Gordon's Crossbench Comments

What of Muslim Burqas, Schools and Immigration?
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Australian society, like the rest of the Western world, is facing controversial issues due to the presence of Muslims, both immigrants and Australian born. What is the best response for us to take? Condemning a whole race or religious group and preventing them from coming to Australia as refugees or immigrants on the basis of race or religion is not acceptable policy for well-meaning Christians. We have examples of the Good Samaritan in the teaching of Jesus that is total abrogated by such a policy. Such a policy does nothing to solve the social issues caused by some people from Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds, but only inflames the situation.

What is a better way of handling these social issues?

A Better Way to Deal With the Confronting Burqa
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There is a better way of dealing with the confronting burqa. I thought that Former Prime Minister John Howard expressed it best when he spoke of the burqa as “a ‘confronting’ form of attire”.

It is true that some people are completely confronted with the way some people dress, so much so that it drives them to anger, abuse and racist remarks. The dress may be a lot or a little, but it makes some people extremely uncomfortable when confronted by a person in supermarket or beach, dressed differently. It makes little difference.
For some people, instead of a burqa, the most confronting form
of attire would be budgie smugglers!

Relationships Register Erodes the Institution of Marriage
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The NSW Government is seeking to introduce legislation to create a Relationships Register making it easier for committed unmarried couples to access legal entitlements and prove they are in committed or de facto relationships. Attorney-General John Hatzistergos said the NSW Register will be modelled on key aspects of registers already in place in the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania.

Ambulance Inquiry Shows More Must Be Done
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The Chair of the NSW Parliament's General Purpose Standing Committee No. 2, the Hon. Robyn Parker MLC, yesterday released a report which examined the implementations of the recommendations from its previous inquiry into the management and operations of the Ambulance Service of NSW.

Dr Gordon Moyes, Parliamentary Leader of Family First NSW, was a member of the inquiry which highlighted major concerns with the Service's management and culture, including the level of bullying and harassment. The report included 45 recommendations designed to address these, and an undertaking that the Committee would review the implementation of these recommendations.

The First and the Last
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I believe over the course of our history we have discriminated most consistently against two groups of people in Australia - those who were here first, our Indigenous peoples, and those who were here last, especially refugees.

The health of our nation: The paramount importance of health reform
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The Federal Government has stated that it intends to increase the population of Australia. It is estimated by Treasury that the number of Australian citizens will reach 35 million by 2049. The Federal government has identified that, to meet the challenge of the increasing population, major cities will have to increase their urban density. For this reason, the Federal Government has recently hinted that it is considering taking the initiative, and might extend its responsibilities to include housing development, land release and infrastructure - functions currently controlled by State and Local governments.

Critical education reports reveal TAFE's underfunding
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On March 16, the Australian Education Union released two new reports which revealed the extent of the underfunding of TAFE and the consequences for thousands of people who are missing out on training and education as a result.

The reports are a national survey of over 2,600 TAFE teachers and managers, and a research paper prepared by the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) at Monash University.

Who is to blame for Nigeria's atrocities - Response from the Australian High Commission
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Last January, we wrote a factual article in this pages, in part to counter fanatical Christians who are writing racist lies saying that Muslims were to blame for killing Christians. But many of these bigots did not want to hear the truth, and wrote further lies to discredit the author. Here is the original article so you can judge for yourself, and the official reply from the Australian High Commission.

Building the Education Revolution Inquiry
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Dr Gordon Moyes, along with other Members of the General Purpose Standing Committee No. 2, will investigate how the NSW Government has managed the Commonwealth's Building the Education Revolution (BER) Program.

There have been numerous reports of BER school building projects costing thousands of dollars more than market cost and soaking up millions of dollars in project management fees. It has also been reported that large sums of money have been spent on very standard building designs.

Energy price increases highlight the need for energy reform in NSW
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NSW consumers are set to face the biggest increases in household electricity bills ever seen, according to the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).

From July 1 this year, bills for those on standard tariffs will rise by a cumulative total of up to 64 per cent by 2013. The increases will allow energy providers to increase investment in infrastructure and improve network security and reliability of supply in line with the new licence conditions imposed by the NSW Government

The damaging consequences of bullying into adult life
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New research by Wesley Mission shows that a staggering 85 per cent of the community reports that schoolyard bullying had affected the way they had developed as adults.

Of more concern, the research shows that one in five adults surveyed said that bullying had a pure negative impact on their adult lives. Wesley Mission has found that the bullying experience has led to other issues such as substance abuse, regular sick leave, and in some cases ongoing need for psychiatric services and counselling

Coroner's findings reveals avoidable death of a young life
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Yesterday, the New South Wales coroner recommended major changes to the spa building industry after the "avoidable" drowning of an 11-year old girl. Shannon Rankin died when she was sucked underwater in a spa in the newly built Sevan Apartments block at Forster on the NSW mid-north coast in 2006

Auditor General report revealed serious flaws in protecting children
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A recent report by the NSW Auditor-General found critical flaws in the system of protecting children from potential abusers and molesters. The Auditor-General's findings revealed a failure in the State's employment screening system. The report found that 14 people assessed in 2008-09 who posed a significant risk went on to get jobs working with children. At least one had access child pornography.

Parliamentary reports addressing the concerns of the most vulnerable in our community
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Two reports were tabled in Parliament recently. The Standing Committee on Social Issues released a report on "Substitute decision-making for people lacking capacity" and the Committee on Children and Young People released "Inquiry into children and young people 9-14 years in NSW".

Abolishing detention debt - Closing a dark chapter on Australia's detention policy
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As Federal Parliament rose for the winter recess, both the Government and Opposition were glad to escape Canberra and the Ute-Gate affair that has embattled both sides of politics. One aspect that escaped the media glare
was the Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Bill 2009.
The Bill abolishes the charges imposed on immigration detainees and
waives all existing debts for current and former detainees, but there
will be no refunds of debts already paid.

A legal victory for residents
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The Land and Environment Court overwhelmingly rejected a planning approval by the NSW Government to build a huge shooting range in the Southern Highlands in exchange for the support of the Shooters Party in the Legislative Council.

Beyond the political reasoning in the asylum seeker debate
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The issue of asylum seekers are once again in the spectrum of political debate when human tragedy occurred near Ashmore Reef after a boat carrying asylum seekers exploded. The tragedy has killed three people,
two as missing but presumed dead, with others suffering from
critical burns to 95 percent of their bodies and are in induced comas.

Dr Moyes questions the justification for Tillegra Dam
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Back in November 2006, the NSW Government announced that Hunter Water would construct a new dam at Tillegra as an integral part to secure the water future of the Lower Hunter region for the next 60 years. Subject to receiving the necessary approvals, the proposed 450 billion litre dam is to be built in the upper Williams Valley (north of Dungog) at an estimated cost of $477 million, up from the original cost of $300 million. The new Tillegra Dam is expected to be supplying water to the Lower Hunter by 2013.

Food for fuel: Is ethanol the right answer to our energy security?
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With the problem of global warming, the limited supply of oil, and the deepening financial crisis, the food for fuel dilemma has been at the
forefront of both national and international debates. Proponents argue
that ethanol is a cleaner, greener and renewable form of energy, yet
critics say converting crops into fuel will simply create food shortages
and sky rocketing commodity prices.

GM crops and legal risks for farmers - what are we risking?
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In 2008, the state governments of New South Wales and Victoria
lifted their bans on the commercial production of GM canola. In 2009,
the West Australian Government decided to allow large-scale trials of the crop. The introduction of genetically modified (GM) canola poses legal risks for both farmers that adopt the technology and those that do not.

Here comes the Sydney Metro at full speed
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The NSW Government will not back down on its infrastructure spending
nor shy away from plans to build the controversial Sydney metro system. According to NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal and Transport Minister David Campbell, the metro is necessary. In a recently held conference on infrastructure, the Treasurer said “Of the major cities around the world, all of them have metro systems. We are one of the 50 biggest cities in the world but we don't yet have a metro system. That is what the NSW Government is investing in, it is investing in the future.”

Human trafficking
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According to United Nations figures, approximately 2.5 million people are trafficked around the world at any given time and 80 per cent are women and children. Certainly widespread calls have been made for more and improved data collection from around the world to determine the true extent of human trafficking, which is a major challenge.

ICAC and political corruption
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Last month we published an article entitled “The ghost of cronyism and corruption still haunts Queensland”. Recently, the shooting of NSW businessman, Michael McGurk, in cold blood has intensified allegations
of endemic government corruption in New South Wales.

Juvenile detention in NSW: A system in crisis
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Every day a thousand young people are incarcerated in detention centres across Australia. New South Wales, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory are the states with the highest number of incarcerated juveniles.

NSW Government gone off the rails
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The Transport Administration Amendment (Rail Trails) Bill will be intensely debated before the Legislative Council next week. This is a Bill that should be opposed for the following reasons. Currently, the law in New South Wales prohibits the closing and disposal of railway lines without an Act of Parliament.

Plans to privatise our prisons: different agenda, same spin
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Last Wednesday, in the pouring rain a rally of about 1,000 striking prison officers protested outside New South Wales Parliament against the State Government's plans to implement wide-ranging prison system reforms. Rain did not deter the men and women from the State's 75 correctional facilities from closing Macquarie Street and chanting abuse at the new Treasurer and the Attorney General.

Premier Rees' restructure of the NSW public sector
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On 11 June 2009, the Premier announced that the State Labor
Government will embark on a massive restructure of the New South
Wales public service with the merging of 160 government agencies
into 13 super departments.

Tackling homelessness head on in New South Wales
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In recent months, we have seen the rate of family joblessness increase
at a much faster pace than joblessness generally. According to Professor Peter Whiteford from the Social Policy Research Centre at the University
of New South Wales, joblessness among families is one of the most significant problems facing Australian society. It is the most important
cause of child poverty in Australia and is a major contributor to overall income inequality.

Taking a new approach to problem gambling
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On 21 October 2009, the Productivity Commission released a draft report on its yearlong study which revealed that overall the gambling industry has brought questionable economic benefits to the nation.

The consequences of youth homelessness
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Two weeks ago, The Daily Telegraph reported (Tuesday April 08, 2008)
that youth homelessness has doubled in the past 20 years and it will
take at least $300 million to fix the problem, a national inquiry has
revealed. The number of homeless teenagers aged 12 to 18 has
doubled to 22,000 in the last two decades, according to the National
Youth Commission's (NYC) Australia's Homeless Youth report.

The "false god" of free markets
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In the lead up to the G20 Summit, both the British and Australian Prime Ministers addressed more than 1,000 people at St Paul's Cathedral in London. The key message shared by both leaders is that markets need morals.

The first real step in a multilateral dialogue on climate change
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During the past few days we have seen our Prime Minister exercised his diplomatic weight to the climate change debate taking place in the United Nations. Addressing the UN General Assembly, Mr Kevin Rudd called on leaders of the world to look beyond their own self interest to reach international agreement both in global economic reform and
climate change.

The privatisation of Parklea prison: Lessons for the NSW Government
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Widespread community opposition to the privatisation of prisons, the
Minister for Corrective Services and former Secretary of Unions
NSW John Robertson announced last week that the management
of Parklea Correctional Centre will be handed over to the GEO Group.

The State Government's recent backflips
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Recently, we have seen embarrassing policy reversals which have plagued the highly unpopular State Labor Government. The New South Wales Government announced its revised plans to privatise two state prisons.

Why I oppose education league tables
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The controversy that surrounds education league tables is back on the agenda with the passing of the Education Amendment (Publication of
School Results) Bill. Readers may recall the community outrage that
followed when the Daily Telegraph published a front-page photograph of Mount Druitt's Year 12 Class of 1996 under the headline “The Class
We Have Failed”, all of whom received a tertiary entrance rank below 50.

Why not expand stem cell research that is showing real results
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New science has emerged which radically undermines the already
spurious case for cloning: entirely ethical science that obtains the same “tailor-made” stem cells that cloning hopes to obtain, but without the creation and destruction of cloned embryos. Since June 2007, the whole debate has been radically changed.

Gordon's Questions to Ministers

ACOSS Service Delivery Click Here

Increasing electricity prices in NSW Click Here

Aboriginal communities civil and family law services Click Here

Cumberland Plain bushland conservation Click Here

NSW juvenile detention centres Click Here

Sydney Metro employment redundancies Click Here

Coal mining in Central Coast Click Here

Aboriginal Illiteracy Click Here

NSW Power Generation Click Here

Cabonne Shire Waste Council Recycling Click Here