I rise to speak on the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019. As we move out of an environment dominated by COVID-19, which has unfortunately been characterised by border closures and lockdowns, like in my home state of Victoria, we must once again set our sights on what a return to normal will look like. Considering how well the Morrison government has handled the pandemic, and the fact that our economy is in a position to continue to grow past COVID-19, Australia will once again become an attractive location for foreign citizens to come and visit, whether it be for tourism, for work or to live. Australia is proudly a multicultural nation, and a large part of our success has been built on the back of migrants from around the world who are attracted by some of the great many benefits that Australia has to offer.

However, unfortunately, not everyone who wishes to come to our shores has good intentions in mind and do not wish to subscribe to the many values that we hold dear, such as respect for the rule of law. The respect for the rule of law is a fundamental value that underpins our society; it is what keeps Australians safe and our nation prosperous. The Morrison government is resolutely committed to upholding these values, ensuring that those who enter our borders share our respect for the rule of law and value the benefits that this brings to our society. Consistent with the views and expectations of all Australians, the Morrison government has no tolerance for criminal behaviour. Those that engage in crime and who pose a threat to Australians in their homes and communities have no place entering our borders.

Once the number of people crossing the border into Australia again begins to increase, so too will the threats to our security increase. It is not a right of noncitizens to enter into Australia, it is a privilege. This privilege that we bestow on those entering Australia is one that we must carefully manage. Australians expect that we, as the representatives of the people, have in place the right rules and regulations to ensure that this privilege is not taken for granted by those who wish to do us harm.

The Morrison government has shown that it is resolute in its commitment to keeping Australians safe. We have recently passed numerous pieces of legislation designed to keep Australians safe from foreign threats. They include the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Amendment Bill, the Foreign Intelligence Legislation Amendment Bill, the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill, and the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill.

All of these, I have spoken on recently in this place. They are just a handful of recent examples of legislation, that have passed through the parliament, aimed at keeping Australians safe and free from the threat of violence. Recently, as everyone will be aware, the AUKUS announcement was made. This trilateral defence pact can be seen as one of the greatest achievements in strengthening our national security in recent history. It's one of the greatest steps taken by an Australian government to keeping Australians safe. These announcements outline the Morrison government's achievements over recent times that go towards keeping Australians safe. This commitment is extended today with the bill before us.

We are a welcoming, multicultural, open and cohesive society. At the same time, we need to ensure that we remain safe and secure. The Australian community expects that the Australian government can and should refuse entry to noncitizens or cancel their visas if they do not abide by the rule of law. It must be clear to those who wish to travel to our shores that if they choose to break the law and fail to uphold the standards of behaviour expected by the Australian community, that privilege of residing in Australia will be taken away from them. The purpose of this bill is to amend the Migration Act 1958 to specify that a person who does not pass the character test—that is, they've been convicted of a designated offence—may have their visa cancelled or visa application refused.

The character test, in one form or another, has been in the act since 1992. What the Morrison government is doing is ensuring that this test remains in step with the rest of our society and our values. The Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 will ensure that noncitizens who are convicted of certain serious offences and pose a risk to the safety of the Australian community do not pass that character test and are, appropriately, considered for visa refusal or cancellation.

Everyone, regardless of their sex, has the right to feel safe from sexual and gender harassment. Since the Sex Discrimination Act was first introduced, in 1984, we've come a long way. However, since then, time and time again, we are unfortunately reminded that the work is not done and that there is still more to do. That is why I'm so grateful that we have people such as Kate Jenkins, who does such important work to make Australia a better place. As Ms Jenkins states in the Respect@Work report:

Workplace sexual harassment is not inevitable. It is not acceptable. It is preventable.

Sexual harassment is not a women's issue: it is a societal issue, which every Australian, and every Australian workplace, can contribute to addressing.

This bill does not seek to make any fundamental changes to the operations of the Australian court system, only to make incremental changes that will streamline and clarify existing processes. This is a commonsense bill that seeks to improve the administration processes of the federal courts and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the AAT.

At its core the bill seeks to ensure red tape does not interfere with the smooth handling of matters, especially within the context of remote working whilst the pandemic calls for it. Measures such as allowing for judges to make rulings outside of their jurisdiction due to lockdowns and remote working is one such change which will allow for the smooth running of the courts during this period in time. This is a measure which both the courts and the government believe is necessary for the long-term evolution in the way hearings are conducted that will greatly benefit the courts and tribunals moving forward. By amending the definition of 'open court' these amendments seek to clarify the validity of remote hearings and by extension ensure that the court can continue to hear matters throughout the undefined COVID-19 period and beyond.

These measures are sought by the government to also make merits review through the AAT accessible, fair, just, economical, informal and quick.

The Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education's final report, the words that really hit me were that this was 'a hidden tragedy', because I don't think the topic of stillbirths can be described in any other way. This is not something that you hear talked about in the news, in the media or around the dinner table with friends and family, yet it affects thousands of Australians every year. In 2018, 2,789 babies died in the perinatal period; of those, three-quarters were stillbirths. Despite the numerous medical and technological advancements that we have achieved in recent times, the rate of stillbirths has remained the same for the last two decades. This truly is a hidden tragedy that is occurring within our country and one that is not widely discussed. As such, parents and families often suffer through this process alone. I know we did. Open and public discussion about the topic of stillbirths is vitally important. The more awareness we raise around this, the better society can support and assist those who are afflicted with the pain of going through a stillbirth pregnancy. The loss of a child of any age is unthinkable and often goes unspoken; however, it is important that we speak about it.

The Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education's final report outlines how many of our societal attitudes towards death underpin the silence and stigma surrounding stillbirth. Therefore it is important—for those who have suffered from a stillbirth, as well as those who may be afflicted by this in the future—that we talk about this. Open and honest discussions with family and friends can and will raise awareness around this issue and can only help those who suffer in silence. In our roles as senators for our various constituencies, if we do not speak about such important issues then they will remain hidden and unaddressed.

To go through such a tragedy at any stage of your life would be horrible, but to feel as though you're going through it alone would make it that much worse. This is why the National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan is so important. Released in December last year, the plan provides a range of actions to reduce stillbirth in Australia. While this is a crucial first step, stillbirths will not stop happening overnight. The plan has a primary goal of reducing stillbirths by 20 per cent over five years. To achieve this, the plan aims to address five priority areas: …

The threat landscape that we as a nation are confronted with today is vastly different from that of five, 10 and 20 years ago. It's important to note that next month marks the 20-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001. The events in Afghanistan this week brought back the dark memories of that attack on the US people by foreign nationals. Those attacks changed the world and the way in which liberal democracies protect their citizens.

A lot has changed in those 20 years, but the need to protect Australia from attacks and interference by foreign actors has not. Technology has changed how the world works, and the massive rise of cyberattacks has created challenges which have seen the need to significantly increase the size of our intelligence agencies. The technology and geopolitics driving these changes can have serious ramifications on the effective functioning of our democracy if not properly acknowledged and addressed. Information is now more important to world affairs than at any previous point in history, as a result of those advances in data driven technology. Information is now the world's most consequential and contested geopolitical resource. It is a growing source of state power, where we have seen undoubtable evidence that many of our adversaries are expending more time, energy and resources to build and utilise this capability.

There are a variety of reasons for which states conduct intelligence, however, the foremost of these being to increase understanding and knowledge. The timely acquisition of intelligence can improve the quality of decision-making by reducing ignorance of the situation faced and enabling actions or decisions to be optimised. In order to keep Australians safe from foreign adversaries, we must be able to effectively inhibit external actors' ability to collect intelligence on Australia and our communities. This is a national security priority. As the methodologies of intelligence collection develop and change with the rapidly evolving technologies, so must our national security laws. The Richardson review was conducted as a response to this changing threat landscape to ensure that the legislative framework that we have in place effectively addresses the threat at hand. The Richardson review's examination of the legislative framework underpinning the national intelligence community is the first and largest since the Hope royal commissions considered the Australian intelligence community in the 1970s and 1980s. I would like to thank Mr Richardson for the important work he did on this. He has been, over his career, one of Australia's best public servants. That is no mean feat, especially when you see the calibre of our current bureaucrats, including the Director-General of Security and the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs.

This bill makes a number of important changes to laws to implement reforms to the administration and oversight of organisations that have deductible gift recipient, or DGR, status, and it also delivers on the Morrison government's commitment to amend Australia's offshore banking unit regime to address concerns raised by the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices.

The bill is made up of two schedules. Schedule 1 amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to require non-government entities to seek endorsement as deductible gift recipients to be a charity registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, the ACNC, or operated by a registered charity. Ancillary funds and specifically listed entities will be exempt from this requirement. The requirement to be a charity already applies to the majority of the general DGR categories, and this measure will amend the special conditions applying to the remaining general DGR categories. The majority of the general DGR categories currently have a special condition requiring that the fund authority or institution be a registered charity or an Australian government agency or to be operated by a registered charity or an Australian government agency.

For the remaining 11 general DGR categories, these requirements do not need to be satisfied for the fund authority or institution to be entitled to DGR endorsement. These categories can include organisations on the Register of Environmental Organisations and the Register of Cultural Organisations. As charity registration is not a precondition for DGR endorsement for these categories, there can be inconsistent governance and reporting requirements for these DGRs. Making charity registration a precondition for DGR endorsement across the general DGR categories will improve the consistency of regulation, governance and oversight of DGRs whilst also reducing unnecessary compliance.

I rise to speak on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Titles Administration and Other Measures) Bill 2021 and the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment Bill 2021. The Australian offshore oil and gas industry is subject to some of the world's most stringent and rigorous environmental regulation. The industry is committed to adhering to these regulations and to operating in an environmentally safe manner. As I have worked with many energy companies across my career, both upstream and downstream, I have seen firsthand how hard those companies work to ensure that the environment is protected throughout their operations. The industry currently applies some of the most extensive environmental management strategies to ensure its operations are conducted safely and responsibly. It is clear that the industry works to the highest standards and has a long history of world-class responsible environmental management.

It is important to recognise that Australia's offshore oil and gas industry has supported Australia's energy security and economic activity for over 50 years. Our economy has benefited from the export earnings, investment and employment opportunities that it has delivered for Australians. In my home state of Victoria, there are 23 offshore platforms and installations in the Bass Strait. This includes the new Marlon B platform and the Kipper subsea wells, which feed a network of around 600 kilometres of underwater pipelines.

These projects will provide Australians and Victorians with good jobs and economic support for Australia for decades to come, just as the creation of natural gas production and distribution in Victoria in the late 1960s along with cheap electricity from coal in those basins made the state a manufacturing powerhouse. With the moratoriums that have been in place in Victoria over recent years, the state is being brought to its knees on energy supply, and we need to correct that. But we need to do it with proper environmental regulation. If we are to properly support our resources sector, we must have the right regulatory framework in place. This will allow the sector to operate efficiently and to the safest standards possible. Having the right regulatory framework in place also ensures that best practice is followed through the entire life cycle of a project. As Australia's offshore petroleum industry continues to mature, there will be an increased focus on management of mid- to late-life assets. This includes managing declining production while preparing to decommission offshore facilities, wells and pipelines. This is sensible foresight by the government to deal with normal and expected changes occurring in the industry. There are particular points of the life cycle of any industry when regulatory frameworks and practices need to adapt to the changing circumstances. As the times change, the conditions in which we operate change, and we must change with those changing conditions. For the offshore oil and gas industry, that time is now and, as a government, we are responding accordingly. We must be prepared to deal with the future challenges that we will face as this industry begins to mature to ensure that the taxpayer, the shareholders, the workers and the natural environment are protected. These are all important considerations which these bills will address.

No-one in this place would be surprised to know that we on the government benches believe that slavery in any form is an abhorrent practice that must be eliminated. No-one, no matter their race, age, sex, gender, nationality or ethnicity should be subject to having their basic freedoms being taken away from them. The Morrison government believes in freedom of the individual and the importance of this in a good society. The government does support the intent and acknowledges the importance of this issue in this bill, including the need for transparency and appropriate action in response to instances of modern slavery and human rights abuses.

However, the government does not support all aspects of the proposed Customs Amendment (Banning Goods Produced By Forced Labour) Bill 2021 and, instead, recommends that the departments continue working with domestic stakeholders and international counterparts to address modern slavery wherever it is identified and to collectively respond to reduce and eliminate its practice, including through a review of the Modern Slavery Act 2018. This act creates a robust transparency framework to drive business action and to identify and address modern slavery in global supply chains.

There is no doubt that business has a large job ahead of it. With 3,000 companies in Australia due to report, it is absolutely amazing the work that our companies are doing. There are an estimated 40 million men, women and children in modern slavery today and it can be found in almost every country in the world, according to the International Labour Organization and the Walk Free foundation, who I will come back to later. With increasing globalised trade, it affects almost every business through those interconnected supply chains. This is not just limited to one region; this is a whole-of-world problem, and the interconnectedness of those supply chains is an incredibly difficult thing to unwind and to get transparency of, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be doing it.

I thank the resources industry for the work they are doing in this space. Given the global nature of supply chains for minerals and resources companies, they are leading some of the best transparency work on this. I call out and thank Mr Andrew Forrest for the work he is doing, not only through his mining company but also through the Walk Free Foundation that he founded and funds, and the important work that they are doing in bringing transparency to supply chains, not just in the mining industry but right across the globe with their anti-slavery index.

The role of the Australian government is to ensure that all Australians are safe, secure and free from the threat of violence so that they are able to pursue their individual interests. It is the government's responsibility to ensure that our sovereign rights remain untainted by malicious actors and groups. Australia's current national terrorism threat level is listed as probable. This means that there is credible intelligence, assessed by our security agency, that indicates that individuals or groups have the intent and/or capability to conduct a terrorist attack in Australia. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that we live in a world where there are those who wish to take what we have and destroy what we have built.

We have world-class intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies who work day in and day out to protect us from these threats. These agencies are equipped with some of the brightest and most dedicated minds in Australia, using some of the most advanced technologies to fight these threats. To ensure Australians are safe, we must ensure that these agencies have correct legislative frameworks to ensure they can do their job effectively and help us ensure that all Australians are safe.

This is why the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Sunsetting Review and Other Measures) Bill 2021 is vital and must be passed without delay. To delay passing of this bill could threaten the lives of every Australian. This bill provides for the continuation of key counterterrorism powers that have helped since its enactment to protect the lives of Australians and our communities. In response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and its 2021 review of declared area provisions, the bill will extend the sunsetting of declared area provisions in the Criminal Code Act 1995 to 7 September 2024 and amend the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to provide for the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to review these provisions by 7 January 2024, ahead of their new sunsetting date. The declared areas offence forms an integral part of the Australian government's efforts to stop the flow of foreign fighters and also mitigates the risk that returning foreign fighters pose to Australians. The bill will also extend the 7 September 2021 sunsetting of AFP counterterrorism powers until 7 December 2022 and emergency stop, search and seizure powers in the Crimes Act 1914.

As my fellow senators—from this side of the chamber, at least—have already stated, the government will not be supporting this bill, no matter how well intentioned the senators from One Nation think they are being.

I thank Senator Pratt for raising the bureaucratic nightmare that we're seeing in my home state of Victoria—a bureaucratic nightmare that those on the other side seem to not only have a blind spot for but have turned a tin ear to as well.

I rise to speak on the Transport Security Amendment (Testing and Training) Bill 2019, which relates to the testing and training of Australia's aviation screening inspectors.

Before I go into the details of the bill, can I recognise this Government’s continued commitment to ensuring that Australian business can survive and thrive in these difficult times.

Can I recognise this Government’s continued commitment to participating in the international rules based order and our ongoing efforts to support the various international institutions that work within it.

I rise to speak on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Cross-Boundary Greenhouse Gas Titles and Other Measures) Bill 2019, and the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2019.

Thank you for the opportunity to make a few short comments on the tabling of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum’s Australia’s 2020 communique and report.

I rise today to speak in support of the Trade Support Loans Amendment (Improving Administration) Bill that supports Australia’s apprentices and the tradies of our future.

I rise today to speak in support of this Bill that supports Australia’s wine producers and the integrity of their product.