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

I have heard some speeches here tonight and I cannot believe that a lot of them are around Pauline Hanson and One Nation. You would think that the whole house revolves around me. Eight minutes of Senator Chisholm's speech was about One Nation and Pauline Hanson. I thought you were here to discuss what was happening in this country.

Let me put forward a few facts. We talk about the battlers in this country. The Labor Party is supposed to be a party for the battlers. In 1936 my grandfather was on the executive of the Labor Party. He migrated from England. He was a carpenter and worked hard. He was part of the union movement and he believed in a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. I was brought up with that same attitude by watching my father work 106 hours a week for 25 years.

I know what it is like to be a battler. I have come from a battling family, and watched my father work long hours. I started working in a shop serving at 12 years of age, and started a full-time job at 15 years of age. I know what it is like to be a battler. I had my first child at 17 years of age, and my second by the time I was 21. I was a single mother at 22 and having to work, so I know what being a battler is about. I found the money to put food on the table to feed my two children, and I made sure they could eat. So do not tell me about being a battler; I know.

The fact is that unless we pull back the deficit of this country, we will not have the money to support the aged, the sick and the necessary in future generations. What is happening? We need to get common sense into this debate, and we need to actually look at what is right for the people of Australia. For too long we have seen both sides of this parliament put the idea out there that they are going to give people extra benefits to get votes. When John Howard came into power, the budget was $96 billion in debt from Paul Keating's Labor government. John Howard and Peter Costello as Treasurer pulled it back, and when the Labor Party took over in 2007, it was in a $22 billion surplus. Under Labor, it went into a $400 billion deficit. Something has to give. The coalition has run up debt also, and, at the moment, by the debt clock, we are running at $547 billion. We cannot sustain this.

The cuts that are happening tonight in this budget have to be looked at in the sense of what they are going to do for Australia and for future generations. You cannot keep buying votes; make the tough decisions in this House, because that is what you have to do if you are going to be able to provide for future generations. You cannot keep giving out handouts all the time. It does not work. How many of you in this house have ever run a business? How many of you have ever employed anyone? Do you have any idea, or are you just career politicians? Most of you coming into this place would not even know what the hell you are talking about—

Senator Gallagher interjecting—

I am sorry; I withdraw that. Most of you have no idea what you are actually voting on; you see where the rest of your parliamentarians are seeing. It is very important to the people of Australia that we get it right. It is about time the people in this house started working together to do what is right for the people of Australia, because they are depending on us. Because the government may put up legislation, do not vote against it just because it is the government. Vote against it because it may be right for the Australian people.