One Nation has admitted its migration target is almost the same as Labor’s, and possibly higher, in a series of shock comments from MP David Farley and leader Pauline Hanson.
Mr Farley, the newly elected MP for Farrer, who previously donated to Labor and called for more Indian immigrants, told ABC Insiders on Sunday morning that the party’s target would be net overseas migration of 130,000 plus at least 100,000 temporary workers.
Net overseas migration was 301,000 during 2025, and Labor’s policy is to reduce it to 225,000 by 2028, although it has exceeded every target set since forming government in 2022.
Ms Hanson then clarified One Nation’s policy in a post on social media where she confirmed the long-standing 130,000 figure did not include “short-term seasonal agricultural workers”, but claimed the target was “less than half Labor’s current level”.
One Nation MP David Farley this morning on immigration.
“You’re saying it needs to be 130,000 NOM, plus about 100,000 more?”
“Yeah. At a minimum.”
“Is that different from the government’s [migration target of 225,000]?”
“The raw number’s not too different.” pic.twitter.com/kKXFNsAxjb
— 🇦🇺 Nix (@viii_nix) August 23, 2026
One Nation’s policy is to cut net overseas migration to 130,000.
The cuts will come from fewer international students and dependants, a dramatic reduction in temporary graduate visas and their dependants, and a much more targeted skilled migration program focused on the skills…
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) August 23, 2026
In March she responded to similar questioning by stating on X that “130k would be a cap on arrivals”, resulting in net overseas migration of negative 100,000 using current departure numbers of 230,000, but has since deleted that post.
“Our position’s 130,000 net overseas migration (NOM). Now on top of the NOM, of course, we’ve got all the other programs that we run, we’ve got the PALM program, which is important to my electorate, Farrer, the skilled aged care nurses etc. are all very important … and backpackers play a role,” Mr Farley said.
“So if you’re including the backpackers, the PALM, the Pacific workers and the skilled workers, your NOM would be higher than 130 wouldn’t it?” asked host David Speers.
“The PALM program in itself is about 40,000 a year, you take the skilled aged care nurses probably 68-70,000 a year, then you come down into the technical sides of mechanicing (sic) and engineering, again, there’s quite some numbers there,” Mr Farley said during his response, and agreed that meant a minimum 100,000 more.
“It doesn’t sound like, effectively, if you’re talking about a number of 220 or 30 or 40,000, is it that different to the government’s objective here? I know they’re not there yet, but they want to get it down to 225,000,” Mr Speers asked.
“The raw number’s not too different,” Mr Farley confirmed.
Immigrants are only included in net overseas migration figures if they stay in Australia for longer than 12 months, and PALM scheme workers include those on short-term placements of up to 9 months, and in longer-term roles lasting between one and four years.
Mr Farley also put himself at odds with Ms Hanson on immigration in May when he said that current levels were not too high and more foreign workers were needed, before backtracking a day later.
Then later that month he vowed to display indigenous flags in his offices, while Ms Hanson has repeatedly vowed to end the practice and said there should only be one flag.
Header image: Left, Pauline Hanson and David Farley (One Nation). Right, Mr Farley on ABC Insiders (ABC).
