Closing the Gap – What a joke!

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SENATOR PAULINE HANSON: SPEECH TRANSCRIPT
Pauline Hanson’s Closing the Gap speech

When I speak here today I hope that I am going to get across the voice of many Australians. I’ve never been a pretender, and the people of Australia are relying on me to speak openly and honestly about this issue of closing the gap.

Closing the Gap is complete rubbish, and my thoughts are echoed by many Aboriginals who take the time to meet with me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a joke. The call for recognition is just a feel-good smokescreen that hides the true problems.

The biggest problem facing Aboriginal Australians today is their own lack of commitment and responsibility to helping themselves.

Closing the Gap is the marketing term used by politicians and bureaucrats so they can feel good about themselves and get in front of TV cameras and pretend they’re doing something to lift remote First Nations people out of their self-perpetuating hell holes.

Most Australians know that tens of billions of dollars are spent each year to help alter the standard of living between those in remote Aboriginal communities and even those living in our developed parts of Australia.

When you spend billions of dollars a year on any group of people you expect outcomes. Sadly, those billions have gone to the non-productive, unrepentant Aboriginal industry, not to where it should go, the grassroots Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is an industry that has achieved no notable benefits in pulling our First Nations people out of squalor, domestic violence and poverty.

When I speak here today I represent the quiet Australians, those Australians who have had a gutful of the billion dollar handouts with very little to show for them.

 Far too many Aboriginal kids in remote communities at this very moment are starving. They’re that hungry they’re breaking in to homes not to steal DVD players but to steal food. Far too many Aboriginal kids are fearful of their alcoholic parents and family members, who prey on their vulnerability.

Those Aboriginal children in my home state of Queensland, in towns like Doomadgee, Woorabinda, Aurukun and Yarrabah, remain vulnerable to sexual assault and a life of petrol and paint sniffing under the current weak plans by our federal and state governments.

On the other hand, I need to commend the hard work of the NPA Regional Council, led by Mayor Eddie Newman and by Councillor Michael Bond from New Mapoon, who took the time to meet with me last year to genuinely speak about bridging the gap.

Together with their council colleagues in Umagico, Seisia, Bamaga and Injinoo, they have demonstrated that we can close the gap with work programs and opportunities for our Queensland Indigenous people—and so too with the mayor of the Torres Strait Islander Council, Fred Gela, and the Torres Shire Council mayor, Vonda Malone. What people need to understand about me and One Nation is that we will always give credit to those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups who are actively striving to better outcomes for their people, but I’ll also call out those dysfunctional communities.

I spoke about this issue 24 years ago when I was first elected to the House of Representatives. It wasn’t called Closing the Gap back then, but again we threw countless billions at the very same problems we’re talking about today.

What’s changed since I first raised those issues? Nothing. We still have Aboriginal kids not going to school. The wonderful air-conditioned school in Doomadgee has around 400 students enrolled, but they’re barely able to roll-call 50 per cent of students on any given day. They’ve got just one child in the whole school with a 100 per cent attendance record.

Whose fault is that?

Lazy parents.

You can’t blame the whites when it’s your own negligence. We can throw all the money in the world at building these schools, with three meals a day for $2 to make sure Aboriginal kids are given a wholesome meal while they’re at school, but, if they don’t turn up, how do they get ahead in life?

We’re also bribing parents with payments to send their kids to school, but even that’s not working. Never before have Aboriginal people been given greater opportunity to get a job. I see it frequently advertised: ‘Only Aboriginals need apply.’

 I had a letter sent to my office last year that confessed to applying for one of these jobs, even though the writer knew he wasn’t Aboriginal and in fact he wasn’t even Australian; he was a Pacific islander.

When he was quizzed about his heritage, he made up a story, saying he was a part of the stolen generation and had no proper knowledge of his background. What type of mockery does this create?

Many Australians feel we have widened the gap as a result of Federal Court and High Court decisions. Only yesterday, we undermined our border security and immigration laws with the decision by our High Court.

We widen the gap by dropping Australia’s national anthem at football games but are expected to stand and conduct a welcome to country. You will never close the gap while this parliament continues to hand native title land claims back to land councils.

The tensions this creates among tribes or mobs is feeding the division in many of these remote communities. I hear frequently from Aboriginals who have serious concerns with the behaviour of Noel Pearson and Jason Yanner, alias Little Boy Murrandoo Yanner.

These people aren’t helping close the gap; they’re simply riding the gravy train. Incarceration rates of Aboriginals remain alarmingly high, even with the reluctance from the courts to jail them. The simple truth is: if you do the crime, you do the time. We expect it of every other Australian or person who comes to this country.

If you want to close the gap, start taking some responsibility for your own people. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. We’ve provided the schools, it’s now up to you to send your own kids to school.

We’ve provided the jobs, but it’s up to you to turn up when you’re rostered on, not when it suits. It’s up to the Aboriginals to stay off the grog and the drugs.

I will leave you with my final thoughts. Closing the gap should be about treating all Australians equally and on an individual needs basis, not one based on race.

These government policies that are based on race are themselves discriminatory and racist.

 Stop feeding the resentment in this country and you’ll naturally close the gap. And stop playing the victim if we are to move forward as a united country.

 Resentment, hatred and blaming have to stop. We owe this to all future generations, regardless of race or colour.

END

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Prohibiting the Indoctrination of Children

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Senator’s Statement 12 February 2020

The government is well aware children are being indoctrinated through the curriculum and by teachers, yet they choose to do nothing. This leaves One Nation to draw attention to the problem and to offer up a solution. It’s the reason I introduced the Australian Education Legislation Amendment (Prohibiting the Indoctrination of Children) Bill 2020, earlier this week.

In some areas our children are being taught to accept ideas that are either unproven such as gender fluidity or are debatable such as catastrophic man-made climate change.

Australian 15-year-olds are falling behind their counterparts in global tests of literacy and numeracy. The curriculum is over-crowded. I want our schools to focus on the basics, so our children don’t leave school with skill levels three years behind their global counterparts.

The authority responsible for developing the curriculum needs a shake-up and under my proposal they are obliged to be balanced in their presentation of political, historical and scientific teaching material.

Under my proposal parents will have legal rights to challenge inaccurate and biased teachings in the courts and to have their views taken into account at school. The education system is in desperate need of accountability.

Every day Australian children are indoctrinated to believe catastrophic human made climate alarmism.

They are taught near surface temperatures have increased in recent decades, but there is no examination of colonial state records between 1855 and 1910, which show it was hotter back then than it is today.

How many in this chamber know the IPCC’s own Charter requires it to limit its scientific assessment to human-induced climate change? Research related to natural climate change is automatically eliminated from their reports. In short they only collect information to support on side of climate change.

How many in this chamber know the HadCRUT4 is the primary global temperature dataset used by the IPCC or that HadCRUT4 created in 1994 was independently audited for the first time in 2017 and found to be unreliable.

The IPCC only presents one side of the climate debate, but Australian students need to know the two sides, which is why I want Australia to adopt a policy similar to the United Kingdom under the UK Education Act 1996.

The UK Education Act 1996 allowed a parent named Stuart Dimmock to challenge the use of Al Gore’s climate alarmism propaganda film in his child’s school curriculum. The Judge found a large number of claims made in the film could not be substantiated by science, including the claim made by Al Gore that increasing carbon dioxide levels were causing increasing temperature.

Secondary schools in England could have shown Great Global Warming Swindle, a film that suggests scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors, but they did not because they only wanted to put one side, their side to students.

Three years after the Judgement in the Inconvenient Truth Case was published, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted to a shocking scientific fraud concerning the melting of the Himalayan glaciers.

Just imagine what the Judge would have thought of a media release from an activist group being passed off as science in the 4th IPCC Assessment Report.

Sadly, Australian teachers and schools are still teaching climate science in a way which prevents students meaningfully testing the veracity of material and forming an independent understanding as to how reliable it is.

I now want to turn to gender theory indoctrination in schools. It involves some teachers and schools pushing the idea that a child’s biological sex does not determine whether you are male or female.

How many transgender children are there in schools in Australia? According to the 2016 Census, just 57 students under the age of 15 identified as transgender.

How many transgender students do you think there are in any single school? I will let you do the maths but is something like 57 transgender students divided by 9400 schools.

Despite the small numbers every other student in Australia is subjected to transgender policies, which are being taken to extremes.

We all see that in the decision of education bureaucrats to provide unisex toilets at the Fortitude Valley State Secondary College.

I understand the school, which opened in 2020, has now changed its unisex toilet policy and returned to segregated toilets following parent and student protests.

This time the education system backed down, but I have no doubt they will  wait and try again later. Legislation needs to be in place to give parents a voice, because as it stands teachers and schools are not accountable to their students or their parents.

The decision to force children to use unisex toilets is just part of larger plan to get children preoccupied with gender issues.

Other policies which aid gender preoccupation include gender neutral uniforms, library policies to buy gender theory affirming books, and teachers putting gender theory stories on reading lists.

The preoccupation with gender identity by some teachers and schools is correlated with an increase in children identifying as transgender, which is why I say teachers are ‘transgendering’ our children.

In Queensland some teachers are reading stories like the Gender Fairy to 4 and 5-year-old children. The Gender Fairy shows young children that they can choose their gender, because their body parts don’t make them a boy, or a girl. 

In Western Australia some 8-year-olds are spending learning time dressing up as the opposite sex, using a government-supplied box of dress up clothes. By the time these students are in year 9 they will have a new vocabulary based on gender diversity theory, and they will have been taught the art of sex-texting and advanced sexual techniques.

In Queensland, the government has decided that parents cannot be allowed to know whether the ‘Safe Schools’ program is being taught in a school their child attends. The Safe Schools Coalition has labelled Queensland parents ‘homophobic and transphobic’ and says the government’s decision to keep the program secret from parents is justified. I don’t agree.

Advocates for the Safe Schools program say this program and others like it promote equality of opportunity and combat bullying at school. In practice nothing could be further from the truth, because girls are being bullied into losing their rights.

Students who do not show the required level of enthusiasm for the LGBTQI+ agenda, including materials like the Genderbread Person, are humiliated and embarrassed by teachers, according to reports from parents.

School policies in every State and Territory are based on the belief it would be discriminatory to separate biological males from girls with whom they share the same gender identity.

Transgender policies in the education system mirror policies underpinning the laws in Australia where biological sex has been redefined to include chosen gender identity. These policies provide a small number of transgender people with rights at the expense of the majority, particularly girls and women.

Policy makers say they want to protect minorities. There is nothing wrong with that, but when educators protect the rights of a minority by stripping young girls and boys of their rights, then something is horribly wrong.

How did we get to the situation where schools are preoccupied with gender theory issues?

It begins with a belief that our experience is rooted in our membership of gender group, and membership of a gender group makes it more likely we will suffer discrimination and oppression. These left leaning elites see life as one long battle of identity groups for social justice.

Identity politics causes division and undermines democracy. We don’t want artificial divisions in society. We want social cohesion, based on common interests. We need to be proud of our history.

Our children deserve an education that will allow them to reach their potential and will provide society with a store of knowledge to be passed from one generation to another.

We want our children educated for life and not indoctrinated so they can be controlled by others, and we need laws to guarantee parents’ rights to challenge indoctrination. Parents should give their consent to the teaching of LGBTQI+ theory.

Parents should not be forced to move their child from a school or home school them to avoid indoctrination at school.

END

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Coal confusion splits shaky Coalition, One Nation strong on fossil fuels

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MEDIA RELEASE

The Liberals and Nationals are tearing themselves apart with fragmented views on coal, but One Nation remains unshakable in supporting the fossil fuel industry and new coal-fired power stations.

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson has submitted a motion for vote in the Senate that recognises the value of new coal-fired power stations in the creation of jobs, increased competition, lower power prices, and reliable power.

The notice also supports the proposed Collinsville power station project.

“One Nation strongly supports coal-fired power and the reliable and affordable electricity that it generates for Queenslanders, and I urge the Senate to take a stand and recognise the importance of this industry,” Senator Hanson said.

The move follows the Coalition’s disjointed and scattered range of views on coal, with some of its members demanding laser focus on renewables and zero emissions, while rivals pledge long-term support for coal and coal subsidies.

“The Liberals and Nationals are all over the place on coal, they should clear the confusion and get their act together and make a decision on which way they will go, so that Australians can know who believes what and what their official position is,” Senator Hanson said.

“One Nation pledges its strong support to the industry and urges the building of more clean coal-fired power stations; it’s a sensible way to generate reliable power that’s affordable and supports the state.”

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Pauline Hanson Bill targets indoctrination of school children

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MEDIA RELEASE

Skewed versions of history and science, and sexualised school programs that indoctrinate young children with controversies like gender fluidity, are among the targets of a groundbreaking private Bill to be tabled this week by One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson.

Senator Hanson will table the Private Senator’s Bill on Monday to force any contentious school curricula to be balanced.

“Children are easy targets of all sorts of false and left-leaning teachings and parents have had a gut full of seeing the people they entrust with teaching their children, pushing their own agendas,” Senator Hanson said.

“Children should be given balanced information, including views about political, historic and scientific matters, and they should be very strongly encouraged to think critically about what they are told and learn to make up their own informed views.

“When children graduate from school, they need skills in historic research and scientific thinking, which will support them throughout their lives.”

The Prohibiting the Indoctrination of Children Bill would counteract a wide range of issues described as indoctrination of young children: including skewed versions of history taught as fact, controversial sexual programs that teach gender fluidity and realignment to infants, unsubstantiated human-induced climate change, as well as the teachings of so-called “safe” underage sex, sexting, and non-traditional sex.

“The Bill recognises parents across Australia who have concerns about biased teachings, they don’t like the teaching of non-traditional and controversial views that don’t give the full picture; they want to protect and strengthen their children, and this Bill does that,” Senator Hanson said.

“Parents want a sensible curriculum that sets their children up for meaningful, employable futures, without the distraction of false or imbalanced ideology.”

The Bill notes that a growing number of teachers may hold biased views that can be passed on to their students, and ensures that resources that promote a balanced presentation of opposing views on political, historical and scientific issues are provided to the teaching profession.

The Bill also links the payment of Commonwealth education funding to state and territories to the satisfactory teaching of a balanced curriculum and also requires schools to liaise with parents to let them know the extent to which students are provided with a balanced presentation of opposing views.

The Australian Education Legislation Amendment (Prohibiting the Indoctrination of Children) Bill 2020 is expected to be presented to the Senate in the second week of February, 2020.

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Pauline Hanson demands support for North Qld business impacted by coronavirus

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MEDIA RELEASE

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is urging the Prime Minister to urgently implement measures to counteract massive tourism downturns in North Queensland caused by coronavirus-related flight cancellations from China.

Cairns alone has reported the cancellation of more than 25,000 tourism experiences and accommodation bookings due to the flight ban.

The massive drop in visitors has impacted related businesses like the fishing industry, with trawlers in Cairns, Innisfail, Townsville, Bowen, Mackay and Gladstone forced to reduce their catch of fish, crab and crayfish due to fallen demand. 

“International tourism is the lifeblood of parts of Queensland and if there’s a void in overseas visitors, it’s up to this Government and its state counterparts to help fill the vacancy with domestic holiday makers,” Senator Hanson said.

“The repercussions are starting to take effect and I’m concerned for those businesses who’ve been the unintended victims of the coronavirus.”

Senator Hanson has written to Mr Morrison, urging a “Stay and Buy Local” tourism campaign to encourage Australians to holiday locally.

“We’ve seen what slow reactions from government do to communities following the bush fires, years of drought and floods,” Senator Hanson said.

“This is a critical moment for Scott Morrison and his government to ensure he responds immediately to providing help to promote these tourist towns who’ve been hit by the coronavirus travel ban.

“Tourism is tough enough throughout the summer months in North Queensland, let alone immediately after the school holidays.

“The fishing industry of Queensland is just one of those industries who will suffer unless we have a stay and buy local campaign, targeted at domestic tourists.”

Copy of Senator Hanson’s letter to the Prime Minister
END

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Australian Olympics Committee needs to provide facts.

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STATEMENT

I’m looking forward to my meeting later this month with Australian Olympics Committee president John Coates.

He says the Olympics, should south-east Queensland be successful in securing the event, will be cost neutral and may even produce a surplus for Queensland. So, I am seriously waiting in anticipation to see the facts and figures that will convince me that this is true.

From my readings of the financial facts surrounding past Olympic Games, there have never been an Olympics that has run to budget. Most hosts are still paying the debts off for many years afterwards.

In my view, these historic truths make it incredibly risky and irresponsible to proceed with a bid that may well see the state lumbered with a massive financial commitment that it realistically cannot cover.

Mr Coates criticised me for using apparently-outdated research into Olympic Games costings of the past. Well, this research by the University of Oxford is as recent as having assessed the costings of the most recent London and Rio Olympics – and both of them failed big financially.

The study showed that hosting the Summer Olympics costs on average $12.5b (in Australian dollars). History shows that hosting the games has resulted in an average budget blowout for host cities of 176%.

Mr Coates repeatedly said on radio this week that the games would cost $4.5-million. That sounds extraordinarily ambitious. Reports show that security costs alone, since 9/11, are between $1-billion and $2-billion.

As I said previously, Queensland has a debt that is now greater than $90-billion dollars and hosting the Olympics will risk digging that massive black hole even deeper.

The higher our debt, the more we will struggle to pay for essential infrastructure and service items. It begs the questions: would taxpayers rather have their lives improved through new schools, hospitals and better roads, or a two-week “sugar hit” from an expensive Olympic Games.

I’m sure Mr Coates will get a lot of satisfaction from being part of the Olympics, but the satisfaction of Queensland taxpayers in having a well-run state is actually a much more important priority. The Olympics will compromise that priority.

Premier Anna Palaszczuk is using the Games “buzz” as a smoke screen and vote winner in the upcoming election, but Queensland voters who are tired of poor financial leadership, are not that stupid.

The Courier-Mail, which also seems to be backing the Games bid strongly, also needs to think more responsibly of the costs to Queenslanders.

Pauline Hanson
Senator for Queensland
Leader of One Nation

END

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Pauline Hanson strongly opposes “new jobs-for-the-boys ATSIC”, fearing corruption and inefficiency

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MEDIA RELEASE

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed Minister Ken Wyatt’s suggested formation of a new body to manage services for Aboriginals, fearing a repeat of the inefficiency and corruption that plagued the now-defunct ATSIC.

Senator Hanson said the new body, proposed by the Minister for Indigenous Australians, would not help Aboriginals, would feed racism in Australia by encouraging favouritism of Aboriginals, and would probably degenerate into a “jobs for the boys” setup.

“Haven’t we learned anything from the past? We have too many organisations and Government-funded bodies that are supposed to be devoted to Aboriginal issues – they cost millions of dollars, they underperform, and any new similar body will fall into the same category as ATSIC,” Senator Hanson said.

“These organisations often amount to ‘jobs for the boys’, where they hire friends and relatives, they all get paid well, they have a great time courtesy of the taxpayer, and meantime the people don’t see any benefits.

“This idea of unbalanced and favoured treatment of one group over another group is rubbish; it’s actually encouraging racism in Australia, and it doesn’t help Aboriginals.

“All races in Australia should be treated equally; Government assistance should be allocated according to individual need, not skin colour or racial heritage – anyone who agrees with that logic is the racist one, not me.”

Figures show government spending on Aboriginals is, on average, more than double that spent on non-Aboriginal Australians.

The latest 2015-16 figures from the Productivity Commission show total direct Government spending on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders was estimated to be $33.4 billion – it amounts to $44,886 for each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian, compared to $22,356 each for non-Indigenous Australians.

Senator Hanson continues to raise concerns about Government support of Aboriginals, ever since highlighting the inequality from when first elected to the Australia Parliament.

“I spoke in my maiden speech about the reverse racism that is promoted and favoured by those who benefit from ‘industries’ that revolve around servicing Aboriginals and other minority groups, and that unfairness still exists today, 24 years later,” Senator Hanson  said.

“I called for equality back then and was criticised – mostly from bureaucrats and do-gooders who had most to lose from a fairer system – and it’s the same now, with an extra smattering of rabid lefties who also never miss an opportunity to jump in and feed off the issues that impact those most in need.

“Governments encourage inequality by continuing to shovel handout after handout to Aboriginals, along with land and housing, community infrastructure, which all has proved to be no help at all to get these people up on their own two feet.

“We can’t create another body that will sit at arm’s length from Government, that will struggle to make any positive difference, but burning up mountains of money along the way.

“ATSIC was a complete failure, it cost billions of dollars, including $1.3-billion in its final year, and did very little to improve the lives of Aboriginal people; we can’t have a repeat of that past failure.”

END

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One Nation rejects Olympics

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STATEMENT

I have been overwhelmed by the public’s support of my opposition to the planned bid to host the 2032 Olympics by Queensland Labor, the Australian Government and the Queensland LNP.

My sole reasons for this opposition is that Queensland has a debt in excess of $90-billion dollars and hosting a blue ribbon event like the Olympics will only risk pushing that debt even higher.

The higher our debt, the more we will struggle to pay for essential items like public health services, education, better water infrastructure, better roads, job creation and the like.

There’s no argument that the Olympics is a wonderful spectacle. It is incredibly entertaining to watch the world’s elite athletes in so many events competing to win a gold medal and for the honour to be declared the best in the world.

But to host such an event doesn’t come cheaply.

A study by the University of Oxford showed that hosting the Summer Olympics costs on average $12.5b (in Australian dollars). History shows that hosting the Summer Olympics has resulted in an average budget blowout for host cities of 176%.

There are host cities that have been paying off Games infrastructure for years after the event after that infrastructure has gone to rack and ruin.

It is easy to get caught up in the spectacle and excitement of hosting the Olympics. It would look great on the resume of any political leader to say, ‘I hosted the Olympics”, but ego and self-puffery must be put to the side for one moment while we analyse the cost, both in upfront dollars and the ongoing debts into the future.

I think Annastacia Palaszczuk, Scott Morrison and Deb Frecklington have proved they have lost touch with the average Queenslander by blindly chasing what is an expensive, unnecessary and risky financial gamble like the Olympics.

Every family needs to prioritise its budget to make sure it has money for the essential household bills, before considering any lavish luxury spending. The Queensland and Australian governments need to take the same attitude with the Olympics to avoid risking shortfalls in more-pressing areas of need.

I hope that Queensland voters won’t be mesmerised by the pending excitement of the Olympics, while ignoring the ongoing cost to taxpayers into the future.

My view is not about being a spoil-sport, it’s about doing what is right for Queenslanders. A better future for Queensland should be a higher priority than the risky two-week “sugar hit” that may come from the Olympic Games.

Kind regards
Pauline Hanson
Senator for Queensland
Leader of One Nation

END

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Hanson: “Changing Australia Day won’t appease those with ‘chips’ on their shoulders”

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MEDIA RELEASE

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has condemned talk of changing Australia Day, arguing that any changes would never appease those with a “chip on their shoulders” who want to “get rid of” the commemoration.

The Senator’s comments were made to viewers around Australia during her second live national broadcast, streamed on her Facebook page, “Pauline Hanson’s Please Explain”.

A caller named Scott, who’ll have a few “quiet ones” and a barbecue with friends and family on Australia Day, said the use of the term Invasion Day “gets on my nerve”.

Senator Hanson replied: “It gets up my nose too, don’t worry about that, and I think a lot of Aussies.”

“I’ve got no intentions, if I’ve got anything to do with it, of changing the day to another day because they feel offended. Well, I’m sorry, get over it, move on.

“And it doesn’t matter if you moved it from the 26th, if you move it to another day, the chip on the shoulders is still there, you’ve still got the attitude, and it won’t be any different, whatever day you pick, until they get rid of it altogether.”

Another caller, Sayed, agreed that Australia Day should say where it is.

“I’m voicing what a lot of Australians think about it,” Senator Hanson said.

“You can change the date, it’s not going to change history… It wasn’t invaded; I’m sorry, the country was settled.

“My attitude is, and I’ve said it before, get rid of the chip off your shoulder, we’re all Australians together, and I won’t be told that this is not my country. It is.

“The same as any migrant that’s come here, they’ve taken up citizenship, they love this country as much as anyone who’s born here, and let’s unite as one Australia.”

Senator Hanson will spend Australia Day at Yeppoon in central Queensland, where she will conduct a citizenship ceremony.

She noted that, as the member for Oxley in the late 1990s, she spoke her mind on the issue to new citizens at an Ipswich Council Australia Day ceremony.

“And at the very end I said to them, ‘Well, unless you give this country your undivided loyalty, I’ll be the first one to take you to the airport, put you on a plane, and wave you hooray’,” she recounted.

“Well, they all used to burst out laughing, well the officials and the Council were all absolutely shocked and, guess what, well they withdrew my invitation to go to these citizenship ceremonies.

“But the whole fact was, guess who was still standing there, as the last person, getting photos with all these new citizens? …I was there, the last one, to welcome all these new Australians, and they understood what I meant and they had a laugh about it.

“But anyway, there’s some precious people out there.”

The live Facebook show featured Senator Hanson and her chief-of-staff James Ashby discussing a range of issues, from her recent trip to remote western Queensland, flood recovery in northern Queensland, Maleny Dairies losing out to overseas milk providers, Family Law and Child Support, the Queensland 2032 Olympics bid, climate change, the loss of manufacturing in Australia, the need for phone towers in rural areas, and upcoming legislation such as the $10,000 cash ban bill.

The hosts also chatted to a number of callers from around Australia who were able to chat directly about their issues to Senator Hanson.

The two-hour Facebook broadcast attracted 162,000 viewers.

Note: Senator Hanson’s conversation with Scott is available at https://www.facebook.com/PaulineHansonAu/videos/472416150378562/?epa=SEARCH_BOX at time code: 1hour 54 minutes and with Sayed at 1.59. Her recounting of her Oxley citizens ceremony is at 1.51.

END

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Pauline Hanson calls for a re-think of alcohol restrictions in Aboriginal communities

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MEDIA RELEASE

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wants a serious re-think of alcohol restrictions for Aboriginal communities, after her visit to Doomagee in Queensland’s remote gulf country.

The township has a predominantly Aboriginal population and is subject to strict alcohol controls that aim to help the residents but, in fact, appear to be failing and leading to other health, criminal and social problems.

“This community has high rates of binge drinking just outside the town boundary, smuggling of cask alcohol sold to locals at massively inflated prices, there has been a spike in home-distilling of dodgy spirits that has in turn caused shocking rates of kidney failure, even among teens and those in their early twenties,” Senator Hanson said.

“As in many cases where authorities introduce strict rules, people will try to find a way around them; Doomagee has been no different with regard to alcohol restrictions, and the negative impacts on the people in town is disastrous.

“I’ve been informed by local authorities, the restrictions have not curbed domestic violence, it hasn’t helped improve school attendance, kids are going hungry and committing burglaries just to find food, there’s lots of ongoing social issues including Australia’s highest rate of syphilis, and other serious health problems like diabetes and kidney failure seem to have worsened as a result of bootlegging, so the issue is worth debating.

Senator Hanson clarified that mid-strength beer was allowed into Doomagee but wine and spirits were banned.

She said that cask wine is bought in Mt Isa for around $10 and then smuggled into Doomagee where it is sold for up to $150. The smugglers, mostly locals, will also charge up to a $100 delivery fee. Restrictions to police powers mean they are not allowed to randomly search cars entering the community to counteract the smuggling.

“Local residents are spending too much money on alcohol, to the detriment of being able to buy food for themselves and their families, and then relying on the council and the school to feed the children, and police are spending too much of their time investigating alcohol-related incidents,” Senator Hanson said.

“During the wet seasons, when roads are cut by floodwaters and alcohol supplies drop, the crime and social issues improve as well, so there is definitely evidence that more workable guidelines will counteract the many problems.

“These communities are so remote, they rarely get visits from political leaders, and it’s a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’, but they need help to improve their quality of life, so we absolutely must talk about it.

“After speaking to Doomagee Council and other authorities, I think it’s time to consider introducing a canteen in the town, so alcohol consumption can be better managed to the benefit of the town.

“I also would like to see the introduction of a cashless debit card for Centrelink payments, which has worked in other communities like Ceduna in South Australia and Kununurra in Western Australia.”

Senator Hanson also noted that massive shipments of sugar were going into remote Aboriginal communities like Mornington Island, for use in alcohol distilling.

Senator Hanson is a member of the Australian Parliament’s cross-party working group on indigenous issues, chaired by Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt MP.

“These issues will be raised at the meetings and I will not be shut down,” Senator Hanson said.

“I want positive change so residents can live better and healthier lives; everyone needs to take responsibility for what’s happening, including the mothers and fathers, local authorities, and state and federal governments.

“My concern is for these helpless children, and if we keep on going down this same path there’s no future for them whatsoever.”

END

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