MARK DREYFUS MP

There are vulnerable minorities in our society. There are vulnerable minorities who suffer from discrimination by other parts of our society. The people who are part of those vulnerable minorities have rights, and legislation like this ensures that those rights are respected and it defends those rights

The Red Cross, alongside the Country Fire Authority and other volunteer organisations, are working in the bush as we speak here. More than ever, we thank them for their work. In this crucible, in which our resolve is cast, we find our cohesion as a nation and resilience as a people.

I grieve for those who have passed, for those whose loved ones have passed and for those who have lost everything. I hope they can still have hope for the future. We are behind you. We will help you. As the Prime Minister said today and the Leader of the Opposition confirmed, the whole of this parliament is committed to doing whatever it takes to put these communities and all of those affected back on their feet.

I rise today to speak about Jack Pompei OAM, a man who touched many lives and helped shape our local community

The amendments in the Foreign Evidence Amendment Bill 2008 facilitate the process of adducing business records held overseas as evidence in Australian courts. By changing the Foreign Evidence Act, they will assist in the prosecution of persons who, by hiding money in the world's shadowy places, seek to defraud the Commonwealth. They will add to the federal government's arsenal against tax evasion, money laundering and organised crime.

The true measure of a government is not its performance during a time of prosperity but its response in a time of crisis. The Nation Building and Jobs Plan, coming on top of the Economic Security Strategy delivered in December, shows the depths of this governments commitment to doing all it can to protect Australian jobs and families from the maelstrom that has engulfed the global economic system.

These additional estimates bills are presented during a crisis that is unprecedented in our lifetime not just in scale but due to the global nature of the modern economic system.

It is difficult to imagine today just what a fundamental shift the Universal Declaration of Human Rights represented when it was adopted sixty years ago. In a post-war world scarred by the Holocaust, divided by colonialism and wracked by inequality, a charter setting out the first global and solemn commitment to the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings, regardless of colour, creed or origin, was a bold and daring undertaking.

We can go down a long list of other promises to the Australian people which we have honoured, including: the apology to Indigenous Australians and starting work on closing the gap, and signing the Kyoto protocol and working on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. We are tackling the hard issues which confront this nation: computers in schools, trades training centres, a national curriculum for schools and the Murray-Darling Basin the list goes on and on. This has been a year of sensible management, of honoured commitments and of honoured promises.

There has been a widespread welcoming of this legislation not just by workers, not just by unions but also by very many employer groups. They welcome this legislation which strikes a fair balance indeed, a democratic balance.