Overview
- One Nation MP David Farley told ABC Insiders on Sunday that the party’s “true” net overseas migration would be about 130,000 but that an extra 100,000 skilled and temporary workers would be counted separately, which he said would bring the effective intake to roughly 230,000.
- Hours after Farley’s interview, party leader Pauline Hanson posted that One Nation’s official policy remained cutting net overseas migration to 130,000 and MP Barnaby Joyce said on Monday that Farley had “misspoke,” repeatedly reaffirming the 130,000 net figure.
- Reporting found contradictions in One Nation’s public materials, including a deleted post by Hanson and website text that referred to a 130,000 visa cap rather than a net migration cap, deepening confusion about which visa streams would be included or excluded.
- The debate matters for the economy because ABS and government forecasts put net overseas migration far higher than 130,000 and business groups have warned that sudden or blunt cuts to skilled migration would worsen labour shortages in health, aged care, agriculture, construction and infrastructure.
- Opponents say the episode exposes One Nation’s policy incoherence at a time when migration is a major electoral issue, and parties and business groups will be watching whether Hanson’s correction holds and how Labor and the Coalition firm up their own migration plans.