One Nation MP David Farley made national headlines after his appearance on Insiders on Sunday. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Farrer MP David Farley appears to have secured his first major political win, with the Albanese Government moving towards a multimillion-dollar package to protect jobs at Riverina food giant SunRice – while the newly elected One Nation MP has hit back at claims his immigration stance is little different from Labor’s.
Appearing on ABC TV show Insiders, Mr Farley revealed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had personally approached him at an event during the week and told him the Federal Government was working on a $15 million package to support SunRice.
The announcement comes two weeks after the company announced it would cut 78 jobs from its Leeton and Deniliquin mills due to declining water availability.
Mr Farley told Region the support package was the result of a long, drawn-out negotiation with Immigration Minister Tony Burke, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt and Mr Albanese.
Asked if it were a done deal, he said he was confident.
“The Federal Government has come out and confirmed it, and they are finalising documents with ricegrowers now,” he said.
According to SunRice, Minister Watt has written to the company asking it to submit a proposal to enhance its rice cakes production facility directly to the Commonwealth for consideration.
Minister Watt’s office said deal the could involve about $15m in taxpayer funds to help update machinery, with SunRice matching the investment, to process products including rice cakes.
While it will not lead to a reversal of the decision to stand down 78 workers, it’s aimed at securing jobs in the future.
The Insiders panel suggested such a package would not have been offered had Liberal MP Sussan Ley still been the member for Farrer.
Mr Farley said it would be “unfair” for him to draw such a conclusion.
But the fundamental problem for ricegrowers remains the lack of water to grow their crops, with industry groups blaming the ramping up of the Federal Government’s buybacks of irrigation water for the decline in production.
Questions remain as to how SunRice will retain exisiting employment levels if there is less rice to mill.
Mr Farley said he was also working on a plan to get more water to growers – though that part of the deal had not been secured.
“The request from ricegrowers is for $15 million and an extra 100 gigalitres of water … the Federal Government has said they can’t give the water but [we] can go to the NSW Government and ask if they can release it,” he said.
While Mr Farley has described the Federal Government’s support as confirmed, the government has said it has received a verbal proposal from SunRice and is willing to consider co-investment once a formal proposal is received.
Questions over immigration stance
The One Nation MP also rejected claims he wants the same level of migration as Labor, after he explained how he interpreted the party’s 130,000 net overseas migration target on Insiders.
Mr Farley said the 130,000 figure was effectively only the “true” migration number, with another 100,000 people – including agricultural workers, backpackers and some skilled workers – needing to be considered separately.
This would put the figure at about 230,000 people a year, close to the Federal Government’s forecast of about 225,000.
“The headlines have said that David Farley’s numbers are the same as Labor. But the government is at 225,000, plus the temporaries, so they’re at 355,000 overall. So there is a big difference between the two of us,” he told Region.
Following Mr Farley’s Insiders interview, Ms Hanson posted on Facebook that One Nation’s policy is to cut net overseas migration to 130,000 – suggesting division within the party on the issue.
The Farrer MP said his position aligns with his leader, adding that he was just being transparent about how migration works and that official migration figures don’t include those coming here on a temporary basis.
“The big thing people have to note is that Farrer is a big user of migrant labour. Always has been, always will be. The next thing they have to realise is that David Farley is the federal representative for Farrer. Immigration is a federal issue, and I will represent migration to the benefit of Farrer because that’s my job,” he said.
It is not the first time Mr Farley’s position on immigration has attracted attention. During the Farrer by-election campaign, he said Australia’s then net overseas migration figure of 306,000 was “probably not” too high – a position he walked back on social media the next day.
Note: Details on the proposed SunRice package in this article were updated after the company provided further information and context regarding the announcement.
