Pauline Hanson’s blueprint for Australia under One Nation
PAULINE Hanson would enact laws that would reach from the bedroom to the boardroom under her vision for a better Australia.
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PAULINE Hanson would enact laws that would reach from the bedroom to the boardroom under her vision for a better Australia.
The “billboard on legs” has revealed couples should have to enter into compulsory pre-nuptial agreements to help end Family Court delays and decisions, and she wants to dump the GST and investigate a plan for a flat 2 per cent tax rate that would apply to everyone – including those on welfare.
Senator Hanson has outlined how she would run the country if she were prime minister, under a plan centred on reducing the cost of living, jobs for Aussies, national security, and tackling contentious social issues.
Foreign companies that owned critical Australian assets would be forced to sell them back to the Commonwealth.
Taxpayers would also fund a plan to get young people into apprenticeships, manufacturers would receive tax incentives to create Aussie jobs, and full head coverings, such as the burqa, would be banned in public.
She would cull the number of politicians, limit migration, introduce an Australian identity card to end welfare fraud, set up a royal commission into Islam, and build more dams, railways and ports.
She would also introduce “citizen-initiated referendums”, which would give voters the ability to introduce and repeal laws.
The One Nation leader said couples should be forced to enter into prenups outlining how they would deal with children and assets if a relationship broke down.
She said it could be one way to ease the burden on the family courts, which are taking years to hand down decisions between warring former couples.
“Family law is high on my agenda. I just think it needs a complete overhaul. It needs court-approved premarital agreements on finance and parental issues. So before someone goes into a relationship or a marriage, you must have a premarital agreement. It would be confidential (and lodged with courts).
“We’ve got to free up our court system. It’s overloaded. A lot of judgments aren’t being handed down for years.”
She said the system was prone to vexatious litigation, and there were “too many suicides and murders” because of it. Senator Hanson will meet with judges over the coming weeks to discuss how the system can be overhauled.
The flame-haired political phoenix revealed she would also force foreign companies that owned critical Australian infrastructure, such as ports, energy and communications, to sell the assets back to the Commonwealth.
Her popularity, especially in the regions, has prompted the Turnbull Government, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and the Queensland Government to be less city-centric.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull labelled Senator Hanson a “savvy” politician last year and heaped praise on the one-time political pariah.
Senator Hanson spoke exclusively to The Sunday Mail about her perseverance, her political comeback, her commitment to Australians, and why she won’t be bullied by major parties.
“People see me as I could be their sister, their mother, their neighbour next door,’’ Senator Hanson said. “They don’t see me as a career politician ... They’ve seen me running a small business, rearing kids by myself. They see this person, I’ve had knockdowns, I’ve been in prison, I’ve come out of there and guess what? They haven’t beaten me, I’ve got up again. They can throw everything at me and I’ll still keep doing what I believe in.
“I don’t change my tune, whichever way the polls are going. If you look at what I said 20 years ago, it’s exactly what I’m saying today. I’m a type of person who can make a decision. The past makes you more aware of what not to do in the future.”
This is partly the secret of the woman who had been out of politics for almost two decades before romping home in July’s double-dissolution federal election, bringing with her three other senators.
In her, many voters see a reflection of themselves – a battler, unashamedly unpolished politically, and someone who calls a spade a shovel. And then there’s her policies – once viewed as extreme, now becoming mainstream – as everyday Australians raise questions about immigration, the loss of jobs, and hip-pocket pain.
“The cost of living is out of hand for the average Australian. Our standard of living has dropped. I don’t think Liberal or Labor (politicians) understand,” she said.
“If (major parties) think the only way to get this country going is to bring in migrants, they are fools.”
Polls in Queensland and Western Australia point to a possibility of a power-sharing agreement in those states.
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‘EXIT FEE’ LEAVES CANDIDATES FUMING
PAULINE Hanson has told her candidates that if they’re elected at next month’s West Australian election and then quit One Nation, they must pay her party $250,000.
One Nation’s 60 candidates at the March 11 WA poll were told this week they must sign an agreement that binds them to the $250,000 “administration fee”. But after a rebellion by some candidates, One Nation last night said the extraordinary demand had been scrapped “on legal advice”.
The $250,000 exit penalty, believed to be unprecedented, would have shackled One Nation MPs to the party.
The fee was detailed in a letter sent on Monday to the candidates by One Nation’s headquarters in Queensland.
It states: “Any candidate endorsed by the party who then successfully becomes sworn in as an elected member of Parliament undertakes to remain a member of the party for the entirety of their sitting term.
“If the member (you) resigns from the party in a sitting term, a $250,000 administration fee will become due and payable immediately upon resignation.”
One Nation sources said Senator Hanson was wary of candidates being elected on the back of her popularity and then resigning from the party. In December, former WA senator Rod Culleton quit One Nation less than six months after the federal election.
A One Nation spokesman yesterday said there had been a rethink on the defection clause.
“Upon final legal advice on Friday, the party has since removed the need for candidates to agree to defection terms,” he said.
A One Nation source said several candidates had refused to sign the agreement and conveyed their anger at a meeting on Friday. The source said some candidates, desperate to become MPs, had already signed up. It can also be revealed candidates were told that if elected, they must “agree to a quarterly donation” of $1250 for running and campaign costs.
Sources in other parties last night poked fun at One Nation.
“I can’t see how that $250,000 exit fee is even enforceable,” one said. “I have to assume One Nation is banking on their candidates having no idea of the law and trying to exploit that.”
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HANSON PUTS FARMERS, BUSINESS HIGH ON AGENDA
PAULINE Hanson has accused the Palaszczuk Government of sapping the confidence of the Queensland economy, and has called for a tax break for businesses.
The federal senator, who will run at least 30 One Nation candidates in the next state election, vowed to do more to help farmers, and she said laws needed to change to allow businesses to sack dud staff.
Senator Hanson said she would empower farmers by removing laws that “shut down the farming sector” – a massive employer and economic driver for the state.
She also criticised Labor’s payroll tax: “It is absolutely ridiculous that when you have more staff you pay more taxes.”
The firebrand argued for an overhaul to industrial relations to allow all businesses to sack staff who were a burden.
“People should be able to employ who they want to, and if they are not up to scratch, they should be able to fire them without businesses having to pay out thousands of dollars to someone,” she said.
The former fish-and-chip shop owner said she knew what it was like to run a small business.
It is believed the Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry has sought meetings with Senator Hanson as industrial relations sets to heat up in Queensland and for the Turnbull Government.
Senator Hanson also sent a stinging rebuke to Ms Palaszczuk this week after the Premier called on the federal MP to do more to stop the Defence Force’s compulsory acquisition of farming land around Shoalwater Bay, near Rockhampton, to accommodate Singaporean troops who will train in the region.
“Anna Palaszczuk has issued an SOS asking me to help her lobby the Prime Minister and help her State Government deal with the huge land acquisition problem,’’ Senator Hanson wrote on Facebook. “I’m glad the Premier has seen me take the lead on this issue, and I will continue to take the lead on this issue.”
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