Nicolette Boele
Bradfield · Independent · Australia
“For the last 25 years, even though we've had national laws to protect the places we love, our environment has continued to deteriorate. Experts say that's because our key environmental law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, is all about following processes and not about achieving outcomes.”
“They're full of vague, non-binding language and they're all about process. To be clear, there are some good things in the draft standards, such as requirements to have community engagement plans and strengthened water protections.”
“Thorough consultation can help mitigate problems such as these so they do not arise, and the changes proposed by my amendment would ensure that reforms are considered systematically and holistically and that they are informed by lived experience.”
“The Ku-ring-gai arts community has received some devastating news in the last few weeks. First, we learnt that the Marian Street Theatre redevelopment in Killara had been terminated by council. After nearly 100 years, it was shut down in 2013 due to age and safety issues.”
“Shortly thereafter we heard the equally devastating news that the property holding the much beloved independent Roseville Cinema, a community icon since the 1930s, is going to be sold. A judge has ordered that the building be sold to pay off the debts incurred by the owners.”
“As responsibilities across the disability ecosystem shift across jurisdictions, it is more important than ever that thorough, meaningful consultation is undertaken to understand and to avoid unintended consequences.”
The complete record
Every one of 345 lines we hold for Nicolette Boele, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 7.
“Every day that the current rules are in place and these future focused investments are delayed, Australians are paying the price, in their higher than necessary power bills, for this slow deployment of clean energy. Minor responsible updates will allow our super funds to invest confidently in tomorrow's economy while protecting members' returns today. With the stroke of a pen the benchmark roadblock could be removed, freeing billions in private capital and supporting projects that governments cannot fully fund, while helping balance the budget. That's why I'm delighted to hear that the Treasurer said, following his economic roundtable last week, he was going to have another look at the superannuation performance test. Treasurer, I urge you to do that soon.”
“The benchmark, as is currently required by regulation, favours short-term returns on investment. But infrastructure assets of the future, such as solar farms, large-scale batteries and other low-carbon projects, have very different capital and return-over-time profiles from the toll roads and airports that the current benchmark represents—that is, high upfront capital costs and low ongoing operating costs—which means that climate focused, long-term investments struggle to meet short-term, backward-looking benchmarks. The current benchmark, frankly, is not fit for the 21st century. The Australian Sustainable Finance Institute has noted: … the test is significantly constraining the ability of super funds to adopt green or sustainable finance investment strategies at scale.”
“Andrew Lill, the former chief investment officer for REST, said this last year: The transition to a lower-carbon economy is a huge and historic investment opportunity … He went on to say that it will not only 'provide strong long-term outcomes for members' but also help create 'the world we would like to see our members retire into'. So why aren't Australian super funds bankrolling energy transformation? It's because of something called the superannuation performance test. The test was designed to protect members and weed out underperforming funds. The test imposes a benchmark for the returns super funds are required to earn for their members. If a fund fails to achieve the benchmark two years in a row, it is not allowed to accept new members into the fund.”
“And now let's recall that Australia superannuation funds are charged with investing $3 trillion worth of our super savings—that means a mere 0.1 per cent of Australia's APRA regulated superannuation savings could fund the retooling of the country's entire domestic energy economy. And super funds want in on this once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our economy. They want in from the point of view of helping their members contribute to the popular goal of finding climate solutions. And they want in also for the epic economic and financial opportunities that this presents.”
“Separately, most people in this place would agree that we need to retool the economy at pace, shifting our reliance away from energy produced by fossil fuels to energy produced from renewable sources. In other words, we need to electrify what we can and derive electricity from the sun, wind, water, plants and other renewable resources. There are wildly different ideas about how much it will cost to electrify Australia's power system. Last year, the Australian Energy Market Operator put that cost at $122 billion, and soon afterwards the economic advisory and consultancy firm Frontier Economics put that figure closer to $600 billion. But, for argument's sake, let's take the middle ground at $300 billion to electrify the energy system.”
“Today, I'm here to talk about two topics that are close to my heart: climate action and superannuation. These might seem unrelated at first blush, but, when it comes to Australia's future prosperity, climate action and superannuation are very closely linked. Before I explain how, let me set the scene. As of June 2025, the total value of assets in Australia's APRA regulated superannuation accounts was $3 trillion. That rises to $4.3 trillion if you add other types, such as self-managed super funds. Whichever way you cut it, Australia has one of the largest superannuation pools in the world. For argument's sake, by comparison the federal budget this financial year is just $786 billion.”
“Please tell me you are willing to stand up for these children, these families, and the dignity of every individual in our community. My hope for a compassionate and healthy future rests on your willingness to act. I thank this constituent for her advocacy. I've heard you and I am acting.”
“I have seen people who, without simple interventions, lose their ability to communicate basic needs like going to the toilet or to swallow food without fear of choking. I have seen the slow, cruel erosion of their independence and the humiliating battles to perform the most basic tasks. This is not a sustainable future for our community or our country. It is a slow-motion catastrophe. These cuts will not save money; they will simply transfer the financial and the human burden to our already overwhelmed hospitals and mental health facilities, pushing our burnt-out healthcare workers to their breaking point. Ms. Boele, I am asking you to look beyond the political rhetoric and see the human faces behind these policies. Please tell me you are against this.”
“Within days of these announcements, the sudden silence was deafening. Clients were forced to abandon therapy, their families no longer able to afford the services they so desperately need. I sat with parents and watched them weep from an unfathomable grief— the stress of being forced to choose between providing their child with essential support or keeping their family afloat. It is the sound of a family's hope being shattered. My previous career as a registered nurse gave me a unique, and I would argue, painful insight into the long-term consequences of this neglect. I have seen the future that these funding cuts are creating. It is a future where the most vulnerable individuals are stripped of their dignity.”
“For my statement today, I'm going to read out one of the barrage of emails that I've had from constituents about their experiences last year with cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and pleading with me as their avenue of last resort for help. This email is from a resident of Willoughby in my electorate, and its subject line is 'A plea from a concerned constituent: the human cost of NDIS changes in Bradfield'. It reads: I am a speech pathologist from Willoughby, and I am writing to you today not just as a constituent, but as somebody who recently had to walk away from a job I truly loved. The reason for my departure was the immense emotional and professional toll caused by the recent, devastating changes to the NDIS. I simply could not continue to bear witness to the daily heartbreak on the front line.”
“My question is for the Minister for Education. Universities are facing chronic underfunding, resulting in drastic cuts to staff and degrees. I've heard from distraught students whose degrees are being discontinued midway through them. Charging for services not delivered in any other context would be called a scam. What is the minister doing to protect students and guarantee that the units those students have completed and paid for will be credited towards the completion of a similar degree?”
“For 44 years, the KU Chatswood Community Preschool has been providing affordable, high-quality early education. Its lease with Willoughby City Council is expiring in December and the council will not be renewing it, favouring a for-profit long day care centre instead. Community preschools are beloved by families and have huge waiting lists. They provide families with choice for early education and care for their children. Long day care centres are appropriate for some families at some stages of their children's lives but are generally more expensive per hour than community preschools. I call on the federal government to consider all options to support local councils in keeping community preschools open. (Time expired)”
“We have an early childhood education and care problem, but it's not the one that you might think. Bradfield is experiencing a childcare glut, and it's a nuanced problem. The primary driver of oversupply is the New South Wales government planning reforms that removed local councils' power to regulate where childcare centres could be built. This allowed developers to bypass local demand assessments and build centres wherever they were permitted. It was assumed that Bradfield, being one of the wealthier electorates, would have high demand for childcare places due to its high- and dual-income households, strong female workforce participation and high property values. The result of oversupply is that smaller centres are becoming unviable. The recent news that a favourite local preschool will be closing has left many in my community reeling.”
“They're a win for institutional super funds, which means a win for their members, a win for those struggling to get into safe and secure housing, a win for communities that desperately need frontline workers—teachers, nurses and paramedics—and a win more broadly for a society struggling to ease demand on a choked-up housing system. So why doesn't it happen more often? Why isn't this the default style of funding for people on smallish wages in all parts of our country? These are the kinds of innovative and creative solutions that we desperately need to address our housing crisis. I will be exploring and advocating for these types of solutions and others during my time in this place. There are so many ways that we can fix this problem if we have the energy and the courage for new avenues.”
“I want to be clear about one thing. I'm not advocating and will never advocate for people's individual super savings being raided. Our superannuation is world class and it should be used solely for the purpose for which it was created—to ensure that people have a dignified retirement. Rather, I'm suggesting that the $5 trillion in Australia's institutionally managed super funds, funds which are invested on behalf of their members, be available for investment in creative solutions to our complex problems while still making strong risk-adjusted returns for members. Projects like Assemble's build-to-rent-to-buy development are a win-win-win-win.”
“After all, what better investment is there than property in Australia? So what does it look like? Their novel approach to the purchase pathway is known as 'build to rent to own'. Here, the rent and purchase price of the home is fixed for five years, enabling residents to live in those homes while they're saving to buy them without the housing market racing away from them. There's no obligation to buy, but the purchase price is fixed for five years if they choose to do. Assemble has completed three such projects in Melbourne, with more under construction. The projects receive funding from the Housing Australia Future Fund. They're delivered in partnership with social and community housing providers. They create supply on the doorstep of critical public transport links and near major hospitals and schools.”
“We need to find new ways to provide affordable shelter for everyone who wants or needs it. When working with superannuation funds during my time in finance, I learnt from a number of creative approaches to financing affordable housing. These examples come from the United States of America, the UK and the Netherlands. I'm also pleased to report that we have a few examples of creative solutions right here in Australia. Assemble, a housing developer and manager, majority owned by two of Australia's largest superannuation funds, HESTA and AustralianSuper, aims to originate, deliver and manage well-designed and appropriate homes for renters and homebuyers nationally, making more housing available where it is needed. Assemble provides investment opportunities which generate stable, long-term returns by investing in housing at scale.”
“When it comes to supply, state, territory and local governments need to regulate for a larger proportion of what's built to be affordable, and, through the National Housing Accord, the federal government has not just the power but also the responsibility to make it so. The Commonwealth provides state, territory and local governments with $3.5 billion in payments to support the delivery of new homes towards its 1.2 million new-homes target. The Albanese government needs to flex its muscle in the equation. The Housing Australia Future Fund is a commendable initiative to support social and affordable housing, but it must be bigger. The $500 million it disburses in grants annually in the context of the Australian property market is not going to scratch the surface of this crisis.”
“Shelter is a human right, yet in Australia we have as many homeless people as there are voters in the electorate of Bradfield, more than 122,000, and it's trending in the wrong direction. This government says that it understands what's needed—increase supply, inject more money into social and affordable housing, fix property related tax settings and improve vocational training and skills to ensure that we have the workers to build the homes. Those are good initiatives, but house prices keep rising, supply does not meet demand, dreams of homeownership grow ever more distant for new entrants and homelessness grows.”
“My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. The Climate Council has advised that Australia's 2035 climate target will not be credible unless it includes a commitment to an orderly phase-out of fossil fuel use, production and exports. As a hopeful host to COP31 and to respond to the pleas of our friends in the Pacific, what is the Australian government's plan for that fossil fuel phase-out?”
“And they are particularly relied upon by the elderly, local business operators and people accessing parcels and other large post, particularly those taking advantage of opportunities for flexible work—tilting towards parents working from home between parenting duties. Australia Post offices can't be run by the Commonwealth like profit centres, because they are not profit centres, and they are not likely to be. Post offices provide essential services to many. They are an investment in our communities and local businesses, and they give a sense of connection and safety, particularly for our seniors. The loss of this essential service imperative is killing communities, and, in my electorate, the closure of the Artarmon post office was undertaken in just eight weeks, with no notice and with laminated signs on the door.”
“Post offices are the backbone of our communities. This is certainly the case for my electorate of Bradfield, and closures—those that have already occurred and those that are on the cards—hurt communities. Post offices are more than just facilities for buying stamps or sending letters; they are community hubs and provide essential service points for many Australians. Post offices are often the only places to pay bills, and they're often the only places to do banking because of bank branch closures. They are often the only places to apply for a passport or access a justice of the peace.”
“To the Voices of Bradfield, particularly Robert Paul Ayres Mills and Dr Sam Graham, for believing that better is possible. To every single supporter of our 2022 and 2025 campaigns, and particularly for the captains for leading out in front. To the formidable and gracious Ms Kylea Tink, treasured Independent representing the former federal seat of North Sydney, for her support and encouragement. Politics as usual isn't working. Parties are stuck, at best, or captured, at worst. Independents like me have been elected to put people back into the process of creating our future. This is how we fix things, and when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, 'We have done this ourselves.'”
“And now, I want to acknowledge just some of the people that have brought me here today. First and foremost, the traditional owners, custodians and elders of the lands right across Australia. Thank you for your care, your wisdom, your patience and your determination. To my parents, for having my back and being my cheer squad. To my kids, Fin and Saskia—my teachers. To Richard and Heike, for telling me to go and get some street cred, and to the rest of my amazing siblings and in-laws. To my nieces and nephews, and, particularly, the late Bodhi Boele, disability and trans advocate, elite athlete and mentor—yes, people do come in more than two teams! To my besties, Maryanne, Isabel, Sharen, Amanda, Caet and Vanessa; the Killara family; the St Ives crew; and Freddy.”
“Fourthly, I shall advocate for and deliver deliberative processes that start where people are and give them the information they need to engage and deliberate on the agendas that affect them and the generations to come. When people come together to imagine a future beyond the circumstances into which they were born, it's more than hoping, it is a deeply political act, and it challenges the power and the biases that are built into the systems that govern us. By opening the future to collective participation, we restore agency to those long excluded, and, in doing so, we allow an entirely different sphere of society to benefit from the way things are, because the way things are is different and this is not just desirable, it is necessary, and this should be our collective aspiration.”
“Firstly, I'm going to push the government to be more courageous. I will hold the government to account on the decisions it makes—and doesn't make—and I will demand explanations and throw sunlight on dark places so that citizens understand the mechanics of the national governance that shapes the conditions of their everyday realities. Secondly, I will support laws that enhance the relevance and efficacy of Australian democracy in a post-truth era. Thirdly, I will take decisions back to the people that it will affect. In my electorate, I'm going to show people how to engage with our national decision-making processes, both formally and informally, and this will include leaning very strongly into the Speaker's agenda of improving standards of civics education for our young people but also for new arrivals.”
“People from across the political spectrum joined the Bradfield for Yes campaign, but when we doorknocked to engage on the topic, school aged children of migrants could tell us more about the contribution and the plight of our First Peoples than their voting parents, and even though this story is yet to be truthfully told and heard, it is one that defines us as a nation. The story is one that can help us mend the growing disconnection, isolation and loneliness, and the role of the arts, from its ability to inspire reflection, to challenge, to entertain and to its utility as an industry, an employer of creative and technical Australians, is one that needs nurturing and strengthening. There is so much to do, but equally as important as what needs to get done is, how best to get it done, and I'll be trying a few different ways.”
“Our system of homeownership—or, as we now call it, 'property'—in this country works solely for the lucky ones who are blessed with it, and new entrants be damned. The system fails so many: those without already wealthy parents and future generations, but, particularly, the dispossessed, like so many of our First Nations Australians. A lot of these problems are compounded by a lack of shared understanding of our stories. Another priority of mine sits at the unspoken heart of what it means to be human: storytelling. Why? Storytelling, through performing arts, fine arts and literature, is essential for us as a nation, and it was during the Voice referendum when it became clear to me that Australia does not yet have a common story.”
“I will work tirelessly until the people in this place make laws to reverse biodiversity collapse and commence, in earnest, to repair country—from our woodlands and wetlands to our old-growth forests and our kelp ones. The other priority for Bradfield and this nation is the provision of secure shelter for every one of our people. It shames me to think that, as a country that is one of the wealthiest in the world, we cannot provide shelter for our most vulnerable. According to the 2021 census, there are as many people experiencing homelessness in Australia as there are voters in the electorate of Bradfield—shame on us! Yet we know that when we give people secure, stable places to live, they improve on every single metric—physical health, mental wellbeing and employment, just to name a few.”
“But my efforts to shift the dial, to speed up the progress of climate action through business, met obstacle after obstacle—but not from business, not from customers and not from NGOs but from government: government protecting special interest, from a grand ideological war that has set Australia behind, decade after long infuriating decade. So, that became my next move: to take my three decades of real-world relevant experience and apply it in the sphere in which the rules are made, here in this place. And what will I do with his humbling and extraordinary trust given to me by the people of Bradfield? First and foremost, I will push the government and the opposition to act urgently and meaningfully to address the climate crisis that we have created.”
“But it was quashed because of political inconvenience and culture wars. Tired of banging my head against a wall, I turned to investment and worked there for years with the custodians of trillions of dollars, who recognise both the risks of unchecked climate impacts and the opportunities of acting on climate. Here I also rekindled my joy in science and technology, marvelling at PV rays, albeit in a new context. I worked on developing and commercialising emission reduction technologies—renewables, energy storage, soils and even fungi. I saw how companies that put people and planet at the centre of what they do achieve better business outcomes. I came to understand the potential for business to do good.”
“And how is it that the two parties can each so easily justify the appalling decision to approve the extension to the North-West Shelf gas project—the single most damaging decision for the climate that I'm likely to see in my lifetime? Australians expect and deserve more than this. In my own political career I'm motivated by the belief that government must pass the bold reforms that Australia needs. For a long time I thought that by working on policy with stakeholders in this parliament, in federal and state bureaucracies and in civil society I could help Australia on that journey to tackling climate change and our economy's reindustrialisation. We came close. We had Howard's emissions trading scheme. We had the Rudd-Gillard carbon pollution reduction scheme—all good economic, environmental, trade, and energy security policy.”
“It's as though they use each other as cover or as excuses to pass legislation that is in their shared interest, such as the campaign finance reforms of the 47th Parliament. How is it, for example, that two parties can agree on hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on AUKUS, a project and an approach to our international relations that has not been explained or justified to the people of Australia and is not subject to the discipline of a federal budget or the scrutiny of this parliament? How is it that the administrative catastrophe of robodebt, which hurt so many of our most vulnerable, made its way through layer upon layer of bureaucratic and government approvals processes with no-one calling out what was blatantly illegal and immoral conduct?”
“There was a time when the governments of Australia enacted reform, when a government courageously adjusted to realities. I'm thinking here of the introduction of Medibank, now Medicare, by the Whitlam government and gun reforms by the Howard government. But today the parliament does not make these courageous decisions. Instead, difficult decisions are delayed until the failure to act ushers in disastrous consequences, at which point a royal commission is called for, a referendums sought or a plebiscite scheduled. Or important decisions are made in the dark or strategically, so as to receive little media attention, or sneakily, where action on one thing is mischaracterised as action on another, or they are made when parties quietly and unobtrusively agree.”
“At a national level, I am proud to say that we were the only then Liberal electorate to return a yes majority in the voice referendum, thanks to co-captains Carey Francis and Nick O'Brien. On a global level, we have a strong, vibrant and growing South Asian community which includes—fan girl moment—Miles Franklin award winner Shankari Chandaran doing important work in Sri Lanka with youth stuck in the cycle of addiction, and of course the vibrancy of our Chinese-Australian communities that make up nearly 25 per cent of our residents in Bradfield. But I know that for 75 years Bradfield has been represented by five men, all from the Liberal Party. This represented the values and the views of the area for such a long time. But Bradfield, in line with broader Australian society, is evolving, and so must our parliament evolve.”
“In fact, disagreement is not a bad thing; it is a byproduct of a very important exercise—an exchange of ideas discussed and supported by deep listening—and this is what I bring to my style of representation for the people of Bradfield and to this House, to work across the floor with whomever wants to join me to tackle the housing crisis, to take serious action on climate and help reconnect our communities. Turning now to the people of my beloved electorate, Bradfield is home to hardworking and outward-looking folk who care about the less fortunate and who work towards better outcomes for all. At a community level, there are those like Ann Newbrun, who, on top of her actual life, leads the charge at Ku-ring-gai's RFS.”
“They fuelled my nascent love for our natural world and science as seen through the glossy pages of these most fantastic publications. It was where I saw my first photovoltaic array, strapped to a satellite orbiting our tiny planet, powering communications with back home. This was Australian solar technology. Something foundational that I learnt from my folks was that people with completely different life experiences and outlooks can be a team but it takes patience and commitment. From the countless, heated family debates I learnt the art of listening and compromising and that it was okay to disagree.”
“My parents migrated from the Netherlands in 1965, and I settled in Gordon, which is the contested green heart of Bradfield. Like so many in this nation, when they arrived they had challenges fitting in and finding their tribe and in finding that sense belonging. For my father, Peter, it was going back to university to redo his engineering qualifications so he could practice here in Australia. For my mum, Inneke, it was finally being invited by school mums to join a morning tea and being told to 'bring a plate', which she did—literally! Things switched up when my Aussie-raised stepdad, Keith, joined our family journey in 1976. He knew how to navigate Aussie norms and culture. He brought with him to our family his National Geographics and Scientific Americans , lined up on the shelves in chronological order—yellow and white.”
“For the almost 1,500 volunteers involved in my campaign for election in 2025—some whose faces I see here today—I know that these relationships connect us by a common purpose and provide people with a renewed sense of membership and belonging—not power over but power with, by and for the people. As a third-year undergraduate, a light was turned on when my planning law lecturer shared a quote from the founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu: Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say 'We have done this ourselves.' This is as true today as it was 2.5 millennia ago, and I've lived it and learned it my entire life. I was born and raised in Bradfield.”
“I, like a growing number of Australians, believe that one way we can avoid these fates is by electing people that have the community's and not the party's interest at the centre of what they do, and that's why I'm so proud to be associated with the community independents movement and its more than one million supporters. The movement that is a step towards a more decentralised and people-centred rather than party led system. We listen, we are inclusive, we are patient, we're respectful, we're generous, and the movement is momentum, and, most beautifully, it is rebuilding trust—trust between neighbours, communities and generations—and trust in the idea that our future can be a hopeful one because we created it intentionally together.”
“We tinker around the edges of housing affordability, Australia's gambling addiction and making our taxation system fairer, and, worse still, even if there is an inquiry or a commission that delivers a report, which is a thoroughly public and deliberate process, our parliament, the parties that comprise it and the special interests they represent, usually fail to deliver on the recommendations—Gonski on education, Samuel on the environment, Henry on tax, Sackville on disability, and I could go on. It's little wonder that the public feels that the people elected to represent, serve and protect us do and effect the exact opposite. So, where are people turning?”
“What's more—and I've heard this over and over again from the people of Bradfield—there's a widespread conviction that political parties, and therefore the parliament itself, are incapable of dealing with systemic, longstanding issues. We fail to properly regulate online media platforms. We fail to implement a reform agenda to act on climate change, the existential crisis of our time.”
“My three decades of working in finance, energy and climate has shown me that capitalism needs well-functioning democracies, ones where governments set clear rules, where independent institutions referee those rules, and where those rules are efficient and effective to protect the citizens and consumers from bullies, scammers and corrupt actors. Market players cannot effectively contribute to a strong economy amid uncertainty when the direction of play is unclear or when the rules of the game are changed every time the red and blue team change the captain's chair and take with them their ideologies and special interests.”
“I acknowledge and pay respect to traditional custodians of this land, their elders past and present, and those of nations right across this land and its seas. Let me start with the problem—trust. Trust in our democratic institutions is declining, partly, I think, because the key assumptions have turned out to be mistaken. In recent history, the three key assumptions most of us accepted were: that democracy could cosily coexist with more or less unfettered capitalism; that it could successfully navigate between technocracy and ideology, between cultural warriors and pragmatists; and that externalities like climate change and global conflicts could be ignored. None of these assumptions are correct, and, worse, they're likely misleading distractions from the real challenges we face.”
“My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment and Water. One of the first acts of this government was to approve the extension to the north-west gas project, locking in billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions out past this century. Whenever she made unpopular decisions in the previous term, the then minister for the environment said she was simply following the law. Minister, you are the law. When will the pro-fossil-fuel Albanese government stop gaslighting the Australian public and implement the changes it has long promised on our environmental reforms?”