Why Australia Day Must Stay.

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Arguments against new day for indigenous Australians

Opinion piece by Senator Pauline Hanson

Originally published in the Courier Mail– 26/09/201

 

SCOTT MORRISON was off the mark yesterday when he offered appeasement to those who wish to move Australia Day from January 26 by suggesting the creation of a national public holiday dedicated to the celebration of indigenous Australians.

This would be a mistake because it is simply a continuation of politics that have been dividing Australians for decades.

The Prime Minister must not fall into the trap of splitting Australia into separate groups with different rights, by creating what would be seen as a separate national day for indigenous Australians.

As I said in my 1996 maiden speech, if politicians continue to promote separatism in Australia, they should not continue to hold their seats in this Parliament. They are not truly representing all Australians, and I call on the people to throw them out.

To survive in peace and harmony, united and strong, we must have one people, one nation, one flag. I could add to that one national day.

On January 26, 1788, the future of this great continent changed and no one is trying to deny that. However, to declare that the date represents something regrettable or something that could perhaps be rectified is wrong. Not only is it wrong, but it is a dangerous idea, and if we continue to allow it to grow in popularity, it will slowly but surely tear our great nation apart.

I think opposition to the current Australia Day date is born from an ignorance of history and a powerful strain of white guilt that has been fostered among Australians by a cynical and self-loathing left.

You don’t rewrite history, you learn from it

January 26 has been celebrated in Australia for over 200 years, and it doesn’t signify the colonisation of Australia by the British.

What the date represents is the moment when the brave men and women of the First Fleet arrived in Australia, not by their own free will, but by the will of others. They landed on the shores of a land unknown to them, seeking not to conquer, but to survive.

And no one is denying that there was conflict and tragedy when new Australians, fighting to survive, clashed with Australians who had been surviving here for thousands of years.

But I strongly believe the way we repair the wounds of the past will not be through creating more division, but through celebrating January 26, 1788, the day that our ancestors were thrust together by forces outside of their control and yet still managed to come together to build one of the greatest nations on Earth.

Protect Our Australian Way Of Life | Senate Speech

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SENATE SPEECH

19th September 2018

On the 17th of August last year I wore a burka into the Senate to confront the Senate with failed immigration policy. The burka puts the issues of extremism, gender equality and integration front and centre of the immigration debate.

It is time we deal with our failed immigration policy, which has seen culturally separate communities establish themselves near our major cities funded by our welfare system.

Integration is the subject of public and political debate, but little progress is being made, because the fools on the left side of politics are acting like ostriches with their heads in the sand.

In Denmark citizenship is available only to those applicants resident for 9 years who have been self-supporting for 4 out of the previous 5 years. Additionally applicants need to evidence cultural competence and knowledge, including language skills and knowledge of society.

In Australia, you only need to be resident for four years, one year on a permanent visa, and then get 12 questions out of 20 right in a multiple choice test to gain citizenship.

In July this year the Danish government announced it would introduce new laws to regulate all aspects of life in low- income and heavily Muslim enclaves in an attempt to bring this group into Danish society.

The proposal includes mandatory day care for a minimum of 30 hours a week for children up to the age of six, so they can participate in a course in Danish values such as gender equality, community participation and co-responsibility.

Additionally the Danish government proposes withdrawing social benefits from parents whose children miss more than 15% of the school term.

Controversially the Danish government also proposes a possible four year prison sentence for immigrant parents, who take their children on ‘extended visits’ to their country of origin, in a way that the government determines compromises the children’s schooling, language and well-being.

Children are a focal point for immigration policy, because they learn languages faster, make friends more easily and more rapidly adapt to their new culture and customs.

Denmark is not the only country in Europe taking this approach, because German asylum applicants including children go through integration courses to learn about Germany and German values.

It is time to call a spade a spade. We have heavy concentrations of overseas born near our major cities and the patterns of settlement suggest that the past pattern of integration will not continue.

Let me be clear I am talking about a minority of Australian Muslims. I recognize and appreciate the hard working Australian Muslims who have embraced our democracy and values and do not support an extreme ideology.

If we want to avoid the European problems with immigration, we need to ensure a permanent visa and citizenship is given only to those people who integrate into Australia and work.

We take migrants from regions with vastly different customs and practices to those in Australia, including their attitude towards women.

When the women of the left side of this chamber stood and clapped the Attorney-General, as he berated me for wearing a burka, we saw the clearest contrast between the right and left side of politics.

I saw the fools on the opposition benches pander to minorities without realizing the implications of creeping Islamic fundamentalism in our society.

Islamic fundamentalism has emptied the Middle East of Christian communities and many of those people have come here and are frightened by what they see.

Oxford Imam and scholar Taj Hargey says he is frustrated that white feminists are defending women in burkas, because all they do is support misogynist and patriarchal attitudes to women, which see women as chattel, possessions and belongings.

Dr Taj Hargey suggests that those who bend over backwards to Islamic fanatics are suffering a white guilt complex and do not understand that the burka signs the arrival of sharia law which entrenches women as second class citizens.

If you don’t think women are being treated as second class citizens in Australia then you must have your eyes closed.

Only last week Sydney Muslim preacher Nassim Abdi from Auburn in western Sydney said that wives who refuse to have sex with their husbands have committed a sin. His sermon drew outrage from outside that community but illustrates our failed immigration policy that will not recognise that these comments represent the norm in some Islamic countries.

What makes politicians think migrants with very different attitudes and beliefs will give them up just because we give them a permanent visa and citizenship.

Australians have had enough of the complacency of pro-immigration elites.

We have been giving about 230,000 permanent visas a year to those born overseas. Despite the misleading statements by the government and Labor, permanent immigration accounts for most of Australia’s permanent population growth, because our natural rate of increase is low.

In 2016-17 a total of 40,000 permanent visas were issued to people from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. We have issued 291,975 permanent visas to people from these regions in the past decade.

These regions have vastly different cultural norms to those in Australia, including polygamous unions, child marriage, female genital mutilation and the rejection of gender equality.

These customs and practices have not been given up on arrival into Australia and they have financial consequences, which are being funded by the taxpayer through the health system and Centrelink.

The Australian Medical Association in 2017 reported on the extent of female genital mutilation and found in one hospital in Melbourne, over 600 women a year are being treated for female genital mutilation. This is just one hospital in Australia and does not include the horrific injuries sustained by young girls who end in the Children’s hospitals of Australia. These injuries are life- long for these individuals and costly for the taxpayer.

Of course additional health costs are just one issue.

I recently interviewed south Australian imam Mohammad Tawhidi, who told me that Centrelink is the new Mosque.

He told me of a man with 4 wives and eleven children who lived on Centrelink benefits and he was able to pay off more than one home.

Centrelink is not meant to be a way of life.

I want to know when the government will stop funding polygamous unions and encouraging people to have more children than they can afford.

Why should the taxpayer be working to support a man who does not want to work and has more children than he can afford to look after?

Why should women who make themselves unemployable be funded by the taxpayer?

But the government has thrown in the towel with the result that money that should go into aged care and into disability services is going to fund polygamy.

It is time we acknowledge the failures of multiculturalism and find solutions before we find ourselves with European scale problems.

The Labor vision of a multicultural society was never meant to be one of multicultural separatism. There have been successes and I acknowledge hard working Asian families.

Most Australians think multiculturalism has been good for Australia because we appear to have absorbed a number of culturally diverse migrants, but high levels of immigration and heavy concentrations of overseas born around our major cities threatens our future and the future of our children.

A growing number of people in Australia cannot speak English well or at all, over a million people. If we are to maintain social cohesion and economic prosperity we need people to read, write and speak English.

Too many federal electorates now have populations where more than 50% of people were born overseas and it is clear we cannot manage.

We need to reconsider the level and mix of permanent migrants to Australia because we are heading down a dead end road at 90 miles an hour and it is going to end in tears.

 

 

Save Australia’s Dairy Industry

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Statement by Senator Hanson on the Australian Dairy Industry

18th September 2018

 

I won’t be buying cheap milk after learning about the devastation that $1-a-litre milk has caused dairy farmers and the threat it poses to the supply of fresh milk for our children and grandchildren. Australian consumers take for granted that they will always be able to buy fresh milk at a reasonable price, but that situation won’t last unless we take action now. Industry experts say that if the dairy farmer continues to be paid less for fresh milk than the breakeven price at the farm gate then production will fall further and more milk will be exported to places like China, where they are prepared to pay up to $9 a litre. The Chinese consumer loves Australian fresh milk. It is the reason Chinese interests bought Australia’s largest milk producer in 2016—a group of 25 dairy farms in Tasmania. This Tasmanian dairy herd of over 20,000 cows produces enough milk to fill two Qantas flights a week bound for the Chinese market.

If we don’t take action now, fresh milk will become a luxury item and we will be forced to use milk powder. When that happens I will hold Coles and Woolworths responsible for the disappearance of fresh milk from our refrigerators. Coles and Woolworths use their market power to buy fresh milk for their home brands below the cost of production. They can do this by simply threatening not to stock other products like cheese, butter and yogurt. I know most Australians are willing to pay bit more now for their milk to ensure the continued supply of fresh milk and to support our dairy farmers. I call on the government to regulate the price of fresh milk on supermarket shelves in a way that sees dairy farmers paid a fair price for their fresh milk. This regulation would end the milk war started by Coles in 2011 and encourage competition in supermarkets.

To be clear: I’m not calling on the return of the regulatory regime which existed prior to 2000, where the federal government subsidised the price of manufactured dairy products and the state subsidised the price of fresh milk. I want the farmgate price for milk regulated so that milk will be available at a fair and sustainable price for consumers and the dairy industry. I have called on the government to refer the duopoly of Coles and Woolworths to the ACCC for anticompetitive behaviour, but the government won’t do it.

Dairy farmers have left the industry and many more are under huge financial strain and trying to work out how they can survive. The toll on the mental health of these Australians is too high, and everyone in the industry knows of someone who has suicided. Dairy farmers cannot be expected to deal with huge electricity prices, a drought and the misuse of market power by Coles and Woolworths. They need a bit of help, and I’m asking consumers and the government to do their bit. I know the ACCC has made recommendations and I support them, but it is not enough. Dairy farmers are running out of feed and don’t have the money to buy more.

I am worried for Queensland dairy farmers and for Queenslanders, because we once produced enough milk for our state and export and now we don’t. We had 1,500 dairy farms in 2000 and now we are down to 385. Dairy farmers need a sign that it is worth struggling on, and the quickest and most effective way now is for consumers to stop buying home brand milk from Coles and Woolworths. I’ll keep fighting for dairy farmers in my discussions with government. I want the price of fresh milk at the farm gate regulated, and I want to make sure that not one single dairy herd goes to the slaughter houses for lack of feed. Please support branded milk from the independent processors like Maleny Dairies, 4Real Milk and Cooloola Milk that pay dairy farmers a fair price for their fresh milk. I’m calling on the Australian people to stand by these dairy farmers and not pay the cheap price from Coles and Woolworths.

 

 

Save our strawberry growers: A letter to Minister Littleproud

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Dear Minister,

Over the past week, most strawberry growers throughout Queensland have had their seasons brought to a rapid end due to fruit tampering.

The terrorising act has left one man hospitalised after swallowing half a sewing needle that has led to major supermarkets recalling the fruit and spooking consumers’ nationwide.

By the weekend, Coles and Aldi stores had removed all Queensland strawberries for the remainder of this strawberry season.

Queensland strawberry growers are in complete shock, with many contemplating the financial run this will have on their businesses off the back of seasonal low prices.

I have spoken to Queensland growers and their state body who have confirmed emergency talks have occurred with supermarkets with further meeting taking place this week.

The Queensland strawberry industry consists of roughly 80 growers and is worth approximately $200 million dollars each year to the state’s economy, generated over a 4 to 5 month period.

Berry growers now employ more workers than any other in the fruit and vegetable industry. These jobs too have also come to an early end, costing small town economies enormously.

I note that some strawberry growers have arranged meetings with their banks this week in anticipation of lenders having itchy feet and calling in loans.

I will make contact with Queensland strawberry growers to ensure them, my office will personally write to all banks this week to seek their support of this industry during what can only be described as a devastating event. I would encourage you to do the same.

In the event of Australians being the victim of terrorism, the Department of Human Services offers up to $75,000 depending on the circumstances.

These growers, I feel, are victims of an act of terror.

While no amount of money can revive the season Queensland growers have lost, there are ways your Government can assist these 80 growers by way of grants to implement scanners that will safeguard their fruit and assist in implementing new tamper-proof technologies before next year’s season.

Minister, I am seeking an urgent meeting with you and your department to discuss these and any other solutions you may have to assist our Queensland strawberry growers.

Kind Regards,

Pauline Hanson

Greens live sheep export ban will destroy lives

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MEDIA RELEASE

The Greens and Labor parties have shown utter contempt for Australian producers and families by shutting down debate on a bill to ban the live sheep export trade and then forcing it through the Senate.

“All Australians are appalled by the deaths and treatment of some sheep being transported overseas, none more than sheep farmers themselves, but we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Senator Hanson said.

“Live exports bring in billions of dollars a year to our economy. Yet the Greens and Labor have not given proper consideration to those farmers, communities and the workers who rely on the income derived from the live sheep export industry.”

“Clean up the way sheep are exported by all means. Fine those who break the law or strip them of their exporting licence if they are found to be doing the wrong thing. But we have to take a measured approach.”

“Did we learn nothing from the impact of shutting down the live cattle export industry?”

“Does the Labor party not understand that farming communities across Australia are still reeling from the damage done by their party when they banned live cattle exports?”

“This is just another case of the Greens seeking to tear an industry down without offering any solutions to the Australians whose lives will be utterly ruined by their slash and burn policies.”

“The total lack of empathy shown by the Greens and Labor towards Australian farming communities is sickening. With so many Australian farmers being forced off the land and suicides at epidemic levels, they need to learn that it is not just people’s livelihoods that are at stake, it is their lives.”

 

Immigration Debate Cannot Be Silenced | Speech Transcript

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SENATE SPEECH TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO

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If Labor and the Greens, supported by Senator Anning, thought their stunt on Monday would silence me, on immigration, then they are dreaming.

The Labor Green alliance is afraid to tell voters that from December 2005 to December 2016 Australia’s population grew from 20.5 million to 24.4 million and that 62% of this growth was from overseas immigration.

Further, they are afraid to ask voters at the next federal election the question “Do you think the current rate of immigration is too high?”

Fear that this information will be given to every voter at the next general election is the reason Labor and the Greens voted against debating my private Senator’s legislation titled Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018.

We know, voters are concerned about the level of immigration and the pace of population growth, but what is less well known is that Labor and their partners the Australian Greens need very high levels of immigration for their political future.

Labor holds all the seats, where the overseas born population is above 50% and heading for 60%. Labor holds the vast majority of seats where the overseas born population is above 40% and heading for 50%.

These electorates are close to Sydney and Melbourne. How does the government expect new migrants to learn about Australian values and Australian law when everyone around them was born overseas?

Over 40% of the members of the lower house in this parliament represent electorates where over 30% of the population was born overseas.

Is it any surprise that the Lowy Institute survey found a ‘sharp spike in anti-immigration sentiment’ in 2018, causing their annual sentiment measure to change from positive to negative?

The same survey found 4 out of 10 Australians say that ‘if Australia is too open to people from all over the world we risk losing our identity as a nation’.

No other comparable country in the world is pursuing legal immigration at a pace where the population is growing at 1.7% a year.

How do we expect migrants to develop a sense of belonging, when the majority of migrants settle in regions where the number of people born overseas outnumbers the number of people born in Australia?

Some in the government have acknowledged we need to slow the rate of immigration, but Labor and the Greens want higher levels of immigration than we have today.

If voters are experiencing problems with 200,000 permanent migrants, a year just imagine what Australia will feel like when Labor returns to permanent immigration levels of 300,000 plus.

Who is to say the immigration level under Labor will not be much higher.

Labor and their partners the Australian Greens are playing a high risk game of poker with our future and the future of our children. These socialist parties want the next election to be about anything but immigration, but every issue keeping Australians awake at night is related to immigration.

Immigration levels are now just too high for us to manage. For the majority of Australians however, high immigration means poorly paid jobs, high electricity and water prices, unaffordable housing , long wait times for access to health services, insufficient money for schools and congestion on public transport and our roads.

Australian voters need to understand the next election is about immigration

One Nation’s policy on immigration has been misrepresented and it is time for me to set the record straight.

We recognize the invaluable contribution of overseas born Australians, who have enriched our culture, committed to our values, our law, our political institutions and I thank them.

When migrants come to embrace our way of life and not to change it, the contribution of migrants and their families to Australia is undeniable.

Most Australians believe multiculturalism has been good for Australia, but the right to express cultural identity comes with the responsibility to accept Australia’s liberal democracy and to read, write and speak English.

I support English as Australia’s official language, because it’s a unifying force and advances migrant communities as well as Australia’s interests. Labor and the Greens believe hand gestures and a few words of English is enough to integrate into Australia and that is why they would not support the government’s proposed legislation to strengthen the English commitments for Australian Citizenship.

Right now the English standard, required for citizenship, is getting 12 multiple choice questions right out of 20. This is the lowest standard of any comparable country in the world.

In a country taking migrants speaking over 100 languages, English helps us get along together and that is critical to the working of our democracy. Parliamentary business is conducted in English and the record of the Parliament is also in English.

How can we expect anyone to cast an informed vote if they cannot understand, in English, the issues of the political parties seeking their vote? There is no guarantee that information provided in other languages is accurate.

Of course it suits Labor to have as many voters as possible unable to understand their poorly thought out policies.

One Nation’s legislation to amend the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 titled Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Commitments for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures) Bill 2018 is currently before a Senate Committee.

Similar legislation was withdrawn by the government, because Labor and the Greens would not support strengthening the commitment required by migrants to gain citizenship. These commitments related to core values and English, requirements are essential to integration.

Labor and the Greens do a disservice to new migrants especially those on the Humanitarian program, when they keep expectations low, because English is necessary for employment and participation in our society.

Labor and their mates in the press find it offensive when I say Australia has the right to choose the number and mix of migrants to ensure that immigration is in the national interest of existing citizens. I will not apologize for saying the interests of existing citizens comes first.

Australia’s Constitution prevents us from asking the religion of those who seek to migrate to Australia, but equally we cannot ignore the potential to integrate into Australia. I believe we should add this criterion in our assessment process.

When we look at countries with high living standards we can see they have relatively small populations and that the population is in harmony with the natural carrying capacity of the country.

One Nation believes the best population growth comes from Australian citizens having children. We want Australians to have the number of children they can afford to look after, but we also want to reduce the barriers for Australians to have children, including lowering the cost of housing which will follow if we reduce the level of immigration.

Governments both Liberal and Labor have based their immigration targets on the ridiculous belief that high rates of immigration will prevent or slow the aging of Australia’s population.

Yes, migrants are younger on arrival than the average Australian but migrants get old and the only way to keep Australia ‘forever young’ is to increase year on year the number of new young migrants settling permanently in Australia. This population Ponzi scheme will end when social cohesion breaks down and that day is not as far away as you might think.

Government’s both Liberal and Labor, argue immigration is good for the economy but economists know that immigration benefits specific special interest groups like property developers.

In the short term immigration reduces per capita income which is why wage growth has been low and will stay low. In the long term immigration gains are very modest but the calculations ignore congestion costs, house prices and loss of amenity and jobs.

If immigration at the current levels is such a great idea, why have we gone steadily into debt so that every worker in Australia pays over $1300 a year to service our debt mountain?

At the end of World War II Australia’s population was over seven million people and 90% of those people were born in Australia.

In 1945 we were short of labour and it was thought we needed to be a much bigger population to defend ourselves. But today we are a population of 25 million people and there is no need to have the highest level of legal migration in the world.

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Corporate Tax Cuts and Government Failure | Senator Hanson Speech

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SPEECH TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO

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Firstly, I would like to explain to the chamber that my absence for the second reading division was simply unfortunate and not designed to give any further time to this debate, given my very clear stance on not supporting any further corporate tax cuts. We find ourselves with an amendment that Treasurer Scott Morrison claims was given to me last week. Let me make it clear to this chamber that I had not seen this amendment until it was emailed to my office at 12.09 pm today.

This week has been a complete shambles—an embarrassment to every Australian. You’ve got the Liberals knifing each other and Senator Cameron was caught dancing down the corridors with his air tambourine, singing Oh Happy Day. The people are over it. They’re tired of every single one of you urinating their money up against a brick wall. If they could bang your heads against the same wall they would—both of you: Labor and the coalition. You have left the people in this country with a filthy hangover today. When I go shopping, people ask, ‘Why can’t the government help the farmers instead of these big companies?’ They’re right. The bulk of multinationals don’t pay their fair share of tax in this country. People ask me, ‘Why do we send billions overseas in the form of foreign aid?’ It’s a good question, isn’t it, especially when every single one of you drives past at least six homeless people sleeping near Outback Jacks on Northbourne Avenue here in Canberra. And let’s not forget the other 105,000 homeless people we have in this country. I’ve got cane farmers across Queensland, who want a code of conduct. Nothing else—no money, just surety for their industry, which employs tens of thousands of Australian workers and pumps $2 billion in cash through this economy.

Why aren’t we looking after those people? Aren’t these tax cuts about saving jobs?

I’m tired of the people of this country sitting at their dining-room tables saying: ‘Did you hear what those clowns in Canberra did today? They don’t care about us.’ They are talking about us. Tonight I’m voting with the lion’s share of people in Rockhampton. I’m voting with the bulk of mums and dads in Tamworth. I’m voting with the majority of people in Coal Point, Townsville, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Beerwah, Bowen, Kilcoy, thousands of towns across my home state of Queensland and thousands more across the country. The majority of people don’t want these tax cuts for businesses with turnover greater than $50 million. You know why they don’t want me to support these tax cuts? You refused to fix the PRRT. Let me explain the PRRT. It is a tax imposed on the gas offshore in North West Australia. This is 15 per cent plus. Over the period of time that we’ve had the PRRT, companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell have now cumulated $290 billion in tax credits, so that they say they will not be paying tax in this country for a long time to come.

Countries like Japan are making more money in excise tax out of ships with our gas on them, around $3 billion, than we do. We made about $800 million off our sales of approximately $55 billion this year. You refuse to collect billions in royalties from Commonwealth waters. Qatar made $26.6 billion in gas and oil sales, and we made $800 million—and you’re worried about investment in this country, that the multinationals won’t come here unless we reduce corporate taxes? I don’t think you have it right. The whole fact is they will come here, because they are not paying the right taxes in the first place. Why wouldn’t they come here?

You refuse to acknowledge that our tax system is different to those of every other country. You made a reference to America, who dropped their rate to 21 per cent. Yes, but their state taxes are between two and 12 per cent on top of that. You don’t refer to their different tax systems. You can’t compare apples with oranges. Every country has a different taxation system. Just because they drop their taxes doesn’t mean that we do. You say they are dropping it every year, and that other countries are going to drop it to 17 per cent. Is this a race to the bottom? Who can give the lowest tax rates, so that we don’t lose the investment? If they are not going to pay taxes in this country, what are we losing? They are only more competitive for the Australian businesses here who are struggling and trying to do the right thing. America has lower wages. That’s another thing. I’m definitely not advocating that we have lower wages in Australia.

What have your free trade agreements done? You have signed away the workers. You talk about more jobs, but your free trade agreements have allowed these multinational companies to bring in their own workers. You are destroying our own workforce. America has half-price energy. There’s your problem. Reduce the cost of energy in Australia, so industries and manufacturing can compete, instead of escalating prices. America has 325 million people in their domestic market and, more importantly, trading partners on their doorstep. There are a combined 450 million people in Canada and South America that they can sell their products to. They have also applied tariffs to imports—fancy that! I recall a younger version of myself calling for tariffs 20 years ago.

These countries protect their homegrown industries—in Australia, we tie our companies up in red tape—and flood our market with cheap junk.

As for suggestions on how to spend the money if you don’t do this, because you’re going to end up with about $4 billion in the coffers, what about long-term-vision projects, infrastructure projects like roads and rail? What about dams and the Bradfield water scheme, which would drought-proof our nation and help the poor farmers out there that are on their knees? What about the watering Australia program to bring the water down from the Territory, the Ord scheme, so we actually water Australia? These are projects that would make our country prosper and help those that are in dire need. This country is not going to grow or move forward if we don’t provide the water that it needs. We have countries like Israel that have put in a watering project that can water their country. But we can’t do it?

There is no vision in this country whatsoever for future generations. What about railway projects like the Carmichael mine and duplication of the Sunshine Coast Railway through to Nambour? Why aren’t we duplicating the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns for tourism and freight? Coal-fired power stations to produce the dispatchable energy that we need to reduce the power prices in this country; hydro power like the Tully-Millstream project—why aren’t we doing these projects? Where’s the debate on nuclear energy? Why don’t we do that?

I have respectfully listened to the government’s arguments, and I do thank Senator Cormann for his good-natured negotiations. But I cannot support a shift in the threshold to increase further corporate tax cuts, carving out the big four banks. My question is: what about the other banks? They have to answer for the wrong they’ve done to many people across this country, and the damage and the heartache that they’ve caused. It’s more than just the four banks.

My obligation is to the everyday people of this country and to ensure we start paying down the mounting debt. One Nation supported tax cuts up to a $50 million turnover. That’s a cost to the budget of $35 million. We supported the personal tax cuts; that’s another $144 billion. You want to pass these further corporate tax cuts; that’s a further $45 billion. And you’re talking about in eight years time. How do we know the state of this economy in eight years time? How do we know if this country will be able to afford it? How do we know who’s going to be holding the chequebook—because I don’t trust any one of you. I’ve seen it. Under Labor, when it changed over to the coalition, the country was in debt by about $270 billion. Now we’re reaching nearly $600 billion. There has to be a debt ceiling put on, because someone has to curtail your spending. No-one’s talking about future generations and how we’re paying down this debt.

You talk about how it’s going to create jobs. I’ll tell you the only way you will create jobs in this country and get a better, higher wage increase: please work with your state counterparts and investigate reducing payroll tax, which is a bigger impost on business across the nation. That will—it will—stimulate jobs in this country. That’s why I say to you that you can’t guarantee corporate tax cuts are going to create employment and bring higher wages. For a lot of these businesses, what I hear all the time is that the biggest problem in this whole country is payroll tax. I know it’s not a federal issue; it is a state issue. You have to work with the states to compensate them for slowly reducing the payroll tax, which will increase employment. Why would these businesses put more money into their companies and businesses through a corporate tax cut when they know that, if you create more employment and higher wages, that’s going to put them over the threshold and they’re going to be paying more in payroll tax? It needs to stop. Address your free trade agreements and stop these companies bringing in their workers from overseas—and that is actually happening. Ensure that we as a nation can afford this. You haven’t proven that to me.

I’m worried about the future generations and the debt we are going to leave them. You can sit there and promise me all these things, but with all the deals that you may have done in this chamber with the other senators, there is no guarantee of who’s going to be the Prime Minister of this country next week—whether or not it’s going to be Malcolm Turnbull. If we go to an early election, are these deals going to be secure? They possibly won’t be. So, I want to know that the future of this nation is in good hands. I don’t feel that it is.

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Corporate Tax Cuts – No Deal

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MEDIA RELEASE

Queensland Senator and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has denied reports the Turnbull Government issued draft policy plans to exclude banks with assets worth more than $500 billion dollars, in a last ditched attempt to resurrect Company Tax Cuts.

“I have always maintained an open door policy with members of the Government and Opposition on corporate tax cuts, however Senator Georgiou and I have remained firm on our decision not to raise the threshold before parliament broke in June,” Senator Hanson said.

“In a parting comment by Minister Cormann, he suggested carving out the banks to secure One Nation votes, to which I said my decision was firm. No draft legislation was ever received and I can confirm, Senator Georgiou did not receive this alleged document either.”

“This Government along with previous have left zero fat in the budget in order to pay down debt. Until multinational companies are pursued and forced to pay their fair share of taxes, and we stop allowing oil and gas companies to rape our resources without paying adequate royalties, I cannot justify cuts beyond $50 million dollars that One Nation was instrumental in securing for small to medium size businesses in this country.”

“If the Government have billions of dollars left over in their forecast budgets, I suggest they come with me and we start pegging out new dams, roads, railways and other vital infrastructure they keep avoiding. It’s time we start nation building programs which will benefit all Australians instead of trying to appease the Liberal and Labor parties greedy corporate donors.”

Senator Hanson has also suggested the Government work with State counterparts to investigate reducing payroll tax which is a bigger impost on business across the nation and will stimulate jobs in Australia.

-END-

Senate votes to kill off debate on immigration

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MEDIA RELEASE

Today, Labor, the Greens and a number of Senate crossbenchers, teamed up to prevent debate of Senator Hanson’s Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018.

“The Australian people desperately want a debate on immigration, sadly Labor and the Greens are equally desperate to run from this debate,” Senator Hanson said.

“What we have seen today is Labor, the Greens and their accomplices, resorting to grubby tactics to deny me the right to speak and deny the people a say on the level of immigration into Australia.”

“It is interesting to note Katter’s Australia Party Senator Fraser Anning was more than happy to do the Labor party’s dirty work and act as the deciding vote to kill off debate on my immigration plebiscite bill.”

“The people of Australia have had enough of opportunistic and weak willed politicians who stifle debate on controversial issues.”

“I hope the people of Australia take note of those Senators who voted to stifle this debate on immigration, because now we know which parties are serious about giving the people a say and which parties are only interested in playing petty politics.”

The Senate voted as follows:

AYES, 31

Senators—

Abetz Fawcett Leyonhjelm Ryan
Birmingham Fierravanti-Wells Macdonald Scullion
Brockman Fifield Martin Seselja
Burston Georgiou McKenzie Smith, Dean*
Bushby Gichuhi Molan Stoker
Canavan Hanson O’Sullivan Storer
Colbeck Hinch Payne Williams
Duniam Hume Ruston

NOES, 32

Senators—

Anning Di Natale Ketter* Siewert
Bartlett Dodson McAllister Singh
Bilyk Farrell McCarthy Smith, David
Brown Faruqi McKim Steele-John
Cameron Gallacher O’Neill Sterle
Carr Griff Patrick Urquhart
Chisholm Hanson-Young Polley Watt
Collins Keneally Rice Whish-Wilson
Below is a copy of Senator Hanson’s prepared speech:

Australia’s population increased by 3.5 million people in the decade 2006 to 2016. Around 60% of that population increase came from immigration.

 

There is no doubt that immigration is the cause of Australia’s exceptional population growth.

 

If we continue to allow annual immigration targets to determine the size of our population, then the Australian Bureau of Statistics expects that Australia’s population increase will double from 25 million to 50 million in just 30 years. Melbourne and Sydney will become megacities of over ten million people, but there is no evidence that we can plan and pay for this growth.

 

Governments, both Liberal and Labor, argue immigration is good for the economy, but economist Judith Sloan says immigration benefits special interest groups. She says the economics of immigration are very clear. In the short term immigration reduces per capita income and in the long term per capita income gains are very modest, but these calculations ignore the congestion costs, house prices and the loss of amenity.

 

Our immigration policy is like a horse that has lost its rider. It is dangerous. What we need is a rider, a population policy to safely guide the immigration horse.

 

Each year the government of the day sets an immigration target, but there is no plan to take into account the cumulative long term consequences of those yearly decisions. In fact it is the States and Territories that are left to manage the ever increasing population. State Governments are now carrying very high levels of debt and have little prospect of ever paying these loans.

 

If high levels of legal immigration are such a good idea, why is Australia the only OECD country with a population greater than ten million that is increasing its population at the rate of over 1.7% a year?

In 2011 the percentage of overseas born was just over 25% but today it is over 28%. In certain regions of our major cities those percentages are much higher due to concentration of settlement by certain groups.

 

No other comparable country has such a high proportion of overseas born. We have double the percentage of overseas born when we compare ourselves to the United States, the United Kingdom or New Zealand.

 

It is time to put the interests of citizens first and to stop pandering to special interest groups, including business, higher education and property developers who benefit from excessive immigration.

 

The Lowy Institute Survey reported a ‘sharp spike in anti-immigration sentiment’ in 2018, causing their annual sentiment measure to change from positive to negative.

 

The 2017 Scanlon Survey reported 37% of respondents see the current immigration intake as too high, but when respondents remained anonymous 74% said that Australia did not need any more people.

 

In the same year the Australian Population Research Institute found 54% of respondents, who were Australian voters, wanted the number of immigrants reduced.

 

The government and the opposition must be aware of these findings, but they have not changed their positions. Jointly the major political parties want a bigger and bigger population for Australia.

 

Is it that these political parties do not believe the results of these surveys?

 

Inevitably the sample sizes in these surveys are small when compared to the total population. Perhaps the major parties will be persuaded of the electorates view if a plebiscite on immigration is held at the next general election, because that is what is proposed in the Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018.

 

My Bill proposes to ask voters “Do you think the immigration rate is too high?”

 

My view is that an overwhelming majority of Australians will say that the immigration rate is too high, when they are told 62% of the population increase in the decade to 2016 was the result of immigration.

 

It is clear to see that the benefits of a high level of legal immigration are outweighed by problems, but political parties depend for much of their support from the special interest groups which benefit from high immigration.

 

The Liberals and Labor have two choices. Either they accept there is no political support for high levels of legal immigration or they can argue there is no problem with legal mass immigration.

 

There is plenty of evidence the government and the opposition will use statistics to mislead the electorate on the real cause of Australia’s population explosion.

 

There are three recent examples worth noting.

 

The first one took place on the day after the Budget in May this year when the Treasurer said that permanent immigration only accounted for around 20% of Australia’s population growth.

 

Treasurer Morrison made that statement knowing that many permanent visas can only be issued after residency requirements in Australia are met. Once these pathway visas are taken into account, permanent immigration accounts for around 60% of Australia’s population growth and not the 20% claimed by the Treasurer.

 

The second example involved the publication of figures which showed that in 2017-18 the number of permanent migrants had dropped from 190,000 to 163,000, but the government failed to say that a further 40,000 people were on bridging visas awaiting the outcome of their applications for permanent residence. In other words, the government can manipulate the figures by reducing staffing resources.

 

Labor is just as deceptive, because like the government they will not accept there is a problem with permanent immigration.

 

Labor says the immigration problem is one of temporary migration because we have two million temporary migrants in Australia, including up to half a million foreign students. Temporary migrants, however, are just temporary and unless they are on a pathway visa they leave Australia.

 

Political parties must be stupid to deny there is a problem with permanent migration, because families do notice demountable classrooms at the school, crowded train platforms, buses that don’t stop because they are already full, ever increasing travelling times between familiar destinations and long wait times to see specialist doctors etc.

 

I have often been called a ‘populist’, but all I do is listen to people wherever I go.

 

Unlike most of the political class I talk with people, who are doing their best to get by, and they tell me that politicians are out of step with them on the issue of migration.

 

I take the view that I am here to represent the views of most Australians or a significant majority of Australians.

 

One Nation believes that our immigration should be reduced to 70,000 a year or whatever number is necessary to maintain the current population size and a sustainable population profile.

 

Australia is a dry continent and our vast land fragile. We need to consider the carrying capacity of the country.

 

At the end of World War II Australia’s population was over seven million people and 90% of those people were born in Australia. In 1945 we were short of labor and the war had created a feeling that a bigger population would be necessary if we were to defend ourselves in the future. After the horror of the war in Europe many people wanted to leave and start a new life in Australia.

I acknowledge the hard work and the contribution made by so many overseas born Australians and their families, but that does not mean that we should continue to have the highest levels of legal immigration in the world.

 

I do not believe in a bigger and bigger population, but more importantly I believe Australian Citizens need to be given a say and that governments should not act on this issue without a mandate from the people of Australia which is why I am putting this Bill before the Senate for debate.

-END-

Australians Deserve A Say On The Levels Of Migration

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Media Release

Today Senator Pauline Hanson will introduce her Plebiscite (Future Migration level) Bill 2018 to the Senate. The Bill proposes to give voters a say on whether Australia’s immigration levels are too high by casting a vote at the next general election.

“For years the people of Australia have had immigration and population levels dictated to them by governments that refused to listen to the will of the people,” Senator Hanson said.

“One Nation’s immigration and population policies have been responsibly developed to address issues surrounding rapid population growth, social cohesion in our communities and underdeveloped infrastructure in our cities and regional communities, with no regard to the racial background of potential migrants.”

“For years, media personalities, activists and out of touch politicians have been sneering and labelling any who dared to raise sensible objections to large scale migration as racists.”

“It is time this stopped, the people of Australia should be given a say in the future population and immigration levels of Australia and that is what this plebiscite if passed, will achieve.”

“It is time that politicians took their heads out of the sand and admitted that the lack of well-established population and immigration policies has contributed to many problems across Australia.”

“Because of failure from our leaders to act on immigration Australians are experiencing a reduction in their standard of living. We cannot ignore issues like more congestion on our road, longer waiting times for hospital beds, shortages in our nursing homes, just to name a few.”

“Because of our Government’s inability to implement sensible population and immigration policies, Sydney and Melbourne are now at capacity.  In fact, they contain many federal electorates where more residents were born overseas than in Australia. Yet the Government continues to funnel more migrants into those areas.”

“The absence of any real immigration or population planning has contributed to the failure of our Governments to invest in long term energy and water infrastructure, which has led to higher energy prices and threats to our water security.

“The major parties need to accept that through their desire to appease special interests groups, minorities and big business, they are responsible for these shortcomings. It is time they accepted that everyday Australians deserve to have their voice heard.”