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

The aspersions that have been put upon me are not true, and the verballing that has happened in this chamber is not correct. We're talking about 30 bereaved people that are going to be affected by this. We don't know the numbers of people who will go through bereavement, because death can happen to anyone at any time. Numbers cannot be put on this. The whole fact is that this country is in one hell of a mess when it comes to the welfare payments that are being put out. The welfare payments have to be restored. I have no problem with that, and we stand for those who really need help. But unless we address the expenditure that we pay in welfare payments, we are not going to rein in our debt. There are people who are abusing this.

This bill is quite generous. As I said, people who have assets of $253,750, not including the family home, can claim a bereavement payment. That is there in this. We will go back to it. Look at our amendment. Don't be hypocrites. You actually didn't vote against my amendment; you agreed with it. But you have used this chamber to put your comments across to discredit One Nation and me personally, which I will not stand for. I am a senator representing the people of Queensland and the people of Australia.