Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (13:53): I rise to acknowledge an extraordinary Australian, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, who was born in my electorate of Grey and passed away 4 February at age 91. Dr O’Donoghue was a Yankunytjatjara woman who was born in Indulkana—in what is now the APY Lands—in northern South Australia, and was the youngest of five.…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (16:18): It gives me no pleasure to be here today raising the issue, once again, of Ceduna. It’s a beautiful town in the far west of my electorate, with a population of about 3,200, 25 per cent of whom are Indigenous. It also services a number of outlying remote Indigenous communities—Oak Valley…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (13:30): Today is World Diabetes Day, and I am co-chair of the Parliamentary ‘enemies of diabetes’ Group with my friend the member for Moreton, Graham Perrett, who we will be hearing from in a moment. In 2023 the campaign focuses on the importance of knowing the risk of type 2 diabetes, to…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (11:30): Let me say from the outset how surprised, shocked and disappointed I was that the government decided to cancel the Stronger Communities Programme. In my experience, and I’ve been here quite a while, I’ve never seen a program that managed to have such a multiplier effect. These were small grants going…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (12:27): I support the opposition’s premise that this should be debated now. I’m grateful that the Senate dealt with this last week and got what I’d say are the good parts of the government’s bill debated and through. It seems to be a tendency of this government to mix up the good…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (13:42): Last weekend just on 79 per cent of the people of Grey voted ‘no’ in the referendum. In that message they voted for equality in the eyes of the law in Australia, and encompassed in that is that Australians should also have an equal opportunity. We need to address disadvantage where…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (16:01): I will point out a couple of things to the member for Paterson. One is that Senator Nampijinpa Price has been calling for a royal commission since April. It wasn’t just this week. It has been well over six months now since this issue was identified, and it should be acted…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (10:47): On the weekend, 60.59 per cent of Australians voted to keep Australia united. They voted against the referendum proposal. In South Australia, 64.6 per cent voted no. In my electorate of Grey, 78.4 per cent voted no. There have been 44 referendums in Australia’s history prior to this one. Eight have…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (12:35): I rise to speak on the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill. There’s no doubt that water reform is difficult, and it’s very important in this debate that we don’t just succumb to emotion and that we focus on reality. We shouldn’t underestimate what has been done in this field since…
Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (18:54): When I was a young boy and I had nasty medicine to take, my mother had an interesting ploy. She’d put the disgusting pill on a teaspoon of jam and say, ‘Eat it up.’ It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the jam was sweet enough that I would take…
