Nick McKim

At the request of Senator Faruqi, I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for International Development, by no later than 9.30 am on Monday, 23 March 2026, all ministerial submissions, records of conversation, letters, briefing notes, meeting agendas, file notes, meeting invitations, meeting notes, meeting minutes, emails and instant/electronic messages and/or correspondence relating to the National Anti-Racism Framework from 26 November 2024 to 4 February 2026, between the minister (Dr Aly) and/or her office and the Race Discrimination Commissioner and/or the Australian Human Rights Commissioner.

Jenny McAllister

by leave—I move:

Omit all words after "That", substitute:

(a) orders for the production of documents is one of the Senate's most serious powers, and should be used when other processes have been exhausted rather than for fishing expeditions; and

(b) senators seeking to order the production of documents should consider paragraph (a) and refine their orders accordingly.

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendment as moved by Senator McAllister to Senator Faruqi's 354 general business motion be agreed to.

Wendy Askew

At the request of Senator Dean Smith, I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, by no later than 5 pm on Friday, 6 March 2026, all final versions of the hot issues/Senate estimates briefs (including all attachments) prepared by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and intended to be used by its officials for their appearance at additional estimates 2025-26.

Jenny McAllister

by leave—I move:

Omit all words after "That", substitute "the Senate notes that:

(a) complying with an order to produce all estimates briefs would irreparably damage the ability of Government departments and agencies to support the estimates committee process in the future;

(b) it is the collective nature of questioning at estimates that contributes to the Senate's scrutiny role; and

(c) the release of documents sought by orders to produce all estimates briefs would likely change the way that all Government departments and agencies prepare for estimates and, indeed, all committee processes in the future".

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendment as moved by Senator McAllister to general business notice of motion No. 353 be agreed to.

Wendy Askew

At the request of Senator Paterson, I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Prime Minister, by no later than 5 pm on Friday, 27 March 2026, all documents dated from 14 December 2025 (including emails, letters, text messages, instant messages, minutes, briefings and submissions) held by the Prime Minister, and/or the Prime Minister's office (PMO), relating to:

(a) the establishment of a Commonwealth Royal Commission following the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025;

(b) ministerial submissions provided to the Prime Minister or the PMO setting out options to review or inquire into the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025;

(c) the appropriateness of review mechanisms following the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025 proposed to, available to or undertaken by the Government;

(d) any communication with the Minister for Home Affairs and/or the minister's office relating to the establishment of a Commonwealth Royal Commission following the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025;

(e) any communication with the Attorney-General and/or the Attorney General's office relating to the establishment of a Commonwealth Royal Commission following the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025;

(f) any communication with the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, or any other Australian Federal Police official at the senior executive service (SES) level or above, relating to the establishment of a Commonwealth Royal Commission following the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025;

(g) any communication with the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) or any other PM&C official at the SES level or above relating to the establishment of a Commonwealth Royal Commission following the terrorist attack in Bondi on 14 December 2025; and

(h) any communication with the Secretary of the Attorney-General's Department (AGD), or any other AGD official at the SES level or above, relating to the establishment of a Commonwealth Royal Commission following the terrorist attack at Bondi on 14 December 2025.

Anthony Chisholm

by leave—I move:

Omit all words after "That", substitute:

(a) orders for the production of documents is one of the Senate's most serious powers, and should be used when other processes have been exhausted rather than for fishing expeditions; and

(b) senators seeking to order the production of documents should consider paragraph (a) and refine their orders accordingly.

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendment as moved by Senator Chisholm to general business notice of motion No. 341, standing in the name of Senator Paterson and moved by Senator Askew, be agreed to.

Fatima Payman

I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Prime Minister, by no later than 5 pm on Friday, 20 March 2026, copies of all ministerial submissions, records of conversation, letters, briefing notes, meeting agendas, file notes, meeting invitations, meeting notes, meeting minutes, emails and instant/electronic messages between the Prime Minister and/or his office, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in relation to the invitation of Australia and the Prime Minister to join the Board of Peace, as established under United Nations Security Council resolution 2803.

Anthony Chisholm

by leave—I move:

Omit all words after "That", substitute:

(a) orders for the production of documents is one of the Senate's most serious powers, and should be used when other processes have been exhausted rather than for fishing expeditions; and

(b) senators seeking to order the production of documents should consider paragraph (a) and refine their orders accordingly.

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendment as moved by Senator Chisholm to general business notice of motion No. 340 standing in the name of Senator Payman be agreed to.

Wendy Askew

At the request of Senator McGrath, I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Cities, by no later than midday on Monday, 23 March 2026, a copy of the 2024 State of Australian Cities report.

Anthony Chisholm

by leave—I move:

At the start of the motion, insert:

(a) That the Senate notes that:

(i) orders for the production of documents is one of the Senate's most serious powers, and should be used when other processes have been exhausted, and

(ii) the 2024 State of Australian Cities report has not been requested through any other process available to Senators; and

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendment moved by Senator Chisholm to general business notice of motion No. 335, standing in the name of Senator McGrath and moved by Senator Askew, be agreed to.

Jessica Collins

At the request of Senator Bragg, I move:

That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Housing, by no later than midday on Thursday, 5 February 2026, the letter the Minister for Housing (Ms O'Neil) signed and dated to Mr Ben Rimmer congratulating him on his appointment as observer of the Housing Australia Board.

Anthony Chisholm

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anthony Chisholm

The government will be opposing this motion. Senator Bragg is now moving orders for the production of documents for congratulatory letters. This has become a vexatious use of one of the Senate's most serious powers and a diversion of the work of the public servants who are busy delivering our ambitious housing agenda.

Sue Lines

The question is that general business notice of motion No. 303 standing in the name of Senator Bragg and moved by Senator Collins be agreed to.

Lidia Thorpe

by leave—Pursuant to contingent notice standing in my name, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to allow a motion relating to the Perth Boorloo bombing attack, to be moved immediately and determined without amendment.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That the motion be determined without amendment and that the question be put after 30 minutes of debate, five minutes per speaker.

Question agreed to.

I move the motion as circulated and inform the Senate that this motion is also being sponsored by Senators McCarthy, Stewart and Cox:

That the Senate—

(a) condemns the attempted bombing on 26 January 2026 in Boorloo (Perth) that targeted First Peoples and their supporters;

(b) notes that the Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team, consisting of the Western Australia Police Force, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, is investigating the incident as a potential terrorist act;

(c) acknowledges the serious harm this has caused and expresses its solidarity with all those impacted by this event;

(d) notes that an attack against First Nations people is an attack against all Australians;

(e) notes that for many First Nations people, 26 January is a day of mourning and that an attack on this day, at an Invasion Day rally, represents a serious escalation of racial violence against First Peoples;

(f) condemns all acts of violence and racism against First Peoples, and stands in solidarity with First Peoples against racism and hate directed at them;

(g) affirms that this Parliament's recent condemnation of racially motivated hatred unambiguously includes racism directed at First Peoples;

(h) notes that the federal government has a duty to equally protect all people in this country from racism, discrimination, hate speech and the threat of racially motivated violence;

(i) acknowledges that First Peoples in Australia continue to face entrenched racism, racially-motivated hate and threats of violence, and that any instance of this is unacceptable and must be addressed; and

(j) calls for governments to continue to take urgent action to address racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence against First Peoples.

On 26 January families, elders and children gathered in Boorloo Perth on Whadjuk Noongar boodjar. They came peacefully in remembrance to grieve and to heal on a day of mourning for First Peoples. During the smoking ceremony, a man with hate in his heart and the intention to kill our people took his position on a walkway above the crowd. He was armed with a homemade fragmentation bomb packed with ball bearings, screws and explosive liquid. He threw it into the crowd below, where it landed among our elders and children.

The bomb smouldered, smoke rising from its fuse mixing with the smoke of ceremony. Our healing smoke, carrying the memory and strength of our ancestors, was tainted by the poisoned plume of racism and hate. The bomb thankfully did not detonate. It could have caused many deaths. Our elders say it was the protection of our ancestors present through ceremony, holding our people when the worst was intended. Let us be absolutely clear: this should be treated as an act of terror. It was a deliberate act of hate directly targeting First Peoples on our day of mourning.

But that was just the beginning of the harm. In the days that followed, as those who were there and First Peoples across this country came to understand what had nearly occurred, the trauma deepened. The trauma was met with something familiar—silence, minimisation and indifference, another form of violence. The attempted bombing was an act of horrific, overt hate and racism. What followed was the quieter, insidious thrum of the entrenched, systemic racism that shapes this country. Decisions were made in newsrooms, in ministerial offices and in the daily rhythms of power about whether this was urgent, whether it mattered and whether our lives mattered. There was no emergency press conference from the Prime Minister, no proactive statement of condemnation, no solidarity offered to First Peoples left reeling from this attempted act of mass violence. The Prime Minister's only comments came when he was questioned at an unrelated press conference. Since then, the Prime Minister has held multiple press conferences, and not once has this attack been raised by journalists. They have not asked, pressed or pursued. The coalition and others who were so very vocal in response to the Bondi attack have been notably absent. The court has suppressed the attacker's identity, accepting arguments about his safety in prison because so many of our people are incarcerated. Once again, First Peoples are framed as a threat rather than recognised as the victims.

All this silence matters, and it is loud. It sends a message that our lives are not valued, that our safety is not taken seriously. So today I ask this place and everyone listening to pause and reflect and to ask yourselves, honestly: why was this not seen as deserving national attention? This motion is about bringing this country together. It's about recognition and responsibility. It is about condemning hate and racism consistently, no matter who the victim is or what colour their skin is. It asks the parliament to say clearly to First Peoples: 'We hear you. We believe you. We recognise that the racism and hatred directed at you are real and rising.' It calls on this parliament to commit to urgent action to address racism, hate and violence against First Peoples.

Malarndirri McCarthy

I rise to condemn the sickening attack on an Invasion Day rally in Perth last week. On 26 January, First Nations families and non-Indigenous supporters gathered at Forrest Place in peaceful protest, exercising their democratic right to make their voices heard. First Nations people were leading 2½ thousand Australians of all walks of life, waving the Aboriginal flag and national flag and holding banners about serious issues facing First Nations Australians—homelessness, incarceration, health outcomes.

Many of us have seen the released footage of what happened next. As a Noongar elder was addressing the crowd, a man threw an object from a nearby balcony. From police descriptions, it's a miracle that footage wasn't very different. Police have confirmed that the item thrown was an improvised explosive device—metal ball bearings and screws wrapped around an explosive liquid compound of chemicals. We've heard from experts in the media in recent days about the device's destructive potential. Professor Mark Briskey, a counterterrorism expert from Murdoch University, has worked on investigations alongside the AFP and FBI. He described the similarity between this device and others used by terrorists to kill in other countries. It's only by chance that the device didn't detonate and cause mass casualties. Eyewitnesses have said the device landed in an area reserved for the most vulnerable—people in wheelchairs, babies in prams. We narrowly avoided a catastrophic disaster. The Western Australia Joint Counter Terrorism Team is investigating the incident as a potential terrorist act. While a man has been charged over the incident and remains in custody, this remains an ongoing investigation, and we must call this attack out for what it is.

What we saw in Perth last Monday was an attempted bombing of a peaceful First Nations rally led by First Nations Australians and their allies. This was an attack on the social cohesion of the Australian community. It was an attack on all Australians. When our social cohesion is attacked, all of us in this chamber—the government, the opposition and the crossbench—must apply consistent focus and condemnation. Leaders' words carry meaning, and our government will not be silent. The Albanese government condemns this sickening and abhorrent incident. An attack on First Nations Australians is an attack on all Australians, and I am incredibly proud of the Prime Minister for standing up and saying what he said in regard to this incident.

First Nations Australians, like all Australians, must be able to gather peacefully without fearing for our safety. There is no place for hate, intimidation or racism of any form in Australia, and we will continue to take action. Last month, we legislated to target acts of hatred designed to disrupt our social cohesion. That legislation better protects Australians of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, including First Nations Australians, from hateful attacks. As Minister for Indigenous Australians and as a Yanyuwa Garrwa woman, I understand the importance of our work to eradicate violent hate all too well. First Nations Australians have come to understand that, where hateful narratives spread, violence does follow and generations will be devastated.

I'm hearing from First Nations people in Western Australia and around the country, and they are deeply concerned. So many are scared—many are despairing—but First Nations Australians will not be cowed, by this violence, from exercising their rights or from being proud of who they are. We won't stop in our efforts to protect social cohesion in Australia. On behalf of the government, I sincerely extend my condolences to those shaken by these events; to the many people I've spoken to in regard—not just here in the Senate chamber; my colleagues Senator Cox and Senator Lines; and all of those families, Noongar families and allies who were protesting that day. Condolences to you, and we reach out to you to support you. We will not stop in our efforts to ensure that First Nations Australians and all Australians live in safety.

Kerrynne Liddle

Let me begin by clearly and unambiguously stating that the Liberal Party condemns the attempted bombing on 26 January in Perth. Several of my colleagues and I condemned that immediately in the media after the improvised explosive device was hurled at those people who had gathered. It is appalling, and it's just luck that this wasn't much worse. Regardless, this event has caused so much pain and so much hurt, and it is abhorrent. There is of course no place for violence of this kind in Australia—not ever. We note the ongoing investigation by the Western Australia Police Force, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. We acknowledge the serious harm caused, and we express our solidarity with all those who were affected.

We affirm this: this is an attack against Indigenous Australians. That's the appropriate term to use. It is an attack also against all Australians, and we must condemn it. Those propositions are not controversial. They should unite this chamber. Violence directed at people because of who they are is simply and categorically unacceptable. It must be condemned plainly, decisively and without qualification.

Where the Liberal Party parts ways with this motion is its decision to go beyond that clear and necessary condemnation and instead prosecute arguments about Australia Day. This is not what this motion needs to be, and it is not what this motion requires. This attack is already being investigated as a potential terrorist attack. That is an investigation to be left to WA police, the AFP and ASIO. Those responsible should face the full force of the law through our police, our security agencies and our courts. That is the proper course. It is not appropriate to use an incident that remains under active investigation to retaliate, to reignite debates about 26 January or to ascribe broader political meaning before the facts are established.

We condemn the attack. We stand against racism and violence. This motion is not a vehicle for prosecuting Australia Day and that debate. This is why we will ask that paragraphs (e) and (i) be put separately. Those provisions are politicising a vile attack that is still under active investigation. Australia Day is not the issue here. Any violence against Australians based on what they believe in is unacceptable, and this motion rightly condemns it. The Liberal Party stands with all those who have been affected, Indigenous or otherwise, and we affirm this parliament's recent condemnation of racially motivated hatred, acknowledging that this unambiguously includes racism directed at Indigenous Australians. I also move the amendment as circulated in my name. The amendment omits 'First Peoples' from paragraph (j) and replaces it with 'all Australians'. This is because violence and intimidation impact all Australians, not just Indigenous Australians.

All people must be free to protest lawfully and peacefully without fear of harm, regardless of their views. No cause will ever be advanced by threatening or harming others. Australians can disagree respectfully, but violence will only deepen division. It is unacceptable. Everyone in this place should be working to bring people together, not to inflame tensions or excuse bad behaviour. The federal government has a duty to equally protect all people in this country from racism, discrimination, hate speech and the threat of racially motivated violence. The government must continue to take urgent action to address racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence in all its forms whenever it appears and wherever it appears. That is why the Liberal Party cannot support the singling out of Indigenous Australians in paragraph (j).

This act of violence is about behaviour, not politics. Violence is wrong, no matter who commits it, when it is committed or why it is committed. Our focus must remain on safety, accountability and peaceful civic engagement. As I said previously, an attack on Indigenous Australians is an attack on all Australians. Australia is better than what we saw in Perth on 26 January. Disagreement must never turn into intimidation and violence. I seek leave to move the amendment as circulated in my name.

Leave granted.

I move:

Amend paragraph (j) as follows:

(j) calls for governments to continue to take urgent action to address racism, discrimination, hate speech and violence against all Australians.

Long debate text truncated.

Sue Lines

The question is that the remaining stages of the bill be agreed to and the bill be now passed.

Sue Lines

I will now deal with the Committee of the Whole amendments circulated by Australia's Voice. The question is that items 3, 6 and 9 of schedule 2 stand as printed.

Australia's Voice's circulated amendments—

(1) Schedule 2, item 3, page 44 (lines 1 and 2), to be opposed.

(2) Schedule 2, item 6, page 46 (lines 3 and 4), to be opposed.

(3) Schedule 2, item 9, page 48 (lines 1 and 2), to be opposed.

Sue Lines

I will now deal with the amendments circulated by Senator McKenzie on behalf of the Nationals. The question is that the amendments on sheet 3613 and 3616 be agreed to.

Mehreen Faruqi

I ask that the amendments on sheets 3613 and 3616 be put separately.

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendments on sheet 3613 be agreed to.

National Party of Australia's circulated amendments—

SHEET 3613

(1) Schedule 1, item 13, page 14 (after line 8), after subparagraph 114A.4(1)(a)(i), insert:

(ia) has glorified, morally supported or excused terrorism; or

(2) Schedule 1, item 13, page 14 (after line 12), after paragraph 114A.4(1)(a), insert:

(ab) if the AFP Minister has given the organisation a notice under subsection (6) asking the organisation to disavow violence and terrorism—there is no disavowal undertaking (see subsections (6) to (9)) in effect for the organisation; and

(3) Schedule 1, item 13, page 15 (after line 14), at the end of section 114A.4, add:

One-off disavowal undertaking process

(6) Before the Governor-General makes a prohibited hate group regulation specifying an organisation, the AFP Minister may give the organisation a written notice asking the organisation to disavow violence and extremism.

(7) The organisation may, before the end of 7 days after receiving the notice, give the AFP Minister a written undertaking (a disavowal undertaking) stating that the organisation:

(a) disavows violence and terrorism; and

(b) will not engage in, prepare or plan to engage in, or assist the engagement in violence or terrorism.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph 114A.4(1)(ab), a disavowal undertaking:

(a) takes effect for an organisation when it is received by the AFP Minister; and

(b) if, at any time after the undertaking is given, the AFP Minister becomes satisfied that it is reasonably necessary for the organisation to be specified by a prohibited hate group regulation to protect the Australian community or part of the Australian community against harm of any of the kinds referred to in paragraph 114A.1(1)(a)—ceases to have effect for the organisation when the AFP Minister becomes so satisfied.

(9) An organisation cannot give the AFP Minister a disavowal undertaking more than once (despite subsections (6) and (7)).