Thank you Julie for your introduction. And one of course of the issues of ageing, is that one needs glasses, you can’t go anywhere today without them!
Can I first acknowledge:
· LASA Chairman, General Peter Cosgrove, who I am not sure is here ... ...more
I rise to take note of this response to the Senate's motion, which is a very important motion passed on World Mental Health Day. For the benefit of the Senate, I think it is very important that we reiterate some key statistics in relation to mental health. One in five Australians, as we know, will e... ...more
In speaking to the third report of the Joint Select Committee on Gambling Reform, on the prevention and treatment of problem gambling, I would like to traverse some events that occurred today—in particular, the totally inadequate response given to me by Minister Evans about the advice that this gove... ...more
I too would like to make a short contribution to take note of this report. I listened very carefully and with great interest to what Senators Ronaldson and Macdonald both said. I am married to someone who was in the Navy for 35 years and served with great distinction. When you are in a family where ... ...more
I rise today to make a contribution to a very important piece of legislation, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Making Marine Parks Accountable) Bill 2012. This is a very sensible piece of legislation which would help to alleviate a great deal of concern that is bei... ...more
I would like to start my contribution to the debate on the Dental Benefits Amendment Bill 2012 by saying that the coalition supports investment in dental health and it has been a tenet of our policy for a long, long time. The government is now closing the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, effe... ...more
The debate before us is in relation to the waste and mismanagement of the Australian Labor Party and their Greens alliance partners and how it is adding billions of dollars to what has already been wasted on failed schemes; plans that have gone absolutely, totally astray; and blatant, wanton misspen... ...more
I go back to the motion to take note of the response by Minister Butler on suicide agreed to on 13 September. I thank the chamber for leave to speak briefly in relation to the minister's response. Following on from the theme of Senator Siewert in her previous contribution about the lack of detail, I... ...more
Thank you, Mr Deputy President. The coalition supports World Mental Health Day. We tried hard to make this motion a cross-party affirmation of the key principles behind the day, including pointing out that Labor had got the wrong theme, however the motion before us is a cynical, self-promoting exerc... ...more
I start my comments on this matter by pointing out that today is World Mental Health Day. It was interesting to see in question time that it was the coalition that led with a question on mental health on this very important day, whereas those opposite left it until the last question. In fact, they w... ...more