Parliament

Millions of people are in COVID lockdown this week; many of them are in my home state of New South Wales. Tens of thousands have lost their livelihoods without adequate support from the Morrison government. Marginalised communities are being overpoliced and maligned in south-west and Western Sydney while corporations, billionaires and the wealthiest keep adding to their bottom lines. These are the fault lines, inequalities and injustices that have been exposed and heightened during the last 18 months.

I speak to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Charges) Bill 2021 and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Cost Recovery) Bill 2021. I will state at the outset that the Greens will not be supporting these bills that impose yet another charge on higher education providers. Since the coalition have been in power, they have been on a relentless mission to attack the higher education sector. The bills establish a new charge to make registered higher education providers bear the costs of TEQSA risk monitoring and regulatory oversight activities.

This is a report on the inquiry of impact of seismic testing on fisheries and the marine environment. The inquiry established by the Greens looked into the impact of seismic testing on fisheries and on the marine environment, with particular reference to the body of science and research into the use of seismic testing, the regulation of seismic testing in both Commonwealth and state waters, and the approach taken to seismic testing internationally.

I rise to speak on the COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021 and I want to associate myself with the comments made by my colleague Senator Siewert on this bill. Of course we should be providing support to people who need this, in these devastating circumstances, but, as Senator Siewert said, we should be providing it to every single person who is living here and who is facing economic and social impacts. This government has locked them out of support payments and they're living on the poverty line, and we will be moving amendments to that effect.

I have some bad news for people tonight. It turns out that the pandemic didn't kill the so-called culture wars, which are being manufactured again by the far Right in this chamber. There are a bunch of senators who will go to any lengths to appeal to the Sky News crowd, with frantic race-baiting and attacks on minorities, including trans people, and many other invented threats. It seems that nothing is beyond the pale for these senators.

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

There is a housing crisis in Australia and the Morrison Government is refusing to fix it.

There is a housing crisis in Australia and the Morrison government is refusing to fix it. In fact, there is a very deliberate strategy by the coalition to appear to be doing something about the housing crisis, while ignoring the very policy settings that have brought us to this point.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (15:29): I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services (Senator Reynolds) to a question without notice asked by Senator Faruqi today relating to private school funding.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (14:55): My question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Education and Youth, Senator Reynolds. An investigation by the Nine newspapers found Australia's 50 wealthiest private schools now have assets worth $8.5 billion. This grew by more than 40 per cent over just four years.

It looks like Senator Hanson has been watching a little bit too much of Fox News and Sky News lately. It's hard to imagine she knows much about critical race theory. But know this: we will not stop fighting against systemic racism. We will not stop fighting for people who are marginalised and discriminated against every single day. No matter how much Murdoch media rubbish you regurgitate here and how much you bring in your petty attacks, you will not stop us.

Senator FARUQI (New South Wales) (15:38): I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management, by no later than 7.20 pm on Tuesday, 22 June 2021, the latest version of the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry produced by the Independent Poultry Welfare Panel and/or the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.