One Nation Upper House MP Rikki-Lee Tyrrell makes maiden speech

She made the comment on Tuesday (February 21) in her maiden speech to parliament which touched on racism allegations, immigration, water policy and the cause of the 2019 Black Summer bushfires.

"Cross my constituents in the wrong way and I will bite," Mrs Tyrrell said after declaring she was inspired by "hard-working, no fuss, honest people" rather than celebrities.

The ex-Tallangatta Valley resident, who has an office in Wangaratta, said fellow politicians wrongly told the media she was a racist.

"I forgive you for your hasty and ill-informed words," Mrs Tyrrell said.

She later spoke of her party's support of net zero immigration, saying "it's not about race or culture - it's about numbers".

"It is outright cruel to add more people to the population of those already struggling to get by," the mother of two said.

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Mrs Tyrrell, who lives on an irrigated property at Invergordon, south of Cobram, said "the mismanagement of our waterways, government interference and red and green tape are the reasons I find myself here today".

She was referring to her frustration at high water prices forcing farmers to leave the land during a drought in 2018 as the Murray River "was thumping mass amounts of water downstream".

Mrs Tyrrell also blamed political decisions for the Black Summer blazes.

"Climate change did not start the catastrophic bushfires in 2019," she said.

"The legislation stopping fire crews from practising safe spot burning (or backburning when I was in the RFS) during the off season was to blame there."

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