Aussie Manufacturing as Bad as Kazakhstan and Lebanon – 2SM with Marcus Paul

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Transcript

[Marcus] Minutes away from eight o’clock Senator Malcolm Roberts joins us on the programme, from One Nation, morning Malcolm, how are you mate?

[Malcolm] Good morning Marcus, I’m very well, how are you?

[Marcus] Yeah really good, look I’ve spoken a lot on the programme this week about our manufacturing sector. Look we need to make our economy capable of recovering from COVID-19, it’s, look it’s a complex issue I understand that but, I mean what do you think we should be doing mate?

[Malcolm] Well, you know it is a sad and scary story actually because it’s now recognised internationally that we’ve lost our economic security. We can’t make make protective equipment, we can’t get our supplies for handling the virus, we don’t make cars anymore, basic manufactured goods, tools, construction and mining equipment.

What we need to do is to harness the power we have in this country with our people and our resources. And to revive manufacturing and agriculture, the government needs to get back to doing its job to serve the people, and to create an environment for investing and making. Instead of just simple relying on digging and shipping

[Marcus] Yeah

[Malcolm] Which we need to continue to do, minerals and energy. We need to reform tax, we need to cut regulations, we need to build infrastructure, and we need to restore skills, particularly apprenticeships and restore the TAFE system.

[Marcus] Well absolutely, and what we do need to do Malcolm, is we need to value add the stuff we take out of the ground, otherwise we’ll fall further and further behind. I mean the latest indicator for manufacturing 2020 the manufacturing self-sufficiency index, ranks Australia almost, in fact, last among developed countries for God’s sake.

We’re ranked 59th, we’re somewhere between Kazakhstan and Lebanon, we’re not adding value to our primary production.

[Malcolm] Yeah you’re absolutely correct, and the reason why is in part because of the things I’ve mentioned, the tax that favours multinational companies, and also, that’s the company tax, and also the ridiculous regulations.

But what we’ve done is we’ve gutted our energy system, we’ve still got the world’s cheapest, high quality coal, very good, clean coal, and what we’re doing is we’re raising our energy prices artificially through these stupid regulations and this climate nonsense, and what we do now is we export our coal to China, and they sell electricity using our coal at eight cents a kilowatt-hour.

What we do here is we sell it at three times that price, our same coal that’s got less distance to travel. What we need to do is build coal fired power stations, end the ridiculous subsidies on intermittent energies, and that’s what they are, wind and solar, are intermittent, unreliable and expensive.

We need to remove these climate policies, we need to build a hybrid Bradfield Scheme in Queensland, because that comes with a hydro power system, and we need to stop the Queensland state Government for example, stealing one and half billion dollars every year, from every energy user, and that’s just basically a tax, they make that as a profit, and they just, it’s really a tax, so that’s crippling our manufacturing and crippling our ability to add.

We’ve now got aluminium smelter’s have shut, near your way down in Kurri Kurri and the Hunter. Looks like it’s under threat at Tomago, also in the Hunter, certainly in Geelong, and possibly now in Boyne Island. So what we’ll do is we’ll dig the bauxite out of the ground and then ship it off to overseas, and we won’t even get the aluminium out of our country, I mean it’s just ridiculous.

[Marcus] Well that’s right, that’s the value added that we’re talking about that we seem to be essentially either pricing ourselves out of, or basically because we’re lazy and we don’t want to look at any other way of perhaps taking advantage of this rich, mineral nation and land that we have here in Australia I mean, look manufacturing, back in the 1980’s, manufacturing was one of our biggest, if not the biggest employer at 17% of the total employment pie.

Now, it’s sadly just sitting down there at 6%, no wonder our economy’s hungry, I mean that’s how much less of the pie it’s getting.

[Malcolm] That’s right, 50 years ago, Marcus, and it’s so pleasing to see you using hard data. 50 years ago manufacturing was 30% of our gross domestic product, now it’s just 6%, and blue collar workers must be shaking their heads in absolute disbelief at what’s going on.

But I reckon every middle class person in this country, all blue collar workers, all small businesses, need to be very, very scared and worried about the Labor Party in particular, because it’s driving

[Marcus] Well hang on yes

[Malcolm] The agenda for renewables.

[Marcus] Well that was my next point, Labor are supposed to be supporting the blue collar worker, what are they doing about it?

[Malcolm] Well you know, Senator Sterle and Gallacher, Sterle, Glenn Sterle’s a wonderful guy and Alex Gallacher from South Australia, Sterle from Western Australia, they’re genuinely trying to stand up for workers like old Labor, and in One Nation, Marcus, we always give credit where credit’s due. But Fitzgibbon now, Joel Fitzgibbon

[Marcus] Yeah?

[Malcolm] A member for the Hunter, has stood up and said “the Green’s have infiltrated Labour.” Hello Joel, we’ve been saying that for decades, and what’s happening now is we’ve got new Labour, which is not like old Labor, and now we’ve got a confirmation of new Labor, because Albanese is rebuking Fitzgibbon,

And confirming that Labor will continue to abandon workers, in selling out to the Green’s, Labor has completely confirmed that it opposes coal mining jobs, opposes manufacturing jobs opposes blue collar jobs. They just want to go off and bend genders and all the rest of it, it’s completely absurd.

[Marcus] All right look, go easy on my mate Joel, I mean he’s the hope for the side. I think with Mr Fitzgibbon I’ve been very adamant, I mean I like Anthony Albanese but, I mean Anthony is simply too nice.

I really believe that, and Joel, perhaps I think he should have higher aspirations considering he speaks better sense than a number of his colleagues on the future of our energy sector and resources and mining and you know, he’s one of those that you’re right, will not be infiltrated by a Green ideology thank God.

That’s why I say that Joel Fitzgibbon is the hope for the side, and as soon as Anthony perhaps, realises this, he maybe needs to get out of the way.

[Malcolm] Well that’s the problem, that’s the problem you’ve identified Marcus, doesn’t matter what Joel thinks, because Anthony Albanese has gutted and cut the legs out from underneath Joel Fitzgibbon and no one stood up to support Joel publicly, no one, and they just let it all slide through.

So, basically what Albanese’s done is undermine the Hunter Valley, undermine all industry and undermine small business in this country, because he’s pushing absurd policies that are driving up energy pricing ridiculously.

[Marcus] Don’t hold back Malcolm okay? Don’t hold back, whatever you do. Tell me about this, a 23 year old university student is suing the government for failing to disclose the risk climate change poses to Australian super and other safe investments in government bonds, what?

[Malcolm] Yeah it’s ridiculous, you know this is just the ABC putting out another story, but unfortunately it’s true, but putting out another story in favour of their climate alarm crusade, but you know what Marcus?

You know where I stand on this, but I actually welcome this woman doing this, this young lady, 23 year old, because we need to bring this issue to court, because in court, they have to give hard evidence, empirical data, under oath. We’ve never had that in this country, and the second thing that she wants, she wants to change the way the government handles climate.

We want them to do exactly that, we want them to start using data, and you know, the third thing, so I actually support her getting into court, but what a ridiculous thing she’s doing because, it shows her entitlement mentality, she wants government to protect people from their own investment decisions, it’s just another stunt, again without the data.

[Marcus] All right and look I know you’re really chomping at the bit to get into this, the New South Wales police commissioner as we know, has fined BLM protestors.

It is pleasing, the law has been enforced, including Mr Patrick, who, the leader of the so-called BLM movement, here in New South Wales, at least, he was, well, I thought he was thrown in the back of a paddy waggon, but he was basically given a green carpet ride into the bowels of Parliament House don’t press, you know, don’t pass –

He certainly bypassed jail he got a thousand dollar fine, but I don’t know, what do we make of this Malcolm?

[Malcolm] Well didn’t he get the help from Green’s MP’s David Shoebridge and Jenny Leong to get into Parliament house?

[Marcus] Well I didn’t see Mr Shoebridge, but definitely Jenny Leong and she was there on the news last night, justifying this, well at least trying to justify it. It even had the New South Wales premier, who’ll join us on the programme soon, I mean, Gladys was even shaking her head, she didn’t quite understand how that could happen.

[Malcolm] But there is a wonderful positive side to this because the New South Wales police commissioner stood up last week and said that he will be enforcing the law and requiring police to enforce the law, and that’s exactly what the police force need to do. You know up here in Queensland, we have a premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who is soft on criminals, and hard on farmers and producers. And you know, she just invites people, and we got 30,000 people turning up to a black lives march protest last month, just crazy.

[Marcus] Yeah well, and then she closes borders, and worries about the importation, if you like, of COVID-19, meanwhile you’re right, that strange lily-livered, I guess mentality of preferring people’s civil liberties and their rights to protest over everybody’s health.

You know that’s, you’re gonna fester in your own nest I think up there, look I don’t know, maybe, I think as far as Queensland’s concerned, there needs to be a much stronger opposition Malcolm, because Annastacia seems to be able to be doing what she wants and she’s completely blocked out Sydney now as we know with the latest news that’s come through and off she goes mate, she’s on a tirade up there.

[Malcolm] Well we haven’t got any strong opposition here in the LNP because Deb Frecklington is really just the previous opposition leader Tim Nicholls with a skirt, you know, and what’s happening is the LNP are pushing similarly absurd policies to energy and climate policies as the Labor party.

And the Nationals are now following our lead, and pretending, we are actually opposing the UN and what it’s doing in this country, the Nationals realising that we’re stealing their votes are now pretending to oppose the UN. But the same people in the National Party are meekly following the LNP which signed the, which the coalition signed the Paris Agreement, which is gutting energy.

John Howard and the Nationals at the time, John Anderson, signed the, sorry committed to, committed our country to complying with the Kyoto Protocol, the UN’s Kyoto Protocol and that’s decimated farming

[Marcus] We’ve all been sold a dud, we’ve all been sold a dud on this climate change, we know that. Malcolm good to have you on the programme, let’s talk again next week thank you.

[Malcolm] Look forward to it, thanks Marcus

[Marcus] All right there he is Senator Malcolm Roberts

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Clean, green, coal power plants

Transcript

Hi, we’re between Singleton to the south and Muswellbrook to the north in the Hunter Valley, and we’re next to Bayswater Power Station and Liddell Power Station over here. You’ll notice that Bayswater Power Station has got cooling towers.

They’re the squat concrete structures with water vapour coming out. Now if this was the ABC, they’d be implying that was carbon dioxide, but it’s just water vapour. Have a look at the top of the chimneys.

There’s nothing visible coming out, that’s because carbon dioxide is colourless, odourless and tasteless, and there’s water vapour coming out of there as well. And over here at Liddell, which you’ll see from the drone, we’ve got chimneys, the power station is operating, there’s nothing visible coming out because carbon dioxide is colourless, odourless and tasteless, and you’ll notice that they don’t have cooling towers because they use the lake for cooling.

This is the way man has adapted to generating the cheapest form of power, reliable, safe, clean, environmentally responsible, stable, and cheap, accessible for everyone. This is what mankind’s development has been based upon, this is what our progress and the future must be based upon.

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Greens expert runs from giving evidence

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This afternoon I had the opportunity to ask questions in the Senate Committee on “Lessons to be learned in relation to the Australian bushfire.”

I chose to ask my questions to Greg Mullins who is a Climate Councillor with the (Tim Flannery’s) Climate Council. Mr Mullins wasn’t too keen on answering my questions and took the name calling route rather than providing the evidence I asked for.

“I’m a retired person, I don’t have time to deal with denialists who can’t accept settled science.” Mr Mullins is the person who the Greens rely on as their climate expert during the recent bushfires.

Transcript

[Senator Roberts]

Thank you chair, and thank you Mr. Mullins for attending today, and also thank you very much for your service over many years, in fact nearly half a century.

I’m very pleased that the opening sentence, in fact the opening line of your presentation, you used the word empirical, and when I first used that in the senate in 2016 and in the media a lot of journalists were running off getting their dictionaries and senators were giggling and carrying on. I am pleased to see that you have used that word empirical.

There is another part to that though that needs to be proven when it comes to cause and effect. It’s not just the word empirical, not just the empirical data, but also presenting that in a causal framework that establishes cause and effect, and you’re with me on that?

[Greg Mullins]

Uh, yes.

[Senator Roberts]

I’ve had to use data because I’ve had to manage people’s lives and make sure people stayed alive, so I always relied on empirical data and understood cause and effect especially investigating safety incidents to establish cause.

Now in your opening paragraph and in your recommendation one you state irrefutable empirical scientific data concerning warming climate proven to be caused by burning of coal, oil, and gas is resulting in worsening and more frequent extreme weather events that spawned the 2019 bush fires. Could you please tell me the specific source of your empirical scientific evidence within a logical structure proving cause and effect that carbon dioxide from human activity affects climate?

I’d like to know the specific title of the publication, I’d like to know the specific page numbers in which the data is presented, and in which the causal relationship is established.

Now I know you’ve used a lot of references from SBS, The Guardian, the Greens Party, The Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, the ABC, but I would like to know the specific location of the specific empirical data that scientifically proves cause and effect that carbon dioxide from human activity affects climate. Could you do that for me please either on notice or now?

[Greg Mullins]

Uh, senator or chair, do I have to answer this question? Senator, I’ve read your website, I’ve read, or tried to read, a lot of your stuff that you’ve published, and so I’ve read very widely for and against. I don’t think there would be any purpose served me trying to convince you of what thousands of scientists agreed on and the settled science, and it is settled science, and I’m at a loss to know how to deal with your assertion, I won’t call it a question.

[Chair]

Thanks Mr. Mullins, Senator Roberts.

[Senator Roberts]

Can you provide me with one title of empirical scientific evidence in a causal framework establishing cause and affect?. Not one?

[Greg Mullins]

Look I could provide many for you, but I’m a retired person.

[Senator Roberts]

One would do, just one.

[Greg Mullins]

I frankly don’t have the time to deal with denialists who can’t accept settled science.

[Chair]

I think what I propose, thanks Senator Roberts.

[Greg Mullins]

That was not an admission, it was exasperation senator.

[Senator Roberts]

Now we have talked also about-

[Chair]

You’ve got one last question Senator Roberts if that’s okay, we are out of time.

[Senator Roberts]

Yeah one more question, that’d be fine. Are you aware, Mr. Mullins, that in my cross-examination of the CSIRO that the CSIRO’s acting head of climate change admitted to me that today’s temperatures are not unprecedented and that the CSIRO admitted to me in an earlier presentation in Sydney that they have never said that carbon dioxide from human activity poses a danger and they never will say it.

Are you aware that today’s temperatures are not unprecedented?

[Greg Mullins]

Senator, now that’s a very broad question. Are you talking about hundreds of millions of years when the dinosaurs were roaming the earth or when humans, and look I say again, I have read your material and the assertions made therein under the guise of being in scientific language, and I find it very concerning and quite muddled, and I’d be very surprised if the CSIRO said what you’ve just stated just as you said that I didn’t have any reference, it wasn’t true.

[Senator Roberts]

Thank you very much chair.

[Chair]

Thanks senator Roberts,

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Great Barrier Reef is not Dead or Dying

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Once again the Greens are using naturally occurring weather events to push their anti-environmental agenda.

My reply to another motion on the Great Barrier Reef and calls for increased cuts to human CO2.

Transcript

[Malcom] – I seek leave to make a short statement.

[President] – Leave is granted for one minute.

[Malcolm] – Thank you Mr. President, One Nation opposes this motion. The Great Barrier Reef is the larges single structure made by living organisms. The current reef is between 6000 to 8000 years of age, it stretches over an area of approximately 344,000 square kilometres.

Our understanding of its history and its ebbs and flows over thousands of years is in its infancy. Claims that the reef is dead due to a natural atmospheric trace gas are a lie. Coral bleaching events are natural and reoccurring events that are the result of a temporary increase or decrease in ocean temperature and a lack of wind to mix the ocean waters.

Sometimes compounded with low sea levels. As with things natural, after bleaching the reef immediately starts to repair itself. The greatest threat to our Great Barrier Reef is activists and ignorant uncaring politicians falsely using it as a poster child because that leads to underfunding of real environmental programmes like eradicating crown of thorn starfish.

I remind the Greens that it is day 246.

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Letters: Abuse of Casual Coal Miners

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The following is a series of letters sent to BHP, Chandler MacLeod, CFMEU and represetatives, Joel Fitzgibbon MP for Hunter, Federal CFMMEU and Recruit Holdings in relation to the abuse of casual black coal mine workers.

Jump to:

Anthony Albanese

19 March 2020

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP

Leader of the Opposition

PO Box 5100

MARRICKVILLE  NSW  2204

Dear Mr Albanese

May I say how pleased I was to see you standing side-by-side with a Queensland coal miner in Mackay recently to launch the CFMMEU’s report on the wage implications of casual mine work.  It is good to see you supporting coal miners and the Australian coal industry.

For your information, there seems to have been a lot of banter and public political points scoring about the casual black coal mine workers, especially in the Hunter Valley.  Yet the reality is that there are many abused and crippled workers who need our help. Today, I seek your support to put things right for these workers and union members.

In the recent McKell Institute Report “Wage cutting strategies in the Mining Industry” March 2020, the author refers to abuses at BHP’s Mt Arthur Mine on page 16 but conveniently omitted to mention that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District was a party to the agreement (and others), that led to the 40% underpayment, the loss of entitlements and the abuse of so many casual black coal mine workers.

In summary, I am informed that Chandler MacLeod Group (CMG), as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW District to rip-off casual workers by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement. I am told that they underpaid the casual workers 40% knowing these workers were slipping through the ‘cracks’ in the industrial relations and workers compensation insurance systems.  To everyday Australians including me, this is immoral.

CMG then under-reported the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working at the coalface were ‘administrative staff’ in order to save a few dollars on insurance premiums.  Surely this is illegal, yet the CFMMEU did not take action.

I believe that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District, as the representative of the Hunter Valley casual black coal mine workers, let these and other mine workers down.  They were happy to take their membership fees, but it was “a fee for no service”, which sounds similar to the banks.

This union also seems to have done a ‘deal with the devil’ in agreeing with CMG to grant industrial peace and in agreeing that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District would not fight for these workers’ rights.  It concerns me that the union did not launch a class action on behalf of these disadvantaged workers when the union did so for others nearby.

I am informed that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District is directly or indirectly a part-owner of the insurer that rejected crippled workers’ claims for compensation leaving them with just over $400 a week on which to live.

Coal LSL, a government organisation which is ruled by the CFMMEU and the Minerals Councils, is no better.  They just accepted timesheets from employers without questioning them, and when employees complained Coal LSL ignored them. But now it turns out that after I questioned Coal LSL at Senate Estimates, these workers were right and Coal LSL was wrong.

In using labour-hire as a way of reducing mine production costs, the lower pay rates and the significant loss of entitlements has seen the coal industry and BHP in particular join various national retailers and others accused of ripping-off workers with wage theft.

One of the crippled miners, Mr Simon Turner, repeatedly advised the miners’ federal member for the Hunter electorate, Mr Joel Fitzgibbon, yet sadly Mr Fitzgibbon failed to take action.

Further, I am advised that your party under Mr Shorten’s leadership took the policy of equal pay for equal work to the last federal election.

Mr Albanese, these matters require co-ordinated and integrated national responses, real action by the Australian Government and the States to rectify the serious issue of employer non-compliance and to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour-hire arrangements.

I invite you to become a part of the solution and contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual coal miners everywhere.

I would be happy to meet with you to brief you in relation to the serious immoralities and irregularities and the problems the Hunter Valley casual black coal miners and their families face in your home state.

I await your response in due course.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

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BHP

19 March 2020

Mr Ken MacKenzie

Chairman of the Board

BHP Group Limited

171 Collins Street

MELBOURNE  VIC  3000

Dear Mr MacKenzie

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers at your company’s Mt Arthur Mine in New South Wales and seek your support to put things right.

As an experienced coal mine manager and executive, I support the business need for casual labour from time to time, yet what has been demonstrated at Mt Arthur Mine through an exploitative enterprise agreement, work practices, rostering and the long-term use of casual workers in ‘permanent’ roles, is clearly not appropriate.

BHP, as the owner of Mt Arthur Mine, has a responsibility to ensure that both BHP and its contractors comply with the laws of Australia. BHP also has a moral obligation as a ‘good corporate citizen’ to care for workers on their mine site. However, I understand that BHP and Chandler Macleod used ‘cracks’ in the Australian industrial relations system to exploit cheap labour for the mine instead of hiring and paying permanent employees in permanent jobs.

I am informed that BHP failed to verify proof of insurance from Chandler Macleod before permitting workers on site. Surely your managers must have known that workers could be harmed and therefore, in failing to verify proper workers compensation and accident pay cover your managers have put both the workers and BHP at risk.

It seems to me that BHP may have a culture that hides site incidents, the result being that at Mt Arthur Mine BHP management did not report serious accidents that left casual miners permanently crippled and unable to work. What is worse is that these workers were not provided with proper compensation because the relevant award did not recognise casual black coal miners. BHP knew it – yet did nothing to fix it (I refer you to Dept. of Industry Resources and Energy (NSW) (Ref.: Sass-2016/00571 – “I can confirm that Mt Arthur Coal did not report the incident to the Regulator pursuant to Clause 128 Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2014”).

Regardless of how BHP determined to use labour-hire as a way of reducing mine production costs, the lower pay rates and the significant loss of entitlements have seen the coal industry join various national retailers and others accused of ripping off workers with “wage theft”.

What would your shareholders think of the Big Australian?

Everyday Australians and your shareholders expect that you and the Board would not put the company, employees or shareholders at risk due to breaches of legal and moral standards. We would all expect that BHP would behave as a good corporate citizen, yet clearly here it has let so many workers and families down, and in turn, that potentially exposes shareholders to unnecessary risk.

I am advised that the kind of abuses at your Mt Arthur Mine may be occurring at Queensland mines, and I ask you to investigate and to put things right.

These are serious matters that require real action in the form of co-ordinated, national responses from the Australian Government, the States and business to rectify the serious issue of wage theft and employer non-compliance.

If business cannot fix this Parliament may need to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour-hire arrangements. I request that you step forward and contribute to putting things right for these everyday Australians and for casual miners everywhere.

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

c.c.      Mr Mike Henry – CEO

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Chandler MacLeod

19 March 2020

Mr Peter Acheson

Chief Executive Officer

Chandler MacLeod Group

Level 5, 345 George Street

SYDNEY  NSW  2001

Dear Mr Acheson

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers at BHP’s Mt Arthur Mine in New South Wales.

I was concerned to hear about Chandler MacLeod Group’s (CMG) part in the abuses these everyday Australians have endured and I seek your response and support to put things right.

I am informed that CMG, as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU (Hunter Valley Mines Division) to rip-off casual workers by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement. Apparently, CMG underpaid the casual black coal miners 40% knowing these workers were slipping through the ‘cracks’ in the industrial relations and workers insurance systems. I and many everyday Australians think that this is immoral.

I am also told that CMG underpaid and under-declared the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casual miners who were working at the coalface were ‘administrative staff’ in order to save money on insurance premiums.

I understand that CMG, as the employer, did not have appropriate insurances to cover workers they employed at Mt Arthur Mine and that CMG failed over a period of five years to pay these workers the entitlements due to black coal miners.

Further, I am informed that CMG entered into an enterprise agreement declaring that you had no casuals on site, when there were already casuals working for you on site at the mine.

Further, your company has allegedly submitted defective documentation to Coal LSL and CMG under-reported employee data for many years.  Why?  When I questioned Coal LSL in recent Senate Estimates hearings, they admitted they had found these ‘discrepancies’.

Regardless of how CMG and BHP determined to use labour-hire as a way of reducing mine production costs, the lower pay rates and the significant loss of entitlements has seen the coal industry join various national retailers and others accused of ripping-off workers with “wage theft”.  Surely it is time for you and CMG to act with honour and to take action to pay these people their entitlements and to compensate many for their physical and emotional suffering and trauma.

It is time for CMG to prove itself to be a good corporate citizen and to put things right.  I ask you and CMG to become a part of the solution.  Australia is watching.

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

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CFMEU Hunter Valley

19 March 2020

Mr Tony Maher

General President

CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District

PO Box 364

CESSNOCK  NSW  2325

Dear Mr Maher

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers at Mt Arthur Mine in New South Wales.

I was concerned to hear about your Division’s part in the abuses these everyday Australians have endured and seek your response and support to put things right.

I am informed that Chandler Macleod Group (CMG), as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District to rip-off casual workers by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement.  I am told that they underpaid the workers 40% knowing these workers were slipping through the ‘cracks’ in the industrial relations and workers insurance systems, which to everyday Australians is just plain immoral.

CMG both underpaid and then under-declared the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working in the pits were ‘administrative staff’, just to save money on insurance premiums.  Additionally, it is disappointing that you did not act after casual miners raised this with your union.

I believe that the CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District, as the representative of many of the Hunter Valley casual black coal mine workers, let these and other mine workers down.  You were happy to take their membership fees – “a fee for no service”, which sounds just like the banks.

In the recent McKell Institute Report “Wage cutting strategies in the Mining Industry” March 2020, the author refers to abuses at Mt Arthur Mine on page 16, but conveniently ignores that your Division of the union was a party to the agreement that led to the underpayment and abuses of so many casual black coal mine workers.

Your division of the CFMMEU seems to have done a ‘deal with the devil’ in agreeing, through its actions, with a letter from CMG that bought that company industrial peace. Specifically, the CFMMEU implicitly agreed that it would not dispute and therefore not stand up for workers’ rights.

It concerns me that the CFMMEU did not launch a class action on behalf of these disadvantaged workers when it did for others nearby.

I understand that your union is a part-owner of the insurer that rejected these workers’ claims for compensation, leaving them with just over $400 a week on which to live.

In my opinion your division’s recent public statements on this atrocious behaviour shows apparent careless ignorance of the core issues or an attempt to divert people’s attention from your division’s many failures on the issue.

It is time for you and the CFMMEU to step forward and to declare why it did nothing to protect these casual black coal mine workers, many of whom were members of the union.

This will require you to tell the truth because the issue is about much more than casualization.  It is about your Division knowingly condoning and supporting the exploitation of workers.

I request that you join with me to contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual miners everywhere.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

c.c.         Mr Grahame Kelly – General Secretary

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Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon – Labor MP for Hunter

19 March 2020

Mr Joel Fitzgibbon MP

Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Resources

Member for Hunter

PO Box 526

CESSNOCK  NSW  2325

Dear Mr Fitzgibbon

There seems to have been a lot of banter and public political points scoring about the casual black coal mine workers in the Hunter Valley, but right now I seek your support to put things right.

Joel, I am informed that one of these crippled workers, Simon Turner, has repeatedly tried to contact you to set the record straight about the casual black coal miners who have been refused their fair entitlements.  More recently, I read some of your comments including those in the Newcastle Herald on 17 March 2020 when you say you are for coal miners but your actions say otherwise – ignoring calls for help from injured CFMEU members.

From your public comments it seems that you have missed the point.  This is a significant wage theft issue and is about much more than casualisation of the workforce.  It is about the abuses that many casual black coal miners have endured in your electorate, and that have continued for at least five years despite being drawn to your attention.

Let’s consider the big picture.  I am informed that Chandler MacLeod Group (CMG), as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District to rip-off casual workers by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement.  I am told that they underpaid the casual workers 40% knowing these workers were slipping through the ‘cracks’ in the industrial relations and workers’ compensation insurance systems.  To everyday Australians like me this is immoral.

CMG then under-reported the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working at the coalface were ‘administrative staff’ in order to save a few dollars on insurance premiums.  Surely this is illegal, yet neither the CFMMEU nor you acted.

I believe that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District, as the representative of the Hunter Valley casual black coal mine workers, let these and other mine workers down.   They were happy to take their membership fees, but it was “a fee for no service”, which sounds similar to the banks.

In the recent McKell Institute Report “Wage cutting strategies in the Mining Industry” March 2020, the author refers to abuses at Mt Arthur Mine on page 16 but conveniently omitted that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District was a party to the agreement that led to the underpayment, loss of entitlements and abuse of so many casual black coal mine workers.

The union also seems to have done a ‘deal with the devil’ in agreeing with CMG to grant industrial peace and that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District would not protect these workers’ rights.

It concerns me that the union did not launch a class action on behalf of these disadvantaged workers when the union did so for others nearby.

I am informed that the CFMEU Northern Mining and NSW Energy District is directly or indirectly a part-owner of the insurer that rejected these workers’ claims for compensation leaving them with just over $400 a week on which to live.

Coal LSL, a government organisation which is ruled by the CFMMEU and the Minerals Councils, is no better.  They accepted timesheets from employers without questioning them, and when employees complained Coal LSL ignored them. But now it turns out that after I questioned them at Senate Estimates, these workers were right and Coal LSL was wrong.

Joel, these matters require co-ordinated national responses, real action by the Australian Government and the States to rectify the serious issue of employer non-compliance and to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour-hire arrangements.

I invite you to become a part of the solution and contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual coal miners everywhere.  The first step in developing a solution is to truthfully admit the problems listed above.

I would be happy to meet with you to brief you in relation to the real and serious immoralities and irregularities, and the problems the Hunter Valley casual black coal miners and their families face in your electorate.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

200319-J.Fitzgibbon-MP

CFMMEU

19 March 2020

Mr Michael O’Connor

National Secretary

Construction Forestry Maritime Mining Energy Union

Level 1, 165 Bouverie Street

CARLTON  VIC  3053

Dear Mr O’Connor

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers at Mt Arthur Mine in New South Wales.

I was concerned to hear about the role of your union’s NSW Mining Division in the abuses these everyday Australians have endured and I seek your response and support to put things right.

I am informed that Chandler Macleod Group (CMG), as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District to rip-off casual workers by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement.  I am told that they underpaid the workers 40% knowing these workers were slipping through the ‘cracks’ in the industrial relations and workers insurance systems, which to everyday Australians is just plain immoral.

CMG both underpaid and then under-declared the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working in the pits were ‘administrative staff’, in order to save money on insurance premiums.  Additionally, it is disappointing that the NSW Mining Division did not act after casual miners raised this with your union.

I believe that the CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District in the Hunter Valley, as the representative of the Hunter Valley casual black coal mine workers let these and other mine workers down.  The Division was happy to take membership fees – “a fee for no service”, which sounds just like the banks.

In the recent McKell Institute Report “Wage cutting strategies in the Mining Industry” March 2020, the author refers to abuses at Mt Arthur Mine on page 16, but conveniently forgot that the CFMMEU was a party to the agreement that led to the underpayment and abuses of so many casual black coal mine workers.

Your Division of the CFMMEU seems to have done a ‘deal with the devil’ in agreeing, through its actions, with a letter from CMG that bought that company industrial peace. Specifically, the CFMMEU implicitly agreed that it would not dispute and therefore not stand up for workers’ rights.

It concerns me that the CFMMEU did not launch a class action on behalf of these disadvantaged workers when they did for others nearby.

I understand that your union, or its mining division, is a part-owner of the insurer that rejected these workers’ claims for compensation leaving them with just over $400 a week on which to live.

Coal LSL, a government organisation which is ruled by the CFMMEU and the Minerals Councils, is no better. They just accepted timesheets from employers without questioning them, and when employees complained, Coal LSL ignored them. But now, as it turns out, after I questioned Coal LSL at Senate Estimates, these workers were right and Coal LSL was wrong.

Michael, these matters require co-ordinated national responses, real action from the Australian Government, the States and stakeholders like you, to rectify the serious issue of employer non-compliance and to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour-hire arrangements.

I request you contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual miners everywhere.

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

200319-M.OConnor-CFMMEU

Recruit Holdings

19 March 2020

Mr Masumi Minegishi

President, CEO & Chairman of the Board

Recruit Holdings Co Ltd

8-4-17 Ginza, Chuo-ku

TOKYO  JAPAN

Dear Mr Minegishi

As someone who has worked in an executive position within Australia’s coal export industry, my experience is that Japanese businesses and joint venture partners highly value behaving with integrity and honour.

I write today to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers at BHP’s Mt Arthur Mine in New South Wales, Australia.

I note that your company owns the Chandler MacLeod Group (CMG), which has been a significant contributor to the abuses that hardworking Australians have had to endure and, with respect, I am seeking your support to put things right.

I am informed that CMG as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU (Hunter Valley Mines Division) to perform wage theft from casual black coal miners by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement.  This agreement allowed your company to underpay workers 40%, knowing these workers were slipping through the cracks in the Australian industrial relations and workers compensation insurance systems.

Further, I understand that CMG under-declared the number of employees they had on site and the types of work they did, declaring that the casual miners who were working at the coalface in coal production were ‘administrative staff’ in order to save money on insurance premiums.  I am sure that you understand that this may be both fraudulent and illegal.

I am also informed that CMG declared that they had no casuals when there were already casual miners working for the company on site at the mine. I know that CMG employs a team of employment and industrial relations professionals and therefore most likely management would have done these immoral things knowing they were taking advantage of these workers.

Regardless of how CMG and BHP determined to use labour-hire as a way of reducing mine production costs, the lower pay rates and the workers’ significant loss of entitlements has seen the coal industry join various national retailers and others accused of ripping off workers with “wage theft”.

In doing so, there is a risk that not only will CMG be liable for repayment of these workers’ entitlements, they may have put at risk their AUD $300 million worth of Australian Government labour hire business, if the Mt Arthur breaches are proven to demonstrate that they are not fit to have government work.

I understand that CMG is ‘waiting’ to see what happens.  In my view, it is time for action.

It is time for Recruit Holdings and for CMG to prove themselves to be honourable and good corporate citizens and to put things right. 

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

200319-M.Minegishi-RHC

Hon. Victor Dominello MP – NSW Minister for Customer Service

19 March 2020

The Hon Victor Dominello MP

Minister for Customer Service

GPO Box 5341

SYDNEY  NSW  2001

Dear Mr Dominello

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers in the NSW Hunter Valley coalfields.

I was concerned to hear about SIRA and iCare’s part in the abuses these everyday Australians have endured and seek your support to put things right.

For your information, I am informed that Chandler MacLeod Group (CMG) as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU (Hunter Valley Mines Division) to rip-off casual workers.  They negotiated a ‘sham’ agreement to underpay workers 40%, knowing these workers were slipping through the cracks in the industrial relations and workers insurance systems. They, like others, underpaid and under-declared the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working at the coalface in coal production were ‘administrative staff’ in order to save money reducing insurance and workers compensation premiums. Surely this is illegal?

It is understood that CMG as the employer, did not have appropriate insurances to cover workers they employed to work in the Mt Arthur Mine and over a period of five years they failed to pay them or credit them with the entitlements due to black coal miners.

I am also informed that CMG entered into an enterprise agreement declaring that they had no casuals, when there were already casuals working for them on site at the mine.  CMG, like many such companies, employed a team of employment and industrial relations professionals and would have done these immoral things knowing they were taking advantage of these workers.

Coal LSL, a government organisation and one which is ruled by the CFMMEU and the Minerals Councils, is no better.  It has been revealed in Senate Estimates hearings that they just accepted timesheets from employers without questioning them, and when employees complained, Coal LSL ignored them.  But now, as it turns out, after I questioned them at Senate Estimates, these workers were right and Coal LSL was wrong.

As you are one of the NSW Ministers responsible I draw to your attention my concerns that the NSW based workers compensation and insurance agencies like iCare, SIRA and Coal Mines Insurance do not care and have ignored legitimate claims from these black coal mine workers.  Due to ‘cracks’ in the system, these workers have been denied the rights owed to them. I would be happy to refer the individual cases to the appropriate authorities for review.  

I ask that you ensure that these abused coal workers get their due entitlements from the correct scheme for black coal miners.

These matters require co-ordinated responses, real action by the NSW and Australian Governments to rectify the serious issue of employer non-compliance and to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour hire arrangements. I request that you contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual miners in the Hunter Valley. 

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

200319-V.Dominello-MP

Hon. Kevin Anderson MP – NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation

19 March 2020

The Hon Kevin Anderson MP

Minister for Better Regulation & Innovation

GPO Box 5341

SYDNEY  NSW  2001

Dear Mr Anderson

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers in the NSW Hunter Valley coalfields.

I was concerned to hear about SIRA and iCare’s part in the abuses these everyday Australians have endured and seek your support to put things right.

For your information, I am informed that Chandler MacLeod Group (CMG) as the labour-hire employer, may have colluded with the CFMEU (Hunter Valley Mines Division) to rip-off casual workers.  They negotiated a ‘sham’ agreement to underpay workers 40%, knowing these workers were slipping through the cracks in the industrial relations and workers insurance systems. They, like others, underpaid and under-declared the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working at the coalface in coal production were ‘administrative staff’ in order to save money reducing insurance and workers compensation premiums. Surely this is illegal?

It is understood that CMG as the employer, did not have appropriate insurances to cover workers they employed to work in the Mt Arthur Mine and over a period of five years they failed to pay them or credit them with the entitlements due to black coal miners.

I am also informed that CMG entered into an enterprise agreement declaring that they had no casuals, when there were already casuals working for them on site at the mine.  CMG, like many such companies, employed a team of employment and industrial relations professionals and would have done these immoral things knowing they were taking advantage of these workers.

Coal LSL, a government organisation and one which is ruled by the CFMMEU and the Minerals Councils, is no better.  It has been revealed in Senate Estimates hearings that they just accepted timesheets from employers without questioning them, and when employees complained, Coal LSL ignored them.  But now, as it turns out, after I questioned them at Senate Estimates, these workers were right and Coal LSL was wrong.

As you are one of the NSW Ministers responsible I draw to your attention my concerns that the NSW based workers compensation and insurance agencies like iCare, SIRA and Coal Mines Insurance do not care and have ignored legitimate claims from these black coal mine workers.  Due to ‘cracks’ in the system, these workers have been denied the rights owed to them. I would be happy to refer the individual cases to the appropriate authorities for review.  

I ask that you ensure that these abused coal workers get their due entitlements from the correct scheme for black coal miners.

These matters require co-ordinated responses, real action by the NSW and Australian Governments to rectify the serious issue of employer non-compliance and to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour hire arrangements. I request that you contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual miners in the Hunter Valley. 

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

200319-K.Anderson-MP

Hon. Christian Porter MP – Attorney General and Minister for Industrial Relations

19 March 2020

The Hon Christian Porter MP

Attorney General & Minister for Industrial Relations

PO Box 6022

House of Representatives

Australian Parliament House

CANBERRA  ACT  2600

Dear Mr Porter

I write to express my concern in regard to the abuses of casual black coal mine workers at Mt Arthur Mine in New South Wales.

I am confident you will agree that BHP as the mine owner has a responsibility to ensure that BHP and its contractors comply with the laws of Australia, and BHP has a moral obligation as a ‘good corporate citizen’ to care for workers on their mine site.  BHP used Australia’s ‘broken’ IR system and engaged with a labour-hire company to buy cheap labour for the mine, instead of hiring and paying permanent and part-time employees in permanent secure jobs.

To my knowledge BHP did not verify proof of insurance from Chandler MacLeod Group (CMG) to permit them on site, yet they did so knowing workers could be harmed and had no proper workers’ compensation cover.

It seems that BHP has a culture that hides site incidents and that they did not report accidents that left casual miners permanently crippled and unable to work without proper compensation, because the rules did not recognise casual black coal miners.  BHP knew it yet did nothing to fix it. (proof – Dept. of Industry Resources and Energy (NSW) (Ref.: Sass-2016/00571) “I can confirm that Mt Arthur Coal did not report the incident to the Regulator pursuant to Clause 128 Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2014”).

I am also led to believe that CMG as the labour-hire employer may have colluded with the CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District to rip-off casual workers by negotiating a ‘sham’ agreement to underpay the workers 40%.  They knew these workers were slipping through the ‘cracks’ in the industrial relations and workers insurance systems. They, like others, underpaid and under-declared the number of people on site and the types of jobs they did, declaring that the casuals who were working in production at the coalface were ‘administrative staff’, in order to save money.

I understand that CMG, as the employer, did not have appropriate insurances to cover workers they employed in the Mt Arthur Mine and failed to pay them for a period of over five years the relevant entitlements due to black coal miners.

I am also informed that CMG may have entered into an enterprise agreement declaring that they had no casuals, when there were already casuals working for them on site at the mine.  CMG, like many such companies, employed a team of employment and industrial relations professionals and would most likely have done these immoral things knowing they were taking advantage of these workers.

For your information, CMG has approximately $300 million worth of Australian Government business, most likely paying people less than the public servants they work beside and the government has yet to review this contractor for wage theft or potential breaches of employment standards for casual workers.

The CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District in the Hunter Valley, as the representative of the Hunter Valley casual black coal mine workers, let these and other mine workers down. The CFMEU needs to step forward and declare why it did nothing to protect these casual black coal mine workers, many of whom were members of the union. The union was happy to take the miners’ membership fees  “for no service”, just like the banks.

The CFMMEU did a ‘deal with the devil’ when they agreed with a letter from CMG that bought industrial peace.  Following receipt of the CMG letter the CFMEU Northern Mining & NSW Energy District did not support these workers’ rights.

The CFMMEU are also part-owner of the insurer that chose to let these workers down, by rejecting their claims for compensation and leaving them with just over $400 a week on which to live.

Attorney General, as the minister responsible for our industrial and employment laws and regulations, I draw to your attention that the Liberal National Government and the Australian Labor Party are both to blame for putting in place an industrial relations system that let this happen.  They implemented a slow and sometimes expensive review system that causes hardworking Australians to go for years without justice.  There should be a better and quicker way.

In the recent McKell Institute Report “Wage cutting strategies in the Mining Industry” March 2020, the author refers to abuses at Mt Arthur Mine on page 16, but conveniently omitted that the CFMMEU was a party to the agreement that led to the underpayment and abuses of so many casual black coal mine workers.  An agreement that was all too quickly rubberstamped by the Fair Work Commission.

The Fair Work Commission is not without blame.  The organisation we are supposed to trust to protect our employment standards left a gaping hole in employee entitlements and insurances when they rubberstamped the CMG enterprise agreement, along with so many other similarly defective agreements. This disregard for the outcomes of their decisions has left so many broken and injured people without their lawful entitlements. 

Further, the Fair Work Ombudsman simply rubbed salt into the wounds of these broken workers when they said there is no such thing as a casual black coal miner and told any who asked for help to ‘go see a lawyer’.  This is not the Australian way.

Coal LSL, a government organisation ruled by the CFMMEU and the Minerals Councils, is no better.  They accepted timesheets from employers without questioning them and when employees complained, Coal LSL demonstrated their lack of governance and ignored them.  But now, as it turns out, after I questioned Coal LSL at Senate Estimates, these workers were right and Coal LSL was wrong.

Some abused employees are also concerned that these rogue labour-hire companies may ‘phoenix’ themselves rather than paying what they owe, leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill.  I trust that you will do all in your power to prevent this.

Attorney-General, these matters require co-ordinated national responses, real action by the Australian Government and by the States to rectify the serious issue of employer non-compliance and to introduce tougher employment laws to deal with wage theft and exploitative labour-hire arrangements.

I request that you contribute to this effort to put things right for these everyday Australians and for casual miners everywhere and enable a system to get them their due entitlements as black coal mine workers.

If you require further information or wish to discuss this matter I would be happy to assist you.

Yours sincerely

Malcolm Roberts

Senator for Queensland

200319-C.Porter-Attorney-General

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Live Broadcast: 23rd April

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This evening I held a Facebook live session where I answered your questions from the comments section.

Lasted nearly 2 hours, covered dozens of topic and hundreds of comments.

Thanks everyone for your input.

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United Nations agreements stand in the way of our economic recovery

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I spoke with Peter Gleeson on Friday about how we need to rebuild our economy once the COVID19 crisis is over.

What is the biggest hurdle? The liberal and Labor parties who have been adopting United Nations directives since the 1975 Lima Agreement up until the Paris Agreement.

These globalist agreements suck the wealth out of our country and leave us vulnerable.

Transcript

[Peter]:

Queensland senator, Malcolm Roberts is rallying behind Australian made and manufactured products, and is urging others to do the same as the pandemic continues to hurt the economy and decline business productivity. It has highlighted the need to revamp the country’s manufacturing industry.

The One Nation member believes it’s time the government does more to help reinvigorate that particular sector. He joins me now from our Brisbane studio. Senator Roberts, thanks for joining me.

Look, I see this, I mean this is obviously a very tough time for the globe, for the entire planet, of course Australia as well, but surely there’s an opportunity here to reassess, to recalibrate what we do when it comes to manufacturing, and that we don’t rely on the Chinas as much as we have in the past.

[Malcolm]:

You are absolutely right Peter. It’s something that we’ve been saying very strongly for many years now, not just since the virus. But the virus has well and truly and blown open the exposed, the core issue, which is the lack of security in this country. We’ve been led by wombats in Canberra, for about, since 1944 they followed the UN policies.

One of the Liberal Party Premiers in Western Australia, Richard Court, wrote this fabulous book, “Rebuilding the Federation”. On page three of the book, he outlines a process that the governments have followed in putting in place the UN governance over this country.

So, my point is, while we see a security problem, because we don’t have adequate manufacturing, can’t build the essentials for our medical protection, our military protection, our civilian use, we don’t get anywhere until we reverse the UN’s policies over us.

The UN’s Lima Declaration, which substantial countries did not sign in 1975, was signed by us, and what it meant was the deindutrialization, the demanufacturing of our entire manufacturing sector.

And it was worsened, and that was the UN’s Lima Declaration in 1975, the Whitlam’s labour government signed, and the following year in 76, Fraser’s liberal government, National Party government signed.

Then it was followed by the Paris Agreement in 2015, but in between, we had the 1996 UN Kyoto Protocol. All of these are UN protocols. We also have, a friend of mine, managed to get these 7000 treaties as of 1996, I don’t now what the hell the number is now, but those treaties have destroyed our sovereignty.

So, before we can really bring back manufacturing we have to get rid of the UN’s control over our countries. We need to get the hell out of the UN. Not just the World Health Organisation, but the whole UN. I called on that, I called for that in 2016 in my first speech. The UN has been destroying our country.

This crisis has exposed our lack of governance, our lack of sovereignty, the destruction of our productive capacity, the destruction of our economic resilience, and Peter, it has shown us that the globalist elites that are pushing interdependence have really made us dependent. We have lost our independence.

Because once we’re interdependent with someone else, it means we are dependent on them. We’ve got very little manufacturing, our electricity prices are the now the highest in the world. 10 years ago they half what they are now. Sorry, yeah, 10 years ago in 2010, they have since risen 90%.

That’s now a big part of manufacturing costs. We won’t compete with the Chinese who we send our whole productivity coal to at cheap prices, if we then inflate the price in our country due to stupid UN regulations driven by liberal labour governments since 1944. We have got to wake up and put Australia first.

[Peter]:

Malcolm, how important then, based on what you just said, is project like the Bradfield Scheme for our water, copper string, to halve our electricity costs, how important are these projects right now in this country?

[Malcolm]:

Absolutely vital, but the key is to make sure we restore our constitution, or rather compliance with our constitution. Our constitution is fabulous, I could talk for hours on it. But we need to restore our compliance with it.

Because it doesn’t matter if we haven’t got, it doesn’t matter if we have a Bradfield and the water is being distributed according to UN policies. The 2007 Turnbull-Howard Water Act repeatedly states throughout policy, throughout the legislation, that one of the critical aims of the Water Act is to implement international commitments, international regulations, what a lot of crap.

We should be looking after Australia. So we need the Bradfield Scheme, we need so many other projects looking after our energy. We need a new coalfied power station in this state, and many in this country. That is the cheapest form of electricity. We have got to get back to basics, back to basics a return to reality, Peter. And then build these projects that are so necessary for restoring our productive capacity.

[Peter]:

The other opportunity I see, Malcolm, is getting rid of red and green tape. You know, big projects, there’s a big project out at Cleveland, in Brisbane at the moment, the Tudor Harbour Project, it’s ready to go, the developer’s ready to pump cash into it, but he’s being stymied by the fact that there’s green tape that is costing that project the opportunity to go ahead.

In this particular economic climate, when things are so tough, surely we should be just saying, “All right, you need to comply with these environmental regulations, get on with the job. Create the jobs.

[Malcolm]:

You make so much sense, mate, so much sense. Overregulation is killing us, but it’s not just the red and the green tape, mate, it’s also the blue tape. The red tape being bureaucracy, the green tape being stupid environmental regulations, we need some but not the ones we’ve got now, the blue tape quite often drives the red tape and the green tape.

The blue tape is the UN, and I’m speaking specifically of Agenda 21, that was signed by the Paul Keating’s government in 1992. Look at it, just a whole bunch of regulations that our shoved through our parliament, sometimes with no understanding of the parliamentarians, it’s been going that way under both the liberal and labour party since 1992. We have got to turn this mess around.

And the overregulation is due to the UN blue tape, due to red tape and green tape. But that’s the key thing, our tax system is atrocious, we don’t tax 90% of our large companies who are foreign owned and yet we tax the hell out of locals, especially families.

We pay for the infrastructure then we flog it off to them at vastly reduced prices. Why would someone buy an infrastructure asset, other than it would make money? So why are we selling it if it makes money?

This just gets my goat and I can see why Pauline is so damn upset, because she’s been fighting this since 1996. I’ve become aware of it in the last 10 years, 12 years. It’s a disgrace. And our country is being crippled by the wombats and the liberal and labour party hierarchy, the power brokers who’re just pushing this crap from the UN, that’s what we’ve got to root out.

Because that will remove the overregulation, reduce electricity prices and then we need to talk about tax. We have some fantastic people in this country, amazing resources, huge opportunities, and enormous potential. But it hasn’t been realised since 1944 and the formatio of the UN. We have been gutted, castracized and chocked and suffocated.

[Peter]:

Yeah, sure. Malcolm Roberts thank you for joining us tonight on Sky News across Australia, I’ve learnt something, blue tape. I hadn’t heard of blue tape before. But thanks for joining us Malcolm.

[Malcolm]:

You’re welcome Peter.

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One Nation calls for Australians to buy Australian-Made

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One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts urges Australians to unite under our flag and buy Australian-made and Australian-owned.

“While the COVID 19 crisis reminds us of the importance of supporting Australian-made, it also shows we no longer make many essential goods here on our shores, which become a major security threat,” stated Senator Roberts.

Successive Australian governments have allowed, encouraged and at times driven our manufacturing industry to move off-shore leaving us dependent on overseas countries like China for basic goods.

In his senate speech on 8 April, Senator Roberts stated that Australia’s productive capacity has been smashed under Liberal-National and Labor-Green governments blindly adopting the globalist strategy of “interdependence” that has made us too heavily dependent on foreign sources.

One Nation calls on the Australian Government to immediately prioritise creating an environment where Australian businesses grow and thrive and are not hamstrung by a globalist agenda.

When Australia was in need of urgent medical supplies to treat people with COVID19 we were reliant on suppliers in China rather than having our own thriving manufacturing industry.

Australia’s manufacturing sector has deteriorated over the years with only 6% of GDP coming from manufacturing, down from 30% fifty years ago. 

Senator Roberts implores the Federal Government to remove government-imposed regulations like the self-imposed Paris Agreement, pointless climate regulations, unnecessary over-regulation and other government hurdles and instead encourage our manufacturing industries.

Senator Roberts added, “Our manufacturers have endured a new high in 2019 for electricity input prices, which now averages over 90% higher, almost double, than the prices in 2010. Gas prices have increased nearly 50% over the same ten-year period.”

“Australian energy prices have gone from the cheapest to the most expensive in the world due to climate policies and that is making manufacturing unviable in Australia.”

When the COVID19 virus has passed and we are left to repair a broken economy, we will need to reassess the importance of previous spending commitments, such as billions of dollars wasted in subsidising intermittent wind and solar power to virtue signal to the United Nations.

200416-One-Nation-calls-Australians-to-buy-Australian-made

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Asking the Government to please explain their insanity on energy prices

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Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has been standing up for the Australian people and sensible, common sense, climate change policy by holding the government accountable in question time and demanding responsibility and proper scientific rigour.

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‘Science’ behind renewable energy completely backwards

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We need to get back to the basics on Climate energy.

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