Lovely to see my brilliant friend Allegra Spender presenting principled and detailed proposals for tax reform at the National Press Club.
We need the government to commit to significant tax reform to address increasing intergenerational inequity. Young Australians deserve nothing less.
The govt is making a big deal about giving temporary humanitarian visas to a small number of female Iranian ⚽️ players.
At the same time, the XBENCH is trying to block the govt passing legislation to enable it to suspend the temporary visas to 🇦🇺 already held by 7000+ Iranians outside this country.
The government has to act on this issue in this year's Budget - for our economy and for our health.
More than 60% of Australian medical researchers left active research roles between 2019 & 2024 because they could not make ends meet - while my costings from the PBO suggest the govt could more than double annual spending from the MRFF without any effect on its base level of funding.
I support David Pocock's call for an urgent parliamentary enquiry into gas company taxation with a view to legislation on this issue within weeks.
In 2022 oil prices doubled and gas prices quadrupled after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Australian govt needs to act quickly to ensure that domestic prices are protected from price spikes internationally and that we get a fair return on windfall profits from multinationals' exports of our LNG.
Read my piece in the New Daily on why I think it's time to recognise gambling as a ‘public health matter’ 👆
Tonight Carlton and the Swans will kick off the third AFL season since the Murphy report unanimously recommended a comprehensive ban on gambling ads.
Once again, our screens and stadia will be polluted with wall-to-wall gambling advertising, a normalised part of sporting culture in Australia.
The PM has announced a review of lobbyists activities in Parliament House - that's good - but the review will only canvas the opinions of insiders who work in govt. The inquiry should be open for public submissions. It's the people's House & the people should have some say in what goes on within it.
Australians really dislike the unfettered access lobbyists have to politicians in Parliament House. Every day Parliament sits, hundreds of lobbyists roam its halls. We can't know which Ministers they meet with, or how they influence government decision-making.
This government needs to be held to account, and while the Coalition has its mind elsewhere, it will be the crossbench holding them to account on issues of importance this week!
The crossbench does, in fact, have a shopping list of important and thorny topics to raise this week, because Australians want action on gambling, they want action on integrity in politics and lobbying reform, and they want answers to committee reports that are well overdue.
On Rare Disease Day, it’s worth considering the destruction of US medical research by the Trump administration, and the need for our own govt to step up and show leadership by supporting the NHMRC and CSIRO, and by spending the money put aside for that purpose in the Medical Research Future Fund.
This is the very question I put to the Aged Care Minister in Question Time two weeks ago.
Isn’t a computerised assessment system which cuts support for vulnerable Australians, causing distress and suffering, just another form of Robodebt?
It’s always better to build a fence at the top of a cliff than to have an ambulance at the bottom.
Preventive health is better and cheaper than caring for people after they get preventable diseases like melanoma.
The Allan state govt must not defund VicHealth.
Remarkably, the Government has no plans to change a scheme that simultaneously undermines our climate goals and the health of the Budget. We're hearing a lot from Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese about the need to trim spending, and the fuel tax credits scheme is precisely where they should start.
That's more money for big polluters than the government spends on the air force, foreign aid, First Nations' health, the arts, or climate and environment programs.
Australia's most generous fossil fuel subsidy will pour another $11 billion of taxpayer money into the pockets of polluters this year, including coal and gas companies.
My deepest sympathy goes to the brave women who have not received that care. The Epworth Hospital and AHPRA must be held to account for their apparent failure to keep these women safe.
Patients place their trust in our health professionals. They deserve best practice care and effective, conscientious oversight by hospitals, colleges, and the healthcare regulator, AHPRA.
These revelations about an Epworth Hospital surgeon’s alleged malpractice against many women with chronic pelvic pain, over a long period of time, suggest a catastrophic failure of our health system.
Politicians are outnumbered by lobbyists in Parliament House 15 to one; on sitting days hundreds of lobbyists roam the halls in Canberra, meeting with Ministers to influence government policies.
My Clean Up Politics Act would shine a light on lobbyists’ activities.
I spoke about this in Parliament last week. All states offer vaccination against meningococcus A/C, but only some fund type B, the most common form.
All states and territories should provide the same vaccines - and all should include meningococcal type B.
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02...
From Kooyong to the Olympic games! A massive congratulations to our very own Indra Brown for progressing into the final for the Women's Freeski Halfpipe! We will be cheering you on from home on Saturday night 💛 💚
Already more than 5,000 Australians have joined our campaign to release more funding for medical research in the 2026 Federal Budget.
If you can spare 30 seconds of your time to join our campaign, you’ll help fund life-saving cures in Australia.
www.moniqueryan.com.au/medical_rese...
Australians lose more to gambling per capita than any other country in the world, but our politicians continue to take favours from the industry. Enough is enough - this has to be the year when we get gambling influence out of politics, and gambling ads off our screens.
Next month we'll hit 1000 days since the Murphy Report into gambling harm was handed down.
More than 3 in 4 Australians want stronger gambling advertising laws, but the Govt continues to stall. Politicians from both major parties continue to accept donations, gifts & perks from gambling companies.
We have to learn from past mistakes to ensure we provide best practice care for our most vulnerable people. We can't allow aged care to become another example of government efficiency being prioritised over human lives.
