Vocational Education - TAFE and Student Loans

August 22, 2018

One of the worst things that we would all be aware has happened to vocational education students in the private sector has been the government's failure to stem the corrupt practices of unscrupulous for-profit training providers. They allowed the ripping off of students and the ripping off of taxpayer dollars long after it was clear there was a problem and clear that the system was being abused. And it does seem that it's not over; a recen...

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Energy

August 21, 2018

Talk to farmers, small businesses, manufacturers, pensioners, single parents and families—they are all struggling. Yet the only plan we have from this government is a plan to talk about themselves. That's all they're doing. We know that, even when something is put in place, this government will put in something that is inadequate. It will not deal with power prices and it will not deal with the issue of climate change. That will be the le...

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Drought - Impact on the Hawkesbury

August 20, 2018

You don't actually need to leave the Hawkesbury to find people doing it tough on the land because of the drought. As one fifth-generation farmer told me .. 'Farmers are smart and they've changed their practices to be more holistic, increasing soil carbon and organic matter levels and the ability of the soil to hold water, but it's not enough. This is a long drought and people need help.'

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Foreign Media Ownership and Community Radio

August 20, 2018

I remain concerned about the shrinking of newsrooms for journalists. From a merger, where two newsrooms become one, it is my experience that the more journalists there are at a media conference listening with different perspectives the more likely we are to be able to get to what is really going on in any given situation. I have a strong view that community radio should allow the exploration of local issues that might otherwise not make it...

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STANDING UP FOR OUR ABC

August 20, 2018

Since 2014, the ABC funding has been cut by $366 million and 800 jobs have been lost. Some of those people are people that I studied journalism with. That newsroom in Sydney has shrunk beyond recognition. In this year alone, $83.7 million has been cut.

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Enhancing Online Safety (Non-consensual Sharing of Intimate Images)

August 16, 2018

I want to pay tribute to the people who have worked so hard to make progress on this issue, both within this House and outside, over many years, including people who have been victims of non-consensual sharing of images. I want to speak about the human toll it takes, as people have shared their stories with me.

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