Mr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (13:54): Diabetes Australia is 60 years old, and last week in the Great Hall in this place we held a 60th birthday celebration. Diabetes Australia is a wonderful organisation with wonderful partners like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the DANII Foundation, and they were all there. We were privileged to…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (10:41): I swear never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women. This is my oath. In 2014 I took this oath when I became a White Ribbon ambassador, as part of my strong belief that women should live in safety and free from all forms of violence. For…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (16:35): Sometimes you know when you’ve come into the right place and it’s your place in time-when all your little ducks line up, if you like. And so it is with the National Energy Guarantee. I’ve been in this place since the 2007 election. It would be fair to say that…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (13:41): I’m very pleased to take this opportunity to congratulate the Crystal Book Primary School on winning two prizes in the 2017 Anzac Day Schools’ Awards. The school has displayed great initiative and creativity in the way it commemorates Anzac Day, helping students to understand more deeply the significance of our…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (15:45): I thank the member for Jagajaga for bringing this subject matter to the House’s attention today: poverty and inequality. It brings me to question some of the driving motives of those of us who are brought to this place, and the differences between the government and the Labor Party. I…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (18:53): I would like to thank the member for Indi for bringing this motion before the parliament. It gives me an opportunity to discuss the coalition’s electoral commitment of $15.2 million from 2017-18 to 2020-21 to establish up to six regional study hubs across Australia. In the electorate of Grey we…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (11:04): I rise to speak on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform) Bill 2017. At the heart of the raft of reforms that were in the bill presented on I think 22 August is the implementation of drug testing for welfare recipients. This really highlights the very big philosophical debate…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (10:39): Sometimes I’m asked why I’m in parliament and asked: ‘What do you achieve?’ Last Friday was a graphic example of what can be done when people work together, and that is the handover of the Arrium assets to Liberty House-GFG Alliance-and one Sanjeev Gupta, a British citizen. So in Whyalla…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (19:00): I’m sad to announce that I don’t really have a great grievance! I’m more happy than anything this evening. That’s because, last Thursday, the Minister for Social Services, Alan Tudge, tabled the final report on the Ceduna and East Kimberley cashless debit card. Wow, what great results! This is really…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (17:46): Spoken like a true member for Canberra! Let me say to the member for Canberra: it’s not all about Canberra. There are other people in this nation-I represent quite a sizable slice of them-that actually don’t see Canberra as the answer to everything. Every now and then they actually even…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (13:40): On the weekend I had the great privilege of opening the art exhibition for the painters of the Flinders Ranges at Wilpena Pound. This group has been operating since 2002, and it features nine highly-skilled artists: the chairman Graham Chapman, Don Gangell, Trevor Hancox, David Chalmers, John Simmons, Elizabeth Collins,…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (10:54): To the member for Makin, it’s a pity they hadn’t put the money up then-that’s all I can say. But I thank the member for Wakefield for bringing this motion forward. He must be very pleased with his work. But before it got into the House we’d acted on it,…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (19:54): Today in South Australia there was a rather significant announcement for my electorate with the state government announcing that they had done a deal on a purchase for renewable energy with a company called SolarReserve. SolarReserve have a solar-thermal concentrating facility in Nevada, which I’ve visited, where they store energy…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (13:50): Along with Senator Anne Ruston, I’m very pleased today to host a delegation from my Upper Spencer Gulf cities of Port Pirie, Port Augusta and Whyalla. Mayors, CEOs and councillors came to Canberra to lobby for a range of projects for that part of my electorate, that part of South…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (12:50): I’m very pleased to speak on the motion today. I think that renewables are all but certain to become the major supplier of electricity in Australia over the next two or three decades. It’s just a matter of when and at what cost. It was interesting-I actually referred to the…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (11:00): Last week, Mr Kunmanara Lester was buried on his ancestral homelands on the APY Lands in South Australia. I am very sorry to have missed the occasion-I was here in parliament. I do express my deepest condolences to his family. I only met Mr Lester twice. I was elected to…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (10:47): I move: That this House: (1) expresses its support of Adani’s decision to purchase $74 million worth of steel rail from Arrium’s Whyalla steel works; (2) recognises that the: (a) order will help sustain jobs in South Australia and particularly in Whyalla; (b) extra work comes at a vital time…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (11:33): I want to focus particularly today on some propaganda that has been circulated in my electorate by the Australian Labor Party-by Senator Gallacher, in fact. Recently, people in the cities of the Spencer Gulf-Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie-received a DL in their mailboxes. There are a number of very…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (18:37): I trust that the member for Herbert will get a map and find out where the Snowy Mountains are. South Australia, Minister, is the epicentre of the energy crisis facing Australia, and it is a cheap and adequate example to the rest of Australia on what not to do with…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (13:56): Last October, like many South Australians and my constituents, I was disappointed when BP announced that they were pulling out of their drive to drill wells in the Great Australian Bight. Their 30 per cent partner, Statoil, announced last week that they would be taking over two of those leases.…
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