I was certainly taken aback today in reading in today's media of the salary package of Australia Post's CEO Ahmed Fahour. Earning $5.6 million in 2016, he was Australia's highest paid public servant. Five other executives in Australia Post received salaries ranging from $1.3 million to $1.8 million. This is not the first time there…
In recent weeks we have seen, again, the tragedy of domestic and family violence in the headlines. The murder of Gold Coast mother Teresa Bradford by her estranged husband, while he was out on bail on domestic violence charges, beggars belief. It has renewed calls for victims of domestic violence to be told if the…
Last Friday, the NBN network was switched on for more than 4,100 premises in Leichhardt, including 900 fibre-to-the node premises in Cooktown town centre; 340 fixed wireless premises around Kuranda and Kowrowa, with construction of the fibre to the node in Kuranda currently underway; and 2,900 fibre-to-the-node premises in the northern beaches of Cairns. This…
I rise this evening to congratulate Tourism Tropical North Queensland, which is in the final negotiations on a deal for direct flights to a new Chinese destination-and this is fabulous news for us. I thank TTNQ, tourism partners and Cairns Airport for continuing to push the envelope and focus on sustainable tourism growth, particularly in…
In September I attended an event to celebrate the arrival of Nautilus Aviation's Bell 412EP multipurpose helicopter, a magnificent piece of equipment that is solely for emergency purposes in Far North Queensland. The $7 million aircraft is kitted out with everything needed for emergency services, flood and cyclone relief and search and rescue. Nautilus worked…
I rise to express my profound sadness and shock at the loss of a wonderful Australian, a man of faith who has made an outstanding contribution to our country and to our community. The imam of Cairns mosque, Abdul Aziz Mohammed, passed away last night after a long illness, surrounded by family. He was 84…
As a White Ribbon ambassador, I am very pleased to speak on this motion today ahead of White Ribbon Day, this Friday, 25 November. This year's theme is 'Stand up, speak out and act'. It is incredibly sad to think that one in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual abuse perpetrated by someone known…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt): My constituency question is to the Treasurer. Can the Treasurer outline how the government is working to promote jobs for Australian workers in areas of high youth unemployment such as Leichhardt, which has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the country at more than 27 per cent? Can the Treasurer…
I rise today to acknowledge the life of a local legend, Herbert 'Junior' See Poy, who passed away on 21 October at the age of 85. Junior was born on 2 May 1931 to a well-known Innisfail family who were direct descendants of Tom See Poy, a Chinese migrant who came to Queensland to work…
I certainly welcome the opportunity to make a contribution to this bill. I think we need to cast our minds back a little to when Labor came into office in 2007. There were only four illegal maritime arrivals in detention—four, and absolutely none of them were children. The Howard government had already developed policies that…