MARK DREYFUS MP

Today's admission that the Australian Federal Police illegally accessed the metadata of a journalist is shocking.

Reports today that a new Department of Homeland Security will be created in the next Turnbull government reshuffle should be deeply concerning to all Australians.

Today's announcement of a reversal in cuts to Community Legal Centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services is a humiliating backdown for George Brandis and a victory for campaigners around Australia.

The proposed redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is meant to start in just ten weeks, however the majority of states and institutions have not yet signed up to the redress scheme.

The announcement today that the ACCC will recruit 4000 volunteers to measure internet speeds is a welcome step that will help ensure consumers are better informed to make choices about the NBN services they purchase.

Not only has the Abbott-Turnbull Government failed to implement any of its own measures to ease the burden of Queenslanders who are faced with the clean-up after Cyclone Debbie and the subsequent flooding, but it has dumped sensible measures put in place by Labor after the 2011 floods.

The New South Wales Liberal Government has highlighted the Turnbull Governments failure to support the Community Legal sector by picking up the tab for Senator Brandis 30 per cent cut in Commonwealth funding for Community Legal Centres for the next two years.

Today's High Court decision is a damning indictment of the Turnbull Government, and the desperate lengths this Prime Minister will go to, just to cling to power.

The abuse of children in the care of institutions has been one of the most appalling chapters of Australia's recent history.

Federal Labor welcomes the Interim Report of the Royal commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory.