Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a rousing defence of the workers from Senator Sterle. Let's face it, he has to do it here because in his party room they don't listen anymore. Over there they've become the party of the entitled and the party of the unburdened. We saw that in the vote on the weekend, and here with questions about the Voice and the cost of living.

We have seen very clear voting patterns. As to those directly affected, Indigenous people, I will grant that Indigenous people voted mainly in favour of the Voice—not at 80 per cent, but they did. I won't play games with that. We also saw the young, who are unburdened; they're studying; they're not paying their mortgages. And we saw the very, very rich, in the cities—the entitled; those with six- and seven-figure bank balances, to whom interest rates going up is a great thing. Under this government, they're just getting richer. If you've got a million bucks in the bank, you'll be $50,000 a year better off, thanks to the interest rates here. Those people think that spending cutbacks and cost-of living pressures, as I said, mean buying a South African malbec instead of an Argentinian one or skiing Japan instead of Whistler or Aspen. They're fine. They are unburdened. Those people that voted yes are unburdened by any of the bad things going on in the world. It's like TheHunger Games. Those in the city want the tribute from the bush and the regions and the suburbs. They bank their balances. They make their money from the iron ore and coal we mine in the regions and the food and fibre we make in the regions.

So, when Senator Sterle gets up here and talks about the trucks, he's talking about the vehicles in which we send our tributes so the cities can make their money and build their skyscrapers. They are out there in the world, and they don't notice, they don't hear, the cries of the people doing it tough—the burdened; the oppressed; the people who want to have a voice about what their life is like. But this government doesn't want to hear. They want people like the Alan Joyces of the world, the Qantases and Wesfarmers—all the corporate people—saying, 'What a great thing this is.' And then, when we had our 'deplorables' moment in Australia, what did they get called? 'Racist', 'stupid', 'dickheads'—