ADJOURNMENT

Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (19:29): One Nation likes to present itself as a voice of working Australians, but, when Australians examine its record, its priorities and the company it keeps, it is a very different picture that emerges. Behind the slogan is a party that repeatedly stands against measures that make life more secure for workers and families. One Nation is antiworker because it treats workplace rights as a burden rather than protection.

Its representation and its representatives have signalled a willingness to cut employee entitlements in the name of helping business. That is just like those opposite: that familiar conservative formula. When the economy is under pressure, ask the people on ordinary wages to surrender their conditions while those with the greatest wealth and power give up nothing.

One Nation is also against practical help with household budgets. At a time when families are carefully counting every dollar at the supermarket, at the fuel pump and when paying their electricity bills, Australia needs responsible relief. They need cheaper medicines, affordable child care, lower taxes, stronger wages, properly funded public services and affordable housing, yet One Nation's politics depend on anger, not answers; and slogans, not solutions.

They benefit from the cost-of-living pressures politically while opposing the Albanese Labor government's reforms that reduce it. They say one thing out in the community, but, when it comes to this chamber, they vote very differently. This is all on the public record.

Consider paid parental leave. Australia's scheme now provides 26 weeks of government funded leave and superannuation is now paid on that leave. These reforms recognise that caring for a newborn is work and that parents should not be forced to choose between a paycheque and time with their child.

Women should not be penalised in retirement for raising a family. There are some on that side of the chamber that want to encourage Australian women to have more babies, and yet they are saddling up with One Nation, who are opposed to it. One Nation has a history of opposing expansion of this scheme and, as recently as this year, raised the prospect of winding it back before attempting to clarify its position because of the backlash.

Working families deserve certainty, not confusion over whether an essential entitlement is safe. Then there are the tax cuts. Labor's tax reforms deliver real relief to every taxpayer, with the greatest benefit directed towards low- and middle-income earners.

That means more money in the pockets of shop assistants, nurses, teachers, construction workers, childcare educators and carers within the care community like aged care and disability. One Nation cannot credibly claim to stand for ordinary Australians while opposing broad personal income tax relief and backing political priorities that favour those already at the top.

The same contradiction is evident on Medicare. Australians need a health system strengthened through more bulk-billing, more urgent care clinics, cheaper medicines and better access to doctors. Improving Medicare means a pensioner can seek treatment without fearing the bill, a parent can take a sick child to a clinic, and a worker can receive care before a minor problem becomes a crisis.

Undermining investment in Medicare does not punish governments. It punishes patients. Labor's DNA is about providing for workers, it's about supporting families, and it's about delivering Medicare, investing in GPs and giving Australians access to health care when they need it, unlike the new coalition between One Nation, the Nationals and the Liberals, who have a record of voting against these things.

(Time expired)