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

This matter of public importance is blaming the Turnbull government for the unfair budget that delivers tax handouts for multinationals and millionaires while hurting everyday Australian families. They do not need a budget for this to hurt everyday Australian families. I find it very hypocritical that Labor are actually blaming the government for this because I remember that, when I spoke in the other chamber in 1996 about multinationals not paying their fair share of tax, I was basically looked down upon, laughed at and ridiculed. If I recall correctly, it had been years under Labor—the Hawke government and the Keating government—and 1996 was the year when the Howard government took over.

I do not believe it just comes down to what is in the budget and looking after the multinationals. I think it goes further than that, right across the board in government legislation. I actually had a meeting today with a gentleman from Queensland. His name is Kane Booth. He is a farmer, he has a wife and he has two children. Actually, Mr Booth is in the chamber. Welcome. Mr Booth has an issue with government which is all about the fact he has a property at Chinchilla—he has 1,100 acres—that has been taken over by coal seam gas mining.

We actually have to look at this. This gentleman, for seven years, has been fighting this. It is about the multinationals. Labor talks about multinationals, and here you have APA Group, who own the gas piping on Mr Booth's property. APA Group have most of the gas pipes and are the most profitable gas company. But APA group have donated $10,492 to the Labor Party. It is the Labor Party in Queensland—the state government—who are not doing anything about Mr Booth's problem, which is an environmental problem. Mr Booth has gone to the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection to put in a complaint. They have investigated, but they have not brought down their report after 10 months. It has been 10 months, and they are still waiting. It should have been brought down, under legislation, within 40 days. Why are they shutting it down? So we do not need to really look at the budget here.

There is another thing I must tell this chamber and the people of Australia. They know what I am talking about, because the people of Australia have been very angry about the multinationals and what is happening in our country: the sale of our land, foreign ownership and the question of the gas off the North West Shelf. We are getting nothing from it, and we are paying dearly for it because of the multinationals and what is happening in Australia. Also, a small number of petroleum companies in Australia donated $300,000 to the Labor Party. Should I also mention Sam Dastyari and his $5,000 for legal expenses or his $1,600 for travel expenses?

Both sides of politics need to clean up their act to what the public expects. There is a pub test here. To Mr Booth and his family, I will continue to fight for your right to have justice and for those many other Australians, especially around Chinchilla. Because of the coal seam gas and the state government allowing for these wells to be put in, I have seen children with their noses running with blood and black under their eyes. They are sick, and no-one is taking responsibility for this. We cannot allow multinationals to take over our country and have control of it and have their tax benefits and cuts and not be paying taxes in this country. I would like to finish by saying that this is not just the Turnbull government's problem. It is the problem of both sides of this parliament. It is the Liberals', the Labor Party's and the Nationals' problem, for consecutive years, for not reining in and making the multinationals pay their fair share of tax.