Let’s Have More Transparency

The purpose of this Bill is to abolish the current Administrative Appeals Tribunal and establish a new tribunal with improved criteria for member appointments, ensuring a transparent process.

Under the new system, positions would be advertised and candidates selected based on their qualifications and experience, with an appropriate interview process.

This approach seeks to alleviate concerns regarding past politicisation of tribunal membership.

Transcript

The Administrative Review Tribunal Bill 2024 and the associated bills, which relate to the replacement of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal with a new administrative review tribunal, are long overdue. 

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has developed a reputation for inefficient and delayed decision-making, holding up the highly emotive process of considering mostly visa reviews and applications. The appointment process of tribunal members has been less than transparent, with many appointments being clearly politically based and with many appointees being barely qualified for their positions. That has raised a number of questions and a lot of talk. The new tribunal will offer transparent appointments based on merit and will ensure that decision-making will be less questionably based on perceived biases or lack of understanding of the issues. That’s a clear issue in the profession. Positions will be advertised and appointments made based on record and performance at an interview. Applicants must have relevant knowledge, skills and experience, and their qualifications need to be stated. 

A significant problem in considering the bills, though, has been the time involved in assessing the voluminous amount of material, which something that previous speakers Senator Shoebridge and Senator Scarr both mentioned. That is particularly so in terms of accessing the voluminous amount of material in the context of the huge number of consequential amendments that need to be made to more than 138 acts and the consideration of the impact of these changes. That’s no light task; it’s not a five-minute task. 

It’s been suggested that the new bill does not adequately offer persons with immigration challenges enough access to legal support when presenting their case for review. The bills reintroduce the Administrative Review Tribunal. This is generally considered a good move as it can assist in avoiding long and expensive court actions. It’s hoped that the Administrative Review Tribunal will be sufficiently resourced to avoid the enormous backlogs that have prevented timely and final resolution of primarily .migration and refugee matters. It’s been said that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal merits review system was failed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal which did not function effectively, efficiently or transparently. In 2022-23, more than 19,000 migration and refugee matters came into the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. This represented 46 per cent of all applications that came into the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. There were over 54,000 matters still outstanding at the end of the financial year. It’s hoped that this backlog will be more effectively dealt with by the new Administrative Review Tribunal. 

I need to point out that the mass of material within these bills that we’ve had to go through has been difficult to take in at short notice. Sadly, this is becoming a standard practice of this Albanese Labor government, making it difficult for crossbenchers to efficiently and, sometimes, effectively perform their functions. We heard about the hoops that Senator Scarr had to jump through. That’s not acceptable. Senator Shoebridge also mentioned the same problem. The process of developing this bill and getting it through scrutiny has been catastrophic, as one of them said. We have also seen a number of bills guillotined under the Labor-Greens-Teals-Senator Pocock coalition. That coalition has been pushing things through this parliament, suppressing orders for the production of documents and guillotining debate. We’ve had bills with enormous consequences for this country—some of the most far-reaching ever—rammed through this parliament with not one word of debate. I’m talking now particularly about the digital identity bill, which went through recently. That bill was amended quite substantially, and there was not one word of debate about the bill, nor about any of those amendments. So the process of coming to where we are with the Administrative Review Tribunal was flawed. Senators Scarr and Shoebridge echoed that. But the changes are needed. As servants to the people of Queensland and Australia, my team and I have weighed the pros and cons. Based on all of this, I somewhat reluctantly decided to support the bill. Having listened, though, to Senators Scarr and Shoebridge, who are lawyers and who I respect, I will be reflecting and may change my mind. But, at the moment, we are highly critical of the government’s process in developing this bill and putting it through what amounts to less-than-perfect, inadequate scrutiny. I do say the changes are needed at the moment. I reluctantly support the bill. 

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Labor Fiddles Around the Edges With its Election Budget

In trying to please everyone, the Treasurer’s third budget will please nobody.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ third budget fails to deliver affordable houses, cheaper power bills and groceries, and any hope for the future. That’s what a good budget should deliver.

A better way is putting Australians first and using our natural resources to drive wealth, abundance and opportunity for all.

Transcript

Cheap houses, cheap power bills, cheaper groceries and hope for the future—that’s what a good budget should deliver. Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s third budget fails to deliver on all of these issues. Once his short-term coupons expire, inflation will fire up. Handouts and subsidies don’t bring inflation down; they just hide it temporarily. The Treasurer even admitted as much in his budget speech last night. He said: 

Electricity prices would have risen 15 per cent in the last year if not for our efforts— 

the Treasurer means his handouts— 

instead, they rose two per cent. 

Has there ever been a greater admission of failure of the net zero pipe dream? With the most wind, solar, batteries and green schemes on the grid in our history, actual power prices rose 15 per cent in just 12 months. When the last budget’s power relief ran out, Australians would have faced that entire price rise in one hit. That’s right: Treasurer Chalmers has been forced to extend another round of power bill relief. Australians would have rejected what the net zero lunacy has done to our once cheap power. Cheaper houses—with 2.3 million visa holders needing housing in the country right now, Australia is in the grip of a terrible housing crisis. Good working families, Australian families, are sleeping in tents, in cars and under bridges. Treasurer Chalmers tells us to prepare for another 280,000 migrants. Given his track record on immigration predictions, we should prepare for more. With no hope of building enough homes to house those new arrivals, rent, house prices and homelessness will only get worse. 

How about hope for the future? There is little hope. The Treasurer tells us to expect crippling, worse deficits for the next 10 years, starting with this year. A better way is possible with One Nation, by putting Australians first and using our natural resources to our advantage. Then we can again become the best in the world. 

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The Modern Slavery Bill

I support this Modern Slavery Bill because slavery is repugnant to me and to Australians across our country. It’s inhuman.

While this bill is a positive step, it is not as strong as my Child Labour Bill, which has been introduced to the Senate and is currently under review by the senate committee. My bill adopts a stricter definition of ‘child labour’ and imposes severe penalties on companies that exploit child labour in their supply chains.

Australia must commit to ending all forms of slavery, particularly child slavery, because it is the right thing to do.

Transcript

As a servant to the fine people of Queensland and Australia, I note that the Modern Slavery Act 2018 establishes the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner as an independent statutory officeholder within the Attorney-General’s Department. The role of this new commissioner is to bring together the different initiatives the government has taken since the Modern Slavery Act was enacted. These include a unit inside the Attorney-General’s Department and other agencies, including Border Force, to monitor the existing anti-slavery legislation, and an ambassador to counter modern slavery, people smuggling and human trafficking. The Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023 clarifies the commissioner’s ability to share information with the Australian Federal Police and other law officers. That will be useful where slavery is brought to light. The definition of slavery in the Modern Slavery Act, which the commissioner will be relying upon for their actions, is wide enough to include that which everyday Australians would consider slavery. There is an issue with the definition of ‘child slavery’ that I will return to in a moment. Noting the absence of penalties in this bill and the modern slavery bill, I hope the commissioner does receive the level of cooperation necessary to eliminate slavery in the supply chains of corporations doing business in our country and of course eliminate slavery as it exists in Australia, which is mostly sex slavery. Senator Shoebridge has advanced an amendment which should improve cooperation with the commissioner. One Nation will support the amendment. 

The commissioner will provide an independent mechanism for victims and survivors and business and civil society to engage on issues and strategies to address modern slavery. This is the area of the bill that was dialled up following the committee report. There seems to be a strong emphasis on telling the stories of those workers who are being exploited and preparing material to inform business and the public on the issue. While One Nation will be supporting this bill, I believe Australians across our country consider slavery repugnant, and the best option is to proceed to criminal and economic sanctions right now for businesses that include slavery in their supply chains. Deal with it now and stop slavery now. Businesses have had more than three years to establish whether or not they have slavery in their supply chains. That should be plenty of time. Simply reporting on it—and self-reporting at that!—is not an effective solution. That approach is nearing its use-by date. 

One Nation looks forward to the commissioner stepping this up and clearly communicating sanctions to business and working with the Attorney-General and the Minister for Trade and Tourism on further sanctions and penalties. It’s essential that an Australian consumer can buy goods or services in our country and be safe in the knowledge that they are not rewarding the use of slavery. It’s useful for people who see something to have somewhere to say something. For that reason I look forward to the commissioner operating a telephone and web function that allows people to report suspicions they have around the use of, or the keeping of, slaves. That could be used for reports of child slavery and child labour. 

For all the talk about child labour, we still have children in the Congo digging up lithium so that urban elitists can buy their electric vehicles, install their power walls and pat themselves on the back about how worthy they are. This has to stop. Stop turning a blind eye to these kids dying in the Congo and other places. The mechanism in place so far has failed miserably to help child labourers, and One Nation has legislation already before the committee. It’s our measure to prevent goods being made with child labour from entering Australia. A problem that continues to exist—in part due to the definition of ‘slavery’ used in the Modern Slavery Act, which the parliament passed in 2018—is that the commissioner will be operating under the definition of ‘child slavery’ which traps only ‘the worst forms of child slavery’, not all the forms of it. Article 3 of the International Labour Organization Convention Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour includes in part (d), ‘work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children’. 

After all these years of talk about child slavery and all these Australian government actions, these poor children are still digging up cobalt with their bare hands when they should be at school. The International Labour Organization has a far better definition of ‘child labour’, which my office is using. Their definition of ‘child labour’—not child slave labour; it’s more encompassing—is ‘a child under 14 who misses school, or would miss school if it were available, in order to perform work’. So it is when work takes them out of school. That definition captures people who are caught in a never-ending cycle of poverty and misery, with children who are working to bring home a tiny income to support their families and who never receive the necessary education to break out of that cycle of poverty. They are trapped in poverty and misery for their very short lives. These children work until their bodies are broken, and then their children take their place. Child labour may provide large corporations with extra profits from cheap minerals, coffee and textiles, amongst others, yet it’s just plain wrong. It is inhuman. 

I framed my bill to relate to child labour only because the Modern Slavery Amendment (Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner) Bill 2023 has been on the drawing board for some time. My bill covers what this bill does not cover. Having seen the final version of this bill, I will provide the committee with an update on an amendment to my bill to allow the Anti-Slavery Commissioner to be the point of reporting of child labour on imported goods in addition to child slavery. One Nation will support this bill, and, as servants of the people of Queensland, I will continue to pursue this issue. 

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Brisbane Rally: Say NO to Digital ID

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I am strongly opposed to the Digital ID bill, which I see as a tool for authoritarian control that threatens our freedom and privacy. I believe this bill is part of a larger agenda aimed at identifying, controlling, and potentially punishing those who oppose government policies—a shift that feels like a return to feudalism and serfdom. Although initially presented as voluntary, the Digital ID is gradually becoming mandatory for everyday tasks, as more government departments require it for various services.

I’m deeply concerned that this system could lead to significant privacy violations, creating a live data file tracking people’s movements and activities that could easily be used to control and exploit citizens.

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Budget Predictions

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The Treasurer handed down his third budget tonight (14/05/2024). These were my predictions earlier today in the Senate. What do you think of what he has handed down?

Transcript

As Treasurer Jim Chalmers hands down his third budget tonight, many Australians simply don’t care. All the talk about surpluses, deficits, subsidies and balance of payments is very low in the average Australian’s priorities today. The biggest budget concern across dinner tables is skyrocketing mortgage costs, rents, grocery bills, insurance premiums and power bills. Australians don’t need Treasurer Chalmers to tell them times are tough; they’re living through tough times. Unfortunately, this budget shows the government isn’t coming to help; in fact, to compensate for its poor decisions it’s going to have to have its hand deeper in your pocket, taxing more of your salary for years to come. 

Let’s step through the budget and what it means for Australians. Firstly, the big headline: Labor wants everyone to know the budget is in surplus—$9.8 billion. It sounds good, doesn’t it? Anyone who’s ever had their bills laid out on the dining room table knows a good budget needs more money coming in than going out. Unfortunately, this budget surplus is terrifyingly small, given that fairies have kissed Treasurer Chalmers with good luck. 

The government has won the biggest lottery prize we could ever have hoped for, yet it has just a tiny surplus. It would be like a family winning division 1 of Powerball and having $100 left over at the end of the year—and calling it a win! There should be rivers of gold flowing into the budget. Instead we have a miserable trickle because Labor doesn’t resist spending every bit of its lottery winnings. 

Commodity prices for our exports like oil, gas, coal, metal minerals and agricultural produce have all been near or at record highs over the previous few years. That means huge amounts of extra money flowed into Treasurer Chalmers’s budget. ‘Oil’, ‘gas’ and ‘coal’ are all dirty words to this Labor government and the Greens, and they’re too embarrassed to admit they have, in large part, saved the budget. 

The second lottery win is the Australian workers. They’re working more jobs, longer hours and harder than ever. All of the extra work is reflected by the record-low unemployment rate. That means more taxes from hardworking Australians are going into the budget coffers than ever before—a record. That’s the story of this budget: three years of some of the largest tax intakes government has ever recorded, yet Labor can only squeak out the tiniest of surpluses. 

Despite Australians working multiple jobs for more hours, they’re still going backwards because of inflation. Inflation is the secret debilitating stealth tax on all Australians. It’s the reason Australia had the largest collapse of disposable income in the OECD. If you feel like you’re going backwards, it’s because you are. 

The only way to get ourselves out of this infrastructure mess is by spending on productive assets that allow Australia to make more here. We need to raise our productive capacity. We need more dams so that Australians can have more food and exports. But don’t expect to see any dams in Labor’s budget. We need cheaper electricity so that small businesses can thrive and hire people in their local communities. Instead, Labor will continue to throw us down the path of the net zero pipedream, which is guaranteed to bring higher energy prices, whether Australians pay for it on their power bill or with more taxes. 

Unfortunately, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Labor-Greens are a uniparty on net zero—all united in their commitment to kill our electricity grid. We need nation-building projects like the Iron Boomerang project to make millions of tonnes of the world’s best quality steel right here in our country. 

One thing I can guarantee is that there won’t be enough action on immigration in this budget. The Prime Minister has leaked that they expect net overseas migration to come in at 300,000 next year—300,000! This is a horrifyingly large number. It’s excessive. Prior to COVID there were 1.9 million visa holders likely to require housing in the country. There are now 2.3 million plus 400,000 tourists. That’s causing the terrible rental and housing crisis. Now the government wants to make that 300,000 people worse again. Where will these people sleep, Prime Minister? 

That sums up what we can expect from this Labor budget: more Australians sleeping in cars, under bridges, in tents and in caravans; first home buyers destroyed by their mortgage repayments, while inflation runs out of control; small businesses being strangled by power prices. Does this sound good? This is hopeless. There are many more shocking stories of how the Australian dream has been ruined by decades of the Liberals-Nationals-Labor-Greens uniparty, acting together to implement the agenda of the World Economic Forum and the United Nations. 

A better way is possible. A much better way is possible, and One Nation will reveal how in our response to the budget this week. 

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Labor’s Guide on How to Avoid Answering Questions in Senate Estimates

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Labor has been caught red-handed with a cheat sheet to circumvent democracy. The media has received a leaked copy of a manual from the office of the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. This clearly shows more damning evidence that Labor is seeking ways to side-step the responsibility and accountability of government.

Instead of respecting the role and powers of the Senate, the Prime Minister’s Office sends out a secret manual on side-stepping senate estimates’ questions.

This is nothing less than contempt of the senate from the PM’s office and reveals premeditated attempts at concealing the truth from the Australian people. This is a government that talks up transparency while writing the ‘How-To’ guide on hiding the facts. We will review this in more detail and will provide a detailed response on the manual.

Transcript

I speak to this motion to take note. I have yet to read the document in full and in detail, yet its existence is very disturbing, as other speakers have already said. At Senate estimates, Anthony Albanese’s office is putting words in the mouths of department heads. How can we trust their answers? We cannot trust this government. Repeatedly we’re getting the suppression of democracy—repeatedly—and we’re seeing arrogance. Let’s have a look at some data, and then I’ll come back to talking more about this document.

As of the end of December 2023—7 December, specifically—after 94 Senate sitting days in the 47th Parliament, Anthony Albanese’s parliament, 14 guillotine motions have been agreed to. Under the previous Morrison government, in the 46th Parliament, 14 guillotine motions were agreed to. Now we start to see the difference. A total of 87 bills have been subject to the guillotine in the 47th Parliament under the Labor-Greens-teals-Pocock coalition led by Anthony Albanese. In the 46th Parliament, under the Morrison Liberals, there were 59. So we have seen almost 50 per cent more under this government, under the coalition that Labor formed with the teals, Senator Pocock and the Greens, quite often with Senator Jacqui Lambie’s support.

They promised transparency and accountability. Instead we get the suppression of democracy, repeatedly. Arrogance—that’s what we say it is. Arrogance. We see that the suppression of democracy is a form of control.Always beneath control there is fear. Of what is the Albanese Labor-Greens-teals-Pocock coalition afraid? It’s afraid of truth and afraid, fundamentally, of an informed citizenry. They don’t want people to know.

The media has seen copies of the document. ‘The PMO’s secret manual on sidestepping Senate estimates questions’—that’s the headline in Capital Brief. The article says:

Capital Brief has seen a document sent by Anthony Albanese’s office advising departments on how to handle questions on notice from Senate estimates. Current and former senators say the edict represents contempt of the Senate.

Contempt of the Senate is a very serious matter. Another article in Capital Brief says:

Current and former senators, lawyers and a former top judge have said the drafting of the document could result in contempt of the Senate. … …

Anthony Albanese’s office has stood by a document it issued to senior bureaucrats which advised them how to sidestep Senate estimates questions on the basis that inquiries have “skyrocketed” since Labor came to government.

Well, that’s your job! I don’t care if they have skyrocketed. We’ll keep asking questions. I’ll get to the Prime Minister’s office’s manual—what we’ve seen of it so far; I haven’t dissected it.

When the interests of several departments are involved, the Government Guidelines for Official Witnesses before Parliamentary Committees and Related Matters call for departments to consult with other departments as part of the drafting process. This includes instances where the same or similar Senate estimates questions on notice are asked of all or multiple departments and agencies. Why are you worried about different answers from different departments? Look at some of the topics covered—well, we’ll go through that another time.

I know this is not a motion by leave to seek a variation of standing orders, but One Nation normally opposes them because the Senate should be focused, firstly, on Senate responsibilities and, secondly, on government
business. We want the government to govern. Senate estimates, though, are a vital part of holding governments and bureaucrats accountable for taxpayer funds. Why do you hide from that? Anthony Albanese’s department wants to hide the truth from the people.

We have seen the Fair Work Commission and the Fair Work Ombudsman stumbling through an answer to my questions attempting to get to the bottom of their complicity with the CFMEU and major multinational labour hire firms in stealing $30,000 to $40,000 per miner each year from thousands of casual miners in Central Queensland and the Hunter Valley. They hide the facts wilfully. The Fair Work Ombudsman office relies on fraud, repeatedly.

The Labor minister for workplace relations ignores and diverts. It’s embarrassing for departments. We look forward to reviewing the formerly secret document in detail, because democracy is at stake.

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This is What an Actual Vision for Australia Looks Like

What happened to having vision for the future in this country?

You won’t get it from the Liberal and Labor Uni-party whilst they’re beholden to their donors.

Check out One Nation’s breakdown of the budget and how we would return Australia to leading the world.

Transcript

This is One Nation’s response to Labor’s Budget. 

My comments will be in two parts. 

Firstly, an analysis of what Treasurer Jim Chalmers has put into and left out of the budget. 

Secondly, what a One Nation budget would look like to return Australia into a prosperous country again. 

Starting with the measures in Labor’s budget for next year, 2024/25. 

Treasurer Chalmers wants everyone to know about his surplus for THIS year 2023/24. 

Yet his budget released two days ago for this coming year starting in less than two months aims to be a DEFICIT for 2024/25 

Many Australians might not even know what a surplus is. 

A surplus simply means that within a given year the Government is spending less than it’s income. It spends less than what it takes off Australians. 

Usually that’s a good thing. 

Like any Australian household, government shouldn’t be spending more than it has – that’s a deficit. 

Treasurer Chalmer’s surplus of $9.3 billion isn’t a happy story, though. 

It sounds like a big number until you compare it to the total budget spend: $683 billion dollars. 

Unfortunately, given Treasurer Chalmers’ amazing run of good luck this budget surplus is terrifyingly small. 

It would be like a family winning division 1 of Powerball and having $100 left over at the end of the year—and calling it a win!  

There should be rivers of gold flowing into the budget.  

Instead, we have a miserable trickle because Labor can’t resist spending every bit of its lottery winnings. 

Commodity prices for our exports like oil, gas, coal, metal minerals and agricultural produce have all been near or at record highs over the recent few years.  

That means huge amounts of extra money flowed into Treasurer Chalmers’s budget.  

‘Oil’, ‘gas’ and ‘coal’ are all dirty words to this Labor government and its Greens partners. And they’re too embarrassed to admit mining and agriculture have, largely, saved the budget. 

The second lottery win for the government is Australian workers.  

They’re working more jobs, longer hours and harder than ever.  

All of the extra work shows up in the record-low unemployment rate.  

That means more taxes from hardworking Australians are going into the budget coffers than ever before—a record. RECORD tax taken from Australians. 

That’s the story of this budget: three years of some of the largest tax intakes government has ever recorded, yet Labor can only squeak out the tiniest of surpluses. 

From this year on the deficits return. Tens and tens of billions of dollars in the red each year as far as we can see. Going deeper into debt. 

The Federal Government’s debt is due to reach nearly 700 billion dollars in coming years. 

At the rate this government is going our children’s children will not repay it. 

Despite working multiple jobs for more hours helping the government’s bottom line, Australians are still going backwards because of inflation.  

Inflation is the secret debilitating stealth tax on all Australians.  

It’s the reason Australia had the largest collapse of disposable income in the OECD.  

If you feel like you’re going backwards, it’s because you are. 

Inflation is leading to tax bracket creep. 

That means you’re earning more while your money is worth less yet you’re paying more tax overall. 

As your income rises with inflation, it takes you into a higher tax rate bracket. 

The government takes more money from you through bracket creep because of inflation. 

No wonder they voted against my amendment that would have removed bracket creep. My amendment would have removed the stealth tax. 

The government is fudging the inflation numbers, making it appear better than the price increases you’re actually paying in the real world. 

When they hand out energy and rent relief, it artificially lowers the inflation figures. 

This is just papering over the inflation. It does nothing to actually fix it. 

Economists across the country have slammed Treasurer Chalmers trickery on this. 

Without rent assistance the CPI for rents would haver increased 9.5% in the 12 months to March.  

Instead because of Treasurer Chalmers’ trickery it was recorded as just 7.8%. 

The cost of electricity has gone up 15% in just a year. The bill relief is papering over that, showing up in the CPI as just 2%. 

This is a clear, huge admission of failure of the net zero pipe-dream 

With the most amount of wind, solar and batteries on the grid than ever before in history, Treasurer Chalmers must hand out another round of power bill relief – because prices are too expensive. 

The inflation fight isn’t over for Australians who are still going backwards. 

This budget will pour more fuel on the inflation fire. 

There are only a few ways to genuinely reduce inflation: 

First, never repeat the mistake of printing $500 billion out of thin air over COVID.  

That created much of the inflation we’re fighting – as the former head of the Reserve Bank agreed to me.  

Second, reduce the cost of energy: Abandoning the net-zero pipe dream.  

While net-zero is pushing up power prices we’ll never get rid of inflation. 

Thirdly, cut the amount of visa holders in the country now driving huge demand. 

That’s not just a cut to the rate of immigration as this budget proposes, it needs to be negative, and people need to leave. As I’ll explain later. 

Finally, make investments in productive infrastructure to increase the productive capacity of our country. Assets like dams, power infrastructure, ports and rail lines.  

That’s called supply side economics. Improve productivity. 

That’s how inflation can be cut. Not with trickery. Improving real productivity. 

The next feature item of the Labor Budget is their Future Made In Australia plan. 

This is a vague, unclear collection of weird policy ideas like a billion dollar computer and outright scams for a total of $22.7 billion dollars. 

This will supposedly turn Australia into what they call a Green Superpower for wind, solar, so-called green hydrogen and other scams. 

The government will use that money to pick losers that have failed to attract any investment from anyone with common sense in the real world.  

This is a “Disaster made in Australia” Plan. 

China manufactures and tightly controls more than 90% of all of the critical parts of wind and solar power. 

Wind and solar make us completely reliant on China for our energy needs, Labor’s Future Made in Australia will only make that reliance worse. 

There’s no reason to become reliant on wind and solar due to our abundance of oil, gas, coal and uranium in this country.  

We’re the most resource rich country in the world.  

Why would we spend tens of billions ignoring that and handing over control to China? 

The Future Made in Australia plan is really a Future Made in China plan. 

This effectively sets up an unsustainable model of business practice which relies on taxpayer subsidies for any meagre profit. 

What a waste of Australian taxes. 

Next the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the NDIS. 

If left unchecked, the NDIS is going to eat this entire country alive.  

Originally budgeted to only cost $25 billion a year, it will reach $90 billion a year within a decade. 

Minister Bill Shorten says he can cap the growth at 8% a year. Yet it’s been growing at 14%. 

Providers often charge NDIS double or even triple the price for the exact same services. 

This draws carers to NDIS and drives huge worker shortages in aged care and childcare. 

The huge NDIS money sink has certainly contributed to this. 

The NDIS program has been a national shame with unconscionable budget blowouts, widespread rorting, use of taxpayer money for prostitutes and cruises and other scandals, And causes neglect of genuine disability cases. 

At some point it’s time for Australia to agree this scheme can’t be fixed and it’s time to start fresh. Send it back to the states to enable competitive federalism that is proven to drive efficiency and accountability. 

Let’s move on to the Future Drought Fund – $519 million dollars. Again seems a great headline. Just don’t read the detail. 

That money will be split over 8 years meaning just a tiny $65 million for an industry worth more than $90 billion a year to Australia. 

There’s only one real form of drought relief: WATER. 

There’s not a drop of money in this budget towards a real dam.  

To get cheaper groceries, we have to grow more of them. 

We have some of the best farmers, in combination with the best soils and climate in the world. 

Add water, and Australians won’t have to worry about grocery bills again. 

A vital part of this budget is the forecasts for net overseas immigration. 

That’s how many new people the government expects to take into the country. 

Australia’s net overseas migration was 528,000 in the 2022 to 2023 financial year, a historic record, nearly double the previous record. Double. 

That’s like adding a new Canberra to Australia, in one go. Without the political swamp. 

That’s almost one and a half (1.3) Sunshine Coasts imported into Australia in just 12 months. 

The Labor government claims this figure will decrease to 260,000 a year in 2025-2026, still far too much. 

It’s a prediction, and like any Labor prediction, don’t bet your house on it. 

Back in October 2022, 4 months into the 12 months they were predicting, the government said net overseas migration would be 235,000. 

Just 8 months later, the 528,000 figure blew their forecasts out of the water. 

Way more than double. Was it supreme incompetence? Or a lie? 

We’ll wait and see if their prediction of 395,000, an entire Sunshine Coast added to the population, for this financial year turns out to be true. 

If it’s not clear, no Australian should trust what a government says when it comes to immigration numbers. 

It’s claimed that the country is ‘just catching up’ after a slow down in immigration. That’s a lie. 

It’s a lie that’s causing a housing crisis, making Australians homeless and feeding inflation. 

Prior to COVID, there were 1.9 million foreign temporary visa holders in the country likely to require housing. 

Today, there are 2.3 million. That’s 400,000 more people in the country that are fighting Australians for a roof over their head and groceries at the supermarket. 

Why? To inflate GDP to get out of the per-capita recession. To look good not do good. Labor doesn’t care about the homeless its causing. 

That’s driven the massive crisis in the rental vacancy rate and huge increases in rents. 

This Labor government wants to keep adding to that, another 395,000 predicted this financial year, plus 260,000 the following. 

We don’t have enough houses to put these people in.  

We don’t have enough houses to put Australians in. 

We don’t have enough tradies to build enough houses to keep up with this many arrivals. 

We need to start deporting some visa holders.  

Net immigration needs to go negative until Australians have got an affordable roof over their head. 

Perhaps the most important item is something that’s completely missing from this budget. 

There’s not a single dollar allocated for a Royal Commission into the COVID response. 

Millions of Australians were forced to lock down in their homes. Forced to take an experimental medical product. Businesses were ruined. Children’s educations ruined. 

What’s the Labor government’s response? Silence. 

One Nation will continue to fight for a COVID Royal Commission and for perpetrators of human rights abuses to be thrown in jail. 

That covers some of the things that are in, and aren’t in, Labor’s budget. 

Now I want to talk about a better way, what Australia could look like as a prosperous nation under a One Nation budget. 

Here are things you won’t hear from anyone in a budget, except One Nation – because we’ve got the guts to say what you’re thinking. 

Firstly, guarantee affordable power: turn the coal fired power stations back on. Build more of them and remove solar and wind subsidies.  

It’s the only thing that can save us right now. 

Cheap power is a matter of life and death for Australians as many of them are facing the wall in this cost of living crisis. 

Nuclear should be on the table and we should simply let the cheapest power win – no handouts or subsidies. 

Secondly, stop inflation: stop quantitative easing printing excess money.  

$500 billion dollars was concocted out of nowhere during the COVID response.  

That’s a major cause of the inflation we’re still fighting today. 

The Former Governor of the Reserve Bank, Phillip Lowe, the culprit behind that money printing, even agreed with me on that. 

Thirdly, we’ll guarantee cheaper houses, cheaper rents, and get young people into their first home. 

Don’t just cut net overseas migration – start deporting some visa holders. 

Prior to COVID there were 1.9 million visa holders who needed housing, fighting Australians for a roof over their head.  

That’s now increased to 2.3 million today, plus 400,000 tourists and others. 

And, we’ll ban foreigners from buying Australian property. They’re currently snapping up nearly 1 in 10 new Aussie homes. 

We’ll convert the Labor government’s designed-to-fail Housing Future Fund and turn it into the People’s Mortgage Fund, issuing fixed rate 5% mortgages. 

Fourthly, get cheaper groceries: build dams and help farmers produce tonnes of fresh, healthy produce for Australians. 

Give farmers water and the right to use their land – we’ll never have to worry about grocery bills again. 

Fifthly, use all of our natural resources we have right here for Australians first.  

There’s no need to become a green superpower, and we never will. 

We’re already an oil, gas, coal and uranium superpower. 

Government won’t do this because some foreign unelected organisation in Zurich will claim we’re not ‘complying with our international obligations’. 

Governments of both sides have forgotten that their first obligation is to AUSTRALIANS. No one else. 

One Nation knows this. 

Finally, we must have comprehensive tax reform. 

The current system is highly destructive to our country and wholesale change must be made. 

We’ll put our trust in Australia’s people, release them from the nanny state that tells them everything they can and can’t do, and enable people to abound and flourish. 

That’s our promise of what would be a One Nation budget: 

Putting truth, Australia, and Australians first to ensure prosperity like we’ve never seen. 

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Gloves Are Coming Off Against Populist Leaders

On 15 May the Slovakian Prime Minister, Robert Fico, was shot in an attempted assassination. Thankfully he’s out of surgery and no longer in a critical condition. On behalf of One Nation, I send our prayers for his continued speedy recovery.

Slovakia recently re-elected the Fico Government for the fourth time. His political longevity stands against globalist influences, including those from the EU and the United States. This platform includes opposing the World Health Organisation Pandemic Treaty and any measures that compromise Slovakian sovereignty.

The attempt on the President’s life reflects a desire to maintain control over Slovakia, as seen in Hungary under President Orban. President-elect Peter Pellegrini called the shooting an unprecedented threat to democracy, emphasising the importance of expressing political opinions through voting, not violence.

This sentiment resonates with Australia’s current political climate, where we must remain vigilant against the erosion of democracy.

Prime Minister Albanese’s government has been pushing through bills with little oversight, including the Digital ID bill.

One Nation wants to know — who is influencing these decisions? It clearly isn’t the Australian people.

Transcript

Overnight the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was shot in an attempted assassination. He’s in a critical condition. On behalf of One Nation, I send our prayers to the Prime Minister and hope for his speedy recovery and return to work. Slovakia has only just returned the Fico government, on a platform that stood out against globalist influence on Slovakia from the EU and the United States. 

This platform includes opposing the World Health Organization pandemic treaty, opposing the international health regulation amendments and any measure that takes away Slovakian sovereignty. Clearly, the attempt on the Prime Minister’s life is the work of someone who feels the Slovakian people should not be allowed to break away from the controlled state being constructed in Europe and make their own way in the world, just as their neighbour Hungary has done under Prime Minister Orban. 

President-elect Peter Pellegrini called the shooting an ‘unprecedented threat’ to democracy and warned against expressing political opinions with pistols in squares instead of voting in polling stations, a sentiment true for our divided country. As Churchill said, ‘The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.’ Prime Minister Fico displayed such vigilance in standing against unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in Brussels, Geneva, London, Europe and New York. Australia must be vigilant against the continued subversion of our democracy by these same people. 

Under Prime Minister Albanese, Australia has seen a procession of bills designed to subvert Australian democracy. Today we see yet another guillotine. Thursdays have become ‘guillotine Thursday’ as the government rams one freedom-destroying bill through after another to avoid oversight. Indeed, as we speak, the government is doing exactly that with the Digital ID Bill in the House of Reps. The Senate is the house of review. This government, the Greens and some crossbench senators are making a mockery of our solemn duty. One Nation wants to know who’s pulling this government’s strings. It’s clearly not the Australian people. 

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Another Non Answer from Labor: High Immigration = Housing Crisis

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Queensland residents can’t find a home because there are simply more people than homes. Our hospitals are ramping because there are too many patients and not enough healthcare staff, and the number of kids in Queensland classrooms are rising not falling, despite many parents opting to home school.

The COVID response era actually provided a great opportunity to catch up on building infrastructure while immigration was frozen and people were out of jobs. Instead the government paid people to stay at home and NOT contribute to or build social infrastructure.

I asked Minister Watt, who is a Queenslander himself, if the Government opened the floodgates on immigration without the necessary social infrastructure being ready. His answer confirmed the government has not done the sums on the impacts of our record level of immigration and, quite honestly, is not fit to govern.

Transcript

I move: 

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to social infrastructure. 

For three years, from 2020 to 2022, with the nation mostly out of work, we had an opportunity to catch up on social infrastructure: hospitals, schools, transport, water and housing. Instead, we paid money that could have been used to build those things to people to sit at home and not build those things. It was a trillion dollar wasted opportunity. With a new Labor government in power, the immigration floodgates then opened without the social infrastructure to accommodate the new arrivals. What’s worse is that there are not enough land re-zonings, building applications, approvals and starts to ever make a noticeable improvement in housing. 

The Albanese government created a problem it cannot solve. Australia needs to get a refund on that plan we heard so much about from the Prime Minister in the last election because it’s a dud. It’s not up to the minister in his answer to blame the previous government repeatedly. For three years a so-called National Cabinet of Liberal and Labor leaders ran the country, so failure is on both your hands. It’s true that the neglect of social infrastructure goes back through 30 years of Liberal and Labor governments—the uniparty. 

The message from the last two weeks of elections in Queensland and Tasmania is simple. Voters worked out the link between immigration and social infrastructure and voters are not happy. Voters are angry with Minister Watt and the Albanese government for creating a housing crisis that’s rapidly escalated to now be a human catastrophe. The public are noticing the disparity between those benefiting from the property market and those falling behind. It now takes everyday Australians on a median salary up to 14 years to save for a deposit for their own home. The housing crisis the Morrison government started and the Albanese government multiplied is disenfranchising the young. The irony is that the Labor government—supposedly, once the party of the workers—is making inequality of wealth far worse. Before the thread of social cohesion unravels in this country, this government must turn off the immigration tap and start building social infrastructure. 

Question agreed to. 

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A Chat with Emeritus Professor Reuben Rose | Sons of Issachar

As a Scientist and former vet school Dean, Professor Rose became concerned that critical information about SARs-CoV2 virus and COVID-19 vaccines was not being reported by mainstream media.

We discussed how the world and particularly Australia changed with the arrival of COVID and how the population seems to have forgotten the drastic restrictions that were put on our freedoms. We also discussed what, if any, lessons were learned.

Reuben received a notice from YouTube that he had “breached community guidelines” and the link to his channel can no longer be accessed.

You can search for more of Reuben’s work here: https://reubenrose.substack.com/ | Sons of Issachar Newsletter | www.inancientpaths.com

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