After holding hearings across the country and considering close to sixty written submissions, the Senate Select Committee into the Resilience of Energy Infrastructure in a Warming World concluded its inquiry on Friday. 

A lack of leadership from Government is hindering progress on pay equity, a Senate Inquiry heard today. The inquiry into gender segregation in the workplace and its impact on women's economic equality heard evidence from key unions and employer organisations including the Australian Council of Trade Unions, National Foundation for Australian Women, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Australian Services Union. 

If you were a woman working in Australia in the 1960s, you earned 25 percent less than a man. It wasn't just discrimination -- it was the law. A lot has changed since then. 

I wanted to make a few remarks about the report that was handed down yesterday by the Privileges Committee in the Senate. The report has found that in executing raids, during an election, in the offices of a sitting Senator, Senator Conroy, to recover documents in relation to the NBN, there was improper interference in the functions of the Parliament. 

Labor has called for a Senate inquiry into the fraught Community Development Program, with the support of the Greens. Communities across the Northern Territory and Western Australia have consistently told us that this system leaves people in more debt, without food to feed their families, in rental arrears and feeling hopeless, struggling with an infuriating bureaucratic reporting process. 

Last night, in the dead of night, at around midnight, the Senate passed a package of cuts that strips away almost two billion dollars from Australian families in the coming years. These are not families that can afford to have this money taken away from them. These are not well-off families. 

Eighteen months ago, Malcolm Turnbull took the Liberal leadership promising a more mature discussion on economic issues. We’re still waiting. After all this time, it is still not even clear who is responsible for housing affordability. 

Industry and expert witnesses lined up to slam the government’s inaction on energy policy at a hearing today of the Senate Select Committee into the Resilience of Energy Infrastructure in a Warming World. Danny Price, who advised the Prime Minister on energy when he was Opposition Leader, agreed with Senator McAllister that Australia’s energy crisis was caused by an “investment strike”.

Evidence heard at Senate Estimates this afternoon has revealed that critical sexual health prevention programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are being defunded by the Turnbull Government without any evaluation or consultation. 

Evidence heard at Senate Estimates this morning shows the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion continues to preside over a failing Indigenous Advancement Strategy which is not delivering for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.