Tom French
Moore · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I rise to speak in support of the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. At its centre, this bill is about whether a kid growing up outside capital cities can look at university, TAFE or any form of tertiary education and see a real path rather than a distant idea.”
“That is not always an exciting word, but it is a necessary one. For too long, parts of the higher education policy have been pulled towards short term politics, institutional competition and funding settings that do not always meet national needs.”
“It can go to academic support. It can go to scholarships and grants. It can help meet the higher cost of operating campuses outside the major cities. In this bill, the base equity amount is $1,535 and the base regional amount is $1,398.”
“That is why I'm less interested in reciting every number in the legislation and more interested in what those numbers mean when they land in a family living room in a regional town. They mean a student in Merriwa does not have to see university as something for other people.”
“I know the value of a trade, and I know that university is not the only path to a good life, and it should never be treated as the only respectable path. A good tertiary system is not university versus TAFE. It is not degree versus trade.”
“In plain English, that means we're moving to a system where growth in university places is planned and funded more sensibly. The Australian Tertiary Education Commission will have a formal role in allocating Commonwealth supported places.”
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“It is expensive, outdated and increasingly exploited by those who use FOI not to shed light but to throw shade. Freedom of information is meant to strengthen democracy, not to be weaponised against it. But that is what has begun to happen. We now see automated bots generating hundreds of requests in a single day, coordinated campaigns designed to tie up staff and, regrettably, abusive behaviour directed at public servants. Some of those requests come from offshore and others arrive under false names. In 2024 the eSafety Commissioner received almost 600 automated FOI requests in a short period, diverting an entire team for months. That's not transparency; that is sabotage of the system intended to serve the public. Agencies have also reported requests that have exposed staff to harassment.”
“The Freedom of Information Act 1982 was passed over 40 years ago. Back then a big data problem meant someone had lost their floppy disk. The scale of modern government could not have been imagined. The Department of Home Affairs alone now holds nearly a billion records. Across government, agencies processed over 43,000 requests in 2023-25, which is the highest number on record. The cost of handling them was almost $98 million—a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, which itself had risen 23 per cent the year before. Public servants spent more than one million hours on FOI work. That's one million hours not spent improving schools, hospitals or community safety yet, despite all that effort, delays keep growing. Applicants wait months, sometimes years, for information that should be routine. The system is creaking.”
“I rise in strong support of the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025. It's a bill that brings one of our most important democratic laws into the modern age. At its heart freedom of information, FOI, is about trust. Governments act on behalf of the people and the people have a right to see how those decisions are made. It's how citizens hold power to account—whether it's pension decision, a visa application or a policy made in Canberra. When people see how government works, they are more likely to trust it. When they can't, suspicion fills the gap. The purpose of FOI is simple: to put information and therefore power back into the hands of the public. But the FOI system we rely on today is not fit for purpose. It was built for a world of filing cabinets and fax machines, not for cloud services and automated data.”
“It restores trust that environmental decisions will be made on evidence, not ideology, and ensures that we decarbonise and also regenerate. Australia's environment is one of our greatest national assets. It deserves laws that are modern, effective and capable of meeting the challenges this century. This bill strengthens protections, streamlines approvals and ensures accountability, all while accelerating the clean energy transformation. We can get this done to deliver on what the Australian people sent us here to do. Every day we delay, our environment degrades further, and every day we delay is one we could be building the renewable energy and housing our future demands. I commend the bill to the House.”
“This bill unites these priorities, protecting what makes Australia special while powering what makes Australia strong. These reforms are about responsibility to future generations and the country we love. My electorate, like many others, is home to people who want practical action on climate and the environment, not slogans. They want to know that the wind farms on our horizon, the solar panels on our roofs and the nature reserves in our suburbs all form part of a coherent national plan. They want a government that can walk and chew gum, protecting the bush and building the future at the same time. That's what this bill does. It brings together environmental integrity, economic growth and climate responsibility into one clear framework.”
“These reforms will unlock billions in clean energy investment, much of it flowing into regional communities. They fast-track transmission projects under Rewiring the Nation, create skilled jobs for electricians, engineers and apprentices, and open new opportunities for regional manufacturing through Future Made in Australia. They'll ensure environmental approvals support housing construction and renewable supply chains, the twin foundations of sustainable growth. They'll restore confidence in a system that too often divided Australians between environmental protection and economic development. In truth, those goals were never in conflict. Healthy landscapes sustain agriculture, tourism and regional economies. Clean energy underpins competitiveness and cost-of-living relief.”
“This bill delivers it. Now the choice belongs to this parliament: will we act in the national interest or let another five years pass while our laws fail both nature and the economy? I say to the opposition: you were handed the Samuel review five years ago and did nothing. Now is your chance to fix what you broke. Will you really vote against the faster approvals that industry has been calling for and against a system that cuts red tape and boosts productivity? And, to the Greens, will you oppose stronger standards, tougher penalties and the new EPA you've long demanded just to make a political point? Australians are tired of ideological gridlock. They want progress, not pointscoring. They want us to get on with it. Our door is open to anyone from any party who wants to protect the environment and deliver the projects Australia needs.”
“It means faster delivery of housing and infrastructure projects that communities desperately need. And it means that businesses can plan with confidence, knowing that their proposals will be assessed on transparent criteria, not politics or delay. Environmental groups support this reform, because it strengthens protection. Industry supports it, because it streamlines approvals. That's the definition of balance, and it's exactly what this parliament should deliver. We've talked about reform for a decade. We've had review after review, report after report, while our natural environment keeps declining and the approvals pipeline keeps clogging. Every day we delay, another threatened species edges closer to extinction and another renewable project that could lower bills and emissions sits waiting. The Samuel review laid out the blueprint.”
“The bill also deepens First Nations involvement in decision-making, embedding the Indigenous Advisory Committee at the heart of environmental governance. It requires consultation with First Nations peoples in developing standards and ensures that cultural knowledge informs species listing and conservation planning, because caring for country has always been about partnership—learning from the world's oldest continuous culture to protect Australia's oldest living landscapes. These reforms also provide certainty for industry, reducing duplication, speeding up approvals and creating a level playing field that rewards responsible operators. When the rules are clear and consistent, investment follows. That means more renewable projects, more local manufacturing and more jobs, particularly in regional Australia.”
“For the first time, Australia will have an independent watchdog to hold rule breakers to account and restore public confidence. The EPA won't duplicate state agencies; it will complement them, setting consistent national standards and ensuring that accredited processes live up to them. Alongside it, we'll establish Environment Information Australia, a statutory body to improve the quality and accessibility of environmental data, because we can't manage what we don't measure. High-quality data means better decisions for government, businesses and communities alike. It means transparent, state-of-the-environment reporting and an end to the data gaps that have undermined trust. Together, the EPA and EIA will make our environmental system not only stronger but smarter.”
“Labor's reforms make sure Australia can lead, delivering renewable jobs, regional development and secure, affordable power to households and businesses. This bill gives the renewables sector the certainty it's been asking for: clear standards, faster time lines and integrity in decision-making. That's how we build confidence and momentum in the clean energy transition. Strong laws work only if Australians trust them. That's why this bill delivers the third pillar: accountability and transparency. It establishes the National Environmental Protection Agency, our first truly independent national environmental regulator. The EPA will consolidate regulatory functions, ensure compliance and enforcement, and have the power to issue environmental protection orders when harm is imminent.”
“But, to keep that momentum, we need planning laws that move as quickly as our ambition. If we don't pass these reforms we'll slow down the renewable rollout, the transmission lines, windfarms and community batteries already cutting across regional Australia. This bill clears the path, with faster approvals, better coordination and stronger investor confidence to build here in Australia. It replaces an outdated system that too often said, 'No, because it's hard' with one that says, 'Yes, if it's responsible.' That distinction matters, because the climate crisis doesn't wait for paperwork. We need transmission lines that connect regions, solar farms that power industry, and wind and battery projects that stabilise the grid. The world is moving fast. Investors are voting with their capital. Communities are demanding action.”
“The global shift to renewables is not a choice between the environment and prosperity; it is prosperity. As of this month, our government has approved 111 renewable energy projects, generating enough electricity to power more than 13 million homes; 69 are already producing clean power, 15 provide grid-scale storage and 29 more, including four major hydrogen hubs, are building the backbone of a renewable energy superpower. In October, half of all electricity in the national grid came from renewable sources, the highest monthly share on record. Coal generation has fallen to 46 per cent, and renewable output is up by around 30 per cent since Labor came to government. That's progress, powered by the Capacity Investment Scheme, Rewiring the Nation, and the Cheaper Home Batteries Program.”
“This is smarter regulation—stronger at the environmental level and simpler at the project level. The bill also strengthens the National Interest Framework, creating a transparent, limited mechanism if the project is of demonstrable national interest, such as emergency infrastructure or essential renewable transmission, to proceed with published reasons and conditions. It also mandates emissions disclosure. Proponents must report their scope 1 and scope 2 emissions and show how they'll manage them, aligning environmental approvals with the safeguard mechanism and national climate goals. That means every major project must be part of the decarbonisation story, not an obstacle to it. Australia is in the midst of an energy transformation unlike anything since the industrial age.”
“A new streamlined assessment pathway will fast-track quality proposals, reducing average assessment timeframes from 70 days to as little as 50 and saving the economy up to $7 billion a year, because time is money and delay is costing jobs, investment and progress towards our renewable targets. We'll also make bioregional planning a cornerstone of the system, mapping regions to identify both development zones and conservation zones. Projects in development zones can proceed with certainty about what's required. Those in conservation zones face a clear no. That gives industry clarity, gives communities confidence and gives ecosystems breathing space. Strategic assessments will complement this approach, allowing governments and proponents to plan across whole landscapes rather than project by project.”
“Through the new restoration contributions network, proponents can either deliver their own offsets or contribute to a national restoration fund that supports large-scale strategic recovery—less piecemeal rehabilitation and more genuine renewal. When we restore landscapes, we restore confidence. If we want to hit 82 per cent renewable electricity by 2030, we need environmental laws that are strong and streamlined. Right now, too many renewable and critical minerals projects are stuck in duplication between Commonwealth and state systems. This bill fixes that, reducing duplication by accrediting state and territory systems that meet our new national standards and maintaining protection while cutting red tape.”
“Protection statements will ensure that decision-makers know exactly what they must consider when assessing risk to threatened species and ecological communities, cutting ambiguity and strengthening protection. For those who break the rules, penalties will be tougher, linking fines to the value of any illegal gain so no-one can treat environmental harm as just another cost of doing business. If you damage our shared natural heritage, you will pay for it properly. Most importantly, this bill replaces the weak notion of 'no net loss' with a higher bar: net gain. Every approved project must leave the environment better than before. That's a fundamental shift from merely avoiding damage to actively delivering restoration.”
“Our unique species and landscapes, from Ningaloo to the Great Barrier Reef, are irreplaceable. This bill introduces national environmental standards, legally enforceable benchmarks setting out in plain language what must be protected and what cannot be lost. Those standards will cover matters of national environmental significance, offsets, First Nations engagement and data transparency, providing clarity for investors and certainty for communities. A key safeguard is the 'no regression' clause. Future governments cannot weaken these standards without improving environmental outcomes. That's an enduring legacy. This bill also defines unacceptable impacts, creating clear, up-front criteria for what simply cannot be approved, because some things, once destroyed, are gone forever.”
“Five years after that review was handed to the then environment minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, the environment is still in decline and major projects still take too long to get approval. That's why these reforms matter. They're about ensuring our environmental protections actually protect and our approval system actually works. These bills deliver on the three pillars recommended by the Samuel review: stronger environmental protection and restoration; more efficient and robust project assessments; and greater accountability and transparency in decision-making. It's a balanced, pragmatic package—better for business, better for the environment and better for the Australian people. We can't build a future made in Australia on a foundation of environmental decline.”
“Labor has always been the party of the environment—as the member for Bennelong said, from saving the Franklin River and protecting the Daintree and Kakadu to building the world's largest network of marine parks and leading the national effort to tackle climate change. Today, Labor is leading once again, modernising our environmental laws to meet the urgency of the climate crisis and seize the opportunities of the clean energy transition. The current Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act is not delivering. Professor Graeme Samuel's independent review said it plainly: our laws are failing the environment, business and the community.”
“I rise in strong support of the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 and the six associated bills. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix laws that are failing the environment, our economy and our communities. These bills are about balance and progress—protecting the natural heritage that defines us as Australians while enabling the clean energy industries, homes and infrastructure our nation desperately needs. The truth is simple: the environment and the economy are not at odds. If we get this right, they grow together—cleaner energy, stronger regions, more jobs and a healthier planet.”
“Australians know who's actually doing the work to make energy fairer and more affordable. It's this government, cutting bills now, rebuilding what the coalition broke and making the system fair again. So, instead of finger-pointing, the opposition might consider apologising for the decade of dysfunction that landed us here in the first place. This motion is pure theatre—all heat and no light. It ignores the facts, the data and the progress being made. It underestimates Australians' intelligence and their lived reality. And that's insulting. Labor has a plan, backed by experts, backed by industry and built for the future, to deliver cheaper, cleaner and more reliable power to every Australian household. That's what we're doing. We're getting on with the job, and that's why I oppose this motion.”
“They found that electricity costs today would be as much as 50 per cent higher if Australia had relied solely on coal and gas instead of pursuing renewables. Their modelling found that, across every major region, a grid based on renewables and storage is 30 to 50 per cent cheaper than the 'what if' scenario where we stuck with coal and gas. So let's be clear: investing in renewables isn't just about emissions; it's about economics. It's a smart way to deliver cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy for the long term. Yet the member for Wannon still wants to take us down the nuclear fantasy path. That is the most expensive, the slowest and the riskiest energy option on the table. As an electrician, I can tell you this much: no household will see cheaper bills from a reactor that doesn't even exist.”
“We're investing in energy efficient homes and we're building a modern renewable grid that doesn't rely on expensive, unreliable coal. And the results are coming through. According to the Australian Energy Regulator, wholesale prices have been falling since late 2020 thanks to increased renewables and government action. The Australian Energy Market Commission projects that prices will decline through to 2030 as more clean energy enters the grid. And the Australian Energy Market Operator confirmed that renewable power—firmed with storage and backed by gas—is the lowest way to keep the lights on. In other words, the experts agree: renewables are the cheapest form of new energy, even when you include storage and transmission. Recent research by Griffith University's Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research backs that up.”
“Since coming to office, this government has taken action at every level to fix what the coalition broke. We delivered three rounds of direct energy bill relief for homes and small businesses—relief those opposite voted against every single time. We've acted to cap coal and gas prices, shielding Australians from the worst of the global energy crisis. And we're reforming the market itself. This includes new rules that ban sneaky price hikes, late payment fees and card surcharges and that force retailers to put hardship customers on their best available offer. That's real reform that makes a difference to the lives of everyday Australians, like people in my electorate of Moore. We're helping bring their power prices down for good. We're expanding access to rooftop solar and cheaper home batteries.”
“Those opposites certainly have short memories, don't they? I rise to oppose this motion by the member for Wannon. Before I came to this place, I worked as an electrician. My work on the tools taught me a lesson I value to this day: you can't keep patching over faults and expect the system to hold. The truth is simple. A decade of delay and denial under those opposite left Australians with a broken energy system that was outdated, unreliable and far too expensive to run. So let's be clear: Labor is cleaning up their mess. For 10 years, the coalition refused to listen to experts. They blocked investment and they allowed ageing coal stations to be run into the ground. Now, they have the gall to lecture this parliament about affordability. It was their neglect that made power unreliable and left households exposed to global shocks.”
“The Treasury has estimated a cost to revenue of around $95 million over five years. That's not loose change, but in budget terms it's a modest and targeted investment, one that supports tens of thousands of small businesses, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the tourism economy that depends on them. It's a structural, not temporary, improvement in fairness. When the indexation resumes, it resumes from a frozen rate, so pubs don't face a double whammy down the track. Now there will be those opposite who say they support the bill in principle, but they do wish they thought of it first—”
“It's specifically about draught beer—the stuff poured from kegs into a glass. That's deliberate. The benefit goes to where it's needed, not into supermarket aisles or bottle shop chains. In the 2025-26 budget, this was part of the Supporting the Hospitality and Alcohol Producers Package—a recognition that, while Australia's economy is resilient, the hospitality sector still carries the scars of the pandemic and cost-of-living pressures. We know that, for many pubs, even a one per cent increase in excise adds thousands of dollars a year to their costs. When those hikes come twice a year, it's hard to plan. This measure says that for the next two years you can plan with certainty. You can lock in prices, pay your staff and get through the next couple of winters without an unexpected hit.”
“In Moore, that means pubs and clubs, from Joondalup to Mullaloo and from Kingsley to Duncraig—family-run venues, where staff know your name, where the kitchen serves a proper parmi and where community sport teams celebrate a win on a Saturday night. Paddy Malone's in Joondalup, Whitford's Brewing Company and Carine Glades Tavern—they're not just places to have a drink; they're employers, they're training grounds, they sponsor the local footy club, they host charity raffles and they give apprentices a start. When you help a pub stay afloat, you're helping a whole ecosystem of workers and suppliers: farmers, truck drivers, musicians and hospitality staff. When those venues are stable, the whole economy benefits. This bill doesn't touch packaged beer or retail sales.”
“I know this might seem like a small change in the grand scheme of tax law, but for venues that are at the heart of our communities, for the small-business owners, for the shift workers, for the kitchen staff and for the locals who rely on them, it matters a lot. And I can say that with a bit of personal authority, because before I stood in this place I ran a pub myself. I know what it's like to watch your margins shrink every time you get an excise notice in your inbox. I know the pain of seeing the price of a pint edge up, not because of better wages or better hops but because of automatic indexation tied to the CPI. This bill gives some breathing space to those who've been gasping for it. This is a measured, temporary and responsible pause for an industry that's been doing it tough.”
“I rise to speak in support of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, which accompanies the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. This is a bill that, if you forgive the pun, goes straight to the taproot of Australia's hospitality culture. This bill does something simple, sensible and overdue. It pauses the indexation of the customs duty on draught beer for two years, from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2027. It means that, for the first time in a long while, pubs, clubs and breweries across the country will get a breather from the automatic six-monthly CPI hikes that have been hitting them like clockwork every February and August.”
“My question is to the Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia. How is the Albanese Labor government diversifying the global supply chain of critical minerals and rare earths and boosting Australia's resource sector here at home?”
“Instead of standing up for regional opportunity, they have surrendered to political nostalgia. Every time they turn their backs on net zero they turn their backs on regional jobs and investment. Yes, the member for New England once stood up for the bush. He stood for independence, decency and the right to have a go. But this bill is not that. It's not maverick; it's mimicry. It's not rebellion but retreat—a retreat that would leave this country he loves weaker, poorer and more divided. Now we see it plainly: the retreat is complete. Australia deserves better. The bush deserves better. This parliament must do better. I oppose this bill because standing up for regional Australia means standing up its future, not dragging it back into someone else's past.”
“It's 33 per cent of Australian homes now topped with rooftop solar. It's farmers earning carbon credits to diversify their income. It's regional towns like Geraldton and Kalbarri turning wind and sun into wages and opportunity. Since Labor came to government, renewable generation has risen nearly 30 per cent. Investment hit $12.7 billion last year, including $9 billion for new, large-scale projects. Over four million homes now produce their own power—the highest per capita in the world. That's not ideology; that's the Australian instinct to get on with it. The National Party, once a party of practical men and women of the land, has walked away from net zero entirely. In doing so they've walked away from their own communities' economic future. Instead of backing farmers and regional workers, they have backed fantasies.”
“In Mullaloo, apprentices are wiring up industries of the future, not patching up the past. When they talk about the past, it's in words like 'shutdown' or 'decommission'. The member for New England says net zero is pointless. He says we'll be stronger if we walk away from the world. He says renewables are future landfill. But, while people suffer through droughts, tariffs and the embarrassment of being a century behind, it's his words that seem pointless. Once the member for New England stood up for rural Australians in this chamber, but this bill gives them only an echo, distant and unclear—the sound of politics stuck in neutral. It's a squeaky-wheel performance of masculinity chasing overseas strongmen instead of shaping Australia's future here at home. Net zero isn't ideology; it's industry.”
“It scraps the Climate Change Act, abolishes the Net Zero Economy Authority and deletes every reference to net zero it can find, as if deleting the words will stop the weather. There is no courage in it, just confusion. It's a long way from the plain-spoken pragmatism of the farmers, workers and small-business owners who actually keep the regions running. I represent Moore, a coastal electorate where people know the value of hard work and fair reward. They know when someone is offering a fair go and when they're just selling nostalgia. The people of Moore don't want another round of arguments from last century; they want cheaper bills, steadier jobs and a government that treats clean energy as a tool, not a target. In Joondalup, small firms are cutting costs with solar. In Kingsley, retirees are counting every dollar.”
“There was a time when the member for New England stood for something. He was a country maverick who crossed the floor more than anyone else, a man who wouldn't take a script from anyone—not the press gallery, not the suits in Canberra and certainly not his own party. He was loud, but it came from conviction and from a genuine belief that the bush needed a fighter, and for a time he was that fighter. He still stands for something, but it's no longer the people he once championed. The conviction remains, but the compass has spun. The fight that once came from the soil now comes from the studio light. The bill before us, the so-called Repeal Net Zero Bill, is the product of that drift. It tears down; it doesn't build. It looks backwards, not forwards.”
“They're building a project worth billions, yet too often people who build our prosperity are the last to share in it. They're only asking for fairness, safety and respect, to be paid for every hour worked, for super to reflect real hours and for rosters that let them get home safely to their families. Those are modest, reasonable claims grounded in dignity, not excess. Industrial action is never taken lightly, but sometimes standing still costs more. ETU members are united. They are strong, and they have my full support in their fight for a fair and safe modern agreement, because a strong economy depends on workers who are safe, respected and fairly paid.”
“I rise as a proud ETU member and qualified electrician. I know what it means to work long hours in tough conditions away from family, building the infrastructure that powers our economy. I know the pride in that work and the frustration when the cost of living keeps rising but the wages don't. Across Western Australia, workers are doing it tough. Rent, groceries and fuel are all up while too many employers still treat fair pay and safe conditions as optional. That's why Labor's same job, same pay reforms matter. They have restored balance, ensuring employers can no longer ignore their workforce. But sometimes, even with fair laws, workers must stand together and use every lawful tool available, including protected industrial action, to make their voices heard. That's what ETU members are doing at Bechtel's Pluto Train 2 near Karratha.”
“History will not forgive cowardice, nor will it reward complacency, but it will remember courage. It will remember those who chose to build, not block. For my boys and for the families of Moore and Griffith, and for families right across the country, we must get this right. I commend the motion.”
“The Friends of Yellagonga Regional Park dedicate countless volunteer hours to restoring our precious wetlands. Parents for Climate, including passionate advocates like Emma Coupland and Sonya Elek, organise locally because they understand that protecting the planet is about protecting our kids. This motion does exactly what responsible parliamentarians should do: it listens to experts, aligns ambition with action and keeps Australia economically competitive. The alternative—we know it too well—is years of denial and delay and 23 energy policies from those opposite with zero actually delivered, and they're still talking about a $600 billion nuclear mirage. The Australian people rejected that approach at the last election. They want action now. Climate change is the defining test of our generation.”
“Crucially, we're adapting to existing climate impacts. That means investing in resilience, securing water supply, protecting critical infrastructure and supporting communities out on the front line. This motion asks the opposition to join us, to leave the climate wars behind and to stop treating the future of our children like a factional football. It asks the opposition to recognise that leadership is not saying no loudly; it's building something better, because out in the real world—outside the echo chambers of the climate culture wars—Australians are getting on with it. In my electorate of Moore, we are blessed with natural environmental treasures: the Yellagonga wetlands, our magnificent coastline and the biodiversity of our local bushlands.”
“Since May 2022 we've added over 18 gigawatts of wind and solar to the grid, a 45 per cent increase in capacity. That's enough to power six million homes. We've helped drive the installation of over 100,000 home batteries, helping households cut bills and strengthen our grid. We're backing renewables not only with storage but with firming capacity so that, when the wind drops or the sun sets, the supply keeps flowing and our families' bills don't spike. We are decarbonising transport with the first-ever New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. We're helping industry do the heavy lifting, including through the $5 billion Net Zero Fund and the strengthened Safeguard Mechanism. We are positioning Australia not just to reduce emissions but to export clean energy, clean technologies and clean jobs to the world.”
“From heatwaves to coastal erosion, from bushfire threats to biodiversity loss, we are already seeing the impacts in Western Australia and across the country. Treasury's modelling reinforces this message. If we delay, or we adopt a disorderly transition, our economy could be up to $2 trillion worse off by 2050. That's lower wages, higher power bills, fewer jobs—a profound failure to plan. The global shift to clean energy is the biggest economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution, and Australia is uniquely placed to win. We have the sun, the wind and the minerals to turn those natural advantages into prosperity. Our plan is to do exactly that. I am a former electrician, so indulge me while I run through the technical numbers.”
“I rise proudly to support the motion moved by the member for Griffith. As a member of the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, I know how critical this decade is. As the dad of two young boys, I know exactly who will live with the consequences if we fail to act. We've accepted the independent advice of the Climate Change Authority and set a responsible, science-backed 2035 target to reduce emissions by 62 to 70 per cent below the 2005 levels. That is the right call, the call demanded by Australians who understand what is at stake, and who want us to seize the economic opportunities ahead of us. Our government is grounded in reality. The national climate risk assessment spells it out. Climate change risks are cascading, compounded and concurrent. No community, not one, is immune.”
“We will keep investing in TAFE, we'll keep driving apprentices into critical trades, and we'll make sure every young person in Moore, in Western Australia and across our nation can build a skilled, secure future. I reject the motion. A division having been called in the House of Representatives— Sitting suspended from 12:47 to 12:58”
“We are cutting red tape, streamlining approvals and ensuring a skilled workforce to build those homes. That alignment between housing and skills is deliberate. It's the centrepiece of Labor's plan to build more homes and create secure jobs. When I was on the tools, TAFE fees had climbed to over $3,000. What many in this chamber don't realise is that, for some trades, many of those fees are paid for by the employer, so, every time those opposite hiked TAFE costs, they hurt not just the apprentices but also the small businesses that were training them. They made it harder for young people to start a trade and harder for employers to take them on. That's the record we inherited. They failed, and now they want to pretend this mess that they left never happened. Australians deserve better than this kind of politics.”
“In my electorate of Moore, we are fortunate to have two north metropolitan TAFE campuses. Their staff train nurses, cybersecurity experts, community workers and tradies that keep our regions running. Those campuses connect to construction training at Clarkson and Balga, a pipeline of skilled workers ready to build the homes Perth's north needs. The member for Wright says housing approvals are collapsing—again, misleading at best. The slowdown began under the coalition, driven by the unwinding of their HomeBuilder stimulus and their failure to plan for materials and workforce shortages. This government has faced those pressures head-on. We're targeting 1.2 million new homes through the National Housing Accord, supported by the $32 billion Homes for Australia plan—the largest investment in housing in decades.”
“We've locked free TAFE in as a permanent feature under the free TAFE act 2025, guaranteeing at least 100,000 places a year from 2027. And we're backing apprentices with real practical support. From July, new apprentices in housing construction can receive up to $10,000 in direct incentives. In the first three months, 4,700 apprentices have taken up that opportunity—real people starting real careers. We've lifted the living-away-from-home allowance for the first time in over two decades, now $120 a week for first-year apprentices, easing the pressure for those who move from home to train. We've doubled wage support for apprentices with a disability to $216 a week, indexed for the first time since 1998. We've also extended incentive payments for employers and apprentices in priority trades, with up to $5,000 in direct support.”
“Completion rates cratered, billions had been ripped from TAFE, pathways were hollowed out, and skills policy was reduced to handing public money to fast food chains for traineeships that never led to real qualifications. So let's not take lectures from those who drove the car into the ditch and now want to yell at us for calling the tow truck. The motion claims apprenticeship numbers are collapsing. That is wrong. As of 31 March 2025, more than 320,000 apprentices are in training, up 15 per cent on pre-COVID levels, and trade completion rates are 34 per cent higher than in 2019. Apprentices are training in the trades this country actually needs—electricians, plumbers and carpenters. Since 2023, over 650,000 Australians have enrolled in free TAFE, with more than 170,000 completions.”