By Peter Brown
For a moment, it was easy to forget that the speaker standing at the National Press Club was Pauline Hanson.
The themes were familiar. Immigration was blamed for almost every social problem. Multiculturalism was portrayed as a failed experiment. Public broadcasters were attacked. The political establishment was condemned. The media was cast as an enemy. Cultural grievances were elevated into national crises. The message was clear: Australia has been betrayed by its elites and only a populist uprising can save it.
Had the speech been delivered with an American accent, many Australians could have mistaken it for an address by President Donald Trump.
That should not come as a surprise.
For years, Hanson has openly admired Trump and the political movement he created. Like Trump, she presents herself as the voice of ordinary people against distant elites. Like Trump, she frames politics as a struggle between “real” citizens and institutions that have supposedly lost touch with the nation. Like Trump, she has discovered that grievance is often more politically powerful than solutions.
At the centre of her address was a declaration that Australia should be a “monocultural society” rather than a multicultural one. Hanson argued that high migration had caused Australia to lose its identity and values. She also attacked multicultural institutions, including SBS, while proposing major changes to the ABC.
This was vintage Hanson. It was also vintage Trump.
Both politicians have built careers on the proposition that the nation has somehow been taken away from its rightful owners. Both promise to restore a lost golden age that is rarely defined but always emotionally powerful. Both identify immigrants, minorities, cultural change and political correctness as convenient explanations for complex economic and social problems.
The irony is that modern Australia owes much of its success to the very multiculturalism Hanson condemns.
Australia’s prosperity has been built by successive waves of migration. The doctors working in regional hospitals, the engineers designing infrastructure, the small business owners revitalising local communities and the workers filling labour shortages often come from migrant backgrounds. They are not a threat to Australia. They are Australia.
Yet the speech was not simply about immigration.
Like many modern populist movements, it sought to cultivate distrust of institutions. Journalists were criticised. Public broadcasters were targeted. Experts were dismissed. Government agencies were portrayed as part of a disconnected elite.
Again, the parallels with Trump were impossible to ignore.
The formula is well established. If voters lose confidence in the media, government departments, universities, scientists and public institutions, they become more likely to place their trust in charismatic political figures who claim that only they can tell the truth.
Trump perfected this strategy in the United States.
Hanson appears increasingly willing to adopt it in Australia.
Her supporters argue that she is merely speaking uncomfortable truths that others are afraid to discuss. Her critics see something more dangerous: the importation of American-style grievance politics into a country that has largely avoided the extreme polarisation now defining the United States.
The National Press Club address demonstrated just how far that process has advanced.
This was not the Pauline Hanson of the 1990s railing against political correctness from the fringes of Australian politics. This was the leader of a party that believes it is on the rise, speaking as though it has a genuine pathway to power. One Nation has recently enjoyed stronger polling and is increasingly presenting itself as more than a protest movement.
That development should concern Australians regardless of their political affiliation.
Democracy requires disagreement. It requires robust debate about immigration, energy policy, taxation and national identity. But democracy also depends on a shared acceptance of facts, institutions and the legitimacy of political opponents.
The Trump era demonstrated what can happen when politics becomes permanently fuelled by outrage, resentment and distrust.
Australia would be wise not to follow the same path.
Pauline Hanson went to the National Press Club as Pauline Hanson.
By the end of the speech, many Australians may have been left wondering whether they had just watched Donald Trump.
Also by Peter Brown
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GetUp apparently projected a photo behind her that said that she had accepted a personal $100,000 pay rise – as leader of a “minor party” but opposed pay rises for workers.
Very funny and fully deserved for that stupid cow.
And yes – she has opposed pay rises for workers at least 4 times in the last 3 years.
Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce should be given every possible opportunity to appear on television, digital and print media every day and night for until the next federal election. Thus, the electorate will ensure that these 2 reprobates from justice will never again grace the halls of Canberra.
I watched it and was disgusted. Her contempt for so many of the institutions for good in the country distressed me. As the author pointed out it was utterly Trumpist. Dog help us if she ever gets near the levels of influence the polls indicate. But there is a big warning here for Labor and Albanese in particular: the people can see through your crocodile tears about wanting to help them through the economic chaos, they can see the attacks on free speech, the mealy mouthed support for Israel, the kow-towing to the zionists, the piss-weak anti corruption legislation, the attempts to discredit or crush the greens and Teals through campaign funding manipulation, the continued support for fossil fuel and foreign mining interests, the refusal to put a 25% tax on gas, the refusal to do anything meaningful on gambling reform and the blatant corruption of the FOI regime. Australia needs a strong leader to carry out the real reform needed. It certainly isn’t Hanson but nor is it any longer Albanese who is leading Labor into minority government.
Romeo, you have covered it well. Now if/until Albo gets a backbone, who ???
God help us if this despicable reprobate becomes leader. She is attacking anybody who disagrees with her.
I am curious about Hanson’s monoculture. Who would she consider the archetype for that ideal. I guess she looking for WASPs, the almost mythical White Anglo-Saxon Protestants? An astonishing number of the population base in Australia were Irish Catholics. Maybe convict lineage can be dismissed and we can look solely to the English and claim descent from the descendants of the Remittance men and the squatters who stole vast areas of land against the wishes of either the State government, or the British Colonial Office.
What about people descending from the multicultural Gold diggers that came here in the 1850s – great workers digging in to succeed. Oh dear, that brings in significant numbers of Chinese, Americans, Germans, Italians, and other Europeans. So I guess we should go back to the First Fleet and the English born convicts… except even then there were over 140 people born in Ireland, at least 12 Black Africans/African Americans, including the famous early settler William Blue and Australia’s first bushranger, Black Caesar, and some 14 north Americans. There were also people from the Netherlands, France, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Bengal (India).
The country has been multi-cultural since the British arrived.
Since the First Fleet, carrying convicts, we have always been a multicultural country. Post-war immigration is what has made this country great. This has been particularly true since the 1950s. We now have a diverse exciting culture.
Comments on Hanson’s National Press Club Address
She started by deliberately not acknowledging ‘Welcome to Country’. :
“Don’t expect a divisive ‘Welcome to Country’ from me”. That is a divisive statement in itself.
After that she praised all the immigrants who have made Australia the beautiful country it is.
That’s right, before European immigrants there were no mountains, trees, pristine rivers, etc.
She says we are a multi-racial country, but must reject multi-culturalism. Everyone must be the same flavour of bland, fish and chip eaters.
She quotes a whole lot of immigration figures. I’ll let the regular press take those apart.
She says Australia is in danger of losing its identity. She says we have a growing language problem. We don’t speak English well. She should listen to herself!
“There is no room for hate preachers in this country”
She had better leave then.
She says removing negative gearing will make investment move away from housing. That is exactly the point, stop investors buying up properties and starving out genuine home buyers. Housing is about people who want a home, not for those who want investment properties.
She keeps on about ‘Radical Islam’. No one disagrees with the radical part, but her followers just think of Islam.
Cost of living.
She quotes a Salvation Army report. Note that Salvation Army are a humanitarian organisation, One Nation is not. The Salvation Army helps people. Politicians like Hanson don’t help people by spreading their message of hate. Hanson’s policies would see aid to needy people cut.
She brings up examples like 35% of people say they survive on one meal a day (maybe that is a dietary choice) and 35% send their children to school hungry. But why is that? Maybe they just did not bother to give them breakfast, or less than 3 Weetbix is counted as hungry. She cherry picks examples.
During this part an electronic banner was unfurled. It was claimed by ‘Get Up’ who said they had sneaked in the previous day and installed it. It was triggered remotely. A very clever and silent protest. The banner read “I opposed a part rise for workers, while I took a $100,000 pay rise for myself.” This was not clear in the Press Club broadcast. It seemed an appropriate and clever time to lower the banner.
At least Hanson smiled, she could have been humorous about it. However, seconds later some tattooed thugs moved in and furiously ripped the banner down. I don’t know whether they were Hanson’s mob of from the Press Club.
She actually called Chris Bowen ‘Peanut Bowen’, “where is he with his reliable energy?”.
“51% say they go to a shopping centre to keep warm or cool”.
Well, yes a lot of people do that. It is just natural “A hot day, let’s go to the shops or cinema for air conditioning”. It used to be the beach. So what?
“46% can’t afford prescription medicine”
They should go and live in the USA, we have very cheap medicines here. For pensioners, it is $7.70 for a script.
She promises that One Nation will dismantle the governments energy policy. Well we tried that for 9 years under LNP. We are only just starting to recover and get renewables where they should be.
She cites Oz Harvest. They report 350,000 seek food help each month. But Oz Harvest and other organisations are people who do something, not people who pontificate about how bad things are and try to whip up anger and hate in others.
I agree with her that Australia is a rich country. But she will make it even worse in terms of rich getting richer and poor… etc.
She wants to scrap taxes that enable government to run the very programs she says are needed.
“The hoax of global warming, which is now climate change”
She claims the government has taken Australia into “energy poverty”. What nonsense.
She goes on with “Fire the liar”.
She quotes things that oil must be used for. So why are we just burning it? If we burn the oil there won’t be any to make the things she claims oil is essential for. Jet fuel will be more expensive because the demand for burning it in terrestrial transport will push up the prices. She says helium used in medicine comes from natural gas. There is no helium in natural gas. What did she mean?
Hanson just does not know what she is talking about.
She calls subsidies for renewables a rort. Well it is a matter of funding national infrastructure.
She claims the Clean Energy Council has been funded $200 billion of tax payer money. I’d have to fact check if the figure is correct and what it has been spent on.
“Now don’t get me wrong — I’m not opposed to renewable energy”
Um, wait, yes she is.
She says “The hydrogen revolution is blowing up in Australia’s face – or should I say Andrew Forrest’s face”.
Well, there is a lot of doubt from people about the effectiveness of hydrogen (John Dee included). And Anerew Forrest is a competitor to Hanson’s biggest sponsor, Gina Reinhardt.
She decries that taxpayers money should be spent (in these very legitimate ways). Well that is what taxes are for, to get spent back into the community to provide us services and benefits.
Government has no money of their own other than what they take from taxpayers. Well for a start that is not true, government has other forms of revenue. They do need to ensure that all parties in Australia pay their taxes — not just individuals. She again makes simplistic points, ignoring other factors.
“One Nation will introduce nuclear energy”
Let that be a warning. The most expensive and toxic option that we don’t need because we are “blessed with natural resources”, being solar and wind, not just those we need to dig up and destroy the land.
She says she has always opposed the current energy policy. But that is what has come after nine years of neglect under LNP.
Ford and Holden closed their manufacturing plants here, but that was under LNP.
“The source of much of our wealth is under our feet”.
Unfortunately, that is true of Australia. But Australia has always taken the lazy option. But Australia gives it away, just to make contracts with multi-nationals. John Howard did that with our gas.
But if we don’t need expensive and dirty mining operations because we have clean and cheap renewables, leave it in the ground. Does she want to dig up Kakadu to get all that uranium (the sleeping dragon)?
No, she is pushing the coal and gas options. We can’t afford that, either in money or environmental damage.
“Stop blaming the Middle East”.
Well, she did not explain or expound on that. But many of the problems the oil shock, etc of the last three months is due to that. OK stop blaming the middle east, blame Trump and Netanyahu. It is their mess.
She says the government wants to take $77 billion from taxpayer pockets. Let’s get rid of this notion that the money we have is ours. It is the nation’s. It just flows through our pockets, like standing in a river, the water flows past us. We can enjoy its cooling effect, but we don’t own it. We are all part of this economy. The metaphor of pockets is fundamentally wrong. But we will only get simplistic words from Hanson, appealing to simplistic thinking.
Like all conservatives, she loves to quote big numbers that most people have little conception about. Simplistic scare tactics. Life goes on.
She then speaks to her base saying people feel afraid to speak out “the risk of speaking out is too great. They feel demonised and condescended. They feel ‘mad as hell’ about it”. Again she is whipping up fear and hate.
“That was the best outcome of the Voice to Parliament referendum – it shows that Australians were not prepared to let their country be taken away from them”
What absolute gall. We took this country from its inhabitants and now we don’t even give them a say in their own outcomes. She completely mischaracterised the Voice, as is what happened in 2023.
“Thankfully, Australians have woken up”
What they are now woke?
She attacks the “transgender insurgency”.
More hate speech coming. A more complex issue that Hanson will gloss over to feed ignorance.
“The transgender movement is a militant force right throughout society.”
Well what does she think this One Nation movement is, or MAGA in USA, or Farage’s Reform in UK? They are militant forces we should be worried about.
She then posits “militant transgenderism” with “militant Islam”.
“This whole subversive transgender insurgency must be dismantled.”
Just setting up a straw man here.
Hanson is then interrupted by the moderator to give a summary so that questions can be taken. She responds “I only have a few pages left”
As I suspected she is deliberately filling the time so she limits questions. So much for free press under people like Hanson and Trump.
She turns to AI. I agree with the first part, but as for characterising the Albanese government as leaving it up to large corporations to regulate, that is wrong. Australia is leading legislation in this area.
“If II is to be…” Ah, Australia’s great contribution to the language, let’s just get rid of ‘A’ altogether, is just sounds like ‘I’! ‘IEIOU’.
Now she turns on the media (remember this is at the National Press Club).
“It does not give you the licence to say ‘We are a racist party’ because that is untrue”.
Racists always say they are not racist. When she decries multiculturalism, she IS being racist.
“Rest assured there will be big changes if One Nation is given the chance.
“The SBS will be gone. … The Internet has overtaken the need for it.”
She obviously has not watched SBS in a while. There is not so much foreign language content now. But there are wonderful documentaries and news analysis programs. It is a wonderful service.
“The ABC will still exist, but in a very different form.”
She will make the ABC a subscription service only in the cities.
“Their arrogance is stunning in its scope”.
She refuses ABC interviews. “Their bias towards One Nation is obvious. I don’t answer to the media”.
That means, like Trump, she does not answer to the people.
“I answer to the Australian people”.
But without the media, we won’t know what she is saying. She probably can’t answer their questions. She is now going well over time so she does not have to answer questions.
“I love this country. I am a patriot and an unashamed nationalist.”
She, like many of her followers are flag shaggers.
Questions
She has banned the ABC and she has banned The Guardian.
“I want truthful and honest reporting from the media”
But on what she has just spent over 50 minutes espousing, that is exactly what she is getting. Note this is being broadcast on the ABC. If the ABC were just a propaganda arm of the government this would never have been allowed.
She will obviously stick to propaganda arms like Sky News.
Hanson is just spreading her own version of Trump’s ‘fake news’.
She talks about “Australian’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars”. Well that is exactly the point to reducing CGT concessions, so those who are just living off investments are also paying fair tax like those who earn their income the hard way by going out to work. But she is against that. Her words are hypocritical.
Asked if she would pressure the RBA to reduce interest rates, she correctly says government cannot do that. But the she says that the government must spend less so she’d abolish the climate change department, the Aboriginal department, and “those stupid health and education” (mumbles) with the states. She would cut the NDIS, going after the scammers and rorters. Well what does she think the government is doing?
She now shows simplistic and incorrect understanding of economics saying to cut government spending to bring down debt.
Hanson thinks she is speaking for the average Australian. Of course everyone probably thinks they are the ‘average Australian’. Don’t be fooled, she is not speaking for us.
A question from Sarah Martin from the Guardian about Hanson’s daughter being tax-payer funded for $150,000 to campaign in Tasmania. Did Hanson have any role in appointing to that position.
The reaction is telling, she calls Sarah Martin “a trashy journalist, constantly trying to pull down, myself, my party, and Mrs Reinhart. What ever you do, you will be banned from my answering. I’ll answer you this question today, but I’m telling you now, don’t come near me for an interview in the future.”
It is Hanson who is the trashy politician. Some fact checking would be needed on the claims of Martin and the rebuttal by Hanson.
John Paul (JP) Janke then asked a question on behalf of NITV. He asks what will happen to all the programs for Aboriginals if the Department for Aboriginals (set up by LNP) is abolished.
Hanson responds that “we are all Australians, all treated equally”. But there is not equality in society.
Michael De Percy asks a pointed question about the public service.
Hanson has a spray at the public service and ministers who consult the public service for advice. “They are incompetent and they are useless”. She says that One Nation will tell the public service what to do. This is setting up the public service as a straw man target of people’s hate. One Nation will tell what public service “This is it”. But they won’t be getting the advice of experts. This is a general problem in society where people make up their own uninformed minds about things.
Anna Henderson from SBS asks a question about abortion and gestational period.
Hanson immediately cherry picks the fictional example of one day before birth. That would almost happen in 0% of cases.
Anna Henderson then asks about abolishing SBS and Australian news being made in 60 languages.
Hanson responds with “Your going to be without a job”. Hanson has a go at people who speak little English. What a hypocrite — listen to the way she speaks “Austraya”, etc. Hanson has very poor English herself. It is time she was assimilated, but I don’t know what to.
“Sky is great to go and look for news”. Oh, yes, the propaganda source that supports people like Hanson. Again like Trump, keep those news outlets that support you while trying to destroy those who ask deeper questions that people like Hanson really can’t answer.
Chloe Bouras from Network 10 asks about the government’s pay rise for child care workers.
Hanson: “Child care is completely out of control”. Well you can see where she is on that one, bringing down hard working lowly paid workers.
Bouras asks her what she thinks child care should look like?
“I’m not going to announce policy on the run”
That is Hanson is happy to bully and denounce but has no ideas what she will do.
She says “dig baby dig”. Ugh.
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/NC2611C021S00
Can someone please explain Australian Culture for me.
Does it include religion? If so, will be the Anglican Church, or will other denominations fit the definition?
In sport, wich code represents Australian Culture?
AFL, NRL, Football aka soccer?
I can think of a myriad more questions, Australian monoculture needs to be clearly defined, but that I think may be a bridge too far for the intellectual giants calling for it.
Thanks Ian Joyner for that summary and the link
Australia needs more of Poorleen at the Press Club.
Lots more, so that we can get her to pleeze-explayne how her political brain farts, her divisive, racist rhetoric and ideologies, and her vague and illogical thoughts on how to “fix” this wonderful country for everyone when every word she speaks reeks of self.
The more frequently she is examined by a broad spectrum of journalists or others who are not from the protective shield of the murdochracy, the more obvious her unsuitability for any position apart form back behind her chip-shop counter she will become.
She aspires to the position of Donny Downunder. Billionaire friends…tick. Hair…tick. Face…tick. Idiocy…tick. She even has her own pseudo proud-boy thugs for when Get-Up do something clever and expose her soul. On the other hand she doesn’t have a relationship with Vlad the Invader or the Gulf State rulers, but she doesn’t shit herself either. All in all, it’s a tie. Except that Aussies are not septics. WE are not that gullible. (Yeah, there are some who will fall for her shite, but seriously ?)
Now. This monoculture thing. Aussie Aussie Aussie etc etc.
What is our “monoculture”? Vaguely irreligious beer-swilling bet on two flies on a wall wife bashing dunnydore driving Akubra wearing surfers? Cool. Except for the Ford fols, and the little racing bmw/volkwagen/subaru shopping trolley drivers.
Sport is…? Football..!!!! Simples. (Unless its the Olympics of course. Or the WC. Or F1)
It was NRL SoO2 tonight. Not even half of Australia support an NRL team, and if Poorleen reckons that NSW folk will change to worshipping the Marroons, even in the name of monoculture, she’s dreamin’.
The murdochracy msm will keep Poorleen’s ON veggie-bus front and centre, and highlight its popularity with the “masses (bith of them) on an almost hourly basis. The more often that Ms Pleezexplayne shows up for a more forensic examination, the bigger and wider the craks between her thought bubbles and reality will become, and along with that the complete unsuitability for her in any public position whatsoever.
I’ve seen Hanson today, the horrible harping haggybaggy horror, fumbling the gearstick of a seizedup brainbox, a female impersonator sucking our money for NOT turning up to the senate gig, farting around in a donor’s plane, a kindy reject,(the fat frau of the west), tolerating B Joyce as a colleague, that filthite rooting raving reject. What ignorant DOGSHIT. The Hanson performance shows a lack of brains, soul, experience, reality, qualifications, decency, ability, femininity, sense, BASICS. Be sensible…
A pathetic, whiny and whinging grievance politician puppet with the culture of a discarded old BBQ out on the street for tip collection, and the intellect of a hard tack. The only solution Hanson is, is an acid one. She is a cypher for selfish, ungrateful, bitter, utterly entitled delusionals who fantasize about a better past which hasn’t existed for so long they need to GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON.
Well said, Ian. I can turn that into an article if you wish.
For the record, she has no problem with nepotism as One Nation has employed her Tasmanian-based daughter as a senior adviser to a New South Wales senator, in a taxpayer-funded role worth as much as $180,000 a year. Under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act, parliamentarians are not allowed to employ immediate family members. However, parliamentarians are permitted to employ the family members of other MPs – whatever it takes!
Ms Hanson’s daughter, Lee is busily providing ‘advice’ to One Nation NSW Senator Sean Bell from her home in Hobart whilst she also hustles for a seat in either the Tasmanian or national parliament on behalf of One Nation – that sounds like a rort to me.
It’s funny how the only people who find multiculturalism “divisive” are the ones pushing the divisions …
@ Ian Joyner: Thank you for the detailed analysis. I also sat through the rubbish diatribe.
Perhaps it is time for our AIMN writers to put their combined skills to exposing the false statements spewed out by the PHONeys. Perhaps start with an analysis of the current PHONey MPs, including Pawlean and her acolytes like our favourite alcoholic Beetrooter, Mad Malcolm and the other non-entities being paid too much for doing too little for too long suffering Australian taxpayers.
Then we could take each policy and systematically break it down into its deceptions, half-truths and propaganda.
Overcoming the Murdochcracy Media Manipulation Monopoly will take considerable effort given Auntie Gina funding the billionaire politics of greed.
An alternative view for dealing with the PHONeys and their non-policies favouring the Billionaire’s Club.
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2026/06/18/labor-party-supporters-help-promote-pauline-hansons-one-nation/
From The Conversation, Michelle Gratton 180626
A SUMMARY OF THE PAWLEAN NPC ”SPEECH”
1) No new PHONey policies for the future were announced.
2) Plenty of self-serving justification of her personal under-performance for her too long under-performance on behalf of Australian voters.
3) Scrap SBS, defund the ABC (to satisfy the Murdoch family vendetta since 1932) make city ABC a subscription – (back to pre-Whitlam policy) keep free regional ABC.
4) Selectively ban media organisations she perceived as being unsympathetic to her whingeing rages; includes The Guardian (especially Sarah Martin), Nine Network and (surviving) ABC.
5) Denounced ”radical Islam” (but failed to mention ”radical Xhristian nationalism” as being ”incompatible with Australian values and our way of life”).
6) Rejected multiculturalism but wants ”monocultural Australia”(??).
7) Abolish a swathe of government agencies and even departments (Too many to list here).
8) Sack Heads of both Human Rights Commission and the Sex Discrimination Commission.
9). Attacked ”transgender insurgency” that allegedly has penetrated almost every regulatory authority”.
10) Defamed the late Tim Fischer without any evidence for too long standing alleged slight.
11) Tax policy will be decided after talking to experts.
12) Child care will be investigated to ”see where the money is going”.
13) No comment about the Reserve Bank.
14) Limit a woman’s right to self-determination of reproductive health.
Overall a performance lacking in policies while filled with self-justification for her too long presence in the Australian Parliament.
“11) Tax policy will be decided after talking to experts.”
Gina, Twiggy, Gerry Harvey, Rupert, Anthony Pratt, many assorted tech bros, hedge fund managers and influencers. And who can forget Barnaby and Ashby.
Ian Joyner,
you say: “She brings up examples like 35% of people say they survive on one meal a day (maybe that is a dietary choice) and 35% send their children to school hungry. But why is that? Maybe they just did not bother to give them breakfast, or less than 3 Weetbix is counted as hungry. She cherry picks examples.
WTF?
Just channeling some inner Tony Abbott, were we?
Since when is describing poverty as some kind of life choice ok?
There are nearly 4 million Australians living in poverty. Poverty for many Australians has been life under Labor; you might not like to acknowledge that fact, but it is reality for many Australians.
Oh, they might just be dietary choices, right? just hoarding the Weetbix, right?
One in three Australian households faced food insecurity; households, not individuals, households (Foodbank Hunger Report 2025). That might be an inconvenient reality to face for those living in some Labor ivory tower, still looking for some light shining on a hill from Labor, but that is the reality for many Australians.
To dismiss that as some kind of life choice, raises the question of just how much difference is there now between Labor and their duopoly mate the Coalition?
While we’re on it, you say: “But Australia gives it away, just to make contracts with multi-nationals. John Howard did that with our gas.”
Nothing to do with Labor, right?
As much as I believe John Howard becoming PM was the worst thing to happen to Australia, let’s sheet responsibility for giving our gas away for free where it belongs.
According to Hartpartners:
“Here’s the kicker: companies like Chevron have exported billions of dollars’ worth of gas from mega-projects like Gorgon and Wheatstone — and those projects haven’t paid a cent in royalties. Why? Because they’re located in offshore Commonwealth waters, where no royalties apply. Instead, they fall under a separate system called the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) — a profits-based tax that only kicks in after a project has recovered all its costs (plus generous uplift rates).
The result? No PRRT payments have been made yet, despite exports beginning back in 2016. Chevron says PRRT payments may finally begin in 2025.
Yes, the company does pay some royalties — but only on legacy assets like Barrow Island oil and its 1/6 interest in the North West Shelf venture. Not on the multibillion-dollar LNG exports that dominate the gas economy.
Meanwhile, Australians:
Pay high income taxes.
Face rising cost-of-living pressures.
Get no dividend, no public wealth fund, no meaningful return on our natural resources
And what’s worse — this system was put in place back in 1988, and no government — Labor or Liberal — has had the courage to fix it.”
https://hartpartners.com.au/australias-gas-giveaway-how-did-we-let-this-happen/
If Hart are right, that would be Bob Hawke who put this system in place, not little Johnny. Furthermore, John Howard’s contract for Australian gas with China was for an expected $20-23 billion （not a great contract, but in the order of $20 billion better than Labor have done.)
Now, I could be wrong and maybe this all belongs in John Howard’s corner, I’d be only too happy to be proven wrong; citations provided please.
If ”monoculture” is the desired condition for Australian society does that mean all women should be clones of Pawlean?? You know, loud, screeching, ill-educated fish wives having no common sense and over-burdened with hatred for the bosses who keep her in penury??
Well Pawlean is not in any financial difficulties having access to the finances of the PHONeys and organised an overpaid government job for her daughter whom has her own political ambitions. Having seen how little her mother has done on a daily basis, the easy road into Parliament is just too tempting.