Newsletters 2024

Good news, North Sydney: after 20 long years, Australia now has a New Vehicle Emissions Standard!

Our community has played a major role in advocating for this legislation and pushing back against the concerted, profit-driven misinformation campaign that had been holding it back. Its passage this week is a win for our climate, our health and our household budgets, and I am proud of our role in delivering this change.

At the same time, process matters. How the Albanese Labor Government went about passing this NVES legislation is highly concerning.

A deal between Labor and the Greens saw three bills waved through parliament on Thursday without proper scrutiny. No parliamentarian got to speak to the NVES nor the Tax Accountability and Fairness Bill — designed to ensure oil and gas companies pay their fair share of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax — before they were pushed through yesterday afternoon.

Changes to our Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Legislation were similarly waved through the Senate — thankfully with problematic gas fast-track clauses removed.

While I support much of the legislation that was passed today, the way in which this was done makes a mockery of our representative democracy. I am deeply disappointed that the Government has chosen to pursue backroom deals over open debate and consensus, with each piece of legislation assessed on its own merits.

The sentencing of whistleblower David McBride this week was another blow to our democracy. It is unacceptable that the person responsible for exposing war crimes committed by our troops in Afghanistan is now the only person jailed in relation to these horrific acts. As I stated in a joint crossbench letter to the Prime Minister and Attorney-General this week, our laws are broken and need urgent reform.

I will continue to fight for a more transparent, accountable and democratic parliament. We can and must do better.

Thank you to all who have continued to engage with my office on the issues that matter to you. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to raise constituents' concerns about a national Digital ID, calling for stronger privacy laws to ensure data collected through any such scheme will not be misused.

I also spoke about the Government's Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions legislature, raising issues with the problematic taxation of unrealised capital gains and the $3 million concession threshold which, if not indexed, will affect half a million Australians in their lifetimes.

Finally, it was a pleasure this week to meet students from Cammeray Public School and St Michael's Lane Cove and show them around Parliament House. One of my favourite parts of this job is to talk to our students about how government works, and listen to their hopes for our country. Three-day weekends and optional homework certainly are popular suggestions among the Year 6s!

- KT

P.S. In case you missed it, see my team's analysis of what the Federal Budget means for North Sydney here. We will be discussing the Budget in more detail at the Willoughby Bowling Club on Tuesday 21 May. I hope to see you there!

COME AND MEET KYLEA

WHAT'S ON IN NORTH SYDNEY

IN THE NEWS

Labor’s deportation bill shelved in Senate stand-off - Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May. Labor has shelved its controversial deportation bill that would have forced non-citizens — including those seeking asylum — to choose between deportation or jail. Kylea is urging the government to drop the bill entirely.

Labor and Greens gag debate on fuel efficiency standards in deal on offshore gas bill - The Guardian, 16 May. Three bills — on fuel efficiency standards, offshore gas and the petroleum resource rent tax — have passed through parliament without being debated, under a deal struck between Labor and the Greens. Kylea has criticised the lack of transparancy as antithetical to the principles of democracy.

Div 296 labelled an SMSF attack - Self Managed Super, 16 May. Media coverage of a parliamentary debate in which Kylea raises concerns that the proposed Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions legislation is "designed to ... preference the large commercial superannuation entities, as those can better be influenced by the government of the day in terms of priority areas for national investment."

Debate rages in parliament over super tax bill - SMSF Adviser, 16 May. Kylea is seeking to amend the Government's new $3 million super tax legislation to address concerns over the inclusion of unrealised capital gains and the lack of indexation.

A budget full of headlines, devoid of substance - Media release, 15 May. The Albanese Government's Federal Budget 2024-25 is packed with headline-grabbing sugar hits that fail to substantially address some of our deeper, fundamental societal challenges such as housing, climate change, intergenerational inequity and domestic violence, Kylea says.

More media mentions here.