One Nation supporters have exploded at Pauline Hanson after she confirmed a massive immigration policy backflip that will allow in hundreds of thousands more foreigners than previously promised.
Ms Hanson was asked about the policy at News Corps’ Bush Summit on Thursday, following comments by MP David Farley earlier this week where he said that One Nation wanted net overseas migration of 130,000, rather than visas capped at 130,000 as stated on the party’s website.
But in her response Ms Hanson seemed to confuse net overseas migration – the number of immigrant arrivals minus the number of departures – with the permanent migration program, and said the 130,000 number did not include Pacific Islander farm workers or temporary visa holders.
Pauline at the Bush Summit today, explaining One Nation’s new immigration policy:
“So it’s more than 130,000?”
“Correct.” https://t.co/X8ew6Ri7hM pic.twitter.com/xw6CVj8MSz
— 🇦🇺 Nix (@viii_nix) August 27, 2026
This is a grotesque betrayal. One Nation now has the least restrictionist immigration policy in its entire history. https://t.co/JB2s4Vf4iK
— Celina101 (@celina101010) August 27, 2026
The sad state of Australian politics means that this is our most right wing viable option at the ballot box.
Utterly abysmal. They are going to lose their base if they market themselves as the Liberals Lite. https://t.co/h7akVcajWA
— Restore Australia 🇦🇺 (@RestoreAussies) August 27, 2026
Here we go again with One Nation muddying the waters around its migration intake.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Coalition make a come back if this keeps up. https://t.co/f5nbZOjcXZ
— Tarric Brooker aka Avid Commentator 🇦🇺 (@AvidCommentator) August 27, 2026
“130,000 net migration into the country. So, that’s it, it’s not going to move from that, your net migration, those people who you’re going to say ‘you can come into the country, we’re going to give you permanent residency, that you can move on to citizenship’, that’s 130,000,” she said.
“On top of that you can have your PALM workers, you can have your visa holders and different ones in the country.”
She then claimed the policy would “bring down the number of people in the country” and might result in “negative” migration, which is not possible if the figure is net, and unlikely if the 130,000 visas are permanent only, which she again stated it was moments later.
Asked whether the number was higher than 130,000, she replied “correct”, and said “rural and regional Australia would die” without immigrants. She then said that Mr Farley “was confused about the visa holders” when asked if his statement that One Nation’s target was about the same as Labor’s.
Labor aims to bring net overseas migration down to 225,000 by 2028, although it has failed to meet a single migration target since forming government in May 2022.
But Ms Hanson’s responses infuriated many Aussies, who accused her of betraying them, and reneging on previous promises to deliver net negative overseas migration with a visa or arrivals cap of 130,000.
One Nation promised NET-NEGATIVE migration: 100,000 FEWER people through migration every year. A fantastic policy.
Now it promises 130,000 MORE
With major temporary-worker flows sitting outside that number.
That is a 230,000 person annual backflip.
We have documented the… pic.twitter.com/JKU8qffWnv
— Revive Australia (@Revive_Aus) August 26, 2026
“This is a grotesque betrayal. One Nation now has the least restrictionist immigration policy in its entire history,” wrote popular political commentator Celina on X.
“The sad state of Australian politics means that this is our most right wing viable option at the ballot box. Utterly abysmal. They are going to lose their base if they market themselves as the Liberals Lite,” wrote Restore Australia.
“Here we go again with One Nation muddying the waters around its migration intake. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Coalition make a come back if this keeps up,” wrote Macrobusiness columnist Tarric Brooker.
“Hanson reaffirms live on TV that their policy is now +130,000 net migration per year, and working visas on top, such as the PALM scheme and other work visas,” wrote another X user called Lone Patriot.
“This is in line with Farley’s comments that working visas will be near 100,000 per annum. Their original policy was -100,000 migrants per year.”
“Well, well, well. One Nation is still going to demographically replace Australians in their own country,” said another X user.
The backlash comes after a similar reaction to Mr Farley’s comments earlier in the week, resulting in right-wing campaign group Revive Australia calling for One Nation voters to lobby the party to restore its original target.
Header image: Pauline Hanson at the Bush Summit (News 24).
