Ms PRICE ( Durack ) ( 18:26 ): Our strategic environment today is the most dangerous it has been since World War II. We face a region where military expansion is accelerating, authoritarian regimes are testing the resolve of democracies and cyber and space are now as contested as land, sea and air. In that context, Australia's defence industry isn't just a source of jobs; it is indeed a cornerston

CHAIR ( Ms Chesters ): I declare open this public hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties for its inquiry into the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Partnership and Collaboration Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today and

Senator WHISH-WILSON: You mentioned lots of the challenges you're experiencing in the UK with disposal of nuclear waste as well as the submarines themselves. What do you do with decommissioned reactors and submarines? Do you have a plan? And how long have you been investigating this issue? Mr Deere-Jones : The UK plan really emerged as it became necessary to decommission the first class of nuclear

Senator WHISH-WILSON: One of the selling points of AUKUS in [inaudible] Australia has been that we can share your lived experience and expertise as a partner, as we would with the US. You're saying that, in terms of decommissioning these nuclear submarines and disposal of waste, if we were to ask you, 'How would we do it?' right now we would get, 'Don't ask us,' as a response—or would the UK gover

Ms CLUTTERHAM: Thank you, everyone, for being here today and providing that information to the committee. I just have a couple of questions for Friends of the Earth and then a couple for ACF. Firstly, Friends of the Earth, I can see in the information that we've been provided that you are making the point that the cost of AUKUS is astronomical, and I think it's described as a 'waste of resources'.

Mr ZAPPIA: I have several questions, but I'm simply going to ask two, and I would like very brief answers. You don't need to go into a lot of detail. Have there been any studies into the health effects of naval crews who have served on nuclear submarines? The second question is: has there ever been a nuclear submarine destroyed in battle, and, if so, what were the radiation effects, if any, as a r

Senator STEELE-JOHN ( Western Australia ) ( 11:34 ): People in our community are struggling with the cost of living. Families are being forced to choose between putting food on the table and the medicines that they need. They don't need half measures; they need real relief. The Greens will support Labor's bill to bring the cost of PBS medicines down from $31.60 to $25, because we know that it is i

Mr TAYLOR ( Hume ) ( 15:12 ): Authoritarian regimes around the globe are flexing their muscles. They are flexing their muscles. We saw it with Russia's attacks on Ukraine. We are seeing it with the unprecedented military build-up, driven by the Chinese Communist Party, to our north. We saw it with the attacks on Israel on 7 October by Hamas and we have seen it with the support that Iran and the IR

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 10:19 ): I rise on behalf of the Greens to oppose the Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill, which is—at least it was honestly referenced by the government—directly intended to spend the Australian public's money to build public houses for US troops under AUKUS. It is utterly astounding that this is the first public housing bill that's been brought forwa

Senator BARBARA POCOCK ( South Australia ) ( 11:26 ): I rise to speak to the Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025. This is the first major housing bill of the new parliament. Does it help aspiring homeowners to build their first home? Does it wind back the unfair tax handouts to wealthy property developers or fix the structural inequities in our housing market? Does it directly invest in

Ms PRICE ( Durack ) ( 10:29 ): I rise to speak on the Defence Housing Australia Amendment Bill 2025, legislation that the coalition supports not because it is perfect, not because it is sufficient but because it is necessary. It is necessary because the first operational test of AUKUS is fast approaching. Submarine crews from the United States and the United Kingdom are set to begin rotating throu

Senator FARUQI ( New South Wales — Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens ) ( 18:41 ): I rise on behalf of the Greens to welcome this long-awaited and overdue relief for student debtors, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, and to say, clearly and unapologetically: it never would have happened without the tireless pressure from the Greens and from the student mo

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 15:53 ): I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Senator Wong) to a question without notice I asked today relating to AUKUS. It was pretty remarkable that, once again, when questions were put squarely to the Albanese government about why they're doubling down on Donald Trump, why it doesn't matter how offen

Ms WATSON-BROWN ( Ryan ) ( 13:36 ): You get a coffee a week; fossil fuel corporations get almost $56 billion in subsidies. You get a coffee a week; property investors get $176 billion in tax handouts. You get a coffee a week; nuclear submarines get $375 billion over the next 10 years. You get a coffee a week; gas corporations get billions in tax exemptions, paying even less tax than previous years

Mr BOYCE ( Flynn ) ( 16:40 ): I rise to make a contribution in respect to the interim report into nuclear power generation in Australia, particularly from the point of view of my electorate of Flynn, in Central Queensland, where there has been a proposal to possibly build a nuclear facility at the Callide Power Station near Biloela. The whole energy debate is obviously front and centre. It is very

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 16:40 ): If the children and young people who come to visit this parliament to watch what happens only knew how their future was being sold here, they'd be horrified. In a world where the changed climate is likely to have the most significant impact on the lives of young people, the calculated destruction of a liveable future brings shame to every person in

Senator SHOEBRIDGE ( New South Wales ) ( 20:55 ): In this budget, the Albanese government has again completely failed refugees. The Labor Party went to the last election with a national platform saying that they would increase the humanitarian intake for Australia from 20,000 people who need refuge to 27,000 people. After three years, what do we see now in this latest budget? Another broken promis

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: But, of course, Minister, there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the Optimal Pathway was agreed, which was now some two years ago. Last year, the Biden administration—and it's a determination that has been continued by the Trump administration—made it clear that it intends to put nuclear-armed cruise missiles on its Virginia class submarines. Since that anno

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: Minister, obviously whether or not nuclear weapons are contained on Virginia class submarines is a matter for the United States, as the officials have made clear. As to whether or not we permit nuclear armed submarines into Australian ports, at least currently we're meant to have a sovereign capacity to refuse that. Will the Albanese government refuse the access to Australian p

Senator SHOEBRIDGE: You know that one of the challenges you face in getting any surplus Virginia class submarines is the fact that the US has made it clear that the priority for their industrial base and the priority for the increase of any production of nuclear submarines is actually going to go to the Columbia class submarines, which are vastly bigger and more complex submarines than the Virgini