Thursday, 2 November 2023 Cameron Stewart: Fascinating observations about the situation we’re in right now. I’d like to start off with the biggest story in the world. Just weeks ago, of course, 14 other Israelis were killed by Hamas. We now have a terribly large amount of Gazan civilians being killed. The divisions in…
Economic and Social Outlook Conference Thursday, 2 November 2023 Crowne Palladium, Melbourne VIC Well, thanks very much, Cameron, for that fabulously gloomy introduction. And here we stand between all of you and cocktail hour, as it was just billed, with the very depressing topics to discuss. So, let me start by saying I’m an optimist.…
Wednesday, 1 November 2023 Prof. Peter Dean: Thank you so much, Senator, for that. Mike, please take note next time we need a fire for the fire side chat. Great broad ranging speech. I particularly love any speech that uses the phrase forlorn hope. I think we all we can all look forward to, hopefully,…
Keynote Address Wednesday 1 November 2023 Disruption [Thanks/greetings omitted] Let’s face it, the world has rarely been a stable place. If it was, we would still be cave dwellers and hunter-gatherers. Today we are in a time of a growing number of regional wars and facing the threat of greater conflict. We…
Monday 16 October 2023 The attacks by Hamas against Israel just over a week ago, were amongst the worst examples of terrorism in the modern age. That word – terrorism – speaks of horror… …it speaks of violence…. ….it speaks of instilling fear in a people to achieve a political or…
13 September 2023 Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (17:31): There are very few people, particularly very few senators, who I could compare with or draw an analogy to involving a horse and not land myself in trouble, but I suspect that my dear friend Marise—or, at least, I hope—as a…
Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (15:10): I move: That the Senate take note of all answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by the coalition today. In particular, I wish to focus on the answer to the question that I asked of Senator Farrell, representing the Minister for Resources,…
Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (12:06): by leave—The coalition join the government in expressing our concerns at the ongoing violence in Sudan, a conflict and a humanitarian crisis which now, in the latest element of this ongoing tragedy, is in its fourth week of more intense conflict and battle. We…
It is easy to catastrophise electoral outcomes. The byelection loss in Aston was bad for the Liberal Party. Very bad. However, if the messages from this electoral drubbing are heard and the wake-up call seized, then good can come of bad. The impact of changing social and demographic trends sees the Liberal Party holding just one in…
28 March 2023 Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (03:56): It’s no secret that the politics of climate change have frustrated me over my 16 years in this place, bearing witness to debates here, around our country and around the world. Too often I have borne witness to extreme arguments, variously coming…