Barnaby Joyce, the Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister of Australia, has defended One Nation MP David Farley after Farley sparked confusion about the minor party's flagship pledge to cut net overseas migration to 130,000 people a year.
Farley said on Sunday that One Nation's migration policy would include an extra 100,000 people annually on top of the 130,000 already flagged, a total that would be slightly higher than the 225,000 people forecast under Labor's policy.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson quickly corrected the comments on social media, saying the party's policy remained to reduce net overseas migration to 130,000 people.
Joyce says Farley 'misspoke'
Joyce said Farley had misspoken when he made the comments on migration numbers.
"Show me a political career where people haven't made a mistake, and I'll show you a person who's not told the truth," he told Seven's Sunrise program on Monday.
"I'm not going to throw anybody under a bus. When people are new in parliament, they can sometimes get things incorrect, and that's what happens. God knows, I've done it enough."
Joyce said One Nation's policy remained at 130,000 people annually for net overseas migration.
Labor calls party 'incoherent'
Federal minister Pat Conroy said the different stances from One Nation showed the party was incoherent on the issue.
"What we saw in the last 24 hours demonstrated why they're not fit to govern," he told ABC Radio. "We're focused on making sure that we've got the right migration mix to support the Australian economy, as well as supporting our long-term foreign policy objectives."
Cancelled speech and rising pressure
Immigration Minister Tony Burke had been set to make a speech at the National Press Club earlier in August unveiling a change to Australia's migration numbers, but the address was cancelled at the eleventh hour. The National Press Club in Canberra is where senior ministers typically deliver major policy announcements.
The speech was cancelled because the policy had not been signed off by cabinet amid internal disagreement, according to the report.
The rise of One Nation in opinion polls has spurred a re-think on migration by both Labor and the Coalition. Conroy would not say whether Labor's revised policy would be closer to One Nation's 130,000 target.
"I understand some in the community want answers to this yesterday, but this is a very complex area, and it's important that we get the answer right rather than get a fast answer," he said. "We need to be accurate when we're talking about this area, given it's subject to a lot of.. debate."
Current net overseas migration numbers stand at about 301,000, according to the report.
Coalition holds off on its own numbers
The Coalition has not flagged its own migration policy numbers, instead saying they would be tied to the number of new houses completed.
Opposition frontbencher Andrew Bragg raised eyebrows within the party when he suggested overseas migration be capped at 180,000 in a speech to the National Press Club, which earned a rebuke from party leadership.
The Coalition's home affairs spokesman, Senator Jonathon Duniam, said the opposition's migration numbers would not be revealed in 2026, and would instead be announced closer to the next federal election, due to be held by May 2028.
Duniam said the balance needed to be right.
"If we don't have workers doing the jobs we need, if we don't get the right skill set into our country, then we all are worse off," he told ABC Radio. "One Nation has zero regard for that, as evidenced by the multiple positions they've had on migration policy all over the last few weeks."
