Barnaby Joyce has blamed \u201cthe pressure of a campaign\u201d for One Nation\u2019s Farrer candidate contradicting party policy on immigration and appearing to endorse Labor\u2019s current intake.<\/p>\n
The One Nation MP also claimed voters won\u2019t worry about Gina Rinehart\u2019s million-dollar donation of a private plane <\/a>to Pauline Hanson\u2019s party, claiming journalists were more interested than ordinary people in the lucrative gift from Rinehart\u2019s company.<\/p>\n Appearing on Sky News on Sunday, Joyce said he expected his party\u2019s candidate, David Farley<\/a>, would prevail in next Saturday\u2019s byelection, despite a stumble this week where the would-be MP said Australia\u2019s net overseas migration of 306,000 last year was \u201cprobably not\u201d too many.<\/p>\n One Nation\u2019s stated party policy is a cap of 130,000 migrants a year.<\/p>\n Farley, appearing at a candidate forum hosted by former Insiders host and Guardian podcast host <\/a>Barrie Cassidy, said One Nation wanted to \u201cmatch immigration to a housing policy, a health policy and an education policy\u201d, noting demand for skilled migrants.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n Cassidy asked: \u201cIs 306,000 [net overseas migration] too many?\u201d<\/p>\n Farley responded: \u201cNo, it\u2019s probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re successful in One Nation\u2019s water policies, we\u2019re going to need more labour and we\u2019re going to need more labour quickly, skilled labour,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo for anyone to be able to say \u2018what is the number today\u2019, it should be addressed as what are we doing with productivity and what are we doing with capacity building, then you will get a true number that\u2019s required for Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about Farley\u2019s comments, Joyce downplayed the slip-up.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, when you\u2019re a candidate and you\u2019re on the beat. Obviously the policy is 130,000, as we\u2019ve said, and he agrees when we talked about it. That\u2019s just the pressure of a campaign,\u201d he told Sky.<\/p>\n \u201cYou got to have a stocktake. You\u2019ve got to see what an area can absorb. Even in Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane, if you\u2019re bringing in 400,000 a year, as we\u2019ve been bringing in the population of Canberra, and you don\u2019t have the houses, and you don\u2019t have the schools, and you don\u2019t have the hospitals \u2026 we just can\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s a capacity to absorb them, and if there\u2019s a need, then of course, that\u2019s a completely different discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n