Grants processes are chaotic under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government. Delay in grant announcements for emergency relief services are leaving community organisations with unanswered questions over funding leading into the critical Christmas - New Year period.

I really think that their big problem on the Liberal side is that they've got a bunch of policies that nobody likes. They've got a legacy of cutting services that people really care about like health and education over their last five years.

Labor is saddened by the most recent comments by the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits commissioner Gary Johns. The revelations have come last night in evidence before Senate Estimates where the Commissioner publicly confirmed he still holds troubling views about charities, welfare recipients and indigenous mothers.

The Coalition needs to get over its anxieties about the future. The market is really clear, renewables are the future and investing in renewables is the most effective long term way of bringing down prices for ordinary households.

First day of estimates, and what did we learn yesterday? Well, we’ve had confirmation this is a Government racked by chaos, beset by internal division, and completely out of touch.

Labor has moved to establish a Senate Inquiry to examine financial services that were excluded from the terms of reference of the Financial Services Royal Commission.

Labor is committed to tackling child poverty and putting Australia’s children first. A new report shows that 1 in 6 children are living in poverty, reinforcing the need for a concerted, sustained effort to tackle this issue.

Well, here we are, it’s our first day back in Canberra after a couple of weeks and, of course, it is the first day where Scott Morrison enters the Parliament as the Prime Minister. But it's a little bit like Groundhog Day because today, like almost every other day for the last five years, the Coalition presents to this place without any energy policy whatsoever.

Senator Jenny McAllister and Patrick Deegan today visited Jumbunna Pre-School and Early Intervention Centre and Baptist Church Community Preschool in Casino, New South Wales as part of National Child Protection week (2-8 September 2018). Labor recognises the importance of institutions like these in helping to raise happy and healthy children on the NSW North Coast. 

Tax officials informed a hearing of the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into the Tax Practices of For Profit Aged Care Providers that they had concerns about arrangements used by some in the sector. Such arrangements – including the use of profit shifting via related party transactions, and stapled structures – had been highlighted by a report by the Tax Justice Network in collaboration with the Australian Nurses and Midwives Association.