Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I never quite know whether to talk about these guys or not, but tucked away beneath the stunts and sketchy rhetoric, there is genuinely new force in Australian politics here to fight for you. One Nation will clean up government spending while claiming taxpayer funded trips around Australia to attend fundraisers. One Nation will fight for everyday Aussies while taking donations and free plane rides from Australia's richest billionaire and hanging out at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. One Nation are just like the working-class battlers, inviting the media to their office to watch as they eat premium wagyu beef steaks owned by their favourite billionaire Gina Reinhart.

I see the polls. I can see One Nation rising. It's not dissimilar to the Reform Party in the United Kingdom. Just like in the UK, where the populist right got trounced by newly sworn in Greens MP and plumber Hannah Spencer, the Australian Greens will take on One Nation's bad faith politics here in this country. You do not help everyday Australians by sucking up to billionaires. You help everyday Aussies by refusing their donations and taxing them. You don't help people by voting against abortion access, penalty rates, subsidised childcare and public school funding.

I get it. Labor has, in so many ways, abandoned the working class for their corporate mates. The coalition has never cared about you. But One Nation is not your friend. They are terrible politicians, but they're excellent grifters, and they are taking Australians for the ride of their lives. They even voted against a tax on gas exports. How is that standing up for everyday Aussies bearing the brunt of an illegal war—an illegal war, I might add, that One Nation backs to the hilt—and its impact on our energy prices here at home? When you're searching for a politician that will fight for you, don't worry about what they say. Put that to one side. Look at who is funding them. If it's the big billionaires and the big corporations, the chances are that they'll tax you instead of them.

Next, I'd like to shoutout the incredible Victorian teachers and support staff who are today on strike for the first time in 13 years over fair pay. At least 35,000 teachers took to the streets of Naarm today to fight for better pay, for better conditions and for some overdue respect from the state Labor government. As the proud daughter of a Victorian teacher, Viviene Hodgins who taught for over 30 years, I know how hard our educators work and how hard they unfortunately need to fight for fair pay and conditions. They dip into their pockets to pay for excursions, they have a bottom drawer in their desks with snacks for those kids who don't have food and they are worrying every day about the chronic underfunding of our public school system whilst simultaneously having to worry about their own pay and conditions and about being able to afford to live in the area where they teach and work. Many of these teachers are at breaking point. They feel undervalued, overworked and unsupported by the state Labor government because they are all of those things.

Teachers do some of the most important work in our societies, educating, supporting and inspiring our children and our next generation of leaders. It sounds cliché, but it is so true. I still get my mum's former students coming to me and telling me about the impact she had on their lives. They work long hours and pour their hearts into their jobs. They are making the brave, necessary decision to step away from these jobs and to strike today. As the daughter of a Victorian school teacher, as the mother of a Victorian school student and as your Victorian senator, I support you. The Australian Greens supports you. The Victorian Labor government must come back to the table and pay our wonderful teachers what they deserve.

Finally, the impact of Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war—continually backed by the war parties in this place, the Labor government, the opposition and One Nation—is causing immense pain to Australians every single day. People are anxious. People are financially stressed, and they're looking for leadership. There are real and meaningful things we can do in this place right now like making public transport free. It's a no-brainer. It's picking up momentum, with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union adding their voices. We must do more. It would take pressure off fuel supply so farmers and truck drivers can fill up and so that our regional servos aren't running dry.