Tony Burke
Watson · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“People smugglers want there to be footage of Australian voices claiming that people smuggling will work, and those opposite are providing it. The second thing that people smugglers want is access to information.”
“I think it's fair to say that that sort of respect is ordinarily there regardless—it's nothing to do with the gravity of the issue. It's just an acknowledgement that each of us is one out of 150, to make sure that we are conscious that, if everybody acted the way we might want to act in a particular moment, the House could itself become u…”
“on indulgence—When the government seeks to have a debate management motion, there's always discussion in the House as to whether or not that is reasonable. In order for us to make sure that we can respect all 150 members of the parliament, there are a number of things that members ordinarily do.”
“Let me start with this: anyone who saw last night on the news that a number of people had tried to enter our country without a visa should know that, by the time they woke up this morning, every single one of them had been removed from Australia—every single one.”
“I thank the member for Leichhardt. I acknowledge the strong role that the member for Leichhardt has had in combating foreign fishing and, in particular, in calling for the work of Border Force that's up there now in Operation BROADSTAFF.”
“This is an amendment about who the deputy chair should be and whether they should be a member of the opposition. The deputy chair of the committee is a member of the opposition; it's Senator Dean Smith.”
The complete record
Every one of 659 lines we hold for Tony Burke, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 14.
“This document is tabled in accordance with the list circulated—it's hardly a list, if there's only one! Anyway, this document is tabled as advised and circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the document will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings .”
“For the information of members, these are the bills that were announced over the weekend to be introduced by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Treasurer. There will be a cognate debate on all three bills together. Once they're introduced, we'll go straight to the debate, obviously with the relevant representative of the opposition speaking first. We are not curtailing individual speaking times; we're leaving them as they would ordinarily be. But, to make sure that we can get legislation across to the Senate for tomorrow, the bill will go through all remaining stages in consecutive votes at 5.30 pm. If amendments have been circulated, they will be taken as though they have been moved and voted on as well. I commend the resolution to the chamber.”
“2) 2025-2026; (3) immediately following questions without notice and any documents presented by the Speaker or Leader of the House, if the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026, Appropriation (Fuel Security Response) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 or Appropriation (Fuel Security Response) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 have not passed, debate to resume immediately; (4) at no later than 5.30 pm, any questions necessary to complete the remaining stages of each bill being put, with any message from the Governor-General under standing order 147 being announced, and any detail amendments circulated being treated as if they had been moved [together] by the Member proposing them; and (5) any variation to this arrangement being made only on a motion moved by a Minister.”
“I move: That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring on Monday, 30 March 2026: (1) the following bills being presented and after the second reading speech of the Minister on each bill, debate being adjourned until a later hour: (a) Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026; (b) Appropriation (Fuel Security Response) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026; and (c) Appropriation (Fuel Security Response) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026; (2) when the order of the day for the resumption of debate on the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026 is called on, a cognate debate taking place with Appropriation (Fuel Security Response) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Fuel Security Response) Bill (No.”
“I am grateful for the chance—for the member for Menzies—to explain who it applies to, who it doesn't and what the pathway is for sympathetic consideration.”
“The department is still able, where there are compelling circumstances, to say that individuals should be able to come on the visitor visa, but those decisions are made case by case by the department. I have directed the department, as a result of the consultation that I referred to before, including some specific advocacy that came from the member for Menzies, the member for Deakin and the member for Bennelong, to specifically ask my officials to show sympathetic consideration for any cases that involve the parents of Australian citizens, regardless of the age of the Australian citizens. Obviously, the compassionate circumstances will be broader than that. But it's just very important.”
“In terms of who was affected, the order only applies to people with visitor visas. We have not applied it to any other form of temporary visa. It does not apply to the spouse, de facto partner or dependent child of an Australian citizen. It does not apply to somebody who holds a permanent visa. It does not apply to anybody who is already here. It does not apply to the parent of a child who is under 18 and in Australia. It doesn't apply to somebody who has what we call a permitted travel certificate. Now these travel certificates—because there will be members of parliament who are approached and asked to bring these cases forward—I just want to explain what they are.”
“What that means is when you get a sudden conflict like has happened with Iran, you have a large number of people who've been issued visas who, if they applied now, would in fact not be eligible for those visas. And until these determinations were possible, we could only go through that case by case. This is the first time that I know of, for a long time, where the number of visas that were already issued was as large as this, in the order of more than 7,000 temporary visas that had already been issued. All of them were issued properly, but in a circumstance which no longer applied. The government has a very clear view that decisions about permanent stays in Australia should be a deliberate decision of the government, not a random consequence of who was planning to book a holiday here.”
“I thank the member for Menzies for the question. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work he's been doing with the Iranian-Australian community in his electorate and acknowledge the consultation that both the assistant minister for multicultural affairs and the assistant minister for immigration have been doing, as well as myself, with the community in the lead-up to making the determination, which I signed off on yesterday. It's very important for us to understand what this determination is, who it affects, who it doesn't, and why the government has put it in place. It is always the case, when temporary visas are issued, that one of the things that my officials weigh up is how likely is it that someone will seek to continue to stay beyond the length of the visa.”
“There is another relevant bill, a Fair Work Act amendment bill that was introduced today, and we will be taking him at his word that that will go through the House today as well.”
“The opposition have decided to progress the agenda of the government, and I thank them for that. I would remind the opposition of two things. First of all, the government is always ready for our legislation to go through the parliament the moment we introduce it—always. The reason that we wait till the following week is at a request of the opposition to allow them to have their party room meeting. But I take it that the House of Reps tactics committee for the opposition have met and have decided they're ready to progress—I take the Manager of Opposition Business at his word—with any legislation that will help in the current circumstance with respect to fuel. That was the commitment he made, and I will be moving an amendment to this motion to make that true.”
“I declare that, unless otherwise ordered, the Export Control Amendment (Clarifying Obligations Relating to Registered Establishments) Bill 2026 and the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026 stand referred to the Federation Chamber for further consideration at the adjournment of the debate on the motion for the second reading of each bill.”
“For the information of members, tomorrow, should this resolution be carried, the following will happen. The bells will ring at 11.55 as usual, but we will gather in the House for the address of the President of the European Commission. Following the address, the House will suspend. Members are aware that there is a physical alteration that happens to the chamber when we have a guest speak here. So we will suspend after the address, and the bells will ring again at 2.55 pm for question time to occur at three o'clock. After question time, we'll have the normal order of business. The Federation Chamber will not meet until 5 pm, and the only business in the Federation Chamber will be constituency statements and the grievance debate. Question agreed to.”
“by leave—I move: (1) the House invite Her Excellency Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, to attend and address the House on Tuesday, 24 March 2026; (2) unless otherwise ordered, at the sitting on 24 March: (a) the House shall meet, at the ringing of the bells, at no earlier than 11.55 am and the proceedings shall be welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and an address by the President of the European Commission; (b) at the conclusion of the address by the President of the European Commission the House shall suspend until the ringing of the bells, at no earlier than 2.55 pm when business shall be Questions without notice; (c) immediately after Question Time the House shall resume business in accordance with standing order 34; (d) the provisions of standing order 257(c) relating to good order shall apply to the areas of Members' seats as well as the galleries for the period set out at (3); and (e) that so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Federation Chamber from meeting at approximately 5 pm and the order of business being as follows: (i) one hour of Members' constituency statements; and (ii) one hour of grievance debate; and the Federation Chamber then adjourning immediately without debate; (3) a message be sent to the Senate inviting Senators to attend the House as guests for the welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and address by the President of the European Commission; and (4) any variation to the arrangement be made only by an action by the Speaker or by a motion moved by a Minister.”
“I present the Crimes Act 1914—Australian Federal Police—Controlled operations—Report for 2024-25; and the Department of Home Affairs—Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 and Part 15 of the Telecommunications Act 1997—Report for 2024-25. Documents are tabled in accordance with the list circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings .”
“And I think we can all be very proud of the Australian Federal Police, of my Home Affairs officials, of everybody who's been involved in this to make sure that Australia is a country where they can see there is freedom of choice for women as well, and a country where those who have made the decision to stay will be very welcome, and that very much the rest of the Australian people will be wrapping them in our arms.”
“In Australia, people are able to change their minds, people are able to travel, so we respect the context in which she has made that decision. Unfortunately, in making that decision, she'd been advised by her team mates and coach to contact the Iranian embassy to get collected. My officials made sure that this was her decision, and every question you would want asked was asked. As a result, it meant that the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was. I immediately gave the instruction for people to be moved, and that was dealt with immediately. Can I simply say, and I know I'm out of time, that every member of this delegation has been shown a respect by Australia that would be unfamiliar to them in Iran. They have been shown a country that is willing to say the choice is theirs.”
“There was a small number of people who we had no intention of making an offer to. For the remaining people, we took them individually. If they wanted to contact family, they could contact family, and we made sure that did happen. There was actually some assistance with phone numbers across the aisle, which I want to acknowledge as well. Nobody in Sydney took up that offer but, importantly, all of them were without the pressure of other people watching them while making that decision. Now, I'm not naive. Nothing we did could take away the pressure of the context in which they were making that decision. Today, shortly after 10 o'clock, I was advised that one of the two who had made the decision to stay last night had spoken to some of their team mates who had left and had changed her mind.”
“At that point, they were separated from the rest of the group. When I arrived at Brisbane Airport, they'd been taken to the AFP centre, which is not far from there, to be able to meet with me. I took them through what their options were. They both indicated that they would like to stay in Australia. I told them on behalf of all of us that they would be safe here, they were welcome here and they would be at home here, and I issued them with humanitarian visas. I then travelled to Sydney. While I travelled to Sydney, those two were reunited with the other five who'd already made that decision. When I travelled to Sydney—and we would have seen the scenes of the team being moved towards an international flight—we wanted to make sure that every individual had a chance to talk to my officials without anyone else from the group with them.”
“I want to thank the member for Deakin for the question, acknowledge his advocacy for the Iranian Australian community in his electorate and also acknowledge the support of all members of the House in solidarity, in particular, with the Iranian women's soccer team. Last night, I travelled to Brisbane and Sydney to make sure that, if anybody from the team were considering taking up the government's offer to remain in Australia, I would be able to meet with them so they weren't in a situation where officials had to answer some of their questions by saying, 'That's a matter for the minister.' I would be there in person to be able to answer those questions. Before I left, two people from the team—one team member and one support person—had made contact with my officials, saying that they did want to stay in Australia.”
“I say to the other members of the team who have not yet made this decision: the same opportunity is here for you if that's what you want. Once everything had been signed off last night, there were lots of photos, lots of celebrating and then a spontaneous outcry of, 'Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi,' from the newest Australian residents. These women are great athletes and great people. I say to them, on behalf of the government, on behalf of the parliament and, I suspect, on behalf of the whole nation, welcome home.”
“The people who would want to harm these women or make it more difficult for them to communicate with our officials are always listening too. Any public messaging that would have led to it being more difficult for the women to access our officials would have made them less safe, not more. I also want to acknowledge the shadow minister for home affairs, Senator Duniam, for his cooperation in making sure that we were handling this issue in that particular way. All of this has been possible as well because of the extraordinary efforts of the team at the Department of Home Affairs, and I want to acknowledge their work. Australia as a nation have taken the Iranian women's soccer team into our hearts. I think, when everybody saw the swapping of jerseys with the Matildas, we all felt we were there in that moment too.”
“Before I signed off on their visas, I spoke with Mike Burgess, the director-general of ASIO, to make sure that there were no security concerns and then spoke to the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Krissy Barrett, to make sure that we had the appropriate measures in place to ensure the safety of these women. At around 9.15 last night, when I was with them, I signed off on their applications to go onto humanitarian visas, and I asked the department to process it as quickly as they could. They went back to the offices and processed it immediately, finishing the processing at around 1.30 am this morning. I also want to thank the Australian media for the way that they have handled this issue. One of the challenges at times like this is that it's not only the Australian people who are listening.”
“I want to thank the member for Bennelong, a real champion in this place for Australians of Iranian heritage. Today, as a parliament, as a nation, we stand in solidarity with them. Last night, I was able to tell five members of the Iranian women's football team that they are welcome to stay in Australia, that they are safe here and they should feel at home here. There's been a lot of work going on in recent days to make sure we give these women every possible opportunity to seek assistance if they want it. Once it was made clear that there were five women who wanted to stay in Australia, they were moved to a safe location by the Australian Federal Police, and last night I met with them at that location.”
“My deepest condolences to his wife, Mary, and to his children, Jessica, Joshua and Rebecca. All members of parliament will be forever grateful to Luch's family that part of his life and so much of his professional life was shared with us. May he rest in peace.”
“He was always the person who would want to know more than anyone else when we were going to have late nights so that he could organise the other attendants and be able to work out how overtime and things would run for people. I would say there would be many times when we had a late night sitting of the House of Representatives where Luch was actually the first person that I spoke to about it, to make sure that he could do his organisation. The conversation would be quick because then he would want to talk about the difference between his beloved Canberra Raiders and my Canterbury Bulldogs, and we'd go straight to an NRL conversation. There is no memory of Luch that is anything other than kindness and joy, and it takes a pretty special person for that to be the case.”
“Luch was loved by the entire parliament. I'll never forget, as a relatively new member sitting with Simon Crean in the front row, Luch came along and was instantly greeted by Simon. The banter between them—they were clearly very old friends. His smile, his warmth, his sense of humour meant there was always kindness in a room that tends to gravitate to conflict rather than kindness. Often Luch would be the only thing that every member of the House could agree on. Knowing him has been one of the great privileges of this job. As others have said, if Luch brought you a glass of water, he'd always tell you it was on the house, and he'd always describe them as a couple of schooners. There was a joy and a relaxed banter.”
“The additional environmental water, the additional 450 gigalitres—when we came to office, those opposite had acquired 24 gigalitres of the 450.”
“I thank the member for Boothby and acknowledge the strong commitment the member for Boothby has to the health of the River Murray. I acknowledge the commitment of everyone on this side of the House, and a little bit over as well, to the health of the full Murray-Darling Basin, a system that had been overallocated to death. This government, the Albanese Labor government, is committed to delivering the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and delivering it in full. The pathway to deliver the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is to make sure that there is water preserved for the environment. The overall plan as at the end of 2025—there are two areas at the moment where water had to be acquired. The first is with respect to what's called the bridging-the-gap target, and the government has now acquired 99 per cent of the water for the bridging-the-gap target.”
“The government is not resettling anyone. We're not settling anyone in the same way as the Morrison government, Turnbull government and Abbott government, when foreign fighters returned under your watch, didn't resettle them. They came on Australian passports and returned on the watch of the previous government. We are not involved in resettling any of these individuals. They asked to be repatriated. We refused.”
“I declare that, unless otherwise ordered, the following bills stand referred to the Federation Chamber for further consideration: (1) Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No.4) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No.2) 2025-2026 immediately; and (2) Commonwealth Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 and Treasury Laws Amendment (Financial Reporting System Reform) Bill 2026 at the adjournment of the debate on the motion for the second reading of each bill.”
“The Leader of the Opposition right now is wanting parliament to debate legislation that will not deal with the cohort that we've been talking about. If you look at what happened under their watch when he was a member of the cabinet of Australia, he was very quiet when fighters came back. Did you ever complain about the fighters returning?”
“Because they were people who came back with Australian passports under the previous government after having gone off—not women and children, but people who went off—to hold guns on behalf of ISIS. They're the ones who came in under the Abbott government, under the Turnbull government and under the Morrison government—fighters. This would criminalise the pilots of the commercial plane that flew them back. This would criminalise the baggage handlers. Importantly, the main group wanting people to leave those camps has been our American allies. When they've made public requests to Australia—I know it's a long bow, so why is it in the act? Why is it in the bill? If you think it's ridiculous, why are you trying to legislate for it?”
“Fortunately, the bill is not very long, so I've had a chance to be able to have a look at it. But I really hope, for his own sake, that the Leader of the Opposition hasn't read what he's tried to introduce. You'll see why if you go through what this bill is that he's now wanting us to interrupt the business of the day to be able to focus on. Point 1 is the description of the people involved doesn't necessarily capture the cohort that has been debated publicly. Read the definition. Read what's there. It doesn't actually capture that cohort. What it does capture is this: the fighters, for example, who came in under their watch—fighters who were clearly guilty of a terrorism offence. We know that fighters did come in under their watch. Who are the people that this bill would criminalise?”
“People are aware that the Prime Minister will be here to address us on Thursday. For the information of members, it means that on Thursday morning the bells will ring at 10.30, not before; the front of the chamber will have been reconfigured to allow for the speech, and the senators will be invited to join us. Question agreed to.”
“I move: That: (1) the House invite The Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, to attend and address the House on Thursday, 5 March 2026; (2) unless otherwise ordered, at the sitting on 5 March: (a) the House shall meet, at the ringing of the bells, at no earlier than 10.30 am and the proceedings shall be welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and an address by the Prime Minister of Canada; (b) at the conclusion of the address by the Prime Minister of Canada the House shall suspend until the ringing of the bells, when business shall proceed in accordance with standing order 34; (c) the provisions of standing order 257(c) relating to good order shall apply to the areas of Members' seats as well as the galleries for the period set out at (3); and (d) the Federation Chamber shall not meet; (3) a message be sent to the Senate inviting Senators to attend the House as guests for the welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and address by the Prime Minister of Canada; and (4) any variation to the arrangement be made only by an action by the Speaker or by a motion moved by a Minister.”
“And every Australian Muslim—because that's who these were directed at—just like every other Australian, has the right to be safe and to feel safe.”
“Whenever the temperature is higher, whenever those who promote hate feel emboldened, this increases the likelihood that violence will be planned and attempted. I say to all Australians: if you see something or are concerned about a rise in hateful behaviour from someone, report it to the police or to the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400. The specific attacks, as well as the parliament and police, were aimed at mosques. We know the Australian Muslim community has been experiencing increased levels of Islamophobia. It is not fictitious. It is real. This man allegedly wanted to target mosques—places of prayer and worship for many Australians. Every elected official who claims to care about national security has a responsibility to turn the temperature down. Every act of bigotry flies in the face of who we are as Australians.”
“When they got there, they discovered a manifesto-style document outlining plans for a nationalist and racist ideologically motivated act of violent extremism aimed at attacking mosques in Western Australia as well as Western Australia Police Headquarters and the state parliament. For some time now, our security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been warning that we are entering a new security environment. There are many different ideologies that can give rise to extremism. Sometimes it's a range of ideologies. Sometimes it's a mix of ideologies. Sometimes it's the threat of the ideology. We often talk about it coming across the border. Much of this now is coming straight across the internet into Australia.”
“I thank the member for Bullwinkel for the question. I know all members, and particularly members from the West, were shaken by the information that came out with the arrest last week. At the end of last week, the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team, which involves the Australian Federal Police, the Western Australian Police Force and ASIO, charged a 20-year-old man with acting in preparation or planning for a terrorist act. The man has also been charged with firearms offences. He was arrested by WA police when they were executing a search warrant as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitic, Islamophobic and racially motivated online hate speech.”
“Well, for the first thing, nobody ever should talk about intelligence advice that you receive from the agencies in the privacy of the House of Representatives. And, if you wanted an example of a group of people who are not ready for national security, it's when they start asking in question time about advice from intelligence agencies—when they start talking about that. Let me—”
“The evidence clearly is the fact that there was no repatriation and that there was no assistance. That's what this government has done. This government has made sure that we have not in any way—in any way—provided any form of support for these individuals. That is why the meetings were followed with a letter from Save the Children complaining that the government had refused to offer any support.”
“For the information of members, this is the same sessional order that I moved at the start of the term, prior to the coalition breaking up. This takes us back to where we were three weeks ago. Whether I'm back in three weeks time is a matter for others. I do congratulate the Manager of Opposition Business on the role. I currently hold the record for the longest time spent in that role. I very much hope that he is able to break that record for me, and I wish him well.”
“(f) During the grievance debate in the Federation Chamber, every Tuesday priority shall be given to a crossbench Member seeking the call as the first speaker ( standing order 192b ). (g) During the adjournment debate in the House, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays priority shall be given to a crossbench Member seeking the call as the first speaker ( standing order 31 ). (h) During the adjournment debate in the Federation Chamber, every Thursday priority shall be given to a crossbench Member seeking the call as the first speaker (s tanding order 191 ). (i) For the matter of public importance discussion, the Speaker shall have regard to the crossbench proportion of the non-government membership of the House in selecting matters proposed ( standing order 46 ).”
“(b) During each period of Members' statements in the House, priority shall be given to at least two crossbench Members seeking the call ( standing order 43 ). (c) During each period of Members' statements in the Federation Chamber on Mondays, priority shall be given to at least four crossbench Members seeking the call ( standing order 43 ). (d) During each 30 minute period of Members' constituency statements in the Federation Chamber, priority shall be given to at least one crossbench Member seeking the call ( standing order 193 ). (e) During each one hour period of Members' constituency statements in the Federation Chamber, priority shall be given to at least two crossbench Members seeking the call ( standing order 193 ).”
“by leave—I move: That sessional order 65a be amended to read as follows: 65a Opportunities for crossbench Members Consistent with the principle that the call should alternate between government and non-government Members and to enable crossbench Members to receive the call in accordance with the crossbench proportion of the non-government membership of the House: (a) During Question Time, priority shall be given to: (i) a crossbench Member seeking the call on the fifth, thirteenth, seventeenth and twenty-first questions; and (ii) an opposition Member seeking the call on the first, third, seventh, ninth, eleventh, fifteenth, nineteenth, twenty-third, twenty-fifth, twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth questions.”
“For anything in terms of delegation, there would have to have been, for some time, a functioning assessments agreement before consideration would be given to approvals.”
“The new legislation comes into effect in tranches over the next year, and there'll be opportunities for people to be engaging on the development of the new national environmental standards—and they are the backbone of the legislation that went through. Work is already well underway on developing the standards. There have been around 700 submissions made on those standards, which we're now working through. In terms of the delegation, there are two different forms. You've got delegation, potentially, of assessments, and you've got delegation of approvals. The delegation of assessments is something that would have to be in place and functioning before a delegation of approvals would even be considered. In terms of the order, it's the standards that are happening at pace now.”
“I thank the member for Bradfield for the question. In terms of the laws that were passed, first of all, on the concept of delegating approvals and assessment powers to the states, that did exist under the old act. But, under the old act, you effectively had to entirely delegate. The concept of only delegating specific functions is something that was new under what went through. In terms of the progress of both standards and any concept of delegation to the states, I can go through the pace as to how each of those works. Getting the new environmental standards is our No. 1 priority. That's where the pace is occurring.”
“I declare that the resumption of debate on the motion to take note of the minister's statement on the Closing the g ap : Commonwealth annual report 2025 and Commonwealth implementation plan 2026 is referred to the Federation Chamber.”