One Nation warned about Labor’s housing policies — and now young buyers are paying the price.
Negative equity, tax hikes and soaring interest rates have created the perfect storm.
We won’t stop exposing this incompetent government’s selling out of young Australians trying to get ahead and own their own home.
Transcript
Senator Roberts: When the government released its housing policy, we warned about the debt trap, which is exactly what is happening. The debt trap has closed on young buyers. We warned about the negative equity arising. Here it is. Thank you, Labor! We warned about changes to capital gains tax. Look at the consequences. We warned about negative gearing being abolished. Here it is. We warned about interest rates increasing because of Labor government spending. Here it is. It’s the perfect storm, thanks to the Labor Party. We will continue to expose this lazy, tired, dishonest, incompetent government.
Prompted by a glossy, heavily illustrated 57-page clean energy report for the Wide Bay-Burnett region that could easily have been a 10-page document, I questioned department officials regarding its substance and design.
I asked for the exact cost of this publication, whether similar reports were produced for other regions across Australia and what the cost-benefit analysis was for printing such a marketing document. I also questioned the total marketing spend of the regional development agency for the 2025-26 financial year.
Highlighting the accompanying letter’s call to advocate for a clean energy transition, I expressed my view that the brochure is nothing more than taxpayer-funded government propaganda filled with misinformation.
Minister Chisholm disagreed with my opinion and defended the government’s support for renewable energy and community engagement.
This Labor government is persisting with squandering billions of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars on a pipe dream, trying to “trick” people into believing that an unreliable net-zerorenewable energy transition is somehow going to control the weather.
They label any dissenting view as “misinformation” ignoring the fact that the worst offenders of climate alarmism and energy fear-mongering are in the Labor and Greens parties.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: Could we have the regional development agency, please?
Ms Rauter: They are not part of the department. The regional development authorities, do you mean?
Senator ROBERTS: Regional development agencies: outcome 3.
Ms Rauter: We are outcome 3. How about you ask your question, and I will see whether we can answer it.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. This glossy brochure—
Senator Chisholm: Is that from the RDA—Regional Development Australia?
Senator ROBERTS: Regional Development Australia, yes.
Ms Rauter: They are government funded authorities, but they are not part of the department. We would have to take the question on notice and direct it to the RDAs.
Senator ROBERTS: Tell me what you can answer of these questions and put on notice what you can’t. This glossy brochure was posted out in January. I received a copy, as I am sure other senators did. It’s the Industry engagement report: industry perspectives on the path to clean energy. It is for the Wide Bay-Burnett region. Wide Bay is in Queensland. We are very keen to know. I care about the people in Wide Bay Burnett. This publication is 57 pages of full-page illustrations and white space. Distilling the actual information here, it would come to about a 10-page publication. How much did this publication cost? You can take it on notice.
Ms Rauter: Yes, we would have to take that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: Secondly, was this publication required by an act of parliament? Why was it even produced?
Ms Rauter: No, it is not required by an act of parliament. We do fund the Regional Development Australia organisations, which are across Australia, to work with local government, councils and others, on the regional investment framework and to make sure that that is delivered in the regions. They also support regional stakeholders, including the not-for-profit sector and local government, to seek grant opportunities. They support decarbonisation efforts that are happening in the regional areas. They build evidence for economic development. They contribute relevant data and local intelligence. We don’t require them to produce that publication, but we can certainly ask them what the process is for them going into that, and the cost.
Senator ROBERTS: Thank you. Are they doing this same exercise in other regions around Australia? My question is: how many more of these publications exist?
Ms Rauter: Again, we will take that on notice.
Senator ROBERTS: Is it just Wide Bay, where there has been a huge, justifiable backlash on solar and wind? You can take that question on notice.
Ms Rauter: Yes.
Senator ROBERTS: Can you explain to me the cost benefit of this publication being produced as a glossy brochure instead of a simple emailed PDF?
Ms Rauter: That would be a question for the RDA, specifically. We will pass that on.
Senator ROBERTS: How much did the regional development agency spend on marketing in the 2025-26 financial year? I count this as marketing.
Ms Rauter: Yes, I understand that.
Senator ROBERTS: How does the carbon dioxide footprint manage to be factored into every Infrastructure Australia application, although the department can chop down trees for this nonsense propaganda? Where is the consistency in the management of your department, Minister?
Senator Chisholm: I don’t really know that we’re responsible for that.
Senator ROBERTS: I quote from the letter that accompanied the glossy propaganda brochure: We are seeking your support to advocate for a regional clean energy transition strategy. Then they go on and name five points, including many points of misinformation. Isn’t this just propaganda from people in a region strongly opposed to solar and wind and its environmental destruction, community destruction and economic destruction, Minister? This confirms that the biggest source of misinformation and disinformation is the government, yet again.
Senator Chisholm: It would be fair to say that I disagree with you on that basis, Senator Roberts. I am supportive of renewable energy projects. I come across many people in the community who are as well. I make the point that those things are best done when there is strong community engagement with the proponents. I see evidence in many places around the country that that is happening. I think that the work of the federal government and various state governments around the place is leading to better outcomes. Councils play an important role in that.
Senator ROBERTS: It doesn’t bother you that it is crammed with misinformation and disinformation?
Senator Chisholm: I haven’t actually seen the document that you’re talking about, Senator Roberts. I think it would be fair to say, being someone who has observed the way that you have operated in the chamber and in Senate committees over the years, we probably have a different point of view on some of these matters.
Senator ROBERTS: We certainly do. Ms Rauter, thank you so much for stepping forward. It is appreciated. I am not holding you accountable for this, just the regional development agencies. Thank you.
Ms Rauter: Not a problem, Senator.
CHAIR: Thank you, Senator Roberts. That’s a nice way to finish.
The number of underutilised Australian workers (unemployed or underemployed wanting more hours) rose from 1.35 million in June 2022 to 1.68 million in June 2026.
The Albanese government has permitted high migration levels when there is an insufficient amount of work for the 1.68 million underutilised Australians.
Minister Gallagher defended the government’s economic record, pointing to over a million jobs created, low unemployment and record-high participation rates.
She noted that the government has reduced net overseas migration by about 45% from its post-COVID peak and added that industries and businesses have raised concerns about our immigration policy.
She went on to say that wages are rising, women are working more hours due to childcare support, and the government continues to support economic opportunities for workers.
I pointed out that high underutilisation suppresses wage growth and that the Wage Price Index shows real wages have fallen by 1.5% since the Labor government took power.
Further, the government’s immigration policy of creating a labour glut that lowers real wages is undermining workers’ pay.
Minister Gallagher responded saying that the government consistently supports higher wages (including minimum wage increases and pay rises in female dominated industries like aged care and childcare), whereas opposition parties frequently vote against these measures.
Over 70% of new jobs are in the taxpayer-funded care economy (health, NDIS, aged care, education) rather than the private sector. This is nothing but a “Ponzi job scheme.” I asked if the Labor government would admit immigration is a disaster for taxpayers and workers.
Minister Gallagher strongly defended care economy jobs (such as in hospitals, aged care, disability, and childcare), noting they are difficult, emotional and vital services that an aging population and working families rely on, rather than jobs to be trivialised.
I was not “trivialising” these valued jobs – this was just another Question Time of Labor dodging the hard questions.
Transcript
Senator ROBERTS: My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Gallagher. The Australian Bureau of Statistics produce a measure called the ‘underutilisation rate of Australian workers’, which is people without a job or those who have a job yet need more hours than are available. In June 2022, at the start of the Albanese government, there were 1.35 million Australians underutilised in the workforce. In June 2026, this had increased to 1.68 million Australians. This is a significant increase on both an actual and percentage basis. Minister, why has the Albanese government brought in so many new arrivals when there is already insufficient work for 1.68 million Australians and rising?
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): This government is all about increasing employment opportunities for Australians, and I think the last figure I saw was over a million jobs which had been created under this government. Unemployment has remained very low, and participation rates are at record highs. That is our record on employment across the economy. Your question I think links to migration and some of the debates that you’ve been having around this in One Nation. You would know, Senator Roberts, that we have reduced net overseas migration by about 45 per cent compared to the post-COVID peak. We did see a pull forward after the COVID years, essentially after the borders reopened, and net overseas migration has been tracking down since then.
We are a country that relies on migration to support the economy and have historically, and indeed in recent months, in response to some of the policies that you’ve been outlining, we are seeing more and more businesses and industry raising concerns about those policies and the impact they would have on our economy. We have unemployment sitting in the low fours. We’ve got jobs created under our government the most that we’ve seen in government over a sustained period of time. We’ve got participation rates at record highs. We’ve got wages up. Women are working more and working more hours because of some of the work we’ve done to support wages in the feminised sector and to ensure that the childcare system works for them. On all of those metrics, Senator Roberts, I think you can see where we stand, which is about making sure that there are choices and opportunities for Australian workers in this country, and we’ll continue that approach.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, first supplementary.
Senator ROBERTS: Underutilisation predicts wage movement. The more workers desperate for extra hours to keep their head above water, the less employers need to pay to secure that labour. The wage price index, an ABS measure, shows Australian workers have gone backwards 1.5 per cent since this government came to power backwards. The data is in. Your policy of mass immigration is creating a glut of labour, pulling down real wages. Minister, why is your government undermining Australian workers’ wages?
Senator GALLAGHER: I think there is only one party in this chamber that supports increasing wages for working people. You can see that in every test that’s brought to this chamber. In every single test that’s brought to this chamber where you get a vote on it, more often than not, you all vote together over there to oppose working Australians getting good and reasonable wage increases. That is what we’ve done in government. We have supported increases to the minimum wage, increases to highly feminised low-wage industries like aged care and child care. When we have had those debates on this floor, those who sit on that side of the chamber have tended to oppose them. I think Australians know that it’s this government that will always argue for better wages, better conditions and better protections, including through superannuation for Australians.
The PRESIDENT: Senator Roberts, second supplementary.
Senator ROBERTS: Treasurer Chalmers stated last week six out of seven jobs created since 2022 were in the private sector. This statement is deceptive. Over 70 per cent of the jobs created are in the taxpayer funded economy—health, NDIS, aged care and education. Minister, 1.68 million underutilised workers, 1.5 per cent fall in real wages and now a Ponzi job scheme—will you admit your immigration invasion is a disaster for taxpayers, workers and their families?
Senator GALLAGHER: I want to distance myself from the content and the language used in that question, for a start order. In relation to jobs in the non-market economy, Senator Roberts, if you need any kind of care in a hospital, aged care, disability or child care, those are legitimate jobs. They are hard jobs. The people who work in those jobs put their body on the line. They are physical jobs. They are emotional jobs. They are difficult jobs. I have worked in that sector. I don’t know whether you have, but I don’t think you would be trivialising them if you had worked in those sectors. They are legitimate jobs, and more and more our community relies on them. We have an ageing population, and we have parents with children who have a disability, who expect their child to be cared for and provided support in the way that any other parent would. We have working parents who need child care. These are legitimate, good jobs, and they should be valued. (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)
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
Labor says the private sector is creating jobs. The numbers tell a different story.
While government-funded employment grows, private businesses are being crushed by rising costs, red tape and net zero policies.
Australians need lower power prices, stronger wages and an economy that rewards productive enterprise, not government dependence.
Labor’s lies aren’t going to pay the bills.
Transcript
I thank Senator Collins for this motion, which One Nation supports. Labor elder Bill Kelty has warned that Australians cannot pay their bills with the Treasurer’s spin. Last week, the Treasurer indulged in spin yet again when he said that six out of seven jobs created during the Albanese government were in the private sector. No, they were not. Seventy per cent of the jobs created under Treasurer Chalmers are in the care economy, which is government funded, not the private sector. This did not stop the Minister for Finance, though, repeating the line yesterday in question time. Truth be damned with you lot!
The Labor government is running up deficits to directly fund jobs to keep the economy from going into a recession. We are already in a per capita recession! Net zero madness and insane regulations are destroying huge numbers of private sector jobs. Mosaic Brands lost 950 jobs; Fortescue, 700 jobs; and Telstra, another 650 jobs. The Whyalla steelworks lost 600 jobs yesterday, although Minister Bowen’s $1.9 billion handout of taxpayer money to fund a green steel arc furnace powered using weather-dependent solar and wind is still trying. Taxpayers can kiss that money goodbye. The Tomago smelter stood to lose 1,000 jobs until the government bailed them out with $2.5 billion of taxpayers’ money to secure heavily subsidised, expensive power in the Hunter. It’s a shame local residents didn’t get the same deal. They’re really struggling from high electricity prices and high petrol prices, after the Labor government reversed the fuel excise cut and put fuel up 32c a litre yesterday.
Under Treasurer Chalmers, Australian wages have gone backwards by five per cent. Headline inflation is at three per cent and rising, outpacing wage rises, forcing mortgage rates up and trapping many people who signed up for the Treasurer’s five per cent deposit scheme in negative equity. ‘Spin’ doesn’t come close to expressing the anger everyday Australians are feeling towards the Albanese government.
Seven years. That’s how long we’ve been fighting Australia’s largest wage theft case for thousands of underpaid casual coal miners.
Some workers are owed up to $211,000. Others have been stripped of more than $40,000 a year.
When we first exposed the broken governance and dodgy practices surrounding Coal Long Service Leave (Coal LSL), they told us we were wrong. Now? We stand completely vindicated.
A new bill is moving through parliament and we have serious concerns. It actually gives delinquent employers a 20% discount on entitlements they should have paid in full.
The system has been a mess for so long that miners simply want certainty now rather than letting this drag on in court for years.
Our 3 core goals since 2019 have been to:
🡪 Get Central Queensland and Hunter Valley miners every dollar of their just, moral, and legal entitlements.
🡪 Stop the use of unlawfully processed enterprise agreements once and for all.
🡪 Deliver justice against the employers, union bosses, and agencies who colluded to rip off these hard-working Australians.
I’m not backing down. We’ve been chasing this for seven years, and we will keep chasing it until our miners get the justice they deserve.
Transcript
One Nation has a second reading amendment to the Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Legislation Amendment Bill 2026. I move:
At the end of the motion, add “, but the Senate calls on the Government to immediately pursue backpay for workers who were underpaid as a result of the use of casual labour hire contracts in the coal mining industry”.
The ‘workers’ are the casual coalmine workers.
There are thousands of casual miners who have been underpaid in Australia’s largest wage theft case. I’ve been chasing this up on their behalf for seven years. We are chasing this and we will continue to chase it. They have been underpaid for many years. Some are owed up to $211,000. Others are owed more than $40,000 a year.
We have some concerns with this bill but it’s going through as a noncontroversial bill—I’ll explain why in a minute—because we have listened to the miners. Long service leave in the coalmining industry has exhibited poor governance and broken government contracts. This has now been exposed. We exposed it. We were told, ‘No, you’re wrong.’ Then they found out that we were correct. We were vindicated.
This bill is rewarding delinquent employers by giving them a discount when they pay. They get a discount for being delinquent and underpaying their levy. There has been such a mess made in coal long service leave for so long, and such shoddy governance, but we’re informed that the miners would rather have some certainty on this being resolved hence giving the company the 20 per cent discount on entitlements that they must pay in order to have this resolved—otherwise it could drag on for years. We are listening to miners.
We’ve had three aims for our work on this since 2019: (1) to get Central Queensland and Hunter Valley miners their just, moral and legal entitlements; (2) to stop the practice of using unlawfully processed enterprise agreements—we’re pursuing that; (3) to bring justice for the miners against those employers, union bosses and agencies that have been colluding against and ripping off these miners.
https://img.youtube.com/vi/a3PDqEU5iOY/maxresdefault.jpg7201280Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2026-09-04 15:26:102026-09-04 15:26:14Seven Years On: The Battle for Miners’ Entitlements
One Nation supports the sensible reforms to let trained registered nurses prescribe common PBS medications — a practical step that will ease pressure on doctors, strengthen rural healthcare and improve access for everyday Australians.
This isn’t a thought bubble; it’s the result of decades of professional evolution in nursing.
I also put an end to the latest round of “Mediscare” nonsense. One Nation will defend Medicare and the PBS — full stop. We’ll crack down on the $3 billion in fraud the government refuses to confront, protect patients from bureaucratic roadblocks, and ensure no Australian pays more for a prescription under a One Nation government.
Our healthcare system must serve patients, not criminals, not fraudsters and not political spin.
One Nation will keep Medicare strong, keep the PBS fair and keep pressure on a government too timid to clean up its own mess.
Transcript
One Nation will support the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. It amends the National Health Act and the Health Insurance Act 1973 to enable approved registered nurses to prescribe certain pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the PBS. Australia’s health system is experiencing increasing demand due to an ageing population and rising prevalence of chronic disease, something we do need to better understand. Improving access to safe and effective medications is essential to meeting the health needs of everyday Australians.
Registered nurses comprise around half the Australian health workforce and are the most geographically distributed health profession. They’re the best placed to prescribe certain common medications, taking the pressure off doctors while reducing travel and inconvenience to patients. This will support rural pharmacies. Registered nurses must complete a three-year bachelor’s degree in nursing. Nurse practitioners must hold a master’s degree in nursing and complete 5,000 hours of advanced clinical practice.
The history of the idea of allowing nurses, suitably trained, to write prescriptions is quite long. It began with a trial in New South Wales between 1991 and 2000—a generation ago. This went national in 2001 with the advent of the national Nursing and Midwifery Board, designed to bring regulation of nurses closer to the system used for doctors. It was at this time that the pathway to nurse practitioner was introduced. In 2010, nurse practitioners were approved to write prescriptions under the PBS, although only while working in collaboration with a registered medical prescriber. Then, in 2024, the government removed the need for collaboration with a registered prescriber, allowing nurse practitioners to prescribe most medications under their own Medicare Benefits Schedule prescriber number. Finally, in 2025, the government introduced the ability of registered nurses to prescribe. There are suitable checks and balances. Nurses must meet specified qualifications, complete the course and maintain endorsement. The first cohort were enrolled and have now completed their training.
This legislation will enable these health professionals to prescribe certain medications. Perhaps this could have been done the other way around, with the heads of power to allow registered nurses to prescribe written into law before we started training them, disrupting their careers and offering them a career path which didn’t yet exist. Maybe that’s just a sensible One Nation thing.
This legislation is being supported across the chamber and could have been supported a year ago. The point of this history lesson is clear. The move to allow registered nurses to prescribe is not a thought bubble. It’s the result of a generation of evolution in the education and professional certification of and skill base within the nursing profession.
The system they’ve put in place appears fit for purpose. Not all drugs can be prescribed by registered nurses, just certain ones: birth control; repeat prescriptions across a wide range of conditions. There are lots of opportunities to take the pressure off our doctors. This is particularly beneficial to regional and remote areas.
For those who may be concerned about this measure—and One Nation is not concerned with it—I reference the PBS auditing framework. The PBS has excellent audit routines which scan all the prescriptions written across the system and zero in on any patterns out of the ordinary. These are then followed up with a phone call or, if necessary, a visit. Misuse will be detected. One Nation does contend medical professionals are given insufficient discretion to use their wealth of medical knowledge. In this case, it will provide an additional check. The initiative in part stems from the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. One Nation is pleased to strengthen Medicare with this initiative.
Next, I must address ‘Mediscare’ 3.0, which disreputable media have been promoting in the last few weeks. I say ‘Mediscare’ version 3 because the last two elections saw the Labor Party, or their supporters, smear the Liberals with a false ‘Mediscare’ campaign. Now it’s One Nation’s turn to be smeared, and Labor is smearing One Nation. They must fear us. While it has been only one week since the last time I defended Medicare and the PBS in a Senate speech, it seems I need to do it again. Very well. One Nation will defend the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicare. Both are part of a social-welfare safety net which maintains a healthy population and contributes to Australia enjoying a high standard of living. Medicare and the PBS are why people pay taxes—and don’t forget it, government.
Taxes are, of course, not the government’s money. Taxes are the people’s money and should only be spent accordingly. Hardworking Australians do not deserve to have their money wasted or handed over to fraudsters. One Nation will work with and better resource the Benefits Integrity Division and the Fraud Fusion Taskforce to ensure every cent of money spent through Medicare and the PBS goes to people who need it and who qualify for the benefit.
It’s intolerable to me that new drugs, drugs that could save lives, are held back, despite agreement between the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee and the drug maker, because of the cost, because billions are being taken out of the system in fraud. And, yes, some prescribers are complicit, although a tiny amount. No patient with a legally obtained Medicare card should ever be afraid of using that card under a One Nation government. No Australian will have to pay more for a prescription under a One Nation government. We will support and maintain the system of the Medicare urgent care clinics, and we will work constructively with all stakeholders to extend operating hours for service delivery to take further pressure off public hospital emergency departments—which we will be able to afford because we will remove the criminals and fraudsters from the system and ensure everyone who uses a Medicare card is entitled to use that card. The government knows who these people are—yes, you do. The government knows where the $3 billion a year in fraud is coming from. Their own integrity division said as much in Senate estimates recently. The fraud figure is the government’s, not One Nation’s—we didn’t cook it up; the government’s own agency told us. The Albanese-Burke government doesn’t have the guts to do anything about it.
I’m concerned that the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 could create a two-tier health system. Rural, regional and poorer suburbs would get registered nurses and nurse practitioners. Richer suburbs would get doctors galore. In fact, I’m sure that’s going to happen because it’s happening now. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the federal department of health track their workforce using a framework called the Modified Monash Model. Their data shows a stark imbalance. Roughly 84 per cent of private hospital medical practitioners and the vast majority of medical specialists operate exclusively within major capital cities and metropolitan centres. Small, regional, rural and remote towns classified as MM4 to MM7 contain the lowest number of healthcare workers per capita. In these areas, access to medical care drops drastically. In these areas, GPs provide primary care and act as emergency doctors and hospital doctors, making up 60 per cent of the entire available hospital workforce because there are so few dedicated specialists. The bill before the Senate will help take the weight off those GPs, yet will not solve the issue of doctors gravitating to wealthy suburbs and cities. What may solve that problem is to do more to assist children from the bush to take up medicine as a career. One Nation’s health policy, to be released later this year, will add more detail to that statement.
Finally, I’ll be moving amendments to this bill on behalf of Senator Lambie, who’s recovering after recently herself quality-testing our healthcare system. As it currently stands, properly qualified podiatrists and podiatric surgeons can prescribe specific medicines to their patients, although these prescriptions are not recognised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Patients either have to pay the full price or meet with the GP to get the same medicine prescribed under the PBS—or, worse, go without and suffer the consequences. That’s ridiculous. Podiatrists require a university degree, must maintain membership of their professional association and are affiliated with Ahpra, like other medical associations. Their medical expertise in their area of care is well capable of supporting improved prescribing rights. The focus of our healthcare system must be what’s best for the patient, and what’s best for the patient cannot include bureaucratic roadblocks and financial pain. The amendments I foreshadow do not reduce safeguards. They do not give podiatrists greater prescribing powers. They will ease GPs’ workload and make things easier for patients. They are commonsense amendments, and they should be supported.
In our Budget Reply, we had so much to say about saving this country that Senator Hanson ran out of time to deliver it all.
One Nation is offering a fundamentally different direction for Australia — one rooted in proven, common-sense economic principles.
➡️ Cheap, Reliable Energy: Ditching the “green” agenda to invest in coal and nuclear.
➡️ Real Wealth: Backing the local industries that actually build this nation.
➡️ Lower Taxes: Putting money back into the pockets of hard-working Australian families.
➡️Less Bureaucracy: Listening to engineers and physicists, not climate bureaucrats.
Transcript
For all the talk about this budget, many issues are all too familiar. Revenue is up from $773 billion to $815 billion. Expenses are up from $812 billion to $833 billion. Gross interest payments are at $27 billion, rising to $40 billion over the forward estimates. Budget deficits are forecast to balloon by another $100 billion over the next four years. Interest-bearing debt will climb another $300 billion to $1.3 trillion. Businesses are collapsing at record rates—almost 50,000 insolvencies since Labor took office. Productivity is stuck at six-decade lows. Eight out of 10 new jobs are now created by government because the private sector has become so disillusioned. Business confidence and domestic investment have fallen to 1990s recession lows. Our inflation remains the highest in the developed world.
Australian families have endured 15 interest rate hikes, pushing more than one million households into extreme mortgage stress. GDP per capita has fallen in 10 of the last 13 quarters, and 337,000 households can no longer pay their energy bills—double the level of five years ago—as power prices continue to surge.
Labor will introduce the working Australians tax offset. It’s less than $5 a week in relief and doesn’t kick in until next year, an election year. The government wants you to be grateful for 68c a day off your tax. That tax offset will be completely rubbed out by bracket creep. Bracket creep means working Australians will pay more in tax because of inflation. The government profits from higher inflation. It’s a stealth tax, a trap for the next election and an advertising slogan for 2028. They used the same trap in their election advertising in 2022. If anyone dares to refuse passing a useless, less than $5 tax cut, they will be accused of not supporting tax cuts. While Australians will receive just $2.6 billion back in the one-off WATO, they’ll pay tens of billions more in taxes because of bracket creep.
One Nation tried to end bracket creep by indexing income tax thresholds to inflation, ending the stealthy tax increases. Labor, the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens refused to support it. Instead of the measly $250, ending bracket creep would put thousands of dollars a year back in working Australians’ pockets. We don’t need Labor to protect Australians; we need to protect Australians from Labor.
The tax changes in this budget, including on discretionary trusts, will suppress investor appetite and speculative capital, forcing these businesses to set up in jurisdictions with no impediments. Capital will always, always follow to where it is most loved.
This budget reveals a political culture that relies evermore heavily on centralised bureaucracy, dependency on the state and short-term intervention. That is the Labor way. Forget the spin about intergenerational equity; it’s being used as an excuse to break election promises. True equity does not punish those who worked hard, took risks, built businesses and paid their taxes. It does not resent aspiration or success. Real intergenerational equity means giving young Australians the same opportunities their parents had—the chance to own a home, raise a family, start a business and get ahead through hard work. Young people are not struggling because older generations succeeded. They are falling behind because governments have chosen subsidies and wealth redistribution over allowing free enterprise to flourish.
On the forward estimates, our total liabilities will exceed $1.9 trillion—a burden to be repaid by our children and grandchildren. That is not equity. That is hypocrisy. Changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax will further dampen economic activity, push rents higher and reduce housing supply. As a self-proclaimed scholar of Paul Keating, the Treasurer might have reflected on what happened in 1985 when these same policies were tried and had to be reversed two years later.
Housing is a national crisis only since Labor took office, and I say ‘crisis’. More than 40 per cent of the cost of building a new home is government taxes and unnecessary compliance costs. One Nation will take a different approach. We will slash the GST to zero on building materials for homes up to a value of $1 million for the next five years. Rapid population growth without matching supply is a recipe for declining living standards. This is not about blaming migrants. It’s about recognising limits. But this government has no interest in reducing migration, for all the talk. It expects to increase visa application fees from $4.7 billion today to $7.1 billion by 2029-30. Elevated migration is a money spinner. Canada cut migration sharply from 2024 and has now enjoyed 18 straight months of falling rents and easing house prices, something we have strongly advocated for.
We will introduce income splitting for every family with at least one dependent child. A single earner on $120,000 with a stay-at-home partner would be around $9½ thousand a year better off. We will exempt insurance from the GST, and we urge the states to drop stamp duty on it as well. Affordable insurance ultimately reduces burdens on taxpayers. We will allow aged pensioners and veterans to work as much as they want without losing any of their pensions or health card benefits.
For more than a decade, One Nation has consistently argued that Australia must strengthen domestic resilience, including strategic fuel reserves, reliable energy systems, food and water security, and sovereign industrial capabilities supported by true nation-building infrastructure. The current liquid fuel crisis has not only exposed our domestic unpreparedness but signalled to adversaries how vulnerable we would be in a conflict. Building a strategic reserve is a step in the right direction, but it is still not enough to build resilience and liquid fuel independence. The total cost of not having sufficient supplies will always outweigh the net cost of having them in a crisis.
One Nation will cut the red, green and black tape that is strangling projects and fast-track major approvals, especially energy, to a maximum of six months. We will ditch net zero, exit the Paris Agreement and axe the climate change department, saving $30 billion in the process. We will back coal and gas and support bringing nuclear power to bring down prices, restore reliability and guarantee national energy security. Next week, I will introduce a bold new gas policy that underwrites our vast sovereign resource assets for decades to come. It will provide real equity investment and genuine skin in the game, where our healthy dividend will help pay down the debt racked up by successive governments.
We have listened extensively, and we will work with industry, not against it, in genuine partnership. We will bring back our mining and resources industries, the bedrock that funds schools, hospitals, roads and defence. A strong nation leverages its natural advantages. It does not demonise them. One Nation will swiftly move to get rid of impediments in an increasingly competitive global environment and restore our status as a nation that rolls out the red carpet in resources rather than roll it up. We are backing the Capricorn steel project, to connect coal in Queensland’s Bowen Basin to iron ore in Western Australia’s Pilbara region with a rail line that will open northern Australia to development. The project is strongly backed by Australian investors and is aimed at making Australia a major global supplier of high-quality steel. It will require the Inland Rail project, now abandoned by Labor, to be completed and extended to the more suitable Port of Gladstone, in Queensland. It will be the foundation for a national rail circuit that effectively circumnavigates the Australian continent, providing freight efficiencies and improved defence logistics. These are no longer abstract debates. They are national security imperatives.
In agriculture, we will ban the further sale of controlling interests in freehold farmland to foreign investors and limit the sale of leasehold farmland to a maximum of 25 years. We will ban foreign ownership of water and return balance to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. One Nation strongly supports the modern hybrid Bradfield scheme to improve water security, open new areas to farming and improve food security and exports. We will build new dams and water infrastructure, reintroduce drought payments and re-establish a federal government backed rural lending fund to protect farmers through other natural disasters.
Importantly, we will restore accountability. Australians work hard for their money, and they deserve a government that shows the same discipline. Successive governments have failed to tackle a culture where people in charge of creating multiple white elephants pay no price for their commercial illiteracy. Snowy 2.0, which has blown out 21 times—to $42 billion—is but one egregious example. One Nation will ensure past, present and emerging failures will no longer be transaction free for those responsible.
We will abolish divisive cultural departments and race based programs that divide Australians by skin colour or ancestry. Every Australian will be treated as equal under one flag and one culture. Help will be given on the basis of genuine need, not race. No more special privileges—equal rights for all, and special rights for none. There will be no more taxpayer-funded welcome to country rituals. Unity builds strength; division destroys it.
Our Defence Force must focus on operational readiness, capability and deterrence, not morale-sapping identity politics. One Nation will restore pride in wearing the uniform and give them the latest equipment to carry out their duties. We won’t sell off our historic sites of symbolic significance to cover irresponsible spending.
Australians are not asking for miracles. They are simply asking for a country that works again. One Nation continues to attract practical Australians with real world experience—people from finance, investment, trade, engineering, farming, small business, building, energy, manufacturing and defence. These are men and women who have built things, employed people and delivered results outside the Canberra bubble. Australia does not need more career politicians serving vested interests. One Nation believes the government is there to serve you. This budget only goes to prove yet again that this government believes you are there to serve it.
In closing, Australia stands at a crossroads. For too long, Labor’s failed experiment of reckless spending, crippling regulation, net zero ideology and wealth redistribution has driven businesses to the wall. It’s crushed living standards, saddled our children with debt and stolen the Australian dream from an entire generation. A nation loses hope when it loses vision. Australia now has near a trillion dollars in debt and nothing to show for it. One Nation will break the green, red and black tape that has tied us down. We will work with the natural strengths of the assets on our balance sheet. We have iron ore, coal, gas, cattle, rain, cotton, gold, copper, oil and so much more. Australia should be a powerhouse, but the major parties lack the management skills for us reach our potential. It is perverse that a government and an opposition believe they can change the weather, and are prepared to waste ultimately hundreds of billions to do it, while they mock the idea of a version of the Bradfield scheme that would open the massive potential for irrigation of the rich but dry soils of the western districts. It is perverse that a government and an opposition that came up with the biggest construction fiasco on earth, the $42 billion Snowy Hydro 2.0, cannot complete the Inland Rail from Melbourne to Brisbane, which would open up the intermodal efficiencies and commercial potential of the inland corridor.
We are covering the land with windmills and solar panels and, in turn, delivering— (Time expired)
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Hanson, are you seeking the call?
Senator Hanson: I seek leave to finish my speech.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Is leave granted? Leave has not been granted, Senator Hanson.
Senator Hanson: I seek leave to table my speech.
Leave granted.
“We are covering our land with windmills and solar panels and in turn delivering the dearest and most precarious electricity grid our nation has ever had, when we had the cheapest coal fired power and sitting on one of the greatest coal resources in the globe.
One Nation does not care about major party sneers. We care about handing our children a better opportunity than was handed to us by our parents, currently it is the other way around.
One Nation will reallocate the resources from the fool’s errand of Australia changing the weather to invest in coal fired power, nuclear, irrigation, freight, rail, ports and roads. We will work with businesses as partners in these projects.
One Nation will listen to civil engineers, nuclear physicists, and research scientists in medicine instead of climate change bureaucrats. These assets on our nations balance sheet allows us to pay for expenses on the Profit and Loss. These assets build a nation that can repay its debts. One Nation is offering a fundamentally different direction -one rooted in proven, common sense economic principles. We’ll lower taxes on working families, slash regulation that strangles enterprise, deliver abundant and affordable energy, and back the industries that actually create real wealth and opportunity.
We will never pretend we know better than you how to run your own lives. That is why we are determined to hand power back to the Australian people where it belongs.
We will reward hard work and aspiration, restore fiscal discipline, and put Australian families and businesses first once again.
One Nation’s word is our bond – and we have three decades of unwavering policy consistency to prove it.
We hope to earn your trust to implement the bold change Australia desperately needs.
https://i0.wp.com/www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Screenshot-2026-05-21-215100.jpg?fit=676%2C336&ssl=1336676Senator Malcolm Robertshttps://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/One-Nation-Logo1-300x150.pngSenator Malcolm Roberts2026-05-22 05:32:242026-05-22 05:32:36Budget Reply: One Nation’s Blueprint to Put Australians First
The Liberal-National coalition and Labor are playing a desperate game of catch-up.
For years, they’ve ignored the real issues — energy, housing and mass immigration crisis, which started under John Howard and has exploded under the Albanese government. Now, they’re copying One Nation’s homework.
They drop the right buzzwords and borrow our rhetoric because they’re terrified of the polls, yet they still lack the data and the backbone to actually do good instead of just trying to look good.
People see through the “fluffy and vague” policies of other parties.
One Nation aren’t here to play status quo politics; we’re here to put Australia First.
It’s time to hold these politicians accountable and return the power to where it belongs: with the people.
