Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (11:31): I move: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) Australia’s live sheep export industry employs more than 3,500 people in Western Australia and is worth $85 million in direct payments to producers with an assumed multiplier effect close to $300 million; (b) Australia has developed world-leading animal welfare standards which are…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (10:47): Last Friday, I attended the Isolated Children’s Parents’ Association annual general meeting in South Australia. Quorn is about 340 kilometres north of Adelaide in my electorate, and I try and attend these meetings most years. They have not a huge crowd but have some people that look after some of the…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (18:02): Might I say to the member for Riverina, ‘Hear, hear!’ This is a terrible policy being put forward by the Labor government. Despite its rhetoric, it’s pretty clear that the current government has a pretty low regard for people in agriculture. I’m going to take you through a bit of list…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (15:03): Last weekend South Australia conducted its first election for an Indigenous voice to parliament. One hundred and thirteen candidates stood for 46 positions in six local regions. Once elected, each committee will choose two representatives to sit on the state voice, which will be given the opportunity twice a year to…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (12:36): There is an essence of truth within this Help to Buy Bill, which is that it is the Australian dream to own your own home. Menzies knew that and he drove policies which led to record levels of home ownership in Australia. Owning your own home is the best superannuation investment…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (13:23): The cashless debit card was removed in Ceduna in November 2022. Minister Rishworth has accused the coalition of playing politics over its latest allegations about lawlessness in Ceduna. She says, ‘There is no evidence or data the cashless debit card has worked, and Mr Ramsey’s comments are misleading.’ I’ve had more…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (16:24): I’m disappointed, but not surprised, at the communication from the South Australia’s transport department to the Lower Eyre Peninsula Council that the proposed and approved passing lanes on the Tod Highway south of Cummins are not going ahead because—guess what? They’ve run out of money, despite the fact that the previous…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (13:48): I present a petition that has been considered by the Petitions Committee and found to be in order. The principal petitioner, my constituent Barbara Shearer of Cleve, has collected 144 signatures to support a petition urging the government to reconsider its decision to introduce 60-day dispensing, which disproportionately impacts regional pharmacies.…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (19:00): Just as the schoolchildren of the 19th century chanted, the collective pants of this Labor government are on fire. From the first time Mr Albanese and his Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, used the weasel words, ‘We have not changed our position,’ when pressed on tax cuts, we can assume they had already…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (19:50): I take this opportunity to acknowledge the life and the contribution of Barry Hugh Wakelin, OAM, my predecessor and former Liberal Member for Grey from 1993 to 2007, who passed away on 19 December last year following a devastating cancer diagnosis. Barry was born in my hometown of Kimba in South…
DetailsMr 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.…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
DetailsMr 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…
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