While I acknowledge Senator Whish-Wilson’s passion and past efforts against environmental waste, and while I agree that we need to control excessive packaging, this bill is simply not the answer.
This Bill will force Australia’s National Packaging Targets to be compulsory, replacing state rules with a heavy, uniform Commonwealth-led framework.
It introduces producer-funded fees and financial penalties based on packaging weight and materials. Ultimately, everything coming in a package will go up in price, driving more inflation and reducing wealth for everyday Australians.
The bill also contains an extremely complicated formula for calculating the level of recycling which will quite simply drive small and medium business crazy, requiring the additional expense of a dedicated consultant.
The revenue funds a circular economy, which is code for everyday Australians never owning anything new while the wealthy simply pay the penalty.
One Nation opposes this bill – which will impose a very high cost on business and consumers for a very small and unproven reward. It’s another prime example of the excessive green tape that strangles our society.
Transcript
I thank Senator Whish-Wilson for his bill, the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme for Packaging (No Time to Waste) Bill 2026. I acknowledge Senator Whish-Wilson’s passion for reducing environmental waste and his efforts, which resulted in a ban on Australia exporting recycling waste to Third World countries where it was picked over and then in some cases dumped into rivers which took the rubbish out to sea. Australian waste was partially responsible for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
I do agree there’s a need to control waste from excessive packaging. This bill, though, is not the answer. The purpose of this bill is to provide for the government of the Commonwealth to establish a uniform national Extended Producer Responsibility, an EPR, a scheme for packaging through a legislative instrument. The Extended Producer Responsibility scheme would place a direct and legally binding obligation on producers, importers or distributors of packaging for the end-of-life management of the packaging they place onto the Australian market. This bill would see Australia’s National Packaging Targets made mandatory and legally binding. The bill would cumulatively serve to meet the intent of reducing demand for virgin plastic, preventing plastic waste, supporting the economy, increasing recycling and resource recovery rates, as well as reducing emissions and better protecting the Australian environment. These are represented in the National Packaging Targets, which in this context are as follows. The scheme enforces benchmarks for 100 per cent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging alongside a 70 per cent plastic recycling rate and 50 per cent recycled content. Currently, this is voluntary. This bill would make it mandatory—compulsory. The law applies a strict nationwide mandate to anyone defined as a ‘responsible person’, which covers commercial manufacturers, importers and distributors of packaging. Businesses can no longer opt out or ignore recycling targets. It replaces fragmented state rules with a single, uniform, Commonwealth-led framework. The core economic driver of the scheme is a producer funded fee structure. Companies pay levies based on the type and total weight of the packaging they introduce into the Australian market. Hard-to-recycle materials, composite plastics and virgin plastics face heavy financial penalties. Levies are heavily discounted—that’s ‘eco-modulated’, to use their term—for businesses using highly recyclable materials or high percentages of local recycled content. Modulated!
Now the part which is typical of the Greens, sadly, taking the kernel of a good idea and taking it so far it becomes intolerable. I’m talking about their bill’s lifecycle data tracking. The scheme requires transparent continuous data reporting into an independent national tracking system. Companies must log exact material weights, chemical composition and supply volumes. I’ll say that again: companies must log exact material weights, chemical composition and supply volumes. This data is used to calculate their exact financial obligations and verify whether they’re meeting the mandatory 2030 recycling targets. The revenue collected from producer levies forms a dedicated stable funding stream explicitly earmarked to build up Australia’s circular economy. Now, the phrase ‘circular economy’ is code for everyday Australians never owning anything new. The wealthy will be able to pay the price penalty for new products; everyday Australians will not.
The elitism of the concept of circular economy sits poorly with One Nation’s approach of advancing the lives of everyday Australians. It does seem typical, sadly, of the inner-city Greens, though, marketing themselves as the party of the disenfranchised while bills like this will serve to weigh down the economy, reduce productivity and reduce opportunity for the very people the Greens pretend to represent. This bill will impose a very high cost on business and consumers for a very small and unproven reward for the environment. Everything that comes in a package will go up in price. More inflation, higher prices, less wealth for everyone. This bill, especially its compulsory nature, onerous reporting conditions and cost, is what One Nation means when we talk about excessive green tape. One Nation opposes green tape strangling our society. One Nation opposes this bill.
In this time of high inflation, every wage rise or tax cut is simply compensating for government-driven inflation rather than getting people ahead. Worse, these increases push taxpayers into higher tax brackets, leaving many workers worse off with very little of their pay rise left to keep.
To fix this, One Nation has a clear policy: we will index tax brackets to inflation. This ensures that getting a wage rise to fight inflation won’t push you into a higher tax bracket, offsetting the previous year’s inflation.
While Liberals joined Labor to defeat our amendment in 2025, pressure from One Nation has since brought the Liberals around, though Labor still refuses — showing they certainly don’t represent workers anymore.
Labor claims this will cost over $30 billion a year. Reality is that the cost depends entirely on inflation. No inflation means no cost at all. Their high estimates simply prove they expect inflation to remain out of control under their watch.
One Nation also propose allowing income splitting for families with a dependent, putting $9,000 a year back into the pockets of single-income families who choose it.
One Nation proudly stands up for Australian families and workers with common-sense tax reform.
Transcript
In this time of high inflation, every wage rise or tax cut, rather than getting people ahead, just compensates for government driving inflation. Worse, these increases move many taxpayers into higher tax brackets, increasing their tax rate and leaving many workers worse off, as many are finding when they see how little of this week’s pay rise they actually get to keep.
One Nation policy will solve this. We’ll index tax brackets to inflation so that getting a wage rise to compensate for inflation does not put you into a higher tax bracket; inflation one year will be offset by tax brackets being lifted the next year. In 2025, the Labor government joined with the Liberals to oppose and defeat our amendment to index tax brackets. Because of the heat One Nation applied to the Liberals, the Liberals now agree with One Nation. Labor still does not, which is telling about who they represent these days—certainly not workers. This move will cost around $22 billion over the forward estimates and may come in at a much higher rate over time. Labor will engage in a scare campaign, of course, over this cost. The reality is that the costing depends on inflation; no inflation means no cost at all. Labor advances a cost above $30 billion a year. This means Labor is really saying they expect inflation under their government to remain out of control. Tax cuts take the pressure off businesses to give larger wage rises, countering the wage-price spiral that harms business, workers and every Australian.
Another major element of our income tax policy is to allow income splitting between families with a dependent, if that suits them. Families with two wage earners will probably keep their existing arrangements. Families with one income who split will have $9,000 a year back in their pocket. The PBO has put the cost to budget revenue at $7 billion a year, depending upon uptake. Money well spent helping families. One Nation represents families and workers. These are just two of many, many tax reform policies we took to— (Time expired)
Treasurer Jim Chalmers claims that six out of seven new jobs are in the private sector, yet private sector job share has fallen from 85.2% to 84%, with most growth occurring in taxpayer-funded non-market sectors (health, NDIS, aged care).
Minister Gallagher defended care economy jobs, criticising One Nation for previously labelling these jobs a “Ponzi scheme.” She maintains that the government supports job growth across all sectors.
Labour market productivity has fallen 5% overall under this Labor government – the Reserve Bank linking this to rising inflation. When questioned over this figure, Minister Gallagher responded by pointing to the government’s 15-point productivity package outlined in the budget, covering investment, innovation, red tape reduction, trade, housing, and technology — while criticising the previous coalition government’s productivity record.
In my final question, I pointed out the government’s poor economic performance, citing increased underutilisation, falling real wages and lower productivity – which Minister Gallagher rejected, highlighting positive metrics including higher employment, increased participation rates, a shrinking gender pay gap, falling headline inflation, and annual real wage growth.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. Yesterday I asked a series of questions on the labour market using ABS data, including this question:
Treasurer Chalmers stated last week six out of seven jobs created since 2022 were in the private sector.
Yet over 70 per cent of the jobs created are in the taxpayer funded economy, not the private sector—health, NDIS, aged care and education. Your answer went to the worthiness of those jobs, which One Nation does not dispute. Your answer did not deal with the Treasurer’s misrepresentation. The Treasurer is wrong and misleading. How can six out of seven jobs that your government has created be in the private sector if the share of jobs in the private sector has fallen from 85.2 per cent of the labour market when you came to power down to 84 per cent today, indicating the reverse is true?
Senator GALLAGHER (Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Women, Minister for Government Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate): I thank Senator Roberts for the question. My answer to your question yesterday was in response to you calling non-market jobs a Ponzi scheme. That’s how you referred to those jobs. You said aged care, disability care and health workers are effectively masquerading as a Ponzi scheme. That was in your question, so that’s why I responded the way I did.
Since we came to government, the number of jobs has increased by about 1.3 million jobs to the economy since May 2022. I support completely the Treasurer’s comments around the jobs that are being created in the private sector, and we have seen jobs in the public sector and in the non-market sector as well because there is enormous growth in the care economy, as there should be—people who are working hard to support people’s ageing parents, our youngest citizens people who are sick and unwell. That is going to be a growing part of our economy as well. The point I was trying to make yesterday is: don’t punch down on those workers. Don’t demean those workers by saying they are essentially operating in a Ponzi scheme.
Senator Hanson interjecting—
Senator GALLAGHER: Well, Senator Hanson, they weren’t my words; they were your party’s words. The point we were making is that this party will always create jobs. We will always ensure that those jobs are well paid and that those jobs are secure whether they’re in the private sector, the public sector, the market sector or the non-market sector because at the end of the day a job allows you to live a dignified life. That’s what people on this side of the chamber care about. (Time expired)
Senator ROBERTS: Labour market productivity fell 0.2 per cent in the June quarter, taking the total fall under your government to five per cent. It’s supposed to go up, not down. The Reserve Bank has flagged this problem as likely to cause an increase in inflation. Productivity does not mean working harder. It means working smarter, more efficiently and more easily. Minister, what specifically is your government doing to reverse the fall in labour market productivity?
Senator GALLAGHER: In the budget—and we discussed this at estimates, I think, in the committee that you attended, Senator Roberts—there is a very extensive productivity package, whether it be in investment, innovation, removing red tape, some of the work that Senator Farrell’s doing in trade, building a single national market, making it easy to engage with government, accelerating approvals, simplifying building regulations, building more homes, modernising energy markets—
Senator Bragg: You couldn’t make it up!
Senator GALLAGHER: better recognising skills, unlocking the data and AI opportunity, investing in science and innovation, strengthening the superannuation system, better coordinating government investment and driving ongoing regulatory reform. They are the 15 areas that were contained in the budget around improving productivity.
Senator Bragg laughs, but, of course, he won’t be on the record saying that the decade of the worst productivity in this country was actually the decade that you were in government, because you didn’t care and you didn’t do anything, including in housing, including in super and including in those other areas I’ve outlined.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, second supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: Your economic report card is full of red ink: underutilised workers increasing to 1.68 million, real wages falling 1.5 per cent and labour market productivity falling five per cent, due in part to your obsession with net zero and wokeism nobbling the economy, reducing productivity, increasing inflation, running up debt and making working lives harder. Minister, where is your plan to turn this around to keep a roof over workers’ heads and food on their family table?
Senator GALLAGHER: Employment is up—this is from when we came to government—the participation rate’s up, gender pay gaps are down, the number of women employed full-time is up, industrial disputes are down, headline inflation is down and annual real wage growth is up. If you look at any of those measures, they don’t align with what One Nation seek to portray about our economy.
And I would note that those opposite, the conservative side of politics that sit over there, absolutely love to talk our economy down, when the data acknowledging that people are doing it tough in an inflationary environment tells a different story. There are more people working now than ever before, and we will continue to invest in those jobs and support those workers with secure jobs into the future.
Newly declassified US evidence and Dr. Anthony Fauci’s released records show COVID-19 was a man-made, lab-engineered virus from Wuhan. Alternative treatments (like Ivermectin) were suppressed to force uptake of rushed mRNA vaccines, which financially benefited NIAID through patent royalties.
Citing data from the McCullough Foundation and epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher, mRNA injections cause “turbo-cancer” (aggressive cancer), which did not exist before COVID. 35 distinct cancer-promoting mechanisms have been identified in peer reviewed papers. These key mechanisms include DNA repair impairment, chronic inflammation from lipid nanoparticles and immune suppression.
Published clinical literature includes 333 documented turbo-cancer cases across 27 countries, involving lymphomas, leukaemia, melanoma, breast cancer, lung cancer, glioblastoma, sarcomas and pancreatic cancers. 86% of these cases occurred following vaccination, while 14% were following SARS CoV-2 infection. Preventions appear worse than the disease!
On population evidence, USA cancer deaths since the injections in 2021 is between 153,000 and 197,000 people. Early onset cancer incidence surged 6.4% in just two years, from 2021 to 2023, alongside sharp increases in brain and nervous system tumours, which are up 19.5%. Colorectal cancer is up 19.4%, small intestine cancer is up 15.5%, ovarian cancer is up 12.8%, stomach cancer is up 7.3%, and female breast cancer is up 3.6%. In South Korea, a nationwide cohort of 8.4 million people found vaccinated individuals had an increased one-year cancer risk across six cancer types: thyroid, gastric, colorectal, lung, breast and prostate cancer. In Italy, vaccinated residents had a 23% higher risk of cancer hospitalisation.
I would love to provide the latest data on cancer rates in Australia – however there is none. They don’t even bother. The official data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare stops at 2022. We don’t need to know the outcome of the disease or hospitalisation rates. We only need to know diagnosis. After four years, why is that simple data not available? Perhaps because they don’t want you to know!
Our health authorities accepted data from Pfizer and Moderna on their COVID products after only a few months of so-called testing — substandard testing. They promised to provide the data after they finished the trial, yet they never did.
COVID-19 vaccines received expedited testing compared to standard multi-year clinical trials – while the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) “allegedly” persecuted truth-telling doctors and medical professionals.
One Nation again calls for a comprehensive royal commission to investigate COVID-19 origins, mandates, vaccine safety and regulatory actions.
Transcript
Last Senate session, I presented the Senate with the latest evidence from the United States on the COVID scandal—the crimes and homicides and, in particular, the role of the former director of America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID, Dr Anthony Fauci. This was evidence declassified through the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Murphy, who at the time was the inspector general of the US Department of Defense. This information was corroborated using Fauci’s own diaries and phone released under freedom of information just a few weeks ago. The unavoidable conclusion is that the world was brought to its knees using a man-made engineered virus developed through gain-of-function research to create a weaponised virus candidate which then escaped from a research lab in Wuhan, China, and infected the world.
What followed was a cover-up on the origin and suppression of effective early interventions to make the impact worse. Why? To sell vaccines—injections—that were rushed through and are now killing and maiming people. Who benefits from that? Well, Anthony Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIAID. NIAID under Fauci had a direct, well-documented institutional role in vaccine research, patenting of key technologies, licensing to companies and receiving of royalties. NIAID conducted the foundational work in the development of the mRNA platform and held patents on stabilised prefusion spike proteins—yes, those spike proteins. This means that the organisation that owned the patent related to spike proteins acted to ban alternative therapies such as Ivermectin, which was proven, and Fenbendazole, which is proven, so the world had no choice and was forced to use the COVID shots, which contain spike proteins, which then earned NIAID half a billion Australian dollars in royalties. All this was at the same time—as records show—that they knew the injections caused myocarditis and were next to useless. This is in their own words in their own diary, text messages and emails. All of this is public record, even if you have not heard about it. My other speeches on this subject are available on my website.
Tonight, I’ll expand on my comments that the injections are now killing and maiming people. As always, I use peer reviewed science, facts and data. I thank epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher and the McCullough Foundation for the work I’m referencing tonight. The link between mRNA vaccines, injections and cancer is mechanistic, clinical and evident in population studies—scientific studies.
To the mechanistic evidence—35 distinct cancer-promoting mechanisms have been identified in peer reviewed papers. I will post a link to the literature review on my website. Key mechanisms include impaired DNA repair allowing damaged cells to become cancerous; presence of SV40 cell division enhancer that enhances cancer growth—that one was criminal; LINE-1 reverse transcription, DNA segments left over from the growing medium incorporating into a person’s DNA; frameshifting leading to cell damage and random mutations; chronic inflammation due to the lipid nanoparticles holding the messenger RNA strands; immune suppression through the ACE2 receptor, amongst others; and cancer stem cell expansion. The McCullough Foundation proposes a concurrent hit model. These processes do not necessarily operate independently or sequentially. Multiple cancer-promoting hits overlap in the same susceptible host person, compressing the time required for dormant, indolent or microscopic disease to become clinically aggressive. This is commonly referred to as ‘turbocancer’, which is just a layman’s term for an aggressive cancer, which did exist before COVID.
On clinical evidence, the published clinical literature includes 333 documented turbocancer cases across 27 countries involving lymphomas, leukaemia, melanoma, breast cancer, lung cancer, glioblastoma, sarcomas and pancreatic cancers. Eighty-six per cent of these cases occurred following COVID-19 injections, and just 14 per cent were following SARS CoV-2 infection. This is because 14 per cent of cases are from COVID; the rest are from the COVID injections. Was the prevention worse than the disease? That’s a matter for a royal commission. Most likely the answer is yes.
Across these cases, recurring patterns include rapid cancer progression, short latency recurrence, reactivation of previously controlled disease and tumours involving the injection site or nearby lymph nodes. The platform can distribute systemically, forcing vulnerable tissues, including the heart and brain, to express mutated tumour proteins. This raises the risk of off-target immune attack, cardiac injury and neurological damage. As I pointed out previously, health authorities in the USA knew the risk of myocarditis as early as March 2021 and covered it up. The information in this study puts the science behind the clinical observations of increased myocarditis, pericarditis and Alzheimer’s adjacent diseases.
Even more concerning, the liquid lipid nanoparticle delivery vehicle itself promoted metastatic growth in mice even without mRNA cargo. This suggests that some oncologic liabilities reside in the platform itself not only the encoded antigen. This confirms emerging research showing that the more COVID boosters, the more lipid nanoparticle and the more spike protein, the greater your risk.
On population evidence, there have been excess USA cancer deaths since 2021 injections of between 153,000 and 197,000 people. Early onset cancer incidence surged 6.4 per cent in just two years, from 2021 to 2023, alongside sharp increases in brain and nervous system tumours, which are up 19.5 per cent. Colorectal cancer is up 19.4 per cent. Small intestine cancer is up 15.5 per cent. Ovarian cancer is up 12.8 per cent. Stomach cancer is up 7.3 per cent, and female breast cancer is up 3.6 per cent. In South Korea, a nationwide cohort of 8.4 million people found vaccinated individuals had an increased one-year cancer risk across six cancer types: thyroid, gastric, colorectal, lung, breast and prostate cancer. In Italy, vaccinated residents had a 23 per cent higher risk of cancer hospitalisation. We have the mechanism, we have the science, and we have the data.
I would love to provide the latest data on cancer rates in Australia. There is none. Data showing cancer rates moderating through 2023-25 are actually projections—not real data—made in 2022. Some graphs show the dotted lines to indicate projection; others don’t. They don’t even bother. The official data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare stops at 2022. This is not acceptable. We don’t need to know the outcome of the disease or hospitalisation rates. We only need to know diagnosis, and that can be marked provisional until normal processes are followed through. After four years, why is that simple data not available? It’s because they don’t want you to know.
This is not a history lesson. The first randomised test of mRNA as monotherapy in residual cancer commenced in 2021 and is still underway, with the result expected in 2030. While Moderna advise wonderful outcomes, their data has not been made public nor shared with researchers, so I guess we’ll have to wait until 2030 to find out the truth. The point here is simple: this is a properly conducted mRNA trial, and it’s taking nine years. Our health authorities accepted data from Pfizer and Moderna on their COVID products after only a few months of so-called testing—substandard testing. They promised to provide the data after they finished the trial, yet they never did. The question for a royal commission is this: why was next to no safety testing—two months instead of nine years—accepted for a substance which was then injected into hundreds of millions or even billions of people? Surely the larger the cohort, the more care that was needed, not the reverse. As I showed last sitting, the American CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, knew almost straightaway the injection was only slightly more effective than natural immunity, so urgency was not the reason.
Those following this scandal will find much of tonight’s information is familiar. Papers have been available for years on some of these pathways. I referenced some as far back as in 2022. It turns out those qualified epidemiologists and public health luminaries who opposed the official story were right. Many have paid dearly for their principled stand. Some doctors here in Australia are still debarred as a result of showing character when so many displayed cowardice and silence. The pharmaphiles at AHPRA still insist on persecuting the truth-tellers, the doctors of courage and principle, to send a message to the industry that truth will not be tolerated and that acting in the best interests of the patient will not be tolerated.
Because we did not intervene as strongly as needed back then, AHPRA are doing it again—this time with transgenderism and doctors opposing medicalisation of a psychological condition, a mental health condition. According to AHPRA, the job of a doctor is to keep the pharmaceuticals flowing. If this sounds extreme, you haven’t read the amount I have read on our COVID scandal and you haven’t spoken with the famous medical names from around the world who have given me advice from mid-2020 which has turned out to be accurate. To ensure this never happens again, tonight I repeat One Nation’s call for a royal commission into the COVID scandal, the COVID crimes and the COVID injection homicides. (Time expired)
The reality is simple: Australians are going backwards under the Albanese government.
Official data reveals growth this decade is the worst in 100 years, yet Labor is pushing ahead with bringing in millions of new arrivals.
Economic growth is negative per person. The economy isn’t growing on its own, so immigration is being used as a Ponzi scheme to artificially inflate the numbers.
Labour productivity is down, fuelled in part by massive public service job growth that drives up inflation for everyone.
While female participation rates are up, male participation rates are down. Growth should be for everyone.
Transcript
The reality is that people are going backwards under the Albanese government. Official data shows growth this decade is the worst in 100 years, and this is when Labor decides to dump a million new arrivals with a million more to come. The minister’s list of economic achievements rely on immigration to stay positive. Economic growth, for instance, is negative per person. Each person’s economic pie is shrinking, not growing. Immigration is the Ponzi scheme that I’m referring to and talking about here. Bringing in new people to artificially inflate the economy, which is now incapable of growing on its own.
Labour productivity is down in part because of the growth in employment in the Public Service, whose lower productivity contributes to inflation for everyone. Another of Senator Gallagher’s achievements was female participation rates are up—true—and male participation rates are down. You’re supposed to grow the economy for everyone, not pick sides. People are noticing— (Time expired)
The Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026 replaces the costly, time-consuming parliamentary bill requirement for designating protected major sporting events with a simpler legislative instrument (regulation) issued by the minister. It simply reduces red tape and cost.
The instrument remains disallowable, meaning the Senate can still debate and vote it down if necessary.
The act protects the massive financial investments of major events like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and FIFA World Cups by preventing unauthorised commercial association or false sponsorship claims, while still allowing businesses to broadcast events legally.
One Nation supports the bill to reduce red tape, protect event investments and secure infrastructure and tourism benefits for Australia.
Taxpayer funding for these events delivers a strong return on investment through increased tourism, tax revenue and future sports infrastructure. Because One Nation strongly supports youth sports, we recognise that venues must be built and major events will provide the financial means to make that happen.
One Nation will also protect girls and women, who are being told to play against biological males pretending to be women —fake women. Let’s be clear: a One Nation sports minister would refuse to grant event protection under this act to any major sporting event that permits biological males to compete in female sports categories. Mixed-competition sports are acceptable, but inclusion of transgender women in female divisions is unfair, unsafe, and harmful to women’s rights and opportunities.
Transcript
The Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Act 2014 prevents the unauthorised commercial use, often called ‘ambush marketing’, of protected major sporting events and images associated with those events. Previously, designating an event required a bill, which cost taxpayers’ money to draft and process through the parliament. Under this bill before the Senate today, the Major Sporting Events (Indicia and Images) Protection Amendment Bill 2026, this is being changed to a simpler system. The minister will issue a legislative instrument, a regulation. That’s it; that’s all the bill does—it reduces red tape and cost. The instrument will still be disallowable. In the unlikely event that there’s controversy around designating an event, the Senate can still debate the instrument and, if necessary, vote it down, as we would with a bill.
The act serves to protect the financial interests of events which cost millions to stage, without impacting the rights of Australians. To answer a constituent’s question that came through my electorate office, a hotel can advertise ‘watch the Olympics on our big screen’, provided it’s sourcing the feed from a broadcaster who’s paid the rights. You can’t claim to be a sponsor or make a video, printed media or signage which a reasonable person would assume meant you had paid to be a sponsor. That’s fair enough.
One Nation supports this measure. If someone wants to risk hundreds of millions of dollars to stage a sporting event, some level of protection is necessary—or nobody will do it. These are major events: the FIFA football world cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2023, the International Cricket Council’s T20 men’s world cup in 2022 and, of course, the Commonwealth and Olympic games. Sensible taxpayer funding for these events can be justified on the basis of the taxation return from those attending and the increased tourism revenue for years afterwards, and for the facilities built for the future. One Nation strongly supports children playing sport, and that means someone has to build the venues. It’s these major events which do that, and this is why they need protection.
I’ll discuss who else needs protection: girls and women, who are being told to play against biological males pretending to be women—fake women. I’ve chosen my words carefully. Some sports—mixed doubles in the tennis, for instance—allow men and women to compete against each other. That’s not what I’m talking about. My concern goes to men pretending to be women and playing against women and girls. Whether the sport is a contact sport or a test of skill, such as weightlifting, makes no difference. It is wrong. It is totally wrong. It’s dangerous. Girls and women are being harmed. They’re losing their opportunity to win fair and square and losing to men who are not being fair. It’s an attack on women’s rights, and I personally do not understand the mental gymnastics needed for a feminist to support men beating—and I do mean beating—women or anyone else, for that matter, in a sporting contest. This tarnishes the event and future events and guts female competitors and possible future female competitors.
Let me make One Nation’s policy very clear. If your major sporting event involved even one sport which allowed biological males to compete as fake females in our country, a One Nation minister for sport would not issue your event with protection under this act. To organisers who do not protect women and girls playing a sport: we will not protect you.
The Labor government has failed everyday Australians through its handling of labour market economics and reckless immigration policies.
At the start of the Albanese government in 2022, according to the ABS, there were 1.35 million underutilised Australians in the workforce and by July 2026, that number surged to 1.68 million. Aside from the COVID period, underutilisation had been consistently falling since 2014, until Labor took over. With 1.68 million Australians unable to find enough hours or work, I asked Minister Gallagher why Australians can’t find enough adequate employment.
In response, Minister Gallagher dodged the core issue by rattling off broad statistics while ignoring the growing number of underemployed Australians.
According to ABS data, workforce participation has barely budged, with unemployment jumping from 3.4% to 4.5%. Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ promise of “a paid job for everyone who wants one” has fallen flat. I wanted to know whether the government has failed miserably and has broken yet another promise, or whether they have simply changed their position. Once again, the Minister avoided accountability.
In my final question, I brought up the elephant in the room: mass immigration. ABS border movement data shows that in 2025–26, Australia recorded a record 476,000 permanent and long-term overseas arrivals.
I asked the Minister how on earth the government can justify maintaining such high levels of mass immigration when hardworking Australians are struggling to find enough work. Predictably, the Minister again dodged the question, leaning on their “standard” talking points about visa arrangements, completely ignoring the damage their migration policies are doing to workers.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: My question is, once again, to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher, on the subject of labour market economics. In June 2022, at the start of the Albanese government, there were 1.35 million Australians underutilised in the workforce according to the ABS. In July 2026, this had increased to 1.68 million. Taking out the COVID period, underutilisation has been falling since the measure began in 2014, until Labor took over. Now, it’s going up. The only interpretation of this data is that there are not enough hours and not enough work to go around. As a result, 1.68 million Australians are working less than they want and need to. Why can’t people find enough work under this Labor government?
Senator GALLAGHER (Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Women, Minister for Government Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate): I thank Senator Roberts for the question. I think that’s the second week in a row you’ve had Senator Babet’s question. I wonder where—you lucky guy! I wonder where the ghost of the Senate is. We never see him anymore, do we? I noticed he did launch a clothing range a few days ago though, so he had time to do that.
Senator Roberts interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: I will draw the minister to your question, Senator Roberts.
Senator GALLAGHER: As Senator Roberts will know, unemployment is at historically at low levels, sitting at 4½ per cent. In recent times, over the data sets, participation rates have been historically high, including for women. We’ve got the gender pay gap at record lows. We’ve got employment at 14.8 million, so we’ve created 1.3 million jobs since coming to government. Women are employed full time at much higher rates—4.1 million. We’ve got industrial disputes down. We’ve got annual wage growth over three per cent. So I think, on any measure, when you look at how the labour market is performing, Senator Roberts, it is being pretty resilient against the backdrop of global uncertainty and all of the risks that come with that. The Australian economy has actually fared very well in terms of job numbers, in terms of the participation rate, in terms of wages and in terms of the number of jobs that have been created under this government.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, first supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: Workforce participation under your government only increased 0.1 per cent—a rounding error—and male participation has fallen. Unemployment is up from 3.4 per cent to 4.5 per cent. In August 2023, Treasury Chalmers promised ‘a paid job for everyone who wants one’. Minister, has your government failed miserably to keep that promise, or have you ‘changed your position’ on creating jobs for all who are here?
Senator GALLAGHER: Over 1.3 million jobs have been created, Senator Roberts—three out of five are full time and five out of six are in the private sector. We’ve got the lowest average unemployment rate of any government in the last 50 years, a record number of Australians in full-time jobs and a participation rate at near-record highs. The advice I have is that the participation rate has gone from 66.3 per cent in May 2022 to 66.9 per cent, which is near a record high. As a Labor government, we will always do more to make sure that people have all of the opportunities they can from the dignity that work provides and—not only that—good, secure jobs that pay well. That is what Labor governments are all about, and that is what we will continue to deliver.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, second supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: ABS border movement data reveals that, in 2025-26, Australia recorded 476,000 permanent and long-term overseas arrivals, the highest on record. Australian workers can’t find enough work, yet this Labor government continues to bring in record numbers of arrivals. Minister, why would you keep mass immigration at such high levels when it’s taking work off Australians?
Senator GALLAGHER: As I said in answer to your colleague’s question, Australia has always relied on being able to supplement our own Australian workers with workers who migrate here under different visas and under various arrangements with those visas. I would say, Senator Roberts—I don’t know whether Mr Farley from the other place has commented on your migration policy today. But we know from everyone who’s had a look at what you’ve announced today, whether it be those key stakeholder groups like the Farmers’ Federation, all of those regional employers or all of the people who rely on workers who come to Australia to work and take up those opportunities alongside Australian workers and the jobs that we’ve created here—the good, secure jobs that deliver the dignity of work to those families. But we know from all of the feedback that we’re seeing about your policy that it’s not going to work and it would damage— (Time expired)
I strongly supported Senator Colbeck’s motion regarding the sale of Rushy Lagoon, Tasmania’s largest agricultural property.
The Albanese Labor government, through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, used $69 million of YOUR money (nearly half of the $142 million purchase price) alongside foreign investment firms to price local farmers out of the market. The new owners, Tasmania Natural Asset Trust (TNAT), plan to destroy 9,000 hectares of prime dairy and beef land to plant 12 million pine trees for “carbon credits”.
Rushy Lagoon was a thriving property with a rich history of agricultural production, including the Ringarooma River irrigation pipeline, supporting 30,000 head of livestock, dairy operations, and grain and potato storage.
The government provided an additional $8.8 million grant to help turn prime food-producing land into a timber plantation, all to generate carbon dioxide credits and woodchips.
This project sacrifices regional communities and food security for city-centric climate ideology. The promised jobs are mostly short-term, while real breadwinner jobs are 25 to 30 years away.
Australia already has 1.6 million hectares of timber plantations. The real crisis in the timber industry is driven by soaring energy bills caused by net-zero policies, red tape and intrusive bureaucracy.
This purchase is part of a broader ideological war on red meat, dairy and farming, compounded by water policies destroying agricultural productivity.
With 99% of the local community opposing the sale, One Nation will do everything in its power to unwind this deal and ensure Australia’s best farmland is returned to food production.
One Nation will bring this “green” agenda to a halt on day one of our government.
Transcript
I thank Senator Colbeck for his motion, which One Nation strongly supports. Rushy Lagoon is Tasmania’s largest agricultural property, covering 21,745 hectares in the north-east of Tassie. The property sold recently for $142 million, with settlement due last week. The new owner is a special-purpose vehicle called Tasmania Natural Asset Trust, TNAT, with three shareholders. The federal government, through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, contributed $69 million—almost half. This is taxpayer money, not government money. The remaining $73 million came from UK investment companies Gresham House and Aviva Investors. The latter has BlackRock as its largest shareholder.
The previous owners were New Zealand’s Pye family, who held the property for 30 years. In that time, the Pye family built the Ringarooma River irrigation pipeline, which, with dams and 11 centre pivots, provided irrigated cropping across 1,100 hectares. What an amazing achievement. This supported a massive dairy operation, with two automated milking parlours and substantial storage vats. The shearing sheds and stockyards supported 30,000 head of livestock. Improvements included grain and potato storage sheds to feed the world. The property has a main homestead and workers cottages. In short, until the Albanese Labor government got its dirty hands on Rushy station, the property was actively involved in growing food to feed Australia and the world with foresight and ingenuity.
This sale is a perfect example of the Albanese government hollowing out the bush, including by covering prime farmland with industrial solar and wind installations, transmission lines and, in this case, pine plantations. For those who don’t know—I learned this recently—nothing native grows under pine. Over the next five years, the new owners plan to plant roughly 12 million radiata pine seedlings across 9,000 hectares of the farm to generate an estimated 3.2 million carbon dioxide credit units—try eating them!—each production cycle.
There it is. This ideology driven, delusional, dishonest Labor government is turning Tasmania’s largest agricultural producer into a subsidised farm for carbon dioxide credits. In case the government wants to pretend this was nothing to do with them, the Albanese government provided an $8.8 million grant under the Support Plantation Establishment program before the land sale had been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board. It was a taxpayer funded grant. Turning productive farmland into a timber plantation was planned and financed through deliberate Albanese government policy. Taxpayer money is being used to destroy productive farmland. It is a measure in part justified through the timber production, which will eventually be used for housing, so they say, which could happen in 25 to 30 years time when the trees are ready for harvest. That’s not going to help the people sleeping in cars, sleeping under bridges, sleeping in tents and sleeping in caravans right around Australia because of this government’s policies. Given the miserable performance of this Albanese government in providing for the housing industry, we might still need the timber in 30 years time.
By the way, those jobs Labor is claiming will be created are largely short-term jobs ripping out 100 years of farm improvements and then planting seedlings. That’s it. The real, breadwinner jobs will occur during harvesting, and those jobs will be 25 to 30 years away. The local community will not survive until then, but Labor and the Greens don’t care about that. This agenda is about sacrificing the bush to win votes in the city. It’s about sacrificing the regions, which feed Australia, which are crucial for the income of this country, to satisfy the city. Until the trees are mature, all the Tasmania Natural Asset Trust will produce is woodchips, most likely to be burnt for electricity to earn Albanese government issued large-scale generation certificates.
Let’s review it so far. The Labor government spent $69.9 million to force the price of Tasmania’s largest agricultural producer so high that local farmers could not afford to buy it. It knocked them out of the market. Then they spent another $8.8 million to encourage the new owners to grow timber, not food. Then they will spend more taxpayer money giving certificates for woodchipping those trees and in turn burning them for power. This is insane. Under this arrangement, the government is giving money to itself and destroying our best farmland and productivity in the process.
The truth is that Australia does not need this timber. According to ABARES, there are already 271,000 hectares of timber plantation in Tassie alone, part of 1.6 million hectares of timber plantation right around Australia. Nine thousand hectares of timber going into the national estate of 1.6 million hectares is not going to make any difference to timber supply. This is a lie. If the government were serious about increasing our plantation area, it would look to the 800,000 hectares of native plantation forests that have recently been locked up to prevent logging, despite there being seven million hectares of suitable forests. It just gets worse and worse.
Logging has never taken a large percentage of the national timber estate—just 10 per cent—and logging does not destroy those forests. They remain habitat for native fauna and flora because they’re selective. Of course, this does not include old-growth forests, which One Nation would protect. I note the Greens and the Labor Party are actively clear-felling old-growth forests for industrial wind and solar installations and the related access roads and transmission lines, yet non-destructive logging is the problem, so they say. The real reason Australia’s timber supply is falling is that timber mills can’t pay their power and energy bills. Net zero power costs and intrusive bureaucracy are killing our precious timber industry. One Nation will lower power prices—we’ve given you the policies—remove the red tape, remove the green tape and remove the blue UN tape and encourage the Australian timber industry and the jobs it creates. We want jobs now, not in 30 years.
Rushy Lagoon is about hollowing out the bush and hollowing out the regions. It’s about this Albanese government’s ideological war on red meat and dairy in the name of saving the planet from nature’s harmless trace atmospheric gas, carbon dioxide. Importantly, the war on cows is based on supposed science that is fundamentally wrong. The methane cycle has no impact on the environment. It’s a closed loop. A more important question is this: what are people going to eat if this Labor government continually destroys Australia’s agricultural capability? Only last week, SunRice laid off 78 workers in the Deniliquin and Leeton food processing plants because this government is knowingly, deliberately, deceitfully taking irrigation water off farmers and sending it out to sea. Listen to this: last year, over 4,000 gigalitres of water were sent out to sea against a basin plan target of 2,000 gigalitres—double the target wasted into the ocean. Why? It was so irrigators could not use the water to grow food and fibre to feed and clothe the world. Go for it, Labor! You’re destroying farming in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Labor is just one part of the uniparty. The other part of the uniparty, the Liberal-Nationals coalition, introduced the Murray-Darling Basin Plan in their 2007 Water Act, which has a list of aims for the act, one of which is to enforce international agreements. What the hell is that doing in our water act? Farming industry body TasFarmers strongly condemned the buyout of Rushy Lagoon, calling it a ‘disgraceful outcome’ that locks up prime dairy and beef country into a ‘monoculture pine plantation’. They nailed it on both. It is just so they can ‘tick a carbon abatement box’. A TasFarmers survey revealed that 99 per cent of local community respondents oppose the sale—99 per cent. For this reason, the new owners are now talking about undertaking ecotourism and community projects to moderate the fallout, and the state Liberal government is now holding an inquiry into its own stupid decision to allow the purchase. I mean, this is farcical. One Nation will do everything in its power to unwind this deal and ensure Australia’s best farmland is devoted to food production—to food.
Australia’s farmers have had enough of the Liberal-Labor-Greens war on the bush in the name of saving the environment, killing the environment in the name of saving the planet. One Nation will bring this agenda to a halt on day one of our government.
Following my questions to Minister Farrell regarding the Great Australian Infrastructure project (GAIN) and despite giving him advance notice of the topic, the Minister was still unable to provide an update on its progress.
To be clear, I wasn’t asking for project approval; I simply wanted a commitment to advancing it expeditiously. For a minister who claims that advance notice helps him check status, he clearly ignored it entirely.
Infrastructure should be bipartisan. These are Australia’s projects, not One Nation’s, and history remembers who builds, not who plays politics.
I urge the Labor government to take the win, advance this work and grow our productive capacity to deliver wealth and opportunity for all Australians.
And the best part? These projects require no significant taxpayer investment.
International banks want to fund Australian infrastructure, but trust has been broken by major government project failures like Inland Rail, Snowy Hydro 2.0, and Adani.
While construction money is ready, funding for business cases is stuck. Project backers only want a small amount of government financial commitment in the middle stages to prove the government is serious, especially since private investors already paid for the early stages.
With our population surging, our GDP is being sliced thinner and thinner and Australians are feeling it. A responsible government’s duty is to grow the pie through essential infrastructure like roads, rail, ports, pipelines, processing of our minerals into steel for domestic use and export, creating strong breadwinner jobs.
Update: Following this question, Minister Farrell followed up with NAIF. They contacted the project sponsor and the project is now moving forward. Thank you, Minister Farrell!
Transcript
Despite me providing the minister with not only a notice of my question last Thursday but also the actual question, he was unable to provide an update on the progress of the project. I was not asking for the project to be approved. I was merely asking for the minister to commit to ensuring the project was advanced expeditiously. Despite the minister saying advance notice gave him time to determine the status of the project, he clearly had not done so.
I’m stunned. Infrastructure should be bipartisan. One Nation is not trying to take credit for the 12 projects we’re working on with proponents. They’re not our projects; they’re Australia’s projects. History will not remember the politics of the project; it will remember which government built it. To the Prime Minister I say: take the win, advance the project, grow Australia’s productive capacity and deliver wealth and opportunity to all Australians—those who were here first and those who have come since.
These projects do not require any significant taxpayer investment. International merchant banks have seen through the net zero scam and are now desperate to finance actual, proper productive infrastructure. Australia is a prime destination for international capital, which has realised successive Liberal and Labor governments have neglected infrastructure for so long. There is a plethora of opportunities here.
While the financing is available for construction, it’s not available for business cases. There’s a simple reason for that: international capital does not trust the Australian government any longer. After fiascos like Inland Rail, Snowy Hydro 2.0 and the Adani mine, who would trust us? Proponents want to see government skin in the game before committing their own money. This may be as little as millions for middle-stage development. All of these projects have already had private funding for early-stage development.
Australia is bringing in so many people our GDP is being sliced into smaller and smaller slices, and the public are feeling it. Any responsible government has a duty to grow the pie and increase GDP to maintain our standard of living. The way to do that is roads, rail, port, pipelines and internet backbones. It includes tertiary processing of Australian minerals, coal and iron ore into steel for domestic use and export, taking advantage of our resources to undercut foreign steel and create breadwinner jobs—union jobs. I look forward to Minister Farrell updating himself on this project before we return in September. (Time expired)
Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher – why does your government refuse to support indexation of tax brackets. High inflation under Labor has completely negated past adjustments, leaving Australians no better off than they were in 2022 and paying 17.7% of the average wage in tax. Any upcoming pay rises will only trigger bracket creep and make workers worse off.
Minister Gallagher avoided the issue of bracket creep indexation and instead accused One Nation and I of voting against various government cost-of-living measures, housing investments and tax cuts. The Minister claimed the government is addressing bracket creep over time through various tax cuts and offsets, while pointing to investments in Medicare and cheaper medicines.
Since 2022, real wages have gone backwards by 2.2%. With underlying inflation running at 3.6% (now 3.5%), any national wage increases fail to make up for ground lost under Labor, leaving workers perpetually playing catch-up. I asked if she would accept that the only true way to restore workers’ incomes is to cut taxes.
Labor is now raking in more tax revenue than when they came to power, rising from 29.7% to 30.2% of GDP, fuelled heavily by corporate profits. Tax bracket creep is tightening its grip and increasing the fuel excise is hurting families.
Why is Labor turning their back on workers?
Once again, Minister Gallagher dodged the issue about total tax take and corporate profits, joking about the political relevance of the Liberals instead.
And then claimed the government works tirelessly 24/7 to ease household pressures, which is delusional given all the data showing workers are going backwards under this government.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher. Last week, I moved an amendment that would have introduced indexation of tax brackets to protect against bracket creep, which is where inflation-driven pay rises push workers into the higher tax bracket and they wind up paying more tax on their pay packet. While this government adjusted tax brackets several years ago, the high inflation under your government has since negated the benefit. Australians are now no better off than they were in 2022, paying 17.7 per cent of the average wage in tax. The pay rises coming through next week will be the start of bracket creep, making people worse off than in 2022. Minister, why won’t this government support indexation of tax brackets? Are you happy to see workers paying more tax than when you came to power?
The PRESIDENT: Before I call the minister, I remind the chamber that Senator Roberts has the right to ask his questions in silence.
Senator GALLAGHER (Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Women, Minister for Government Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate): I thank Senator Roberts for the question. Senator Roberts, you and your party last week voted against tax cuts for working people. I would be more generous if your voting record didn’t show you consistently voted against working people. You voted against penalty rates reform. You voted against energy bill relief. You voted against housing investment, against programs like Help to Buy that are actually helping low-income Australians into housing. The reality of the way the right-wing parties vote and then the concerns they raise—the disconnect between the concerns they raise in question time and the way they vote is astounding. You voted against tax cuts just last week. From memory, you voted against the stage 3 tax cuts as well, where we ensured—
The PRESIDENT: Minister, please resume your seat.
Senator Bragg interjecting—
The PRESIDENT: Senator Bragg, I’ve called order about four times. That does include you. Now either listen in silence or I’ll invite you to leave the chamber. Minister, please continue.
Senator GALLAGHER: Every time we have sought to provide tax relief in this chamber, One Nation and the conservative right-wing parties in Australia voted against it.
We are absolutely enthusiastic about cutting bracket creep. I have heard the Treasurer say this a number of times about returning bracket creep: we’ll do it when we can, in a responsible way and we can afford to do so. We’re cutting taxes five times in three different ways. We’ve got the tax cuts starting on Wednesday. We’ve got another tax cut starting 1 July the year after. We’ve got our instant tax deduction. We have the tax cuts that came on in 2024. We have the working Australians tax offset. These are all ways that we are making the tax system work better for working Australians. In addition to that, we’ve got all our investments in Medicare and cheaper medicines that we continue to roll out to help people with cost-of-living pressures.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, first supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: Since 2022, real wages have gone backwards 2.2 per cent. With underlying inflation running at 3.6 per cent, and rising, next week’s national wage increase will not make up for what workers have lost since Labor came to power. Workers are forever playing catch-up, never getting ahead. Minister, will you accept the only way to properly restore workers incomes is to cut taxes and put more money back in people’s pockets?
Senator GALLAGHER: That’s exactly what the government are doing. We are cutting taxes to put more money in people’s pockets. We are supporting wage increases, and have done so consistently since coming to government. Real wage outcomes are growing and they have had a three in front of them, for the first time in a decade, since we came to government, because we on this side of the chamber understand how important wage increases every year are to make sure you can balance the household budget.
Now, inflation is higher than we would like—we can see that in the budget papers—and wages haven’t grown as fast as we would like. That’s why we have been so supportive of the annual wage claims and why we’ve consistently done everything we can, including in aged care and early education and care, to give those workers the pay rises that they deserve—something that had been ignored for the decade before we came to government.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, second supplementary?
Senator ROBERTS: This government is raking in more tax than when you came to power, from 29.7 per cent of GDP to 30.2 per cent, with tax on increased corporate profits in the lead. As tax bracket creep cuts in, from 1 July workers will be getting taxed more. Today you’re increasing the fuel excise, which will hurt everyday Australians, particularly families. Minister, why did Labor turn your backs on workers to become the party of big business, and was this a cunning plan to make the Liberals look irrelevant?
Senator GALLAGHER: They don’t need any help in looking irrelevant right now, Senator Roberts. Even if we were wanting to help them, they’re doing a pretty good job on their own. In relation to fuel excise, we did have a temporary relaxing of or halving of the fuel excise to help when the conflict in the Middle East had such a significant impact on petrol prices. That has come down quite a bit, but we think it is sensible to continue it at a lower level for a shorter period of time to help households adjust. At the same time, we continue to roll out all our cost-of-living help, whether it be tax cuts, whether it be our tripling of the bulk-billing rate or our lowering of the price of medicines. All of these areas are targeted to make sure that people can deal with some of those household pressures that we know they have to manage. What they know is that this government works 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work through all of the ways that we can help households with those cost-of-living pressures, and we will continue to do so.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/nWw6HIh3huA/sddefault.jpg480640Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2026-10-08 18:06:182026-10-08 18:06:22Labor’s Tax Take Is Hitting Home
