I rise tonight to speak about the global shark fin trade and inhumane practise of shark finning. For some years I have spoken out about shark finning, its inherent cruelty and the need for Australia to reject this terrible practice in every way we can. Shark finning involves cutting off a shark's fins, often while it is still alive, then throwing it back into the sea, where it is left to die painfully. This is a horrendous and a barbaric practice. The shark suffers hugely, usually dying from blood loss, suffocation or targeted by another predator.

I rise to speak on the matter of urgency before the chamber. As senators would know, this is an issue that is front of my mind as the Greens spokesperson for antiracism and as the only Muslim senator in this place.

First, I think the most critical aspect of this urgency motion, which I thank Senator Lines for bringing on, relates to the Prime Minister and Mr Dutton taking action to combat far Right extremism within their own party. In my first speech to the Senate, back in August 2018, I said:

I inform the chamber that Senator Keneally will also sponsor the motion. I, and also on behalf of Senator Keneally, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) Australia is a hugely diverse country of First Nations people and migrants from every corner of the world,

(ii) far-right political activity is on the rise in western democracies and, last month, far-right extremists stormed the United States Capitol building in a deadly attack,

New figures released by Universities Australia today that more than 17,000 university jobs have been lost in the past year are devastating but unsurprising, the Greens say, as the impacts of the Morrison Government’s abandonment of universities has been made clear. All eyes are on the new minister, Alan Tudge, to prevent further carnage.

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Education spokesperson, said:

I rise tonight to speak about the scourge of far Right extremism and its normalisation in our politics and our culture. A couple of weeks ago we saw the end of the catastrophic Trump presidency in the United States. The litany of policy failures, corruption scandals, criminal investigations into senior officers, and a fundamentally racist political agenda was topped off by Donald Trump trying to steal an election and incite a violent far Right insurrection at the US Capitol Building.

This morning the people's climate rally came to the lawns of Parliament House. They came to the people's house today to make sure that politicians are confronted with the reality of the climate crisis at the start of the parliamentary year, because they know that two centuries of colonisation have undone the millennia of management and care of country by First Nations people.

The Hunter Valley needs a new coal-fired power station like it needs a hole in the head. I have spent a lot of time in the Hunter Valley, and the people there know that coal has no future. They know how damaging coal is for the climate. They know how harmful coaldust is for them, their families and their children. They know that there is no future in coal, that it is a collapsing industry. The irrational exuberance of Pauline Hanson's One Nation and the coalition to keep pushing coal is criminal.

The median cost of childcare is the highest it’s ever been and there are worrying signs for service quality, according to new figures from the Productivity Commission. The new data also confirms that demand for early childhood education and care is higher than ever before.

The Greens say that this is a call to action for the Australian government to invest in universal, high-quality and fee-free early childhood education, and deal with the crisis facing early learning.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that the December quarter Consumer Price Index data released today by the ABS has revealed “out-of-pocket [childcare] expenses have now returned to pre-COVID levels in all capital cities.”

Senator Faruqi said:

“These latest numbers put us back to where we were before Covid-19 – with one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world.

Australian Greens Education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has said that Alan Tudge’s appointment as Education Minister is a disturbing development.

Senator Faruqi said:

“Anyone who a federal court judge has found to have acted criminally is not fit to be a minister of the government.

“It’s no surprise that this is the sort of ‘talent’ the Prime Minister wants to elevate in the government’s efforts to defund and privatise education.

“This disturbing appointment shows how little the government values the education system.