Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Acting Deputy Chair. So it's all right for Labor to say they're out there for the battlers and everything else. No, they're not. You don't lead by example. You actually say a lot of things that aren't true. You talk about the rise and then don't address the electricity costs. Let me tell you that it's Labor in Queensland who have seen electricity prices rise by 200 per cent. It is because the powerlines and poles are owned by the state government—Labor. Forty-nine per cent of the power bill goes into the coffers of the Labor government. One Nation wanted to drop the price by 20 per cent. It could be dropped by 20 per cent, but, no, they're putting billions of dollars into the coffers. It's actually $1.5 billion a year out of the pockets of mums and dads and pensioners and businesses. You speak to your colleagues in Queensland, if they get back into government, and say that, unless they reduce the price of electricity, a number of businesses are going to go under: a fertiliser company; Boyne Smelters are going under; and there's another big business in Rockhampton that makes springs. They're actually struggling to pay their power bills.

You talk about jobs. What did you do to increase apprenticeship schemes when you were in government? Absolutely nothing. And it was under Labor that the 457 visa holder numbers increased in Australia. You brought people into the country who shouldn't have been here taking up jobs that should belong to Australian people. So don't you sit there and criticise. This superannuation bill is going to be very good for those people to be able to save their money—

Senator Cameron interjecting—

and they can have the opportunity to buy their first home. Why don't you support that?