I rise to speak on the Auditor-General Amendment Bill 2011 to amend the Auditor-General Act 1997. The coalition's main concern is that independent contractors will be subject to auditors from the Auditor-General if they receive government contracts. This would create an extra layer of bureaucracy and increase costs and convince many smaller contractors not to…
I sit on the Standing Committee on Economics and this bill seeks to introduce major changes to the relationship between credit providers and consumers in respect of credit cards and home loans. It forms part of the banking reforms announced by the government designed to empower consumers, to support smaller lenders and to secure the…
I rise to speak on the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011. The objects clause of the bill states: (1) This section sets out the objects of the Act. Climate Change Convention and Kyoto Protocol (2) The first object of this Act is to implement a certain obligations that Australia has under (a) the…
I rise to congratulate and thank the Logan Country Chamber of Commerce, which recently held an awards night for 120 businesses within the district of Jimboomba in the electorate of Wright. I am so proud of the business and the mindset that these guys are conducting in an environment where the cost-of-living pressures are having…
The four bills contained in this package are the Taxation of Alternative Fuels Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, the Excise Tariff Amendment (Taxation of Alternative Fuels) Bill 2011, the Customs Tariff Amendment (Taxation of Alternative Fuels) Bill 2011 and the Energy Grants (Cleaner Fuels) Scheme Amendment Bill 2011. I just sat and listened to the previous…
I rise to inform the House of the latest proceedings unfolding in the electorate of Wright, in particular in the Lockyer Valley, after the devastating floods that we had on 10 January. I am very proud to inform the House that one of the little businesses there, the little service station, the cornerstone of the…
Just when we thought things could not get any worse for the electorate of Wright, having just battled devastating floods and the displacement of people from their homes and their families, we took a fairly substantial hit to our dairy sector with reference to Coles pricing. I rise to inform the House that my area…
The debate on this motion on political donations from tobacco companies is nothing more than a diversion from the main game in Australia at the moment: the carbon tax and asylum seekers. The government has found itself in a downward spiral of polling across the nation, and this is a poor attempt to try to…
I rise to speak on the three budget appropriation bills that are being debated concurrently. They include Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2011-2012, which is the primary budget bill to appropriate funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary annual services of government and related purposes. The total appropriation of this bill is $72.85 billion.…
I rise to inform the House of the recent 111th year celebrations at the Boonah show. Boonah is a community in my electorate of about 2,800 people situated roughly an hour and a half south-west of Brisbane. The community is in a predominantly rural precinct and has no ties to the resources sector. Before I…