Glenn Lazarus (Queensland, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

People of Australia have had enough of career politicians who have never lived in the real world making decisions for those who do. As a result, we now have a crossbench in the Senate which reflects the diverse views and expectations of the Australian people. Based on community sentiment, the crossbench will only increase in size.

Major parties, the Greens and politicians like Nick Xenophon can collude to change the voting system to ignore the will of the people and game the system to benefit themselves, but I believe the will of the people will prevail. The need for real people, who generally understand the challenges faced by true-blue Aussies, to lead our country is only going to grow. While the coalition and the Greens may try to fight this through corrupt voting reforms, this will only prove to be a slight bump in the road for the momentum that is building across the country.

The people of Australia have had enough. They are sick of the Greens telling us to care about the planet while they all fly around the countryside on jets and dine out in the parliamentary dining room. They are sick of the silver-spoon Liberals allowing their mates significant tax breaks while hardworking Aussies are being forced to dig deeper. They are sick of the Nationals who claim to care about rural and regional Australia while farmers are being left to go broke and die through drought and the scourge of CSG mining.

My message to the coalition and the Greens is this: you can try to retain your filthy, corrupt, self-interested powerbase through a flawed, rushed, undemocratic voting system, but the people of Australia have already seen through you—and I believe that your parties are on the outer.