Pauline Hanson has declared Welcome to Country ceremonies, net zero policy, and tightening immigration will be in her sights if she wins the 2028 Federal Election.
The One Nation leader outlined what the first 100 days of a potential Hanson government would look like on Tuesday night.
During an appearance on News24‘s Paul Murray Live, Hanson was asked by an audience member what she would prioritise if she formed a government.
She vowed to abolish Welcome to Country ceremonies in government departments and public schools, adding she and her colleagues ‘turn our back on it’ in the Senate.
‘That’s how I feel about it. So I’m prepared to do it myself. I do not believe in having Welcome to Country,’ she said.
‘You can’t stop people if businesses want to do it, all right. But in government departments, I wouldn’t have a Welcome to Country on the bottom of their literature or their sheets of paper they put out or government websites.
‘I wouldn’t be having it in educational system schools. I’d shut it all down.’
Reducing immigration also topped the list for Hanson, with the senator saying there are ‘too many people’ entering Australia.
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson has outlined her priorities if elected to govern the country
Hanson vowed to abolish Welcome to Country ceremonies in government departments and public schools
‘I’m selecting a figure around about 130,000 people,’ Hanson said.
‘You’ve still got to allow those into the country because a lot of businesses and doctors and nurses that we need [sic], you fill those positions by all means.
‘But cutting back immigration will address the housing issue that we have.’
One Nation would end Australia’s commitment to net zero and get rid of the climate change department, Hanson said.
‘Get rid of all that net zero rubbish. Get out of the Paris Agreement,’ she told the audience.
‘Once you do that, you’re going to reduce the cost of living, and the cost of electricity prices as well.
‘Once you do that, industries, manufacturers and small business will thrive from it.
‘The average household would also thrive because it’s not paying higher electricity costs. A country that wants to be productive needs to have cheap industry.’
An audience member asked Hanson to list the things she would do in the first 100 days of a One Nation government
Hanson also vowed to slash ‘wasteful’ government spending to ease the cost of living further and insisted the economic struggles facing Australians are due to overspending rather than conflict in the Middle East.
‘What has happened is the government has been wasting and spending too much money, which created inflation, which has driven cost of living,’ she said.
‘It needs to be cut right back. The wasteful spending, we would have a good look at that.’
The One Nation leader said she wants to get rid of ‘red, green, black and blue tape’ surrounding business in order to boost productivity.
‘International agreements that are holding us back with our sovereignty as a nation. Investment in Australia has dropped right back,’ she said.
An overhaul of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) would also be on the cards, she said, and promised to crack down on those rorting the system.
Hanson added that she would also like a full investigation into childcare.
‘To tell you the truth, it’s costing the taxpayers $16billion a year, and something’s out of control there,’ she said.
One Nation dropped one point to 25 per cent in the latest polling data, remaining slightly ahead of the Coalition on 22 per cent despite the opposition’s two-point rise
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‘That’s a lot of money spent in childcare, so that’s where I’d like an investigation into it.’
Hanson also suggested that she would consider giving all self-funded retirees a healthcare card offering cut-price medicine and ‘free’ GP visits.
‘Even getting a healthcare card, I think that if you’ve reached the age of retirement, you should be given the same benefits of having that healthcare card at least,’ she said.
The Albanese government remains on track for a third consecutive term, according to recent polling figures, despite recording the lowest majority-winning primary vote on record.
Labor’s primary vote remains steady at 28 per cent in the latest News24 Pulse/YouGov poll released on Wednesday.
One Nation dropped one point to 25 per cent, remaining slightly ahead of the Coalition on 22 per cent despite the opposition’s two-point rise.
Anthony Albanese would still win an election if it were held today, leading the Coalition 53-47 and One Nation 56-44 on a two-party-preferred basis.
Nonetheless, during her interview with News24, Hanson was confident in her plans for the 2028 election, including an intention to run candidates in every single seat.
‘This time around, you know, there’s a real chance that we can actually win seats in the lower house and the Senate,’ she said.
‘The seat of Farrer that we won, we had 81 (candidate) expressions of interests for that. The federal so far, 1,500 (candidate applications).
‘So the process that we’ve got now is a system that we’ve put in place that it really has a thorough look at the candidates.’
