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

For the majority of workers across Australia, tax is the necessary evil our nation has been built on. It's also the lubricant that keeps a large portion of our society from falling between the cracks. Let's face it, none of us like paying any more than we have to. As Kerry Packer famously said:

Now of course I am minimizing my tax and if anybody in this country doesn't minimize their tax they want their heads read because as a government I can tell you you're not spending it that well that we should be donating extra.

Kerry Packer was right. This government, like the last, hasn't done a great job spending your money. They have managed to double the debt left by Labor in 2013, leaving Australians with a total government debt edging closer by the day to $600 billion.

It's important that this parliament has this debate over personal tax cuts, and let me say from the outset that Australian workers deserve a tax cut. I'll say it again: Australian workers deserve a tax cut. The misconception reported by media that I don't support tax cuts is completely false. Overnight, I wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to reiterate my support for stages 1 and 2 of the bill.

I have no doubt that the people from my home state of Queensland and those right across the nation have been left confused by the government's proposal. For their sake, and for the sake of correcting the record, I'd like to break this down. In the previous parliament, One Nation supported the Treasury laws amendment known as the Personal Income Tax Plan, which was legislated and announced in the 2018-19 budget. The new proposals that this government is here to legislate today are in three stages. As I have said to the government and the media, I support the first two stages but cannot support the third stage, which isn't due to take effect for five years, or two further elections.

Stage 1, which will come into effect immediately, will increase the low- and middle-income tax offset and put a maximum of $1,080 back into the pockets of everyday Australian workers within an income bracket of between $48,000 and $90,000 per annum. I'm happy with that. Stage 2 will kick in from 1 July 2022 and replace the low- and middle-income tax offset by increasing the low-income tax offset to $700 and lifting the threshold for the marginal tax rate of 19c in the dollar from $41,000 to $45,000. Stage 3 is planned to take effect five years from now, or two elections away, on 1 July 2024, and will reduce the marginal tax rate from 32.5c in the dollar to 30 cents. It will apply to people earning up to $200,000 a year. These three stages of personal tax cuts will cost the government a total of $158 billion, but not a single member of the government can guarantee me that our economy will be capable of sustaining the full tax cuts over the next half a decade. It's stage 3 that has me most concerned, because yesterday the national cash rate dropped to one per cent. Australia has never had a cash rate of one per cent. Australia is quite literally on the cusp of a recession and this government is hell-bent on the idea of surrendering $158 billion through tax cuts.

If you ask me, much of regional Australia has been in an unofficial recession, but most of you in the Senate haven't bothered to visit regional Australia. Over the past three years, I have watched the Senate destroy Australian jobs with ever-increasing power prices that have shut down far too many manufacturing businesses and forced others to move their operations offshore. These power costs are also crippling everyday households, including vulnerable pensioners and the unemployed. According to the Australian Energy Regulator's annual report on compliance and performance of the retail energy market, my home state of Queensland recently recorded the highest number of residential electricity customer disconnections. That is 27,910 Queenslanders left in the dark due to ever-increasing electricity prices across the country. Try telling the more than 72,000 people in this country who had their electricity cut off—across Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania—that the third stage of tax cuts are good for them! Maybe Senator Lambie should have been more concerned about the 6,664 people in her state who have had their power cut off over the last six years instead of passing stage 3 of the tax cuts. Maybe Senators Griff and Patrick should have given consideration to the 22,826 people in South Australia who have had their power cut off instead of passing stage 3 of these tax cuts.

This government has deceived the people of Australia by saying it is bringing down power prices when the truth is that, over the past 10 years, power prices have risen 117 per cent. That's the truth: power prices have risen 117 per cent across Australia. But, rather than quarantine the third stage of tax cuts for the purpose of building more coal-fired power stations and droughtproofing water projects like the hybrid Bradfield water scheme, this government has ignored the desperate pleas of everyday Australians and will give further tax cuts to those on up to $200,000 a year in five years time. Is it any wonder that so many hardworking Australians are doing it tough and trying to make ends meet with the ever-increasing cost of living?

I have watched my own children struggle to pay their mortgages and electricity bills and put food on the table. My concern with passing the third stage is the future economic stability of our nation. I didn't create and run four successful businesses before entering politics without having an eye on how to manage money, and all I have asked is that the government shelve the third stage in lieu of building much-needed infrastructure. In Treasury's own advice to my office and to Senator Roberts, they agreed that the economy can be stimulated by quality infrastructure projects like those I have suggested in power and water. This third stage will cost the government $95 billion in tax revenue that could be used to fund new coal-fired power stations giving the nation the cheap, affordable and reliable power that is needed to keep our nation competitive and viable on the global stage. But no, this money will likely be spent on whitegoods and TVs manufactured in China, and the rest will be eaten up by the ever-rising cost of living. Anyone would think these tax cuts were tied to the Chinese free trade agreement. Let's face it, it is China that will ultimately benefit from the third stage of these tax cuts because consecutive governments have helped to destroy our manufacturing industry.

It looks like the government will get the three stages of its tax cut package through today by paying off the debt of the Tasmanian Liberal state government or by making further false promises on bringing gas prices down in South Australia. But I have another three years in this place to convince you to bring down power prices by building coal-fired power stations and to droughtproof the country by building the hybrid Bradfield scheme.

I call for these infrastructure projects because they will be there for the long term. Tax cuts that may be passed in this parliament today can easily be taken away from the people by this same government, or by a new government, in time to come. But if we build the infrastructure now—waterproofing Australia and giving cheaper power by putting in coal-fired power stations—that infrastructure can never be taken away from the people and will give us what we need. How many millions of dollars have been spent by this government, when drought affects our country and when we see farmers on their knees because they don't have water? We now hear of pensioners who are actually dying because they can't afford the power to keep them warm. What is happening in this country is absolutely disgraceful.

Like I said, I am all for tax cuts—and we should be, because I think we are overtaxed in this nation—but I think that the Australian people would forgo their tax cuts if they knew that the money was going to be put into infrastructure projects that will give them the long-term relief of being able to run their businesses, their farms and their households and so that we are able to support our pensioners and those who can least afford to pay their bills. Only God knows where the money will come from to pay for these infrastructure projects in the future, but that won't stop me from persisting with my argument and standing up for the ignored people of this nation.

Senator Patrick was talking about gas. One Nation has been talking about gas for over two years now, especially that from the North West Shelf. At the moment we export approximately $54 billion worth of gas to overseas—and he is correct: Japan is getting gas cheaper than what Australia is. Out of that gas that we export we bring in about $400 million in taxes—$400 million out of $54 billion in exports. It is disgraceful. I have spoken to the government constantly about the retention leases. They keep renewing the retention leases, and some of the gas companies have had them for up to 30 years and done absolutely nothing with them.

Senator Canavan spoke today about Browse and how wonderful it is and what we are going to make out of the resources. Browse have just built a pipeline of over 900 kilometres to take it into the Northern Territory because, if it went into Western Australia, they would have to give a 15 per cent domestic gas supply. Western Australia are smart to get that domestic gas supply, unlike the rest of the country. What about the floating platforms. How do we know what gas is taken out? We're getting no money from that. Japan make about $3 billion in excise on our gas that goes into their country. They make more out of our gas than we make selling it.

Senator Patrick is right: we're building terminals here to bring gas from overseas, from America, and we're one of the most gas-rich countries of the world. But no-one wants to listen. It was One Nation that started this discussion with Senator Canavan. We brought to his attention a lot of these issues with the retention leases and gas and what is happening up there—things that he had no idea about. Since we've brought it to the attention of the parliament, I'm pleased to see that the Greens have taken the issues up as well. It is also pleasing to hear that Centre Alliance are now starting to talk about. If we don't start addressing the energy costs in this nation, we are going to lose more businesses. You won't have to worry about getting your tax—well, you will, because the jobs won't be here.

A company I know up in Rockhampton export to 50 countries and they employ 55 people. They actually have a third generation. Their electricity bill is going from $350,000 up to $550,000 in a year. They've put $1.2 million worth of panels on their roof, yet their bill is going to increase. Are they going to stay here in Australia? Will they shut down?

Are they viable? This is only one company, one business, but I hear it all the time.

I don't think you really grasp how important it is that we actually do something about the cost of energy in this country. We are on the cusp of losing so much in industries and manufacturing and jobs unless we do address this. You've been led by the rest of the world to sign up to the Paris Agreement, which is different in every country, and we have been demonised because we have coal. In the UK and Europe, they can actually burn municipal waste and woodchip, which are more harmful to the environment, yet they are not condemned for it. We're burning coal, which doesn't put out as much as what they're burning, and yet we're demonised for it—and you're headed down this path.

I will persist with this matter in this chamber and inform the Australian people of what is happening, because, as I said before, I travel this country quite extensively and I talk to people, and they are doing it bloody tough—extremely tough. Is there job security? Is there a future for their kids? It all comes down to energy prices. If we can actually reduce energy prices in this country, it will make a hell of a difference to a lot of people. These tax cuts are for the workers. Where's the relief for people who are on pensions, those self-funded retirees or those people who are supported by the government? Where's the relief for them? The only relief that we can give them is reducing power costs, reducing their bills, to give them quality of life and make them feel that someone is really listening to them. But, rather than that, we are turning a blind eye to our own people and we are more interested in being told what to do and how to run our country by the United Nations and by other countries.

My job here is to try and represent the people. I've had my say. As I've said, I support the government's first and second stages. I cannot support the third stage and I don't believe it is economically viable for our country. You can give me all your promises about stability, but no-one can promise that we're going to have a stable economy five to six years down the track and that we can afford it. That's not how I run my household, and I'm not going to tell the Australian people that that's how this parliament should be running their country.