Party leader clarifies 130,000 net overseas migration target while distinguishing short-term workers and permanent residency pathways.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has confirmed that the party’s proposed migration cap of 130,000 focuses on net overseas migration and does not apply in the same way to temporary visa holders, particularly short-term seasonal workers.
Speaking at a News Corp Bush Summit panel on Thursday, Hanson reiterated that One Nation’s policy is to limit net overseas migration (NOM) to 130,000 people a year. She described this figure as applying to those on a pathway to permanent residency and citizenship, while treating temporary visa categories as a separate matter.
“Visa holders are totally different category. We’re talking about permanent residents that are going to move on to citizenship in the country (with the 130,000). So your visas are totally different,” Hanson said.
Net Migration in Focus as Government Eyes Targeted Cuts:
Net overseas migration measures the difference between long-term arrivals and departures. It counts people who stay in Australia for at least 12 months within a 16-month period and excludes short-term visitors and tourists.
Hanson said the 130,000 NOM target would be achieved primarily through reductions in international student numbers and their dependants, a sharp cut in temporary graduate visas, and a more tightly focused skilled migration programme limited to skills Australia genuinely needs.
She has repeatedly stressed that short-term seasonal agricultural workers under schemes such as the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) programme fall outside the NOM count if they do not meet the Australian Bureau of Statistics residency test. These workers, often housed by employers on farms and in regional industries, are viewed by One Nation as a distinct category essential for rural and regional Australia.
“These people are given accommodation by the farming sector and the businesses that employ them. So that is not the big impact here,” Hanson said, adding that rural Australia “would die” without such labour.
Policy clarification amid confusion:
Party MP David Farley had suggested the effective intake could reach around 230,000 once certain skilled and Pacific workers were accounted for separately, a figure he described as “not too different” from Labor government forecasts. Hanson and other senior figures, including Barnaby Joyce, moved quickly to reaffirm the 130,000 NOM target and attribute Farley’s remarks to a misunderstanding.
One Nation’s website continues to refer to capping visas at 130,000, language that has contributed to ongoing debate over whether the figure refers to total visas, permanent places or net migration. Hanson has previously described her approach as a control on “mass migration” rather than an anti-immigration stance, while linking high migration levels to pressure on housing, infrastructure, hospitals and schools.
Australia’s net overseas migration stood at approximately 306,000 in the most recent full year, with the Labor government forecasting a reduction to around 225,000 in coming years. One Nation’s proposed limit would represent a substantial further cut, though the precise operational details of how temporary and permanent streams would interact remain subject to further clarification.
The debate occurs against a backdrop of widespread public concern over housing affordability and service capacity, issues that have elevated immigration policy as a central theme in Australian politics.