MARK DREYFUS MP

There is no doubt that among the most rewarding cases I argued as a barrister were those that involved a fight for justice. The Stolen Generations Casein particular was a matter that I fought for at a very personal level. It was a case about redressing a deep injustice, and I remain very proud of having worked on it.

Australians rely on a compact between business and consumers, but in order for that compact to work consumers need to have enough money to spend on goods, and businesses need to be honest and act in good faith when trading.

While the redress scheme provided for in these bills is late and falls short in some important respects from the scheme recommended by the royal commission, I have no doubt that it will provide a measure of justice to survivors.

Today I speak as a former shadow minister for the arts but also as a Melburnian to express my shock and sadness about the burning down of the much-loved La Mama Theatre on Faraday Street in Carlton.

This bill, like many similar bills that have come before successive parliaments, will not set the world alight, but they are a necessary administrative task of the parliament, and the Labor Party supports them.

Labor has for over a century demonstrated its understanding that it is a paramount responsibility of all parliamentarians to keep our community safe and our nation secure. We in Labor have demonstrated this commitment by working in a bipartisan way, whether in government or in opposition, to ensure that our security and law enforcement agencies have the powers and resources they need to keep our communities safe.

Australia is not merely an ally of Israel. We are a friend.

And this is a friendship has stood the test of time, through the upheavals of our political cycles here in Australia, and though the ever-changing diplomatic and political conditions of the world in which we live.

Australia has a proud history of passionate political expression, and last week, when Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, threatened to 'beat up' Australians who protest his visit to the ASEAN Summit in Sydney next month, he was rightly condemned by thousands of Australians both within and outside the Australian Cambodian community.

James Stott, known to everyone as Jim, was a giant of lifesaving in bayside Melbourne.

Labor is committed at all levels of government to combatting elder abuse in all its forms. We will work in Government not just with the States and Territories, but also with our non-government partners, including the CLCs, to combat elder abuse.