Politics with Michelle Grattan: One Nation’s David Farley on the migrants his party wants
- Written by: Weekend Times
One Nation is very much centre stage of the political debate, with Pauline Hanson calling for a harder line on immigration, and for Australia’s
superannuation rules to be “lightened up a bit” so people could access their retirement savings early.
In November, her party will face a major test when it runs in all seats in Victoria.
Just four months ago, One Nation won its first ever House of Representatives seat since its formation as a party. The NSW seat of Farrer was previously held by either the Nationals or Liberals, most recently Sussan Ley, who resigned after she was rolled as Liberal leader earlier this year.
In May, David Farley, a former chief executive of the Australia Agricultural Company, won the seat comfortably against a high-profile independent – well ahead of the Liberals and Nationals. Farley was previously a member of the Nationals, and even sounded out Labor, before standing for election for One Nation.
Farley joined us on the podcast this week to talk about his early impressions of parliament, his interactions with the government on water policy, as well as immigration, data centres, and voluntary assisted dying.
On extra migrants beyond One Nation’s 130,000 target
Farley said “immigration is very important” to his local electorate, from workers in aged care through to meat workers and farms, so it’s a topic he’s had “good debates” about within his party.
I read the party’s position as, first of all, extremely sensible. It’s sensible to the extent that if we’re going to grow the population, we need to grow it with the infrastructure that the population needs. It needs housing, it needs education, it needs health, and it needs law enforcement […] So that’s why I comfortably agree with the cap that One Nation’s talking about.
Farley said that, as he understood it, One Nation’s immigration policy is more complex than the 130,000 figure Hanson has flagged (which Farley put at 135,000). He said he had negotiated with Hanson about the importance of migration in a community like his:
Pauline’s very respectful of what’s required of migration in agriculture, and […] very respectful of what’s required of migration in Farrer in particular […] So what we’ve arrived at is a position: the net net [immigration] number, we agree 100% on.
And then we’re making sure that we’ve got the rotating migrants in our businesses, especially [the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme] and skilled nurses etc […] That’s now the party’s position as well.
Asked how many extra people that would add above 130,000, Farley said:
Coming in and out, when I look right across Australia, it’s probably circa another 40,000 a year, on top of it. But that 40,000 has been there rotating, year on, year out now, for probably two or three decades.
On negotiating with the government
Farley also described his attempts to talk with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and ministers about 79 redundancies among local rice workers and his concerns about federal water policy – and said he’d had “really good buy-in” from them.
I met with [environment] minister [Tony] Burke yesterday evening and then following that meeting, at an event I was at, I met with the prime minister, who was right across it.
[…] I found it very professional. I found that we stay on topic of what I’m there for. I have the ability to be very concise with my narrative, why I’m here, what do I need to talk to you about. And they respond. I’ve found no malice in it or no aggression.
Being mentored by Barnaby Joyce
On how he’s got on in parliament, Farley praised One Nation colleague Barnaby Joyce – whom he first met when they were both members of the Nationals – as a “powerful mentor”, despite limited time together.
He’s an amazing guy, he’s very genuine, he is very authentic, he is extremely experienced. And of course he knows everyone, and he knows his way around the house and the Senate as well.
[…] Barnaby’s been with me for probably a maximum now of four days out of that six weeks. He went to Europe first of all, after my first day, and I had a lot of learning there quickly by myself. He’s returned. But he is a powerful mentor […] he and his team are willing to help my team.
On data centres
While Farley supports the need for data centres, he said they needed to have “sustainable” energy and water supplies.
My opinion on the centres is that if we want to keep Australia abreast of technology and where the world is going, we need to engage in the development of sustainable data centres. We need to be very cognisant as we go into them of what is the demand of a data centre.
And there’s two critical demands. Baseload power is important. Not intermittent power, not solar power, baseload power. And the second one is water.
[…] The bottom line here is that the government needs to get in front of the curve […] and start planning the natural resource management […] You’ve got to have your lens on 2050, where the nation’s going. You just can’t have your lens on the next election cycle.
On voluntary assisted dying
On a private member’s bill to allow the use of telehealth for voluntary assisted dying services, Farley explained why he voted in favour of it, along with a minority of crossbenchers.
I’ve lived in remote Australia, I’ve worked in remote Australia and experienced in remote Australia – and I’ve been there when life expires on a lot of people. A lot of the people that I’ve met and travelled with would adopt this option, mainly because most people in the bush, at least as they depart this world, would like to depart with dignity […] And that dignity to access these type of services could be four or five days away on a mail truck. It’s not readily available.
And apologies to listeners for any sound issues on this week’s podcast. We’ll be back to our regular sound production next episode.
Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
