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

Equal laws for all and special laws for none. One Nation stands for equality for all Australians regardless of race, and we don't have equality. Australians who own property only have rights on the surface and a shallow depth under it, but, when an Indigenous land council owns it, they appear to have rights to the centre of the earth and every part of the sky above. This would be a laughable joke if it weren't so serious. Such is the claim of the land council which owns the old, run-down Waverton Bowling Club, which is also claiming millions of dollars in compensation because the western harbour tunnel is being developed underneath. This would not be considered if the owner weren't Indigenous.

Land for such projects can be compulsorily acquired under the New South Wales Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 unless it's owned by an Aboriginal land council. This racist discrimination has to stop. This is not equality under the law. This is racial inequality deliberately written into law.

In 2022 in New South Wales, there were still more than 38,000 claims awaiting assessment under the state's Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983. It is divisive, unfair and sheer stupidity to allow property rights that are denied to every other Australian. Enough is enough.

And we must—and I stress 'must'—have a sunset clause on native title and land right claims, which already cover more than half the Australian continent. We must have a comprehensive audit on these land councils, Aboriginal corporations and charities, which make up an industry that absorbs billions of dollars every year to no positive effect. Wake up, Australia. You're being taken for mugs.