One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts in call for OzExit from United Nations

ONE of our senators has called for Australia to follow in the footsteps of Brexit and cut ourselves off. You might wonder what from.

AUSTRALIA needs an “OzExit” from the “insidious and unelected swill” of the United Nations, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts has claimed.

In a maiden speech littered with climate change and banking conspiracies, the colourful Senator called for Australia to follow Britain’s exit from the EU.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who will deliver her much-anticipated first speech today, appeared to shake her head and roll her eyes as Senator Roberts heaped praise on her.

Senator Roberts said the UN was destroying Australia’s sovereignty through deals such as “Agenda 21”, a non-binding agreement that surrounded sustainable development.

“Australian values and way of life are also at risk from insidious institutions such as the unelected swill that is the United Nations,” Senator Roberts said. “Australia must leave the UN. We need an OzExit.”

The Senator, who had not held paid employment for eight years prior to election, said the international banking sector was “one of the greatest threats to our way of life” and called for a new publicly owned bank.

“This people’s bank would increase productivity ... shield the manipulation of our economy by the tight-knit international banking sector,” he said.

Labor Senator Anthony Chisholm said Queensland deserved better than “crack-pot conspiracy theories” and single-issue politicians.

“The Senator even brought up some of his ridiculous conspiracy theories about the United Nations,” he said.

Meanwhile, Brisbane LNP MP Trevor Evans is expected to use his maiden speech today to call for penalty rate reform and a new industrial relations award specifically for small business.

The former National Retail Association boss said the award should include penalty rates and overtime set by the Fair Work Commission, as well as loading for public holidays and any hours worked outside a 40-hour week.

“In industries like retail, the penalty rate system is a sham and a lie and on the brink of breaking down,” he will say.

He said currently penalty rates often weren’t paid as small business owners worked themselves, brought in family or did not open on weekends and public holidays.