Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President, for the opportunity today to speak to this matter of public importance raised by Senator Gallagher regarding secure and well-paid jobs. As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I am in total agreement that secure and well-paid jobs for Australian workers have not been allowed to be ensured due to government failure. Such government failure has been all too common at federal and state level since at least the mid-2000s onwards, including during Senator Gallagher's time as Chief Minister of the ACT between May 2011 and December 2014. Government failure is, in particular, two things. Firstly, it is a failure to understand everyday people's concerns that 'It's the economy, stupid'—in other words, a failure to understand sound economics in terms of both principles and evidence. Secondly, it is a failure to pursue sound policies based on sound economics or a failure to have the courage to pursue such policies—that is, a failure to listen, a failure to stand up and a failure to be accountable. The elites have abandoned us, the people. Who do they think they are?

Sound economics, time and again, has shown us that it is the freedom over control of individuals, groups and economies that creates and sustains the opportunities for more jobs and higher real wages because freedom enables the greatest driver of jobs: creativity. Why is that? In a nutshell, greater freedom leads to greater creativity and initiative, which lead in turn to greater productivity and savings, which lead in turn to greater service quality at lower costs and prices, which results in greater prosperity and charity, including, of course, secure and well-paid jobs for Australian workers.

Sound policies start, of course, with sound economics, but also include identifying and pursuing areas for increased freedom over control. What are some of these areas?

I and my Senate colleagues from Pauline Hanson's One Nation party aim to organise and host four more 'freedom, not control' town hall meetings next year which will focus on the following crucial policy areas, where opportunities for more sustainable jobs and higher real wages are currently being destroyed, not created: in quarter 1, energy and water, to echo Senator Lambie's perfect comments on the importance of energy; in quarter 2, money, including banks and central banking; in quarter 3, regulation, including land and infrastructure; and, in quarter 4, the big one—tax. In conclusion, I and my Pauline Hanson's One Nation colleagues will always welcome—

Debate interrupted.