As a wildlife photographer, I've had intimate encounters with African elephants and have known all too well the story behind some of the pictures I've taken. Thirty-five thousand elephants are poached every year for the ivory trade. With less than 415,000 elephants left, if this rate of killing continues, it’s expected that they will disappear from our planet within a generation. The two largest ivory markets in the world, U.S. and China, have within the last couple of years banned their trades in a bid to save the African elephant from extinction. Hong Kong, the third largest market, is set to do so by 2021; the U.K. have also recently enacted a domestic trade ban. They’re all clear signs of the political will to protect elephants from extinction, and some of these bans are the best moves that the world could have hoped for. In Australia, however, an unregulated ivory market in Australia continues to thrive, which contributes to the mass poaching in Africa to satisfy the demand for ivory in Asia. Elephants are being lost at a rate of 8% per year due mostly to poaching. We need to end Australia’s trade- especially as it is contributes to the illegal wildlife trade- and implement a ban on domestic markets urgently, as per the recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement. Australia needs to act promptly on implementing a ban of the domestic ivory and horn market so that we can protect the elephant and ensure they will live on- and send a message to the world that we simply cannot let elephants head towards extinction on our watch.

My teenage daughter committed suicide after the Family Law System allowed her father, a convicted child sex offender, access to her when she was just a child. The Family Court System failed my little girl. And they failed me, a protective mother, who in my attempt to protect my children from contact with their abusive father, faced being dismissed as a ‘hysterical woman’ and a ‘vindictive wife’.   How can this happen? The legal system, designed to protect vulnerable children, is instead allowing them access to convicted sex offenders and exposing them to further assaults. The family law policy of wanting kids to have a “meaningful relationship with both parents” drove the decision making that would eventually lead to the death of my darling girl. I can’t describe the pain of losing her - it’s been 3 years since she died. She was just 17 and such a loving and caring daughter and friend. It makes me physically sick to imagine what she went through. In 2002, Abbey's father was charged with the sexual assault of her 8-year-old best friend and sent to jail for a pathetic two years. The abuse occurred at regular sleepovers.    I’m desperate to fight for children and parents who’ve been grossly let down by the dysfunction of the Family Court System. The Court restricts children from doctor and counselling visits during legal proceedings, discounts their word against a parent's, views reports of sexual assault as vindictive and favours the most financially stable parent. It’s shameful and dangerous. My darling daughter had her whole life ahead of her, but by adding your name to this petition, we can bring about change for other kids. I am supporting Bravehearts call for a Royal Commission into the Family Law System of Australia to examine their damaging failings in protecting our children. It follows a report by Bravehearts which  highlights the failings of the Family Law System. It’s called Abbey’s Project. This will be Abbey’s legacy.

My 15yr old daughter was the first child murdered by an online predator in Australia – after a paedophile spent 18 months grooming her. But it’s still not a crime for monsters like this to pretend to be a minor online in Australia. Carly's killer masqueraded as a teenage boy before luring her to a secluded beach - he bashed and suffocated her face, then threw her into the water to drown. I could barely listen when I was read the court reports. This predator had 200 fake online identities to groom teenage girls for sex. My daughter had such a big heart and a bright future. She was so robbed of her life. It's a disgrace that Senators voted against a law to fix this in the past. I’m sickened by our legal system’s failure to recognise this crime, as well as the appallingly weak sentencing for child sex offenders. I’m calling on Malcolm Turnbull & Bill Shorten to immediately commit to ‘Carly’s Law’ – a law that would make it illegal for adults to misrepresent their age to minors online for the purpose of grooming with the intent to meet that child.

There are hundreds of thousands of aged pensioners who barely survive each week on our meager pension which is below the poverty line. many of us eat only one meal a day, we turn of the hot water for 6 months a year so that we can survive. we can't afford a phone, never mind the Internet. Getting medical/ dental care is beyond our reach. those of us who have to rent pay over half our income to have shelter, leaving us almost destitute. We want an independent tribunal to set our pensions, as described in today's Press club address, with no political influence. 

We are calling on the Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to ignore the recommendation made by the Banking Royal Commission to change Mortgage Broker remuneration.  We also call upon the Opposition Leader and Shadow Treasurer to pledge that they will ignore this recommendation, should they win government. Owning a home is the great Australian dream that has become increasingly out of reach for many Australians in the past decade. The proposed changes to the mortgage broking industry, recommended this week by the Royal Commission, will place that dream even further out of reach for many people. We ask both the government and opposition to thoroughly consider the implications of enacting the recommendations made regarding the mortgage broking industry, and ensure that the outcome is fair to the average Australian. We support keeping mortgage broking free to consumers, and we support the ‘paid-the-same’ commission model employed by most brokerages that has ensured impartial decision making for almost 30 years. We completely reject the assertion by Commissioner Hayne and Matt Comyn, CBA CEO, that trailing commission is “money for nothing”. Mortgage Brokers are available 24/7 to answer clients questions, undertake loan variations, provide support and education, review their loans and make sure they aren’t getting ripped off by the banks by negotiating better rates on their behalf, as well as many other services.  This is what they receive trailing commission for, and we stress actually provides for better customer outcomes.  Without Mortgage Brokers being constantly being in contact with clients, banks use ‘rate creep’ to gouge more and more interest from clients due to new and bigger discounts becoming available to NEW clients, while existing clients effectively pay more. We strongly believe that customers will end up paying more. Home buyers will be penalised in one of two ways: either they will be unable to afford the proposed fee-for-service structure, resulting in a reduced ability to access the funding that is right for them; or, those that can afford the proposed fee-for-service structure will be forced to absorb significant costs that the banking sector were previously responsible for. Removing the commission structure that is paid by banks to mortgage brokers is estimated to put billions of dollars back into the Big 4 Banks, while implementing a fee-for-service structure transfers the responsibility of those costs to aspiring property buyers already making the most expensive purchase of their life. The Royal Commission uncovered misconduct and even criminal activity at some of the highest levels of Australian banking, and yet mortgage brokers and their customers are the key group likely to suffer significant penalties in the wake of the report.  Smaller banks without a large branch network who currently rely on brokers to introduce customers will also suffer a significant loss of marketshare. The Big 4 banks, meanwhile, have had some of their best days on the share market since the report was made publicly available. Mortgage Brokers are mostly small business owners who potentially could lose their businesses and their staff could lose their jobs. In almost three decades, the mortgage broking industry has brought competition to the Australian finance market, and today more than half of all home loans in Australia originate with a mortgage broker. If you're part of that statistic, or if you just value choice and competition in the finance sector, please pledge your support for this petition to ensure it is noticed by our Federal Government. Update:  Over 50,000 have signed this petition - that's potentially 50,000 votes for any party or Senator who supports us.

There’s no womb in society for a tampon tax. Did you know there is a GST on Tampons AND they are called a ‘luxury’?  I don’t know about you, but they don’t seem like a luxury to me. Condoms, lubricant, incontinence pads or sunscreen on the other hand are GST free. What’s with that?  It’s a bloody outrage. Putting a tax on products women need as a direct consequence of their biology is fundamentally sexist.It’s a stain on our national image. Half the population of Australia -- approximately 10 million women -- will pay tax on these products for the greater part of their lifetime. Costing us about $1000 for buying an essential health product. The Tampon Tax is ridiculous. Period. Luckily, women of childbearing age - those of us who need tampons - will be key voters in the upcoming election. So they'll need to listen if they want to woo us for our votes!It’s a bleeding disgrace. As Australians, as voters, as women, we request that the Federal Government the Opposition end this inherently sexist and unfair unfair tax. This tax is really cramping my style. Tampons belong on the GST free health products list - they're not a luxury. They're a necessity. Can you help me out by sharing the petition on Twitter and Facebook -- with all your friends and everyone else? Let's pull the plug on the Tampon Tax! #BloodyOutrage

My name is Hayley and I’ve been in and out of homelessness since I was 14 years old.    I know people often wonder about how people become homeless, or how they stay homeless for such a long time. I’m here to tell you a bit about my story. When you’ve had such fractured relationships since childhood, it’s hard not to allow those relationships to negatively affect you as a person. Coming from really volatile environments, you get used to being treated badly and being manipulated. I had no idea what a healthy relationship looked like for the first 20 years of my life. I had never had a healthy relationship with anybody, especially myself. I walked around with a chip on my shoulder, I can admit that. So much shit had happened to me and I was sour. I acted out because there was so much going on inside of me. Once you get a house and start to seem settled, you’re never settled. When you are able to actually stop being hypervigilant after dealing with a lot of trauma, that’s honestly when you start feeling everything and that’s the point where I think people need the most support. That’s the point where you can crash. At first being in my own home was overwhelming, because it all hits you that you’re an adult and you have to take responsibility. The main thing that motivated me to move forwards in my life was thinking, “I’m not going to let what happened to me ruin the rest of my life.” That was my driver. I am not going to be scared because of my past. I’ve had a lot of support from my social worker and I’ve needed it. I want people to see people for who they are, not their stereotype. I want you to know who I am now. Proper housing means getting on with your life. We need more housing that’s affordable for people in my situation. A home gives you hope, stability, a sense of self and the chance to straighten up your life without having to move all the time. I want our government to commit to more public and community housing in Australia. Please help by signing my petition. Young people who become homeless really need housing they can afford, but also ongoing support so they can stay housed.

For four years I’ve lived in fear. My ex was impersonating me online, inviting strangers to my family home to ‘rape, humiliate and torture’ me — it’s been hell. But right now, Malcolm Turnbull is still refusing to make ‘revenge porn’ a crime. He's instead proposing perpetrators of this hate just pay a mere fine. The new laws could be voted on within days. Senators, experts and lawyers are all saying this needs to be criminalised to be effective. Please sign my urgent petition telling Malcolm Turnbull to make this cyber rape a crime and not let women suffer like I have in this hell. These dangerous people need to be in jail. Over 50 strangers have appeared at my family home demanding sex - I still freeze with fear every time the doorbell rings. Images of me are online somewhere without my permission. Even the police admitted there was nothing they could do to help me - police can’t prevent or punish this behaviour unless it is a crime. It’s not good enough that Malcolm Turnbull refuses to make this a criminal act, instead saying these perpetrators of cyber rape only deserve a fine. Women are being left powerless. The UK, USA, Canada and Japan have all introduced specific legislation to protect revenge porn victims - it’s time for Australia to urgently follow their lead. Malcolm Turnbull — don’t allow perpetrators of revenge porn to get away with a fine and leave victims suffering. Make revenge porn a crime.

Under section 35 of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (the Act), Australian citizenship will automatically cease if they act contrary to their allegiance to Australia, by engaging in terrorism-related conduct. The offender is from English background through his father and if the Australian government and community is serious about fighting extremists and terrorism, Tarrant Australian citizenship must be revoked.

Australians have recently witnessed abhorrent behaviour from a number of Parliamentarians. We have seen politicians inciting violence and hatred. We have also seen examples of divisive, bigoted rhetoric. We have had enough. If our elected representatives will not act with dignity, we will create a Code of Conduct and hold them to account.  Lately, we have seen the standards of Parliamentary behaviour disintegrate as political debate has become toxic, and dangerous. The recent statement by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the terrorist act in Christchurch on immigration is only one example: Senator Barry O’Sullivan made racist remarks around “biosecurity” against the Chinese community, while Senator Pauline Hanson has described Muslims as a “virus to be vaccinated." Who could forget when Senator Hanson turned up to the Senate in a burqa, a harmful stunt that only sought to stoke division and hatred.   We have already seen the real-world implications of this behaviour in violent attacks and frenzied media coverage of racial and cultural minorities.  That is why we are calling on the Australian Government to develop and establish a Parliamentary Code of conduct that includes race ethics.  The following are the specific demands for inclusion as part of the code of conduct.  All parliamentarians and their staff to stop using Parliamentary resources and privileges to incite hatred against any sector of Australian society. This applies equally within Parliament and any other public forum. All parliamentarians recognise the value and contribution of the First Peoples of Australia; the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. All parliamentarians respect Australians' diversity of colour, national or ethnic origin, culture or religious belief. All parliamentarians recognise the value and contribution of culturally and linguistically diverse, and new and emerging communities. All parliamentarians reject discriminatory, divisive or exclusionary statements. This means any statements that are not consistent with the values of social inclusion, tolerance, and respect for all persons, regardless of colour, gender, national or ethnic origin, culture and religious belief. All parliamentarians uphold values of social inclusion, tolerance, and respect for all persons, regardless of colour, gender, national or ethnic origin, culture and religious belief. If our elected representatives do not abide by this Code of Conduct, they would be censured, disciplined, and held to account by the Australian people.  We want to live in a harmonious society where embracing differences underpin our relations. We expect our politicians to act as good role models and stand against those spreading hate and division. We need a Code of Conduct to ensure our elected representatives are held to account.  Please, if you agree - sign and share this petition. Thank you.  Mohammad Helmy, on behalf of the Islamic Council of Victoria