This is a government that goes slow on telecommunications

December 22, 2021

I want to thank the member for Mayo for putting this motion forward. It's a comprehensive look at the various telecommunications issues that rural and regional communities face. My community faces all those issues and needs the same kinds of solutions that are being put forward. I do think, though, that it's a bit rich for the member for Berowra and the member for Barker to stand here and talk about a private member's bill that the member for...

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Rent, house prices and the cost of living

December 16, 2021

My question is to the Prime Minister. Petrol prices have gone up by as much as $900 a year for a typical family driving a standard car while real wages have fallen $700. On top of this, median rents in Windsor, in my electorate, have increased by almost $3,000 a year. Hasn't it become harder and harder for working families to make ends meet under this decade-old government?

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Go Local, Go First Campaign

December 02, 2021

As much as I love being here in Canberra representing my community, I can't wait to head home. I'm told it's nearly Christmas, which I love but haven't had a lot of time to think about yet. The next few weeks will give me a chance to do some Christmas shopping at some of the many local small businesses across my electorate. Ninety-eight point four per cent of all businesses in Australia are small businesses, and the Hawkesbury and Blue Mountai...

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Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network

December 02, 2021

I rise to express my deep dismay that it's end of the year and the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network has failed to table its report which was due months ago. The committee chair, the member for Barker, has been asked repeatedly by me, as deputy chair, about scheduling a meeting by email, text or in person but has let this final fortnight go without a meeting. In fact, the last meeting of the full committee was on 17 Ma...

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Stepping up when Morrison steps away

December 02, 2021

As we come to the end of this year it is a time for reflection for many of us. It's been a big year, and Australians have been extraordinary in their willingness to do what they are asked to do, time and time again. This is two years of them stepping up.

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Investment Funds Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 Second Reading

December 01, 2021

I'd like to speak to the amendment relating to schedule 4, the Emergency Response Fund. I have had years of experiencing disasters. Having lived in the Blue Mountains for more than 30 years, I've experienced the fires, including the bushfire that took my own home in 2013. But let's go six years forward from my experience in 2013 to the Gospers Mountain fire in 2019. It was a longer fire. It destroyed more habitat, although fewer homes were los...

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