One Nation\u2019s newest lower house MP might not be far enough to the right for the far-right.<\/p>\n
David Farley became One Nation\u2019s second-only lower house MP in May after securing the highly-regional seat of one-time opposition leader Sussan Ley, joining Nationals\u2019 turncoat and New England MP Barnaby Joyce.<\/p>\n
But a picture of Farley wearing an orange turban at a Sikh festival and comments he made about Australia\u2019s immigration intake have far-right former One Nation supporters turning on the party, declaring it a \u201crug pull\u201d, calling him \u201ca turban wearing leftest (sic) moderate\u201d and urging a full-scale boycott.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a lot to unpack, but here goes.<\/p>\n
Farley \u2014 who critics say represents big business because of his history at the highest echelons of corporate agribusiness \u2014 has a far less hardline approach on immigration than the rest of his party. <\/p>\n
Speaking on the ABC\u2019s Insiders program on Sunday, he told viewers Australia could allow net overseas migration of around 230,000 a year.<\/p>\n
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That figure is close to Labor\u2019s target, but a fair way off One Nation\u2019s figure of 130,000, which is available on One Nation\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has attempted to correct the record. On Thursday, she told News Corp\u2019s Bush Summit panel that the 130,000 figure for net overseas migration did not include Pacific labour workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause your Palm workers, rural and regional Australia would die if they didn\u2019t have the workers coming in, and especially the abattoirs and the farmers,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s a different program. These people are given accommodation by the farming sector and the businesses that employ them. So that is not the big impact here. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut with immigration, you can\u2019t just tie it to your housing, because infrastructure is another big thing and hospitals and schools and the nursing homes \u2014 that has to be all accounted for so it\u2019s just not about houses.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said Farley \u201cdidn\u2019t understand\u201d and \u201cgot confused\u201d when discussing the matter over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Mr Joyce also called it a \u201crookie mistake\u201d, but former Nationals MP George Christensen \u2014 who helped Farley win Farrer \u2014 appears to have turned on Farley, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cA rookie mistake is getting a figure wrong in your first interview,\u201d Christensen wrote on his Nation First Substack. <\/p>\n
\u201cFarley had already caused trouble over immigration during the campaign and been spoken to about it. This was the same mistake, only bigger, made on national television after he\u2019d been elected.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christensen said he gave Farley \u201ca single piece of advice\u201d during campaigning: \u201cDavid, shut up about immigration\u201d.<\/p>\n
Farley, who is recognised as one of the wealthiest politicians in the country<\/a>, told The Sydney Morning Herald that \u201cGeorge will be George\u201d and \u201cI will look after the constituency of Farrer and their critical immigration needs\u201d.<\/p>\n But it has caused a ripple effect that could be hugely damaging to a surging One Nation as its critical base of \u201cpatriots\u201d turn against it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe signs were there, David Farley is a turban wearing leftest (sic) moderate. One Nation gotta go harder on immigration and sack (him),\u201d wrote right-wing influencer Sam Bamford.<\/p>\n Controversial independent news website The Noticer, which regularly promotes white supremacist and neo-Nazi views, took aim at Farley in a comment piece published at the beginning of the week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe great One Nation rug pull of August 2026 is a tragedy for the ages,\u201d the author wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter telling us for months that it wants to cut immigration to 130,000 gross (as it still says on its website as I write this), One Nation is now gaslighting us that its policy is, and was always, 130,000 net, effectively tripling its proposed immigration intake if as many people leave Australia as they did in 2024-25.<\/p>\n \u201cHow the hell Farley thinks the people of Farrer elected him in a landslide as Pauline Hanson\u2019s guy without supporting her stance (at the time) against mass immigration, God only knows. I guess Farley doesn\u2019t particularly care why the people of Farrer elected him.\u201d<\/p>\n The author went on to demand its \u201cradical patriot base … must now turn against this joke of a party as vociferously as we can\u201d.<\/p>\n Hugo Lennon, the far-right social media influencer and anti-immigration activist who helped organise the controversial March for Australia rallies last year, was fuming on social media this week. <\/p>\n \u201cThis got me fired up and you should be just as angry, especially if you support One Nation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have been lied to. Big business has come to drown out your voice and ramp up the replacement of Australians to line their pockets. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve deleted policies we all thought were set it in stone, policies that would wrestle control of our country\u2019s future back into our hands. <\/p>\n \u201cNow the question is do we sit down and take it, or do we speak up and make Pauline listen us and not David Farley\u2019s wallet. Our support has to be conditional, otherwise we get walked over like this.\u201d<\/p>\n In a video, he went directly at Hanson.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t mainstream media attacking Pauline. Pauline f**king lied to you. They\u2019re putting big business first and if you\u2019re going to just sit there and take it because it\u2019s Aunty Pauline, this is why we\u2019re in the state we\u2019re in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should be angry, and if you\u2019re not, you\u2019re a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n