Mr BILLSON (Dunkley) (9.48 am)—On behalf of and through the vivid experience of the Frankston family of Ray and Lyn Jones and their three children, I call for the Rudd government to amend the current law that limits the availability of carer payments. I specifically refer to the Social Security Act 1991 and the Social Security Administration Act ...

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Mr BILLSON (Dunkley) (7.40 p.m.)—I note the contribution of the Melbourne Storm to the State of Origin, our emancipated team to support the State of Origin, and it is good to see the talent getting a chance to flourish. I rise tonight to add to some comments I made earlier today about the despair and the increasingly desperate state of traffic mov...

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Mr BILLSON (Dunkley) (9.36 am)—Last weekend there was a community celebration on EastLink, a piece of infrastructure that links our two communities. By all accounts it was a wonderful day and a great credit to those who constructed that magnificent piece of infrastructure. The story about it, though, is a little bit different. You will all rememb...

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Mr BILLSON (Dunkley) (9.53 am)—I rise this morning to lament history repeating itself. The last time Labor was in power at a federal level, the then Labor member for Dunkley conceded that our community had been forgotten. I fear this is happening all over again. I learn that in the budget the Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis, has a $21 million pot ...

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Mr BILLSON (Dunkley) (8.25 p.m.)—My congratulations to my friend and colleague the member for Flinders and others who have just spoken on the very important area of ovarian cancer. It is an interesting segue into what I would like to grieve about tonight on behalf of my local community which is to do with health services in the greater Frankston ...

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My congratulations to my friend and colleague the member for Flinders and others who have just spoken on the very important area of ovarian cancer. It is an interesting segue into what I would like to grieve about tonight on behalf of my local community which is to do with health services in the greater Frankston and Mornington Peninsula area. ...

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EO&E CommsDay makes an important contribution to public policy debate and balanced commentary in this country. After previously being a Minister with responsibilities for the past and present serving men and women of our Defence Forces, I thought I was well conditioned for the challenges of an ‘ARE’, Acronym Rich Environment with the ADF and DVA...

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I join with many Australians who are not certain but who would like to think they can welcome the Rudd Labor government’s kind of decision relating to the bonuses paid to carers and age pensioners. We are sort of getting somewhere. We are not quite certain, though, whether we can completely welcome it. We are not certain whether the many people who...

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I am encouraged by the second reading stage of this bill but discouraged greatly by its contents. The Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Communications Fund) Bill 2008 aims to amend the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 to enable money in the Communications Fund to be used for purposes relating to the cr...

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On this RDO, the ‘Rudd day off’, I would like to point to a number of commitments that were secured during the election campaign from the Howard government if it were to be re-elected. I am sad that the Minister for Sport is not here to hear about a number of those, but I hope to follow up my advocacy through correspondence with her. There were a n...

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I am here on my own, regrettably, and I don’t have some of those chiselled good looks used as some of the backdrop for the minister’s photo. I speak today to support this bill. The Trade Practices Amendment (Access Declarations) Bill 2008 comes at a time when the telecommunications sector is looking for greater certainty in relation to the regulato...

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Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, and congratulations on your well-earned elevation to the deputy speakership. My comments today go to Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2007-2008 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2007-2008. Before I make those remarks, I congratulate the member for Werriwa on his re-election but reassure him that he may no longer be tro...

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Congratulations to the new member for Maribyrnong, the previous speaker, and to all those who have joined this parliament as a result of the last election, particularly my colleagues on both sides of the House from Victoria. I look forward to a constructive working relationship with them all and wish them all the best for the future. For me it is ...

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Most bad mistakes take a while to develop but, by golly, this government has peaked early with this set of motions today. It took 10 long years for the last federal Labor government to become so arrogant that the PM could routinely excuse himself from scheduled parliamentary sittings. Remember the infamous Keating rostered day off? The Keating rost...

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Mr BILLSON (Dunkley—Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence) (9.23 a.m.)—I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I am pleased to present legislation that affirms the government’s ongoing commitment to Australia’s veteran community and assists veterans who have been disabled as a result of their servi...

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