Arabic version: هانسون توضح سياسة الهجرة لحزب أمة واحدة

According to The Guardian, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the party’s net migration policy remains at 130,000, while Pacific Australia Labour Mobility workers would be counted separately from that figure. Her comments at News Corp’s Bush Summit in Dubbo followed confusion over remarks by party colleague David Farley earlier in the week.

Hanson was asked whether the policy would mean more than 130,000 visa holders could arrive each year. She answered “Correct”, saying PALM workers were needed by rural and regional Australia, particularly farmers and abattoirs. She said those workers were generally provided accommodation by farming businesses and employers, and therefore did not have the same housing impact.

She said immigration policy should not be tied only to housing, pointing also to infrastructure, hospitals, schools and nursing homes. Hanson described PALM as “a different program” and said the workers were not taking up housing in the same way as other visa holders.

When asked whether Farley had been right or wrong, Hanson said he “didn’t understand” and had become confused about visa holders. She said PALM workers were the visa holders who could come to Australia under that program, repeating that they were usually accommodated by farms and were a separate consideration.

On Sunday, Farley told ABC’s Insiders that One Nation’s net overseas migration target was 130,000, plus an additional 100,000 PALM and skilled workers and backpackers. Hanson’s latest explanation appeared to confirm that PALM workers would sit outside the party’s stated 130,000 net migration target.