Ms WATSON-BROWN ( Ryan ) ( 19:30 ): It's almost a year that Brisbane residents have had to wait for the government response to the Senate inquiry into flight noise that the Greens secured back in 2024. Almost a year we've waited for the government response, and there's not much to show for it. Only four of 21 recommendations were supported, with no meaningful action for residents actually affected

Mr ZAPPIA: Dr Coyne, thank you for your presentation. I'm sorry I missed your opening remarks, because I was out, but I caught the tail end of them. They sort of linked in with the answer you gave just a moment ago as to how so many different people in Defence seem to go in different directions and have different views about what ought to be done and what shouldn't be done. You used a good example

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 19:16 ): I move: That the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulations 2025 be referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 26 March 2026. This motion refers the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulations 2025 to a Senate committee for much-needed inquiry, review and report. The Australian Na

CHAIR ( Senator O'Neill ): I open this public hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade defence subcommittee in relation to its inquiry into the Department of Defence annual report 2023-24. This hearing will be broadcast on the parliament's website, and the proof and official transcripts of proceedings will be published on the committee's website. I now welcome

Senator WHITEAKER: Can you explain what you mean by that. Mr Stewart : Yes. The Defence precinct decision has not been fully made—that whole footprint at the moment. We are working very closely with the Commonwealth and the local industries to see what we can create as a temporary shipbuilding yard to allow us to build LCH. That's not ideal. That's certainly not what we'd hoped when we started on

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 11:24 ): I endorse that contribution from my colleague, Senator Pocock. It is hard to comprehend why this special rule is being rolled out only in relation to the Fair Work Amendment (Right to Work from Home) Bill. I'd urge the Senate to also endorse the position put by Senator Pocock. I also rise to speak to the referral of the Customs Tariff Amendment (Ge

Mr McCORMACK ( Riverina ) ( 11:46 ): I very much appreciate that, member for Gellibrand. Much of the member's contribution I earnestly agree with, particularly the need for this sort of joint committee on defence. This is why this Defence Amendment Bill is so important. The proposal implements longstanding bipartisan support for Defence oversight. This particular committee was first proposed by th

Ms PRICE ( Durack ) ( 12:17 ): I rise to speak on the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence) Bill 2025. This is an important piece of legislation. It seeks to entrench parliamentary oversight of defence through a new joint committee, a structure that, if implemented with discipline and respect for convention, can strengthen accountability, transparency and public confidence i

Senator HODGINS-MAY ( Victoria ) ( 17:35 ): AUKUS is set to rob Australians of $368 billion by the time it delivers—or, more likely, doesn't deliver. That's equivalent to over $13,000 taken from every Australian alive today—money that will go straight into the pockets of the US and UK weapons manufacturers. For what? Not a single guarantee that Australia will ever have full control of these submar

Senator STEELE-JOHN ( Western Australia ) ( 13:54 ): Over the past six months, we have seen a violent shift in the United States, a shift that should worry every single one of us—armed troops occupying cities like Los Angeles, Washington DC and Chicago, and citizens detained without trial and deported to foreign prisons. The President of the United States is weaponising the justice system and puni

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 16:29 ): I move: (1) That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on AUKUS be established to inquire into the AUKUS agreement and its implications for Australia's environment, safety and independence, with particular reference to: (a) the advice and analysis provided to the government before and following the AUKUS agreement; (b) the implica

Senator WATERS ( Queensland — Leader of the Australian Greens ) ( 18:36 ): I move: That the Senate take note of the report. Forty-six women were killed by violence in 2024. That's up from 34 in the previous year. Over the weekend, the numbers for 2025 so far rose to 39, with the murder of Rhukaya Lake by her partner. More than 40,000 sexual assaults were reported to police last year, the highest o

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 19:16 ): I move: That the following matter be referred to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report by 1 June 2026: The AUKUS agreement and its implications for Australia's environment, safety and independence, with particular reference to: (a) the advice and analysis provided to the Government before and following t

Mr HASTIE ( Canning ) ( 18:22 ): We all bring personal experience to this place. I want to start back in April 2013, when a parliamentary delegation visited Tarin Kowt in Afghanistan, where I was deployed at the time. I remember interacting very briefly with the parliamentarians who were sent over there, including the former member for Longman, Wyatt Roy. It struck me that, whilst we had good inte

Mr McCORMACK ( Riverina ) ( 12:31 ): The member for Hasluck has moved a private member's motion acknowledging the government is going to make available an initial $12 billion towards the Henderson defence precinct to deliver continuous naval shipbuilding and an AUKUS presence in Western Australia—thank you, former coalition government; thank you, former member for Cook Scott Morrison. In the motio

Senator HENDERSON: No, in terms of the civil prohibition on the uranium industry in this country. Senator Farrell: We're about to start producing nuclear submarines. I wouldn't have thought that represented a civil ban.

Senator CASH: The Minister for Defence has also said that he anticipates Henderson will be available for the maintenance of US and UK submarines as Henderson won't be ready for maintenance of nuclear submarines until at least the 2030s. US and UK submarines taking part in Submarine Rotational Force-West from 2027 won't have such access. Have the US or the UK raised this issue with Defence as part

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: One of the reasons I ask is, in the US, the head of the Pacific command, in a speech, indicated that they expected up to almost 10 per cent of the US nuclear submarine workforce—by that, I mean deployed on nuclear submarines—would come from Australia as a result of the AUKUS arrangement. I wondered where we were on that arc. Vice Adm. Hammond : At present there are more than 50

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: Is it your understanding that the numbers are on track to meet what the US Pacific command indicated—that roughly 10 per cent of the personnel on US Attack class nuclear submarines will come from Australia as part of the AUKUS arrangement? Vice Adm. Hammond : That's not an aim point for us. We are generating a trained force of nuclear qualified submariners in order to animate t

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: However it's described—but the total number of Australians in the ADF who are overseas who are exchanged with, assigned to, embedded in, training with and seconded to the United States military. You say it'd be in the hundreds. Do we know how many of those are deployed at the moment on US nuclear submarines? I think the term often used there is 'embedded', but it could be 'exch