I rise to speak on the Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017. This is a very complicated bill and it has certainly had a very chequered history. It purports to restrict the influence of foreign money over our politics.

The latest scorecard from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows an alarming continuation of the gender pay gap that won’t be closed for decades, Greens spokesperson for women, Senator Larissa Waters said.

“We’ve still got a 16.2 per cent gap in what men and women get paid - it’s clearly still far better to be a bloke in this country when it comes to salary,” Senator Waters said. 

“There has been a small, welcome decline overall, but the fact men still earn $25000 more every year on average than women is outrageous.

Calls for mass shark culls by conservative politicians would be an ineffective and irresponsible response to recent attacks in Queensland, according to the Australian Greens.

Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said a calm and sensible approach is needed and welcomed tomorrow’s roundtable on the issue in Airlie Beach.

“Our hearts go out to the families affected by recent shark attacks, but calls for mass shark culls are irresponsible, won’t work, and would not be supported by a majority of Queenslanders,” Senator Waters said.

Greens mining spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters says the Government should be sued for ignoring water laws for Adani’s 12.5 billion litre water pipeline, unless the Environment Minister intervenes today and requires a full environmental impact assessment.

“We learned three weeks ago that this Government had done yet another special deal for Adani, exempting them from water laws despite their plans to suck out almost as much water as all the other users combined, from a drought-stricken region,” Senator Waters said. 

In an effort to drum up investment in its ailing Carmichael mine, Adani has again announced the project is about to get off the ground adding to its already long history of false starts, Greens spokesperson for Mining and Resources, Queensland Senator, Larissa Waters said.

“Adani are producing more spin than coal,” Senator Waters said.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times Adani has said they are about to “hit the green light” on their mega coal mine.

Today a Greens motion passed the Senate demanding that the Government stop Adani’s pipeline application from being assessed until the federal investigation into their environmental breaches is concluded.

“It would be outrageous for Adani to continue seeking a fresh environmental approval when they’re being investigated for breaching the last one,” said Mining and Resources spokesperson for the Australian Greens, former environmental lawyer Senator Larissa Waters.

Greens spokesperson for Women, Senator Larissa Waters, says the Senate Inquiry into the Government’s Family and Domestic Violence Leave Bill cemented the urgent need to give workers 10 days paid leave.

Queensland Greens Senator and spokesperson for gambling, Larissa Waters, said reports today that Queenslanders lost on average, a record-breaking $7 million a day in August 2018, shows the urgent need to ban political donations by the gambling industry.

“While the greedy gambling industry sits in the back pocket of the major political parties there will never be any real action to keep the community safe from predatory pokies,” Senator Waters said.

“There must be urgent action to curb these enormous losses and harm caused by poker machines.

Scrap the tampon tax, increase funding for frontline domestic violence services and deliver 10 days’ paid DV leave, is Greens spokesperson for women, Senator Larissa Waters' wish list ahead of meetings tomorrow which could alter the future of Australian women, children and trans people.

Tomorrow: