03 February, 2012
Industry Minister Greg Combet refuses to discuss industry job losses – instead inflames Labor’s civil war on its leadership trying to save 1 job – Julia Gillard’s.
With over 1,000 jobs gone just in the last week alone at companies like Holden, Toyota, Westpac and Reckitt Benckiser (the make...
02 February, 2012
In the wake of stinging criticism of Australia’s industrial relations system and workplace culture from Toyota Australia President and Chief Executive, Max Yasuda, the newly installed Industry Minister Greg Combet simply chooses to bury his head in the sand rather than face up to some basic home tru...
02 February, 2012
While the Government beats its chest about car industry support, the Workplace Relations Minister exposes himself as utterly clueless about the billions of dollars of assistance Labor is providing.
On the ABC’s 7:30 program last night, Bill Shorten produced this astounding piece of a...
01 February, 2012
Julia Gillard’s words on the future of the car industry and business innovation at her so-called major speech today are hollow because they again lack credibility.
Ms Gillard raised the role of sovereign risk in current global instability, but neglected to mention her own broken promises t...
30 January, 2012
While the Government beats its chest about car industry support, the Assistant Treasurer exposes himself as utterly clueless about the billions of dollars of assistance Labor is providing.
On the ABC’s 7:30 program last night, Bill Shorten produced this astounding piece of accounting...
25 January, 2012
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry has declared that the carbon tax could not come at a worse time.
Greg Evans, Director of Economics and Industry Policy, ACCI said:
“Trade union leaders that are out there legitimately in support of the car industry should be te...
24 January, 2012
At a crucial time for manufacturing, with the announcement of 350 jobs being shed at Toyota Australia yesterday, the Industry Minister, Greg Combet, remains hidden away and mute leaving all of the heavy lifting to dumped cabinet minister and industry fringe dweller Kim Carr.
Mr Combet’s ide...
18 January, 2012
Unlike Labor the Coalition has never broken its promises to the car industry. It’s desperately hypocritical for Labor to feign concern about the Coalition’s car industry policy, given its own chaotic dealings and track record.
The following table displays a litany of Labor’s broken promises...
16 January, 2012
With Labor’s waste and mismanagement adding $100 million a day to Australia’s already massive net debt, it’s high time Julia Gillard started to take responsibility for the Government’s relentless spending rather than deflecting through veiled criticism of economic management in some European countri...
13 January, 2012
Cabinet discard Kim Carr’s latest outburst in the media today, calling on the Coalition to save blue collar jobs in the motor vehicle industry, is the height of hypocrisy given Labor’s nearly $2 billion in broken promises to that industry.
It was only a year ago that Labor made savage cuts ...
14 December, 2011
New Innovation Minister Greg Combet is trumpeting improvements in productivity and competitiveness now that his empire was been expanded - despite his disastrous history with industry.
Leopards don’t change their spots. Imprinted on our minds should be Mr Combet’s history including hi...
12 December, 2011
Julia Gillard confirmed today she has learnt nothing from the backlash against her toxic carbon tax with her appointment of Greg Combet as a de facto Industry Minister amid an extraordinary downgrading of the importance of manufacturing and industry policy.
As well as dumping the bel...
12 December, 2011
Four tortured years of backflips, broken promises and incoherent policies finally caught up with Kim Carr today – but his sacking as cabinet Minister is clearly being used to mask Julia Gillard’s own bungling of the innovation, industry, science and research portfolio.
Mr Carr’...
07 December, 2011
Mike Devereux, President of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, today reaffirmed that the carbon tax is a heavy and unfair cost that will be imposed on local manufacturers yet competing imports will be exempt.
Speaking at the National Press Club, Mr Devereux in answer to a media q...
01 December, 2011
Australian manufacturing has recorded yet another month of decline, while Labor indulges in yet another review and defers any policy decisions for a least a further six months.
The Australian Industry Group – PricewaterhouseCoopers Performance of Manufacturing Performance Index (PMI) data f...
30 November, 2011
Industry Minister Kim Carr needs to explain why he has been rolled again, after the embarrassing revelation that the Government has set aside a total of just $800,000 for its main steel industry compensation package in the first two years of the carbon tax.
MYEFO documents show that ...
30 November, 2011
Labor started with an industry policy document in 2007 which suggested improving “dialogue”, “discussions” and a “forum” supported by “councils”, a “partnership” and a “review”. Four years later Julia Gillard has announced today that it’s time to do some more talking.
After taking two month...
29 November, 2011
Despite an alarming decline in the number of Australian tertiary student enrolments in science and mathematics, the Gillard Government has arrogantly rammed through HECS increases which will only add to lower student demand for these critical disciplines.
Today’s changes represent yet more ...
28 November, 2011
The Christmas holiday break can’t come soon enough for a clearly uninspired Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor, who has again tied himself in a series of knots today on anti-dumping.
In a bid to revive a faltering scare campaign, Mr O’Connor used a National Press Club address to spread ye...
23 November, 2011
Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor and Trade Minister Craig Emerson should apologise to Tony Abbott and the Coalition for their bleating about our anti-dumping policy after their stunning own goal in the Parliament today.
Labor falsely claimed that our proposed use of preliminary affirm...
21 November, 2011
The CFMEU is seeking to bring the Labor policy on anti-dumping closer to the Coalition plan and rebuffs claims by Brendan O’Connor, Minister for Home Affairs, and Craig Emerson, Minister for Trade, that the Coalition plan would be in violation of WTO agreements.
In media reports today, Mich...
07 November, 2011
The Coalition today released its plan to provide Australia with a vigorous and fair dinkum anti-dumping regime.
But, as usual, Trade Minister Craig Emerson and Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor are not interested in good policy, even when the Coalition’s position is not only fully sanctioned b...
02 November, 2011
Labor’s demonisation of the mining industry’s use of research and development (R&D) tax incentives shows the depths to which its arguments for a mining tax have sunk.
A media report today indicates ‘government sources’ and Treasurer Wayne Swan are now trying to cite miners’ increasing u...
02 November, 2011
Labor has today been delivered a chilling warning by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC): alter course on industry and regulatory policy or risk decimating the country’s largest manufacturing sector.
Amid a range of ominous trends and forecasts, the AFGC’s 2020: Industry at a Cross...
01 November, 2011
Julia Gillard may be trying to sideline her Industry Minister Kim Carr, but Labor’s tale of woe on manufacturing policy continues.
For the seventh time in eight months, the latest AiG-PwC Performance of Manufacturing Index has revealed yet another decline in Australian manufacturing activity. ...
21 October, 2011
PRESS RELEASE
OUTWORKER LEGISLATION HOBBLES FAMILY CLOTHING BUSINESSES
Melbourne Oct 21 - Peak body for the Textile Clothing and Footwear (TCF) sector, the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA) met with Victorian clothing manufacturers today to discuss issues...
19 October, 2011
Science Minister Kim Carr has suffered another humiliation this morning – with his own Chief Scientist indicating his displeasure with the Government’s abolition of Australia’s main international science program.
At a Senate Estimates hearing this morning, Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb said...
19 October, 2011
At the Senate Economics Legislation Committee today the Deputy Chief Executive, CSIRO Operations, Mr Mike Whelan disclosed that the CSIRO was recruited by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency to help with the Government’s carbon tax advertising campaign. As a result Dr Alex Wonhas*...
11 October, 2011
Under the Steel Transformation plan Labor has abandoned the majority of firms in Australia’s steel industry with all of the proposed carbon tax assistance set to go exclusively to the two largest domestic steel manufacturers.
This is despite the Prime Minister being on record as saying on 1...
10 October, 2011
Labor MPs can’t get their story straight on key details of the Steel Transformation Plan as they desperately try to sell the compensation package to the Australian public which is overwhelmingly opposed to carbon tax.
The Steel Transformation Plan Bill 2011 (the Bill) introduced to the Hous...
06 October, 2011
Julia Gillard’s embarrassing indifference to Australian manufacturing has been exposed yet again as her one-day jobs talkfest descended into farce today – with the belated establishment of a taskforce.
If Labor’s actions on past reviews are anything to go by, they will consume the ti...
05 October, 2011
Nissan Australia is the latest in a long line of companies that has spoken out about the devastating impact the carbon tax will have on Australian manufacturing.
Today, Nissan officially opened its Accessories Business Unit manufacturing facility at Dandenong, Victoria. Nissan is committed ...
05 October, 2011
I extend my warmest congratulations to Australian Astrophysicist Professor Brian Schmidt for last night being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Professor Schmidt has added to Australia’s rich contribution to the global scientific community becoming the 11th Australian Nobel Prize winner ...
03 October, 2011
Another chapter in Labor’s story of industry policy chaos has been written today with the release of new figures pointing to another record-breaking contraction in Australian manufacturing activity.
Today’s AiG-PwC Performance of Manufacturing Index data for the month of September shows a sixth d...
20 September, 2011
Reports from Afghanistan that Australian Diggers are clothed in foreign made apparel which is falling apart at the seams has exposed the Government’s shambolic process of defence procurement.
An American company was awarded a $7.8m contract for the IP rights to their garment design and also...
20 September, 2011
The Prime Minister has announced plans for tax reform to help struggling manufacturers yet can’t see the obvious reform required – axe the carbon tax.
Addressing the Ai Group’s annual dinner the Prime Minister said:
“When the tax system hinders investment in a struggling business o...
19 September, 2011
A further 30,700 manufacturing jobs have been lost during the last quarter as Labor substitutes a pointless talkfest for effective policy, and persists with a carbon tax that will dramatically reduce industry competitiveness.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly labor force statist...
14 September, 2011
The Coalition has launched an in-depth review of ‘Industries for Australia’s Future’ while Labor has announced a one day talkfest as a substitute for a real probe into stakeholder views and concerns.
The Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Tony Abbott MP, during his speech to the Com...
08 September, 2011
Australia’s sliding innovation rankings in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (WEF GCI) present another worrying omen about where Senator Kim Carr, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, is taking this country.
Senator Carr finally acknowledged tha...
01 September, 2011
Labor’s impotence and incompetence on manufacturing policy has plunged to a new low, following the release today of statistics pointing to another decline in the sector.
The Australian Industry Group - PricewaterhouseCoopers Performance of Manufacturers Index for the month of August has revealed th...
30 August, 2011
Paralysed Industry Minister Kim Carr does not want the scrutiny of a review which would embarrass him over his lack of stewardship, support of a carbon tax and a litany of other policy failures.
Labor is paralysed like a rabbit in the spotlight and pathetically can’t even hold an inquiry in...
29 August, 2011
Julia Gillard had yet another meeting today with key unions and an industry group searching for solutions to Australia’s unfolding manufacturing crisis which predictably ended with no outcome.
Dave Oliver, head of the AMWU and Paul Howes, head of the AWU, today joined Heather Ridout, Chief ...
25 August, 2011
In international law a ship of war must fly its colours at the commencement of a hostile act. Such was the vim and vigour of the then Shadow Industry Minister, Kim Carr in 2007. On 13 September 2007 Senator Carr said:
“Labor understands that complacency is not an option. That is why Labor s...
24 August, 2011
Industry Minister, Kim Carr promised on Monday that the Government would be making a big announcement later in the week to bolster Australia’s flailing manufacturing sector. Whilst addressing the press at Parliament House with the Prime Minister and Treasurer at his side, Senator Carr said:
...
22 August, 2011
Today’s announcement by BlueScope of 1,000 steel workers jobs to be axed adds to the stockpile of misery of more than 105,000 manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the past 3 years.
At a time of predictions for even more misery in the manufacturing sector as companies enter financial ...
18 August, 2011
Labor backbenchers were conned by carbon tax rhetoric from their party room – a fact they soon discovered when they faced their own constituents who told them that the tax was not going to fly in manufacturing intensive electorates.
Media outlets have reported that about 20 Labor MPs...
01 August, 2011
Whilst the Gillard Government commits all of its resources to selling its toxic and unwanted carbon tax, Australian manufacturing businesses are closing their doors.
The Australian Industry Group (AIG) – PricewaterhouseCoopers Performance of Manufacturing Performance Index (PMI) data for Ju...
25 July, 2011
Truck transport workers and truck owner-drivers all around Australia have joined the chorus that the Gillard Government is incompetent and unworthy of office, as the “detested class of ruthless, robotic machine men” of the Labor Party continue their carbon tax carnage.
The National Secretar...
20 July, 2011
Whilst faceless Australian Workers Union (AWU) boss Paul Howes shows he has no spine and has joined the throng of Labor lobotomised zombies, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) has publicly rejected the Gillard Government’s carbon tax.
Dean Mighell, the Victorian State Secretary of the ETU, ...
19 July, 2011
The National Secretary of the Australian Workers Union (AWU), Paul Howes, has finally endorsed Labor’s carbon tax.
Mr Howes previously vowed to oppose the carbon tax if it cost a single worker’s job.
Julia Gillard has refused to give any guarantee that jobs will not be lost as a re...
11 July, 2011
The Chief Executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), Andrew McKellar, said Australian manufacturers are “bleeding from the eyes” and things are going to get much worse under the Gillard Government’s carbon tax.
Today the Treasurer couldn’t say how a carbon tax would a...
08 July, 2011
Left-wing activist group Get Up attacks democracy and free speech with its threats of an aggressive campaign to boycott more than 100 Australian food and grocery companies.
Get Up has adopted its Labor-Green mates’ intimidation tactics and is now demanding Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC...
07 July, 2011
Today’s announcement of the closure of Cement Australia’s manufacturing facility at Kandos follows closures of smaller manufacturers who faced increased costs and government regulation.
The Coalition has repeatedly warned that this Government’s policies will push manufacturers over the edge...
05 July, 2011
The Prime Minister is showing how desperate she is by playing childish games and avoiding any scrutiny through not revealing any details about the carbon tax.
The very tricky words about placing a carbon tax on petrol are exactly that.
The oil prospector will be subject to the car...
01 July, 2011
In refusing to stand up for manufacturing businesses and local jobs by opposing the carbon tax, the inevitable has happened. Australian industries have joined forces to fill the vacuum left by sleeping Labor MPs as manufacturing businesses are being torn apart by anxieties surrounding the Gillard Go...
30 June, 2011
Poppets school wear factory at Fairy Meadow in the Illawarra went into administration yesterday.
According to owner Elizabeth Kingston, tough trading conditions and cheap imports from China flooding the Australian market sounded the death knell for the company.
The Illawarra is now...
27 June, 2011
Car manufacturers are fed up with the Gillard Government’s incompetence, deception and hostility, and are now being forced offshore.
In the latest damage caused to Australia’s car sector by the Government’s atrocious policies, Holden CEO Mike Devereux has warn...
22 June, 2011
Labor has spent three years fumbling on anti-dumping, and its long-awaited response today is a typically damp Gillard Government squib.
Home Affairs and Trade Ministers Brendan O’Connor and Craig Emerson have thumbed their nose in testy fashion not only at Australian manufacturers – b...
17 June, 2011
Whilst Labor and the Greens can’t agree on the details of a toxic carbon tax, lost manufacturing jobs have hit a new record high of 105,000 since the start of 2008.
A total of 18,700 Australian manufacturing workers have lost their jobs just since February 2011 alone which is when Prime Min...
17 June, 2011
Labor Member for Throsby Stephen Jones sells out 4,500 workers employed at BlueScope’s Port Kembla steelworks and a further 7,500 workers in steel related industries in the region.
Mr Jones is defying the unions and local workers. He says that the steel industry should be exposed to the car...
16 June, 2011
If the Prime Minister refuses to promise that no job will be lost under the carbon tax, she must come clean on how many jobs will be lost.
Labor backbencher Stephen Jones, the Member for Throsby, has spilled the beans when he said:
“It was unrealistic to expect that not one job wil...
15 June, 2011
Confirmation that Labor and the Greens will team up to pass retrograde changes to R&D tax incentive rules is another slap in the face for Australian manufacturers and miners.
It is also a damaging omen about the wheeling and dealing clearly already underway in preparation for a Green-c...
14 June, 2011
Australian food and grocery manufacturing companies confirm costs will significantly rise under the proposed Gillard Government carbon tax.
This supports the Coalition position that the carbon tax is a toxic tariff on Australian manufacturing.
Coca Cola Amatil Group General Manager, Terry Davis, w...
09 June, 2011
A shadow has been cast over recent reports that scientists received death threats over the carbon tax debate.
Some scientists appear not to have been totally honest about such threats, as it was revealed today that two scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) allegedly received death ...
01 June, 2011
Embattled Innovation Minister Kim Carr has been caught asleep at the wheel again – allowing Australian textile companies to be locked out of tendering for the design of Australia’s next generation of combat uniform fabric and garments.
Shock evidence at this week’s Senate Estimates hear...
31 May, 2011
Innovation Minister Kim Carr told an Estimates hearing last night he would wait until the Greens assumed the balance of power in the Senate before debating a Bill he used to insist was time-critical.
“The matter will be brought on for debate in the new Senate … (when it’s likely) to attract majorit...
30 May, 2011
Today at Senate Estimates, Industry Minister Kim Carr said, “we will see something in the range of 46% of compensation for industry under a carbon tax”.
Later he denied the statement. When his own words were quoted back to him, he desperately tried to change the question and said “I don’t want to a...
30 May, 2011
Just months after it was revealed that the Prime Minister Gillard never even met her then Chief Scientist, a Senate Estimates hearing was told today that the CSIRO hasn’t ever been asked to analyse the different market mechanisms for pricing carbon.
CSIRO’s Chief Executive, Dr Megan Clark, informed...
26 May, 2011
Congratulations to all the recipients of the Endeavour Awards celebrating innovation in manufacturing.
Quickstep Holdings Limited was named Manufacturer of the Year.
Other winners included Integra Systems, Hoshizaki Lancer PTY LTD, Seeley International, Quickstep Holdings, Australian paper Maryval...
25 May, 2011
Australian companies that have excelled in developing new manufacturing technology or instigated new practices that have given their firm a competitive edge will be rewarded at tonight’s Endeavour Awards, the national manufacturing awards.
Meanwhile the Labor Government has slashed funding to com...
24 May, 2011
The Prime Minister needs to nominate a ceiling price for her carbon tax.
How high will she go?
Starting at $20 or $30 per tonne? Going on to $60 or $100?
What does Ms Gillard think is too much for Australian manufacturers to bear before they are forced to close up shop?
When asked how she propos...
23 May, 2011
This week is National Manufacturing Week and what do all the following companies have in common? They all say that a go-it-alone carbon tax is bad for Australia. All these manufacturers and supply chain operators have spoken out against this manufacturing-destroying tax:
BlueScope Steel
O...
20 May, 2011
Julia Gillard doesn’t even understand the ramifications of her own carbon tax.
Her extraordinary comment yesterday that the tax won’t have a single impact on food manufacturing companies like Sanitarium is, at best, ignorant.
Ms Gillard needs to seek an urgent briefing from the Australian Fo...
19 May, 2011
Kim Carr has been caught out today, still spruiking the merits of a fund Prime Minister Gillard cut from his portfolio in January.
In a media release today, the Minister states that the Green Car Innovation Fund is “an integral element of the Australian Government’s bold New Car Plan for a Greener ...
18 May, 2011
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and the Federation of Automotive Products Manufacturers all agreed yesterday that the carbon tax will deeply hurt car manufacturing in Australia.
Now even the Federal Secretary of the AMWU Vehicle Division, Ia...
17 May, 2011
A $40 per tonne price on CO2 would be like clearfelling Australian industry, according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).
ACCI’s Greg Evans told the Senate Select Committee in Canberra today said that the tax would “be like clearfelling the Australian business community”.
A...
17 May, 2011
More secrets are out: Julia Gillard’s carbon tax threatens to wipe more than $100 million annually away from Australia’s car industry.
Revelations today that new confidential modelling for the Government advocates the introduction of a carbon price of at least $40 per tonne mean that the damage on ...
13 May, 2011
Today the car industry has sent a clear message that the Gillard carbon tax will kill car jobs.
Modelling from PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that the impact could reach $84 million annually. Australian car makers now join a ballooning list of industries who have condemned the carbon tax as economic ...
11 May, 2011
People who have purchased cars under salary sacrificing arrangements and who travel long distances as a matter of course to get to and from work will be penalised by the Government’s changes to the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) rate applied to cars.
Under the new conditions, announced in last ...
11 May, 2011
Another day, another example of Innovation Minister Kim Carr’s dizzying contradictions on innovation, industry and science policies.
A Minister who once said that Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) were “a pillar of the Australian innovation system” has now ripped yet another hole in the budget fo...
09 May, 2011
Labor’s automotive industry policy remains a mess and as chaotic as ever after its latest Budget leak – that it will introduce Cash for Clunkers Mark II.
Its consideration of an instant writeoff for small businesses for car purchases needs to be greeted with enormous suspicion by Australian taxpaye...
19 April, 2011
Today’s announcement of the appointment of a new Chief Scientist is welcome news.
“I congratulate Ian Chubb on his appointment as Chief Scientist,” Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science Sophie Mirabella said today.
“After three disastrous years of science policy neglect, this is a c...
18 April, 2011
Today’s revelations by Australian food manufacturers nail another of the Government’s carbon tax cons. Under Labor’s carbon tax, more food will be imported and less produced in Australia.
Food and grocery manufacturing is Australia’s largest manufacturing sector. It is worth more than $102 billion ...
15 April, 2011
Paul Howes, AWU secretary, has been shaken out of his carbon con trance. His members and the Coalition have been telling him for months that the steel industry and supporting industry jobs will be exported under a carbon tax.
Until now, Mr Howes had joined former union boss Greg Combet in protectin...
14 April, 2011
Kim Carr claimed last month that the Government would look after industries affected by a carbon tax, and develop a ‘’balanced package’’ to save manufacturing jobs. These were empty words to appease anxious industries and workers.
But Greg Combet has stymied Carr’s claims by detailing that over 50%...
30 March, 2011
Ms Gillard is prepared to put 6,000 Mackay manufacturing jobs on the line as a result of the carbon tax, all to save one job, her own job.
Today Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science, Sophie Mirabella, will be speaking with affected Mackay businesses with Federal Member for Dawson, G...
24 March, 2011
Julia Gillard’s carbon tax cave-in is another dagger through the heart of Australia’s manufacturers.
Her new tax will inevitably subject Australian industry to extra costs that are not faced by our overseas competitors.
Our manufacturers are already facing enormous challenges in remaining internat...
23 March, 2011
Today, thousands of Australians descended upon the lawns of Parliament House to make their voices heard. The protestors who disagree with the Government’s tax plans were ridiculed by the Government.
The Government is trying to bully those who disagree with them into silence.
The Australian people ...
22 March, 2011
Today at the Press Club, the Chair of BlueScope Steel, Graeme Kraehe, slammed the Government’s selective spin on the effect of the carbon tax on manufacturing in Australia.He said “nothing is more certain to condemn us to a rusting museum than the destructive carbon agenda currently being pursued.”H...
22 March, 2011
The Australian Manufacturing Worker’s Union last night launched the single weakest advertising campaign in the history of the trade union movement.
The ad features a softly spoken man saying that Australia manufactures a range of products, that manufacturers need government investment and that uni...
17 March, 2011
If Julia Gillard thinks that sending steelworks offshore and retraining some steel workers to maintain solar plants is going to improve either the environment or jobs in Australia, she continues to be deluded.
At the end of the last sitting period in the Parliament in response to a question regardi...
11 March, 2011
It is not only Prime Minister Gillard who is at loggerheads with Mr Rudd. There is also a big conflict brewing between two cabinet colleagues over the carbon tax. Who would you be pinning your hopes on winning: Minister Emerson, the Government’s chief attacker or Minister Carr, the beleaguered Indus...
09 March, 2011
It has been 13 days since Prime Minister Gillard forced the carbon tax on Australia but Industry Minister Kim Carr is silent and nowhere to be seen.
Manufacturers and other businesses are waiting for Mr Carr to justify another cost to running a business in Australia.
There was a time when Mr Carr ...
08 March, 2011
26.3% of employees in manufacturing (261,000) are women and a whopping 56.6% of employees in retail (707,000) are women. 11% of board members are women but raising board participation will do nothing for women if the much greater numbers already engaged in the industries lower down the remuneration ...
04 March, 2011
Australia’s scientists continue to be ignored by the Gillard Government.
A key union has now backed the Coalition’s criticism of the Government’s approach to science, with the CSIRO Staff Association launching a withering attack today.
CSIRO Staff Association President Michael Borgas has bee...
02 March, 2011
Under the Government’s proposed carbon tax the cost of production will rise: everything from transport, fuel, electricity, refrigeration and lighting to operating machines will cost more.
Much of manufacturing is operating on thin margins and cannot absorb another cost increase. Locally manufacture...
23 February, 2011
After turning up late to his own Estimates hearing today, Kim Carr flew into a rage about shadow minister Sophie Mirabella wanting to record the proceedings of the day.
It is the role of the Opposition to scrutinise the work of Government and therefore it would be logical to be able to have a recor...
23 February, 2011
In Senate Estimates today, Chief Scientist Penny Sackett confirmed that she has never met with or been asked to meet with Prime Minister Gillard.
We now know it was the fake Julia when she claimed an interest in science. Instead she has an arrogant disregard for the Office of the Chief Scientist.
...
18 February, 2011
Minister Carr repeatedly denied that his R&D bill, tax credit would slash government support for business R&D in Australia. Today’s report in the Financial Review confirms he has been blatantly misleading industry.
Carr has always clamed that his proposed new research and development tax in...
01 February, 2011
Figures out today pointing to another decline in Australian manufacturing show Industry Minister Kim Carr is struggling again. This minister has been slapped down in recent cuts to his portfolio, and today we see more job josses in manufacturing. Australian Industry Group – PWC Australian Performanc...
27 January, 2011
Today Julia Gillard has abandoned amongst other programs, the ridiculous Cash for Clunkers scheme which like so many of her schemes was a failure from the start.
The Coalition welcomes the Government’s move to divert the $429 million from this scheme to post-flood rebuilding.
The car buy...
27 January, 2011
Julia Gillard has today acknowledged what the Coalition has been saying for three years about Industry Minister Kim Carr’s spending addiction. st century," clearly the Prime Minister disagrees with her minister.
In axing a series of his industry programs today, Ms Gillard has effectively c...
25 January, 2011
The lights have come on for Minister Carr. Late yesterday afternoon he announced a "Food Processing Industry Strategy Group". The food and grocery industry has been lobbying for years for such a group.
It is great that the minister has adopted Coalition policy to get a group like this to l...
25 January, 2011
Australia Day is a time to celebrate our nation’s achievements and a time to reflect on the values that we cherish.
It is a time to celebrate our national heroes and to cherish the things that continue to make Australia the lucky country.
Recent floods may have devastated parts of our nat...
21 January, 2011
Cash for clunkers should be scrapped and the money should be put towards rebuilding after the floods.
Instead of resorting to slugging another tax on Australians, Julia Gillard should begin paying for rebuilding in Queensland and Victoria by scrapping her ridiculous Cash for Clunkers progr...
18 January, 2011
Kim Carr is not only a political Neanderthal, he confuses billions with millions. Not content with hopelessly managing his own portfolio, he has now extended this incompetence to Stephen Conroy’s portfolio. In announcing yesterday the NBN Co’s equipment contracts he managed to get billions mixed up ...
19 December, 2010
Another week passes, and still the paralysing uncertainty continues for Australian business over the fate of proposed research and development (R&D) tax changes.
For well over a year, Innovation Minister Kim Carr has arrogantly ignored feedback on his plans to change the R&D regime.
He ha...
14 December, 2010
Labor‟s Cash for Clunkers election promise is under fire yet again – this time from its own Industry Department, confirming „Pink Batts on Wheels‟ is a disaster waiting to happen.
The Government has already been forced to defer the start date by six months.
But, as reported today, the Department ...
14 December, 2010
Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change Mark Dreyfus has added his name to the swelling list of Labor frontbenchers who don’t have a clue about their party’s Cash for Clunkers policy.
While being questioned today about revelations from the Department of Industry about the unravell...
02 December, 2010
2 December 2010
Statistics confirming another contraction in Australian manufacturing provide the Gillard Government with even more reasons to abandon its plans to cripple research and development (R&D) investment in the sector.
The November version of the monthly Australian Ind...
25 November, 2010
25 November 2010
Innovation Minister Kim Carr must stop impersonating a broken record and stop the spin on the research and development (R&D) changes he wants to force on to Australian businesses.
Mr Carr has this afternoon chosen to use a Ministerial media release to (again) accu...
25 November, 2010
25 November 2010
Innovation Minister Kim Carr has double-crossed Australian industry again this week by failing to allow the Senate to vote on his proposed changes to research and development (R&D) tax arrangements.
For the third time in five months, Mr Carr has been spooked by the pos...
22 November, 2010
22 November 2010
The Coalition today offered the Federal Parliament a way out of a protracted quagmire on changes to business research and development (R&D) tax incentives – but Labor again refused to listen.
In the House of Representatives, the Government voted against a series...
16 November, 2010
16 November 2010
Labor’s Cash for Clunkers program was supposed to be all about carbon abatement – but Climate Change Minister Greg Combet doesn’t have a clue how much these reduced emissions will cost.
This is another humiliating revelation in the saga of Labor’s attempts to introduce (an...
16 November, 2010
Monday November 15th
Julia Gillard is at odds again with her own Industry Minister on the fate of the Government’s Cash for Clunkers election policy howler.
In Question Time today, Ms Gillard distanced herself from Kim Carr’s refusal last week to guarantee that the Government’s car buyback...
10 November, 2010
10 November 2010
‘Dismal’, ‘disembodied’ and ‘hostile’
Kim Carr’s credibility as a Minister in the Gillard Government is in tatters after his premier expert on innovation launched a withering critique of his record in the portfolio.
Terry Cutler (who Mr Carr handpicked in 2008 ...
06 November, 2010
Only two months into its term, and Cash for Clunkers has officially joined the Gillard Government's bulging list of broken election promises.
Reports today confirm one of the Government’s worst kept secrets. It has no idea how to deliver its so-called Cleaner Car Rebate Scheme, and has broken it...
29 October, 2010
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has some serious explaining to do.
It appears the Government has tried to expunge embarrassing comments from Hansard.
This is after it emerged today that the documentary record of Wednesday’s House of Representatives Question Time has been altere...
28 October, 2010
28 October 2010
CARR DITHERS ON R&D
Innovation Minister Kim Carr has lost his nerve again on making changes to Australia’s research and development (R&D) tax incentive system.
In a baffling retreat, Mr Carr has removed his infamous Tax Laws Amendment (Resea...
27 October, 2010
27 October 2010
GARRETT STALLS AND CRASHES ON ‘CASH FOR CLUNKERS’
Senior Labor Ministers don’t even know the name of their own unravelling ‘cleaner car’ scheme, or when it will start or end.
In a humiliating display in Question Time today, Minister Peter Garrett –...
13 October, 2010
Wednesday October 13th
Another week, another set of extraordinary contradictions from Labor on industry policy.
Julia Gillard’s audacious claim yesterday that her Government isn’t interested in “throw(ing) cash at those who lose from reform” directly conflicts with L...
08 October, 2010
Friday October 8th
The Federal Opposition has renewed its calls for Labor to dump its much-derided Cash for Clunkers scheme.
Following yesterday’s first meeting of her Electricity Tax Committee, an indignant Julia Gillard is stubbornly clinging on to the $394 million program.
But Ms Gill...
04 October, 2010
At best there is a split within the Labor Party and, at worst, it is hypocritical when it talks about protectionism.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson‟s comments yesterday that it was wrong for governments to use a green cloak of respectability to hide their old protectionist instincts are precisely the...
01 October, 2010
Friday October 1st
Federal Member for Indi, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry & Science SOPHIE MIRABELLA and Tasmanian Liberal Senator Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK - joint Media Release
The Labor Party is asleep at the...
01 October, 2010
Friday October 1st
Today’s findings in the Australian Industry Group - PricewaterhouseCoopers Performance of Manufacturers Index
indicate that Australian manufacturing remains under considerable pressure – which is not surprising because this Labor Government lacks any vision for the sector’s fut...
27 September, 2010
Labor should immediately scrap its plans to cut incentives to research and development (R&D) activity in Australia. It has been reported today that industry groups and tax advisers are urging a rethink from the Government as it stubbornly prepares this week to re-introduce legislation that has attra...
23 September, 2010
During the election campaign,Julia Gillard touted Cash for clunkers as a solution to the problem of climate change.More than a month after the poll, there's conspicuous silence in Labour ranks about the fate of the much pilloried scheme.Industry Minister,Kim Carr, whose enthusiasm at the prospect of...
23 September, 2010
Industry Minister Kim Carr’s confirmation today that he intends to implement proposed new research and development (R&D) tax laws with retrospective effect is a devastating blow for Australian industry. Even in the face of widespread condemnation, Mr Carr attempted – and failed – earlier this year ...
21 September, 2010
Yesterday’s extraordinary attack by Industry Minister Kim Carr on all sides of politics has left Australian industry and innovators scratching their heads about his second-term agenda. In a speech to Universities Australia in Melbourne, Mr Carr lashed out at critics of Labor’s dismal first term in ...
13 September, 2010
Universities are rightly worried about the lack of focus on higher education in Labor’s new Ministry, but the Opposition fears this is only one of many bad omens for the innovation portfolio. The portfolio (which was previously titled Innovation, Industry, Science and Research) no longer has a Parl...
01 June, 2010
Another day, another broken promise from the Rudd Government – this time over the funding of a science and innovation initiative.
At a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday, Industry Minister Kim Carr begrudgingly accepted that Labor has completely neglected its commitment to fund a group of so-...
01 June, 2010
Under pressure in Senate Estimates questioning, Industry Minister Kim Carr has condemned those who criticise the Government’s proposed research and development tax changes as “losers” and “stuffed pigs”.
Shadow Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Minister, Sophie Mirabella, said Senato...
09 April, 2010
The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, attended an important defence industry meeting at Bruck Textiles in Wangaratta today. The meeting focused on the important role that defence related businesses have in maintaining and developing and indigenous manufacturing capability.
“Defence man...
04 March, 2010
Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, said that scientific integrity at the CSIRO has taken a back seat to the political game playing of the Rudd Government.
“In a clear abuse of the scientific process, the Minister for Science, Kim Carr, today contin...
01 March, 2010
Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research said today that details of the draft national science curriculum represent a step back for science education.
“Political correctness has taken hold of the science curriculum, with Chinese traditional...
26 February, 2010
Negative publicity across several industries criticising the Government’s proposed changes to research and development have unsettled the sensitive Rudd Labor Government.
After ignoring submissions on proposed R & D changes last year Treasury has now been forced to backflip and say “the...
12 February, 2010
This week the Minister for Defence Science, Materiel and Personnel, Greg Combet, backfliped on his Government’s secret plan to buy combat fabric from China. The Minister’s claim that the Chinese supply was just an “option”, contradicts Defence confirmation of the contract and the Indi Labor ca...
11 February, 2010
Over 7000 users of the Governments current research and development tax concession will be surprised to discover the Government labels them as rorters.
The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, wants to restrict the scheme because he says it is subject to bogus claims and...
10 February, 2010
The Minster for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, Greg Combet, has indicated that only today he overturned a decision to buy Chinese made camouflage fabrics for the Australian Defence Force.
It was revealed in Senate Estimates today that this Chinese tender was 10% cheaper than the Bruck t...
19 January, 2010
In his speech last night Mr Rudd said Australia needs to lift its productivity to meet the future challenges of an aging population. He is asking Australians to work harder. Australians have always been hard workers but to work hard they must have a job.
The automotive ind...
26 November, 2009
My decision to offer my resignation from the Shadow Ministry is one I did not take lightly. I am compelled to do so because I cannot support Labor’s ETS.
It is with a heavy heart that I will cross the floor for the first time in my parliamentary career. This will be a vote against Labor’s ETS, not ...
06 November, 2009
One year on from the collapse of ABC Learning, Australia’s childcare industry faces an even more uncertain future courtesy of the Rudd Government’s proposed “quality” changes that will impact massively on the cost of childcare, Shadow Minister for Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“This ...
05 November, 2009
Federal and State Labor are taking the central coast for granted and their “arrogance and disregard is breathtaking” Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth Sophie Mirabella said today, as the future of the Gosford Cubbyhouse Childcare Centre remains in jeopardy.
&...
29 October, 2009
While parents want quality childcare, any changes to quality standards must be affordable and must deliver real and positive outcomes for the whole of the childcare sector, Shadow Minister for Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today following the launch of Early Childhood Australia’s “Hands up for Qua...
26 October, 2009
24 October-1 November 2009 is National Children’s Week and I wholeheartedly agree with the underlying principle of the week which is to celebrate the right of children to enjoy their childhood, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
&#...
22 October, 2009
The Rudd Government was clearly “all talk and no action” when it came to addressing the needs of young Australians, Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
Mrs Mirabella said the “State of Australia’s Young People” Report, released today, highlighted some of the challen...
02 October, 2009
The concerns expressed by local Bundaberg Childcare operators this week regarding the failure of some parents to pay their fees despite claiming the Government rebate had been raised with the Rudd Government back in May by Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella,...
02 October, 2009
The concerns expressed by local Bundaberg Childcare operators this week regarding the failure of some parents to pay their fees despite claiming the Government rebate had been raised with the Rudd Government back in May by Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella,...
16 September, 2009
The Rudd Government’s policies are reducing the choices for Australian women while they try to political point-score on women’s issues, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The reality is that Labor is all talk and symbolism on women’s issu...
10 September, 2009
Thousands of families could lose vital childcare as a result of the Rudd Government’s problem-ridden school stimulus program, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“There are grave concerns that many outside school-hours care programs and vac...
01 September, 2009
An Independent Economic Analysis has found that the Rudd Labor Government’s childcare shake-up will add significantly more to the cost of childcare than parents are being told, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The consultation process i...
31 August, 2009
Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Status of Women, has welcomed the announcement that 2010 will be designated ‘Year of the Girl Guide’.
“I welcome the Government’s announcement that Guiding be honoured in this manner. In fact, I called on the Government to make this decision in Novembe...
20 August, 2009
The Rudd Labor Government’s childcare shake-up has the potential to add even more to the cost of childcare than parents are being told, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The consultation process is fundamentally flawed because parents an...
17 August, 2009
Statements made by Kate Ellis, Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare and Youth today have just confirmed to Australian parents that Labor’s promises are not worth the paper they are written on, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said toda...
13 August, 2009
The Rudd Labor Government’s childcare and early learning agenda has been seriously undermined by the Department’s own research about what parents want in childcare, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
Reforms won’t deliver what parents want...
12 August, 2009
Dear Kevin
Today on International Youth Day I am sure you will be contemplating the contributions of many young people to the Dear Kevin book – a “collection of young people's letters, stories and artwork that expresses what young Australians are thankful for, what they hope for, and what the...
31 July, 2009
Australian parents, especially men, are taking advantage of flexible workplace arrangements and conditions in order to care for their children according to a new Report form the ABS, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“43% ...
05 July, 2009
The Rudd Government stands condemned for treating parents with contempt with yet another round of public consultation that won’t stop childcare costs spiralling under recommendations approved by COAG, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Th...
19 June, 2009
Tapping into the wealth of knowledge, experience and common sense the women of Australia possess is the key to ensuring practical policies that benefit the nation, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
On the eve of a “Women in Politics” Conference in Melbourne, the Coalition...
10 June, 2009
Labor’s new Early Childhood Education & Childcare Minister Kate Ellis has admitted that Labor’s pre-election promises on A-E reporting of childcare standards and universal preschool for all 4 year-olds would not be delivered, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mir...
04 June, 2009
Sophie Mirabella MP, supports the Royal College of Obstetrician’s view that the government’s Medicare Safety Net changes will diminish women’s health choices.
In the 2009-10 Federal Budget, the Government announced measures to cap fees for certain services under the Safety Net from 1 January, 2010....
03 June, 2009
The Rudd Government’s election promise of “universal access” to preschool was in tatters following the revelation in Senate estimates that the Rudd Government would rely on the various State and Territory Governments to ensure parents could afford preschool fees, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood ...
28 May, 2009
The Rudd Government has no excuse to continue covering-up information on childcare vacancies, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella told Federal Parliament today.
“The collapse of ABC Learning has raised all sorts of demand and supply issues within the chil...
28 May, 2009
Close to $40 million wasted on stimulus payments to the dead and those living overseas could have been used to almost double funding for the new National Action Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women & Children, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“It is shameful that close to...
22 May, 2009
The Rudd Government’s “nanny state” universal approach to early childhood and childcare is undermining the confidence of parents and they should refocus their efforts on “at risk” children, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education & Childcare Sophie Mirabella told the National Family Daycar...
13 May, 2009
Australian families pleased about the Government’s plans for Paid Parental leave should not hold their breath on the delivery of such a scheme, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella warned today.
“Essentially Paid Parental leave has now become just another “election promise”, with the Rudd Gov...
13 May, 2009
The Rudd Labor Government’s reckless spending and mounting debt will be “an albatross around the neck of young Australians”, Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The huge and unprecedented burden of debt left to our children in this Budget is disgraceful. And it will be today’s t...
13 May, 2009
A close look at the Budget bottom line reveals the extent of the Rudd Government’s betrayal of Australian women, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Australian women have a personal understanding of how to balance a budget – it’s a challenge they face every day. They will be dee...
11 May, 2009
Julia Gillard’s promise on the sale of an ABC Centre in her own electorate has proved to be worthless – leaving local families in the lurch, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“This is just the latest in a long line of childcare bungles and brok...
08 May, 2009
With the full implementation of the Child Care Management System(CCMS), the Rudd Government now has no excuse to continue covering-up information on childcare vacancies, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Maxine McKew has issued a press release...
29 April, 2009
The Coalition welcomes the Government’s release today of the “Time for Action” report of the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and Children but the Rudd Government has not invested enough in addressing the problem, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Y...
21 April, 2009
The Rudd Government has now spent a month hiding Time For Action, the Report of the National Council to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children to avoid public debate, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“This is a disgrace. The ...
17 April, 2009
The Rudd Government has spent 7 weeks hiding the Productivity Commission’s final report on Paid Parental leave to avoid public debate, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“This is a disgrace. The Government received the Report in Fe...
15 April, 2009
The Rudd Government should now stop hiding behind failed ABC Learning and reveal their own Childcare plans following the announcement today that 87% of ABC2 Group Centres would remain open, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“I am glad that the ...
14 April, 2009
“Australian parents and early learning childhood teachers should be concerned about the Rudd Government’s bizarre attempt to foist political correctness on the youngest of all Australians, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today.
“If the Government...
02 April, 2009
The Rudd Labor Government’s amended National Early Learning Framework was described as “still academic gobbledegook” by Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today.
The original Framework has failed, but the latest version isn’t much better. It just do...
01 April, 2009
Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella MP has joined in the celebrations for National Youth Week 2009, the theme for which this year is “Make a Move”.
“National Youth Week, which runs from 28 March to 5 April, is a positive initiative aimed at highlighting the great contribution that so many y...
31 March, 2009
Reports that the Rudd Government is planning cuts to childcare and family payments in the upcoming budget are shameful and would represent the ultimate betrayal of working families, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The Rudd Government was ele...
30 March, 2009
The Rudd Government must explain to cash-strapped parents exactly who will pay for proposed changes to childcare regulations, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The Rudd Government was elected on the promise that they would reduce costs and imp...
25 March, 2009
The Federal Government will provide close to $1 million in funding for Childcare services around Australia – but Victorian families have been left out, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The Long Day Care Capital Funding program is meant to boo...
18 March, 2009
The Federal Government must lift the veil of secrecy and reveal the facts behind the delayed sale of the 241 ABC Learning Centres, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
Mrs Mirabella said that the Government’s Childcare Taskforce Chairman Michael M...
13 March, 2009
The Federal Government must lift the veil of secrecy and reveal the facts behind the delayed sale of the 241 ABC Learning Centres, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The Minister has today agreed to the Court-appointed Receiver’s (PPB) request ...
11 March, 2009
“It is incumbent on the Rudd Labor Government to formulate and release it’s Violence against Women’s policy after 16 months of in-action,” Federal Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella MP said today.
“Looking at the big issues that directly affect women, such as, prevention of violence against...
06 March, 2009
As Australians celebrate International Women’s Day this Sunday, the Rudd Government has failed to deliver on key commitments to women after more than 16 months in office, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“As with many of Labor’s election commitments, the promises Kevin Rudd an...
26 February, 2009
A growing number of bidders for 241 ABC Centres have pulled out at the final-offer stage which closed yesterday, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
Mrs Mirabella said there had been strong interest at the non-binding offer stage, but this has “a...
24 February, 2009
Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella MP today vowed that the Opposition would oppose Labor’s legislation to introduce a $250 compulsory tax slug on Australian University students, which was introduced by the Rudd Government this month.
“The Liberal Party’s policy has always been to oppose com...
11 February, 2009
Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella today vowed that the Opposition would closely scrutinise the details of Labor’s legislation to introduce a $250 charge on University students, which was introduced in the Parliament today.
“As a starting point, our policy is to oppose compulsory fees on st...
22 January, 2009
The Federal Shadow Minister for Women, Sophie Mirabella MP has labelled comments from Melbourne Muslim Cleric Abu Hamza as “utterly unacceptable in the 21st Century”.
Abu Hamza is reported in his lecture, The Keys to a Successful Marriage, to have mocked Australia’s criminal laws and stated that th...
20 January, 2009
The Federal Government’s response to concerns about the transfer of licenses for the 249 ABC learning Centres still in doubt has been described as “shallow and totally lacking in leadership” by the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella.
“Minister Gillard’s res...
14 January, 2009
Please click here for blog
Crucial to the future of the childcare industry is not the collapse of ABC Learning per se, but how the demise of the market giant has exposed gaping holes in both Labor's childcare plans and a widening ideological chasm between sectors of the childcare industry.
The Gov...
14 January, 2009
Thousands of families could lose their local Childcare Centre in a licensing bungle over closing ABC Centres which the Government should have anticipated, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Minister Gillard famously said that many of the ABC Ce...
19 December, 2008
Minister Gillard’s failure to manage the ABC Learning crisis has resulted in hundreds of families being left in the lurch just six day before Christmas, Shadow Minister for Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“We now have 14 Centres that have not appeared on any ABC Learning list the Receivers h...
18 December, 2008
Australian parents and early learning childhood teachers should be concerned about the Rudd Government’s Early Years Learning Framework (Draft.) This is a bizarre attempt to foist political correctness on the youngest of all Australians, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare So...
15 December, 2008
As more questions continue to arise about the future of the 241 ABC Learning Centres deemed “unviable”, the Government has a duty to ensure that the Expression of Interest process is transparent and fair, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“The ...
12 December, 2008
Individuals and organisations that have already registered an expression of interest in an ABC childcare centre and received no response will be stunned that a whole new process will now be started by new court appointed ABC Receivers, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Soph...
11 December, 2008
The Government has continued to ignore childcare operators interested in some of the ABC centres which are either unviable or set to close creating undue distress amongst affected parents, children and staff, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today....
10 December, 2008
Taxpayers are being forced to foot an extra $34 million bill as a result of the Rudd Government’s mishandling of the ABC Learning crisis, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Due to their own mismanagement and failure to act and engage other indu...
09 December, 2008
Nearly half of all eligible families had not received the Government’s promised quarterly payment of the 50% child care rebate that was due in October, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today.
“The revelation that only 365,000 of the 600,000 eligib...
08 December, 2008
The Government’s continued “hands off” approach to the ABC learning situation has left many parents confused and many questions unanswered, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today.
“The announcement by the Receivers last week that they are working ...
05 December, 2008
“The statement today by the Receivers of ABC Learning has been welcomed by the Opposition but still leaves many questions unanswered,” Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today.
Does this mean that some of the 386 centres which are “subject to ...
02 December, 2008
The Rudd Government has been slammed as “irresponsible” for not revealing important national data on childcare vacancy rates, as the industry struggles to deal with the current ABC Learning crisis.
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said the release of n...
01 December, 2008
The childcare industry is “flying blind” on child care demand and vacancy levels and Minister Gillard should urgently reveal the figures to help inform the way the industry deals with the ABC Learning crisis, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella MP said today
...
27 November, 2008
The Hon Bob Baldwin MP
Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Personnel and Assisting Shadow Minister for Defence
Mrs Sophie Mirabella MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth
The Shadow Minister for Defence Science, Personnel and Shadow Minister for Child...
25 November, 2008
White Ribbon Day was an opportunity for all sectors of the Australian community to commit to eliminating the incidence of violence against women, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“It’s a shocking fact that between 40 and 57% of Australian women will experience sexual or physic...
24 November, 2008
On the anniversary of the election of the Rudd Government, Australian women have a healthy scepticism about Labor’s economic management, with today’s Newspoll finding 64% of women would be concerned about a budget deficit, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Australian women kno...
24 November, 2008
Today marks the anniversary of the election of the Rudd Labor Government and young Australians around the country have the right to feel totally neglected and let down by Kevin Rudd and his Government who have delivered nothing but a new compulsory student fee at university, Shadow Minister for Yout...
21 November, 2008
Kevin Rudd’s decision to reject the request by Girl Guides Australia to make 2010 the Year of the Girl Guide, to mark the movement’s centenary anniversary, is a strange way to encourage young women to take part in activities which will help build their self esteem and confidence, Shadow Minister for...
19 November, 2008
The Rudd Government must move quickly to reassure Australian parents and childcare industry workers that it has a long-term plan to ensure the future of childcare, following the collapse of CFK Child Care Centres in NSW, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella sa...
18 November, 2008
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare Sophie Mirabella today supported calls by the Municipal Association of Victoria for the Federal Government to step up its efforts to ensure parents aren’t left in the lurch by ABC Learning Centres closing on December 31.
“The local Council...
17 November, 2008
A new study finding 1 in 3 teenage boys think it’s “no big deal to hit a girl” is evidence that the “Violence Against Women: Australia says No” campaign should have been maintained by the Rudd Government, Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Women & Youth said today.
“There has now been a 1...
14 November, 2008
While the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education, Employment, Workplace Relations and Social Inclusion says there is little the Government can do at the moment about ABC Learning, there is something she may be doing now to assist Defence Force families who have become entangled in the ABC ...
12 November, 2008
Once again in Question Time today, the Deputy Prime Minister, continued to show her complete lack of understanding for the crisis facing thousands of parents and children embroiled in the ABC Learning collapse, Sophie Mirabella, Shadow Minister for Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth sai...
12 November, 2008
Julia Gillard should be slamming her ALP colleagues in NSW over their decision to slug childcare centres with a new licence fee, Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare said today.
“At a time of crisis in the child care industry, Ms Gillard’s Labor colleague...
12 November, 2008
With 400 ABC Learning Centres labelled “unprofitable”, the Rudd Government is planing to build new Childcare Centres within a 5 km radius of 113 ABC Learning Centres, Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare revealed today.
“The Rudd Government is currently b...
11 November, 2008
The Government’s lack of a clear contingency plan for the future of ABC Childcare Centres could mean the further decline of the financial situation before the Government announces their long-term plan in December, Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare said ...
10 November, 2008
Minister Gillard’s decision to launch a personal political attack during Question Time was a sad attempt to deflect attention away from the Government’s failure to outline a clear contingency plan for Australian families attending ABC Childcare Centres, Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Early...
07 November, 2008
“She rode into Parliament as the woman who toppled a Prime Minister in his own seat. She was lauded as a new great talent of the Australian Labor Party but has anyone heard recently from Maxine McKew? Isn’t she part of the so-called “education revolution?” Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Educati...
07 November, 2008
Whilst the Coalition welcomes the belated bailout of ABC Learning Centres, there is still no certainty for parents post-Christmas, Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare said today.
“The attempt by the Minister for Education Julia Gillard to deflect blame f...
06 November, 2008
“The demise of ABC Learning today, the largest childcare provider in the country, is a devastating blow to thousands of parents, the 100,000 children who attend ABC Centres and the 12,000 employees of the company who make up a quarter of the country’s childcare workforce,” Sophie Mirabella, Shadow M...
06 November, 2008
The Rudd Government’s response to the looming disaster in the child care industry in Australia following the appointment of administrators to oversee ABC Learning’s operations is severely lacking, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth, Sophie Mirabella, said today...
05 November, 2008
The Rudd Government must move quickly to reassure Australian families who rely on ABC Learning, as the Board considers calling in administrators, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education & Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“Reports today that the Board of ABC Learning are considering ...
03 November, 2008
Shadow Minister for Youth, Mrs Sophie Mirabella MP has today labelled the Rudd Government’s re-establishment of a compulsory fee of $250 per student at universities as “a major blow to young students in Australia.”
“Minister for Youth Kate Ellis’s announcement today of a compulsory $250 fee for uni...
29 October, 2008
Indigenous Women living in remote communities are clearly benefiting from the Intervention measures and the progress must continue, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“I am very pleased that the measures taken last year by the Coalition Government are having a real impact and he...
29 October, 2008
The Government must ensure that information on the rights and equality of women remains part of the Citizenship Test, Shadow Minister for Women Sophie Mirabella said today.
“A basic building block for preventing a culture of violence against women is to ensure that there is respect for and recognit...
24 October, 2008
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare, Sophie Mirabella has today slammed Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard for the appalling incompetence over the Rudd Government’s so called contingency plans for ABC Learning Centres.
“The Minister for Education Julia Gillard has made...
23 October, 2008
The Report by the Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests of the inquiry into the exchange between the Member for Robertson, Ms Belinda Neal MP and Mrs Sophie Mirabella MP, Member for Indi on 29 May 2008 was tabled today in the House of Representatives.
Whilst the Committee “is constrained b...
23 October, 2008
Sophie Mirabella MP, the Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education and Childcare, has called on the Rudd Government to announce its contingency plans for ABC Learning Centres.
“The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard said today that she is ‘working on contingency plans’ should ABC Learning’s ...
21 October, 2008
Australian children, particularly indigenous children, will be left behind if the Rudd Government continues its approach of setting arbitrary targets and creating “reviews and inquiries”, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women & Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“I wel...
20 October, 2008
Shadow Minister for Youth, Mrs Sophie Mirabella has called for decisive and coherent action from the Rudd Government when it comes to supporting and promoting the aspirations and concerns of Young Australians.
“The Rudd Government is devoid of any real energy or leadership when it comes to the chal...
20 October, 2008
Governments at all levels need to redouble their efforts to provide support services, advice and practical programs to help parents with young children, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women & Youth Sophie Mirabella said today.
“This week, being National Children’s Wee...
14 October, 2008
The Rudd Government should be closely monitoring the financial security of ABC Learning Centres to provide certainty for the many thousands of Australian families who rely on the childcare provider, Shadow Minister for Childcare Sophie Mirabella said today.
“ABC Learning, a publicly listed company,...
14 October, 2008
Mrs Sophie Mirabella MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education, Childcare, Women and Youth
Senator Richard Colbeck
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Joint Media Release.
Tomorrow is World Rural Women’s Day – and an opportunity for Australia to ref...
02 October, 2008
Shadow Minister for Youth Sophie Mirabella today wished young Australians attending the National Youth Forum launch in Adelaide an enjoyable and worthwhile experience.
Labor’s Australian Youth Forum (AYF) was today launched by Minister for Youth the Hon. Kate Ellis and Jamie Briggs MP, Federal Memb...