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

I rise to speak about the inequality imposed by the Labor government on respondents to native title claims. Redland City Council in Queensland is dealing with a massive native title claim involving about 3½ thousand properties owned or managed on behalf of ratepayers. The council is acting with the greatest of goodwill and the best of intentions towards the Quandamooka Coast native title claimants. It's seeking clarification from the Federal Court about whether native title is extinguished on any of these thousands of properties. It's a process which could take many years and is going to cost a great deal of money. But, while the Albanese Labor government is supporting the native title claimants with funding for legal costs, Redland City Council is not so fortunate. Its ratepayers will be forced to pay millions of dollars addressing the claim because Labor has abolished the Native Title Respondents Funding Scheme.

It's another example of the many inequities this government supports instead of treating all Australians equally. I spoke of this racial inequality during my first federal campaign in 1996. I was stating a fact, speaking on behalf of millions of disgruntled Australians, and for this I was kicked out of the Liberal Party. Thank goodness for that! Criticism isn't racism, and facts don't go away just because you're uncomfortable with them. Redland ratepayers, like communities across Australia, are struggling with Labor's record energy bills and cost-of-living crisis. They can't afford this. Labor must reinstate the respondent funding scheme or, better still, as a small step towards racial equality in Australia, they should put a stop to these federally funded claims being able to be made. This is not affecting just the Redland shire; this is happening all over Queensland. The funding that's put towards it is about $71 million over the next five years for these Aboriginal claimants, and yet there's not a cent for any Australian to defend themselves. It's disgusting.