Andrew Hastie
Canning · Liberal Party · Australia
“My question is to the Minister for Housing. I refer to the minister's previous answer. When did the minister first become aware that the government's changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing imposed a new death tax on widows, divorcees and victims of domestic violence?”
“In many cases, these tariffs apply to goods that already enter Australia duty-free under free trade agreements or other concession arrangements.”
“It is a practical contribution to Ukraine's economic resilience, which is so important to their overall war effort, and it is also a symbolic demonstration that Australia continues to stand with Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. The measure is appropriately targeted.”
“The first is the removal of a further 497 so-called nuisance tariffs from 1 July 2026. This follows the first tranche of nuisance tariff removals in 2024, when 457 tariffs were abolished by having their existing rate of duty reset to 'free'.”
“This the bill is intended to produce compliance savings for business and administrative efficiencies for government, and that is welcome, but there remains limited public detail about the overall revenue impact, the sectors most exposed to the changes, and the expected value of the compliance savings for importers and Customs brokers.”
“Before the last election, the Prime Minister ruled out changes to taxes not once, not twice, not three times. In his own words, he ruled out tax changes 50 times. The Prime Minister was clear as day—no new taxes. People took him at his word because, apparently, his word is his bond.”
The complete record
Every one of 231 lines we hold for Andrew Hastie, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 5.
“There is incredibly expensive transmission infrastructure which needs to be built to connect these solar and wind farms that Labor are putting all over our country. I think one thing that is overlooked is that these wind turbines and a lot of these solar panels, if not all, are manufactured overseas, often in China, using our fossil fuels, whether it be coal or gas, that we export. It's a reality that this country exports 25 per cent of the world's coal and 20 per cent of the world's liquefied natural gas. It's a huge source of revenue. It underwrites the NDIS, it underwrites health and it underwrites our welfare system. So, whilst Australians are being forced to pay more for their energy needs, countries who we export to are getting their energy much cheaper, which makes them more competitive in the long term.”
“They're doing this without proper consultation and against the wishes of my community. The proposed zone spans thousands of square kilometres of ocean just 26 kilometres from our coastline and not far south of the proposed AUKUS submarine base. This project threatens our local environment, threatens tourism and threatens our recreational activities. It risks damaging marine life, ocean floors and bird habitats. We're very proud of our whales in WA. We're proud of our dolphins. These are the sorts of creatures that live in our oceans which will be affected by these wind farms. It will impose enormous costs on Australian families and business, because, let's be frank, wind power only works when the wind is blowing.”
“We provided a good number of light horsemen that fought in the First World War. These vehicles do the same job today. These are the vehicles that tow the boats, the floats and their caravans. Tradies, farmers and families shouldn't be punished for driving the vehicles they need. Labor's fuel efficiency standard is driving up costs and limiting choice, hurting the very people who keep our economy moving. We have very, very few electric vehicle charging stations, but we've got a lot of people paying a fuel excise. It's not just bad policy; it's an attack on our way of life. While they're taxing our utes, Labor are also pushing ahead with a massive offshore windfarm off my southern coast—all the way down the coast to Dunsborough, a beautiful stretch of the WA coastline.”
“The diesel Prados, Rangers, LandCruisers, MU-Xs and D-MAXs are the workhorses of outer metropolitan areas and regional Australia. If you come down to the school where my kids go every morning, you'll see mums and dads dropping their kids off in four-wheel drives and utes, because their partner is a tradie or they work on the mines or they just like to go four-wheel driving. That's why they're living in the regions. Labor's so-called fuel efficiency standard is nothing more than a car and ute tax. It's driving up the cost of popular vehicles like the Ford Ranger, the Toyota HiLux and the Mitsubishi Outlander—vehicles that are essential for people living in my community. I mentioned the metaphor of the workhorse of our local economy. It's true. My community, more than a hundred years ago, relied on horses for the local economy.”
“We have an abundance of geography here, but somehow we have this housing shortage. It's a housing demand crisis, and I think this is because Labor's uncontrolled immigration has caused a lot of pressure on the housing sector. From the year 2000 to 2019, the average net overseas migration figure was 190,000 people. In the last two years, Labor has brought in about half a million people, and we wonder why we're struggling for housing. We shouldn't have people living in their cars. We shouldn't have kids living in caravan parks. We shouldn't have kids living in tents in the backyards of friends. It's shameful, and it's always in the outer metropolitan and regional areas where people do it tough, are hurt the worst. Now Labor has introduced a new tax on the vehicles Australians rely on most.”
“Just like we did with the Lakelands train station, we'll keep fighting until Pinjarra gets the infrastructure it needs. This isn't the only way that Labor is letting down regional and outer metropolitan communities. Labor's cost-of-living crisis has hit outer metro areas and regional Australia hardest. Fuel costs are up. Many people drive. There's limited public transport, so everyone has petrol or diesel costs in their family budget. Health premiums are up. There's a real lack of confidence in the public health sector run by Labor. People are paying health premiums, but they're creeping up. Mortgage and rental costs are up. We have a housing demand crisis. I've seen people at my local beach get out of their car in the morning after sleeping in the car, take a shower at the beach showers and then go off to work. This is Australia in 2025.”
“It was settled around the 1830s, and every day we have these big trucks carrying huge loads, including jarrah logs, critical minerals that have been mined and massive mining equipment which often needs an escort at the front and rear. These trucks pass through our little town, and people are getting tired of it. We've invested money to make that a tourist town, and these big trucks make it very difficult for locals. A deviation would divert heavy vehicles away from the town centre. It would protect local families, businesses and the character of our community, which is sitting there on the Murray River—a very beautiful part of the world. Labor's decision to cut money for the deviation is short sighted and reckless. We're not backing down.”
“That station wasn't delivered by Labor; it was delivered by the people of Lakelands who refused to give up. I'm proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with them, and together we got it done. I'll do the same for those people living in and around Karnup. That same determination for a fair go on infrastructure is driving our campaign to reinstate the Pinjarra Heavy Haulage Deviation. This is another critical infrastructure project that WA Labor abandoned, despite its clear benefits to safety, heritage and quality of life. Hundreds of trucks thunder through the heart of Pinjarra. Pinjarra is a beautiful, old historic town right in the centre of the Peel region.”
“Whether it's at the local, state or federal level, I'll keep fighting for my people. I first heard about the need for a local train station while I was doorknocking back in 2016. Locals were frustrated, ignored by their Labor MPs and fed up with broken promises. Despite fierce resistance from WA Labor, we stood firm and we delivered the Lakelands train station. Let's not forget that Labor ministers publicly dismissed the project. Rita Saffioti called it embarrassing. Paul Papalia said it was a station no one needed, and David Templeman sat at the cabinet table for years without delivering a cent for the Lakelands train station. Yet, when the station finally opened in June 2023, closing a 23-kilometre gap in the Mandurah rail line, they were very fast to show up for photo opportunities.”
“Labor's failure to act is not just a broken promise; it's a clear message that these communities aren't a priority. I've raised this time and time again, and I've launched a petition to hold the Cook Labor government to account. A station at Karnup isn't a luxury; it's a necessity. People don't expect us to make fanfare when we deliver these things; they just expect government to do them. They pay taxes, and they expect government to do these projects and do them on time. A train station would ease pressure on nearby stations, reduce congestion and give families the access they deserve. Labor wants us to forget about it, but I won't. That's why I'm speaking about it, and I'm more than happy to raise state issues as well because most constituents just want a better future for their families and a fair go.”
“Admiral Caudle, who's a senior US naval officer, said there would be from 3,000 to 9,000 Americans moving in over the next five years or so. Those are a lot of people to integrate into our community. They're very welcome to come. I'm sure they'll bring a lot of opportunity as well. There are a lot of spouses in the US military who are teachers and nurses, and we have shortages in both fields. I hope this government is working on ensuring that they can be employed in our communities when they arrive. I also want to note as well that my electorate will take about 25 per cent of the new Defence housing which have been slated to support AUKUS. So we need more investment from the federal government and the state government as well, but instead we're being left behind. The Karnup train station is a key data point for that.”
“The land on which the train station will be built sits vacant while our growing suburbs of Karnup, Singleton, Golden Bay and Secret Harbour, suburbs recently added to my electorate as part of the redistribution, are ignored. They're taken for granted by Labor. There was not even a mention in the latest state budget. It's pretty shameful, and a lot of people agree. These are vibrant, fast-growing areas, and they deserve the same level of infrastructure investment as the rest of the region. I'll also note that these suburbs are part of the AUKUS catchment, so we have a growing presence of Royal Australian Navy families, defence families and people involved in the future AUKUS industrial base. I should also add that we're going to see Americans moving into my electorate over the next couple of years as well.”
“People travelling to and from Perth everyday on the Kwinana Freeway experience a massive opportunity cost—a journey that used to take about 70 minutes can now take up to two hours at a time. That opportunity cost is time with family, time exercising, time doing admin and time doing other important things that happen in our daily lives. Labor for a decade have promised a train station at Karnup, and for a decade now they've failed to deliver it. Another train station would help a lot of my constituents and would provide another alternative form of transport to and from the city every day, but we've got no funding, no timeline and no commitment.”
“We all know the WA budget is doing better than most other jurisdictions, and, yet, we're not seeing the investment in our health system that we need. Locals are angry. They've shared their shocking experiences at Peel Health Campus. They're angry and they have every right to be. I'm calling it as I see it: this is a betrayal of my community. I'll keep fighting until the Peel Health Campus is fixed. No more spin. No more empty promises. Just action—because our community deserves better. And it's not just in health. Right across the Peel region, we are being let down on the infrastructure that underpins our daily lives. We need infrastructure that keeps pace with growth, including roads, public transport and community facilities.”
“Ambulance ramping is at record highs, doctors and nurses are exhausted, and clinicians warn the system is in a death spiral. This is not just incompetence; this is actually really dangerous. People are left waiting in emergency. People are even sent away. I have countless stories from seniors, particularly, who are really struggling. For seniors who need to see a geriatrician, they have to wait up to 18 months. Some, by the time they get to see a geriatrician, have experienced further decline—whether physical or cognitive—and some have even passed on. So we have a very acute health crisis in my electorate. Labor's own member for Mandurah has admitted the funding isn't enough, yet the Premier continues to sit on a multibillion-dollar surplus while our hospital bursts at the seams.”
“We campaigned on health and, for nearly a decade, the Western Australian government has promised a $152 million upgrade to the Peel Health Campus. When they put that figure to the public in 2021—$152 million—that was before we saw inflation over the last four years. That figure is now about $180 million, and they haven't increased the funding in real terms, so we've actually taken a $30 million cut to the upgrade. That promise has been repeated in press releases, budget papers and media statements, but the reality on the ground has not changed. One year after the hospital was handed back into public hands, with great fanfare from Labor, there has still been no redevelopment, no new facilities and no relief for the families, children and seniors in my community.”
“We achieved a strong result with a 5.4 per cent swing and a margin of over 13,000 votes. I'm deeply grateful for the support shown by our community and the way they've sent me back to Canberra to be their voice here in this chamber. Our result was a testament to the strength and unity of our local community and to the grassroots campaign we ran, focused on issues that affect real people. We didn't campaign in the abstract; we campaigned very much in concrete terms. While national security concerns dominated headlines, my campaign was firmly local. Every day, I met with residents, listened to their concerns and committed to fighting for the things that matter most to them. Today, I bring their voices into this chamber. My team and I campaigned on the issues that mattered to them: cost of living, local infrastructure and community safety.”
“Today I rise to speak on behalf of the people of Canning—my constituents, the families, the workers and the small business owners who embody the very best of our nation. The people living in my patch are hardworking, self-reliant and deeply community minded. They don't ask much from government—just a fair go, respect and the freedom to get on with their lives. Our community is resilient, ambitious and proud. We stand together in tough times and we celebrate each other's success. That's the spirit of Canning, which is the Peel region, for those of you who don't live in WA. I'm very proud to represent them in this place. This year I was honoured to be re-elected as the member for Canning after a redistribution that reduced our margin to just 1.2 per cent. I was grateful that my constituents once again placed their trust in me.”
“Our runner-up, Shekinah Doherty, from Foundation Christian College, gave a moving performance as Lady Anne, also from Richard III , that was full of poise and emotional depth for someone her age. These performances are a credit not just to Henry and Shekinah but also to their schools, teachers and families who support them. I acknowledge Steve Capener, the drama teacher from Foundation Christian College, who backs us in every year and prepares his students. I also thank our panel of judges: Shelby Kazakoff, a local drama teacher; Dr Melissa Merchant from Murdoch University; and Dr Tom Heath from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Thank you for backing us in.”
“It also stretches our imagination, sharpens our mind and helps young people to understand the full breadth of the human condition, from our strengths, our flaws to our ambition and, of course, our many failings. I have seen what happens when young people rise to the challenge. There was a young girl of about 15 who on the weekend was completely scared before she went out onto the stage, but when she went out onto the stage she transformed into someone of great confidence and did a wonderful performance. That's why we do it. This year Henry Hayes from Mandurah Baptist College won the competition with a commanding performance as King Richard from Richard III , and his portrayal of Richard III—complete with hunchback—took us into another word, which is what the judges were looking for.”
“We've had a number of kids come through, engage with the arts, gain performance experience and wrestle with one of the toughest playwrights you can perform. I'm proud to say that we've had one of our winners be accepted into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, launched from our competition, which is great. Shakespeare isn't just about theatre. He is part of the Western canon, a body of work that has shaped our civilisation and the way that we speak. If you say phrases like 'to break the ice', you're quoting The Taming of the Shrew ,if you say you 'wear your heart on your sleeve', you're quoting Othello , and if you say you are 'in a pickle'—which is what a lot of us say around here—you are quoting The Tempest . Shakespeare continues to shape our language.”
“Last Saturday we hosted the 10th annual Canning Shakespeare Competition, which is a competition I run every year. For 10 years now we have had more than 120 kids step up onto the stage and bring Shakespeare's words to life. When I started this competition a decade ago the goal was simple: to give young people in our community an opportunity that they may not otherwise have. I'm always grateful to Mr Ben Elton AM, the co-writer of Blackadder , Mr Bean and Upstart Crow who was there to launch our first competition. The reason I do this is that kids in outer metro and regional areas often don't get the same opportunities in the arts as those in the capital cities. I believe in a fair go, which is why we put this competition on. Talent isn't limited to geography, and opportunity should not be limited by it, either.”
“It shouldn't take an envoy with a report and its neglected recommendations to bring them to action. Australians out in the streets can see very clearly that we have a serious problem with antisemitism and that Australians of Jewish faith and heritage feel under siege. Their places of worship are being bombed. Their businesses are being firebombed. There's vandalism. There are calls on the street for them to be extinguished as a people. This government needs to— (Time expired)”
“Senator Claire Chandler's Senate inquiry gathered compelling evidence from the Jewish community and the Persian community that the IRGC was operating as a terrorist organisation. I want to emphasise to the House what a fine line there is between bombing a synagogue and actually murdering people. We could have had a foreign government, through its military arm, murdering Australian citizens, effectively conducting assassinations against the Australian people. That's how significant this was. It's taken ASIO 10 months of painstaking work to get the government to a point where they can finally see the necessity of listing the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, and we'll do that as fast as humanly possible because we think it needs to be done. Today, we're calling on the Labor government to start showing moral clarity.”
“We've seen Labor funnel taxpayer funds to prop up its vote. Eighty per cent of organisations that shared in Labor's $30 million package to support Palestinian Muslim communities were groups in Labor held seats. This is not the sort of thing that this government should be doing. They should be fostering social cohesion. On this question of listing the IRGC, for the last 2 ½ years the coalition has called on the Albanese government to list the IRGC as a terrorist organisation. My good friend the member for Berowra made these calls in the House of Representatives as early as February 2023, stating that the opposition was ready and willing to work with the government on any legislative changes to amend the Criminal Code to see the listing occur. We called on the government 10 times in the last two years to make the listing.”
“It means that Hamas wants to see the Jewish people extinguished from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. It's effectively a call to violent action. We've seen a shocking campaign of terror across our country as cars and homes have been vandalised. We've even seen a childcare centre set alight and graffitied with antisemitic messages. Just last week, we saw a Hamas flag flown at a protest in Brisbane. It is shameful. People are tired of it, and, under this government, we've seen inaction. We've seen a lack of political leadership. We've seen a lack of moral clarity. We've seen taxpayer funds go on to extremist community organisations that undermine social cohesion. Labor gave more than $1.5 million in funding to a group whose employee called October 7th 'a day of courage' and vowed that Islam would dominate.”
“We've had a series of appalling incidents of vandalism and public displays of support for terrorists. It's left many Australians very shocked and troubled by this but particularly Australians of Jewish heritage and faith, who feel under siege, who feel like their country is disappearing before them and who have always considered themselves Australians but are now being targeted by the government of Iran. But it's not just public displays of antisemitism. We have seen crime and hate spread across many parts of our community. Our universities have been transformed into nurseries of hatred, where students chant, 'From the river to the sea'. The phrase 'from the river to the sea' is, I'm guessing, not something they understand all too well. It's drawn directly from the Hamas charter documents as recently as 2017.”
“When we look at the Australian national flag and we see the Southern Cross, it's a reminder of how unique our geography is and the distance we have enjoyed over the years from many of the ancient hatreds in the Middle East and even Europe. But yesterday was a dark day in Australian history because we realised that those hatreds had come right to our front door. Iran has sponsored terrorist acts on our soil against Jewish Australians. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted operational activities to firebomb a place of worship in Melbourne and to firebomb a business in Sydney. To focus on that would be to miss the larger frame of the last two years which has occurred under this Labor government, and that is that we have seen a crisis of antisemitism erupt in this country.”
“Doctors and nurses are exhausted. This is a full-blown crisis. Clinicians warn the system is in a death spiral. And Premier Roger Cook's answer? A $50 million maintenance fund, which is 0.13 per cent of WA's infrastructure budget. My community and all Western Australians deserve better. They deserve hospitals that work and a government that delivers. It's time Labor stopped making excuses. It's time Labor started fixing our hospitals, and I'll keep speaking in this chamber until it happens.”
“I want a better hospital for my constituents. That's why this is my 14th speech on this subject. Labor has governed Western Australia since 2017—almost a decade—and in that time they have promised $152 million to upgrade our hospital. And what have we seen? We've seen nothing—no new beds, no new wards. The Peel Health Campus is stretched to breaking point. And it's not just Peel. WA's health system is collapsing. Ambulance ramping is at record highs. When Labor took office in March 2017, ramping across WA was 641 hours for the month. Last month it blew out to over 7,000 hours, a record high. Behind those numbers are real people: children, families and seniors. Let me paint the picture. Paramedics are stuck outside our hospitals, instead of giving urgent care to those who need it. People sit for hours in emergency; some are even sent away.”
“I'd like to thank the locals that have raised this issue with me, especially Wendy, who manages a Facebook page with more than 1,000 members on this very issue. I suspect the minister would love for me to be quiet about this, but that's why we come here and represent our constituents on all issues; that's our job. I won't stop talking about this until there's a real outcome. For local families, local businesses and kids stuck indoors, I call on the Western Australian state government to stop dodging and start listening. My community deserves better.”
“Apparently, the urgency felt by the community wasn't enough to drag them out of their offices. I think their absence speaks volumes. It's easy to ignore a problem when you're not the one breathing it in. I've been chasing a meeting with the minister since April, and I'm pleased to report that I finally secured a meeting in September. I'll be bringing more than polite conversation to this meeting, and, if the minister won't come to Mandurah, I'll bring Mandurah to him. Last week I launched a petition on my website, calling on the WA government to take action, which has already been signed by nearly 700 locals. The result is more than a petition; it's a community sick and tired of being ignored. I'll be tabling the petition at the appropriate time, and I'll show it to the minister along with every concern and story I've been told by locals.”
“The smell is so bad that the Western Australian Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has a dedicated reporting function on its website just for the smell. This is not normal and should not be accepted. Thousands of people have reported it, and when they follow up they're provided with a generic response saying the department is aware of the issue—bureaucratic jargon for, 'We're not going to do anything about this.' Labor's WA environment minister is silent, and local Labor members are missing in action. In April I held a community forum on this issue, and hundreds of locals turned up, including people I'd never met before, because when your backyard smells like landfill you want answers. I invited the WA environment minister and the department to attend the forum, but they declined.”
“Today I rise to raise a stinker of an issue, and I'm not just playing with words. We have a stink that hangs over the northern part of my electorate, and it's making life miserable for thousands of residents in Lakelands, Madora Bay, Singleton, Meadow Springs and beyond. I'm referring to the persistent and foul odour coming from businesses near these suburbs in Nambeelup. The smell is making homes unlivable. Outdoor activities are becoming unbearable. Families are embarrassed to invite friends over and socialise. Kids can't play outside of school, and people are forced to keep their windows closed in the middle of summer. They can't turn their air conditioning on, because the smell is then blown into their homes. This isn't normal, and it shouldn't be accepted.”
“We'll always back our intelligence officers in ASIS, our intelligence officers in ASIO and the AFP officers in law enforcement, who every day in the shadows work hard to keep us safe. So we'll be supporting this bill without amendment. Debate adjourned.”
“I want to note that there are people on both sides of the House who have concerns about such powers, and certainly I'm alive to those. I think oversight of these powers is really important. Accountability and transparency is part of our democratic tradition. So whoever on the PJCIS looks at these closely from our side at least will make sure that these concerns are addressed within the public inquiry and also behind closed doors when these discussions are handled within the committee itself. I want to the put on the record very, very clearly that the coalition will always support sensible reforms which empower Australian men and women serving on the front line in intelligence and law enforcement roles.”
“Since its introduction, the compulsory questioning framework has been renewed five times before it was due to cease, and this has resulted in the questioning framework being in force continuously since 2003—that's 22 years of bipartisan support for these tools. We wish we didn't have these on the statute books at all, but, in today's world, it's necessary that we protect the Australian people through such a legislative framework because ASIO's compulsory questioning powers remain a valuable intelligence collection tool. It's also a tool of interdiction and disruption in an increasingly complex security landscape. This legislation will ensure there is no disruption to ASIO's access to these powers while further reforms are considered by the parliament.”
“We saw them updated and modernised to account for the development of homegrown terrorism with Islamic State about a decade ago, and now, with great power competition taking place across the globe, the rise of espionage, foreign interference and sabotage, the second bill—which we're not considering today, but it's worth foreshadowing—will modernise the compulsory questioning powers to include those more pressing threats. We know that the ASIO director-general has talked often over the years about espionage and foreign interference and now sabotage being real and pressing threats to Australian national security, and that's why it's good that we're updating these laws.”
“This legislation serves as a stop-gap extension to ensure ASIO retains these powers while the reform is being progressed through the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2025, which is to be considered by parliament, as well as the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which is the normal avenue for in-depth inquiries. The second ASIO amendment bill contains substantive reforms to the compulsory questioning power regime and will be considered by parliament separately. By way of background, these powers were introduced in the wake of the attacks of September 11, back in 2001. They came on to the statute books in 2003 to combat the growing threat of terrorism.”
“The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2025 extends the compulsory questioning warrant framework in the ASIO Act for a further 18 months to 7 March 2027. It's been a pattern over the last 10 years or so—at least whilst I've been on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security—to sunset some of the more contentious national security bills. The questioning powers have had sunsetting powers for some time, and that's why this first bill, out of a package of two bills, is before the House today. Ahead of the sunsetting of ASIO's compulsory questioning powers, the PJCIS commenced a review into division 3 of part III of the ASIO Act in the last parliament, but this inquiry lapsed when the House was dissolved.”
“Who is going to stand up for our families, our seniors, our workers, our small businesses and heavy industry, who bear the cost of Labor's net zero policies? Mr Stiell should come to my electorate, look the 3,000 Alcoa workers in the eyes and explain to them the true cost of net zero.”
“We are literally fuelling the world's largest and fastest-growing emitters with our exports. That's a reality they won't admit. But Mr Stiell has the gall to come down here and lecture the Australian people on climate goals and demand that we further weaken our economy, de-industrialise our country and transfer wealth from some of the poorest Australians to the most wealthy Australians. Here's the real kicker: that money is used to subsidise foreign energy interests. Australians can't stand hypocrisy, and hypocrisy lies at the heart of the net zero economy that this government is building. We see hypocrisy from this Labor government, and we've seen from the UN climate boss. Who is going to stand up for regular Australians?”
“Given that Australia produces only 1.1 per cent of the world's emissions—last year we only increased our emissions by 0.3 per cent—my question for Mr Stiell would be: 'Have you asked China, India and Indonesia the same question?' Last year, China accounted for 30.7 per cent of the world's emissions, and they grew by 1.2 per cent. India accounted for eight per cent of the world's emissions and grew by 3.7 per cent. Indonesia accounted for 2.2 per cent of the world's emissions and grew by 6.3 per cent. Has Mr Stiell asked Australia to halt the export of coal and gas to India, China, Japan, South Korea and other Asia-Pacific countries? Last year we exported 25 per cent of the world's coal and 20 per cent of the world's gas. No, he hasn't. So he can't really be serious on climate change.”
“To recap, Labor is driving our country into the ground chasing radical and unrealistic climate targets. The Australian people are paying the costs in power prices, in dropping living standards, in jobs moving offshore and in our national prosperity. The net impact is that we are less secure and less sovereign as a nation. Now, onto the stage in Sydney yesterday walked the UN climate boss, Mr Stiell, and he urged Australia to go big on targets, saying we must avoid 'bog-standard' targets or the world will overheat.”
“If you question this, people are quick to call you a climate denier, but everyone knows that the price of electricity keeps going up. Everyone knows the price of gas keeps going up. After all, you're the ones who get the bills. Labor's objective is to have 82 per cent of the electricity grid powered by renewables by 2030. So what they're going to do is move from cheap, reliable Aussie coal-and-gas-fired power stations to Chinese made, industrial-scale wind and solar farms that destroy our fertile farming land and our environment and will be very expensive and unreliable. It's a pretty bleak picture. Today we heard from Ross Garnaut, a long-time adviser to Labor governments, that Labor is not on target for 2030. In fact, they're going to miss their goal or objective by a big margin.”
“If you have further questions, many people do as well. To achieve that, Labor has committed to a radical decarbonisation of the Australian economy. That's why they have introduced a tax on our heavy industry—the safeguard mechanism. That's why they're transferring massive subsidies—your money—to inefficient foreign-backed renewable projects. That's the Capacity Investment Scheme. That's why there's a tax on utes and four-wheel drives—to make diesel and petrol powered vehicles more expensive and move you to electric vehicles. That's the new fuel efficiency standard. That's why a tax on farmers is also coming with the obligation for them to report indirect emissions in their supply and value chains. All of this will have huge economic consequences, and no-one is really being honest about the true cost of net zero.”
“Tonight I'm calling out the moral hypocrisy of the net zero zealots. I do this on behalf of regular Australians, who are the ones bearing the cost of Labor's reckless climate and energy policy. But tonight I'm not just calling out the Prime Minister; I'm calling out the hypocrisy of the UN climate chief, Mr Simon Stiell of Grenada. For regular Australians, that's the bloke who travels the world, presumably on planes powered by fossil fuels, on behalf of the United Nations, demanding radical climate targets from countries who are signatories to the Paris Agreement and who have signed up to net zero by 2050. 'What is net zero?' you might ask. Net zero commits Australia to holding the increase in global average temperatures to well below two degrees of warming and to pursuing efforts to keep warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
“This is a government which is hopeless on national security. It's hopelessly divided by factional party politics. And it's compromising— (Time expired)”
“Why are they running such a ramshackle government and compromising our national security?' The answer is very simply that this is a government that prioritises factional and party politics over the protection of Australians. As a consequence, our national security agencies have languished under a lack of strategic direction from a weak Prime Minister. Whether it comes to terrorist plots on our shores or foreign naval vessels circumnavigating Australia, the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is not across the details when Australia needs him most to be. The Prime Minister even kicked out key national security agencies, including ASIO and ASIS, from the National Security Committee of cabinet. Guess who was brought on? You can't make this up. He replaced them with the Minister for Climate Change and Energy.”
“After he sacked the former minister for home affairs and the former minister for immigration for their botched handling of the NZYQ and direction 99 saga, the Prime Minister actually went further and said, 'You know what? We'll strip ASIO out of Home Affairs too.' You can't make this up. That meant that the Minister for Home Affairs was minister in name only. He had no agencies to deliver on the counterterrorism mission they were responsible for. In fact, the portfolio was completely stripped of the operational elements required to keep Australians safe. Perhaps this was the reason why the Minister for Home Affairs was missing in action from the major announcement in August last year that the terrorism threat level was being raised, on ASIO advice, to probable. What's going on here? Australians would be asking: 'What's going on here?”