Hanson intervenes after MP says migration plan 'not too different' to Labor

One Nation MP David Farley says immigration rates to Australia would not be "too different" to Labor or the Coalition under Pauline Hanson, as he suggested a figure close to the government's migration target of 225,000 by 2028.

Mr Farley told ABC Insiders One Nation would not seek to cut migration rates deeper than about 230,000 a year, saying the migration target would be a net overseas migration (NOM) rate of about 130,000 plus "a minimum" 100,000 skilled workers under established visa schemes.

The net overseas migration (NOM) rate accounts for the total number of people entering Australia with plans to stay at least a year minus those leaving, including those entering on visa programs such as working holiday-maker visas, the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, and skilled worker visas.

Mr Farley admitted once One Nation's "true NOM" and skilled visa targets were combined, its migration rate of about 230,000 would be similar to figures already forecast by the government.

"The raw number is not too different, but the reality is where do we need them. We don't need them in the great urban 'metroplex'. We need them out to be productive, working out in agriculture, engineering, mining, etc," Mr Farley said.

"The big difference is we are focusing on what are the skills we need as a nation."

Mr Farley said One Nation was focused on net migration "in its true form", plus workers from several necessary visa programs, citing about 40,000 migrants under the Pacific workers visa, about 68,000 to 70,000 skilled aged care migrants and skilled mechanical and engineering workers.

He said that category would make up "a minimum" of 100,000 more visas granted each year under a One Nation government, on top of what he described as the "true" net overseas migration rate of 130,000.

While the government has forecast migration returning to about 225,000 by 2028, it has repeatedly overshot those forecasts, particularly after the reopening of international borders following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The One Nation MP's comments follow weeks of debate on how deeply migration rates should be cut, an issue that has become a political battleground in part because of One Nation's rise in popularity on a platform of slashing migration.

The party has also laid out its intentions to restrict migration from some countries deemed to be higher risk, suggesting it could use travel advice to determine which countries should be affected by migration restrictions.

The Coalition has been developing a migration policy to combat One Nation, as the right wing party has emerged from the fringe of politics to threaten the Coalition's status as the opposition.

While it has not yet set migration targets, the Coalition intends to tie migration to housing construction rates, saying that migration rates will be restricted to the pace of housing completions in the previous year in order to close the supply shortfall in the housing sector.

The government, meanwhile, has been planning reforms to further tightening of temporary visas as it seeks to bring down net overseas migration from 300,000 to its goal of 225,000 by 2028.

Those reforms were postponed, with the policy still to be settled by cabinet.

In July, the government issued a directive to prioritise people already onshore for visa processing, slowing arrivals overseas — including for in-demand skilled workers in nursing, teaching and elsewhere.