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

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Why are we here? For what reason does this parliament exist? We are here to represent and exercise the will of the Australian people. We are their servants, and they are our employers. We are here by their leave, with their permission to do what they tell us to do. For many years, the Australian people have been telling us to lower immigration, to keep the numbers low, to put the interests of Australians living here before the interests of foreigners who don't. Since the election of the Albanese Labor government, these calls have grown louder and stronger. They're being heard in the newspaper columns of economic commentators and housing experts. They're being heard in the growing lines of people waiting to inspect a single property in the hope of securing a rental. They're being heard around family dinner tables, as Australians struggle to find the money for huge rent hikes amid our cost-of-living crisis. They're being heard in the daily traffic jams, as record numbers of immigrants flood our cities and increase congestion. They're being heard in the growing cities of tents, swags and cars popping up around Australia as more people fall into homelessness and despair. The Albanese government is deaf to all of them.

In January this year, there were just over 125,000 new arrivals. That's more than the entire population of Ballarat and almost as much as Darwin's in a single month. Since the election, the number of new arrivals has reached more than a million. Australia is experiencing the biggest two-year population surge in the country's history. There are now 27 million people in Australia. It's a staggering number. In September 2003, the Bureau of Statistics published a projection for Australia, which said our population would reach a figure between 23 million and 31 million by the year 2051. With our current immigration levels, Australia is on track to have more than 31 million people before 2035—16 years earlier than the ABS projected. This has happened despite the majority of Australians being firmly against it.

The majority of Australians do not want a big Australia. This is confirmed every time Australians are polled on the issue. Let's have a look at those numbers. In a Newspoll in 2018, 56 per cent of Australians wanted lower immigration. An Essential poll in 2018 found 64 per cent of Australians believed immigration was too high. In an Australian National University poll in 2019, 70 per cent of Australians did not support further population growth. In a Resolve Strategic survey in 2021 it was 58 per cent of Australians. In an Australian Population Research Institute survey in October 2021 it was 69 per cent. Then, in February 2023, an Australian Population Research Institute survey found that 70 per cent of Australians wanted lower levels of immigration. This is all about lowering immigration. They don't want a higher population. In an Essential poll in May 2023, it was 60 per cent of Australians. In a Resolve Strategic survey in July 2023, it was 59 per cent. On ABC's Q+A program in August 2023, 65 per cent of Australians wanted immigration cut to relieve pressure on housing. A Resolve Strategic survey in 2023 had 60 per cent of Australians saying immigration was too high, and 74 per cent thought immigration under the Albanese Labor government was unplanned and unmanaged. Then there was a Freshwater poll showing 61 per cent.

Labor isn't listening. It's not interested. The coalition didn't listen either until I kept putting pressure on them when it was around 260,000, and then Prime Minister Morrison dropped it to about 190,000.

One Nation has always championed lower immigration, in solidarity with the Australian people. I've been saying it since I first came here. Here's what I said in my maiden speech as the member for Oxley in 1996:

Immigration must be halted in the short term so that our dole queues are not added to by, in many cases, unskilled migrants not fluent in the English language.

I also warned we were in danger of being swamped by immigration from Asia. I was called racist, of course, by the major parties and big media, who are in lockstep for a big Australia. But today seven out of the top 10 source countries for immigration to Australia are in Asia, including four out of the top five. The numbers are out of control. Was I right? You'd never admit it, but yes I was. Immigration was higher then, and I tried to explain to people back then in 1996.

Then I said in my first speech in the Senate in 2016:

Australians have never been permitted to vote on immigration and multiculturalism. When have we been asked or consulted about our population? We reached a population of 24 million this year, 17 years ahead of prediction. Governments have continually brought in high levels of immigration, so they say, to stimulate the economy. This is rubbish. The economy is stimulated by funding infrastructure projects, creating employment. What major projects have we had in this country for the past 30 years? How many dams have we built in the past 50 years?

The only stimulation that is happening is welfare handouts—many going to migrants unable to get jobs. At present, our immigration intake is 190,000 a year. High immigration is only beneficial to multinationals, banks and big business, seeking a larger market while everyday Australians suffer from this massive intake. They are waiting longer for their lifesaving operation. The unemployment queues grow longer—and even longer when government jobs are given priority to migrants.

Our city roads have become parking lots. Schools are bursting at the seams. Our aged and sick are left behind to fend for themselves. And many cities and towns struggle to provide water for an ever-growing population. Our service providers struggle to cope, due to a lack of government funding, leaving it to charities to pick up the pieces. Governments, both state and federal, have a duty of care to the Australian people. Clean up your own backyard before flooding our country with more people who are going to be a drain on our society. I call for a halt to further immigration and for government to first look after our aged, the sick and the helpless.

Those were my words in 2016 in my maiden speech in this place. What's changed? Absolutely nothing. I'm delivering the same words today in this bill that I'm presenting, but I'm asking for the people to have a say because you have completely ignored the people. You're not listening to them.

Most Australians don't want high immigration, and the major parties completely ignore the polls that universally confirm this fact. However, there's one type of poll they can't ignore: a national plebiscite. This mechanism for asking every voter their opinion has been available to Australian governments since Federation but has only been used three times in 123 years. It was used twice during the First World War by our seventh prime minister, Billy Hughes, to ask Australians their opinion about military conscription. Both plebiscites saw Australians—most notably, the diggers themselves who went to the polling booths set up behind the trenches on the Western Front—reject conscription. The results prompted the first historic split of the Australian Labor Party, when Hughes took some senior members with him to join the old Commonwealth Liberal Party in 1917. Labor didn't win government again until 1929.

The only other plebiscite was held in the 1970s, when Australians chose 'Advance Australia Fair' as our national anthem, and I think it is time we have another one. It is important that we have another one. I think it's past the time to ask every Australian voter what they think is an appropriate level of immigration. This will give the major parties an opportunity to make their case—why they've completely ignored the will of the Australian people.

I find it amazing that in just about every newspaper, on radio stations and on TV channels our high immigration levels are spoken about, along with the housing crisis that we have and the congestion on our roads, yet you are doing absolutely nothing about it. You are increasing the numbers coming to this country, and you can spend $450 million to have a voice to parliament. That was more of a concern to you—to give less than three per cent of our population a voice to parliament. That's where your priorities lie, not with the Australian people. You must go around blindly when you drive down the cities and you see tent cities, people living in their cars, people queueing up in their hundreds to possibly get rental accommodation or those young Australians who will never have the hope and chance of owning their own home. It just amazes me.

The major parties will be able to explain how they keep immigration levels to please their corporate masters. They'll be able to come clean about the fact that they use high immigration to paper over the widening cracks in the Australian economy to burnish their terrible economic credentials. That's the real reason behind this, isn't it? Gross domestic productivity has dropped. You've lost industries and manufacturing, so you bring in migrants, who prop up the economy because they buy more whitegoods. You've got people like the Harvey Normans of this world and Bunnings who all want higher immigration because they're going to sell more products. That's what it's all about. You're not interested in the average person out there.

In 1996 I could see the writing on the wall, because I came straight from my shop. I was running a small business, talking to people and living it. I was living it, and that's why I've never forgotten. I don't know what happens to people when they come to this place. You lose your backbone. You actually lose contact with the Australian people. You don't really care because your seats are safe. You don't put yourself out there to actually raise the issues that are important to the Australian people. I don't think you really understand how much they're struggling. You go on and make your speeches in this place but when you're out in the real world it's a different matter. Your actions speak louder to me than your words, and there's no action on this at all.

As I said, national productivity has fallen more than seven per cent since the election of Labor, and we are now in a per capita recession. Let me repeat that: national productivity has fallen more than seven per cent since the election of Labor, and we are now in a per capita recession. Interest rates have soared, driving thousands of Australian families into mortgage stress. High immigration has been a disaster for Australia. On behalf of the majority of Australians, I demand a halt to immigration.

We must catch up on our housing, infrastructure and services. We must care first for the Australians living here now. Why is that such an issue? Why can't you just listen to the Australian people, pull back on the immigration and let us catch up on the services that we need? You can't even get doctors out to rural and regional areas, so health services are pathetic. You've now announced a $4 billion housing fund for Aboriginals to be built in remote areas at a cost of about $1 million plus per house, possibly $1½ million per house, and yet other Australians are living in tent cities. You're promoting and giving them a reason to go and live in remote areas with no hope of employment or real services, and it is going to cost the taxpayers more money to actually send people out there. It beggars belief, what you are doing.

I don't know who your masters are, but it's certainly not the Australian people. We are their servants, and we should be listening to them, but you've turned a deaf ear to the Australian people with regard to this. I want the people to have a say—a real say. There should be a debate. There's never been a real debate about this. You've never explained to the Australian people why we should have high immigration. You can't even explain that. You don't want to, because you can't. You're incompetent. Explain to them why you're bringing so many people into the country. Maybe they might agree with you if you can explain it, but I'm doubtful you ever can. It doesn't make sense to me. I hope that you see common sense and give the people a voice.

To the people out there, I say: if they don't give you a say on the high immigration that's coming into this country and destroying your way of life then don't vote for them anymore. Change your vote. Send a clear message. They don't deserve your respect, because they're not listening to you. They don't respect you. You are the Australian people. You have the power in your hands at the next ballot box. At the next federal election, make your vote count.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in relation to this private member's bill, the Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018. At the outset, I'll state that the opposition will be opposing this private member's bill. There were points made by Senator Hanson in relation to this country's immigration policy which I think are points which would be raised by many Australians—in particular, the chronic shortage of housing in this country at this point in time. We have a situation where between 2022 and 2023 there was net overseas migration of 518,000 people. The reality is that, when we are looking across our cities and our suburbs et cetera, Senator Hanson was right when she said that there is a chronic shortage of housing, and that needs to be considered by any responsible government in terms of calibrating the rate of overseas migration into this country.

It is a point which has been made by the shadow minister for immigration and citizenship, the member for Wannon. In a media statement released on 3 January 2024, he said:

The record scale of Labor's Big Australia by stealth that is fuelling inflation, driving up rents, and straining government services has been revealed by new data released today.

Record overseas migration of 518,000 people in the 2022-23 financial year has already been confirmed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

To achieve this, the Albanese Labor Government has broken more records than Ian Thorpe when it comes to issuing visas. According to answers to Senate Estimates Questions on Notice, Labor was responsible for a record-breaking Big Australia in 2023:

There is a legitimate question that all senators in this place need to ask in relation to what the right level of net overseas migration is, especially given the housing supply constraints this country is currently suffering under, and that is something we should all consider. However, notwithstanding the fact that there are absolutely legitimate questions that need to be asked, debated and considered in relation to Australia's immigration policy, the opposition does not believe that this is the right path.

The first point I want to make in that regard is that we sit in a parliamentary democracy. At the next election, members of One Nation, including Senator Roberts, members of the Labor Party, members of the coalition—the Liberal and National parties—and members of the Greens will all face our electors. We will all have to be responsible for the decisions that we've made in this place and in relation to the policies that we articulate and take to the people. The voters—the constituents—will have a right and an opportunity to keep each and every one of us accountable to them. We are their servants. We're accountable to them with respect to how we vote in this place and what policies we take to the next election. That's the way our system works.

Once the government is formed, ministers are appointed under our Westminster system. Each of those ministers has the carriage, through a cabinet process, of these policy areas. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs is responsible for the policy on immigration. The minister and the Albanese government are responsible for the current mess in that portfolio, and they should be held accountable at the next election. That is the way the system works. As Senator Hanson conceded in saying that there have been only three or so plebiscites over the last 100 years, that is effectively the way the system works in Australia. Governments come in and governments are kicked out on the basis of the views of the Australian people. That is our system of government.

The second point I want to make is that I genuinely do not believe that you can distil something as complicated and multifaceted as an immigration policy into one question. When I was reflecting on Senator Hanson's speech—and I was listening very carefully—I was thinking about the different components of an immigration policy, such as the particular skills shortages we have in certain areas and how we meet those skills shortages. I was thinking about the perennial question: are we able to move migrants into our regional and country areas and meet skills shortages in those areas with respect to jobs which many Australians who have been here for many generations aren't prepared to take on? I was considering our humanitarian intake. Australia has always had a very generous humanitarian intake. We do our bit in that context. This is a multifaceted question, and it's linked to housing supply as well. We need sufficient housing supply if we're going to bring people into this country. It's fair to them, and it's fair to us.

This is a multifaceted policy area, and I genuinely do not believe it is possible or optimal to try and distil it into one question. Ultimately, the government, while it is in government, is responsible for the administration of this policy. The government is responsible and is answerable to the Australian people at the next election. In this place as a house of review, as an upper house, it is our obligation to engage in a debate such as the one Senator Hanson has triggered today. It is Senator Hanson's role as a senator from my home state of Queensland to put this debate on the table. It is the role of our committees to interrogate particular policies and issues through the references committees processes. That's our job. While I've been in this place, I've seen senators from all corners contribute to that debate in good faith and in a meaningful way. All of us—through different pathways, no doubt—are seeking a better Australia as we see it, and that is our role as a Senate. The debate we're having now is part of that process.

I genuinely do not believe that you can distil something as complicated as an immigration policy into a single plebiscite question. I don't believe it's optimal, and I don't believe it's practical. I think each and every one of us need to be responsible to our electors with respect to what we do and say in this place and the policies that we represent. The Australian people will have an opportunity to vote as to whether or not they agree with the government's migration policy or with the position of the opposition or the crossbench—One Nation, the Greens or whoever it is. That's the way our parliamentary democracy works.

I do want to make a few reflections in relation to our multicultural communities. I do this having, last Saturday, shared the evening with the LNP's wonderful candidate in the Inala by-election, Trang Yen. Trang is a member of our wonderful Australian Vietnamese community. And we know the story. Many Australians fought in Vietnam. The communist north prevailed in Vietnam. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands—millions—of Vietnamese fled Vietnam after the communists had succeeded in Vietnam.

Eight hundred thousand Vietnamese died on boats, seeking freedom for themselves and, more importantly, for their children—800,000 died. Under the Fraser Liberal government, Australia opened its arms to that Australian Vietnamese community. We opened our arms to that community, and that community has contributed so much to this country. That community brought with them an appreciation of our values: freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom of conscience. That community brought with them a determination to make the most of every opportunity in this country.

They came here with nothing, wearing just the clothes on their backs and the trauma of their backgrounds. They went to work and established small businesses. They built them into medium-sized businesses. They supported their children going through schools. Every Tet festival that the Vietnamese community has—I attend that festival with my friend Milton Dick, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, from the other place; he's from the other party, but we share common views with respect to that festival—they present awards to their highest-performing children and students. That's how much they value education.

I can remember having one discussion with a grandmother, who came to this country as a refugee because of the generosity of the Australian spirit, the Australian people, and I asked her: 'Your grandchild's getting an academic achievement certificate today. What are they going to do?' And this grandmother responded, 'Well, Senator Paul, she's going to do accounting.' I said, 'Why is she doing accounting?' The response was: 'Well, we already have six doctors, four dentists and three lawyers. We need an accountant.' This is just one example of one community, our Australian Vietnamese community, who are contributing so much to our country, and they are a blessing. One of the chapters in the Australian story is our Australian Vietnamese community, who have been such a great success.

Before I came to this place, I attended a memorial for the Amoy shepherds who came from China in the 1850s. There's a memorial to the Amoy shepherds out in St George in western Queensland. Those Amoy shepherds were Chinese indentured labour. At the time their region of China was going through a devastating famine, and there were agents sent across to China to try to convince young men to come to Australia, to western Queensland, and act as shepherds because Australia had a chronic labour shortage. Those young Chinese men signed up on the basis that they wanted to provide for their families back in China. They had every expectation of returning to China. Not one of them got back to China. Not one of them. And every one of those shepherds came to Queensland, which is today a six- or seven-—I am sure Senator Hanson has been to St George—or eight-hour drive, walked to St George and acted as shepherds, away from their families, away from their communities and contributing to this country, back in the 1850s. When we have these debates it is important to put on the record, as I am seeking to do, the contribution that is made by people who come to this place from different parts of the world. We have a demographic crisis in this country as well; we need more young people to support us as we get older.

I reflect on the fact that when my mother was in her last 12 months she had to make that awful transition into an aged-care facility. She was suffering chronic, chronic pain. You would not wish it on your worst enemy. And who was there looking after her? Who was having a cup of tea with her at 2:30 am when she was in chronic pain? I cannot express my thanks to the staff at that facility more. It was a young lady of African background who was working in that aged-care facility and an young lady of a Pacific Island background, from our wonderful Pacific family. They are the people doing the work in the aged-care facilities, looking after our mothers and fathers at their time of need, so we need to reflect very deeply and carefully on these issues.

The opposition has raised its substantial concern in many debates with Senator Hanson with respect to this government's current mismanagement of our migration policy, but I genuinely in good faith do not believe that this bill is the right way to approach such a complicated policy.

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on Senator Hanson's Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018. We have heard a contribution from Senator Scarr this morning. I know he is someone who has worked very closely with members of a lot of multicultural communities in Queensland, particularly the African and Vietnamese communities. It was a very insightful contribution about the benefits that we all get to enjoy from a number of migrant communities who have come to Australia to call Australia home.

But I do find it a bit ironic that this week is actually Harmony Week, a week we are meant to be celebrating and recognising the diversity that makes Australia such a great place to live—the envy of the world. Bringing people together from all different backgrounds shows how inclusive we are, how respectful we are and gives us the sense of belonging to the greatest country on earth. Yet before us today in the Senate we have a private senator's bill that was brought before this parliament in 2018, I remember, back when I first came into this place and I made a contribution then.

This bill continues to be placed on the Notice Paper, and that is the senator's right to do so. But it is an area of debate that, in my opinion, has well and truly long gone. We are no longer debating these types of bills, and rightly so. We already debated the terms of this bill back in 2018. We had the bill reintroduced after the 2019 election and now we are again debating the bill today in the Senate, and I suspect we will probably have the same outcome. When I spoke on the bill in the past, many others in the chamber spoke about their backgrounds. I am a proud son of a family who migrated here from Italy after the war. We came to this country and my parents made a great contribution. I really do feel compelled to speak on the bill briefly today because it is important that we place on the record not just our opposition to these types of bills but the benefits of migration to Australia.

It's this very place—Parliament House—that was built when we had a number of migrants come and put together every single brick, all the concrete, all the timber and all these pieces of furniture we have here today. I've never come across a migrant who isn't proud to be an Australian; in fact, I find them much prouder to be Aussies, particularly on citizenship days. I've written many times about how proud migrants are to call Australian home and to be Australian. I've always found people at citizenship ceremonies, particularly on Australia Day, to be so proud to be Australian and to call Australia home, because they want the best for their kids and for future generations. These sorts of reasons are why I, along with many others, had to speak on the bill beforehand. It is fair to say that this bill does fail to understand Australia's heritage and fails to understand where Australia is going in the future, thanks to the contribution by migrant communities.

I want to make it very clear to members of this place that Labor will not be supporting this bill. We never have supported it and we never will. As senators will remember, when this bill was initially introduced some parliaments ago, as I mentioned earlier, we opposed it with vigour then, and I note that we will do so now. It was also opposed with the same degree of vigour by those opposite when they were in government. There was strong language that was used by some in the government then, and I want to refresh people's minds about what was said. 'There was nothing noble about this bill,' one government senator back then said. Another also said, 'It will put economic improvement at risk.'

We do hear from time to time about the economic impacts of migration, but it is interesting to note and again place on the record that the Albanese government, thanks to the work that it's had to do in the Department of Home Affairs since coming to office, is now seeing migration levels taper off. In fact, migration levels are now forecast to drop. By 2030, we will see around 30 per cent less than what was forecasted under the previous government. We're already starting to see migration levels dropping over the next two financial years in the forward estimates. It's not because we are anti migration, but we do recognise that there needs to be a change of focus on migration in this country—away from temporary migration and toward more permanent migration, with migrants who want to make a more permanent, meaningful contribution to this country. We had a number of visas that were on offer that did prop up parts of the economy but were only for short-term hits. This government is saying: 'Enough of that. We want to see migration levels stabilise. We want to see migration that is on a more permanent basis in order to have a much-longer-lasting impact that is much more beneficial to our economy and to this country.'

It's the hard work that this government is doing in the Home Affairs space that is bringing migration back to a sustainable level after all the comparable countries experienced a post-pandemic surge. We're trying to restore some integrity to our educational system as well. As I said, the analysis by the Centre for Population shows that the Australian population is now expected to be smaller by 2030 than the pre-pandemic forecast by the former government.

I really do hope that, if there are other contributions here today, when considering this bill again, we do count on the support of senators—particularly those opposite—not just to vote down this bill but also to make very clear the type of sentiment that this bill has. We have no place for this bill in our vibrant and very robust democracy. I know there have been a number of issues raised by Senator Hanson, Senator Scarr and others, but this parliament can handle debates of all those natures. We are trying as a government to pass legislation to deal with the housing crisis. We're also trying to deal with the economy and trying to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that is currently before this place. The parliament can walk and chew gum at the same time, but we shouldn't also be spending time putting a question to the people in a very limited context without explaining to them the full context of how migration has actually made a significant contribution rather than the negative position, that somehow migration is bad, that is being put. In fact, it is not. As you can see, what we have done so far is ensure that this House will recognise that our story of this country—the story of us, of who we are as migrants—is tied to our heritage as a proud migration nation. With the exception of our First Nations people, all of us have come here at some point in search of a better life for ourselves and our families.

Today, nearly half of Australians were born overseas or at least have one parent that was. As I said, in my own case, my parents came here after the war in the sixties from Italy because they knew that this place was where one could actually work hard, get ahead and create a future for their children. They weren't alone. They joined roughly seven or 7½ million others since the war who heard about the same promise. They wanted to also join in—to pack their lives into a suitcase, with very little, and make that journey to this land, which prides itself on having boundless plains to share, as we say proudly in our national anthem. We owe much of our prosperity as a nation to those who make this journey. Indeed, the Australia that we all know and enjoy today simply would not have been possible were it not for the contributions of many of these people who were born overseas and people who've been here for a very long time. In our community, roughly one in three businesses are now run by people who have a connection to a migrant community.

Treasury has also outlined in many reports—I think in one of their recent reports they estimated that the migrant intake was worth around $10 billion over the five-year period—that migration improves the Commonwealth's fiscal position, since migrants are likely to contribute more to taxation revenue than they claim in social services or other government support. I can attest to this myself, in my home state of Victoria, where one can barely walk down a mall or a high street without seeing the value that migrants make to our economy. But central to the defence against the kind of divisiveness that we are seeing before us is not merely the important role that migrants play in our economy; rather, it is advancing the vision that we all have for our nation. What would Lygon Street in Melbourne look like without the coffee machines? What would Box Hill look like without the dumpling restaurants? What would Oakleigh be without the smell of lamb meat wafting around down Eaton Mall? I know there are a couple of Victorian senators who are smiling, but they understand where I'm coming from.

We really need to be careful when we do have these debates. What is it that we are trying to achieve? What is it we're trying to fix? It's not the people that are causing the problems. I think it's fair to say that we need to look and see, 'How can we as a parliament and as governments do better?' But let's not go after the individuals who want to make a better life here in this country. The truth is that this nation would not be what it is today without the contributions made by those who have come here hoping to make a great contribution to this country. It is not for us to subject this to a divisive and, to be perfectly honest, I think, hurtful plebiscite. Whilst Labor accept that it is important that we make sure that we get the balance right in our migration program, this is the responsibility of any government to decide, with the best advice at hand. There is simply no place in our inclusive and proudly diverse nation for expensive polls. We really need to have a serious think about where we go forward as a nation. This is clearly not a bill that I and members of the government will be supporting.

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

The Plebiscite (Future Migration Level) Bill 2018 is simply saying, 'Give Australians a say.' That's all we want. We want to listen to the people and let the people decide. Give the people a say—a voice, if you like. Senator Hanson is driven to do what's in the national interest. That means protecting Australians and protecting Australians' lifestyle. This is simply a voice. Give Australians a say.

Make no mistake; the figures show that we are in a per capita recession. I've said that in the past in the Senate and I continue to say it. Labor lies and policies are hiding that because you, as a government, do not want to be blamed for putting the place in recession. This is something that's been carried through from the Morrison government to the Albanese government. Australia is in a per capita recession, and you're hiding it with high immigration numbers. They raise artificially the GDP, making sure that we don't have two quarters with negative growth.

Without high immigration, this country would be in recession. You are doing the people a disservice and you are hiding the fact that we are in recession. You're doing the people a disservice because they're now sleeping in cars, under bridges, in tents and in caravans. They're being moved to showgrounds—moved along from parks—in Bundaberg, Gladstone, Townsville, Cairns, Logan, Ipswich and Brisbane. I can step out of the CBD in Brisbane and within minutes of walking I can find people living in tents. Through the chair: Senator Watt and Senator Ciccone, are you aware that in our state, which is so fundamentally wealthy, we have thousands of people living on the streets? They are being moved on daily because they can't be kept in one place any more than three days. Some of these people have got jobs—and that's where they live! We're creating and exporting our wealth to the world—5½ million Queenslanders are creating wealth for the world and our own Queenslanders are living in tents and living in cars. Some of them are being picked on by rangers, and as they're moved on their kids are confiscated. These are working people.

The key issue here is trust. We cannot trust the Albanese Labor government, just like we could not trust the Morrison Liberal-National government. Another key issue is serving the people. Senator Hanson mentioned it. I mentioned it. As servants to the people of Queensland and Australia, we are raising this issue because it is fundamental to Australians' lifestyle, security and productivity.

Senator Hanson raised immigration many years ago. She's famous for it. Three of her four grandparents were immigrants. She's not against immigration; she's against overimmigration. She's making sure that the quality of migrants is suitable for our culture, our laws and our values. This, though, has nothing to do with Senator Hanson. It's simply a plebiscite to give people a say. You wanted it for gay marriage, homosexual marriage, and now you won't let the people have a say in something even more fundamental. Senator Hanson has a very simple approach to politics. She hasn't an elaborate political philosophy. She has a simple approach: do what's right for the national interest—that's it. That means doing what's right for the standard of living.

Senator Hanson and I are proud to support this bill because it is about propping up and restoring our standard of living. I raised immigration, particularly in connection with housing, starting a couple of years ago and I've been bashing it ever since. Have a look at my Facebook page, my Instagram page and my Twitter page. This has been a sincere and genuine concern of mine for years now. We have, as I said, people living in cars, tents and caravans and getting moved around in showgrounds. We had in January, just two months ago, record immigration. We had 125,000 new arrivals in January alone. I haven't done the maths, but that's around about 1½ million a year. After removing the number of people who left Australia that left 55,375 net migration into our country in one month. That was 40 per cent above the previous record for January way back in 2009. We have returned to the days of very high immigration, but we have gone way beyond that. We have 2.3 million people on working visas in this country, meaning 2.3 million beds and 2.3 million roofs over beds are needed. We have 600,000 students. We only have beds for 100,000 university students. So the university students we are bringing in to give us income are taking beds off Australians who need beds.

Politicians in this country, the Liberal-Nationals and the Labor-Greens, follow a big Australia policy, a massive Australia policy. The people do not. The people want a fair Australia policy. Trust, as I raised a minute ago, has been languishing in this place, and trust in the Albanese government has plummeted. Trust is made up of two components basically: integrity or honesty and competence. The Albanese Labor government is showing neither.

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, let me tell you about a phone call I had just yesterday. I had a New South Wales truckie call me. This man was looking for a job. He admires the way our office runs and he wanted a job. He's a truckie. I've met him in the past. He's a wonderful man with a wonderful family. He's on the Central Coast of New South Wales. He helped out during the fires. It cost him a lot of money to help out during the fires of 2019. He stood up to the COVID injection mandates in 2021. He's a really decent person, who was making sure that he stood up because the COVID injections killed his aunty. This is a man who's got the same genetics as his aunty, and he knew that the COVID injections would kill him. As a result of the COVID mandates which Scott Morrison's government put in place and drove, and as a result of the economic policies that Anthony Albanese's government is driving, he lost his business, a vibrant business employing seven people.

Let's look at housing. As I've talked about many times in the Senate and outside, we have a critical shortage of houses in this country. How do you respond as a government? You jack up the bureaucracy. You call it a $10 billion investment in housing when we know that that is just the fund and it's only the returns from that fund which will be invested in housing, a few hundred million dollars a year. But you've added three new bureaucracies. They build bugger-all. What we need to do in this country is to stop the castration of property rights and to free up land. We need to free up tradies from overregulation and get on with the job of letting our tradies build the houses. People can't find rental homes at the moment. The vacancy rate is 0.7 per cent, a record low. There are no bloody houses, and there are foreigners who own a lot of our houses and lock them up. But, no, you don't want to do anything about that either. You turn a blind eye to that.

My mother was born in this country. My grandparents were born overseas. They were immigrants. My father was an immigrant. So I'm half immigrant and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of being Australian, but I'm ashamed that the people in this chamber and the people in this parliamentary building want Australians to suffer. When you're in Queensland, one of the wealthiest places in the world, and you cannot get a house, so you sleep in a tent or in a car with your family and you do it because they're covering up a per capita recession, that is cruel and that is inhumane. It's not just un-Australian. It is inhumane: the bureaucracy, the regulations, the United Nations-World Economic Forum alliance, policies restricting land, big immigration policy, inflation caused by the people in this chamber—the previous Morrison government and now the Anthony Albanese government—and energy prices. Our country is the largest exporter of hydrocarbon fuels in the world. When you add up our coal and our gas, we are the largest exporters of energy, but we can't use it here. We drive up inflation. We drive up energy prices. We drive up housing costs, and then we see people living in the streets in tents in Queensland.

We see that the Liberals and Nationals are waking up to this issue. Senator David Sharma last night mentioned housing and immigration. We've been talking about it for several years now. He also mentioned that we need to do something about bracket creep. Recently, the Liberals and Nationals had a perfect opportunity to vote for my amendment on tax changes that would have ended bracket creep. You said no. Instead, you're going to help the Labor Party steal $38 billion in the next four years from Australians because of bracket creep. You both want bracket creep. That's the truth. You say that you don't want it but, when the time comes to have a vote, you don't vote for ending bracket creep. You vote for bracket creep because that's how you steal more money from Australians, just like you're stealing their livelihoods and their accommodation.

I proudly speak about people's wants and needs. Australians have very simple wants and needs. They want security, they want a good Aussie lifestyle and they want a fair government that looks after them—not one that steals from them. They want people in this place and in the House of Representatives to put the national interest first —not to bring in 2,000 Gazan immigrants with just one hour of processing.

Only One Nation wants to give Australians a say. Under Senator Hanson as our leader—we're the only party with a female leader, I might add, and proudly so—we've had a policy of a citizen initiated referendum for 10 or so years or perhaps even more, because One Nation is about giving the people a voice. One Nation is about holding Labor-Greens coalitions and Liberal-National coalitions accountable. A plebiscite is very, very simple. There's only one question in it: should we reduce immigration? What are you afraid of? Should we reduce immigration? Let's hear from the people: yes or no. That's all we want. We want to put the people first in this country. That's what we've been doing and that's what we will continue to do. That's why we have our energy policies and our immigration policies. We want to stop the mess that is unfolding in this country.

Australia used to have the highest per capita income in the world; that was 120 years ago. We're now slipping below many other countries. We're heading for 20th. Yet, according to the United Nations, we have the richest resources in the world. You and you are squandering those resources. You're stealing from the Australian people and now you're making sure that they don't get a house and that they don't get a rental. They'll keep sleeping in parks. All Senator Hanson and I want is to put the people first, to serve the people and to give the people a say. Should we reduce immigration? It's over to the people of Australia.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the bill be read a second time.