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February 15, 2021

Jobkeeper full of holes and blindspots

This is a hands-off government. It’s a nothing-to-see-here government. It’s a how-dare-you-question-us government. A government of the spreadsheet, for the spreadsheet of their own self-interest. A government that is always there for friendly companies who could use $80 million for water that never arrives; or $30 million for Leppington land that’s worth a tenth of that – but never, never there for those doing it tough.

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February 15, 2021

Women & girls in science

The under-representation of women and girls in science is both an inequity and a missed opportunity. We must keep working to remove the stereotypes and structures that have created this imbalance, in the interest of fairness, and in the interest of science itself.

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February 15, 2021

Bushfire and environmental protection failure

It’s bewildering that in these circumstances, the government has no interest in acting to address Australia’s failed environmental protection framework. Instead it seeks to maintain the status quo –a weak and ineffective set of national standards, with no monitoring and compliance agency to enforce them.

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December 10, 2020

Australia needs an Albanese Labor Government

I’m looking forward to 2021 because we can, as a nation, set off on a better and fairer course, holding no-one back and, most importantly of all, leaving no-one behind. But that requires a change. It requires change. It requires an Albanese federal Labor government.

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December 9, 2020

Report: ‘From Rubbish to Resources’

It is worth starting, when we look at this area understanding the state of play, we do have a waste crisis in this country. Other countries have decided in the last 18 months or so, perhaps a bit longer than that, that they’re not going to accept waste from Australia and that’s forced us all, and particularly the general public, to realise that we’ve been kidding ourselves a little bit when it comes to how we deal with waste and resource management to a significant degree.

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December 8, 2020

Morrison Government is coming for your superannuation

Superannuation is good for each of us. It is good for all of us. It gives people a dignified and secure retirement. It is the basis of our national savings and our capacity to invest in important national infrastructure.

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December 7, 2020

Philippine trade union rights

All the best things we’ve achieved – democracy, equality, egalitarianism, anti-discrimination, peace, and freedom – all these things have been fought for, campaigned for, and bit by bit achieved or improved or protected with the efforts and principled commitment of organised labour; by unionists and their representatives in the union movement.

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December 3, 2020

Foreign Investment Reform Bill 2020

At a time when we reflect on matters of national security and broad public wellbeing, countries have an interest in ensuring that appropriate regard is given to how we own and control certain essential parts of our economy and our public service delivery world, and that has been true here in Australia.

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November 30, 2020

Abolishing the Family Law Court risks harm to vulnerable women and children

No-one would say that the existing system is perfect, of course it’s not—there isn’t any system that’s perfect—and there are always ways in which reform can be considered, but you have to ensure that the reform that you’re thinking about actually addresses the problems that exist. There is nothing in any of the evidence that suggests that abolishing or dissolving the Family Court will deal with some of the problems that have identified, such as delay. None of the five reports listed on the Attorney-General’s website as informing this bill actually recommend the change that the government is making.

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November 30, 2020

Environment Minister must protect the environment

If it’s too much to ask that the government do their job when it comes to environmental protection, they could try to stop actively making it worse: stop cutting resources to the environment department; stop weakening our environmental protection framework; stop ignoring the reality of climate change; and stop undermining the efforts of Australia’s scientists and conservation sector.

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