Mr 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) (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) (10:39): 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) (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) (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) (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) (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.…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (18:48): There can never be too much that we can do to protect our children, and the Criminal Code Amendment (Protecting Minors Online) Bill 2017 will add another layer to laws aimed at protecting children under the age of 16 from online predators. Carly’s Law, a law that has evolved out…
DetailsFederal Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey has welcomed today’s news that two official bids have been placed for the take-over of Arrium, which includes the Whyalla assets. Mr Ramsey said Arrium had been in administration for more than a year and the Federal Government had invested $120m to improve the bottom line of the Whyalla…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (12:00): I rise to speak in support of the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Budget Measures) Bill 2017. I am proud to be part of a government which supports our veteran Australians. The government has invested an additional $350 million in this year’s budget to support our veterans. More than 300,000 Australians…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (15:51): I read the topic of this matter of public importance and I thought, ‘There’s a typo.’ There has got to be something wrong here: The Government’s unfair Budget hurting ordinary Australians. It is not hurting ordinary Australians. It is helping them. It is rebuilding the Australian economy. It is mapping…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (16:04): It gives me great pleasure to thank Jeff and Miriam Morgan of Jeff Morgan Gallery in Hawker in the central Flinders Ranges for giving me the honour the last Friday of opening the latest addition to Jeff’s art gallery. The latest addition is a panorama of the Arkaroola waterhole, Nooldoonooldoona,…
DetailsMr RAMSEY (Grey–Government Whip) (12:16): This bill-the bill, not the amendment-should be greeted with nothing but acclaim in this parliament; it ticks all the boxes. Sadly, Labor members come in here bleating about non-existent cuts to non-existent funding. The funding that the Labor Party promised under Julia Gillard was virtual funding; it was the funding…
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