Right-wing leaders tout migrant crackdowns before poll
Right-wing parties have resorted to an anti-immigration rally to make their identities known to disgruntled voters ahead of a tight by-election.
Coalition parties and a resurgent One Nation are vying for the Liberal-held seat of Farrer; Here the small right-wing party appears to be one step ahead among voters dissatisfied with mainstream politics.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and National Party leader Matt Canavan sought to capitalize on that sentiment in front of a crowd of hundreds at a march to “end mass immigration” in Canberra on Sunday.
Senator Hanson, who called for annual immigration levels to be limited to 130,000 people, said immigration policies needed to be tightened further.
“Why have (politicians) done nothing about mass immigration to Australia,” he said at the rally.
“I’m definitely not against immigration. You have to do it in a controlled way. You have to bring in the right people who want to assimilate.”
The One Nation leader was condemned in the Senate in March for claiming in an interview that he was “not a good Muslim”.
Senator Canavan also used his speech at the rally to tout tough policies against immigrants that the federal coalition has promised to implement if it comes to power.
“(Liberal prime ministers) Tony Abbott, John Howard stopped the boats,” he said.
“They secured our borders, and we will do it again.
“We will control who comes to this country, whether they will have better standards, and we will bring the numbers down.”
The vote in regional NSW constituencies, triggered by the resignation of former opposition leader Sussan Ley, is shaping up to be a contest between One Nation’s David Farley and independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe.
The coalition has held the seat since its founding, but a recent poll shows One Nation’s candidate is the party’s first to win the lower house seat.
The looming election showdown comes as Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says tighter controls are needed to ensure “bad people” from “bad countries” do not come to Australia.
But Mr Taylor refused to say which countries should be considered bad in comments made after the first phase of the coalition’s immigration policy was announced in early April.
The plan has been criticized by various groups, with one leading Labor figure describing it as a “desperate dog whistle”.
The Liberal Party leader said immigrants from like-minded countries had made Australia better, but there needed to be a tougher look at the values of immigrants from some countries.
In his speech announcing the policy in mid-April, Mr Taylor said immigration screening should be based on beliefs, adding that people from liberal democracies were more likely to embrace Australian values.
“Let’s be clear, some of the great Australians came from what were bad countries at the time,” he told the ABC’s Insiders programme.
“There is a higher risk that some bad people will come from these bad countries, and so what we need to do is to screen not by country of origin, not by race, but by values.”
When asked which countries were bad, Mr Taylor only mentioned Iran by name and refused to say whether he considered countries such as communist party-ruled China as part of the same group.
He did not say whether One Nation’s target of 130,000 immigrants was correct, merely stating that current levels were too high and the figure needed to be “sustainable”.
Net overseas migration stood at more than 300,000 people in the 2024/25 financial year, but the figure has fallen following the post-COVID-19 migration surge.
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