Senator Alex Gallacher

September 01, 2021

I'm very grateful to have a few moments in the chamber to pay tribute to Senator Alex Gallacher on behalf of the electorate of Macquarie. There's a really strong link between Alex and my electorate, especially the Blue Mountains, which may seem odd for a South Australian. But it's due to his commitment to road safety. Alex was such a proud co-convenor of the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety, and when Peter Frazer, a Blue Mountains resident...

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Blaming it all on COVID

September 01, 2021

Those opposite must be breathing a sigh of relief that they can blame everything on COVID—that they have no power over anything, that they can't predict it. Hello! We know that there are going to be different versions of COVID that hit us, not just this year but in years to come. There is ample capacity to plan—but not this mob. What they're going to do is blame everything on COVID. They're going to say, 'We don't have enough jobs. Oh, that's...

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Question to the Prime Minister: Vaccine Roll Out

August 31, 2021

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware that today the New South Wales health minister, Brad Hazzard, confirmed that the gap between the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine in Sydney will be spaced out to eight weeks? Mr Hazzard said: Simply, there is not enough Pfizer in New South Wales … or Victoria—for the people who are now wanting it … Why didn't the Prime Minister do his job on vaccines?

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Deliver a Hawkesbury Headspace now

August 31, 2021

We needed a headspace before the fires, we needed it before the floods and we have needed it throughout this pandemic, but just hinting about something that this government—your own party—could deliver right now and should have delivered eight years ago doesn't cut it. I say to her and her Liberal masters: it's clear you're going to announce a headspace at some point. So announce it. Build it. Staff it. Open it.

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Arts Post-Covid

August 30, 2021

They need a guarantee so they can plan with confidence but have a safety net, should COVID affect their live event. Their upfront costs are huge—venues, sets, staging, marketing—and that's before you get to the people on the stage or those shining a light on them.

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Question to the Prime Minister: Centre for Disease Control

August 26, 2021

Will the Prime Minister act on the constructive proposal Labor outlined in the 2020 budget reply and establish an Australian centre for disease control so that Australia adopts international best practice and is much better prepared for future pandemics?

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