Australian Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, will speak at a protest tomorrow afternoon outside the Wentworth Park, to protest the 'Million Dollar Chase' and the $500,000 in taxpayer funds for the event. Senator Faruqi is one of the leading voices against the cruel greyhound racing industry.

When: Saturday, 20th October at 5pm

Where: Millard Reserve 38 Wentworth Park Rd, Glebe, Opposite Wentworth Park.

I rise to speak on the Greens sex discrimination amendment bill, the Discrimination Free Schools Bill 2018, and I do so very proudly. This is the reason I joined the Greens. We do not accept discriminating against people on any basis. We will not accept and allow discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, marital or relationship status, pregnancy or breastfeeding.

I rise on behalf of the Greens to speak on the report on the inquiry into the prevention, investigation and prosecution of industrial deaths in Australia. This inquiry was much needed because the safety of our workers is of utmost importance. We really must have zero tolerance for work related deaths. I started my working life as a civil and structural engineer, so I do know firsthand the dangers that lurk on construction sites, which are among the deadliest sites for workers.

Australian Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has today tabled more than 238,000 signatures from a petition in the Australian Senate calling on the Australian Government to ban live exports. Senator Faruqi has also called on Prime Minister Morrison to allow her bill to ban the worst aspects of the live sheep trade to be debated in the House of Representatives. Her bill passed the Senate last month.

Senator Faruqi said:

As we get closer to the election, it becomes more and more obvious that the Prime Minister is trying to reinvent himself as a mini-Trump. After his party voted to support a white supremacist motion, he is now floating the idea of moving Australia's embassy to Jerusalem. This puts him in fine company with the far right of the Senate, with Senators Anning, Leyonhjelm and Bernardi. How deeply hollow, empty and nasty are the politics of the Liberal Party? Let's be clear: this is a deliberate strategy by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, to pander to the extreme right.

The Australian Senate has today condemned the NSW Government for treating the Opera House as a Billboard. The motion, put forward by Australian Greens Senator for New South Wales Mehreen Faruqi, also called on the Federal Environment Minister to take action to protect our cultural icons. Senator Faruqi said:

What the coalition government did yesterday was shameless and it was shameful. You knew exactly what was in the motion; you had it for three whole weeks! So don't try to give us this rubbish that it was an administrative error. Senator Pauline Hanson's motion was exactly about white supremacy, and you knew that. You just don't give a damn!

Now that you've had a little bit of a backlash, you're trying to backtrack. How low can the Liberal-National government get in this parliament?

Right now in the parliament of my home state of New South Wales sits a bill that would devastate national parks. The New South Wales government is proposing to raise the Warragamba Dam wall by 14 metres, which would inundate up to 4,700 hectares of national parks and 65 kilometres of wild rivers. This will cause irreversible damage to the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. At least 25 threatened species are known or are likely to occur within the area that is at risk of inundation.

I rise to speak on the Customs Amendment (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation) Bill 2018 and the related bill, and associate myself with the comments made by my Greens colleagues. How is it that, time and time again, we come to this place and see bill after bill that the people of Australia never asked for and do not want? The sway that vested interests have on this government is truly horrifying; and I am even more horrified that this piece of legislation comes here with bipartisan support.

Last week I thought I'd woken up in the 1950s. The Ruddock review into religious freedom recommended that the ability for religious schools to legally discriminate against LGBTQI students and teachers be entrenched in federal law. We already know the horrific consequences that such laws have for people in our community. Young people in all schools are receiving the very public message that they are not accepted. LGBTQI students feel they have to live their teenage years in silence and hide their identity for fear of being expelled.