Susan Templeman
Macquarie · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“The three key focuses of the government's action are, firstly, to disrupt and dismantle border threats to stem the flow of illicit tobacco and vapes to Australia before they make it to our shores; secondly, to enhance detection, disruption and destruction of illicit tobacco and vapes at the border and within the community; and, thirdly, t…”
“AUSTRAC is working with the banks and service providers to shut down the money flows that keep illicit tobacco profitable. Hundreds of accounts have already been closed and payment systems stopped.”
“We need to keep fighting it and not blame each other. Those opposite need to recognise that, just as we supported the steps they made, we need their full support in taking these actions.”
“That's not good enough for participants, it's not good enough for employers and it's not good enough for the economy. That's why these reforms are so important. This is the most significant change to employment services in 30 years. At the heart of these reforms is the end of the one-size-fits-all model.”
“The Commonwealth, states and territories are working together to reverse the equation for organised crime at every step and in every way to make the illicit tobacco trade more risky and less profitable, disrupting the illicit supply chain and shutting down illegal shops. This bill is another step in that process.”
“Mr Robert, at that time, spoke of the actions they were taking and the changes they were making on duty liabilities being paid when tobacco is imported into Australia.”
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Every one of 617 lines we hold for Susan Templeman, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 13.
“It's about telling every Australian that their stories matter and deserve to be seen, heard, celebrated and shared with the world. Our culture deserves to be nourished by content that reflects who we are, not who someone overseas thinks we ought to be. Every time we share a new Australian story on screen, we strengthen our sense of who we are. With this reform, a strong screen industry and our extraordinary creative talent will remind the world that Australia is a nation with something to say and the confidence to— ( Time expired )”
“It will not deliver perfection, but it will deliver certainty and confidence. It will deliver investment, it will deliver opportunity for creative workers, and it will deliver Australian stories to Australian audiences. I'm confident that a decade from now we'll look back and say: 'That was the moment Australia stood up for our cultural sovereignty. It was when we said that our stories matter, our creative talent matters, and our screen sector deserves a strong future.' Ultimately, this legislation is not about regulation. It's about identity. It's about the future of Australian stories and who gets to tell them. It's about whether our kids will grow up seeing their experiences on the screen, hearing voices that sound like theirs and recognising the landscapes.”
“To the streaming platforms: thank you for your constructive engagement and for your willingness to meet, discuss and collaborate, and to meet again to discuss and collaborate. It is crucial to a sustainable and vibrant screen ecosystem. The government looks forward to working closely with you as the system is introduced. To the opposition and crossbench members who voiced their support for this important reform: thank you for backing Australia's creatives. I'd like to particularly acknowledge our Labor ministers for arts and communications, past and present, who've demonstrated so much commitment to Australian creativity and invested so much hard work in designing a system that is flexible, fair and fit for purpose. This legislation will not fix every challenge that faces the screen industry.”
“This reform has been almost two decades in the making. But, as Special Envoy for the Arts, I know how intensely we have worked on this over the last few years. I want to thank every industry representative who has contributed to the extensive consultation process that has shaped this legislation—some of whom have held many meetings with me and my team. To Screen Producers Australia, whose Make It Australian campaign has kept this issue on the political agenda for years: thank you. You and your members have made a huge contribution. To the Australian Writers Guild, the Australian Directors Guild, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the hardworking advocates of the children's content sector: your passion and persistence have ensured that storytellers remain at the centre of this debate.”
“The system allows platforms to choose which stories they want to tell and to meet their requirement through any mix of drama, documentary, children's, educational or arts content. They are the genres where the cultural imperatives are most at stake. They are the genres where the risk of market failure is greatest, so they are the ones that our system is most focused on. It will allow them to meet the obligation either through 10 per cent of expenditure or 7.5 per cent of revenue—whichever best aligns with their business model. The revenue approach may be particularly attractive to new entrants to the industry, which will help ensure that we have a diverse and dynamic streaming market in future years. And this system will give streamers the freedom to fulfil the requirement through one major production or several smaller ones if they wish.”
“Streaming platforms are already producing fantastic local content across a range of genres, with productions like Apple Cider Vinegar , Boy Swallows Universe , Heartbreak High , Totally Completely Fine , Deadloch , Colin f rom Accounts and Bump . This legislation will ensure that the production of great content like this continues well into the future. Our government wants to work in partnership with the streaming platforms active in the Australian market. That's why we're putting forward a system that is practical and flexible. Our system will allow streamers who've invested more than 10 per cent in one year to carry that surplus forward as a credit for a period of up to three years. It recognises that production doesn't always fit into a neat 12-month window.”
“This mechanism ensures that if changes are needed they can be made, and that when the industry grows the policy can grow with it. Others will argue that obligations are unnecessary, that streaming platforms are already doing their fair share. To them, I say this system does not impose an undue burden but it does remove uncertainty. It's a modest, predictable requirement that ensures that local content continues to be available to Australian audiences and that jobs in the creative sector are supported. If this system were already in place, the vast majority of platforms would already be meeting their obligations. If streaming platforms want to invest more, and several already do, this framework doesn't stand in their way.”
“This system will help ensure that those workers have a future in their own country, and it will help prevent the loss of creative Australians to more supportive environments overseas that robbed our country of so much great talent in earlier decades. We know that no model will satisfy everyone. When balancing cultural and commercial imperatives, it's impossible to achieve 100 per cent consensus. Some may have preferred a different figure for the investment obligation. To them, I say this 10 per cent expenditure requirement is a floor, not a ceiling. Let's be clear: what matters most is the cultural outcome, not the number itself. The legislation mandates a statutory review after four years. If the data shows the scheme has fallen short, the policy settings can be revisited.”
“Screen productions create valuable work not just for writers, actors and directors but for the crews and businesses who make it possible. These are real, meaningful, skilled jobs like camera operators, set builders, hair and makeup artists, costume designers, location scouts, caterers, editors, postproduction specialists, visual effects artists, accountants, drivers and so many others whose livelihoods depend on a strong and steady production environment. The screen sector industry directly engages a workforce of around 55,000 people and contributes more than $6 billion in value to the Australian economy. With a guaranteed minimum investment in our domestic screen industry, local producers will have the certainty they need to make long-term plans and invest in the next generation of creative and technical talent.”
“Labor has taken this policy to multiple elections, and our commitment was reiterated in our National Cultural Policy— Revive , which voiced the aspiration that Australian stories are seen and heard regardless of platform and that our creative industries and practice are future focused, technology enabled, networked and globally recognised. This change has been talked about for many years. The government has consulted on it extensively. We've listened to feedback and adjusted the policy accordingly. The time has come to deliver. This reform is well and truly due because it's not just the future of Australian storytelling that is at stake; it's Australian jobs. When streaming services invest in local productions, the benefits ripple outwards through the entire economy.”
“This reform is about guaranteeing that this will continue in the decades ahead. If streaming platforms are where Australian audiences are watching—and, increasingly, they will be—Australian stories must be there too. It's the responsibility of government to guarantee that access, and that's exactly what this legislation will do. By passing this law, the House will send a clear signal that providing Australian content is not a voluntary contribution but a fundamental obligation. The legislation creates a regulatory framework fit for the digital age. It upholds the rights of Australians to see stories that reflect our shared identity while ensuring our screen industry isn't just viable but thriving. It affirms our commitment to forging a cultural identity that's made here, not imported by default.”
“It's vital that this technology be deployed in a way that supports local cultural expression rather than accelerates the globalisation and homogenisation of culture. Time and again we've seen that, without clear rules and well-calibrated regulation, local content is vulnerable not because audiences don't value it—they do, profoundly—but because global market forces won't prioritise it if they're not required to. It's for precisely these reasons that France, Italy, Spain and Canada have all introduced local content obligations. Indeed, all EU member states require streaming platforms to ensure that at least 30 per cent of their catalogue consists of European works. So Australia is not an outlier here; we're just catching up to where we should have been some time ago. Streaming platforms can and do produce fantastic Australian content.”
“Yet—unlike radio and broadcast and pay TV—global streaming platforms have until now had no specific obligation to invest in Australian content—no obligation whatsoever. That discrepancy has real consequences. We know the way Australians consume screen content is changing rapidly and fundamentally. In 2017, just 29 per cent of Australians used paid subscription streaming services. By 2024, that number had risen to 69 per cent, and 2021 was a watershed year, marking the point when Australians were more likely to watch content through an online subscription service rather than live or recorded free-to-air TV. According to some sources the average household now has more than three streaming subscriptions. Global streaming platforms are rapidly becoming an essential element of our cultural infrastructure.”
“As a result, Australian viewers have enjoyed acclaimed series such as Love My Way , Wentworth and Clou d s treet . Radio and broadcast television reach their audience through publicly regulated airwaves. Pay TV providers operate through cable networks that, in many cases, were built with public investment. It's reasonable to expect that, in profiting from these assets, media companies deliver a measurable public benefit in return. Since the Rudd and Gillard governments began the build of the National Broadband Network, streaming platforms have had unprecedented access to Australian audiences. Without the NBN, it simply would not be possible to operate large-scale, reliable streaming platforms in Australia.”
“The Menzies government introduced Australian content requirements for commercial television in 1961, and the Whitlam government strengthened them in 1973. Those changes ushered in a renaissance of Australian screen content, which my generation got to see, bringing productions like Number 96 , The Sullivans , A Country Practice filmed locally, largely in the Hawkesbury—and Prisoner to Australian audiences. When pay TV services launched in the 1990s, they were initially exempt from content obligations until the Keating government acted in 1995 to require providers to invest at least 10 per cent of their expenditure in Australian drama. This simple measure ensured that pay TV would meaningfully contribute to Australian drama, and it has.”
“One is that Australians deserve access to their own stories, no matter which screen they're watching on. The other is that those who profit from access to Australian audiences should support Australian storytelling. The idea of guaranteeing Australian content is not a new or radical idea. In 1942, the Curtin Labor government introduced quotas for Australian music on commercial radio stations to support local musicians and foster a distinctive cultural identity. The Whitlam Labor government built on that reform, raising the requirement to around 20 per cent. That change provided crucial support for Australian music during the golden age of Australian rock and pop in the seventies and through to the eighties.”
“The legislation before the chamber, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Australian Content Requirement for Subscription Video On Demand (Streaming) Services) Bill 2025, presents an opportunity to open a new chapter for Australia's screen industry. This is the moment when we can ensure that, in the streaming age, Australian stories do not fade into the background but take their rightful place in the spotlight, centre stage. This legislation requires streaming services with more than one million Australian subscribers to invest at least 10 per cent of their expenditure or 7.5 per cent of their revenue into the Australian sector. It will need to be invested in new local drama, children's programs, documentaries, arts or educational content. There are two clear principles at stake here.”
“The final thing I'd like to point to is the overall investment that we have made and the overall impact it's having. Data from the national VET data custodian, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, shows that apprentice numbers are up under the Albanese Labor government in comparison to 2019 figures. Those are the pre-COVID figures. We need to be fair about this. The government is investing $1.4 billion in supporting apprenticeships over 2025-26. In the last financial year, more than 62,000 employers and 119,000 apprentices have received incentive payments. The data is showing that our strategy to rebalance the apprenticeship system towards priority occupations that are critical to our current and future workforce needs is working. I commend the bill to the House. Debate adjourned.”
“That is our Key Apprenticeship Program, which includes a housing construction apprenticeship stream. We've also extended by six months, to the end of this year, the Australian apprentice training support payment and priority hiring incentive, which is providing up to $5,000 to apprentices and employers in priority occupations. Plus there's an increase to the living-away-from-home allowance from July this year, which helps apprentices who need to relocate for their apprenticeship. I know apprentices value the opportunity to learn and earn at the same time and that they appreciate the training that they receive both off and on the job, but we know that they do experience cost-of-living pressures and so I'm very pleased to see the steps that we are taking.”
“Cutting 20 per cent of student debt also applies to those who have incurred fees as vocational education and training students. The one-off reduction to student debts will apply to more than 280,000 VET students and Australian apprenticeship support loan accounts, which represents about seven per cent of all income-contingent loan accounts that are administered by the government. This measure to cut 20 per cent of debt is going to get rid of more than $500 million from the loan balances of VET students and apprentices. That's a big figure. It's great to be able to provide that sort of relief to people. There are a couple of ways we've really incentivised apprentices to work in the housing sector. The additional $10,000 in financial incentives that kicked in from 1 July is one of those.”
“I note that, in the Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains, the construction sector will be feeling the benefit of this. The construction industry has the largest number of total registered businesses in the Hawkesbury, part of my electorate, comprising nearly 30 per cent of the total. The construction industry in the Blue Mountains is nearly 20 per cent of all registered businesses. Emu Plains, of course, has its fair share of construction businesses, like PAAL homes, who I visited earlier this year. So workers for this sector are essential, and cost shouldn't be a barrier. We have given special focus to the housing sector because of the catching up that we have to do to have enough workers to meet the additional housing supply and make up for what hasn't been done in the past decade or so.”
“That's 685,000 opportunities to help build Australia's future in critical skills, like the care and disability courses, which have seen more than 186,000 enrolments. In technology and digital, there have been more than 65,000 enrolments. The total figure for the early-childhood education and care sector has been more than 53,000 enrolments. And that shows where people are picking up. I should point out that, under free TAFE, a student training in Cert III in Early Childhood Education and Care in New South Wales can save up to an estimated $1,930 dollars in their training. That is absolutely cost-of-living relief. There are also more than 52,000 apprentices in construction courses, with that number set to grow thanks to the investment in more places in such an important sector.”
“I also note that, when I look at the key sectors, the top two courses in the agricultural sector are Certificate II in Animal Care and Certificate III in Horticulture, and both of these are courses offered by the wonderful Richmond TAFE. The key to the revival of TAFE has been free TAFE. Only Labor is the party that believes in free TAFE; those opposite do not. Delivering cost-of-living relief and valuable skills to Australians is a priority for the Albanese government, which is why we passed the free TAFE bill, as well as announcing the $10,000 incentive payment for Australians who want to become a housing apprentice. So let's talk about free TAFE. There have been more than 685,000 enrolments under free TAFE.”
“The second highest on that list is the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care, and this is the data for New South Wales. Wentworth Falls in my electorate offers that course, and it is terrific to see how many people are taking it up. Also on that list is the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care, also taught at Wentworth Falls. Both of those are vital for providing the staff we need for our early education centres, because kids need to have really qualified educators to take them through those very formative years. I also note that Certificate IV in mental health and Certificate IV in Entrepreneurship and New Business both make it into the top 20 courses in New South Wales, and that is a really good sign for future employers. It shows what young people and maybe older people are interested in pursuing.”
“Without programs such as the VET Student Loans, many students wouldn't have the opportunity to undertake tertiary studies. Australian businesses and the economy would miss out on those skills that VET students and alumni bring to all our industries. It's worth thinking about the number of people who are doing apprenticeships. If I look at my own electorate of Macquarie, there are nearly 1,800 students currently undertaking training in the VET scheme. I should point out my neighbours have pretty good levels, too. In Lindsay, there are 2,365 people. These are the most recent figures for the last year of people doing training. My neighbour to the north, the Hunter, has 3,500 people. Calare to my west has nearly 3,000 people. Those are significant numbers. The top 20 list of TAFE enrolments also tells a story.”
“It underpins the VET Student Loans program, which makes vocational education and training more accessible to Australians by providing opportunities for students to do a VET course at the diploma level and above and defer the payment of tuition fees through an income contingent loan. This program really helps to address skills shortages across industries involving science, technology, engineering or maths and occupational licensing trades, among many others. The Albanese Labor government is building Australia's future and boosting the workforce that we need to deliver it. We're investing in priority occupations and creating a modern, adaptable apprenticeship system, which is critical to the nation's future prosperity and productivity.”
“Tax file numbers are an essential piece of information for administering the loans program of this kind, so this is why the Albanese government is bringing forward the VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill to fix the problem. The bill will retrospectively authorise the student loan providers who are handling the tax file numbers to do that. The bill will also provide certainty to providers and government offices that their past handling of students' tax file numbers for the loans scheme was lawful. There is absolutely no change to the way students apply for VET student loans using the electronic Commonwealth assistance form. This might seem like a pretty minor piece of legislation but it achieves a number of things.”
“The VET Student Loans (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2025 we are considering is important because vocational educational training plays a huge role in building the skilled workforce Australia needs now and will need in the future. We are taking steps to fix a problem identified during a review of how these VET student loans are administered. We have taken action to ensure an issue that emerged is resolved, and that there is certainty the students and providers. The bill is a fix for where the VET student loan providers were handling tax file numbers and it wasn't authorised in the legislation for that to happen.”
“In keeping with Professor Samuel's recommendations, there's no climate trigger in this bill, but major emitting project proponents will be required to disclose estimates of scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions as part of gaining federal environmental removal. Proponents will also be required to disclose their plans to reduce those emissions and explain how those measures are consistent with government laws and policies.”
“1—and then offset that remaining impact to deliver the net gain. The proposed changes will allow certain biodiversity certificates issued under the nature repair market to be used for environmental offsetting. So project proponents have some options. They can deliver an offset themselves, they can pay for the government to do it via a restoration contribution payment, or they can do a combination of both. A new restoration contributions holder will manage the funds to deliver the net gain and ensure transparency. The reforms also introduce new emissions disclosure requirements.”
“Any residual significant impacts on nationally protected matters must be fully offset to achieve a net gain for the environment. That's the improvement. The net gain can be achieved either by the proponent directly delivering an offset or through an upfront financial contribution to a restoration fund. This shifts the dial towards avoided impacts and restoration, giving our native populations the opportunity to regenerate, recover and become more resilient. I want to give a bit more detail about environmental offsets. Sometimes, projects can harm the environment in ways that can't be avoided. When this happens, this is how we offset to compensate or make up for the damage. Under the proposed changes to the EPBC Act, it will require project managers to avoid harm in the first place—that's No.”
“The reforms include a new definition of 'unacceptable impact' specific to each protected matter. Among other things, they'll provide a safeguard against impacts that cause irreversible loss of Australia's biodiversity and heritage and clearly define what types of environmental harm must be avoided and cannot be offset. That includes World Heritage areas like the Blue Mountains. It includes threatened species and it includes wetlands of international importance. Significantly, this bill ensures that projects must leave the environment better off by introducing the concept of net gain for environmental offsets. This is a shift from the current rules, which focus on no net loss. Projects will be required by law to avoid, mitigate and repair damage to protected matters wherever possible.”
“The EPA would exercise a range of powers independently of the minister, such as compliance and enforcement of the laws and project conditions and the auditing of state and territory processes for project assessments and approvals against the new national environmental standards. What are they? Well, reforms will allow the minister to make national environmental standards that set boundaries for decisions so they deliver improved environmental outcomes. Their aim is to protect, conserve and restore important environmental areas and species to genuinely make up for the environmental damage that's done and deliver a net gain for the environment to support better decision-making and to help the public understand and comment on projects. We recognise that some impacts can't be approved unless the project is in the national interest.”
“There will be greater accountability and transparency in decision-making to give all Australians confidence that good decisions are being made. Let's work through some of the changes. First of all is the National Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA. Under the proposed reforms we'll establish the first ever national EPA, delivering on an election commitment that was proudly campaigned for by my branch members and by many other people in my community: the Labor Environment Action Network, or LEAN; the Blue Mountains Conservation Society; Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action; the Australian Conservation Foundation in my local area; the Macquarie Alliance for Climate; the GetUp members in the Macquarie electorate; and the Hawkesbury Environment Network. They all want to see this change.”
“They aren't working for the environment or for industry. These new laws are a targeted and balanced package of reforms to the EPBC Act, centred on three pillars. No 1. is stronger environmental protection and restoration. No. 2 is more efficient and robust project approvals. And No. 3 is greater accountability and transparency in decision-making. These are stronger environmental protection and restoration laws that won't just deliver better protections for our special places but also will restore and regenerate them for future generations. There will be more efficient and robust project assessments and approvals that will allow us to better respond and deliver on national priorities like the renewable energy transition and the housing that we need.”
“And a new koala project will soon begin with Science for Wildlife and the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute, worth nearly $3.5 million, to research and look at land and threat management to help establish a koala stronghold in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. This has the potential to support 20 per cent of New South Wales koalas. So, Labor makes a difference to the environment. We protect it, and Australians endorsed the Albanese government's policy agenda at the election. That agenda involved protecting jobs and the environment. That includes making sensible reforms to protect our environment and deliver certainty to business. It's been five years since Graeme Samuel tabled his report for the former environment minister, currently the Leader of the Opposition, and our laws remain fundamentally broken.”
“The Keating government began the establishment of Indigenous Protected Areas, which now cover 112 million hectares of land and sea. Rudd signed us up to climate action through the Kyoto protocol, and Gillard continued that work. The Albanese government is aiming to protect and conserve 30 per cent of Australia's land and 30 per cent of our marine areas by 2030. And we've committed more than $1 billion in funds for that plus the Indigenous Protected Areas Program to protect critical biodiversity areas, as well as our ambitious plan to stop species extinction. One of the projects we've done in Macquarie is a million-dollar grant for the Hawkesbury Environment Network and incredible platypus work by Western Sydney University researcher Dr Michelle Ryan and her colleagues.”
“The Albanese government is committed to reforming our environmental laws to deliver stronger protections, reduce duplication and boost accountability and transparency in decision-making. The legacy of every Labor government in my lifetime has been to improve the environment for future generations. That is an endless task. In June 1987, Bob Hawke went to the Daintree to announce that he was going to seek World Heritage listing for that site. I flew with the prime minister that day, as a young journalist, to report on the announcement. It was incredible to witness history. That decision and announcement in the election campaign that year, came on the back of the Hawke decision to save the Franklin River from being dammed a few years earlier.”
“Australians want governments, businesses and environmental groups to work together to protect our environment and to reap the economic benefits of sustainable development. This last election, people put their trust in Labor. They clearly rejected the extremes of politics on both sides. We know it's really important to build connections from all sides. That goes to the type of government Australians have told us that they want. We need to be able to accept the science and to build coalitions across the community while solving the problems and keeping the lights on. This Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, and cognate bills, delivers modern, fit-for-purpose national environmental laws that ensure big gains for both the environment and for business.”
“There is nothing more distinctively Australian than our stunning natural environment, and there are few places more iconic than the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains—a World Heritage area in my electorate. In fact, it's the 25th anniversary of the declaration of the area as a World Heritage area on 29 November. This is an area that gets four million visitors a year. They come because we are known around the world for our wilderness in Sydney's backyard. We need to protect it. Our environment and economy are intrinsically linked. For the Blue Mountains, our tourism relies on a healthy natural environment. It matters in the Hawkesbury and along the Nepean too. For the Hawkesbury especially, the agricultural sector relies on a healthy natural environment.”
“Even now, we are still waiting on two parts of the project in the valley and one section of a project on the Bells Line of Road at Berambing. They weren't completed before the funding expired. I am still to this day fighting to get that one back on track because my community needs those bits all linked up. We have Hawkesbury Heights with a new tower operating, Yellow Rock is about to get its new tower, and those things are the difference between life and death. (Time expired)”
“When fires and flooding in the Macdonald Valley in the northern part of my electorate of Macquarie made it impossible for the Liberals to ignore our telecommunication needs, they provided funding to the Hawkesbury council. Hawkesbury council had minimal experience and expertise in mobile phone installations. However, that was a decision and a commitment the Morrison government made, and then they lost that election. On coming to government, even though we had been assured that things were in place, no movement had happened on that—the funding hadn't even been properly secured—so we worked hard to secure the funding and to bring council and Telstra together, along with some very savvy Macdonald Valley association members, to deliver some improvements.”
“When I was in opposition I pushed hard to have that additional mobile funding we needed to deal with some of the black spots. When the Liberals gave up and took away a new mobile phone tower from Mount Tomar, which is on the Bells Line of Road that heads west from Sydney, the telcos decided it was a bit hard to install, so the Liberals agreed for them to take it away from our community, after we had fought—I thought—to get it back. I am very pleased to say that I understand the connection to power is imminent and that community and everybody who passes through that busy stretch—years and years after it should have——will soon have mobile coverage across that whole section.”
“They are conversations that many of us have had, and we've only been able to have them because we have connectivity. In the case I experienced—this is going back to 2013—we could not communicate by voice, repeatedly. Texts had a better chance of getting through. Lines were very busy. You didn't actually know if your text message was getting through. They are really scary times for people, and that's why I had always known, theoretically, how important connectivity was. But it is absolutely a life-and-death matter in electorates like mine that the network is connected, reliable and resilient, and that's what I've been fighting for the 15 years I've been in politics but most particularly nearly 10 years I've been in this parliament.”
“This government believes that there should be coverage that is reliable and resilient, and I want to see that reliable and resilient coverage across the 4,300 square kilometres of the electorate that I represent. It is vital when there is a bushfire or a flood or a big storm that you have that connectivity. I don't say that just as someone who can look at it objectively and say, 'Oh, it must be really important.' I've actually been in the circumstance where I needed to use mobile coverage to contact my then 18-year-old, when he was at home with a bushfire burning very near to him, to work out how quickly he could get out and what he had time to take. Yes, he took the cat. That was a good thing! But those conversations are not hypothetical for people who live in the Blue Mountains or Hawkesbury, whether it's fire or flood.”
“It's really good that we're here talking about connectivity and about old technology being phased out for new. I appreciate the member for Mallee's concerns about 3G, but, essentially, the needs of Australia's modern economy and the broader community outgrew the capabilities of 3G. It's not the first time we've had to shift technologies and it's not the last time that we're going to have to shift technologies. So that's what I want to focus on. It is really important that we learn the lessons from every one of these experiences. They're all going to be different, and 3G certainly had its challenges, but I have to say it isn't the biggest challenge in connectivity my community faced then or now. There continue to be challenges in staying connected.”
“They've also created 'Ausifyer', a unique live generator serving up a constant stream of great Australian music recommendations to help overcome the discoverability gap. Tell the algorithm where to go, and take back control by discovering and supporting local artists. Head to ausify.com.au. Every local artist you seek out, play, follow, save, share, request and see live helps our musicians rise. By choosing Aussie music we can shift the algorithm, support artists and help our local scene thrive.”
“Don't you hate it when you've been listening to a favourite Missy Higgins song on your music app, and, instead of it taking you to another great Australian singer, it shifts you to an overseas artist? Well, that's the algorithm. Sixty-six per cent of Australians say they want to listen to more Australian music, but, currently, less than 10 per cent of music streamed by Australians comes from local artists. The algorithm just isn't geared to make Aussie music easily discoverable. That's why Music Australia has launched Ausify, a national campaign to help listeners get more Aussie music out of the algorithm. Backed by artists from around the country, Ausify makes it easy to search for local artists on streaming services. There'll be a daily playlist of Australian music right through November, which is Ausmusic Month.”
“I think it is worth remembering that the context of all of this is allowing government, individuals and small businesses to be more efficient and productive—doing more in the same amount of time—so I commend this bill to the House, the first of a series of reforms that will improve productivity across government and the economy.”
“It's something that was also highlighted by the Productivity Commission's 2023 review into early childhood education and care. There are many, many more, but time prevents me from going into the detail. There'll be a whole lot of people who really love the one amending the Marriage Act so that there can be further uptake of digital ID services for people getting married rather than all the paper stuff. There are a whole lot of things that drag these bills into the 21st century, that recognise we have incredible capacity digitally and that will increase productivity, using our data and digital technologies to improve access to government services.”