MARK DREYFUS MP

The work done by government lawyers continues to be crucial to the public interest. It continues to be technically demanding and to require specialised knowledge and skill. In moments of crisis, it requires the same sort of initiative and creativity shown by Robert Garran and his contemporaries.

Australia owes Malcolm Fraser a great debt for a life of distinguished public service. We are poorer for his passing.

Labor will always work to keep Australians safe, and at the same time, to uphold the rights and freedoms enjoyed by all Australians. Getting this balance right can be a challenging task, but with the addition of the numerous amendments to the Data Retention Bill that Labor has fought for, and with the Governments agreement to further amendments to protect freedom of the press, we believe that the Data Retention Bill strikes the right balance.

The current Attorney-General's now-aborted attempt to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Actis probably the most prominent political tussle over multiculturalism in the term of this Parliament.

On behalf of the community groups of Isaacs that have been abandoned by this government, on behalf of their tireless volunteers and on behalf of the clients that need their services, I call on the minister to reassess his priorities and restore grant funding to community groups that provide essential community services to restore funding that in many cases has been coming under this community grants program now for several decades. It must be restored. 

I would like to speak tonight about a topic very dear to my heart - the constitutional recognition of Australia's Indigenous peoples.

Labor supports this bill. It is important that delegated legislation and other Commonwealth instruments are dealt with as clearly and as transparently as possible. We support any measure which makes Commonwealth instruments easier to locate and easier to understand. I commend this bill to the House.

The arts are a public good they enrich us all. They are not a private market.

The proper funding of those courts goes to the core of that responsibility. I call on the government to be very clear about how it will proceed to support our federal courts into the future. I commend this bill to the House.

Labor believes that our security agencies and national institutions should have the powers and resources they need to keep Australians safe from the threat of terrorism, and we will support the government in providing those powers and resources.