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

Thank you, Mr Acting Deputy President. Today I extend a hand of friendship to the other street preachers who have been persecuted: Blake Cannon, Blessing Odugbesan, Maklin Hughes, John Stotschek, George Youssef, Allan Cameron, David Sansbury, Matthew Andersen, Rebekah Hemelaar, Michael Brimson, Desmond Nunns and Lee-Anne Nissen. We stand with you. One Nation will fight for you.

We know that people have been slapped with thousands of dollars of fines. People have been intimidated, humiliated, harassed, targeted and, worse, persecuted, yet vicious sects with violent views and threats are left unpunished for far worse crimes. I am told by the preachers that they have spent over $15,000 in defending charges and fines. Costs have been awarded against the government in some preliminary cases, but the costs awarded do not cover all of the legal fees. The prosecution must stop. Imagine if these people were free to spend that money for its original intent: feeding and clothing the poor of South-East Queensland—the poor who have been abandoned by the Palaszczuk government.

Let's imagine this: under the Palaszczuk government, these preachers were actually violent union bosses. Perhaps they could have been heavy-handed thugs, violent criminals roaming work sites and handing out union membership forms to workers in public, perhaps on Labour day. Would the jackboots be sent in by the Premier then to stop the unionists? No. Would one of the Premier's prosecutors ask a unionist sitting in the dock, 'Is using your union title an intimidation of police officers?' No.

I will tell you what Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's minority Queensland government would do. As reported recently in The Australian, she has used the final parliamentary sitting week of last year to reverse a crackdown on unions, including lifting a requirement for union bosses to publish credit-card statements. Premier Palaszczuk has just given thieving union bosses the right to do as they wish with workers' fees. She has just encouraged the likes of Craig Thompson while prosecuting street preachers. If you are a corrupt, violent union boss, Palaszczuk wants to let you free. If you are a violent criminal of Logan, fear not; Councillor Lutton is too busy betting on the dogs to chase you down. But, if you are a street preacher in Queensland, you cannot even tell a police officer you are a reverend. The persecution of street preachers in South East Queensland must stop.