Speeches
Opposing the government's environment bill
03 September 2020
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Streamlining Environmental Approvals) Bill 2020 amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, known as the EPBC Act, which is the primary piece of Commonwealth environmental legislation. The EPBC Act contains a statutory requirement to review the operation of the act every 10 years. The second of those 10-yearly reviews is presently underway. The government appointed Professor Graeme Samuel AC, one of Australia's most experienced regulators, to lead that review.
Thanks to our Covid 19 legends: constituency statement in the Federation Chamber
02 September 2020
Today, in one of the opportunities that we get to speak in this parliament about our constituents, I wanted to speak about some very important constituents, and those are the people who've been working on the front lines throughout the COVID crisis this year.
Environment and jobs motion
31 August 2020
I regret to say that Australia is in the middle of a jobs crisis and an environmental crisis, and the Morrison government is failing on both counts. Never has that been made more starkly clear than in the most recent Auditor-General's office report, Referrals, assessment and approvals of controlled actions under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This is perhaps the most damning Auditor-General report that anyone in this place has seen for some time.
Kangaroo Point APOD: speech in the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020 debate
31 August 2020
The Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020 is a bill that, if passed in its current form, would allow the government to prohibit items such as mobile phones in detention centres. But there's a particular place of detention that I wanted to mention, and that's the one in my electorate, at the Kangaroo Point motel. That motel houses a number of people at the moment and has done now for many, many months. The government decided to establish what they call an 'alternative place of detention' at Kangaroo Point—but it is what most people would think of as a makeshift detention facility in a motel—some time ago. Regrettably, they didn't consult with me before establishing that facility, but nonetheless it's been established in my electorate. There have been a number of people in that APOD, as they call it, for a long time now.
LNP Senator Stoker's comments a matter of great shame
16 June 2020
Last week, LNP senator from Queensland Amanda Stoker said that the Queensland Premier was 'the knee on the throat of businesses of Queensland, stopping them from breathing'.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Amendment (Coronavirus Economic Response Package) Bill 2020
15 June 2020
COVID-19 - The Liberals can't manage the economy
12 June 2020
Ms BUTLER (Griffith) (10:17): As at 3 June 2020, data shows that the fires and the initial impacts of the global pandemic have accelerated longstanding economic challenges under the Liberals. It's a litany of bad news, and it shows how out of touch the Prime Minister is to think that somehow our economy is just going to snap back to the way things were before or that he can just turn off the tap without damaging the economy further.
Address to Link-Up Sorry Day Livestream
26 May 2020
Don't cut Queensland Arts Funding
13 May 2020
When people think of the arts sector they often think of celebrities. But, of course, 92,000 Queenslanders are directly or indirectly employed in the creative workforce. Data released last week showed that the arts and recreation services have experienced some of the worst job losses during COVID-19. Live Performance Australia estimates the COVID-19 impacts on Queensland's live performance industry over a three-month-ban period would result in the loss of $79 million in ticket sales.
Environment Restoration Rund rorts - statement to the House
04 March 2020
This government's never found a public fund that it doesn't want to rort. We've just seen even more evidence of that this week, when we learned exactly what happened with the Environment Restoration Fund. More than two-thirds of the initiatives under that fund went to Liberal or Liberal-target seats. Of course, most of the rest of them went to National or as-yet-unallocated issues. In fact, if you had a look, you'd find only three out of the entire 55 initiatives were exclusively in non-LNP or LNP-target seats.