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

This matter of public importance is about the Turnbull government's relentless negativity and inability to focus on the issues Australians care about. Well, I can tell you that what Australians care about is immigration, water, farming, the sale of land and assets to foreign owners, the cost of living and jobs. That is what's on top of the list for Australians and what they care about.

Hopefully, I'm going to put a balanced view here. Of course, you're going to get the Labor Party, who want to be government, criticising the government without giving any credit where credit is due. And, of course, the government are going to stand up for themselves. I am in this place as an Independent and I voice the concerns of many Australians. I haven't been happy with the government's response in a lot of areas, but a lot of the time I have voted with the government on their legislation. They are the government; they put up the legislation, not the Labor Party. In two years I haven't seen any piece of legislation from the Labor Party put on the floor of this parliament for me to vote on. I actually look at the government's legislation based on its merit and what I think is best for this country.

What I am concerned about with the government is that they haven't taken any notice of the Callaghan report. This is very important to the people, because we are looking at the North West Shelf and the gas we have there. We need it. I've been talking about it, and I'll keep talking about it. The Callaghan report was handed down in April 2017. Not one recommendation of the Callaghan report has been implemented, including changing the gas transfer price mechanism, which would bring in $1 billion a year. Yet sales of our gas are now going up further from $35 billion, with another $22 billion expected this year, and no extra money is coming into the country. I'm concerned about that.

There has been too little done too late for the farming sector. We have farmers on their knees, actually having to cull or kill their livestock because they're dying from the drought. We have not seen a major dam built in this country since 2012. Water is everything. Water gives life to this country. Yet we see foreign aid going to other countries around the world. We are worried about them but we don't look after our own. Until we start building more dams and actually watering this country, we will not see farmers stay on their properties. They can't deal with it anymore. As I said, it's too little too late. Deal with the water issues.

There have also been the energy providers. We've allowed integrated energy providers, who produce and sell electricity, to gouge their customers. Labor is having a go at the government over this, about the emissions trading scheme. The government's emissions trading scheme is at—what, 26 per cent? Labor wants it at 45 to 50 per cent. I tell you what, you wouldn't be able to keep the electricity prices down either. They'd soar under you.

Let's go back to what the government has supported, the deal with the Australian building and construction industry, which they reined in. It gave the developers, the builders, the opportunity to go ahead without being controlled, run, dictated to and bullied by the unions. They have done that. They have created more jobs. They've reined in the childcare reforms. They've brought in the code of conduct for the canegrowers, which is great. They allowed the Defence contracts—not just for big business, but now the smaller businesses can tender for Defence Force contracts.

Let me remind Labor what they did. What about the pink batts? Wasn't that a debacle under Labor? What about your high immigration—over 300,000 per year. Let's talk about the run-up of your debt, from $50 billion to $270 billion, when you were in. What about the waste on the Building the Education Revolution—billions of dollars for sheds? That was another thing under Labor. What about the free digital boxes for pensioners and TVs that didn't even work? And you just decimated the TAFEs, and you haven't rebuilt apprenticeships. So, Labor, stop throwing, because you have actually destroyed this country as well. You've got nothing to crow about. It concerns me. You talk about leadership challenges. A couple of months ago, wasn't Albanese going to challenge Bill Shorten? Weren't you worried about that? Talk about dysfunction. Look inside your own party.