Senate debates

Wednesday, 14 June 2023

Statements by Senators

One Nation

1:40 pm

Photo of Malcolm RobertsMalcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | | Hansard source

In the months ahead One Nation will explain our vision for this beautiful country of ours. We will explain what we mean when we talk of one Queensland community and one nation with one flag that represents all Australians—those who were here first and those who have come since. We'll cover the importance of treating each and every Australian fairly, offering equality of opportunity and assistance with dignity for those who cannot support themselves.

In the 25 years since Pauline Hanson founded One Nation to advance these principles her predictions have proven prescient. Remember when Pauline said Australia was going to be 25 per cent foreign-born within 25 years and the media piled on, calling that fear mongering, impossible and racist, for good measure. Well, Australia is now 29 per cent foreign-born and the number is rising. Where are the industries and jobs to support 28 million people by 2026? Where are the roads and railways? Where is the water and power generation? Where are the schools, hospitals and police stations? These are the policy time bombs that One Nation has been trying to get the public to discuss for 25 years. Now the day Pauline warned us about has arrived.

In the last few weeks I have travelled and listened to Queenslanders who are not safe in their own homes and can no longer afford their power bills, their grocery bills and their rent or their mortgages. Our national housing stock is short one million homes, and Prime Minister Albanese's solution in today's housing bill is to create a scheme that will help a few thousand people, not the million who need it. And that's just those who are here now.

Warning of the impending population crisis has caused One Nation to be called racist and Nazi. These words no longer provide protection for the groups in our community they were designed to protect, so devalued have they become from their use as extreme expressions of misrepresentation, disagreement and hatred. These words tell me about our opponents, not about who I am. Everyday Australians now find their backs against the wall the government put there. Pauline saw this day coming. Why didn't you?