Andrew Wallace
Fisher · Liberal National Party · Australia
“Based on that meeting, I worked pretty closely with the former shadow minister for communications David Coleman, and I was the chair of the Social Policy and Legal Affairs Committee when, with the member for Newcastle, we held an inquiry into protecting the age of innocence.”
“On 3 January 2018, Dolly Everett passed away at the age of 14. She was a young woman, a young lady, who had been bullied mercilessly. Sadly, she took her own life as a result of the bullying she encountered on social media. That happened not long into my parliamentary term in this place.”
“Later, in June 2024, the then opposition leader Peter Dutton pledged that a coalition government would implement a ban on social media for under-16s within 100 days of taking office. The Labor government did not introduce a bill to protect under-16s from social media until 12 months after we introduced our private member's bill.”
“It was the coalition that consistently led the charge on the protection of children. We actually set up the eSafety Commissioner—and what we now know, from the eSafety Commissioner herself, is that 70 per cent of children are still on social media as a result of this government's flawed legislation.”
“The continuity, the trust and the prevention that a good family GP, like my doctor in Maroochydore, provides cannot be replicated by a clipboard and a six-minute timer. That is where the human cost begins to accumulate. Bulk-billing has collapsed under this government, no matter what those opposite say or how they try and spin it.”
“For decades, Commonwealth governments, including coalition governments, have used health incentive payments to support quality care, to encourage digital health adoption, to sustain general practice in aged-care settings and to keep doctors working in rural and remote communities, where the economics of medicine are hard and the distances…”
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“We warned about these risks years ago, through parliamentary inquiries and reports that I helped lead. We are now finally seeing courts overseas holding platforms accountable for failing to protect children. The direction is clear. The time for delay is over. There is one principle that should guide everything we do in this place. Protecting children must come first—not second, not after consultation, not after harm occurs; it must come first. That principle must apply not just online but in our communities as well. This brings me to an issue that continues to concern families on the Sunshine Coast: the presence of a New Zealand national accused of serious sexual offences involving children. Authorities were reportedly warned about this individual as early as 2024.”
“And yet we heard clearly that many of the world's largest technology companies already have these tools, but they are not using them where it matters most. That is not a technical failure; that is a failure of responsibility. The under-16 social media reforms are important. Age restrictions matter. But they do not deal with what is happening in real time. They don't deal with adult accounts. They don't deal with livestreamed abuse. They don't deal with encrypted messaging being used as crime scenes. That is why the next step must be a strong digital duty of care—a duty that shifts responsibility back onto platforms. If you build it, if you profit from it, you must make it safe. We do not accept unsafe toys. We do not accept unsafe cars. So we should not accept unsafe digital platforms.”
“That is the shift we need, because, for too long, the system has been reactive: content taken down later; investigations undertaken after the fact; support offered after the trauma. When it comes to children, that is simply not good enough. We should not be mopping up harm; we should be preventing it—turning off the tap, not cleaning up the mess. What stood out today is that this can be done without breaking encryption—without compromising privacy. And that matters, because Australians should not be forced to choose between safety and privacy. We can have both: safety by design, built into the device, built into the platform, built into the system, from the very beginning, not bolted on as an afterthought.”
“Earlier today, I attended a briefing that every member of this place should take very seriously. It dealt with one of the most urgent issues before us: the safety of children in an online world that has too often been built without proper safeguards. What we saw and heard today was confronting; but it was also clarifying, because the excuse that nothing can be done no longer exists. The technology exists. The capability exists. What matters now is whether this government has the will to act. We heard from the eSafety Commissioner, international experts and frontline advocates, and the message was simple. Real-time child sexual abuse can be prevented. Livestreamed abuse can be stopped. Harmful content can be blocked before it is even seen, stored or shared—not after the harm is done, but before it happens.”
“I did an inquiry in relation to fuel security for our ADF. That demonstrated to the defence committee and me that we have significant problems with our liquid fuel security for our ADF. If Australians think they're doing it tough now on fuel—if there were a war involving Taiwan directly and involving Australia, this country would not know itself in relation to the problems that we would experience with our fuel security.”
“The defence minister stood up in question time and answered a question on this. He basically said, 'Nothing to see here; there are no problems about liquid fuel security for our military.' Well, I'm having a little bit of déjà vu here, because that's what they told civilians about our liquid fuel security. The minister, the Prime Minister and all those on the opposite benches stood up here and said, 'Nothing to see; there are no problems'—they're still saying it—despite the fact that some 600 service stations in this country now either have no fuel or have at least a fuel or type of fuel that they've run out of. Excuse me for my cynicism when I say to the defence minister: I don't believe you; I don't believe you that this government has sufficient fuel stock for our ADF if the worst situation were to arise.”
“Where steel and concrete and those costs rise exponentially, there will be significant problems for the construction sector. We could potentially see lay-offs of apprentices and tradies. I prefaced my speech by saying that I thought this was a useful contribution on the part of the government, albeit too little, too late. The cost of energy in this country has absolutely skyrocketed under this government over the last four years, and that is not just as a result of the war. The inflation rate that is now 3.7 per cent in this country is not just because of the war. This government was mismanaging inflation long before the war. This government promised us $275 price reductions. We have seen increases in energy costs of around 30 per cent under this government. Finally, I want to raise the issue of liquid fuel security for our military.”
“He was telling me that, as a result of the inflationary crisis this government has brought on—the member for Goldstein is not required in relation to that, but thank you very much—the price of steel has gone up some 25 per cent and will potentially go up to around 45 per cent. There's the price of plastic pipes. Poly piping, sewer piping, and stormwater piping are all constructed and manufactured with petrochemicals. So, when the price of fuel goes up, the price of plumbing fittings and pipes will go up. That means the price of housing will go up. I gave the minister a shout-out just a moment ago, thanking him for his efforts, but they're out of fuel again. I appreciate the efforts that you've made, but this is a real problem for the construction sector now. The construction sector is the largest employer in the country.”
“They want to make it very, very clear—and for me to express—that, for those people who want Mooloolaba prawns at Easter, those Mooloolaba prawns are already in their freezers. They've got the seafood for Easter. Make sure you line up for it. Don't think that there's no seafood. There's going to be seafood for this Easter time. Please support your local fishermen. But the problem will be, Member for Goldstein: what happens after that? What will happen in April and May to my fishermen—and not just to my fishermen in Mooloolaba but to the fishermen up and down the eastern seaboard of Australia and, no doubt, on the western seaboard as well? My farmers are also telling me that they are having immense trouble securing diesel. I spoke with a concreter the other day.”
“My primary producers were telling me three weeks ago, four weeks ago, that we were heading into serious issues, and I've spoken about this nearly every day in parliament since then. I talked about our fishermen in Mooloolaba and how they couldn't get diesel. I went and saw the energy minister and I spoke to him about this, and, to his credit, he assisted my fishermen to get some diesel. So thank you, Chris Bowen. But they're out of diesel again. They're out of diesel again, and there's no sign of it coming back any time soon. When they do get it, they are paying north of $3.15 a litre. My fishermen are telling me that it's got to a point where there's actually no point in going to sea because the catch that they get will be so expensive that people won't be able to afford their seafood. I want to send a shout-out to all my fishermen.”
“He has no shame. He stood up in parliament today—in fact, before parliament—and said he's going to halve the excise and remove the heavy vehicle road user tax. What a brain surgeon! What a great idea! It is unbelievable that this prime minister continues to be dragged, kicking and screaming, on every important issue that faces this country. Deputy Speaker Young, the Prime Minister and those opposite must live in a different country to you and me in South-East Queensland. You and I both know our constituents, whether they be mums and dads who want to get their kids to school, people who want to get to work, tradies or farmers—you and I share a boundary, Mr Deputy Speaker. You've got plenty of strawberry growers, as do I. Our country's agriculture runs on diesel.”
“The old phrase, 'Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan,' is personified by this Prime Minister. Then, of course, there was antisemitism. The Prime Minister sat on his hands for several years. There was the calling for a royal commission after Bondi. For 25 days the Prime Minister pushed back against the Australian community—it didn't matter whether it was the coalition, the business community, former attorneys-general, former governors-general or former chiefs of the Defence Force. It was Dawn Fraser, at the end of the day, who stood up and said, 'The government must call a royal commission into the Bondi attacks,' and, the very next day, the Prime Minister stood up and said: 'Australian people, I've got a great idea. I'm going to call a royal commission into Bondi.' That's the unbelievable guile of this Prime Minister.”
“The US president moved a carrier battle group to the Middle East. He moved significant naval and air force assets into the Middle East. Yet this government continued to sit on its hands. This prime minister continued to sit on his hands in the same way that he refused to do anything in relation to social media, for example. Now, to give this prime minister his dues, he is unbelievably excellent at taking credit for someone else's idea. The social media ban was Peter Dutton and David Coleman's suggestion. Yet you listen now to the Prime Minister, and it was all Labor's idea. There's nothing about the inquiry that the member for Flinders and I did going back several years, nothing about Peter Dutton's idea and nothing about David Coleman's idea. It was all his idea!”
“At the outset I'd like to say that this bill, the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill, is welcome. But, as with just about everything this government does, it had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to ultimately get around to doing it. The concept of liquid fuel security is so incredibly important in this country. You didn't have to be a brain surgeon to work out that a war in the Middle East, or a war just about anywhere in the world right now, was going to place significant pressure on our supply chains—but particularly a war in the Middle East. This didn't just happen. Donald Trump didn't just wake up one morning and say, 'We're going to join forces with Israel and attack Iran.' These things were signalled for weeks, if not months.”
“It is not good enough. This issue is not just about price; it's about supply. We're seeing reports of fuel stations running dry. Access is being restricted. Regional urban communities like mine are being hit the hardest. On the Sunshine Coast, as I said, fishermen are telling me that they are struggling. They are having to put people off. This is not theoretical; this is happening now. This parliament needs to focus on getting fuel flowing and getting prices under control, and these bills— (Time expired)”
“We have a situation where this country could very well be on its knees because this government not only did not plan for these contingencies; it's still sticking its head in the sand. Those members opposite in government are still kidding themselves that there'd be no problem to see here if only Australians would not panic. They're too busy blaming Australians to try to do their job. They're in government. They're not in opposition, in exile. They pull the strings. They control the policies and the settings which enable us, as a country, to deal with these crises. Government is hard, so they need to come to the party. They actually need to be honest with the Australian people. Don't stick your heads in the sand and say that it's all good. If it's all good, why are there more than 500 petrol stations in this country with no fuel today?”
“This is very real. This is the thing that the other side just does not get. I sat here during the MPI yesterday and listened to the member for Wills talk about how horrible it was that a person was filling up a jerry can. That's the thing with the other side; they have no concept of reality. How many businesses out there require fuel to be placed in jerry cans so they are able to use it in their compactors, petrol-driven concrete mixers or generators. This mob over here have got no idea. Why? It's because they've never run a business before. It's been school, uni, union, parliament. They've never run a business. They've never had a trade. They have no concept of how the real world operates.”
“It is a matter of urgency in this country that we are debating these bills. This is urgent, very urgent. Australians are suffering like never before. A fuel crisis is hitting families, small businesses and entire communities across this country. The whole time I am down here, I am getting phone calls and text messages and emails from trucking companies, farmers and fishers telling me that, if they can get fuel, diesel is now north of $3.15 a litre. My fishermen are telling me that there is now no point in going to sea, because, if they can actually afford to put the fuel in their tanks, whatever they catch will be so expensive that the punters won't pay for it. So my fishermen are tying up their boats. They're going to have to put staff off, because, if you're not catching fish, you can't process the fish and you can't sell the fish.”
“We are gravely concerned about our fuel security in this country, particularly for the Australian Defence Force.' This Labor government's response was 'noted'—not, 'We're going to get more fuel here, build more fuel bunkers and build more opportunities to store fuel and refine fuel.' Who could forget the Prime Minister's personal promise, in the lead-up to the 2022 election, of his domestic shipping facility—his domestic ships that he was going to build. Where are they? Where will they be, if we see a conflict? They haven't even been on the marine architect's drawing board. This country is hopelessly prepared from a military defence perspective in relation to fuel. This government needs to get its skates on and fix it.”
“That committee, of both Liberal and Labor members, recommended to the government that they needed to take a very close look at fuel security for the Australian Defence Force. You know what this Labor government's response was? 'Noted'—not 'accept', but 'noted'. We have got a looming issue here, in a world where the geopolitical environment is the most uncertain since 1945. We have seen a war in Europe that still rages. We now have a war in the Middle East, and God forbid we should see another war in the Indo-Pacific. But if we do, our Australian defence forces are at grave risk of not being able to provide fuel to our Navy, to our Army and to our Air Force. The committee was told by the ADF, once again, 'Nothing to see here; everything will be alright.' But the committee said: 'We don't think that's right.”
“I have had fishermen contact me today and say that they can't get diesel, again, on the wharves. I've had farmers tell me that the price of urea has gone up—how much, do you reckon, in the last three weeks? I'll tell you how much. The price of urea has gone up 50 per cent in just three weeks. That's going to have an impact on farmers and their ability to fertilise their crops. And that's going to have an impact on—you guessed it—food, because it doesn't just come from the supermarket; it comes from the farmers. An opposition member: It doesn't grow in the aisles. It doesn't grow in the aisles. One of the other issues that is a sleeper issue in this fuel security crisis is the fuel security for our Australian Defence Force. In 2021, I led an inquiry in relation to fuel security for our Defence Force.”
“This issue is of great importance to my electorate and rural and regional electorates around the country. Those opposite in government are laughing about the fact that people in my electorate can't get fuel. They are laughing about the fact that businesses, like my fishermen on the wharves of Mooloolaba and my transport companies in Fisher and on the Sunshine Coast, can't get fuel. And, if you can, you're paying north of $3 a litre for diesel. Those opposite might think that's funny, but I can tell them that people are having to be laid off as a result and I can assure them that those people don't think it's funny. The government comes in here and says, 'Nothing to see—there is no shortage of fuel.' Why, then, are there more than 600 petrol stations without fuel in this country? Why is that?”
“And now Australians are paying the price. When the message shifts from 'There's no problem here' to 'Well, actually, this is a national crisis' in the space of days, this is not leadership; this is gaslighting Australians. Australians have not been panicking; they were responding to what they could see with their own eyes. The Reserve Bank meets again in May. Inflation data lands on 29 April. Australians filling up their cars this week will soon feel it again in their mortgages, their groceries and their bills. Australians deserve better. That is why the coalition, in opposition, is holding this government to account. (Time expired)”
“I was speaking with a farmer this morning who said his urea costs have gone up by 50 per cent in just three weeks—50 per cent in three weeks! This did not happen overnight. For decades, fuel security was treated as someone else's problem. That complacency was not confined to one party; I will admit that. But, when Angus Taylor was energy minister, he acted. He legislated the Fuel Security Act, he invested $200 million in offshore diesel storage and he saved both the Ampol Lytton refinery in Queensland and the Viva Energy refinery in Geelong from closure—serious measures made by someone who understands the risks. Labor inherited that framework in 2022. They had the benefit of warning signs. They had global shocks unfolding in real time. But they did not build the storage. They did not close the gap. They did not act with urgency.”
“Operators are dealing with a spike in drive-offs as families struggle to fill their tanks. Drivers are rationing, putting in $20 instead of filling up. Small businesses and families are wearing the cost. Truckies are feeling the pinch. On the Sunshine Coast, businesses like Your Logistic Solutions have had fuel stolen directly from their vehicles, with losses of up to $1,800 in just one single incident. That's what it looks like on the ground, and it raises serious questions: Why is this country so exposed? Why is Australia so dependent on foreign fuel that a conflict on the other side of the world can bring us, effectively, to our knees? The National Farmers' Federation has warned that food prices could rise by up to 50 per cent. Service stations have run dry. Oil shipments have turned back.”
“Too much money chasing too few goods pushes prices up. When prices rise, the Reserve Bank steps in with the only tool it has—interest rates go up—and Australians pay the price. This is cause and effect, driven by decisions made right here in Canberra. But the situation has now taken a more serious turn. As of this week, fuel prices on the Sunshine Coast and across the country have surged dramatically. People in my electorate are now paying up to $3 a litre for diesel and around $2.85 for petrol. Petrol is up by more than 30 per cent, and diesel is up by more than 40 per cent—among the sharpest increases in fuel prices in the developed world. The impacts are being felt locally. A local news report on the Sunshine Coast last night showed more than 70 service stations running dry across Queensland.”
“Australia is facing a convergence of emerging and significant pressures—a weak economy, rising costs and now a fuel crisis—hitting families and small businesses across the country. Last Tuesday, the Reserve Bank raised the cash rate to 4.1 per cent, the second consecutive increase and the 14th rate rise under this Labor government. In Fisher, the median house price has reached $1.285 million. That single decision adds more than $200 a month to a typical mortgage. With another rate rise forecast in May, families are moving from pressure to genuine distress. And why is this happening? It's happening because inflation remains too high. As economists have pointed out this week, that is being driven by domestic conditions, not global ones. When a government spends at record levels, it puts too much money into the economy.”
“They expect clarity and consistency and a government that understands the seriousness of the moment, not one that plays catch up after it's too late. The coalition will always support measures that strengthen Australia's defence capability. We support AUKUS, we support our submarines and we support our ADF personnel.”
“AUKUS must be about building sovereign capability. That means backing Australian industry. It means ensuring small and medium businesses are not locked out. It means genuine partnership with the private sector, not just rhetoric, because our national security depends on our own industrial capability. That's sovereign capability. We are living in a time of growing strategic competition in our region—an increasingly unstable period that demands a clear government led response. We're seeing militarisation, coercion and instability. AUKUS is critical, but it cannot stand alone. It must be part of a broader national security strategy built on stronger sovereign capability. Australians expect strong leadership on national security.”
“The government has even ordered the Auditor-General to stop producing its major projects review on Defence's biggest projects, which are collectively over 33 years delayed. That is the reality that Australians are facing today. The workforce challenge is real. Building and sustaining nuclear-powered submarines will require tens of thousands of skilled Australians engineers, tradies, technicians and Defence personnel. We support investment in skills, but where is the pipeline? Where is the plan to attract, train and retain that workforce? This cannot be switched on overnight, and, while we build this workforce, the government continues to fail to recruit and retain members of the Australian Defence Force. This requires long-term planning and coordination with industry and education providers.”
“It's all well and good to have a defence strategy, but where is its national security strategy? Where is the framework tying together defence, intelligence, cybersecurity space, critical infrastructure and economic security? We've seen announcements, we've seen press releases and we've seen spin, but we have not seen a coherent plan. Without one, even the biggest investments risk being poorly directed, delayed or diluted. Labor is very good at spending—we all know that—but spending isn't always delivering. We are seeing delays, uncertainty and serious questions around AUKUS timelines. Capability gaps are emerging. The government talks about submarines in the 2040s while the threat is real today.”
“As chair and deputy chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and the defence subcommittee, I've seen firsthand the scale of the challenges that we face. The strategic environment that we are in is deteriorating and deteriorating rapidly. It's more uncertain, it's more contested and it's more dangerous than at any time since 1945. This motion speaks at length about infrastructure, jobs and training, and, yes, these things are very important, but defence policy is not an employment program. It's not a regional development strategy dressed up as national security. It is about keeping Australians safe in a dangerous world, and that is where this government continues to fall short. I ask this question: where is the government's national security strategy?”
“I rise to speak on this motion relating to AUKUS and the future of Australia's submarine capability. Let me say at the outset that this side of the House will always support investment in Australia's defence capability, because the first duty of any government is to keep Australians safe and protect our way of life. But support for capability must be matched with strategy, leadership and seriousness of purpose. AUKUS did not begin with this Labor government. It was conceived, negotiated and delivered by the former coalition government as one of the most significant defence partnerships in our history since the ANZUS Treaty in 1951. AUKUS is about deterrence, capability and ensuring Australia can operate with our partners in the UK and US in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.”
“I've seen the way our women have served this country with great distinction, and I tip my hat to them because, whether in the Middle East or here in Australia, they have impressed me greatly with their professionalism and their willingness to serve wearing the Australian uniform. And we owe them a great debt of gratitude. Every single person who has served in this country in uniform deserves our respect, whether they are male or female.”
“It's about ensuring we attract and retain the very best Australians regardless of their gender because, in an increasingly uncertain strategic environment, we cannot afford to limit ourselves to half the talent pool. It doesn't seem to be a really novel concept. As we invest in projects like AUKUS, as we build the next generation of our defence force, that principle has never been more important. In the 10 years I've been in this place, I've had the privilege of being on a submarine, of flying in RAAF aircraft and of being out in the field with our Defence personnel.”
“We're also seeing progress in leadership, with women now holding senior officer roles and commanding positions across our services. But we also know there's much more to do. Representation remains uneven across the services. The Navy has made strong progress. The Army still has more ground to make up. Retention remains a challenge, and, for younger women, the decision to serve is not always an easy one. If we're serious about building the defence force Australia needs for the future, we must continue to remove barriers, support careers and create an environment where women can not only serve but thrive. As someone who's worked closely on national security and defence issues in this parliament, I say this clearly: capability is not just about submarines, ships or aircraft. It's about our people.”
“Over time, that has changed. Barriers have been broken down and continue to be broken down. Opportunities have expanded. Today women serve across more than 200 roles in the Australian Defence Force including in combat roles, in command positions and in some of the most technically complex and strategically important areas of our military. That progress matters because a modern defence force must reflect the nation it serves. Today women make up just over 20 per cent of the Australian Defence Force. That's up from around 14 per cent just over a decade ago. In raw numbers that is more than 17,000 women serving in uniform. We are seeing strong representation in recruitment, with women making up more than 23 per cent of new enlistments in recent years.”
“Many more have carried the invisible wounds of that service long after they've taken off their uniform, and increasingly that includes women. We know that too many of our veterans, including ex-serving women, are dying by suicide at rates higher than the general population. That is something that should concern every single one of us in this place, because, when Australians are prepared to give everything in service of our nation, we have a duty to stand by them when they come home. The story of women in our Defence Force is one of evolution, resilience and progress. For much of our history, women's roles were limited. They served with distinction in nursing and support roles, often in some of the most dangerous conditions imaginable but without the same recognition or opportunity afforded to their male counterparts.”
“I also thank the honourable member for Petrie for her service to the ADF, and all men and women who have served this country in uniform—but, seeing as we're talking about women in uniform, well done. A big shout-out also goes to Linda Reynolds, a former senator who is an Army brigadier, who served this country with distinction and is still doing so, just in a different way. At a time when we mark 125 years of the Royal Australian Navy, it is fitting that we reflect not just on capability but on the people who have served under our national flag. It's a privilege and an honour to serve under that flag, as it's always been. For far too many Australians, that service has come at the ultimate cost. Some 103,000 Australians have made the ultimate sacrifice in serving this country.”
“If we don't track those measurables and if we don't do that effectively in this place or in this government, how will we know what to spend more money on and how will we know what to spend less money on? I would plead with this government to look more at its deliverables and look more at the accountability of what's working and what's not, because, if we don't learn those lessons, we're just pouring money down a black hole and more and more Australians will take their lives, and nobody wants that.”
“One I spoke about earlier in this place, just an hour or so ago, was the rise of pornography in this country. I led the P rotecting the a ge of i nnocence inquiry back in 2020, and that committee received harrowing evidence from young kids who had been preyed upon by the porn industry, some as young as seven. The rise of pornography in this country has demonstrably led to rises in domestic violence levels. That is clear; it is beyond doubt. There are so many reasons: housing stress, job insecurity—so many reasons. But the particular issue that the member for Bowman brings to this debate is the lack of accountability. We spend north of $1 billion a year on trying to address mental health, particularly around suicide, and yet we don't know what's working. We don't know what is working and we don't know what's not working.”
“It is so hard for families to recover once a suicide has taken place or suicide is attempted. There are plenty of good, well-meaning organisations that do their best to try and help families recover and help with bereavement. But we've got to look at why: why is it that it is now the leading cause of death for 15- to 40-year-olds in Australia? What is happening in this country that the leading cause of death—more so than car accidents, more so than cancer—for 15- to 40-year-olds is them taking their own lives, where they have got to a point in life where they have thought that it is not worth continuing on any further and that it is not worth putting their family through things any further? What have we done as a society that has developed this? There are many reasons—a multitude of reasons.”
“I want to acknowledge the good work of my friend the member for Bowman in bringing this motion to the parliament today, and it's an issue which impacts on all Australians because, whether you have been touched personally by suicide or not, chances are you know someone who has. When I first came to this place, 10 years ago, the suicide figures were five people a day; on average it was three men and two women. It's now nine. Nine Australians a day take their lives. I think it's about six or seven men and the rest are women. Every day, for every one person that takes their life there are 150 that attempt to take their life—not week, not month, but every single day. Think about those 159 families and their friends and their colleagues. I've been there. I have a personal connection. Suicide destroys families.”
“I was really pleased to see the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, set guidelines and rules for access to sites like Pornhub that mean that only adults are able to access pornography sites online. Only adults will be able to gamble online. Now, if an adult wants to do that, I don't like it, but that's a matter for them. But what we shouldn't allow is access for our kids as young as seven that were being targeted by these pornography sites. That is damaging for all our kids. It's damaging for us as a society. I'm very pleased to see that Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, who was appointed by the coalition, has finally got on to this and made it clear it's now going to be against the law. (Time expired)”
“Yet for years and years and years, that's what you've been able to do in this country. Kids have been able to access pornography and gamble online. This report, Protecting the age of innocence , looked into the harms that our society was experiencing as a result of those. Let's face it; they are evil. The porn industry is impacting upon every sector of our society. It's demonstrably involved in the increase in domestic violence in this country—demonstrably—and this report called it for what it is. It's not very often I'll stand up in this place and give the government a shout-out, but I will on this occasion because the government finally implemented some of these recommendations.”
“One of the advantages of being dumped from the frontbench is that I get to come back to my electorate, spend more time with my community and take up some of the passions that I've been involved with since I've been in this place—10 years now. I want to refer to a report that I authored back in 2020, which was Protecting the age of innocence . That report, which was on behalf of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, made a number of recommendations. Some of them were in relation to age verification for online pornography and online gambling. Scott Morrison, when he was the Prime Minister of this country, made 'you shouldn't be able to do online what you can't do in the real world' a commonly used phrase. Kids can't walk into a newsagent and access pornography. Kids can't walk into a casino and gamble.”
“Was the Department of Home Affairs aware of these serious allegations? Were appropriate character checks undertaken before he was granted entry? Australians rightly expect that our visa system protects the community. The minister already has powers under the Migration Act to act on character grounds. Those powers should have been used. This individual's ability to stay in this country should be cancelled, and he should be removed from Australia. Community safety must always come first.”
“Earlier this week, Australians learned through a national investigation by A Current Affair that an accused child sex offender from New Zealand is now living on the Sunshine Coast. This is a man who was charged in New Zealand with extremely serious sexual offences involving multiple alleged child victims over many years. Those matters were never tested in court after a New Zealand judge accepted medical evidence that he was too unwell to stand trial. This gentleman was apparently on death's dark bed. Yet two years later we now see that he has travelled internationally and is living freely in Australia, which has caused deep concern in the community that I represent. Families on the Sunshine Coast are asking very simple questions. How did this happen? How was this individual able to enter Australia in the first place?”
“Australians are told by the energy minister that we have 34 days of fuel supply, yet businesses across regional Queensland, including in my electorate of Fisher, are already running dry. This government needs to stop the spin and start taking fuel security seriously because when diesel stops flowing, Australia stops moving.”
“On behalf of the Sunshine Coast community, I want to thank them for their courage and their service. Yesterday, in the House, I raised serious concerns about fuel availability on the Sunshine Coast. Since then, the messages have not stopped coming. Last night, I received a message from a regional family quarry and trucking business in Kingaroy. They've now run out of diesel completely. Their trucks have stopped, their quarry has stopped and they have no idea when fuel will arrive. Farmers, truckies, professional fishermen and miners all rely on diesel. If the trucks stop moving, the economy stops moving. Further, when fuel prices jump and supply becomes uncertain, inflation surges. Higher transport costs mean higher food prices—higher prices for families already struggling with Labor's cost-of-living crisis.”