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

It's considered that these people should be able to care for themselves at the time of bereavement. I feel for people who will go through this stressful time of losing a loved one. But in relation to a lot of people in Australia who are on welfare payments and who are trying to support themselves at this time, this is quite generous—having $253,000 apart from the family home or over $456,000 in cash and assets. This is when a lot of Australians are working extremely hard, paying taxes and trying to keep a roof over their own heads with escalating power prices—which I must say are in line with Labor's policies, renewable energies, plus also to do with the Greens and the escalating costs of power—to try and support themselves.

Senator Watt made reference to the wealthy end of town that are going to be affected by the franking credits. Let's put it into perspective. A lot of the people that were getting the refunds from the ATO with regard to the franking credits were those people who were not on tax returns, and they were under the $18,700. So it is going to affect those pensioners, those self-funded retirees, who are struggling. To sit here and criticise about 30 people who have assets in excess of $253,000 and own their own home is a joke. It is an absolute joke. You have used this platform here in this house, on a sensitive issue like this, to bag out me and One Nation with an amendment that we put forward that is going to assist—and no-one will be worse under this—to put across your political agenda. That is not good enough and you are pathetic in your performance.

The CHAIR: The question is that schedule 4 stand as printed.