MARK DREYFUS MP

I rise today to speak about Jim Maher AO, a man who was a true giant of the trade union movement and one of the most influential figures in building the largest union in Australia - the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, known affectionately as the Shoppies.

The ABC is a vital Australian institution. We need to defend the ABC against the attacks of those opposite, against the attacks of commercial corporations who have an interest in limiting the activities of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and SBS, who are direct competitors and through their own news outlets are continuing to mount an attack on the ABC.

The scheme that has been announced today by the new Leader of the Opposition is simply a continuation of the delay and denial that we have become accustomed to in this area from the opposition.

It is entirely appropriate in the difficult economic times that the country is facing, and is certainly likely to continue to experience as a result of economic difficulties in many other developed countries, that these reforms are undertaken.

It is quite appropriate that there be an adjustment to the system which recognises that closeness of association between Australia and New Zealand and recognises the high standard that is achieved in New Zealand undergraduate medical training.

This bill is in the great tradition of Labor government's concern for infrastructure in this country. It continues on from a substantial number of reforms that have already been made by the Rudd Labor government to infrastructure and to the system of regulation of infrastructure in Australia. This bill demonstrates perhaps better than most how the Rudd Labor government, in its focus on infrastructure reforms, is continuing reforms from the Hawke and Keating Labor governments.

The damaging results of violence against women by men are felt at a personal level, at a family level and at a community level. Far too many women suffer enormously as a result of male violence in our country.

hat we have seen in the last two years since the election of the Rudd government is a renewed commitment to multilateralism and, with that renewed commitment to multilateralism, a regaining of the respect of the nations of the world for Australia's position in the world.

Hamas rejects democratic methods and rejects human rights. It rejects the rights of trade unions. It rejects the rights of women as those rights are understood and cherished by Western countries such as ours. What appears in the report of the parliamentary joint committee is but a small sample of the acts in which the Hamas brigades have engaged in recent years.

The report confirms that those seeking asylum in Australia are part of a worldwide trend which is driven by insecurity, persecution and conflict.