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

I rise to speak as a very concerned Australian who has been given the privilege and the opportunity to be a representative on the floor of parliament for the people of this nation, especially those voters in Queensland who gave me this opportunity.

Many Australians are struggling, as we heard from the previous speaker, Senator McGrath, talking about the cost of living. It comes down to governance. The people of Australia have had a gutful of their politicians and the over-representation. The fact is they keep saying, 'Meeting me in the streets,' 'As I walk around,' or, maybe, 'On my Facebook posts.' What is happening? Why can't we actually get our politicians to understand what is happening out here? Our lives and our standard of living are changing.

It all comes down to what happens in this place. I'm sick and tired of hearing the buck being passed from one side to the other—who's in government; who's not in government—and not working together for the people of this nation. It's all about your spending. You can't rein in your spending. It is ridiculous. If you look at the spending on our welfare and social security bill, it's $228.8 billion. We've got people on lifetime welfare. It's become a way of life—not a helping hand, a way of life. What are you doing about it? There are solutions. How about the solution that people get welfare two out of five years? Guess what? You have to work. It's your responsibility to put a roof over your head and food on the table.

Let's also look at the NDIS. The NDIS is costing us more for approximately 550,000 people than Medicare costs us for the whole of Australia. No-one is reining this in. You're allowing people to get payouts and get on to the NDIS. It's just been reported that 10 per cent of—one in 10—boys in Australia are on the NDIS after being reported as having ADHD. How ridiculous? People diagnosed with autism are on the NDIS. That was not what it was proposed for. It was proposed for people with disability, not people with PTSD. We've now got people with chronic illness on the NDIS. It has blown out of all proportion, and we cannot afford it. It needs to be reined in, but what are you doing about it? Nothing. People on the NDIS can go to sex workers. One client on the NDIS even went to a football match and hired a corporate box at $45,000, which was paid for by the taxpayer.

Education—what is happening with our children? They are coming out of our schools and they can't read or write. They're not prepared for the workforce, and yet we are not doing anything about it. It's not a priority for either side. Look at the teachers coming out of universities. A lot of them are not up to the standards. We're dropping in the worldwide standards for education, but no-one cares about it.

Defence—where is the budget for defence? We know that that there are problems just offshore, and we have to be aware of China and how its defence forces are growing. But we not taking defence seriously. There's talk all the time about what could happen here. In just a few years China may attack Taiwan, and what are we going to do? Are we going to sit back and do nothing? We can't even make enough ammunition in this country. We do absolutely nothing, but we're sitting waiting for a submarine. It could take many decades before we get any submarines in this country. We don't support our defence personnel and we are having trouble recruiting them.

And then there's manufacturing. You haven't done anything about that. You say you're going to set up another scheme. I've been on about manufacturing for years. We need to start manufacturing our own goods, instead of importing the cheap products that destroy our own jobs in Australia.

All Labor goes on about is the Voice. People are sick and tired of it. What's it going to do? Absolutely zilch. How is the Voice going to deal with the cost of living? With $33 billion a year poured into the Aboriginal industry, absolutely nothing is going to help. Why aren't you upfront with the people and tell them that you're looking to create an Aboriginal black state in this nation, a segregation of white Australians from black Australians? That's what it's about.

People out there want true representation. They want us to make decisions that will give them a better quality of life. They want assurances about the future of their kids. They don't want this nation to be divided. Until we get real representation and people with the guts to stand by their convictions and their integrity in this place, I feel sorry for the people of this nation.