Second Reading Speech: Food Importation (Bovine Meat Standards) Bill

 I note with interest the contribution from Senator O’Brien on the Food Importation (Bovine Meat Standards) Bill 2010. At the outset he seemed to suggest that we were trying to bring this to a vote today. The senator knows full well that, by agreement, there are no votes in the chamber after 4.... ...more

Adjournment Speech: Paid Parental Leave

 I rise tonight to make some comments on an issue that I think is top of mind at the moment for people right across the country, and that is paid parental leave. There are varying views on this issue but, when it comes to bringing up children, it is incredibly important because Australia’s futu... ...more

RUDD HOSPITAL TAKEOVER PLAN LONG ON SPIN, SHORT ON DETAIL

Federal Labor is yet to guarantee to the people of regional New South Wales they will not become victims of Kevin Rudd‟s hospital reform takeover plan. Senator Fiona Nash said the Rudd Labor hospital takeover plan is long on spin and short on details. "With all the talk of Rudd Labor‟s hospital re... ...more

BURKE BACKFLIPS ON MAD COW PUBLIC PRESSURE

A backflip on ‘mad cow’ imports by Kevin Rudd’s Agriculture Minister Tony Burke is in direct response to court of public opinion pressure started by the Coalition in Opposition. “Today’s ‘mad cow’ announcement by Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke is a victory for commonsense, a victory for t... ...more

North Coast beef industry needs level playing field not Mad Cow imports

Local producers don’t want special deals, just a level playing field.   The Rudd Government is now effectively enforcing stricter controls on the North Coast's $140 million-a-year cattle industry than it is on imports which the Government has just allowed from countries affected by Mad Cow Di... ...more

Nash Demands Rudd Labor Guarantee NSW Hospitals

Nationals NSW Senator Fiona Nash has called on Rudd Labor to give a guarantee to the people of regional New South Wales they will not become victims of Kevin Rudd’s hospital reform takeover plan. Speaking at The Tweed Hospital on the NSW North Coast earlier today, Senator Nash said Rudd Labor must ... ...more

BEEF PRODUCERS BACK COALITION ON MAD COW BILL

More than 1,200 beef producers voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to support the Nationals Liberal Coalition effort to stop Rudd Labor’s relaxation of Australia’s strict quarantine rules that allow ‘mad cow’ beef imports from today. Nationals NSW Senator Fiona Nash, who attended the beef producers ... ...more

WHERE’S THE URGENT BILL MINISTER?

On Monday the Rudd Labor Minister ‘For Too Many Things’ Julia Gillard said 150,000 students were in limbo because the Coalition wouldn’t pass her Bill in the Senate.  “Where is the Bill Minister?  If Julia Gillard was serious about getting her ‘urgent’ Youth Allowance bill through the Se... ...more

AUSTRALIA AT RISK OF MAD COW BEEF IMPORTS

The Rudd Labor Government is preparing to relax Australia’s strong quarantine rules on 1 March 2010 to allow beef imports from countries known to have had outbreaks of ‘mad cow’ disease. Nationals NSW Senator Fiona Nash said, the Rudd Labor Government wants us all to believe that because there is o... ...more

Second Reading Speech: Fairer Private Health Insurance

I rise to make some comments on the changes the government is proposing to the private health insurance rebates. The chamber would be well aware that after the introduction of Medicare in 1984 membership of private health funds fell. By 1998, only 30.4 per cent of the population was covered by priva... ...more