{"id":39431,"date":"2026-06-27T01:44:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/39431\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T01:44:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:44:25","slug":"can-david-farley-deliver-on-one-nations-promises-after-farrer-residents-voted-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/39431\/","title":{"rendered":"Can David Farley deliver on One Nation’s promises after Farrer residents voted for change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As One Nation continues to surge in the polls, voters in Farrer are waiting to see if their newly elected MP has the party power to deliver on his promises.<\/p>\n

The 2026 Farrer by-election sounded a warning for the country’s major parties after One Nation’s David Farley wrenched the seat from the Coalition’s historic grasp.<\/p>\n

Many in the sprawling southern NSW rural electorate who voted for him<\/a> were fed up with politicians and their rhetoric, and say they simply felt ignored and forgotten.<\/p>\n

If elected, Mr Farley promised to bring about new water policy, along with changes to electricity, immigration, liquid energy and health.<\/p>\n

But with the polling booths long packed up and the gaze of the nation’s media turned away, those voters are waiting to see if taking a chance on One Nation will pay off.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Voters in Griffith cast their votes for the 2026 Farrer by-election. (ABC News: Nicola Ceccato)<\/p>\n

Influence despite the numbers<\/p>\n

David Farley walks the halls of Canberra’s Parliament House as one of only two One Nation lower house MPs.<\/p>\n

Australian National University political associate professor Jill Sheppard says Mr Farley won’t have any real power in parliament, but can be influential nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Like many Australians, Jill Sheppard is One Nation-curious. (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

“Even though he’s not being consulted on legislation and he’s not in the room that’s making decisions on behalf of the government, using that to bring attention to Farrer and its issues I think could be really beneficial,” she said.<\/p>\n

“David Farley can talk about issues that someone like Sussan Ley wasn’t able to because she was constrained by being a member of the parliamentary Liberal party.”<\/p>\n

Rookie MP shows inexperience<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to the ABC on Friday, Mr Farley admitted he accidentally sided with the Greens and teal MPs in a controversial vote to cap fuel tax credit rebates for large mining companies.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

David Farley settles into his Albury office.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

He said it was not what his constituents would have wanted and assured them it would not happen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The reality is you have got to own the mistake, manage the mistake and move on,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We can’t live and die off one mistake.”<\/p>\n

He said he had\u00a0sought\u00a0to correct his vote with the Clerk of the House of Representatives after the divisions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week he also voted alongside Greens and teals on a failed motion, by Kooyong MP Monique Ryan, to pursue\u00a0further\u00a0gambling reforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said constituents should have confidence in his performance as a One Nation MP, despite his rookie errors.<\/p>\n

“I can tell you the dust is off already and we are moving on, we have got an agenda we want to prosecute across the parliament,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Farley said while he supported all of One Nation’s policies, he hoped to build support with the Coalition, crossbench and even the Labor government.<\/p>\n

“What we are seeing in Farrer is very common to other electorates on both sides of the border,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[We want] to socialise that with the Coalition, we’ve got an opportunity to socialise that with the independents, and we are also hoping to socialise these issues if we can get remedy and solutions for them with the government,” Mr Farley said.<\/p>\n

“We are prepared to bring the solutions, we just need the government to act on those solutions.”<\/p>\n

But there is a lot of pressure riding on him.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Farley promised a lot during his campaign in the Farrer by-election. (ABC: Philippe Perez)<\/p>\n

Mr Farley’s win is seen as a litmus test for the future of One Nation in Australia as it shifts from the Senate to the policy-building lower house. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“They are not looking like the scrappy battlers that they used to,” Dr Sheppard said.<\/p>\n

“On the one hand, they do have to compete with the big boys and girls in Canberra who have a lot more money, but on the other hand, it does mean that they are not outsiders anymore, they’re going to look more like insiders.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And a lot of One Nation voters right now are voting for the party because they don’t like those insiders.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Louise Burge had always voted for the Coalition, until this year.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

It’s in the water<\/p>\n

Water\u00a0was the main issue that helped One Nation float to the top in Farrer.<\/p>\n

Mr Farley’s campaign centred on a promise\u00a0to scrap water buybacks, a legislative move that’s impossible without support from Labor and the Greens.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Louise Burge is frustrated by how the Murray-Darling Basin is managed. (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

Yet it struck a chord.<\/p>\n

Having turned her back on the Coalition, Deniliquin farmer Lisa Burge has new-found optimism as she surveys her winter crop.<\/p>\n

Ms Burge lost valuable crops and livestock during the 2016 floods<\/a> and again in 2022.<\/a><\/p>\n

After that, she lost faith in the major political parties.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Andrew and Louise Burge lost livestock during the floods of 2016. (ABC News: John Gunn)<\/p>\n

As vice chair of the Murray Regional Strategy Group, she blamed the floods on decades of water mismanagement in the Murray Darling Basin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“With political deals there are winners and losers, and the seat of Farrer was a loser,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Winter rain soaks Louise Burge’s crops.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

She was so fed up, she signed on as a One Nation party member and publicly threw her support behind its candidate, David Farley.<\/p>\n

Deniliquin farm machinery dealer Jamie Tasker says water policy also influenced his vote.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jamie Tasker took a chance on One Nation in Farrer.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

“The more we lose water the town begins to shrink, we lose services, we lose kids going to school; as those things shrink the town starts to die,” Mr Tasker said.<\/p>\n

“Obviously David will talk the talk and hopefully he will walk the walk.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Edward River flows through Deniliquin.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

Youth to be convinced<\/p>\n

In Jindera, a 20-minute drive north of Albury, young men slowly lap the illuminated footy oval, stirring the eerily warm June evening air sitting heavily over the Bulldogs’ home turf.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Young Jindera Bulldogs players say many young men are struggling.\u00a0 (ABC News: Greg Ryan)<\/p>\n

Jindera is also the home ground of independent by-election candidate Michelle Milthorpe, who wrestled the local polling booth from Liberal Sussan Ley at last year’s federal election.<\/p>\n

But this year One Nation instead won over the town.<\/p>\n

Polls show the party’s strength was with older voters and increasingly millennials, but some younger voters weren’t yet convinced.<\/p>\n

Bulldogs player Patrick Byrnes, 19, said he was initially sold on One Nation as he prepared to cast his first-ever vote, but eventually favoured The Nationals.<\/p>\n

Bruised from recent local young male suicides, he said young men struggling to feel seen were turning to One Nation.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Patrick Byrnes says young regional men are facing many challenges.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

“As a young male looking to raise a family and be well supported, they’re definitely why they’re popular amongst us younger guys in the region,” he said.<\/p>\n

Teammate Will Strauss, 25, said he gave Ms Milthorpe his vote after social media helped him make more sense of politics.<\/p>\n

He said One Nation’s anti-immigration policies didn’t sit right with him, in an agricultural part of Australia so reliant on migrant workers.<\/p>\n

“I think having immigrants in this place is a good thing, and we gain money out of them staying here, plus they’re good workers and they really have a crack to be here,” he said.\"Two<\/p>\n

Children cycle across Jindera’s main street.\u00a0 (ABC News: Erin Somerville)<\/p>\n

With 23 months at least until the next federal election, Mr Farley said he was riding the momentum of an invigorated party no longer considered on the fringe.<\/p>\n

“I think the constituency of Australia is looking for One Nation to become mainstream,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

David Farley and Pauline Hanson celebrate the party’s victory in the Farrer by-election. (AAP: Bianca de Marchi)<\/p>\n

“We focus on realism, we focus on Australia, on our culture, on our Australian citizens, we are being very pragmatic about what’s good and what’s bad for Australia.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As One Nation continues to surge in the polls, voters in Farrer are waiting to see if their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,1489,1946,316,3426,1488,6872,1955,3218,1926,149],"class_list":["post-39431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-by-election","tag-david-farley","tag-election","tag-farmers","tag-farrer","tag-immigration","tag-one-nation","tag-parliament","tag-pauline-hanson","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}