Good evening. Thank you very much for inviting me to speak here today. It is a very auspicious occasion, the 24th anniversary of the day on which the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize 10th December 1989.The messages he advocated during his acceptance speech that day messages of tolerance, mutual respect, equality…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (11:54): I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak on this bill today. There are two key elements of this bill, and I will only briefly mention the first. I disagree with the previous speaker in that it seeks to make a technical amendment to the EPBC Act to ensure that past decisions…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (19:13): I rise tonight to speak of an issue that has touched many people, not just in my life but in the lives of many in my electorate. Mr Deputy Speaker, I am sure you are familiar with some of the issues I have raised in the past in relation to mental…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (09:51): I have been following with interest the media coverage on the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting that is being held currently in Cairns. Five hundred international delegates have been debating how to manage what they perceive as overfishing of bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna in the western and central…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt) (17:53): David Thomson was very well known as the National Party MP who, in 1975, reclaimed the seat of Leichhardt after Labor had held it for some 24 years. He was the Minister for Science and the Environment from December 1979 through to November 1980 and then Minister for Science and Technology…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt-Chief Opposition Whip) (18:01): I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak on the Migration Amendment (Temporary Sponsored Visas) Bill 2013 today. Skilled migrants play a very valuable role in my electorate of Leichhardt. Whether it is as the chef at the local restaurant, a sugarcane worker, bed-and-breakfast operators or an engineer at one…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt-Chief Opposition Whip) (20:43): In rising to speak on this motion put forward by the member for Makin, I would like to put some level of balance and common sense into this argument. Clearly those that are contributing on the other side are city-centric and probably understand only what they read in the…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt-Chief Opposition Whip) (21:28): In the early hours of 21 June 2010 a US Black Hawk helicopter was flying low and fast to avoid enemy detection in the forbidding mountains of Kandahar Province in Afghanistan. In the pitch-black surroundings there was no room for error, and when the helicopter crashed it took the…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt-Chief Opposition Whip) (11:59): We have heard a lot over the last couple of weeks about the budget-and there is certainly no hiding the fact that Labor’s financial and budgetary management is in total chaos. We have heard all the figures: total gross debt to breach the $300 billion ceiling, record net debt…
Mr ENTSCH (Leichhardt-Chief Opposition Whip) (17:59): I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak on the Aged Care (Living Longer Living Better) Bill 2013 and related bills today. However, I have to express my concern that it has taken over a year for the government to bring this legislation to the parliament, and now it wants…