Alison Penfold
Lyne · National Party · Australia
“I rise to speak on the Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026. I acknowledge the member for Moore and his time he spent in the wonderful community of Dungog. It is a terrific place and I know that the teachers and educators in that town do a wonderful job. Well done.”
“They can often live with their families while they study. For a young person growing up in Dungog, Taree, Wingham, Gloucester, Harrington, Tea Gardens, Bulahdelah, Forster, Tuncurry or the Manning Valley or the many other small towns and hamlets in my electorate—”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Isn't it true that the Albanese Labor government's 70c-a-day tax cut has already been eaten up by inflation, unlike the coalition's tax-back guarantee, which is protected from inflation and would provide a typical Australian worker a far bigger, $400 tax cut this year?”
“My question is to the Treasurer. Yesterday the Treasurer was asked about his plan to force thousands of widows and divorcees to pay more tax by removing their access to grandfathering for capital gains tax and negative gearing.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. A new report shows the Prime Minister saved around $200,000 on the sale of three investment properties under existing capital gains tax rules. In last month's budget, the Prime Minister broke his promise and changed those rules.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. A new report shows the Prime Minister saved around $200,000 on the sale of three investment properties under existing capital gains tax rules. In last month's budget, the Prime Minister broke his promise and changed those rules.”
The complete record
Every one of 616 lines we hold for Alison Penfold, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 13.
“We recently received an email informing us that on April 1, our private health insurance will increase by $50 a month. This is due to price increases under Labour's policies … We feel this next increase, will drive deserving, frail and ailing older people from private health insurance and will increase a multitude of issues in our public healthcare system and their services. Shame on you! On top of this, whilst the private health insurance companies siphon record profits, Australians and my constituents are paying more for their private health insurance and getting less value in return. About 15 million Australians hold some level of private health insurance, and they are all seeing their premiums go up and up whilst their coverage is drastically narrowed.”
“Even though private health insurance companies must receive ministerial approval to increase their premiums, Minister Butler did not reject their proposed price hike. Instead, he consented to it and has since defended the above-inflation rise, the largest increase since 2017. In doing so, he has forsaken the interests of Australians in favour of the profit of private corporations. A family from Lorne emailed me to convey their outrage over the minister's approval: We are appalled at this current situation— under Labor's administration. They wrote: We, a retired couple, whom have worked extremely long and hard (beyond retirement age) to secure a self funded retirement, so as not to burden this country or our government by asking for financial assistance, are once more targeted by this Labour Party.”
“While Australians with private health insurance are forced to foot record premiums in a cost-of-living crisis and are consequently experiencing the largest downturn in living standards in the developed world, the private insurers' profits are reaching new heights. In 2024-25 alone, industry heavyweights Bupa and Medibank saw profits explode. Bupa saw its after-tax profits soar by a staggering $182.1 million to $593.9 million last year. Medibank's after-tax profit grew by $21.7 million to bank $573.7 million. This bill does absolutely nothing to address that. Instead, with the minister's approval, private health insurance premiums will rise at their fastest rate in almost a decade after the federal government approved a 4.41 per cent average increase from April.”
“This is different from the process for changing the premiums of existing products, where insurers must seek the minister's approval first. This difference has led to the practice of insurers closing a health insurance product and opening a similar new product at a much higher price. Product phoenixing tends to result in consumers paying higher prices for health insurance or receiving lower levels of value or coverage. Putting a stop to product phoenixing and formalising ministerial oversight of premium setting for private health insurance products is a necessary move. However, there is more—much more—that needs to be done when it comes to reforming the private health insurance industry. The record profit take and exorbitant management fees charged by insurers continues unabated.”
“People will be able to compare those costs against the fees charged by other medical practitioners, ultimately helping people make informed decisions about their health care. Greater transparency in healthcare pricing, which this bill seeks to achieve, is a good thing. This bill will also amend the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to require insurers to seek the Minister for Health and Ageing's approval of the premiums they intend to charge on new health insurance products. This is important because it will help tackle a shady tactic widely utilised by private health companies, referred to as 'product phoenixing'. As it stands, private health insurers can open a new health insurance product at any time at any premium without the health minister's approval.”
“I don't think the member for Durack would have an urgent care clinic within 20 minutes of all of her constituents, and I know there's not one federally funded urgent care clinic between Coffs Harbour and Newcastle—not one. Let me come to this bill, the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this bill and support its intentions. The bill will allow for Medicare, hospital and insurer billing data already collected by the government—including what individual specialists charge for particular medical services—to be published on the Commonwealth's publicly accessible Medical Costs Finder website.”
“I, too, believe that health care should be universally available. The services of the government should be universally available to all Australians. But I've stood up in this parliament numerous times asking for an urgent care clinic in Taree, a community that was smashed in May last year by a one-in-500-year flood. What response have I got? I've written five times to the minister. Do you think he's responded to me once? I've even written to the minister to request a meeting. I'm trying to work cooperatively on this very important issue—one I agree with the government on—and the minister has said: 'No. I won't meet with you.' I'm flabbergasted that the member who just spoke said there's going to be an urgent care clinic within 20 minutes of every Australian.”
“Normally the spot price sits within 2c or 3c of contract prices, but over the past three weeks we've seen blowouts of up to 90c per litre. That is not normal. Yes, there was a demand spike, but demand has already eased. That does not explain what is happening now. How do we explain reports of diesel supply to regional areas being cut by as much as 90 per cent, while the minister continues to claim there is no supply issue? Where is the fuel? On 19 March, the ACCC finally announced an investigation into major suppliers. But why stop there? Why exclude other key players in the spot market like Park Fuels and United Petroleum?”
“I've never seen Australians hurting like they are right now. Across my electorate, families, farmers and businesses are being smashed by skyrocketing fuel prices and fuel shortages—and they know something isn't adding up, because this cannot simply be blamed on the conflict in the Middle East. What is truly alarming is this: the government and the ACCC do not appear to have a grip on the fuel supply chain at all. Instead of going after the real problem, they've been targeting mum-and-dad service stations, many of whom are selling fuel at a loss. That is not where the problem lies. The real issue is the diesel spot market. There are credible concerns about hedging and hoarding, and yet we are seeing no meaningful enforcement action.”
“I move: That this House: (1) acknowledges that for over a century, Australian women have played an integral role in Australia's defence forces; (2) recognises that women have served with exceptional skill, sacrifice, bravery and dedication across all theatres of war; and (3) thanks all the women who served and continue to serve for their contribution to the safety and security of our nation.”
“That means investing in regional infrastructure, with investment in headworks, to open up new housing developments, streamlining planning and approvals, supporting the construction workforce and restoring confidence for investors, because, when investors have confidence, homes get built. When homes get built, supply increases. And, when supply increases, affordability improves. It's that simple. Homeownership isn't just an economic goal. It's about a promise that, if you have a go, you can get ahead. That is the promise this government is putting at risk. That is the promise we must restore.”
“We're already seeing rental shortages across regional Australia. Families are struggling to find a place to live. Employers cannot attract workers, because there's nowhere for them to stay. And yet, at precisely the wrong time, the government is considering policies that will push investors out of the market. This shows the government's fundamental misunderstanding of how housing markets actually work. You cannot tax your way to more homes, you cannot regulate your way to lower prices, and you certainly cannot solve a supply crisis by discouraging the very people who build and provide housing. What Australia needs is a government that backs aspiration and the private sector, not one that punishes those things. We need policies that reward saving, encourage investment and unlock supply.”
“As the Housing Industry Association said last year: It is incongruous that governments set home building targets, while at the same time tax new home building even more. The more government tax new homes, the fewer homes will be built. Despite this, the government is flirting dangerously with changes to the capital gains tax discount. Weakening the CGT discount is not some harmless tweak; it is a direct attack on private investors, who play a critical role in providing rental homes, especially in regional towns, where government housing simply cannot meet demand. With rents already up 22 per cent under Labor, this risks making a bad situation even worse. If you reduce the incentive to invest, you will reduce supply, and when rental supply falls rents rise. Again, this is not complicated.”
“The coalition took such a policy to the last election—a $5 billion housing infrastructure program to fund shovel-ready enabling infrastructure, such as water, sewerage, power and telecommunications headworks, to unlock 500,000 houses that had stalled on greenfield sites. This is the type of investment that the housing industry and my electorate are calling for. They're also calling for relief from the high-taxing regime on housing. The taxes, fees and regulatory charges new homebuyers must pay, which constitute up to 50 per cent of the total price of a new house and land package, effectively mean that they are spending 15 years of their 30-year mortgage solely paying off government taxes.”
“Instead of helping first home buyers, this scheme risks locking them in to higher levels of debt at higher prices, with thinner equity buffers. This government is effectively encouraging people to stretch themselves to the limit, to take on bigger mortgages with less margin for error. That is not responsible policy. While the government is busy pumping demand, where is the serious plan to boost supply? Where is the investment in regional infrastructure to unlock new land? Where is the reform to planning systems that choke development? Where is the support for local builders dealing with rising costs and workforce shortages? Australia doesn't need more Canberra designed demand schemes; it needs practical policies that increase supply, reduce costs and support local economies.”
“For generations, Australians understood a simple truth: if you worked hard, saved diligently and made responsible choices, you could own a home. That promise—the great Australian dream—is now slipping out of reach, and what attempts do we get from the Albanese government to fix the issue? We get more intervention, more distortion and more pressure on interest rates, making the problem worse, not better. Take the government's expanded five per cent deposit scheme, for example. On the surface, it might sound compassionate. It might sound like it's helping young Australians into the market, but in reality it does something far more dangerous. It pushes up demand without fixing supply. And when you artificially inflate demand in a constrained market, what happens? Prices go up. That's not theory; that's basic economics.”
“Secondly, as I've said, no timeframe for a grade separated interchange at Medowie Road and Bucketts Way—that is the only solution that will fix the problems my constituents are facing.”
“Three months after writing to the minister, having written to her twice, in addition, to ask her for a response, I finally got a response. It's a very interesting one. I specifically asked what the timeframe is. People are contending with very, very dangerous intersections where they're crossing traffic going at 100 kilometres to 110 kilometres an hour. There are caravans, there are trucks and there are school buses trying to get across this intersection. I asked for a timeline on this work. I didn't get a timeline. What I got were two things. Firstly, I actually got a lie from the minister, claiming that it was Labor governments that made a $7.2 million commitment to do some work at the grade intersection at Italia Road and Medowie Road. That was, in fact, a coalition commitment.”
“When I came into this place last year, I took the opportunity to go and see the minister for infrastructure—I'm very grateful to her for her drop-in sessions—about a $12 million commitment to do design and planning work at the Bucketts Way intersection. It's a commitment, I must say, that we—as in the coalition—also made at the last election. In fact, she stood at the intersection in my electorate with the member for Paterson and made the commitment. I was grateful for that too. I said to her: 'What's happening? This is an important commitment you made.' The answer was: 'I know nothing about it. Go and talk to the state minister.' She made the commitment, but didn't know anything about it. So I wrote to the state minister for roads.”
“While regional Australians and regional businesses are dealing with the problems of getting access to fuel, they're also dealing with the state of the road network. Regional Australia is facing some of the worst roads in this country. Today I want to take this opportunity to mention a small corridor at the southern end of my electorate that thousands and thousands of constituents of mine have to contend with every day. I'm talking about Italia Road, Bucketts Way and Medowie Road intersections with the Pacific Highway. This isn't the first time that I've stood in this chamber and raised this issue. The reason I'm doing it is that for every day of delay in governments, both state and federal, addressing the problem at this intersection, we are a day closer to a very serious accident.”
“As a Rotarian myself, I'm very proud to always participate in Rotary events. Rotary, too, has a big focus on domestic violence. I've participated in a number of rallies through my own Rotary Club, focusing on domestic violence and how we can better support women and men in our communities through very difficult and traumatic experiences. I want to send a shout-out to all of the women in the Lyne electorate. I'm so incredibly proud of all of you, of what you get up and do every day. I hope that I can continue to do my very best, as the first female member for Lyne, to represent you with all my heart and all my passion.”
“But many of these women remain devastated by this flood event and, equally, need this additional support to get back on their feet, as do a number of people that are still not back in their homes. Some continue to struggle to find a residence to call home. I was myself lucky during the flood event that I had my own bed to go back to. So many didn't. It's still a very painful and traumatic experience. I want, in this short period of time—unplanned as it is—to simply say that it was an incredible honour and privilege to participate in this event on Saturday and to share with so many incredible women the stories of survival, courage and tenacity that women showed during that flood event and continue to show today. I congratulate Rhonda and I congratulate the Rotary Club of Taree on Manning.”
“I've seen quite generous support to flood affected communities in Queensland, and rightly so. Our community is looking for similar levels of support, given this was a once-in-500-years flood. We're still calling for that additional funding for small business. We still need an equivalent program to the one offered in Lismore for house raisings. We still need more support for farmers and oyster growers in the region. These are the issues that women in Lyne support and continue to call for. They themselves are small-business owners. It's wonderful. I know this parliament celebrates women who are entrepreneurs and innovators wherever they are in this country. I'm very privileged, like all members, to be able to get up here and represent these incredible women.”
“Again, I think I said in my first speech that strangers went to best friends in a moment by simply saying, 'Mate, how can I help?' So many women showed that mateship to their neighbours, their family, their friends and complete strangers during that event in May last year. The trauma that we're experiencing—the fact that so many people are not yet back in their houses and that businesses are suffering—is the very reason why the member for Myall Lakes and I continue to fight for justice for Taree, Wingham and the Manning Valley. We are still fighting for additional support for our communities. We still have not yet seen it, despite call after call for additional funding for small businesses across the region. The Deputy Speaker would appreciate this: Queensland does do disaster recovery funding quite well compared to New South Wales.”
“A lot of tears were shed because, for a lot of us, the trauma of that flood event lives large in our lives. There are many people, many women, who remain out of their homes. For some people it's very hard to imagine that 10 months after an event of that significance—you don't see the rubbish on the side of the road anymore. You can look out across paddocks that were once covered and completely underwater that are green, appear lush and have cattle grazing on them. But the fact of the matter is that the trauma of that May event lives large, and it certainly lived large on Saturday. There are the stories of the women, including Rhonda Futterleib—I didn't mention her by name, but I spoke of her in my first speech—whose business was affected. But, like so many women across the Lyne electorate, they mucked in.”
“On the weekend, on Saturday, I had the great privilege of attending the Rotary Club of Taree for Manning's International Women's Day event to raise funds for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is quite an incredible charity that's doing amazing work to support our children to thrive. It was an honour and a privilege to be there as one of the panel speakers with May Ambour and Meg Nicholson, the other two women on the panel. We were joined by a gentleman as well who runs a very large business from Taree. My state colleague Tanya Thompson, the member for Myall Lakes, also joined us, as well as women from across the Manning, including a number of women who were affected by the floods of last year. I have to say, it was an incredibly emotional luncheon event in celebration of International Women's Day.”
“She has served until recently as our federal president of the National Party and has done an outstanding job. I'm incredibly privileged to have seen Kay and many other very strong women enter the parliament from the Nationals in my own area. Wendy Machin, former member for Port Macquarie, was one of the first female ministers for a coalition government in New South Wales. Wendy really was a trailblazer and continues to contribute as the chair of the local primary health network. She certainly continues to show a great deal of passion for the area that she represented.”
“I'll take this opportunity. It wasn't planned, clearly. I'm not standing in the right position, but here we go anyway. I very proudly stand here as the first woman elected to the seat of Lyne on the mid-north coast of New South Wales and as only the second woman from the New South Wales Nationals Party elected to the House of Representatives in over a 100-odd years. It's quite an achievement. In my first speech, I paid tribute to the very first woman elected from New South Wales, Kay Hull, an absolute dynamo. I had the privilege, as a staffer, to see Kay in action here in the parliament. She was somebody who, frankly, ministers found it very difficult to say no to. Perhaps, she didn't nag about urgent care clinics like I have been doing since I entered the parliament, but she certainly found a way to get her case across.”
“So, in conclusion, I support further scrutiny of this bill by referral to a Senate committee. Such diligence is essential for essential infrastructure such as this bill proposes.”
“I cannot see how the government can rightly and honestly proceed to a new, bigger commitment without ensuring that the current one is fixed first and without ensuring that the new technology to do it actually exists and is workable, reliable and affordable. With all these considerations, the government's bill might be better to call it a 'sometimes outdoor mobile obligation'—and 'sometimes' is not good enough when we're talking about critical infrastructure that underpins our personal lives, our businesses, our sources of information, and our safety and security. Australia's geography makes connectivity both challenging and critical. While new technologies provide an opportunity to ensure that our regions have access to telecommunications services, they must be matched by genuine reliability, not just promises.”
“Direct-to-device satellite technology will be an exciting development in telecommunications, with the potential to reduce longstanding coverage gaps across vast regions of Australia. Yet it remains a developing technology, with global rollout still underway and significant technical and commercial aspects to be settled. Domestic carriers will depend on international satellite providers, whose pricing models and deployment schedules are outside Australia's direct control. The satellite rollout will occur in time, but legislating a universal outdoor mobile obligation will not magically deliver it, make it work and make it affordable. The legislation leaves many issues in doubt and numerous questions unanswered. The stark reality is that in many regional and rural areas like mine the existing universal service obligation is falling short.”
“Technical glitches will never stand scrutiny when it comes to safety and emergency assistance. Emergency triple zero access must not be contingent on owning a new phone. I've already mentioned that telecommunications affordability is a critical issue, particularly for households and businesses in my electorate. If compliance with a new obligation significantly increases infrastructure costs, that will be reflected in retail prices. Regional consumers already face higher service costs and fewer competitive options than their metropolitan counterparts. A universal obligation must not translate into higher bills for those it is intended to support. It is very true that new and emerging technologies will always be coming at us, and we will have to adopt and adapt.”
“Yet many mobile phones are not designed for satellite connectivity. Regional Australians, older Australians and small businesses often retain devices for longer periods. A reform that functions only for the latest high-end smartphones is contrary to the principle of equitable access. The lessons of the 3G network rollback show how important it is to have products that can actually use a new technology. Consumers and businesses were forced into unplanned handset upgrades and faced disruption to their lives and operations. There can be no tolerance for problems or errors when it comes to emergency services connectivity. Australians expect that when they dial triple zero their call for help will be received. The recent history of triple zero outages and device incompatibility has shaken public confidence in the system.”
“Only people with satellite internet could communicate and seek Telstra's assistance. How is it that the tower's battery storage capacity is insufficient to run the tower for a period after the electricity network power goes down? Surely that's the purpose for which the battery was installed. Even the existing universal service obligation is fraught with problems. As other coastal electorates also experience at school holiday time, the large influx of visitors can and does overwhelm the mobile phone towers so they just cease to function. The community of Harrington, where I used to live, knows that all too well. If we do move towards having an outdoor coverage obligation, it will be meaningful only if Australians' devices can actually connect to the services being promised.”
“Furthermore, in some cases where constituents have been proactive and contacted Telstra direct they've received email replies that are vague, incoherent and challenging. I'm increasingly concerned that Telstra's planned exit from the copper network and preference to transition customers to the mobile, wireless or NBN network is not consistent with Telstra's universal service obligation for which it is funded $297 million per annum by the federal government. Then there is the issue of battery storage capacity at local rural telephone exchanges and mobile phone towers. Just recently, around midday on Saturday 28 February, both the landlines and mobile service at Elands went out following a power outage. This was the third phone network outage in one month in the area.”
“I recall a meeting at the Lansdowne Hall where there were issues with the local Telstra service. The community actually asked Telstra to put in more payphones so that, in the case of an emergency, they could go to a payphone, because they knew that they couldn't rely on their mobile service. Clearly this scenario is causing considerable anxiety, which is being compounded by the fact that customers have not been provided with a clear or satisfactory reason as to why their service cannot be converted back to Telstra or why they cannot keep their existing number. When these customers changed from Telstra to another provider it was a simple process and did not require a number change.”
“To complicate matters, these customers are also being told that (1) they will not be able to retain their telephone number, which in most cases they've had for decades, (2) they can switch over to the mobile telephone or NBN network, which in rural areas in my electorate varies from less-than-reliable to non-existent, (3) they can utilise a satellite based service such as Starlink, which in many cases they cannot afford and hence do not want to have to do, or (4) they can wait for the low Earth orbit satellite to become a reality. All they really need is to be able to continue to have a reliable, secure and affordable landline phone that the USO requires. Remember, in rural areas the landline system provides far more reliability in times of medical emergencies, bushfires, floods and blackouts.”
“Providers such as Dodo and Southern Phone have recently advised their customers that they will soon be ceasing their support of landline phones and that customers will need to transfer their number to a provider that does support PSTN technology, which is the public switched telephone network—that is, the traditional copper-wire telephone network, or landlines.”
“We do not need aspirational headlines. In other words, the system actually has to work and be practical, reliable and affordable. This is why this bill must be deeply scrutinised. There is little point in proceeding down a path of promising something better when there are numerous issues still to solve with the existing telecommunications network. Unfortunately this bill will do little, if anything, to address the issues that my constituents have been increasingly facing. I am receiving inquiries from constituents across the Lyne electorate—from Failford, Vacy, Wauchope and Elands—who have been contacted by their landline telephone providers about changes to their service or who have unreliable landline and mobile telephone services.”
“The Nationals support the goal of extending voice and text coverage outdoors across more of the country, because improved connectivity for regional Australians is a necessity. In cities and towns, a call dropout is an inconvenience. On a farm, in a forest or at a mine in a remote location, it's much more than that. However, the credibility of any government measure rests not on its aspiration but on its detail and reality. The telcos must also be able to understand precisely what is required of them, and consumers must be able to understand what they are entitled to expect. Nice phrases such as 'reasonably available' and 'equitable access' need to be measurable and enforceable standards. Clarity and a compliance framework is required to avoid risks that the obligation will be difficult to monitor and even harder to enforce.”
“Telstra says that there is insufficient spectrum for UOMO, which might in turn force a choice between 5G and 4G and thereby the closure of 4G, which could repeat the travesty of the botched 3D shutdown. A Nationals consumer protections amendment would prevent adverse consequences. Mandatory domestic roaming should be part of the UOMO and indeed a future USO. If a call fails on one service, such as Optus, and another service is available, such as Telstra, the call could automatically connect to the other service. Telcos could resolve the commercial impact between themselves, just like banks did when customers could withdraw cash from ATMs of other banks. A fee was imposed, but, in the mandatory domestic roaming context, that fee might be instead built into business models and ultimately pricing, subject to consumer protections.”
“The bill excludes use from vehicles and vessels from UOMO, even though the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman expects using satellite while driving to become possible and ought to be included. Farming bodies have expressed concern that affordability is not in the universal outdoor mobile obligation. Expensive satellite technology might see telcos pass the cost onto consumers unless there are consumer protections. After significant recent debate on triple zero connectivity failures, the NFF and NSW Farmers query why emergency services connectivity is not required under the UOMO. The government says that existing emergency call service determinations suffice. Consumer body ACCAN says that, until voice to satellite works, texts to triple zero should be mandated.”
“The bill adds to the universal service obligation, which has traditionally only been binding for Telstra, by adding a universal outdoor mobile obligation, UOMO, on Telstra, Optus and TPG by 1 December 2027, mandating reasonable access to telecommunications while outdoors, excluding in vehicles or vessels. This bill attempts to deliver a modern and more fit-for-purpose USO in light of available technologies and consumer preferences, but unfortunately it falls short of its intentions. Labor's bill proposes exemption powers that were not in the bill's consultation draft, arguably allowing the minister to limit how the USO terminology 'reasonably accessible to all people in Australia on an equitable basis' applies under the UOMO, setting up what we might like to call SOMO—sometimes outdoor mobile obligation.”
“As a national carrier, Telstra was charged as responsible for delivering the USO, which obliged them to ensure every customer had and still has access to landline telephones and payphones regardless of where they live or work. But, in a world that has become increasingly mobile, it is obvious that consumer protections mandating delivery of payphones and fixed telephone service have for many become redundant—sadly so, in the regions. As such, there is a need to update the USO to ensure that it safeguards broader voice services and broadband. The bill attempts to do this.”
“It's a privilege to have the opportunity to speak on the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025, which is legislation on a topic that is of great import to the constituents of the Lyne electorate. For many of us in regional Australia, one of the issues that is raised quite often—in fact, I think every day my office receives calls from constituents with issues and concerns about this—is access to telecommunications. It's clear that the universal service obligation, created in the wake of the privatisation of Telstra some 30 years ago, is no longer a relevant consumer protection in this day and age.”
“My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Yesterday the minister insisted that there is no fuel supply shortage. The Dorney family in Bulahdelah run two timber mills, multiple hauling and felling crews, and a fleet of logging and freight trucks. In one week alone, their daily fuel costs have increased by $7,800. Their supplier says the problem is not panic buying but fuel shortages at terminals and rationing between customers. Minister, under your watch, why are Australians like the Dorney family, and their business, running out of fuel?”
“Loved by all who knew him, his sudden passing has left an entire community in shock, completely devastated at the loss of this warm, happy and kind man. To quote his family: 'Griffo was a true legend in every sense of the word. If you were lucky enough to be his mate, you were one of the lucky ones, because his friendship was loyal, generous and full of laughter.' I extend my sincere condolences to Narelle, Tracy, Chad, Judi, Jackson, Savanna, Bella and all his extended family. Whilst nothing can ease your pain and loss, I hope that you take comfort in the immense outpouring and the countless tributes that have flowed from the community. They are a testament to Griffo's character and the genuine warmth and affection in which he was held by so many. Though he is gone, his memory will live on in our hearts for a very long time.”
“There is a grey line about applying the lofty principles of law in the extremes of war, and there is an even bigger grey line about applying those principles to the men and women who were subjected to those extremes of war and have to live with it. I call on the federal government to bring the investigation to a conclusion and to finalise the work of the Office of the Special Investigator. I ask people to watch Channel 7 at 9 pm on 26 April. It is airing B ravery & Betrayal , a documentary about this whole sorry saga. I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Gordon 'Griffo' Griffis, who tragically passed away on Sunday 15 February. As Nabiac's long-time butcher and owner of Griffo's Meats, Griffo was a stalwart of Nabiac, Krambach and the surrounding community.”
“What kind of message does this send to our next generation of soldiers—that, after having put life and limb on the line for your country and its citizenry, some of those citizens, some do-gooder, will track you down and set the media upon you, that your sacrifice will be twisted into suspicion and scandal and held against you, and that allegations may follow you for years? That is not what soldiers sign up for. It's unimaginable not to make a mistake in a war. Some Australian forces may have made mistakes in Afghanistan, but that does not mean what they did was unjust at the time, nor does it mean that justice is required, as some people in politics, law and the media think it must.”
“I strenuously oppose these belated attempts to prosecute war veterans. These men answered their country's call. They followed orders. They were working in a war zone, and in a war zone opposing Taliban zealots who had no rules of engagement, no respect for life and no regard for our soldiers, routinely engaging in tactics of torture and execution. The people who promote this investigation seem to forget that bit. War is war. It is brutal. Mistakes are made. But that is the nature of war.”