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

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I want to emphasise that Pauline Hanson's One Nation is deeply concerned about the security of people in our country. We are uniquely positioned in the world, as our location as an island nation puts us in a position where the isolation of distance in times past has provided the natural barriers and protection of being surrounded by ocean. This barrier of sea has, in the past, been a natural protective barrier against disease, noxious pests and other simple dangers. But we live in complex times, and in these times it is also a barrier to the modern dangers of complex terrorism and keeps out those who would challenge the Australian way of life and the safety and security of Australians.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation party understands what is needed to run this country. Strong laws are required to provide strong border security to ensure that people who come to Australia do so by a path that allows clear identification of persons who do not pose an unacceptable risk to our culture and to the personal safety of our citizens. We must be vigilant in keeping out of Australia people whose beliefs and conduct threaten our way of life and, indeed, our lives. Pauline Hanson's One Nation also has the aim of ensuring that our laws are fair and do not provide excess benefits to some to the detriment of others. People residing offshore who have attempted to come to our country outside the normal rules are not entitled to the benefits beyond what Australians living in mainland Australia can access.

The medevac legislation is an abomination for many reasons. It is providing a back doorway for queue jumpers to come to onshore Australia, and they receive a standard of medical care that many Australians cannot afford or receive. Some come with their families, and they never leave. What is fair about that? They are like the less than welcome family guests who may come to our home for a few days and stay and stay indefinitely. The level of care, the standard of medical care offered to these freeloaders is higher than that available to many hardworking Australians living in our rural areas. Is this fair? I say not. What about the costs to the taxpayer? Just to get one person medevaced to Australia is in excess of $100,000—more than the income of very many Australians earned over a full year; in fact, it's 20 per cent more than the average wage in this country. Is this fair? I say not. These queue jumpers are in fact double-dipping. Firstly, they jump the queue to get to Australia, and, secondly, they get treatment that is unaffordable for many Australians already doing it tough.

Let us consider the nature of many of these queue jumpers. Many are not refugees in the usual sense, but are economic migrants seeking a better life and jumping the queue to do this. That's not fair. Some have already been accepted to go to the United States, but rejected that option, choosing our country, Australia, as a better choice because of our more favourable welfare system. This is seriously out of whack. It is ironic that the services available to these queue jumpers offshore are in many instances more than those that are available to Australians living in our rural areas.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation offers policies that will provide effective stewardship of Australian assets. We will not support projects that waste public moneys, the money of the Australian people. We accept the responsibility and trust placed in us by the Australian voters. We will always support projects that benefit Australians. Many Australians would benefit from a helping hand, yet this legislation is geared for spending money on non-Australians who have jumped the queue to come here in the first place.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation stands for good governance. This means ensuring we support policies that assure the future of Australians, working to the benefit of all Australian citizens. Pauline Hanson's One Nation party notes the importance of good trusteeship. For us this means supporting, protecting and providing guardianship of the great values that are part of Australian culture. We believe in giving a person a fair go. That does not mean a free ride. Many of the queue jumpers must see this legislation as a golden gift, a means to a shortcut into Australia, and all on the say-so of two doctors who may never have even seen or met the detainees. Who would know what the ultimate intention is to get to Australia? Minimum vetting is not helpful. How easy would this system be for an undesirable criminal or terrorist to abuse and come to our country.

Our border protection is an imperative responsibility, and Pauline Hanson's One Nation party sees this legislation as a failure in every aspect. So do the people of Wentworth, who turfed out Kerryn Phelps after just months and now have a Liberal back in their place. And the dollar cost: at $100,000 a go, can we afford to haemorrhage money into a system that has no cap on spending? I say not. As a reasonable and responsible party, Pauline Hanson's One Nation does not support the ongoing nature of this program and calls for the immediate repeal of this dangerous legislation.

I want to talk about three of the things that I have mentioned in this speech: firstly, stewardship; secondly, governance; and thirdly, trusteeship. These are the three main cores of governance. Whether it be managing a company, a club or a nation, stewardship of current assets consists of two aspects: cost of living at the national level and security of the people. They are stewardship functions, and Liberal-Labor duopolies over the last six decades have failed in their stewardship of the assets. The cost of living is out of control for many people. It is becoming unaffordable to live in this country, and the security concerns are being undermined by the types of people that we're allowing into this country. The second aspect is governance, which is about providing for the future, and that means for the Australians who aren't even born yet. We're responsible for them, what they will do in their lives and their opportunities. The third aspect of governance is trusteeship of our values. What makes this country so wonderful are the Australian values—mateship, fairness, compliance with the law, respect for the law, and so many others that we know about ourselves and we take for granted as we live our lives in this beautiful country.

We need to have a vision for the future. We don't see that. We see Labor squandering our assets. We see the Liberal Party just making up facades and then selling those facades. We don't see a vision for this country in terms of infrastructure; we don't see a vision for this country and the way people will be living in 20, 30, 40, 50 or 100 years; and we don't see the protection of our culture. The most valuable asset of any entity is culture. It's what determines productivity in a company. It's what determines safety and productivity and the future livelihoods of people in any nation, and that is being undermined. Immigration affects all three aspects of governance—stewardship; governance, in terms of providing for the future; and trusteeship of our values.

It's not just a matter of security that is being decimated here; it is a matter of our future, and not just the future of the people who are alive now but the future of Australians who are not even born yet. What did medevac do? It bypassed formal procedures for vetting. The campaign for getting Kerryn Phelps into the seat of Wentworth was funded by GetUp!, a notorious organisation driving an agenda funded by George Soros, who is the pin-up boy for criminals, the CFMMEU and Mr Bill Shorten, who was one of the foundation's directors. The people of Wentworth saw this error. They were fooled by GetUp!, but then they repented.

Instead of a Soros-controlled country, we want a secure, productive country with great productive capacity. At night we don't lock the front door of our house because we hate the people outside; we lock the front door of our house because we love the people inside. Government's primary role is to protect the people already in Australia. We must end this medevac abomination and lock our country's front door once again.