost of living for the first 18 months they were in office. It was only after they lost the referendum for the Voice that they all of a sudden realised that people were hurting, particularly apprentices. Those apprentices who are just getting out into their own profession need every tax break and every bit of help they can get.”
“We should be applauding our truck drivers because they keep the nation going. People often say it's not a skill; I defy anybody to back one of those B-doubles or larger vehicles into the tight nooks and crannies of supermarket yards where they do the distribution of goods to those places of food distribution. I defy anybody to be able to do it. They can they do and we owe them a debt of gratitude. The member for Hunter, in his notes to this particular bill, talks about $72 billion going to McDonald's. I always like to see somebody with McDonald's on their CV, because you know they're going to turn up on time. You know they're going to be disciplined. You know they're going to do the right thing. Why he's picked on Macca's, I do not know. I do not understand that.”
“The Great Depression was obviously a great setback, but the 1919 flu caused so much heartache and disruption as well to the economic fortunes of many nations which then went into the Great Depression. Those years of the 1920s and early 30s were shocking, just dreadful. During the pandemic of 2020, 1.1 million jobs were created—not necessarily by government, because government doesn't create jobs. It's private enterprise that creates jobs. Under our watch, under our stewardship, there 220,000 trade apprentices, three years of delivery under the member for Cook's government and 1,213 major transport projects supporting 100,000 jobs. It went from $110 billion to $120 billion of investment. I mention that because, all too often, our truckies are forgotten when we're talking about people who do the hard yards for this nation.”
“The member for Hunter brings to this chamber a motion about apprentices, and, despite the member for McEwen's protestations, which rubbished the coalition and rubbished good old 'Collingwood forever'—I'm not quite sure what he's got against the Magpie supporters—when you look back at the years, particularly of the Morrison government, what you see is delivery. What you saw in those nine years was a government with a laserlike focus on making sure that our apprentices had the very best environment so that they could not just survive but thrive—so that they could be their best selves. What we had in those final couple of years—certainly, 18 months—of the Morrison government was a global pandemic, a worldwide shutdown not seen since 1919. Not since the end of World War I had the planet being subjected to economic conditions like this.”
“If there is one thing that has hurt— We're talking Western Australia, Member for Hasluck, and I sat in silence when you made your contribution, so I'd ask you to give me the courtesy and do the same.”
“The member for Hasluck is correct; Riverina is a long way from Western Australia. But, when the federal government hurts Western Australia, it hurts Australia, and, when Australia's hurting, Riverina is hurting. Now, I am outnumbered here in the chamber. We've got the members for Hasluck, Swan and Pearce and my good mate from Tangney. We've got the Greens leader, the member for Melbourne, just behind me. But I'm going to say a few things in this speech which probably nobody—save for my staff member behind me and maybe you, Deputy Speaker Young, I hope—will agree with. Labor is very good on politics but not that good on policy. When you look at Western Australia, think of what this government has done to that fine state in not-quite-three years. They've banned live sheep exports.”
“I admire Mr Billson for his passionate enthusiasm about small business; there has never been a better small-business minister than him. I did indeed have that portfolio, but the former minister, the now ASBFEO, was next level. Interestingly, I think the figure of those small businesses which fail because of cashflow problems is somewhere in the order of 82 per cent. There is not enough cash coming through the door and they are not able to retain customers. There are myriad reasons as to why small businesses fail. There are record numbers of small businesses failing now because of the policies of the Albanese Labor government. It's tough enough to run a small business—and I know; I've run one.”
“I support the member for Petrie's well-considered amendment. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Incentives and Integrity) Bill 2024 is a four-schedule omnibus bill. It contains disparate tax administration and incentives measures. It goes to the core of small business. Small business, as we've heard so often, is the heart of the Australian economy. Bruce Billson was a former small-business minister in a coalition government, and he is now the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman. The ASBFEO website holds some very good information. Anybody contemplating starting a small business and anybody running a small business ought to go to the ASBFEO website and see what that portal has to offer them to help them wade through the mire of legislation and industrial relations; there are some helpful tips.”
“The Greens have a lot to answer for regarding the divisive activities that have occurred right across our nation. I feel sorry that the Prime Minister can't go to his electorate office because of these actions. I do believe that the Prime Minister should have been stronger earlier on this issue, but he wasn't. But he shouldn't be subjected to the sort of rubbish that he has been. Nor should it happen in Wagga Wagga. As I say, it's not just the capital cities; it is right across the nation. It has to stop. The Jews have actually done a lot for our nation. They are Australians, and we, and all Australians, should support them.”
“My staff shouldn't have to clean up the office when they decide to put their posters up with thick glue on the back. That shouldn't have to happen. Our police should have powers to tap them on the shoulder. This fellow, Michael Agzarian, denied doing it, yet, when the police said, 'Is this is you on the CCTV?' he had to admit it was him. That is the sort of people they are. It has to stop, because Wagga Wagga is a wonderful community. I say it's the best place to live in all of Australia. Of course I would; I'm biased. I love the place. I was born there. I've lived in and around Wagga Wagga all my life. It should not be a place for antisemitic comments and a group, which meets only once a month on Sunday, that is quite frankly just another branch of the Greens. The Greens have a lot to answer for in this whole debate.”
“Sundays for Peace, who are now meeting only once a month, shouldn't be meeting at all. Heaven help us if they actually spent their time working for St Vincent de Paul, Anglicare or some other organisation. Their hours would be much better spent and the Wagga Wagga community would be far better off if they did that rather than wasting their time perhaps waiting for me to visit my electorate office on a Sunday so they can scream abuse at me. I won't cop people screaming abuse at my wife, Catherine. I will not do that. I come to this place willingly, and it's a great honour and a great privilege, but my family should not be subjected to the sort of abuse that they rain down upon us. She's big enough and tough enough to withstand that as well, but it is certainly so unnecessary.”
“We shouldn't have to pass legislation like this, but the words uttered on 9 October on the steps of the Opera House—I have to say, I felt sorry for the police. I know that they listened to the tapes and came out with a view that what was suggested was said against the Jews wasn't, but we all know it was. We all know that they hate the Jews. Why people hate Jewish people I can't comprehend. I just cannot comprehend it, and I can't comprehend it in a society such as Australia, where we welcome people from all nationalities, all faiths and all orientations. We do, we should and we will go on doing that, but the comments by the sheik, who is now the principal of New Madinah College at Young—he needs to turn his language down. I've said so and I've been castigated for it.”
“We can't solve the Middle East crisis from Fitzmaurice Street in Wagga Wagga, the streets of Sydney or indeed the steps of the Opera House. We cannot. This country has a proud multicultural history. The Riverina is, I believe, the cradle of multiculturalism. Heaven knows we brought so many people from so many disparate and desperate nations to turn a desert into a fertile Garden of Eden, which we now call the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. They worked together—people from all nations in Europe who had not that long before been fighting with weapons. These days some people fight with words, and they convince Australians to do so too. Sadly, that is why we need legislation such as this. It's so that we can combat words and we can right the wrongs.”
“They are absolutely wrong because it is antisemitism, and these shopfront displays and flagrant displays of antisemitism ought to stop. The police ought to have powers to make that happen. I am a big believer in free speech, but this is out of control. I made comments about Sheikh Abdulghani Albaf, the new principal of the New Madinah College at Young, in the South West Slopes in the Riverina electorate, who has made some highly inappropriate remarks on social media. He talked about when I first objected to his posts and a letter I had written to a constituent from Young. In the posts and in the comments on his social media, he described me as 'human look like animal' and invoked 'Allah the best disposer'. This is not Australia. Don't bring your problems to our country.”
“They've had marches down the main street where they've talked about the killing of babies, and they're only one sided. It is antisemitism. I don't care what anybody says. They'll probably read this speech in the Hansard and I'll be the subject of their derision again. Well, go your hardest, seriously! The difficulty is that they do make such a protest, and we've got a fellow in the local paper, Ray Goodlass, who writes a weekly column—sometimes it's more than weekly—and only ever presents one side of the argument, the pro-Palestinian argument. Their columns are so biased. And that's all the Wagga Wagga people are subjected to. They don't hear the other side unless it comes from me. That is a problem because, if you keep chipping away, people start to think, 'Well, maybe they're right,' and they're not right. They are wrong.”
“I have only ever said in the parliament that an Israeli and Palestinian baby are both born innocent and that they deserve all the peace and freedom that children are entitled to.' That wasn't good enough. They still screamed at me. A couple of days later there was a letter to the editor of the Wagga Daily Advertiser saying that I had screamed at them, and they've continued this. The next time I happened to be near my electorate office on a Sunday, again, they were yelling: 'Baby killer! Baby killer!' This is not Wagga Wagga, and yet, because I've objected, I'm somehow the subject of their remarks. I can cop that; I'm big enough. My shoulders are broad enough; it's water off a duck's back. But that should not be happening in Wagga Wagga.”
“He has not uttered those words and you should not say that.' Then they found it necessary to go to an animal remembrance military commemoration in the Victory Memorial Gardens, of all things. They decided to take their protest there knowing that I was there and that there would be media. They were waving their Palestinian flags in front of the light horse re-enactment troop, getting in the way and getting up in people's faces with their mobile phones to take photos. Someone asked me to call the police, and I did. I wasn't the first one to call the police, but I did call the police, and the police came. As I was walking back through the park with my wife and family, I was yelled at. They said: 'Baby killer! Baby killer!' I won't cop that, but I had to. I turned and all I said was: 'I have not ever said that.”
“Not long after that, the protestors arrived. Initially, I went out to greet them, as I always would, to talk to them rationally and sensibly about what they were protesting. I always do that. I was shouted down. I was told that I was cheering on—and I stopped this fellow short before he could say 'the murder of children', but that was what they'd suggested a little prior to that. Then, when I arced up and said, 'That is not the case. I have said publicly that a Palestinian baby is every bit as innocent as an Israeli baby,' they weren't satisfied with that. When I was challenging them on that precept, they said, 'Well, the Prime Minister is cheering on the murders.' I said, 'No, no—the Prime Minister has not said that.”
“Yet, if I went round and daubed this person's shopfront window with slogans and material that he found offensive, I would be charged, and the police have told me that. The police have also told me, 'It would be best if you didn't go to your electorate office at the same time on a Sunday,' because of these people. I have spoken to the Prime Minister, and he has told me that he hasn't been able to go to his Newtown electorate office because of the same sort of situation, the same sorts of protestors. They used to call themselves 'Fridays for Future'. When we were in government and I was the Deputy Prime Minister, they were protesting about the climate. But you know what? When Labor took over, apparently the climate altered for the better. Everything was good again, and then, of course, we had October 7 2023, that day of infamy.”
“Constituents complain to me, and I have to say I'm probably the only community leader in Wagga who has been game enough and brave enough to say something about it. I have copped it. I have copped it from him. I have copped it on social media. I've got this group of people who call themselves 'Sundays for Peace', who up until just recently—indeed up until Australia Day—were meeting every Sunday. I won't say 'meeting'; I'll say 'protesting'. Admittedly, there have been gatherings where twice my office has been daubed with unnecessary posters and unnecessary images and artwork, which I'd call graffiti. I've gone to the police twice, and, again, the police say they're powerless because I'm a public figure.”
“The constituents of my electorate and visitors to Wagga Wagga file daily into my electorate office on the same street—on the next block, just up the road from where this shopfront is—complaining every day. The same people go to our local police station just around the corner on Tarcutta Street and complain. Yet the police say there's nothing they can do given the laws that we have. It is apparently okay to display, in huge letters, four-letter words that should not be seen—not be seen by children with impressionable minds and not be seen by adults. Yet, every week, he comes up with a new image and a new form of words. If that isn't antisemitism, then I don't know what is. Yet our police are apparently powerless to stop this.”
“We live in a democracy. But the number of Palestinian flags that are being waved and the amount of hatred that is coming out across the nation are beyond belief. It's not just in capital cities. Just before the former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg presented his very good documentary last year, I spoke to him, as I do every week. I spoke to him about the fact that this isn't just something confined to Sydney and Melbourne. This is right across Australia. Indeed, I'm sad to say that, in my hometown of Wagga Wagga, the antisemitism is rife. And it should not be so. We have a fellow who, in his Fitzmaurice Street shopfront window, displays words and images I would not repeat here.”
“I am quite sad to be rising in the Federation Chamber to have to speak on a bill such as this. The Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024 is a necessary bill to come before this parliament, but it should be very unnecessary. In 2025 we shouldn't have to pass a bill such as this. We shouldn't have to be discussing this in parliament when there are so many other issues at hand which are placing such pressure on Australians. We should be discussing matters of the economy, matters of the environment and matters of defence, but instead we are here spending an inordinate amount of time discussing something that should not be necessary. I came to parliament this morning and was stopped by a red light. Across the road, a woman walked, brandishing, rather proudly, a Palestinian flag. That is okay; she is free to do that.”
“We will provide that support, help and investment that regional Australia so desperately craves. Look at the lack of respect with the live sheep exports. When the member for Page was on his feet, the Attorney-General turned and said, 'What's he even talking about?' It's live sheep exports. It's that valuable industry which has been going on for decades out of Western Australia, and you blokes just chopped it. How disgraceful.”
“That's, unfortunately, what regional people are facing thanks to this Labor government. There's a long list of failures by this Labor government. There's this lack of respect for regional Australia. It's regional Australia that led this country through COVID, and they continue to grow the food, fibre and provide the exports for our resources for our balance of payments. What did the city types opposite do? They hid under their bedsheets, pulled the doona up over them and pretended that nothing was happening. It happened because regional Australia lead this nation, and regional Australia will continue to lead this nation with or without the respect or funding from those opposite. But I tell you what: when we get back into government, we will provide that respect. We will provide that funding.”
“When we talk about bulk billing, they go and praise Medicare, but bulk-billing rates have dropped 11 per cent, and they have dropped even more in regional areas. What did the health minister say when he was questioned? He said, 'If you can't get a bulk-billing doctor, ring up another one. If you can't find a bulk-billing doctor, then go and ring the next doctor and make an appointment with him or her.' That might all be good in the leafy suburbs of Adelaide, but it doesn't cut through in regional Australia, because, when you're in pain, ill, sick and need to see a doctor, often you can't find one who bulk-bills—or one who doesn't bulk bill. You can't find one at all, and you have to wait weeks and weeks and weeks. You shouldn't have to catch a plane when you're in pain.”
“Yes, we respect the fact that Labor have made a health announcement today. But the very first thing that they did when they got into government was change the distribution priority area arrangements with country areas, so general practitioners in country areas took down their shingle and moved to the suburbs. They left those regional and remote areas that were so desperate and crying out for doctors. That is what they did. Thankfully, we put in place the rural medical school network through the Murray-Darling Basin, which will provide doctors in the long term, but in the short term, because of those changes to the DPA arrangements, we have lost doctors. Don't just take my word for it. Listen to the Rural Doctors Association. They absolutely castigated the Labor government for that measure.”
“He was in fact disappointed, would you believe, at the fact that Temora shire had missed out on Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program round 1 funding. But that's not the rub. They'd received the email at 4.29 pm the previous day and were told in the same email that, whilst they'd missed out on tranche 1 funding, round 2 hadn't closed. When do you think round 2 closed? One minute to midnight that day. So they had a day and a bit to get in their application and supporting submission for round 2. No country council has people who can just be pulled out of whatever else they're doing to provide that detail and information. Local councils around Australia have been left disappointed, left wanting, by this Labor government. The member for Eden-Monaro talked about health.”
“I furiously agree with the member for Bendigo: we do need more help, support and investment in regional Australia. In Bendigo, Andrew Lethlean, the Nationals candidate, will certainly provide that. Just the other day, he had his launch. There were 300 people there. There's a movement there, because they want a member who's going to invest, support and help Bendigo and the wider region. I was fascinated to hear the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories, the member for Eden-Monaro no less, mention Councillor Rick Firman, the Mayor of Temora, and his praise for roads funding. Yes, he does want more roads funding. Which local government area wouldn't? But, you know, just last Friday, whilst he was driving to a mayors' forum, the previously mentioned Councillor Firman phoned me.”