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

Of the 11 amendments that were put yesterday, two were agreed to by us. Let me make it very clear: we have used this thing and this thing to process the information that the Treasurer has given us. I'll give you another piece of information we have got from the government as well. We have made no side deal. We have simply been reassured. As I said, we protect all workers. We are not bypassing the parliament; we just went and listened.

The third piece of data that I want to pass on is that the government has informed us that the increase in unemployment as a result of the COVID measures is 100 per cent. For those who are young, the increase in unemployment is 150 per cent. The increase in unemployment for those over 35 is much less than the average for the community. They are startling figures. But it is most startling and most worrying what is happening to the young. They are disproportionately losing their jobs as a result of the virus that Senator Rice earlier on told us we must take seriously. The virus has impacted on younger people. We need to get those younger people back to work.

We will never play the game of pitting older people against younger people as we are seeing in the Labor Party and the Greens party. We will never do that, because we know that older people care for younger people. We know that all Australians care. That's why we have changed our minds and our position—because we got new data. Because we have integrity and courage, we will change our position. We have and proudly do so.