Speech what does it mean to be australian

The organisation strives to meet the demands of today while planning for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow. SPA supports all Australians with speech, language and communication disorders and swallowing difficulties, by guiding their profession to practise within an ethical and evidence-based framework while recognising the highest quality standards, the importance of professional development and embracing the latest research. SPA support the speech pathology workforce to remain dynamic and agile, and to have the capabilities and capacity to drive quality, innovation, and diversity, as enablers to achieve our vision.

We are also upgrading our recycling capabilities, creating jobs and reducing waste sent to landfill. Australia is playing its part on climate change, having met our commitments and on track to meet and beat our target.

Australia is on the pathway to net zero and our goal is to get there as soon as we possibly can, preferably by Already, we have the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world and are supporting major energy storage projects like Snowy 2. The Australian Defence Force continues to protect and uphold our national interests abroad and at home. Search Search Search. Delivered on 11 May on the second reading of the Appropriation Bill No. Introduction Mr Speaker, I move that this Bill now be read a second time.

Australia is coming back. Doctors and nurses on the front line. Teachers and students in the virtual classroom. Businesses, big and small, keeping the economy moving. A nation to be proud of. We have come so far since the height of the pandemic. This would have meant 2 million Australians unemployed. It would have been the equivalent of losing the agriculture, construction, and mining sectors. Speaker, today the reality is very different.

This is remarkable. Australia, just 2. On the health front, the catastrophic loss of life seen elsewhere was averted. Early and decisive actions saved lives and livelihoods. We closed our borders. The Prime Minister established the National Cabinet. JobKeeper kept 3. JobSeeker helped 1. All made possible because we entered this crisis from a position of economic strength. Economic Environment But Mr Speaker, it has come at a significant and unavoidable cost. This is low by international standards.

Consumer sentiment is at its highest in 11 years. Business conditions reached record highs. And more Australians are in work than ever before. Our plan is working. Since the last Budget, almost half a million jobs have been created.

A plan that creates more jobs. A plan that guarantees essential services. And a plan that builds a more resilient and secure Australia. It is a plan guided by our enduring values. Reward for effort. The power of aspiration and enterprise. Upholding personal responsibility. And always providing a helping hand to those who need it. This is what the Coalition stands for. Securing the recovery and creating jobs Mr. Australians have already received over 2. Tax relief Mr. We promised the largest ever set of investment incentives and we delivered.

We promised more jobs and we delivered. This was done without undermining the structural integrity of the budget. But, Mr. Speaker, this pandemic is not over. In Australia, freedom of opinion gives us the right to hold a belief without interference, exception or restriction.

We have the right to believe anything we want. We can believe the earth is flat or that alien cabals rule the world. Freedom of expression is more complicated though. We have the right to say what we want — to give our opinions, advertise, display art and protest — but within limits.

A useful analogy, understandable by most children, is that we have the right to drive freely on roads provided we observe limits on speed, places we can park, how we negotiate the roads with others and the amount of alcohol we have consumed. Simplistically, limits on what we say, where we say it and how we act are, therefore, like limits on the road, designed to optimise both our rights and public harmony.

In the case of the protesters, they are claiming and acting as if they have a right to not conform to restrictions put in place for the sake of public health and safety.

In other words, they are not acknowledging any limits. There are consequences to this, just as there are consequences to breaking road rules. Indeed some protesters have already tested positive for COVID , increasing the possibility of infection within the community. But what about when the free speech is done in a privately owned sphere that is available to the public — such as on a social media platform? We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.

You all know the history of struggle and dispossession. The question I pose is what is missing to rectify this? What does this say about our identity as a nation, and what more do we have to do to make up for over years of dispossession?

There have been some important steps — often too slow — but steps that frame the public policy context for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The referendum was critical. What is clear is that the policy context that defines how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are treated still needs to be modernized, and hence the importance of the Constitutional reform process. Public policy can only be set within the parameters of the legal framework for this country. We need to recalibrate that framework. We need to ensure that there is a requirement to be proactive about the right to equality for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, as there is for all members of the Australian community.

I have already outlined above the implications of the construct of the Constitution for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and the possibility for further recognition through Constitutional recognition. It is noteworthy that one of the first substantive acts of the new Commonwealth in was to pass the Immigration Restriction Act , which provided the framework for the White Australia policy, a policy that was not completely dismantled until Notwithstanding, the Australian Constitution has served us well in many respects and arguably has withstood the passage of time.

The provisions which addressed race were not of course specifically targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, as Australia was already deemed to be an unoccupied land, Terra Nullius, a fact of law and history that was not rectified until the Mabo decision of A process that I would encourage you to be aware of, and have input into. It is an opportunity to ensure that we have the best level of protection against discrimination — on all grounds — that is possible.

Public policy considerations do not always lend themselves to a rights perspective. We as a country have not always seen the benefits of enshrining protections of human rights. As Tim Costello has noted:.

In our pragmatic, democratic and evolving tradition, we understand two things, among others, that relate directly to how we see rights, argue about rights and put rights into practice. First, we know that a political or ethical proposition has to be argued for, not assumed.

And second, we realise that any instrument we form, legislative or institutional, will be subject to test, judgement and review. I think the unique perspective of public policy practitioners to this process is important, because what you see are the systems and trends, the organizational cultural impacts and the politics of the process.