I asked about the mechanism for the Mutual Recognition of Qualifications between Australia and India, which recognises that an Australian degree awarded here is equivalent to an Indian degree awarded in India. It also allows Indian colleges, including private ones, to offer degrees to anyone globally, which can then be used to improve their chances of getting into Australia as skilled migrants.
However, there are concerns about the integrity of this system, given that India is notorious for exam cheating. This raises the risk of admitting individuals who may not possess the skills their degrees suggest.
Transcript
The mechanism for the mutual recognition of qualifications between Australia and India recognises an Australian degree awarded to an Australian as being equal to an Indian degree awarded to an Indian, including online study. It’s not only degrees. It’s everything from school certificates to doctorates, although some further work may be required for occupations having professional associations, like medicine, although there is no requirement to do so. This is despite the level of cheating and selling qualifications that goes on in India. I await the legal challenges to being refused a job based on a degree the employer knows is rubbish but which the government has decreed is equal to an Australian degree.
The agreement allows an Indian visa-holder to apply for any job in Australia for which having a degree makes their chances of success higher. That’s almost anything. In other words, the vast majority of these new migrants will not work in their area of qualification, which might be a good thing. One Nation opposes this agreement. Twenty per cent of HECS debts in Australia are for amounts over $40,000. Our children listen to their parents, the media and politicians. They study hard, go to university, get saddled with a near insurmountable HECS debt, and then they head out into the workforce to pay it off only to discover they’re competing with an Indian degree of questionable origin that cost a fraction of their own. Of course, Indian graduates can work cheaper than our graduates can afford to.
One Nation will tear up this agreement. We’ll offer mortgages through a people’s bank to young Australians that include the option of rolling their HECS debt into their mortgage with just a five per cent deposit at five per cent fixed interest over 25 years with the homebuyers own super account allowed to provide the deposit and share in the capital appreciation. While Labor is selling out young Australians, One Nation offers real solutions to young Australians. I note in the seconds I have left that every year $11.1 billion was sent home by foreign students, with Indians being the second largest on the list.
The treatment of our veterans has been a national shame for too long.
The government is trying to do something different – trying to simplify and harmonise the many and overlapping rules that govern what veterans are entitled to.
Will their plan or this bill work and achieve that? The only proof will be when it gets up and running.
A worrying development before this bill was passed was a large amendment dropped on the bill late in consideration. It doesn’t give One Nation great hope that the government has done what it needs to fix the treatment of veterans once and for all.
Transcript
One Nation supports measures to simplify veterans’ entitlements. At the moment, it seems to many veterans that they need to be a lawyer just to receive entitlements that should be easily accessible. In this government bill, the Veterans’ Entitlements, Treatment and Support (Simplification and Harmonisation) Bill 2024, it’s difficult to say whether the government’s proposal will meet veterans’ needs for clarity and ease. Until we see the legislation put into action, when the guidance filters its way through to the service agents, as the saying goes: the proof will be in the pudding.
We’re willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt when it comes to converting three acts, two thousand pages of legislation and more than 800 legislative instruments one act. As other senators have mentioned, it’s not rare for veterans to have claims under all three separate acts. This obviously needs desperate change. Throughout this process, we do not want to see any veterans worse off. One Nation notes with concern submissions that state some changes may have the intention of easier administration not achieving the veterans’ full entitlements. That’s a deep concern. We’ll be supporting the amendments codifying the Senate’s intent that no veteran is left worse off after this bill’s passage.
In relation to the government’s amendment on sheet ED101, we’ve received concerns from the Families of Veterans Guild, as have many other senators, I’m sure. I’ll read them out so that they’re on the record from the impressively confident chief executive officer of the Families of Veterans Guild on this government amendment to its own bill. Why is the government having so many amendments?
The letter is as follows:
After being alerted to the amendment, I’ve read through the detail and have a number of concerns with it which are as follows:
There has been no public announcement or public communication from the Department of Defence or Veterans Affairs about it, and as a result there has been no consultation with the veteran community regarding its content. This amendment proposes a significant structural change to the Defence and Veteran system in Australia. It is arguably a Bill in its own right, and ought to be treated as such. Our view is that it ought to be introduced as an amendment to the Defence Act 1903 and debated accordingly. Instead, it is being added on to the VETS Bill in order to be rushed through the parliament—
Here we go again, Labor rushing. She continues with No. 2:
The intent of the VETS Bill is to harmonise the legislative frameworks that govern the provision of veteran entitlements and supports, it is not to make fundamental structural changes to the veteran system. That is a separate issue—
She says. She goes on to No. 3:
The object outlined in the amendment, “improve suicide prevention”, is extremely broad, unclear, and lacks any insight into tangible work that will be done to achieve the objective. This objective requires significant work to be more specific, focusing on issues we know are challenges in the veteran community like reducing the incidents and rate of suicide among the Defence and Veteran population, and improving the effectiveness of suicide prevention initiatives within this community.
The amendment outlines that the commission only needs to provide two public reports on the status of the implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations. This isn’t good enough. The reason the concept of the independent body outlined in the amendment received initial support from the veteran community was because for too long recommendations from previous inquiries have been shelved. 700+ recommendations which could have resulted in better health and wellbeing outcomes for veterans and their families were left to collect dust. The amendment ought to compel the commission to report annually to the Parliament, the veteran community, and the Australian public on the status of the Royal Commission’s recommendations until such time as they are implemented and their effectiveness evaluated.
She goes on, under No. 5:
The amendment provides the Minister with the power to direct the Commissioner to conduct an inquiry. However, before the Commissioner reports to the Minister (at which point the report is to be tabled) the Minister may vary or withdraw the request. Does this mean the inquiry results are never made public? This point must be clarified.
In No. 6, she says:
The amendment outlines that the commission can inquire into the ‘entire Defence ecosystem’ but doesn’t define what that is. With the amendment providing significant powers to the proposed commission, this must be defined understood and consulted. As it stands, the authority this commission would have could affect more than 5,000 non-profit organisations in Australia who provide support to veterans.
She says, under No. 7:
Veteran families once again are omitted from this amendment, other than a mention that they will be ‘listened to’. The Royal Commission highlighted the important role of veteran families and the significantly implications (including related to mental health) that service and suicide have on them, yet they are excluded from the commission’s remit. Will it require a Royal Commission into the ill health, wellbeing and high suicide rates amongst veteran families before they are taken seriously by their government?
It’s a good question she’s asking. Under ‘our expectations’, she says:
The Families of Veterans Guild supports the establishment of an independent body to oversee the defence and veteran system and the implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendations. However, it fundamentally disagrees with rushing an un-consulted amendment through parliament which could have significant consequences for the system, and the communities within it.
She goes on:
The Guild’s expectations were set by the Minister in his media release on the appointment of the interim Commissioner—
where the minister said:
“Mr Manthorpe will head the organisation and work across government to deliver the establishment of a legislated oversight body by September 2025.
As part of the Albanese Government’s response to the Royal Commission, we have committed $9.5 million of funding, as part of MYEFO, to support its implementation, including:
$5 million over two years to fund the appointment of the Interim Head of the Defence and Veterans’ Service Commission, and to establish a cross-agency taskforce to provide advice to Government”—
that’s the end of the minister’s quote. She goes on:
We expected DVA and Defence to therefore consult with those who could and would be impacted by this amendment. That hasn’t happened.
She said, ‘We are especially shocked by this, considering the unwillingness of the minister and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to support and implement amendments to the vets bill aimed at removing archaic and offensive language, due to concerns it would hold up passage of the bill. Yet an amendment which does bring cost implications and hasn’t been consulted on is deemed acceptable.’ This is the last paragraph: ‘We’d like to see this amendment withdrawn so that it can go through the proper process, including consultation, to ensure it is fit for purpose and reduces the risk of having unintended consequences on and within the defence and veteran community.’ That quote is from the letter from the Families of Veterans Guild, and that’s where it ends.
One Nation is greatly concerned that the government is operating this way and dropping significant changes on the Senate suddenly. We won’t even get time to discuss the bills tonight. We will be voting against this amendment because of those concerns and the lack of consultation.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/ENiaIhm5Obo/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2025-02-22 16:25:232025-02-22 16:25:29A Real Solution for Veterans or Just More Empty Promises?
In the North Queensland floods, three Sydney Harbours a day of fresh water flowed out of the Burdekin River into the sea. The government cancelled the Hells Gates Dam on the Burdekin River only two years ago.
How many more houses are going to flood in the future because of this cancellation? How many families will have to leave their town or go thirsty because not enough dams have been built to get us through the droughts.
One Nation says bugger the UN who says we shouldn’t build dams – droughtproof and floodproof as much of the country as possible, and stop that liquid gold uselessly flowing out to the ocean.
Transcript
One Nation is proposing an inquiry into the cancellation of Hells Gates Dam west of Townsville, which this Labor government cancelled for reasons that are still secret today. Some in the Canberra bubble might not be aware that North Queensland is currently very wet. It’s underwater. Hells Gates Dam was proposed on the Burdekin River north of Charters Towers and west of Townsville. Right now, downriver of the Hells Gates proposal, the Burdekin Falls Dam is at 217 per cent capacity, or three times what it’s designed to hold. Right now, a torrent of water is flowing over its spillway. Right now, just under 1,600,000 megalitres is overflowing out of the dam and straight into the ocean. Do you want to know how much is a megalitre? It’s one million litres. That’s 1,500,000 megalitres of rain and water flowing into the ocean. That’s 1,600 gigalitres. This is a lot of water. Using a common cliche, that’s the equivalent of three Sydney Harbours flowing over the dam wall into the ocean every day. Before all the climate scaremongers start to call this unprecedented and blame it all on cow farts, let’s be clear: this is not unprecedented. It’s happened many times before and has been worse. The dam still hasn’t broken its record set in 1991. The Burdekin is seemingly receding after thankfully failing to hit the peak levels recorded in 2009, 1998, 1991 and in many more years in the hundreds before those records began. This is common.
What’s unprecedented, though, is this government’s incompetence in cancelling the Hells Gates Dam—one of the first things it did. Despite the claim of the former climate chief, Tim Flannery, in 2005 that drought conditions would become permanent in Eastern Australia and that ‘the rain that comes won’t fill our dams because of climate change caused by man’s use of hydrocarbon fuels’. Australia continues to be a country of flooding rains. Inevitably, in the iconic Australian cycle of droughts and floods, another drought will come. That’s why we build dams. At least, any responsible government who takes their duty to Australia seriously would build dams. The Greens have stopped that, and you’re afraid to counter them. There will come a season, and Australians will think with envy about the time when an equivalent of three Sydney Harbours flowed out to sea every day from that river, the Burdekin. Those people will condemn the politicians of today, who have done nothing to try to capture a bit more of that liquid gold called water.
We know flooding rains will come again. We know seasons of drought will come again. Why is this government failing to build dams that would help us get through both droughts and floods and help us protect people? We seem to be forgetting that. In cancelling Hells Gates Dam, how many North Queensland homes and farms has the Albanese government condemned to flooding in the future? Every decade, there are fewer. How much blame does the coalition take for failing to start a single nation-building dam in their 10 years of government before Labor? Under the supercharged immigration policy being inflicted on the country, Australia will need much more water. Then I think of the rich farmlands that are potential irrigation areas that can be used and developed. That’s why water is like liquid gold to our agricultural sector. When the next drought comes, our existing water reserves will be sucked dry far more quickly because no government has built water storage to keep up with the massively increased population. Mark my words: the next drought will be a man made disaster. It will be the fault of more than a decade of politicians who were scared of the woke foreign organisations that told them not to build dams. Many politicians seem more scared of being called unpopular than of their grandchildren dying of thirst.
That’s why we need this inquiry—to get to the bottom of why Labor killed the Hells Gates Dam. The Labor Party has given no compelling justification—none—to the people of North Queensland, Queensland or Australia. It’s the Australian economy that will be affected. All that Labor is saying is: ‘It’s gone. Good luck in the next flood and the next drought.’ What happened in the department? What happened in the minister’s office? What possible reason was there for ditching such an important piece of infrastructure for an area that receives so much rain so often? This is what I hope an inquiry would be able to peek behind the curtain on. We would send a strong message that potentially life-saving infrastructure cannot just be subject to government whim without a proper explanation. Lives are at stake. Livelihoods are at stake. A whole region is at stake. A whole state is at stake.
The people of North Queensland deserve better. The people of Queensland and Australia deserve better. As a servant to the people, One Nation will continue to push for Australia to exit the worldwide organisations that try to dictate that we can’t build life-saving infrastructure, like dams. To protect people from floods, droughts and famines, One Nation will continue to push for work for dams that capture our flooding rains and sustain us through the precedented droughts to come. With our plentiful resources, Australia could be unbeaten on the world stage, but we can only make a start on more productively using our resources for the people’s wealth once our life source, water, is secured for future generations.
The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Hughes): The question is that the motion moved by Senator Roberts, on a reference to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee on Hells Gate Dam, be agreed to. Since we’re past 6.30 pm, a division will have to be rolled over to tomorrow.
Wind and solar don’t work at night or when the wind isn’t blowing. Australia is told the solution is batteries! Real world experience shows that batteries are too expensive, too slow to build and don’t last long enough to support a grid.
During this session with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), I revisited the status of the eight large-scale battery storage projects funded in 2022, noting that $176 million had been allocated but none had completed construction by February. I was told that while all projects are progressing, some face challenges like grid connection issues. I highlighted the significant cost increase from $2.7 billion to $3.1 billion and questioned the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of these batteries compared to coal-fired power stations.
I also raised concerns about the stability and reliability of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, and the additional costs associated with making them grid-compatible. Additionally, I asked ARENA about their responsibilities and the financial transparency of their operations. I emphasised the high cost of electricity in Australia compared to countries like China and criticised the impact of net-zero policies on manufacturing.
We need to ditch net-zero. Use the cheap resources we have in Australia’s ground for Australians first!
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: I return to the eight batteries in the large-scale battery storage funding round from 2022. In February you told me that you had put $176 million into it. None had completed construction as at that time and only two of the eight were under construction. Have any completed construction? What is the status of the others in the round of eight?
Mr Miller: They have progressed. I don’t have the precise figures to hand—unless my colleague finds a brief on that in the notes—in which case I can provide that information on notice. But they’re all progressing. Some have challenges around grid connection and various studies that have to be completed. They’re not all there yet, but I think the vast majority have reached their targets for the ARENA funding and would be either close to construction or close to financial decision.
Senator ROBERTS: I would have thought with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency this would have been one of the biggest projects and most important aspects of what you do; is that correct?
Mr Miller: It’s important and is amongst many other important things that we work on.
Senator ROBERTS: In December 2022, the portfolio cost of the eight batteries was $2.7 billion. That increased to $3.1 billion, which is roughly a 16 per cent increase. What is the latest cost of the portfolio? What is the updated figure?
Mr Miller: What are you talking about?
Senator ROBERTS: The portfolio cost of the eight batteries was $2.7 billion. What’s the latest cost?
Mr Miller: That information that you had that was publicised would be the most up-to-date information that we have.
Senator ROBERTS: Is that the $3.1 billion?
Mr Miller: Some of the batteries increased in capacity. Since we announced the program, the proponents who were developing those batteries actually increased the size of the batteries, given that the economics were improving and that they could get the job done and actually build more. That capital cost increase would be in relation to an increase in the capacity of the batteries that are being developed.
Senator ROBERTS: We’ve gone above two gigawatts and 4.4 gigawatt hours?
Mr Miller: As I said, if you want precise information I will get you that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. That would be good. That seems like a hell of a lot of money for a bunch of batteries that only last two hours and lose 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the power to charge them?
Mr Miller: That’s not accurate.
Senator ROBERTS: Could you tell me the accurate figures?
Mr Miller: The minimum size in that portfolio is a two-hour battery. Some of them are three and I think one of them has gone to four hours. Again, I’ll check that just to make sure. The batteries are playing a very important role. The project as described by ARENA and the innovation that’s in this portfolio is around what’s called grid-forming capabilities. It’s the ability for these batteries to essentially replace the very important system services that coal- and gas-fired power stations provide.
Senator ROBERTS: Stability of the grid?
Mr Miller: Stability of the grid, voltage frequency.
Senator ROBERTS: What we call ‘firming’?
Mr Miller: I think firming would traditionally be thought of as providing the energy that’s required to fill gaps. These batteries are providing power quality services. Firming would be about the quantum of energy and power services, or these system security services, are about performing the very important electronic functions that the grid needs to remain stable and at the right frequency.
Senator ROBERTS: My understanding is that solar and wind are asynchronous, inherently unstable and therefore you need to provide an additional service so that the grid maintains stability?
Mr Miller: Again, that’s not also strictly true. There is technology around solar and wind, inverters, that converts the DC electricity into AC and that can provide grid-forming capabilities as well. The latest wind turbines coming out of Goldwind, for example, in China have system security services built into those inverter technologies. It’s not only the batteries that are advancing; it’s actually the solar inverters and the wind technology inverters as well that’s advancing to provide the services.
Senator ROBERTS: Is that at an additional cost?
Mr Miller: It may or may not be. It may be integrated into the technology that’s put forward.
Senator ROBERTS: Let’s move on to the next one. On a very conservative cost of $4.5 million per megawatt installed and a capacity factor of 90 per cent, a $3.1 billion coal-fired power station would produce 15 gigawatt hours of data capacity versus just 4.4 gigawatt hours for the batteries. Unlike the batteries, the coal station actually generates power. It doesn’t lose power on charging. Doesn’t that seem like a much cheaper investment for Australians, just coal-fired power stations?
Mr Miller: You’re fundamentally misunderstanding the different role of those coal-fired power stations that you mentioned in the old world and the role of these kinds of batteries in supplementing wind-solar transmission system demand flexibility. The new world we are well underway, progressing into and entering requires a variety of technology. These batteries provide a very specific set of technologies and services that in combination with wind, solar, transmission and all the other things I mentioned, provides you with a system that is stable and can do the job.
Senator ROBERTS: At inherently higher component costs. There’s a lot of confusion amongst constituents and amongst MPs and senators. Among the various agencies charged with some responsibility or accountability over energy transition, could you as simply and as specifically as possible tell us what ARENA does? What are your basic accountabilities and, specifically, what is the uniqueness of that? There’s accountability that no other agency has.
Mr Miller: That’s a good question. We are an agency that is specifically around to improve the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies, to increase the supply of renewable energy in Australia and to facilitate the achievement of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Our functions include the provision of financial support in the form of grant support and the sharing of knowledge, which is very important to ensure the money we spent is leveraged and available to more than just the proponent we fund so that Australia’s energy transition can happen in an accelerated and stable fashion.
Senator ROBERTS: Specifically with regard to the people at the table, apart from Senator Ayres—and he’d be happy that I’m leaving him out—what is the total salary package of each of the people at the desk here? I’ll exempt anyone who’s not at Senior Executive Service level, but if you are at executive level I’ll ask for the band you’re in and the total remuneration package, including on-costs?
Mr Faris: I’m a band 1 officer, seconded across from the department. I think I’m at band 1.6. I don’t have my salary figures off the top of my head, but they’re actually in our annual report. I’m listed as one of the key management personnel in our annual report, which was tabled last week. You can find that information specifically.
Senator ROBERTS: Could we have them on notice, please?
Senator Ayres: I think what the officer has said to you is that they’re in the annual report. If there’s anything in addition to the annual report, we are happy to provide that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: What is the total wage bill for all employees, including casuals and contractors, at ARENA? Could you give me a breakdown of the numbers, please?
Mr Miller: Again, I might follow Senator Ayres’s lead and refer you to the annual report, which has this information for the last financial year.
Senator ROBERTS: Numbers, breakdown into permanent employees, casual employees, contractors?
CHAIR: Senator Roberts, maybe I could help you out. If you were to grab a copy of that and have a look through, you could potentially put any further questions on notice. There is a breakdown in their annual report.
Senator ROBERTS: We’ll do that. Future Made in Australia—Senator Ayres raised that. The No. 1 cost category in manufacturing today around the world is no longer labour, it’s electricity—with very few exceptions. China uses coal-fired power, sometimes including alcohol, but produces almost 10 times in terms of alcohol production. They have a production rate of $4.5 billion, heading for $5 billion, a year. They produce electricity and sell it, I am told, for 8c a kilowatt hour. Australia is at 25c a kilowatt hour, thanks largely to the transitioned components. Why is Labor so hostile towards manufacturing? Clearly, net zero destroys manufacturing. You also said that there’s no risk. That’s just a slogan. There’s huge risk when you’ve gone from being the cheapest electricity provider in the world to amongst the most expensive. I don’t know why you keep letting down Australian workers.
Senator Ayres: There’s a series of propositions in that we could—
Senator ROBERTS: They’re facts.
Senator Ayres: You assert that they’re facts.
Senator ROBERTS: Eight cents a kilowatt hour versus 25c a kilowatt hour.
Senator Ayres: As I said, you assert that they are facts. It may come as news to you, but the economy in the People’s Republic of China is structured a little bit differently to the Australian economy.
Senator ROBERTS: Eight cents a kilowatt hour—
Senator Ayres: There are some differences between our political and economic systems and the way that the government interacts with the electricity generation system and indeed the way the industry works is different. Our job here in Australia, if we’re acting in the national interest, is to secure Australia’s position. It is very clear that we have a series of forces acting upon our electricity system and our energy system more broadly. Firstly, most of our ageing coal-fired generators announced their closure under the previous government. There are many of them.
Senator ROBERTS: It’s cheaper to replace them new coal-fired power stations.
Senator Ayres: Many of them are coming to the end of their operational life. Some of them have been extended by state governments. The cheapest form of future energy for Australia is renewables and storage.
Senator ROBERTS: Only if you omit coal, hydrogen—
Senator Ayres: I did not interrupt you. I interrupted Senator Cadell earlier when he was being obnoxious, but I didn’t interrupt you.
Senator ROBERTS: Does that mean you want me to get obnoxious?
Senator Ayres: I don’t want to interrupt you. I don’t like interrupting people.
CHAIR: I’m going to interrupt you both and say that we are coming very close to the lunchbreak. I’ll ask you to wrap up. To be clear, Senator Roberts, you’ve had 11.5 minutes.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you very much. That was my last question.
CHAIR: Do you feel like you’ve had a sufficient answer?
The Clean Energy Regulator is a $115 million dollar agency dedicated to implementing the UN’s Net Zero plans on Australia. I pressed for transparency regarding executive salaries and the total cost to taxpayers, expressing surprise at the reluctance to readily provide this information.
I also challenged the effectiveness and necessity of the carbon market, describing it as a concocted market driven by regulations rather than genuine demand. It’s essentially a made up cost inflicted on Australia. These are the kind of agencies we could simply get rid of and Australian’s lives would get better.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you for appearing again today. A similar question to the others in the alphabet soup of climate change and energy agencies: as simply and specifically as possible, what does the Clean Energy Regulator do? Could you tell me the basic accountabilities and the uniqueness of those accountabilities?
Mr Binning: As I stated previously, we’re an economic regulator for the purpose of accelerating carbon abatement for Australia. We do this by administering a range of schemes on behalf of the Australian government.
Senator ROBERTS: Did you say you were an accelerator or a regulator?
Mr Binning: A regulator. We have two outcomes currently within our corporate objectives. The first is to contribute to a reduction in Australia’s net greenhouse gas emissions, including through the administration of market based mechanisms that incentivise reduction in emissions and the promotion of additional renewable electricity generation. The second is to contribute to the sustainable management of Australia’s biodiversity through the administration of market based mechanisms.
Senator ROBERTS: Is your uniqueness the latter?
Mr Binning: Our uniqueness is that we manage or administer the various government schemes, particularly where they involve the formation of a market.
Senator ROBERTS: The carbon dioxide market or carbon market?
Mr Binning: Yes, Senator.
Senator ROBERTS: How many employees do you have?
Mr Binning: We have around 400.
Senator ROBERTS: Could you tell me the breakdown of permanent and employees and contractors?
CHAIR: Are we going to the annual report again?
Senator ROBERTS: I don’t know. We’ll find out.
Mr Binning: A lot of that information will be contained in our annual report. Our chief operating officer will just come up. Perhaps if we move to the next question, then she can follow up.
Senator ROBERTS: What’s the total wage bill for all employees, including casuals and contractors?
Mr Binning: Ms Pegorer will be able to help you out with that detail.
Ms Pegorer: Can I just confirm your question was with regard to the number or the breakdown of our staff?
Senator ROBERTS: Permanent, casual and contractors, please.
Ms Pegorer: I don’t have that level of detail with me, unfortunately. I do have the number of contracting staff that we’ve had from January this year until October and the number of FTE, but I don’t have the number of casuals or non-ongoing.
Senator ROBERTS: Can we get them on notice, please?
Mr Binning: Yes.
Senator ROBERTS: What’s the total wage bill for all of those people: permanents, casuals and contractors?
Mr Binning: Again, we don’t carry that data in that form with us, so it’s best we take that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: What’s the total budget for the Clean Energy Regulator, including any grants or programs you administer?
Mr Binning: Our departmental funding is around $115 million. Our administered revenue associated with the programs that we run is in the order of $37 million. However, I would just note for the record that where we have our greatest impact is actually in the issuance of certificates that then carry value in a marketplace, so both with renewable energy and with the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme we issue certificates that are of material value and which are then financial instruments managed through our registries.
Senator ROBERTS: It’s fair to say, isn’t it, that this is not a market meeting people’s needs; this is a market to meet regulations and global regulations as well—concocted needs, if you like. I’m not diminishing your work.
Mr Binning: No, I probably wouldn’t quite characterise it in that way. We administer schemes that are made by government, so if you take, for example, the Australian Carbon Credit Unit Scheme acting in conjunction with the safeguard mechanism, it then forms both the supply and demand side. Safeguard mechanisms are required through the regulations to manage their emissions within their baseline or source unit certificates. Then the ACCU generates a supply of Australian carbon credit units, and they facilitate trade in order to meet their obligations.
Senator ROBERTS: There’s no open market as such. There’s no clamouring of citizens for carbon dioxide credits. They’re a concoction of Malcolm Turnbull and Greg Hunt in 2015, just before Christmas, and bolstered by Chris Bowen in September of 2022 with the extension of the safeguard mechanism.
Senator Ayres: I think you are asking the official for, at best, an opinion.
Senator ROBERTS: What’s your opinion?
Senator Ayres: The truth is that these schemes are administered by this agency in the best interests of keeping costs down for Australian electricity consumers and efficiently managing the process of reducing emissions across sectors, and it’s judged by successive governments that, to be in the interests of doing that in the most efficient way possible, that kind of capability is retained in the agency who’s in front of you today.
Senator ROBERTS: Let me understand that. We’ve got a scheme that’s been concocted that’ll add more cost to energy—
Senator Ayres: It wasn’t concocted.
Senator ROBERTS: Hang on. It’ll add more cost, and now we’ve got a market in place due to regulations to try to bring it down.
Senator Ayres: No, I don’t agree with that.
Senator ROBERTS: Last question, then. No-one can identify a fundamental need of people. There’s no market other than the concocted market, the fabricated market.
Mr Binning: The only thing I would note in addition to the requirement for people to comply with the various government regulatory structures is that there has over recent years been a reasonably strong emergence of a voluntary market both for Australian carbon credit units and for renewable energy certificates. On the Australian carbon credit side we see in the order of a million units surrendered per annum, and on the electricity side we see very significant surrenders of certificates in the order of 10 million over and above the 33 million that is the regulated target. A lot of what has driven that are the various objectives, particularly across corporate Australia, for voluntary emissions reduction and meeting their own targets and the desire to source credible renewable energy of high integrity to do that, so the market is both performing its regulatory functions and facilitating voluntary participation.
Senator ROBERTS: I notice peppered through your statement there—and I thank you for the statement—are the words ‘regulated’, ‘comply’ and ‘carbon credits’—I call them ‘carbon dioxide credits’. These are all to make the best of a concocted market that’s only there because of regulations. It’s only there because nowhere in the world, as I understand it, has carbon dioxide been designated a pollutant. I just make that point. Final question: what is the total salary package of everyone here at the desk, particularly executive level—what band?
Mr Binning: As I think other agencies have done, our executive remuneration is in our annual report.
Senator ROBERTS: Is that the complete cost including on-costs?
Mr Binning: That’s the salaries associated with those. If you are seeking other information related to our salaries, we will take it on notice and come back to you.
Senator ROBERTS: I want the total cost that the taxpayer pays for you, for example, not just what you get in the hand but everything as part of the package.
CHAIR: Again, I would suggest that you have a look at the annual report and, if it doesn’t give you sufficient detail, that you then place a question on notice for further detail from the officials.
Senator ROBERTS: Just one final question, building on the last one: why is there so much reluctance to share the salaries? Surely you would know what you cost.
Mr Binning: We report executive remuneration as part of our annual reporting cycle. That’s the data that I bring to these committee meetings. If there is other information that you’re seeking and it’s information that’s generally publicly available, we would be delighted to supply it on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: But you would know your total costs to the taxpayers?
Senator Ayres: Senator Roberts, it’s a pretty unfair line of questioning. The official has said—
Senator ROBERTS: What’s unfair about it?
Senator Ayres: The official has said the remuneration details. It’s pretty unfair to characterise it as the official not answering your question, is what I mean.
Senator ROBERTS: I didn’t characterise it that way. You’re fabricating now, Senator Ayres.
Senator Ayres: What he has said is that information is now publicly available in their report, which you could have read on the way here. In addition to that, if there is more information that he can provide, he will provide it on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you.
Senator Ayres: You can’t ask for more than that.
Senator ROBERTS: No, and I made the observation that I’m surprised that people don’t know this or can’t readily divulge it. That’s all. Thank you, Chair.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/qWp7hgU1QKk/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2025-02-20 14:59:142025-02-20 14:59:20Clean Energy Regulation: Questions on Costs and Market Impact
In recent days, the call for conservative unity has been undermined by actions that contradict this goal. Social media, often used as a form of coercive control through lies, can instead be a platform for community and support for those feeling abandoned in a rapidly changing society.
One Nation believes in stead-fast human rights tempered with common sense. Conservatism means treating others with honesty, respect, courtesy, and consideration, not because the government makes us but because it is the conservative way. As a conservative party, One Nation opposes any restriction on free speech, except where it incites violence. This has been my position since joining the Senate. Violence has no place in society or social media.
Recent events have shown the need for integrity and leadership, qualities demonstrated by Senator Babet, John Ruddick, and Topher Field – and I thank them for that. We have an obligation to inspire the best possible outcomes and I am committed to staying focused on exactly that.
Representing Queensland in the Senate is a rare honour shared with only 107 other Queenslanders since Federation, and I am proud of my record and the achievements One Nation has accomplished, including wage justice for casual coalminers, pushing the Labor government to act. We are working to recover over $5 billion for casual workers. Additionally, we introduced a bill to make medicinal cannabis more accessible through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Our work also includes defeating and removing the cash ban bill, defeating the misinformation-disinformation laws, tabling legislation to prevent vaccine status discrimination, and securing a committee inquiry into terms of reference for a COVID Royal Commission. I promised to hound down those responsible and I will honour that promise. We blocked the Morrison government’s so called Ensuring Integrity Bill, and secured a dairy industry code of conduct. We aim to end child labour in supply chains of products imported into Australia.
Senator Hanson’s efforts led to the inclusion of Zolgensma on the PBS for treating spinal muscular dystrophy in children. She also secured an inquiry into family law, resulting in significant improvements. One Nation obtained $500 million for regional road projects in Queensland and funding for many community facilities. We successfully extended community TV licenses twice and are pushing back against child mutilation as a treatment for gender dysphoria.
This is just a sample of our work, much of it successful through collaboration with the government. I look forward to continuing my work in the 48th parliament as a senator for Queensland with One Nation, a party led by Pauline Hanson, who has tirelessly fought for Australians’ rights at tremendous personal cost. Pauline Hanson was Australia’s first political prisoner and after 28 years, she remains a formidable figure, casting a shadow over those who advance themselves as alternatives.
In recent weeks, we’ve outlined One Nation’s plan to increase wealth and opportunity for all Australians. It’s clearly gone over well, because our political rivals have tried to distract from this plan, but our supporters see through it, and our membership has grown. And the best is yet to come!
One Nation’s policies will enable Australians to keep an extra $40 billion through policies like joint tax returns, reducing electricity and fuel excises, allowing pensioners to earn without it affecting their pension and raising the tax-free threshold for self-funded retirees to $35,000. We aim to end mass migration, deport illegal immigrants, and remove GST on building products for five years.
We will also invest in infrastructure projects like Hells Gates Dam, Emu Swamp Dam, the Urannah water project, and extending Inland Rail. These projects will bring logistics benefits and reduce costs for all Australians.
By cutting government spending, we will pay off national debt by an additional $30 billion a year (annual interest will hit $50 billion a year in 2026-27, making interest payments the single largest item in the budget) .
One Nation is committed to putting more money in your pocket and restoring wealth and opportunity for our country. Our commitment to conservative values and practical solutions will continue to guide our efforts in the Senate. We invite all Australians to join us in this mission.
Transcript
I’d be rich if I had a dollar for every time someone asked, ‘Why can’t conservatives all get on with each other?’ The last few days remind me of these nine simple words made meaningless due to the actions of the very parties calling for conservative unity. These events remind us social media is often used as a form of coercive control through lies. It need not be. Social media can instead inform, inspire and save lives through the ability of social media to offer a community to those who feel life doesn’t care about them—Australians who feel abandoned, vulnerable, alone. These may be divorced men, detransitioners, traditional wives, farming families, vaccine injured and so many others being abandoned in the rush to a woke society that degenerates with each day.
I’m concerned that social media may be the baby thrown out with the bathwater unless reason and self-control return to public discourse. Encouraging blatantly false statements for political objectives is disgraceful. After personally pointing out the lie, leaving false posts in public shows it’s wilful. I ask those in this debate to consider Proverbs 15:4. ‘Gentle words are a tree of life; however, a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.’ We have an obligation to lead through example to inspire the best outcomes possible, and I will remain focused on doing exactly that.
One Nation understands that, while human rights are immutable, these are always tempered with common sense. As the saying goes, ‘Just because one can does not mean one should.’ This is the essence of conservatism: to consider we are part of a community composed of other human beings, who we have an obligation to treat with honesty, respect, courtesy and consideration not because the government makes us but because it is the conservative way. As a conservative party, One Nation stands opposed to any restriction on free speech—except one. Free speech stops where incitement to violence starts. That has been my position since coming into the Senate and it remains my position. It matters not who the parties are; violence has no place in a civil society, no place in a conservative society and no place in social media. I want to pay my compliments and extend my appreciation to Senator Babet, John Ruddick and Topher Field, who have in the last few days demonstrated decency, leadership and honesty.
I thank them for that. Representing the state of Queensland in this Senate is a rare honour shared with only 107 other Queenslanders since Federation. I am proud to be contributing to Queensland and to Australia. I am proud that, in seven years in the Senate, I’ve only missed one day of sitting, and that was spent in hospital. I am proud of how I have decided my vote on the 378 bills that have come before the Senate in that time. Positions are decided on the basis of data and empirical evidence and on the basis of what is best for our beautiful country, and I will continue to do so. You may not agree with every position I’ve taken. Then again, if votes were cast only for politicians with whom one is in perfect agreement, no-one would be elected.
I am proud of the work One Nation has advanced in the last six years. This includes, amongst many other things, wage justice for casuals in the coalmining industry. My bill shamed the Labor government into passing their own bill after years of delay, yet the Labor bill deliberately hid and failed to recover more than $5 billion stolen over the years from casual workers. This is something we’re remedying. It also includes a bill to down-schedule medicinal cannabis so that every Australian with a medical need can access natural Australian whole-plant medicinal cannabis on prescription available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Our work also includes defeating and removing the cash ban bill, and defeating the misinformation and disinformation laws. Such laws will never work, since one person’s misinformation is another person’s missing information. It includes tabling legislation to prevent discrimination on the basis of vaccine status, a bill to which we will return in the next parliament, as well as securing a committee inquiry into terms of reference for a royal commission into the COVID pandemic. I promise to hound down those responsible, and I will honour that promise. It also includes a bill to end child labour in the supply chain of products imported into Australia; blocking the Morrison government’s so-called ensuring integrity bill, which unfairly targeted unions; and campaigning for and securing a dairy industry code of conduct.
Senator Hanson’s personal representation resulted in the addition of Zolgensma, a drug to treat spinal muscular dystrophy and atrophy in children, to the PBS. Senator Hanson secured an inquiry into family law and the family court, which resulted in substantial improvements to the family law system. One Nation secured $500 million for regional road construction projects in Queensland, as well as Rockhampton stadium, Ipswich raceway, Yeppoon Aquatic Centre, $5 million for a driver training centre in Townsville and $12 million for community radio. We campaigned successfully on two occasions to extend community television licences. We are also leading the pushback against child mutilation as a so-called treatment for gender dysphoria.
This is just a sample of our work, much of it having a successful outcome after working with the government of the day. I look forward to continuing my work in the 48th parliament, if voters so choose, as a senator for Queensland—a senator with One Nation, a party with a leader who has fought tirelessly for the rights of everyday Australians at tremendous personal cost. So-called Liberal Party conservatives colluded with senior Labor Party members to send Pauline Hanson to jail on trumped-up corruption charges to shut her up—she was released on appeal—charges for which her protagonist Tony Abbott has now apologised. Pauline Hanson was Australia’s first political prisoner, and here she is now, after 28 years, still casting a formidable shadow over those who advance themselves as alternatives.
I look forward to engaging the libertarians, the United Australia Party, the Liberals and Nationals, the Greens and the teals in a battle of ideas, and may the best team win. The preferences of our voters will, of course, go wherever each of our voters place them on their individual ballot papers. In a federal election, parties do not allocate preferences, voters do—for whoever you want. Personally, I will be preferencing third parties ahead of the majors, with the Greens and teals last, of course.
In the last few weeks I have set out One Nation’s plan to put more money back in the pockets of all Australians while restoring wealth and opportunity for all. This is our entry in the battle of ideas. It’s clearly gone over well, because our political rivals have panicked and have engaged in a classic straw-man play for almost a week. ‘Don’t look at this amazing plan to restore wealth and opportunity to this beautiful country,’ they say. ‘Instead, look over here at outrage confected with a bill that was decided before it came to the Senate in a Liberal, Labor, Greens and teals party stitch up.’ I have yet to see any criticism of those parties that actually voted for the bill, because this isn’t about the bill; it’s about the outrage and the distraction. I’m pleased to see that so many of our supporters saw straight through it, as did our new members. In the last week, One Nation membership has risen. Thank you.
So what is One Nation’s election platform that has our competition running scared? Let us go over what we’ve released so far, and can I say that the best is yet to come. One Nation’s election platform starts with allowing Australians to keep an extra $40 billion of their money. This includes these costed policies: joint tax returns for couples with one child and one wage earner on the average wage, saving them as much as $9,500; a reduction in electricity prices of 20 per cent immediately and more than 50 per cent in the longer term once new zero-emission coal plants come online; a 26c a litre reduction in the fuel excise; cuts to the alcohol excise, to be announced shortly; allowing pensioners who meet the assets test to earn an income without losing the pension, adding as many as 600,000 experienced, motivated and dedicated older Australians to the workforce; allowing self-funded retirees to earn more before paying tax to encourage further self-funding of retirement. One Nation’s basic policy here is simple: less welfare and more wealth. Other policies include ending mass migration to take the pressure off inflation, especially in housing, and deporting 75,000 illegal immigrants; and removing GST on building products for five years and eliminating the NDIS building code and the six-star energy code as a requirement for new homes, saving as much as $75,000 on the construction cost of a new home. The truth about these building codes is that, in an attempt to be inclusive, we are excluding many young Australians from the housing market. Letting Australians keep more of their own money will be paid for through cutting government spending by $90 billion—all costed—and adding $13 billion in additional gas excise from gas exports. I’ll explain this in more detail closer to the election.
Finally, One Nation will build, baby, build, including Hells Gates Dam, on the Burdekin River, for irrigation and flood mitigation, to protect coastal Queensland; Emu Swamp Dam, to provide water security to Stanthorpe; the Urannah water project, to provide water security, irrigation and flood mitigation to Broken River in North Queensland, while supplying Moranbah with the water necessary for an expansion in employment and development in the area—watch for that announcement soon; Inland Rail, which will be extended along the forestry route to Wandoan, Banana and then the Port of Gladstone, along with an $8 billion container facility to turn Gladstone into Australia’s premier container port and a multimodal just west of Gladstone; and public works in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. That will bring logistics benefits to all Australians. There will be cheaper and quicker goods going in and out of the country, through Gladstone port. The public works will be announced shortly.
Finally, with the cut in government spending, we will pay off our national debt by an additional $30 billion a year, the annual interest on which will hit $50 billion a year in 2026-27, making interest payments the single largest item in the budget. One Nation will put more money in your pocket and restore wealth and opportunity for our whole beautiful country.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/hhMzyNrOWK0/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2025-02-12 12:56:472025-02-12 12:56:50Conservatives Must Unite: A Call for Integrity and Common Sense
We are experiencing the longest per-capita recession in Australian history. Many people are struggling with little light at the end of the tunnel.
Our plan will provide much-needed relief immediately, slash government waste and help build the big infrastructure that will generate more wealth for Australia.
Press Conference
Media Release
One Nation will take a signature plan to the Federal election slashing government spending by up to $90 billion a year while putting $40 billion back into Australians’ pockets and building infrastructure to generate long-term economic growth and wealth creation.
Party leader Senator Pauline Hanson said without substantial spending reform, tax reform and investment in nation-building, Australians’ living standards would continue to go backwards.
“We’re experiencing the longest per-capita recession in Australian history and many people are struggling with little light at the end of the tunnel,” Senator Hanson said. “Our plan will provide much-needed relief immediately, slash government waste and help build the big infrastructure that will generate more wealth for Australia.
“Our plan includes the policies we’ve already announced for aged and veteran pensioners to earn more without penalty, for income splitting and joint tax return filing for couples with dependent children, and to lift the tax-free threshold to $35,000 for self-funded retirees.
“We’ll pull the levers that Labor could, but won’t. Our plan includes changing the National Electricity Market (NEM) rules to enable and incentivise cheaper coal and gas-fired baseload power while also supporting nuclear energy in the medium term. We aim to slash electricity bills by 20%. We will halve the fuel excise to 26c per litre for 12 months, reserving the option to extend this measure even longer, providing relief for motorists and reducing the freight costs which add to the price of our groceries, goods and services.
“Our plan includes increasing the Medicare rebate to better remunerate GPs and promote bulk billing, and crack down on Medicare fraud estimated to be at as much as $3 billion per year. We will end the rort on natural gas by levying royalties at the point of production, creating a domestic gas reserve, raising up to $13 billion per year.”
One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts said the plan included a comprehensive spending reform agenda focusing on eliminating unnecessary waste and duplication across a range of departments.
“We anticipate saving approximately $30 billion per year by abolishing the Department of Climate Change and related agencies, regulations and programs,” Senator Roberts said. “We expect to save up to $12.5 billion a year by abolishing the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) and bypassing the Aboriginal industry that stands in the way of closing the gaps by providing direct grant assistance to those who need it.
“Our plan includes a review of the functions and costs of the Federal departments of education and housing, eliminating duplication with state government departments and getting rid of costly building code mandates such as the requirement for all new dwellings to be wheelchair compliant.
“We’ll return the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to its original purpose: providing reasonable and necessary support; introducing means-testing; reducing specialist and non-specialist pay rates to sustainable levels equitable with other health sectors. Our plan includes abolishing the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and rolling its essential functions into the Department of Health, and reviewing about $3 billion worth of medications approved for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) during the pandemic.
“We anticipate saving about $1 billion a year by withdrawing Australia’s participation from the United Nations, UN Refugee Convention, World Health Organisation, World Economic Forum, International Criminal Court and other global bodies which threaten Australia’s sovereignty while adding nothing of real value to our country. We’ll also reduce and redirect foreign aid spending to where it will make a difference, saving up to $3 billion, and review and reduce funding for arts and multicultural programs. We must also withdraw from the Paris agreement.”
Senator Hanson said some of the savings would be directed towards paying the principle off Federal debt now at almost $800 billion (net).
“It makes no sense to keep paying interest which may be as much as $50 billion a year by 2026-27,” she said. “We must reduce the debt to reduce this burden, and return the Budget to balance to prevent the accumulation of more debt.
“Our plan aims to put Australia back in the black, and enable the country to start investing in its future. We’ll end Labor’s effective ban on new dams, prioritising their development to open new agricultural opportunities and provide greater water security in Australia. We’ll revive the scrapped Hells Gate dam near Townsville, among others.
“We’ll back the construction of a fully national passenger and freight circuit incorporating the Inland Rail Project, which we plan to extend to Gladstone to facilitate a proposed major upgrade at that port to make it a multi-billion dollar container traffic and export hub.”
Senator Roberts said One Nation was the only party contesting the 2025 election with a suite of policies that put the interests of Australians and their country first.
“Australians deserve no less,” he said. “So many Australians watch Labor, the Coalition and Greens work hard to implement agendas on behalf of the big corporations, the corrupt union bosses and the hateful activists – but never to the benefit of the Australian people.
“One Nation believes in Australia and its people. Our plan is aimed at turning a lucky country into a clever country, and realising the potential of this great nation.”
https://i0.wp.com/www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/d6b0b7d1659ca2ff000b69752789bb6f4c04c258.jpg?fit=1200%2C798&ssl=17981200Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2025-02-12 03:30:002025-02-13 15:04:08Our Plan Will Put $40 Billion Back Into Australian Pockets
In his first two weeks, President Trump has secured the border, prevented a Chinese takeover of the Panama Canal, and tackled US government waste. He’s withdrawn from the WHO, WEF, and climate change fraud—moves One Nation has supported for 20 years. Executive orders have ended woke DEI and transgender ideology while supporting LGB Americans – again a One Nation policy.
President Trump isn’t a threat to democracy here or in the United States – he is, however, a threat to the Greens’ toxic ideology. Australia led the pushback against woke ideology, and Trump’s actions align with One Nation policies.
One Nation is proud to put Australia first, just as Trump puts America first.
Transcript
The election of President Donald Trump was certified in every American state, by Democrats and Republicans alike and in Congress. The 2024 election was a textbook application of the United States’ republic model of government. In his first two weeks, President Trump has secured the border against illegal arrivals, overnight adding Mexican and Canadian troops to police their side of the border and lifting threats of tariffs. President Trump has prevented the Chinese takeover of the strategic Panama Canal, and his team have made a huge stab at putting the cleaners through US government waste, some of which appears criminal and seditious in nature. President Trump has withdrawn the USA from the World Health Organization, from the World Economic Forum and from climate change tyranny and fraud. These are moves One Nation has advocated for 20 years. Executive orders have destroyed woke DEI and transgender ideology while reaffirming support for gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans. Again, this is One Nation policy.
President Trump is not a threat to democracy here or in the United States. He is a threat to the Greens, who are watching the pushback to their neo-Marxist identity politics. Their toxic ideology is rightly being dispatched to history’s sewers. President Trump did not start the pushback against woke ideology; Australia did when everyday Australians rejected the Voice proposal, and the Irish did when they rejected the fragmentation of their families in a referendum there. President Donald Trump’s actions are in accord with One Nation policies, and of that we are very, very proud. Trump puts America first; One Nation proudly puts Australia first.
I had the pleasure of joining Laban Ditchburn on the Be Your Own Super Hero podcast! We delved into my current world perspective, offering straightforward explanations of both current and past Australian politics. Plus, I shared my tips on staying sane in a world that often feels completely at odds with common sense.
https://i0.wp.com/www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Screenshot-2024-12-29-201841.png?fit=793%2C444&ssl=1444793Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2025-02-06 15:01:372025-02-20 16:28:02Podcast: Become Your Own Super Hero
Why are grocery prices still going up when we have better technology and more efficient farms than ever before?
The answer is that the cost of energy is making your grocery bills more expensive. Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are equally committed to making electricity more expensive and increasing the price of food.
One Nation is the only party that will end net-zero policies to return cheap power and cheaper groceries to Australians.
Transcript
Yesterday, Richard Forbes of Independent Food Distributors Australia told the Australian newspaper:
As far as I am concerned, the government’s energy policy has and continues to increase the price of food.
Employers supplying food to major supermarkets and thousands of cafes, restaurants and pubs around the country have launched a revolt against the government’s energy policies, urging more gas and coal-fired power to bring down electricity prices.
The managing director of Western Australia’s largest independent food distributor said his company’s electricity bill had doubled in the past three years. This energy policy driving up food prices is called net zero. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton are completely committed to the net zero policies that are driving up the price of your groceries. As part of that net zero policy, coal and gas generators are told to turn off completely whenever wind and solar decide to turn on, which is unpredictable.
The problem is coal-fired power stations are what’s called base-load power; they’re designed to run constantly, not to flick on and off like they’re being forced to now. That abuse leads to higher maintenance costs and, in the worst case, power stations failing, blowing up. Even with this unsustainable switching-on-and-off situation, the coal burnt in a coal-fired power station costs just $21 a megawatt hour. This financial year, solar and wind capital South Australia’s average power price has been $200 a megawatt hour, a bit under 10 times higher than a coal station’s fuel costs.
Instead of making coal stations flick on and off completely, run them continuously to provide base-load power, and electricity will instantly get cheaper and more reliable. Wind and solar can top up the rest—when they work—and households can keep using their own solar power—simple. Only One Nation will bring down power prices down and grocery bills to put more money in your pocket.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/Z6wmAbTUrMY/maxresdefault.jpg90120Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2025-02-06 14:24:562025-02-06 15:37:51Net Zero is Driving Unaffordable Grocery and Food Prices
