Today is International Childhood Cancer Day.As a brain cancer patient, advocate and Cure Brain Cancer Ambassador, today serves as an opportunity for me to remind people that brain cancer kills more Australian children than any other disease.This tragic fact motivates me to fight for a greater investment and effort in improving brain cancer survival.
My Talking Point article in yesterday’s Mercury argued that the Morrison Government could, and should, be doing more to help the thousands of Australians stranded overseas.
Quarantine is a Federal responsibility, yet instead of showing leadership Scott Morrison and the Liberals are handballing it to the states and territories.
The Senate has just passed my motion calling on the Morrison Government to stop dragging their feet and to get on with the job of fixing charity fundraising law.
Each year that goes by without the harmonisation of Australian fundraising laws it costs charities and not-for-profits $15 million to comply with a myriad of state and territory laws and registration schemes. That’s $15 million, generously given by Australians to feed and shelter the homeless, to help people recover from natural disasters, to protect the environment and to promote animal welfare going down the drain.
Continue readingToday is the launch of the Still Six Lives campaign.
This campaign is aimed at raising awareness of stillbirth, reducing the stigma associated with it, and arming parents with the knowledge they need to take measures to reduce the risk.
Sadly, Australia’s rate of stillbirth has remained at around six per day for the past 20 years. Still, Six Lives is part of a 10-year national action plan aimed at turning this around.
Helping deliver the campaign is the Australian Government, Stillbirth Foundation Australia, Red Nose Australia, Sands Australia and the Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth.
Please support this campaign by sharing this video and other Still Six Lives materials available at http://preventstillbirth.org.au.
50 countries have now ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which comes into force today.
Continue readingThe Morrison Government’s latest announcement on charity fundraising reform is welcome news but still cold comfort to Australian charities and not-for-profits doing it tough through the pandemic.While PM Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Assistant Minister for Charities Zed Seselja are popping the champagne corks, Australian charities face yet another year with the red-tape nightmare of having to comply with seven different sets of state and territory regulations if they want to raise funds online or across the country.Another year of delay is estimated to cost Australian charities $15 million in unnecessary compliance costs—that’s money generously donated by Australians going down the drain.As my colleague Shadow Assistant Minister for Charities, Andrew Leigh MP, has said:”The shame of watching the charity sector tangled up in unnecessary red tape while trying to support Australians through natural disasters and a national health crisis has finally forced the Coalition to acknowledge it has a responsibility to lead on this issue.”The Morrison Government has the power to fix this problem, and Australia’s charities should not be forced to wait any longer.”
I am shocked but, sadly, not surprised that, during the debate on the cashless debit card legislation, Senator Pauline Hanson would make such an ill-informed suggestion that child sexual abuse is only perpetrated by people on drugs and alcohol. Being elected to the Senate is an extraordinary privilege as well as an enormous responsibility. It is incumbent on senators to ensure that our public statements, including those made in the chamber, and the decisions we make are carefully considered and not driven by ignorance and personal prejudice. Senator Hanson’s comments have the potential to spread ignorance and could be hurtful and potentially harmful to survivors of child sexual abuse. She would be well advised to reflect on her remarks and the impact they may have.
Jocelyn, a Disability Pensioner in Ceduna, wrote in an online article about the stigma of being on the cashless debit card without needing to be:
“Imagine going out for a coffee with friends and having to use the card. Imagine buying the local paper… and having to use the card. Imagine not having cash for something you really love on the local buy/sell/exchange. Imagine trying to sell some items to get cash to survive. Imagine every time you pull the card out that you are labelled as a loser. Imagine pulling out a card that doesn’t always work! Even if you have a dollar balance on the card, it refuses you at the checkout, with people waiting behind you in the queue at the local supermarket. Imagine going to the chemist and the card will not work for your prescriptions. All of this has happened to me, and others, many times.”
Jocelyn – powertopersuade.org.au
As I outlined in my speech on the Government’s bill to make the CDC rollout permanent, there is no evidence that compulsory income management works in tackling drug, alcohol and gambling addiction. For many people like Jocelyn who are forced onto the card with no history of addiction, it creates a sense of stigma and shame, and takes away their financial autonomy.
Sadly, the Government’s bill was passed by the Senate. Labor will continue to urge the Morrison Government to accept the evidence, stop wasting taxpayers’ money on compulsory income management and abandon it in favour of interventions that are proven to work.
Five food delivery riders have been killed on Australian roads recently in the course of their work. Because they are regarded as ‘independent contractors’ they are working in unsafe conditions for low pay, and when they die at work their families have no access to workers’ compensation.
Delivery riders should be engaged as employees’ with full rights to award rates of pay, safe working conditions and compensation if they get killed or seriously injured in the course of their employment.
This is an absolute outrage and the Morrison Government needs to fix it
Transport Workers Union – TWU
Transport Workers Union, Victorian/Tasmanian Branch – TWUVicTas
I was pleased to co-sponsor Jenny McAllister‘s motion, which passed the Senate today, calling on the Morrison Government to adopt Labor’s policy of 10 days’ paid domestic violence leave.
Domestic violence leave helps workers escaping family and domestic violence – the majority of whom are women – to find accommodation, access support services, attend court and make any other arrangements to rebuild their lives. It would greatly increase the success of family and domestic violence victims in escaping from violent and abusive relationships.
Senator Catryna Bilyk 
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