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Childhood victims of Family Law system urged to make submissions as Inquiry deadline nears

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Childhood victims of poor outcomes from the Family Law system are urged to pass their concerns – along with their suggestions for improvements – to the Parliament’s Family Law Inquiry.

The deadline for making submissions to the landmark inquiry closes on December 18.

This review is the most holistic investigation of the entire Family Law and Child Support systems in decades; it is unhindered by tight terms of reference, short time-frames or geographical difficulties.

“Children are often the most impacted by family breakup, with the confusion and hurt of seeing their parents split on many occasions amplified by the added challenges of dealing with the court system,” Senator Hanson said.

“So I want to encourage any teenagers, young adults and even grown-ups who experienced such problems when they were children, to all consider making a submission to the Inquiry.

“The committee needs to know the problems of the family law system, and those who experienced the difficulties have valuable first-hand personal  information that can help improve the system for families into the future.”

The inquiry will investigate every aspect of the Family Law and Child Support systems, from custody issues, support payments, performance of lawyers and court appointed experts, delays in the court system, and other issues.

“I have only one aim with this inquiry and that is to help facilitate a holistic, unhindered, unbiased review into a very complex system that is impacting negatively on the lives of hundreds and thousands of men, women and children across Australia,” Senator Hanson said.

“There are countless stories of hardships and problems caused as a result of the broken family law system, for men and women, but particularly impacting children.

“So we need this review to look at all the issues honestly, and come up with solutions to make the process better for those impacted.”

The inquiry committee will hold hearings across Australia, in both cities and rural areas.

For information about the Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Family Law System, including guides to making a submission, visit: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Family_Law_System/FamilyLaw

The Committee Secretariat can be contacted at:

PO Box 6100, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: 02 6277 3439

Email: familylaw.sen@aph.gov.au

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Hanson urges more expansion to farmer drought payments

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called for an end to time limits for payments to drought-impacted farmers under the Farm Household Allowance program.

The allowance, an amount equal to Newstart payments, is available to farmers who are suffering financial stress due to the drought, which has extended into eight years for many communities.

Senator Hanson has criticised Government rules that restrict the payments to “four years in each specified 10-year period”. The first four-year period started in 2014.

“Farmers are still the backbone of this country,” Senator Hanson said in a speech to the Senate.

“One Nation and I will continue to fight to make sure farmers who are struggling financially due to the impact of this extended drought get the support they need.

“The government remains incredibly out of touch with farmers and their needs through these difficult times.

“The eligibility for these Farm Household Allowance payments should be in place for struggling farmers for as long as the drought emergency lasts, whether it’s five years, 10 years or longer, or for a period of time until they are deriving a farm income.

“The point I’ve made previously is that we don’t put time limits on payments for those receiving Newstart.  In fact, there are families that have received such payments for generation after generation, yet we allow that to go on with hardly any questions asked.

“It is worth noting that farmers who receive these Farm Household Allowance payments are not just sitting on the couch watching TV or sitting down at the pub, unlike many other welfare recipients who take these payments as a right.

“The farmers are continuing to work, caring for the cattle, buying fodder, fixing fences, managing weeds and just doing what they can to make ends meet while they wait for the rains that will end the drought. From there they can rebuild their farming operations and their lives.”

Senator Hanson is also angered that the Government has suggested farmers who are struggling should consider their farming futures.

“I’m annoyed that the default position of the government seems to be to tell farmers to reconsider their futures,” she said.

“To me, that sounds like government code for: ‘We have no answers. We give up and we want you to give up too.’

“I’m not having any of that. Our farmers are the lifeblood of Australia. I’m not going to give up. I’m keeping this important industry alive and thriving.

“We grow the best food in the world and we have the best milk and the best livestock, and we are not going to just throw that all away.

“I call on the PM to clean up our own backyard and look after Australians first before handing out hard-earned taxpayer dollars in foreign aid to other nations, who use us as a milking cow, and addressing climate change demands.

“I won’t be taken for a mug and neither will most other Australians.”

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Hanson calls for Ag Minister McKenzie’s resignation over dairy debacles

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is calling for National Party Senator Bridget McKenzie to resign as Agriculture Minister over her diabolical management of the draft mandatory dairy code of conduct and The Nationals’ refusal to back the Protecting Australian Dairy Bill.

Senator Hanson said the exposure draft of the code was very poorly written, not in plain English, was a significant departure from previous drafts, and failed to include the recommendations of the recent ACCC’s dairy inquiry.

She added that Minister McKenzie had also misled the public by quoting from a previous superceded code during an ABC radio interview on Monday, October 28, and during Question Time today.

“Senator McKenzie’s handling of this whole code issue has been diabolical, it’s an absolute dog’s breakfast,” Senator Hanson said.

“Her failures have been further aggravated when she refused to answer genuine questions in the Senate today in a frank and honest manner.

“It seems obvious to me that she has no interest in drafting a code that responds to the issues and gives dairy farmers surety in their struggling industry.

“I’ve said all along that she has a huge conflict of interest here – if she wants to be a senator representing Victoria, where some producers don’t want the code, fair enough, but the role of Minister is for all of Australia and she’s failing that role miserably.

“The Prime Minster stepped in to get the mandatory code drafted as a priority after I forced the issue.

“Senator McKenzie should resign from the agricultural portfolio immediately, for the sake of the dairy industry across Australia and agriculture generally.

“The Nationals have been desperately trying to claw back some respectability with farmers and the bush over this matter, even claiming they’re on top of things and have been working on the code for more than a year, but let’s see how keen they are to take responsibility for this mess today.

“In a radio interview last month, Senator McKenzie read from what was inferred was the new code, but it was actually the old code, and things have changed considerably in recent drafts, so she’s obviously not across her brief or she’s being deliberately misleading.

“I’m dumbfounded over what has been her incompetence on this matter; it beggars belief, so I think she has no option but to resign.”

Senator Hanson said the draft was so poorly written that it was possibly not drafted by the Office of Parliamentary Council.

“Senator McKenzie failed to clarify this properly in Question Time today,” Senator Hanson said.

“I’d like to know who drafted it and when – maybe it’s a rush job to make up for lost time.”

Senator Hanson was commenting over the exposure draft of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (Industry Code – Dairy).

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Hanson-Katter Drought Tour wins interest-free loans for farmers

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The Hanson-Katter tour of drought affected west Queensland has convinced the Government to introduce interest-free loans to struggling farmers and rural businesses.

Interest free loans have been raised at various community meetings on the tour as a sensible strategy that would help alleviate the financial hardship of farmers and businesses enduring the eighth straight year of drought.

“This by far is the greatest accomplishment that One Nation and Katter Australia have achieved from our tour,” Senator Hanson said.

“We took up the challenge, and we put the drought on the agenda, and this announcement is the result.

“Interest-free loans were raised from day one of the tour, last Monday, and it was mentioned constantly through the media and the public forums.

“This victory is glaring proof that when you listen to the people, listen to their suggestions, and make sure their views are given a good airing, that you can convince the Government to take action.

“And it wouldn’t have been possible without Australia’s number one radio broadcaster Alan Jones, who has not let up on making sure the issue was front and centre in the minds of all Australians.

“I want to thank all these amazing residents of Charleville, Cunnamulla, St George, Surat, Roma and the people who drove for many miles to come and see us; thanks for your inspirational resilience, you make us proud to be Australian.”

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Pauline Hanson secures Senate investigation of dairy industry

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A Senate investigation into the performance of Australia’s dairy industry since deregulation in 2000 has been secured by One Nation senator Pauline Hanson.

The Senate voted 33 to 28 in favour of Senator Hanson’s request for what will be a “very broad” inquiry into the industry.

The deregulation of the dairy industry was controversial almost two decades ago and unrest has never completely subsided over the ensuing years.

“The whole dairy industry has been a mess over recent years, and it really doesn’t look like getting much better on its own any time soon, so it is quite vital that we conduct this inquiry to identify and expose the problems, and introduce solutions,” Senator Hanson said.

“The inquiry will be very broad, focusing on industry management, profitability, funding and government support, regulation of farm gate prices, and other issues.”

The One Nation leader has been laser-focussed in her determination to have changes introduced to make sure the industry does not die and so Australia doesn’t become dependent on imported milk and dairy products.

“As I have said many times, we cannot allow our dairy industry to crumble to such desperate lows that farmers simply walk off the land or, worse still, resort to other drastic actions like suicide, which has occurred in an unacceptable number of cases,” Senator Hanson said.

“The fact that there has been little meaningful support from Government only makes the battle even more hopeless and lonely for many struggling dairy farmers.

“We need them to stay profitable, so they can keep producing milk and provide for their families, and to preserve their chosen way of life, which has been that way for generations.”

The inquiry will be conducted via the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee. It is scheduled to report back with its findings and recommendations in March 2020.

Topics included in Senator Hanson’s notice of motion, including an examination of the ability of Dairy Australia to act independently and support the interests of both farmers and processors, the accuracy of statistical data collected by Dairy Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the funding of Dairy Australia and its consultation and engagement on certain expenditures, the merits of tasking the ACCC to investigate how it can regulate the price of milk per litre paid by processors to dairy farmers to ensure a viable dairy industry, the introduction of a mandatory industry code of practice, and related matters.

Senator Hanson is encouraged that those and other matters will now be thoroughly investigated by the Parliament, to the benefit of the dairy industry and farmers.

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Pauline Hanson advises politics students to “think for themselves”

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When One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was asked to Skype chat with politics students at a Western Australian high school, she read the request but went one step better: she turned up and met with the students in person.

The visit was a thrill for the politics and law students at the Living Waters Lutheran College, in Warnbro, who listened as she outlined her determined journey into federal politics, some of her personal beliefs, and then answered a range of their questions on a wide range of topics.

One of the key pieces of advice given by Australia’s most famous female political leader was to encourage young people to get involved in politics and also to think for themselves on political and social issues.

“What I say to everyone, and what I say to you, ‘Make up your own minds because, when you go to vote, it’s all about your future’,” Senator Hanson told the seniors.

“I might have policies that you don’t agree with, and the same with the other parties, but the whole thing is that you’re not going to agree with any political party on everything – I’m sure you won’t – but it’s about taking an interest in your future, and don’t be led into a certain way of thinking.”

Senator Hanson spoke on various issues, from her jailing for upsetting the two-party system, her unrelenting desire to fight for positive outcomes for Australia, she gave examples of political and media bias against her, her concerns about politicians’ perks, and her willingness to support good policy regardless of what party proposes it, if it’s for the good of Australia.

In response to students’ questions, she revealed her support of medicinal cannabis but strong objection to recreational drug usage, her opposition to pill testing at festivals, her thoughts on climate change protests, her support for religious freedoms including at religious schools, and her views on immigration.

“The media suggests that I’m against immigration – I’m not against immigration,” Senator Hanson explained.

“It’s about finding that balance where you can actually accommodate the people you bring in, and provide the necessary infrastructure for an increased population – the roads, the hospitals, the schools, the health care … so we have to ensure that the people who are here already have those services provided to them and that there is a decent standard of living.

“My duty is not to people in the rest of the world; my duty and my responsibility is the people who are here already.

“So, I’m passionate about looking after our own, clean up our own back yard first, and when we get it right then you can actually invite more people in because we are very fortunate with what we have in this country.”

Senator Hanson also responded to the students’ questions about allegations of racism.

“Criticism is not racism,” she explained. “My job is to assess issues, based on fact, and have an opinion.

“Everyone is entitled to an opinion – you may not be right, but you have a right to have an opinion – and then debate it.

“You will never solve the problems of this country if you are shut down because you want to speak outside the box.”

She spoke also of her meetings with the Bamaga Council in Torres Strait and with the traditional elders at Uluru, in the Northern Territory.

“Some people are actually hijacking the agenda and trying to be a voice for these Indigenous people, but they are not representing them,” she explained.

“And that is why, of all people, they’re coming to me, and I have their respect and gratitude, and I respect those people – I respect all Australians – it’s about working together and understanding each other.”

Senator Hanson scheduled the college visit soon after completing a stint on the HMAS Stirling submarine, which is based not far from the college, as part of the ADF Parliamentary Program.

She also joked about the “theft” of one of her life-size cardboard cut-outs from the Federal Election campaign, which is among the political paraphernalia that the students have on display in their classroom.

She happily autographed the cut-out to help enhance the students’ political collection.

Senator Hanson also met with the school’s principal, Francois Pienaar.

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Pauline Hanson: More subsidised apprenticeships needed

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One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has called for extra apprenticeship funding to add to Australia’s Regional Apprenticeship Program, along with some tweaking of guidelines, to help boost graduate numbers.

Places are particularly urgent in the electrical trade in Western Australia as numbers are in decline.

Senator Hanson negotiated an apprenticeship pilot program with The Australian Government, creating 1600 new subsidised apprenticeship places for regional Australians.

The program’s success has led to a further 1600 additional places being announced on July 1, to meet the countries growing demand for trainees and graduates in a number of trades.   

“The only way we reduce Australia’s reliance on overseas workers is to rebuild our own skilled workforce, using young Australian people,” Senator Hanson said.

“I’m very pleased that the Government agreed with my push for more apprenticeship places, but it’s no longer a pilot program and I’d like to see an extra zero added to the original number used in the trial.”

The comments follow a visit last month by a One Nation delegation to the National Electrical and Communications Association’s Western Australian apprenticeship training facility. One Nation’s WA leader Colin Tincknell led the delegation after Senator Hanson was a late withdrawal due to the flu.

NECA’s College of Electrical Training is the largest employer of electrical apprentices in Australia, with its apprentices regarded as being amongst the safest and best trained in the electro-technology industry.

But the college and the industry generally needs more funded training places to meet demand.

“Apprentice commencements in the electrical trade in Western Australia have been static and declining over the last couple of years; we’re not replacing the natural attrition in our industry, so, if we’re not careful, we’ll see a trade shortage within a couple of years and, with a four-year apprenticeship, that lag cycle will impact on the workforce,” Steve Hall, NECA’s GM of Training, said.

“It’s a wonderful start, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to what we need; when you actually translate it out into actual apprenticeships that we can utilise, it worked out to maybe 16 or so for the electrical trade here in Western Australia, so we’ve got a long way to go.

“It’s a great start but we’d like to see a lot more places.”

Mr Hall also suggested support for mentoring, which he said had a huge impact on apprenticeship completion rates. He also suggested tailored incentives to encourage higher numbers of females, who traditionally enter apprenticeships a little older and therefore qualify for higher wages and fewer government support initiatives.

“Particularly novice learners as they’ve left school, enter a trade or an apprenticeship they often have those life issues, and having a mentor helps them get over those issues and allows them to complete their trade,” Mr Hall said.

“Often those programs only run for two years, so we never realise the true benefit of them, so it would be ideal if we’re going to fund a mentoring program, to fund it for at least the entire four-year program, that way we get a real longitudinal study and really see the results of providing mentoring for apprentices.

“Currently we have a female participation rate of between one-percent and three-percent; considering that over 50% of the population are female, we’re missing out on a lot of potential employees in our industry simply because we can’t attract them in.

“Whether it’s in the form of incentives to help the employees bridge that gap for the wages, or alternatively, maybe some concessions toward taxation or other things that allow the employer to not have to absorb the full cost of that wage increase by taking on a mature age person.”

The Regional Australia Apprenticeship Program secured by Senator Hanson sees the Federal Government pay 75% of the apprentice’s first year’s wage, followed by 50% in the second year and 25% in the third year.

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One Nation’s dire warning over proposed Qld timber industry changes

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Senator Pauline Hanson has issued a dire warning over the Queensland Labor Government’s proposed changes to the timber clearing code, saying it will destroy the state’s hardwood industry.

The warning comes after Senator Hanson and fellow One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts attended a hardwood industry rally at Maryborough late last month (August 18).

“If we allow the State Government to continue down this destructive path, it will ruin the timber industry; it will shut down plantation owners, mills and the on-going employment that it creates,” Senator Hanson said bluntly.

The Queensland Labor Government is proposing changes to the clearing code that will greatly reduce the allowable harvest on private farms, who say the new laws are unworkable and will make harvesting unviable.

“A lot of these communities that have relied on the timber – like Maryborough – will feel the backlash if they start shutting down plantation owners,” Senator Hanson said.

“At the moment, they are saying you have to leave 150 stems – that is, trees – per hectare, and they’re wanting to increase that to 300 stems.

“That makes it too dense. It stops healthy growth of trees because they’re crowded, and, with that many trees on a hectare, it also means you can’t graze cattle because the grass won’t grow, so it’s just unproductive for people with plantations trying to grow trees.

“Farmers also can’t control the rubbish on the ground, which increases the risk of bushfire, so it’s an all-round negative impact, and One Nation will be totally opposing this.”

Many private landowners harvest timber to generate extra income, a practice that has helped new landowners get financially established, has helped keep farms viable during drought, and has helped fund local saw mills and jobs.

“The State Government is determined to shut down these private plantations and make them unviable, unworkable, and that’s their whole aim,” Senator Hanson said.

“This is the Labor party agenda, and the Greens agenda as well; there’s no rhyme or reason to it as far as I’m concerned.

“One other thing we need to be mindful of is: if we don’t produce timber here in Queensland, we will be looking at importing timber from other countries, and a lot of these countries will be actually felling their forests, being detrimental to the environment.

“It’s the most renewable resource we have; shutting it down is not the answer.”

END

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