Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution. The cost-of-living crisis is hammering Australian families. Food banks are reporting overwhelming numbers of families who have never had to go to food banks before. The Labor Party is supposed to be the party that lifts up the working families, but instead you are busy handing out billions of dollars to the US and the UK for a dodgy submarine deal that we'll probably never see. Then, in the same sentence, you say you can't afford to up JobKeeper or JobSeeker. Is the government doing enough? No, not by a long shot. And worse, they are throwing around taxpayers' money just to help themselves get re-elected. That's right—your re-election money will go from three bucks to five bucks because apparently they can afford it. You can't afford it.

Look at the $28 million they are chucking at Macquarie Harbour. Instead of the environment minister biting the bullet and making a decision about salmon farming in the harbour, they are giving—that's right—$28 million of your taxpayers' money, Australians out there, and will say that will fix the problem. By the way, this is to help salmon companies that are foreign owned and have been making a motza out of us for years and years. Their profits are huge, and yet they haven't paid any tax for three years. How about, instead of giving them $28 million of taxpayers' money, you make them pay that $28 million. Why is the taxpayer paying international companies that make a crapload of bloody mess in our harbour in Tasmania? Why aren't they cleaning up their own mess? You should be ashamed of yourselves. That's $28 million, all because Labor wants to win Braddon. Good luck with that, because I don't think you're hearing the people of Braddon.

Australians are struggling to put food on the table and are skipping vital medication, and what is the Labor Party doing? They want to once again up the public spend on elections. They want to give those political parties five bucks of your taxpayers' money instead of three. Apparently the coalition is onboard with that, because they don't care about the cost of living either. What struggling Tasmanians tell me is that they need help now. That does mean chucking around money to help them, but it does not mean chucking around money to help the major parties get re-elected. Here's a good idea: why don't you get off your backsides, get your boots on and go and earn it. If you did that, people might even know who your ministers and backbenchers are. Quite frankly, I don't think I could name 130 of those people sitting down in the lower house. That's how shameful it is. They don't work for it; they buy their seats. That is shameful in itself. It's all about power.

You say you're the party for the working people and that you want every Australian to have the same opportunities not just to survive but to thrive. What a load of rubbish! Nice gimmick, by the way. You haven't even raised JobSeeker, as I've said, and I can assure you that those living below the poverty line or on it are not thriving. They are absolutely sinking, and you are part of the problem. The government has money. You have a huge surplus. But, when it comes to Australians struggling with the cost-of-living pressures, you have no idea—none at all. You've done nothing to reverse the hike in arts degrees fees for students, even though I remember sitting in this chamber listening to you flog these people over this side. But—oh no—you didn't come up and reverse it, did you? Our students and kids will have bigger debts. Good luck! That's why you're never going to own a house.

You've got councils out there who are struggling with the cost of climate change; you've done nothing about that to give them money to attack the situation. Instead, you hand out $10 billion to the US and UK to upgrade their ship-building facilities under the AUKUS deal. And you're not going to believe this, Australia—they didn't even think to negotiate getting that money back if AUKUS falls apart. How shameful is that? 'Here you go, go take your 10 billion bucks, don't worry, we don't want it back. It's not a problem here, we've got plenty of cash,' but we can't help those people that are feeling it the most in our own country. We'd rather have this on our resume that we got some AUKUS deal done that is not going to ever happen. It's never ever going to happen. What a waste! What an absolute joke!

It's Australian taxpayers' money that the government has its hands on. That money needs to go to Australians who need it the most, not just where the government think they're going to win votes. You're not winning votes anymore because the Australian people are right on to you, and they've had a gutful. They've had an absolute gutful.