Treasurer Jim Chalmer plans to cut infrastructure spending at a time when Australia needs to increase its productive capacity.
I make the point that by investing in productive capacity, Australia can increase its productivity and avoid the supply chain shortages which drive up prices of goods.
If the Treasurer is hunting for spending cuts, he need look no further than the federal and state subsidies amounting to $10 billion per quarter. That’s $4 billion more than before COVID.
One Nation knows how to fight inflation. Cut immigration, ditch the UN Net Zero pipe dream, build productive capacity and infrastructure, and stop creating inflation in the first place. The Reserve Bank printed $500 billion out of thin air in response to COVID and now we are seeing the consequences.
Australia does best as a productive nation. Let’s get back to basics and allow Australians to prosper.
Transaction
The coalition is correct to point out the lunacy of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s comments that he may cut infrastructure funding to fight inflation. The best way to fix inflation is to increase productivity, including through productive infrastructure and productive capacity. In fact, the best way to fix inflation is to make sure it doesn’t happen in the first place. That means stopping the Reserve Bank from creating $500 billion out of thin air and dropping it from helicopters as they did for Scott Morrison in the response to COVID. Never again. That means stopping the record level of net immigration, estimated at 500,000 this year—half a million! That means pulling back on the 2.3 million visa holders in the country right now who are adding pressure to the housing crisis, driving up demand, driving rentals up and driving inflation.
To the Treasurer, if you’re looking for spending cuts to fight inflation, look at subsidies. Australian federal and state governments are still handing out $10 billion in subsidies per quarter—$4 billion more than before COVID. Treasurer, if you really want to cut some infrastructure to fight inflation, cut any money you are putting toward wind, solar, batteries and pumped hydro, like Snowy 2.0. That’s the dog in New South Wales, by the way. That will have a double positive effect, taking the heat out of house construction prices and dropping power prices, which contribute to almost every other product in the country.
Let’s get serious about fighting inflation. Here’s how you do it: cut immigration; ditch the United Nations net zero pipe dream; build productive capacity and productive infrastructure, like ports, dams, railways and power stations; and don’t create inflation in the first place, printing money out of thin air in electronic journal entries as the Reserve Bank has admitted. Get back to sound basics that enable the productive capacity of Australians to prosper.
I asked Minister Gallagher questions about the government’s immigration policy which is bringing large numbers of new arrivals into Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released figures that show that spending from new arrivals is running interference on the Reserve Bank’s attempts to cut inflation rates.
The Minister’s defence was to, once again, blame the previous government, then COVID and then she made the claim that many of the new arrivals were just returning Australians.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Australian Bureau of Statistics data and the Reserve Bank for the June quarter reveals that Australian’s spending fell while new-arrival’s spending increased, because the number of new arrivals increased. Minister, the government’s policy of bringing so many new arrivals to shore up domestic demand is acting against the Reserve Bank’s low-inflation strategy. Why do you have your foot on the accelerator while the Reserve Bank has its foot on the brake?
Senator Gallagher: I thank Senator Roberts for the question. I disagree with it, and I don’t accept that we are not working alongside the Reserve Bank. They have their job to do, which is to bring inflation back within the target band without crunching the economy. We have our job to do, which is to implement our economic plan and roll out, as I said before, the cost-of-living relief to get the budget in much better shape, which we have done, and to make much overdue investments into energy, skills and housing across the country, which are causing pressure in other areas of the economy.
In terms of the population growth, or what we’ve been seeing from the net overseas migration numbers in particular—we’ve spoken about this in this place on a number of times—we are seeing some of the results of having our borders closed, essentially, for a couple of years. So we’re seeing people returning to this country, particularly international students to study, at a time when we’re not seeing as many leaving the country. We are seeing that, and that’s reflected in the budget numbers.
But I can absolutely guarantee, Senator Roberts, that we are working with the Reserve Bank. The decisions that we take are about not making their job harder. It’s an already difficult job that they are doing, and our job is to support that in the areas that we have responsibility for, which is to deal with that cost-of-living relief, to get the budget in much better shape, which we have done, and to invest in the productive side of our economy into things like the energy transition, skills and housing, which are areas that were left neglected after a decade—
The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Minister. Senator Roberts, a first supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that in the June quarter new private house commencements fell 6.6 per cent and new private apartment commencements fell 19.6 per cent. Minister, in line with the Reserve Bank’s 13 interest rate rises, housing construction is falling when you need to build more homes for all the Albanese government arrivals. What are you going to do—pump up the economy with more arrivals, causing more inflation and more interest rate rises, or accept that you made a mistake and put the brakes on new arrivals?
Senator Gallagher: I would just say that we have not changed the policy settings that were in place around net overseas migration, so your characterisation is incorrect. In response to some of the economic data you cite, yes, we are seeing moderation in a couple of areas, and that is because many Australians are doing it tough right now, and the Reserve Bank is trying to lower demand with some of the decisions that they’ve been taking. So, yes, we are seeing that translate into other areas of economic data, but I would also say to the senator, who voted against the Housing Australia Future Fund, that our housing policies are about dealing with this long-term underinvestment and failure to acknowledge that the Commonwealth government has a role to support the construction and delivery of social and affordable housing. That is the area the Commonwealth neglected in the previous decade. We have a range of policies targeted to housing to address—
The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Minister. Senator Roberts, a second supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: Talking misinformation about your housing bill won’t save this government. Everyday Australians know they can’t afford their rent or mortgage, and they know your government is swamping the country with even more arrivals. Minister, why are you papering over your economic mismanagement and running an immigration Ponzi scheme?
Senator Gallagher: That question is simply incorrect. I would say that there is a huge amount of work that’s being done by the Home Affairs minister and the immigration minister to fix the broken system that we inherited, and we’ll have more to say on that shortly as the work that they are doing is finalised. But it’s simply not true to allege what you are alleging. We have inherited a migration system that the minister herself has said is broken, so we are dealing with issues to fix that.
But, in relation to some of the numbers that we’ve been seeing, particularly in relation to international students and working holiday-makers who have returned to the country with valid visas after the borders had been closed, just because you say ‘misinformation’ doesn’t mean it is misinformation. These are the facts; let’s deal with the facts. We accept that there is pressure in the housing market, which is why we’re responding to deal with it.
Data from Home Affairs and analysed by Tarric Brooker shows there are 2.3 million visa holders likely to require housing in Australia right now excluding tourists and other short stay visas.
Almost every Australian in a rental saw their rent increase during the past three years and around three-quarters of young Australians believe they will never be able to afford a home.
Added to these problems we’re seeing Airbnb conversions taking accommodation off the rental market.
Australia’s housing crisis is a direct result of the Albanese government’s flood of permanent immigration visa holders and tourists.
Transcript
We know that the conversion of houses to Airbnbs take away beds in which Australians could be living. The Albanese government oversaw over 5.86 million tourists arrive last financial year that. That’s creating a huge incentive for property owners to turn their houses into lucrative short-stay accommodation, making the housing and rental crisis worse. We have only 100,000 student accommodation beds, yet the Albanese government issued a record 687,000 student visas in one year. Analyst Tarric Brooker has used Department of Home Affairs data to show that there are 2.3 million visa holders likely to require housing in the country right now. This figure excludes tourists and short-stay visas.
In the past three years, almost every Australian in a rental has had their rent increased, often savagely—if they can find a rental. Almost three-quarters of young Australians believe they will never be able to afford a home. If this rate of people coming into the country is maintained, sadly, they will be correct. Australia’s housing crisis is a direct result of the Albanese government’s flood of permanent immigration, visa holders and tourists.
There are two sides of the housing equation: supply and demand. With record overseas arrivals driving record levels of demand, we will never be able to build enough supply to keep up with demand. On the supply side, barriers to building even more housing are growing. Rising interest rates are putting pressure on borrowing capacity to pay for new houses. Construction supply chains are still broken from gross federal and state COVID mismanagement. Rising material costs, combined with existing fixed price contracts, are squeezing builders, and the construction industry is facing a wave of insolvencies. The unsustainable level of overseas arrivals in our country is fuelling Australia’s housing crisis. The rate of arrivals must be cut quickly.
Senator Murray Watt showed the people of Australia his inability to behave in a relevant, responsible or respectful manner when he failed repeatedly to answer questions about the unsustainably high levels of immigration his party and his government are presiding over. That he got away with it without being censured in the Senate Chamber speaks volumes.
Senator Watt laughably continues, along with the rest of his party, to blame the previous government for current issues while halfway through its own term. Either Labor is not fit to run things, or they know they’re in big trouble and desperate to point the finger elsewhere.
The headlines from the major media outlets are telling us that immigration is responsible for the housing crisis. It’s glaringly obvious that this and the failed Net Zero policy is to blame for rising energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis.
Labor is destroying much of what Australia stands for, and it has destroyed its own credibility in the process.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: I move:
That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (Senator Watt) to a question without notice I asked today relating to immigration.
Senator Watt repeatedly failed to answer my first and second questions. When will the Labor government stop this unsustainable high immigration? It revealed Senator Watt’s complete lack of care for the people of Australia, his dismissal of the people, his arrogance towards the people and his contempt for the real and serious issues facing Australians, such as the housing crisis, with the shortage and high cost of houses and rents; inflation due in part to increased immigration; and hiding the per capita recession. If it weren’t for the record high arrivals in Australia we would be in recession right now. Cabinet is covering up the fact that its policies, including net zero, are raising energy prices exorbitantly and destroying manufacturing, security and tertiary processing—and Labor’s big corporate mates are profiteering.
Halfway through his government’s term he’s still blaming the previous government. That’s all you’ve got, Senator Watt? And then he said falsely that I called immigrants terrorists. I did not do that. I would not do that. I was born in India. Minister Watt is clearly breaching standing orders by not being relevant and by impugning my motives. Senator Hanson was sitting beside me at the time, under the President’s censure, yet Senator Watt gets off scot-free.
The Albanese government is heading down the same dead-end road the Rudd government chose. I’ll give you some quotes from the headlines of the Courier Mail: Albanese ‘doesn’t properly read important briefing documents’; ‘S-show’—a four-letter word—’political chameleon’ who wasn’t prepared; a ‘shemozzle’ and decisions which have rocked the party to its core. How long before members of the government change from hearing negative statements about Prime Minister Albanese to actively working to oust him? The Albanese voice relied on the vibe, hiding the details and contradicting claims, and had an apparent belief that voice proponents could fool the people with emotion. Start treating the Senate and the people with respect. Be honest.
I asked three simple questions of the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs and yet again, Senator Watt turned the Senate Chamber into a circus to his obvious amusement and wasted precious time.
Does the government control the level of immigration into Australia? Yes or No? And how many net overseas migrants will arrive in Australia this year?
The Treasurer earlier this year stated that the government had no control over immigration numbers, yet this is not the case. Was this ‘misinformation’?
The Minister gave no specific answers and once again attempted to direct attention back to the previous government and promoted the Labor’s utterly useless housing bill.
Transcript
My question is to Minister representing the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Watt. Does the government control the level of immigration into Australia?
Senator WATT: Senator Roberts, I note your interest all week in these matters of migration, and the short answer is that under governments of all persuasions, including those who are having a chuckle over there at the moment, the immigration program in Australia is demand driven. That has been the case under this government and the former government as well.
Senator Roberts: Point of order: it was a very simple, short question. It needs a yes or no answer. That’s it.
The PRESIDENT: The minister is being relevant, Senator Roberts. I presume you’ve finished your answer, Minister Watt?
Senator WATT: As I say—
Senator Canavan: It’s just a yes or no answer, Murray!
Senator WATT: Yes, it’s quite normal for ministers who represent others to look at their notes. Senator Canavan, we can’t all be the genius that you are. You are a genius—I pay that—especially when you get into your dark web and your bunker and you dig out all those statistics. You’re an absolute genius!
Honourable senators interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: Minister Watt, resume your seat. Order across the chamber, but particularly on my left.
Senator Ayres: Yes, old Telegram Matt!
The PRESIDENT: Senator Ayres, you have a lot to say this afternoon. This is question time. Minister Watt, I’m asking you to refer your comments to me and not to particular senators. Please continue.
Senator WATT: I know Senator Rennick was a bit offended by the fact I singled out Senator Canavan as the only genius in the opposition and the only person who could get into the bunker and find statistics, because we know Senator Rennick is pretty good at that as well.
Honourable senators interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes. I haven’t called you, and I haven’t called you because the chamber was still disorderly. Senator Hughes.
Senator Hughes: President, you’ve made very clear this week, and we have heard from those opposite—
The PRESIDENT: What’s your point of order, Senator Hughes?
Senator Hughes: I would like Minister Watt to withdraw a whole raft of his commentary and reflections on a number of senators over here and his continual snarky personal smears and vilifications.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes, if you want to raise a point of order about unparliamentary or personal language related to a senator, I need their name at least.
Senator Hughes: I said Minister Watt!
The PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes, don’t backchat once you’re sitting down. You indicated that the minister had had a spray against a range of senators. I have no idea who that was. I am not going to make it up or guess it, so unless you have—
Senator Hughes: I literally said it multiple times!
The PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes, you’ve raised the point of order. You haven’t named a particular senator. You’ve indicated to me who in your view made the offence but you haven’t said about which senator.
Senator Hughes: I said it multiple times. Would you like to check the Hansard?
The PRESIDENT: Senator Hughes, resume your seat. Minister Wong.
Senator Wong: I think the difficulty—through you, President—is it was a generalised proposition that the senator was making. If there is a request to withdraw particular language that has just been said—
Senator Hughes: We got multiple lectures this week.
Senator Wong: If that is the request, I’m sure the—
Senator Hughes interjecting—
Senator Wong: Okay. I’m just saying that a generalised proposition is a difficult one to respond to.
Senator Hughes interjecting—
Senator Wong: I’m trying to assist here.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Birmingham.
Senator Wong: I haven’t finished.
The PRESIDENT: I’m sorry, I thought you had finished, Senator Wong.
Senator Wong: Thank you. I was just waiting. The proposition—
Honourable senators interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: Do you wish to continue?
Senator Wong: There is a generalised complaint about Senator Watt saying things about a number of people. I don’t know what those are, but if the request is that Senator Watt withdraw particular language that’s just been used—
Senator Scarr interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: Senator Scarr, no interjections.
Senator Wong: All I’m saying if there is a request to—
Senator Hughes: And he continues!
Senator Wong: Wow. I’m really trying. If there is a request to withdraw particular language now, I would ask the President to call the minister.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Birmingham?
Senator Birmingham: Thank you, President. I did want to pick up on one part of your ruling there, which was to suggest it was necessary for the senator to name a particular senator who had been impugned. I will make it clear that it is possible for groups of senators to be impugned or to have improper motives attributed to them by a senator and that is also against standing orders.
The PRESIDENT: That’s correct.
Senator Birmingham: President, as you’re well aware, it’s not necessary always for a senator to make a point of order and, in the spirit of this week, it would be helpful for strong proactive intervention if senators can’t restrain themselves to actually ask them immediately to withdraw. Preferably they would restrain themselves, Senator Watt.
Senator Watt interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: I haven’t called you, Senator Watt. I am going to respond to those points of order. I am not in the chamber all the time. That’s the point that I made in the statement to the chamber yesterday. It is very difficult for me to ask a senator to withdraw when I don’t know where that language has landed. I take your point, Senator Birmingham, that a slur can be made against a group of senators. That’s not what Senator Hughes was implying. My understanding of what was indicated was that the minister had made, in Senator Hughes’s view, a number of comments to senators throughout the week, not to a group of senators. However, I know that Senator Watt is always willing to own his behaviour and I will, as Senator Watt—
Opposition senators interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: For the benefit of those interjections, a number of you are always willing, on both sides of the chamber, to withdraw. Some of you are not but most of you are. So I am going to invite Senator Watt, if he thinks he has offended senators this week, to make a general withdrawal without making any comment to comments that you may or may not have uttered.
Senator WATT: I make a general withdrawal.
The PRESIDENT: Thank you, please continue.
Senator WATT: Senator Roberts, the government does have a range of controls in place around the numbers of migrants coming into Australia, the categories of those migrants, whether they be international students or tourists, humanitarian, skilled workers so the government does have a range of controls around the numbers and types of migrants who come into Australia. I think I know where you’re going with this, because you have followed these issues all week and I point out that we haven’t really seen a lot of consistency from the opposition on matters of migration either, because what we do know is that, for instance, when the now immigration spokesperson, the member for Wannon, was in government he was saying things like, ‘We need to get our international students back. We need to get our working holiday-maker visa holders back.’
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts?
Senator Roberts: On a point of order, that’s not relevant to what I asked.
The PRESIDENT: I’ll bring you back to the question, Minister Watt. You’ve finished. Senator Roberts, your first supplementary?
Transcript: First Supplementary Question
Senator ROBERTS: On 15 May, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Australia that the level of net overseas migration is ‘not something the government determines’. Minister, is that a lie, given your government issues the visas and decides who comes to this country? Why are you letting immigration spiral out of control while hundreds of thousands of Australians are homeless?
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, I am going to ask you to rephrase that question.
Senator ROBERTS: Is that misinformation, given your government issues the visas and decides who comes to this country? Why are you letting immigration spiral out of control while hundreds of thousands of Australians are homeless?
Senator WATT: I reject the suggestion that the Treasurer has misrepresented the facts on this issue. It is a really important issue that Australia is dealing with at the moment. But, Senator Roberts, in answer to similar questions from you over the course of the week, I’ve pointed out a number of steps the government have taken to fix the fundamentally broken migration system that we inherited from the opposition and, in particular, from the now Leader of the Opposition, Mr Dutton, who oversaw the migration system as the Minister for Home Affairs for a number of years.
We’ve already scaled back the pandemic event visa. We’re taking action about the working hours for international students, which has been a real drawcard for international students coming to Australia. We’ve made all sorts of improvements to Home Affairs, in terms of its processing of visa applications. And, of course, when it comes to housing, as I’ve pointed out to you already, you and your colleagues have an opportunity to vote for more housing and you chose to vote against it.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, your second supplementary?
Transcript: Second Supplementary Question
Senator ROBERTS: How many overseas immigrants, net, will arrive in Australia this financial year?
Senator WATT: Again, I know that we’ve addressed this issue in previous answers, both in chis chamber and in estimates, and the issues around the number of net overseas migrants is a matter that is handled by the Treasury. I’ve already acknowledged in previous answers on these questions that post COVID, when we had a couple of years of pretty much zero migration to Australia, it was always inevitable that there was going to be an increase in that migration as we had tourists, working holiday-maker visa holders and skilled migrants coming back into the country. That is exactly one of the reasons why our government is trying to fix the broken migration system that we inherited and trying to build more homes, despite your opposition and that of the coalition.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts?
Senator Roberts: On a point of order, I asked the question: how much net immigration this year?
The PRESIDENT: The minister explained it is a question that should be directed to Treasury, and the minister was answering it in his capacity. The minister has finished.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/J7tBQvIAKwk/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-11-14 14:35:582023-11-14 17:52:59What Will it Take to Get a Straight Answer?
When will this Labor government make the decision to cut unsustainable, record high immigration? This is a government that is halfway through its term, yet it’s still blaming the previous government. Are we really supposed to swallow this fairy-tale?
Australia’s immigration levels have been allowed to escalate under the Albanese government and they’re driving both the housing crisis and the high cost of living. These two issues have worsened exponentially under Labor.
I had to remind the Minister to answer the question because he was determined to use up the time allotted for answering in banter with others in the chamber, or to deliberately twist my words. When I pressed him to answer he could only pass the buck, talk up Labor’s grossly inadequate housing fund and it’s clear he is not prepared to accept any responsibility. The arrogance and lack of respect he shows to his position and by default, the Australian people, is deplorable.
Failure to take responsibility is a symptom of the ways in which Labor is failing the Australian people. A recent Weekend Australian article has reported that the migration surge is fuelling inflation, and the Reserve Bank backs that up.
The recent tsunami of new arrivals is under Labor’s watch and Senator Murray Watt needs to own it. These performances in parliament he’s indulging in, rather than taking his position seriously, do nothing to restore the people’s trust in government.
Transcript
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Senator Watt. With Labor embarking on the largest immigration program in Australian history, bringing in more than 500,000 people this year alone, more and more economists are warning these numbers are driving inflation and hurting everyday Australian families. Following yesterday’s 12th interest rate rise since Labor was elected, when will the government acknowledge they are completely wrong about high immigration and cut the numbers to sustainable levels?
Senator McKenzie interjecting—
Senator Dean Smith interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie and Senator Dean Smith!
Senator WATT: Senator Smith, that’s most unlike you! I’m very disappointed in you! I’m very disappointed. Thank you for the question, Senator Roberts. I hear, again, in response to your question, Senator McKenzie demanding more spending for infrastructure. So I guess we’re back to, ‘Spend more in the economy, and drive up inflation!’ That’s where the opposition was at today—
Senator Rennick interjecting—
Senator WATT: Senator Rennick’s jumping up and saying no. The Liberals disagree. Okay!
The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Roberts, I am going to direct the minister to your question, and I will remind those in here that the crossbenchers are entitled to be heard in silence and are entitled to have their questions answered. They get less time than others in this place. I would expect everyone to be sitting in respectful silence. Minister Watt, I refer you to Senator Roberts’ question.
Senator WATT: Thank you. Senator Roberts, I think I answered a very similar question from you the other day. I did acknowledge that Australia’s migration system, after 10 years of Liberal and National government, mainly overseen by the now opposition leader, Mr Dutton, is in utter 	disarray. We have acknowledged that. I know that the minister—
The PRESIDENT: Minister, please resume your seat. Senator Roberts.
Senator Roberts: On relevance—I’m asking when he will cut the numbers to sustainable levels.
The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Roberts. I will remind the minister of your question. Minister Watt.
Senator WATT: Thank you, Senator Roberts. It is important to put this in context, and we have acknowledged that the migration system that we inherited, overseen largely by Mr Dutton, the now opposition leader, is a mess. It is a completely broken system. We have already taken a number of measures—
The PRESIDENT: Minister Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Roberts?
Senator Roberts: When will they acknowledge they are completely wrong about high immigration and cut the numbers to sustainable levels? That’s simple.
The PRESIDENT: I believe the minister is going to your question, and I will continue to listen carefully. Minister Watt.
Senator WATT: We have taken a number of measures already since being elected to fix the mess of the broken migration system we inherited. For example, this government has ended the Pandemic Event visa, which was being abused in some cases—in many cases. We have changed the previously unlimited working hours that were available for international students, a system that was engineered by the former government, and we’ve also made changes to work exemptions for working holiday visa holders. We’ve also increase the temporary skilled migration income threshold from $53,900 to $70,000, and that is the first increase in a decade.
The PRESIDENT: Minister Watt, please resume your seat. Senator Roberts?
Senator Roberts: When will he deal with cutting the high numbers?
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, I think he’s being relevant to your question. Thank you, Minister.
Senator WATT: Senator Roberts, it’s up to you to choose whether you want to listen to my answer or not. But I’ve already outlined a number of measures that we have taken to fix the migration system, thoroughly broken, overseen by Mr Dutton, and to try to put in place a more manageable migration system and more manageable immigration numbers. We are conscious that this is an issue that needs to be addressed, and we’ll keep working on it. (Time expired)
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, your first supplementary?
https://img.youtube.com/vi/CAlwC_sngko/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-11-14 14:07:022023-11-14 14:07:06Watt a Clown Show
The causes of the cost-of-living crisis are no mystery.
Deutsche Bank predicted this month that Australia’s net immigration for the financial year will top 530,000. There are 1.2 million new long stay visa holders which is almost triple the population of Canberra. That’s a million more people looking for housing, jobs, spending their money and using infrastructure and essential services that were already strained.
With the largest amount of wind, solar and batteries on Australia’s power grid in our history, power bills have never been higher. That pushes up goods and services costs for everyone and contributes to the pain.
Mortgages are climbing with another interest rate hike warning for November by the Reserve Bank to “fight inflation”. Why?
During the economy wrecking COVID response, the Reserve Bank printed half a trillion dollars out of thin air. Most of it went to foreign-owned multinationals. This $500 BILLION created out of thin air has, in turn, created the inflation problem.
Added to this, lockdowns devastated many of the smaller Australian businesses cutting off supplies of goods and further inflating prices.
The Reserve Bank’s longstanding policy on inflation is to raise interest rates to cause enough financial pain for mortgage holders to spend less and force the price of goods down. So having made the problem they are now punishing homeowners to try and fix it.
Here’s how One Nation would fix the cost-of-living crisis. Stop the flood of immigration into this country to fix the housing crisis; stop the chasing of the UN net-zero pipe dream to fix energy bills; and stop the Reserve Bank printing money out of thin air to fix inflation.
Transcript
As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia I want to show how One Nation will fix the cost-of-living crisis. To fix the cost-of-living crisis there are only three things parliament must do: stop the flood of immigration into this country to fix the housing crisis; stop the chasing of the UN net-zero pipedream to fix energy bills; and stop the Reserve Bank printing money out of thin air to fix inflation. Every time we hear about the number of immigrants coming in, the number goes up. Just this week it was reported that Deutsche Bank predicts that a net immigration for the financial year will top 530,000. That does not include temporary workers. It does not include students, so the total is 1.2 million in one year. That is more than the entire population of Canberra arriving in one year; in fact, it is almost triple. Immigration is why we have a rental crisis. It is why we have a housing crisis. It is why many young people will never be able to buy a home. The big business donors to both Liberal and Labor benefit from big immigration. If we want a roof over every Australian head, we must stop this flood.
The next contributor to our problem is the UN’s net-zero scam. The lie that wind and solar is the cheapest electricity is debunked using one fact. With the largest amount of wind, solar and batteries on Australia’s power grid in our history, power bills have never been higher. Every country in the world that has tried to go down the path of wind and solar has had higher power bills—every country. Watch electricity bills drop when we abandon UN net zero, fire up the coal-fired power stations and let nuclear onto the playing field.
To fix inflation, just stop the Reserve Bank printing $500 billion, as they did during COVID—half a trillion dollars. That way the Reserve Bank doesn’t have to try and send mortgage holders broke to fix the problem the Reserve Bank caused. Many of the solutions are simple. We just need more One Nation members because only we have the guts to call this rubbish out.
Liberal Senator McGrath mentioned in raising this MPI motion that mortgages are up an average of $1,500 a month. Let’s rewind the tape and look at why that is happening. The Reserve Bank claims it needs to raise interest rates to fight inflation. Inflation is like an equation. When you have too much money chasing too few goods, prices go up. It is that simple. Throughout history, the idea has been that if the Reserve Bank raises interest rates enough, mortgage holders will not have money to spend, so prices will come down. That takes care of the too-much-money side of the equation. With interest rates higher, Australians will have less money to spend on goods, so inflation will come down.
Now, I am not kidding. This is what the Reserve Bank means when they say they are ‘fighting inflation’. They are sending Australians broke to solve a problem that the Reserve Bank created with the Morrison government. What no-one likes to talk about is the Reserve Bank’s part in creating the inflation problem. You will remember from our equation that too much money equals more inflation. During the pandemic the Reserve Bank printed roughly half a trillion dollars—$500 billion—out of thin air using what they call ‘electronic ledger entries’—their words. Half a trillion dollars was conjured out of thin air and dropped from a helicopter to compensate for the Liberal government’s economy-wrecking COVID restrictions that were not necessary. That $500 billion is new money and a major cause of the inflation problem Australia is still fighting, and who got the money? Largely, it was foreign-owned multinationals.
To summarise the inflation problem, the Reserve Bank printed hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air. That led to huge inflation. Now the Reserve Bank is trying to send enough mortgage holders broke so they will stop spending to try and bring inflation down—another housing crisis. Lockdowns devastated our economy, our businesses. That cut the supply side, which meant fewer goods, which meant prices for those of goods raised—inflation. This is not a comedy skit; this is the strategy of the people who were and who are running the country, and they are in charge of our economy. Every single part of this happened under the direction and watch of the supposedly conservative Liberal-National coalition government. For the Liberals to come to this chamber and bemoan the inflation problem and mortgage repayments is politics at its worst. I said earlier in the week that, with this economy, the Liberal-National coalition government gave Labor one of the largest hospital passes in political history. In saying that, Labor now wants to turbocharge the destruction of our economy.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/ajHcTo6yjfM/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-10-23 20:08:302023-10-24 08:17:07How One Nation Can Fix the Cost of Living Crisis
I asked Senator Tim Ayres, Assistant Minister for Trade, why the Albanese Labor government has allowed one million people to arrive in this country in just one year. Those one million arrivals is made up of around half migration and half student visas. Every single person need a bed and a roof over their head. There’s also an additional 200,000 arrivals with other visas. That’s a total of 1.2 million people, making a population flood the size of Adelaide in just 12 months.
The housing and rental crisis is completely government made. If your rent has gone up, you can’t afford a house, you can’t even find a place to live like those in regional Queensland towns living in caravans, tents, in parks, in cars and under bridges, remember this Labor government brought in over 1,000,000 people into this country in just one year.
With this bill, the Albanese government is claiming that it will build a few thousand houses to ‘fix the problem’. Supply chains for materials are still damaged from the government’s COVID response. Those shattered supply chains are further hobbled under Australia following the United Nations’ 2050 policy driving up energy costs.
The Greens want more houses built, but they won’t let us use timber. In fact, they have a bill on notice to end logging of sustainable forestry. Timber is a renewable resource yet we can’t harvest the wood for the frames. What about steel frames then? The two main ingredients for steel are coal and iron ore,which are Australia’s two major mining commodities, yet the Greens want to end all mining in Australia.
The Greens SAY they want to build more houses, yet if Australia implemented all their policies we’d have no wood, no steel and only expensive and unreliable sources of energy to build these houses.
A cut to immigration would allow our housing and essential services time to catch up.
As you will hear, Senator Ayres completely failed to address my concerns.
Transcripts
Minister, I’m a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia. In that capacity, I note that this bill is completely unnecessary. It’s not needed. Here’s why: if the government cut Australia’s immigration intake by just 10 per cent of the current one million arrivals, it would save the building of many more houses than Labor claims this fund will build. The housing crisis will lessen. Instead, we are here dealing with dirty deals done dirt cheap. The deals are cheap for the Greens, yet taxpayers will be paying billions. As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I note that the people of Australia are disgusted to look at this parliament and see the rotten horse-trading and deal-making going on. The Greens hold themselves up on their moral high horse and virtue-signal to the world that they are the pure ones while telling everyone what to do. In reality, they’re down in the mud doing dirty deals like the rest of them.
What deal do we have to look at today? The government is going to build and own houses—not the people of Australia but the government. This is full-blown communism delivered express to your door. As the infamous Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum has repeatedly told the world already, ‘You will own nothing, and you will be happy.’ The goal of the Greens and Labor is to come into this chamber to preach to the world that they’re helping Australians—helping you. The Greens’ rent caps have already led directly to faster rent increases, because landlords understandably want to get ahead of the rent caps. The Greens are already hurting renters. The housing crisis is a problem that government created entirely.
The government is now claiming to have the solution. That’s a fraud, Minister. The Albanese Labor government has allowed one million people to arrive in this country in just one year. That’s 460,000 in net migration and 540,000 students visas. Every one of those needs a bed and a roof over their head. That’s not to mention the additional 200,000 other visas. That’s 1.2 million. A population flood the size of Adelaide has hit this country in 12 months. That’s the cause of the housing and rental crisis. It’s completely government made. If your rent has gone up, you can’t afford a house or you can’t even find a place to live, like the people in regional Queensland towns living in caravans, tents, parks and cars and under bridges. Just remember this: the Albanese Labor government brought one million people into this country in one year.
With this bill, the Albanese government is claiming that it will build a few thousand houses and fix the problem. Who will build them? Supply chains for materials are still damaged due to the government’s COVID reaction and mismanagement, which shattered supply chains. The energy crisis has been inflicted due to the government adopting the UN 2050 net zero policy and driving up energy costs. Australia’s tradies already build houses at the fourth-fastest rate in the OECD. There’s a question that has to be answered: can we more quickly build even more houses? Trying to flood this industry that is already at capacity with huge amounts of taxpayer money is only going to make the funnel spill over. That will mean millions and potentially billions of your taxes wasted. Let’s not forget the government’s figures. They think they can build a house in Australia for $83,000. What kind of house is that? They must be smoking some powerful stuff over in the ministry for housing. It doesn’t matter how many billions this government wants to spend; we will never be able to build enough houses to catch up with the current rate of immigration. That is a clear fact. It’s basic arithmetic. It’s practical.
Next: what do the Greens want us to use to build these houses? They won’t let us use timber. There is a bill on the Notice Paper right now that the Greens introduced to end sustainable forest logging. Timber is the only resource that’s truly renewable, yet the Greens have a bill saying we can’t harvest the wood used in house frames while claiming with this bill that they want to build more houses. I guess that is okay. We can just build houses with steel frames, right? Not according to the Greens. Too many ingredients in making steel are coal and iron ore, Australia’s two major mining commodities. The Greens want to end mining in Australia, so we would have nothing with which to make the steel. So the Greens say they want to build more houses—virtue signalling—yet if Australia implemented their policies we would have no steel, no wood with which to build houses. And if our coal, iron ore and timber industries survived the Greens blight, prices of house timber and steel will be far higher thanks to the Greens restrictions. The hypocrisy is so damn thick we could cut it with a knife.
The Greens policies are antihuman. One Nation’s policy includes many solutions to the government-created housing crisis, taken together holistically because the problem is many factored. Among these immediate solutions to the housing crisis is that we must cut immigration immediately, reduce our arrivals to zero net immigration, meaning only allow the same number of people into the country as the number that leave so departures cancel out arrivals. As Australians know, this country is already bursting at the seams. A cut to immigration would allow our housing stock, our essential services—hospitals, our schools—and other services time to catch up. If we don’t stop immigration or cut immigration, life is going to get far, far worse for Australians, and it is already getting bad with the cost of living being the No. 1 problem on people’s minds. To continue this unprecedented immigration intake in the face of the housing and cost-of-living crisis is an act of criminal negligence against the Australian people.
Minister, why is the government allowing one million students and permanent migrants into the country in just 12 months? How many houses does the government expect the million student and permanent migrant arrivals will need? How many houses does the government expect to build in 12 months? How many houses will the government’s allocation of taxpayer funds build?
Senator Ayres (Assistant Minister for Trade and Assistant Minister for Manufacturing): There was, in fact, a question at the end there. The government does not support the policy prescription that you’ve offered on migration. While you can hear echoes of the proposition that you’ve just put in relation to migration in some of what is best described as circular comments of the Leader of the Opposition on migration and housing, in fact, migration will be an important part and has been an important part of the housing industry in Australia since World War II. In fact, if you spend time on any building site in Australia, what you will find are migrants, permanent and temporary—mostly permanent—who in fact make up a very large part of the labour force building homes, building apartment blocks, building shopping centres all over Australia.
The government’s migration settings will be made over time and will be made in the national interest. I hear your argument with your colleagues down here in the Greens’ political party. The government has always made it very clear: where there are constructive suggestions from anyone on the crossbench we will work with people—senators and members—across the parliament in the national interest where there are sensible amendments proposed to reach agreement on legislation in its passage through this parliament.
There is nothing like the disappointment of a crossbench senator who doesn’t feel like they’ve got their way in the process, but I’ve heard the complaints from crossbench senators over the short time I have been here. I’ll just assure you, and all of the crossbench senators, that the government’s approach has been consistent in terms of this legislation and will be consistent in the future. Where there are opportunities for constructive discussion about government legislation then we will engage in that.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/7dsZpTtVEtw/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2023-10-05 10:54:542023-10-09 10:22:19Heads in the Sand as Immigration Fuels the Housing Crisis
I joined Nathan Birch, the Host of No BS with Birchy, to discuss with him the reasons the government are increasing immigration to Australia and what are the proposed strategies to rebuild Australia on a national level.
Australia has entered a per capita recession although total GDP is still going up thanks to the government’s favourite Ponzi scheme — immigration. How is Australia going to provide homes and basic services for the one million new arrivals this year? Homes don’t get built that fast and we are already in a deficit of one million homes before these new arrivals.
I know from listening to constituents that life is getting harder with food, household bills including electricity and gas, housing and health care the biggest issues.
This government doesn’t care about everyday Australians – they only care about their globalist population and energy agenda, no matter how many Australians it hurts.
Immigration artificially inflates the economy as the money these people bring with them is spent, then the taxpayers are left with a massive bill for the housing, transport, schools, hospitals, police, fire stations and all the other government-funded infrastructure that is required for so many new arrivals.
Bringing in so many people in such a short period of time puts pressure on the price of food and housing in particular.
The solution is simple; it just takes honesty and guts. (1) abandon unaffordable United Nations 2050 Net Zero pipedreams that are driving up energy costs and with that, the price of everything else. (2) cut immigration to net zero (one person in for each person that leaves, equal to about 150,000 per annum) until our essential services and housing ability catches up with the existing Australian population.
Look after those already here before adding more. It’s common sense.
Transcript
As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia who listens to constituents, I know life is getting worse for you and that this government doesn’t care. Australia has entered a per capita recession. The total GDP is still going up on paper. Technically, the government can say that we aren’t in a recession, yet on average the gross domestic product per Australian went backwards. That’s a per capita recession. You are not imagining it; life is getting far worse on average for the entire country. This is not news to anyone who has recently paid a grocery docket or a power bill or tuned in to hear Philip Lowe—whether or not the Reserve Bank is going to make their lives even harder this month. It is news to the Albanese government, though, because they are more interested in telling everyone to vote for the Voice than in doing something to fix the cost of living.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has confirmed what we already knew: on average, life is only getting tougher, far tougher for Australians. The major cause of Australia’s per capita recession is the UN 2050 net-zero policies that are putting a chokehold on our country. This fact is one of many that exposes the lie that wind and solar are cheapest sources of electricity. With more wind, solar and batteries on the grid than ever in history, power prices have never been higher. This is mirrored around the world in countries adopting solar and wind.
The record expensive power bills bite more than once, not only when Australians hand over more money than ever to their electricity and gas companies. Power prices feed into nearly every level and part of our lives. Without cheap power, manufacturers can’t produce the products we want and need at a reasonable price; farmers can’t afford to pump the water that irrigates crops and keeps cattle alive; shops can’t afford to keep the lights on and the doors open. So you don’t just pay the price of the climate net-zero pipedream once when your power bill; you pay for it again and again and again in every other bill as well.
It’s irrefutable; life is getting worse for Australians, who are all having to make tougher and tougher choices around the dinner table. There has never been more proof Australians can’t afford the UN 2050 net-zero pipedream. This is leading to huge cracks in our economy. Everyday businesses are becoming insolvent. The trend for retail spending—usually good indicator of whether households are feeling the pinch—is negative. The average cost of housing as a proportion disposal income is at 20.1 per cent, up from almost 16.5 per cent only a few years ago. The lowest-fifth of earners who hold a mortgage are spending on average nearly two-thirds of their disposal income on their loan—two-thirds of their disposal income on a house loan. All this means in real terms that our economy is getting worse for Australians yet that isn’t showing up on the total GDP, which records the amount of activity in the economy. This is where the government are using their favourite Ponzi scheme, mass immigration, to cover the cracks.
Listen carefully. When you let more immigrants into the country, they have to spend money on the same things we all have to like food, housing, transport, energy. All of this spending counts towards our total gross domestic product. If the total gross domestic product goes down, we enter a recession, which is an embarrassing look for the government. It’s a pretty simple equation for the Albanese government: more immigrants equals more spending, which equals the total gross domestic product going up, and the government can say, ‘We are not in an official recession.’ That’s why they’re doing it, and bugger the cost to individuals. At the same time, life continues to get worse for Australians—smaller amounts of gross domestic product growth and our limited housing services have to be shared with hundreds of thousands of new immigrants. That’s the per capita recession. With more people, demand increases and prices increase even more.
The Albanese Labor government expects to increase our net immigration to 715,000 people over two years. That is the size of the entire Gold Coast-Tweed Heads area or 1½ Canberras arriving in just two years. Every arrival will need a bed. Every arrival will need a roof over their head. Where does the Albanese Labor government expect them to live? To which one of our overfilled schools will children go? To which overflowing hospital will they go when they get sick? The Albanese government does not care about the answers to these questions, as long as they can say, ‘We’re not in technical recession.’ Bugger the cost to people—their lives.
The solutions to the cost-of-living crisis are clear. They will just take some guts and some honesty. Abandon unaffordable climate UN 2050 net-zero pipedreams and cut immigration to zero until our essential services and housing catch up.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/cxATbb0Owkk/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Sheenagh Langdonhttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSheenagh Langdon2023-09-21 09:51:082023-09-21 09:51:12The Recession That Shall Not Be Named
