“Let the true facts come out”: Pauline Hanson’s bushfire stance
Pauline Hanson has backed a royal commission into the Australian bushfire crisis but then immediately said to “throw bloody climate change out the window”.
The leader of the One Nation party was vocal about her views on the Today show this morning, as she discussed the latest Newspoll, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s plunging approval rating.
“I am actually disappointed in him myself,” said Senator Hanson.
“When he was immigration minister I predicted then that he would actually go on to be Prime Minister of this country and I have been dismally disappointed with him.
“He is not the strong leader he was then. I feel that a lot of the time he is fence-sitting.
“He is trying to appease a lot of people without just getting and making those tough decisions and going ahead and doing it.”
She said it cannot be denied that “the factors of government legislation” – whether it be local, state or federal – have put the country in the “predicament” it is in.
“When the forest floors have not been allowed to be cleared or the fire breaks done or the RFS (Rural Fire Service) allowed to do their job effectively or people building houses can’t clear the trees because of the legislation, it is ridiculous,” she said.
“It is a build-up of the fuel over a period of time, 30 plus years that it has come to this stage now.
“If you are going to have a royal commission into it, throw bloody climate change out of the window and let’s look at the pure facts of why we have had the bushfires, how they were handled, what we can do better to stop it happening again, lowering the emissions as they are dead set on doing.
“If you are going to charge people more tax, how on earth is that supposed to reduce the Earth’s temperatures? I would like to know.”
Her spiel continued.
She said people in small town pubs have told her the approach “is killing them” and they can’t afford a price hike for electricity.
She also questioned climate change and global warming predictions for 50 to 100 years’ time when “they can’t even get my weather right and tell me it is going to rain” for the next week.
“I think it’s a load of BS and making a lot of people rich over this,” she said.
Morrison is currently working on a cabinet submission for a royal commission into the bushfires.
If the states agree, the inquiry will delve into operational issues, and co-operation between federal and state governments as well as the impact of climate change.
“If you’re going to have a royal commission then open it up. Let’s have the true facts,” said Hanson.
To which Today host Allison Langdon asked: “So you don’t think that climate change has played any role in the bushfire crisis?”
Hanson conceded “the climate is changing” but then said that taxing people and raising electricity costs wouldn’t change the climate.
She said carbon emissions from transport should instead be the focus.
“The climate is changing pure to nature itself and our relation to the sun,” she said.
“If you are fair dinkum about climate change, you think it is having a big impact on us, then take all of the aeroplanes out of the sky. Don’t fly aeroplanes, don’t drive cars.
“Let’s really be serious about it if you’re going to be and not destroy people’s lives and jobs and industries and manufacturing because that is where we are headed.
“Climate change is happening, naturally, and that’s how the general public feel about it as well, not to be hoodwinked and lied to. Let the true facts come out.”
See Senator Hanson's entire Today show segment below, which included an update on Israel Folau's most recent bushfire-related sermon.
Israel Folau has broken down while giving a sermon on the bushfire crisis, suggesting Australians should have asked Jesus for help. #9Today pic.twitter.com/cJlyWDgtjr
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) January 12, 2020