Legislation
Legislative Council, Thursday 10 April 2025
Ms FORREST - With any legislation I ask, what is this a problem that we need to fix? It is already illegal to carry such a dangerous item in a public place. It seems that the fact that it is illegal has not been an adequate deterrent. We have seen from the police, in the trial they did under the current legislative provisions, where there were 213 searches with wands conducted. There were 54 seizures from 213 searches, where 42 of those were knives.
It is not just deaths that occur from knives, it is terrible woundings. When I was doorknocking in my electorate in 2023, I knocked on one door in Burnie and one in Somerset, I did knock on more than two, and two of the people that I doorknocked were people who had been working in the emergency department the day the doctor was stabbed there.
Legislative Council, Thursday 13 March 2025
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - I do not intend to speak at length on this bill. I echo the minister's comments on this. Family violence is an absolute scourge on our society. As we know, the majority of victims are women, often with young children. These women often find themselves in very precarious situations, living a life of fear. Many of them have to live in hiding. Sadly, I know that I see a number of these women and their children living in remote areas of my electorate - hiding. It is a tragedy that women have to live this way. It is a terrible situation. They are financially disadvantaged and challenged in every aspect; the perpetrators hold all the power.
Legislative Council, Thursday 28 November 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - While I have been listening to other members, I have cut my speech right back you are pleased to hear. This legislation has sparked significant debate across various sectors in Tasmania. There has been strong opposition voiced by community groups, individual local government, mayors and GMs, LGAT and the Tasmanian Planning Commission itself, which all play pivotal roles in our planning framework and have a deep and enduring interest in what is built and where it is built in our state.
I, myself and most of these parties, including LGAT, are not opposed to the overall principle. I want to make that point. The government argues the bill introduces necessary reforms that could reduce politicisation and increase efficiency in handling development applications. That is a matter that could be debated. Well, we are debating it, but I am not going to go into the detail of the bill because that would be for a later time if we get there.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 27 November 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, this bill is one of three planning bills that are being rushed through the parliament in the last part of the year to fix problems that have been identified through a variety of processes. This takes me back to the years when the Labor Party was in power and we used to have an unholy rush at the end of the year to ram things through. There was an awful lot of pressure on people at the time because of the nature of the deadlines, the time lines, and that sort of thing. Arguably, this one, perhaps, has not been kicking around for that long in its rejection by the TPC, but here we are at the end of the year being asked to consider something that has hardly had time to be fully consulted.
Legislataive Council, Wednesday 27 November 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I have not written anything formal here to present, so I will be referring to my notes. I find this bill an interesting approach. I do not dismiss at all the need for the opportunity for large developments that are complex or trigger other assessment or approval processes, to be extended. I was in the parliament when we extended, under a range of other planning provisions, the extension from four years to six years. That is right; one extension to two extensions - to be granted by a council. It was acknowledged at the time that there were a range of reasons why some things could take longer to get underway. We are not generally talking about a house here. We are talking about a more complex and larger development that is subject to a development approval.
Legislative Council, Tuesday 26 November 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I thank the member for Elwick for bringing this bill to the House on behalf of the member for Franklin in the other place. I have for many years been an advocate for reform in this important area and fully support this amendment to bring us in line with and, in this case, ahead of other Australian jurisdictions. As the member for Elwick referred to, it is timely to be debating this bill during the UN 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. To quote the UN Women website:
Legislative Council, Thursday 31 October 2024
Mr PRESIDENT - Just to clarify, because of the motion, the member for Murchison is still on her feet as second reading contributor, so the member for Murchison gets the call and then all other members from then on, in which to make a second reading contribution.
Ms FORREST - Mr President, my contribution will be brief as I have said most of the things that need to be said as part of this entire debate; once, in relation to potential referral to the committee and again in my previous comments in this debate.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 23 October 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, perhaps some of us would not have quite expected this bill to come on so quickly, and so may not be fully prepared. However, I also recall the long and somewhat tortuous debate we had on the electoral reform in 2023, where we are now blamed for not respecting the wishes of the government at the time and not removing section 196 as the government had sought to do.
I acknowledge the information provided in the briefing today and also the TLRI's work. Its work is very important to inform the law reform in this place. We need to be very cautious here about not taking things in isolation.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 23 October 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - In speaking to the Historic Cultural Heritage Amendment Bill, I note my support for it and also note the member for Hobart also alluded to this relates to European heritage and it is important to make that distinction. We have separate legislation relating to Aboriginal heritage. I will contain my comments to the bill before us and the matters related to the European heritage.
We in Tasmania tend to take some of our beautiful heritage-listed buildings for granted; we do not possibly even see them a lot of the time. It is not a criticism of the people of Tasmania generally, but sometimes it is not until you lose something you realise the preciousness of it. The member for Hobart was right talking about some of the fights to save buildings from demolition because they are, in the way, old or tired looking. For some, the heritage value is in the eye of the beholder.
Legislative Council, Tuesday 10 September 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I will try not to repeat anything I have already said in relation to the previous debate. I want to say at the outset that I support the introduction of this legislation for a number of reasons. One particularly is that some of the bigger companies and organisations in this state operate across jurisdictions and whilst they are not exactly the same provisions in other jurisdictions, surely you would expect the same level of care and duty to worker safety if that organisation is working in Tasmania as if they were working and operating in any other jurisdiction in this country. As we have already said, we are the last jurisdiction to bring something forward.
Legislative Council, Thursday 8 August 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - I welcome the opportunity to speak on this bill. Sometimes some of the smaller bills are always important, but some of these make such a difference in the lives of so many people. But Mr President, I want to address in mind a number of these matters here and just make a few points generally. It is quite interesting what some brings to parliament's attention and the relevant minister's attention; out-of-date legislation that is quite ridiculous when you look at it and made in good faith back in the day. But some of these provisions were not made that long ago.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 7 August 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Thank you, Mr President, I will not make a long contribution on this bill, because a lot has been said in relation to previous attempts by the government to bring in mandatory minimum sentencing. At the risk of going over that again, I know we are talking about presumption here as opposed to mandatory, but the principle is the same in that the court is there to do a job. We give the court guidance through the maximum penalties we set and other mechanisms that are used. We pay members of our judiciary well to make such judgments. Any time we seek to interfere in that process or say we know best when we know nothing about the circumstances of the person that may be appearing before that highly skilled, highly credentialed member of the judiciary, I think we do a disservice to the court itself.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 7 August 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - I would not like to miss this opportunity, Mr President, to speak on this matter.
We previously debated a taxation-related bill that was also brought in to effectively give effect to the government’s promises during the election campaign. Some of the comments I am going to make on this one, as I had foreshadowed in the previous one, are similar. I do not apologise for that because it is relevant to both. If anyone goes back ever and is sad enough to be reading this Hansard in the future, they can read what I have said on this as well as the previous bill.
Legislative Council, Tuesday 6 August 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I, as some other members in this place, have debated this notion, or this suggestion, previously, and I do not intend to go back over all of the things I said then because there is no need, other than to say that I support the bill as it is printed.
As has been said by other members, not most directly, but we in this Chamber are very privileged. We do not have to ask for help and money. All of us have a home. All of us have food, clothes and pretty much anything we want to get by.
Legislative Council, Thursday 20 June 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - In turning my mind to this bill that it is a very important piece of legislation, I must say at the outset, I absolutely and fundamentally support the principle that sits behind this. Any program that can be court-mandated that they can help remove people from incarceration as the approach taken to deal with or address crimes committed by a person that is linked to, or impacted by, their alcohol addiction is a positive thing.
As the member for Rumney said, drug and alcohol addiction is a health matter, it is not a justice matter.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 19 June 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, as the Leader indicated, I was yet to speak and I will not speak at great length. I do not want to go over all the matters that other members have raised, but to reiterate a few key points, from my perspective.
I welcome this legislation to implement a child monitor. As we know, it is a recommendation from the commission of inquiry. The work of this person, in this role, is very important. As other members have said, it is only when you have someone monitoring the outcomes of reforms that you know whether they are being implemented, and whether they are being effective.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 19 June 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - They would be surprised if I did not get up, perhaps not the new members. I do note this bill, the Taxation Legislation Affordable Housing Employment Support Bill fulfils some promises made during the recent election campaign, as does another bill that just landed in this place, the Taxation Legislation Miscellaneous Amendments Bill 2024. I did ask about this in the briefing. This surprises me.
Firstly, that these two matters were not contained in the same bill in the first place, and in the absence of that, brought on for debate at the same time. It appears they were both tabled very close together in the other place. It does surprise me.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 22 May 2024
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, this Appropriation (Further Supplementary Appropriation for 2023-24) Bill is the second such bill we have seen in this financial year. This one is asking us to approve a supplementary appropriation of $82.05 million from the public account for this financial year, of which there is really only a few weeks left. So, there is a bit that needs to be spent in that time.
Of this amount, $74 million represents an operating services appropriation to Finance-General. This amount is to be applied for the purpose of delivering the government's commitment to pay a supercharged - I do not know why we have to use such stupid words - but supercharged, like you are going to plug your car into it, renewable energy dividend, maybe they will, of $250 to households and $300 for small businesses including embedded network customers.
Legislative Council, Thursday 9 November 2023
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I thank the minister and the Leader. I appreciate the opportunity to go through this bill in detail. Whilst it seeks to achieve two main purposes, there are complexities within it. As with most amendment bills, you have to go back to the principle act to make sure that what is said to be achieved, is being achieved.
Maybe it is because I have been doing nothing else for the last few days, but I did not notice that an amendment had come through from the minister for the Government. I know it was sent, I do not dispute that for second - but if you see my inbox, you might understand why I might not have seen that one or focused my attention on it. There is obviously further debate to be had in the Committee stage on some of those matters, but I will broadly speak to the purpose of the bill.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 16 August 2023
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I tend to focus my contribution strongly on the content of the bill as we have many other opportunities to speak about the related matters. I will do an abridged version of some matters the member for Nelson covered as to why we are here. It is relevant to the debate as to why we are seeking to amend this piece of legislation.
In terms of why we are here, there have been many public and some not public airings of the arrangements between the Government and the AFL that go back some time now, including a previous premier and the long standing desire for Tasmania to have its own AFL football team. The majority, with the exception of a small number, in my view, from people I have talked to, support our own team. It is a national competition and reports indicated it would be sustainable. I am not going to go into that any further because it is a matter for another debate, if we ever need to have it.
Legislative Council, Wednesday 25 May 2023
Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I do not intend to speak at length on this bill. There will be a lot more debate to be had in the Committee stage when we get to the various provisions of it. I will say that I absolutely welcome this bill.
In my experience, I have had very good builders, with absolutely no complaints about their work, the way they conducted themselves or the way they have developed their contracts; and during that period where defects can be managed, they were also very responsive. I have absolutely no personal complaint about a builder; but I am sure we do not have to go very far to hear a horror story about people who have had troubles. I appreciate the representation we received this morning in the briefing, from people who have been deeply harmed by works that have been done on their prize possession - their own home - that have seen them completely let down; completely done over in every way; cost them a huge amount of money; and pushed them to the point of taking their own life, only to be prevented by their loved ones.
- CHILD AND YOUTH SAFE ORGANISATIONS BILL 2022
- MENTAL HEALTH AMENDMENT BILL 2022
- APPROPRIATION (FURTHER SUPPLEMENTARY APPROPRIATION FOR 2022-23) BILL 2023
- CARER RECOGNITION BILL 2022
- EXPANSION OF HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY BILL 2022
- ANIMAL WELFARE AMENDMENT BILL 2022
- TRAFFIC AMENDMENT (ELECTRONIC BILLBOARDS) BILL 2022
- CLIMATE CHANGE (STATE ACTION) AMENDMENT BILL 2021
- HOMES TASMANIA BILL 2022
- POLICE OFFENCES AMENDMENT (WORKPLACE PROTECTION) BILL 2022