Live: One Nation defends migration policy blunder

One Nation is mopping up after Farrer MP David Farley got the details of the party's immigration policy wrong on Insiders.Follow all the updates in our live blog.Mon 24 Aug 2026 at 8:01amMon 24 Aug 2026 at 8:01amGovernment to bail out SunRiceOne Nation MP David Farley covered a lot of ground in his Insiders interview on Sunday, including an interaction he had with the PM after raising the issue of a struggling SunRice manufacturing plant in his electorate of Farrer.And apparently the PM was very wiling to help.This morning, Murray Watt confirms a bail out is being discussed for the factory, which is part of the supply chain for rice cakes."I can confirm that we have advised SunRice that we are prepared to co-invest with them in new investment in a rice processing plant," he says."SunRice has indicated that investment as well as their own would protect their jobs as well as potentially creating more."The cost to taxpayers isn't clear yet, but we know the company has requested $15 million from the government, which it would then match.The government says it's waiting on a formal written proposal from SunRice.Mon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:55amMon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:55amWatt defends lobbyist accessWatt is defending the government's rules around lobbyist access to parliament after a Four Corners investigation revealed dozens of former defence officials have jumped into lucrative lobbying roles or the defence sector.Critics say there's a "revolving door" where former officials can use their connections to potentially influence the awarding of multi-million-dollar contracts.It's prompted calls for tighter regulations and greater transparency.But Watt says there are already strict lobbyist rules in place."[They] regulate, for example, the activities of former politicians, former staffers, [and] periods of time that they can't lobby and use information that they have been privy to," he says."And of course, any lobbyist needs to be on the lobbyist register, so there is a high degree of disclosure and transparency."Mon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:45amMon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:45amExpect more mass bird flu mortalitiesEnvironment Minister Murray Watt is speaking with ABC News Breakfast about the first Australian detection of bird flu in a mammal.Watt says the weekend discovery of the disease in a long-nose fur seal in South Australia is a "very serious development" but "not unexpected"."We are likely to see more mass mortalities, which is obviously a terrible thing for all Australians who love our nature," he says."But we have been preparing this for some time … to make sure our populations are resilient, and we will continue to do everything we can."Mon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:34amMon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:34amJoyce says One Nation has been consistent 'all along'Barnaby Joyce is on Sunrise and says One Nation has always said the 130,000 figure is in relation to net migration and has been "all along."So what does he mean by net migration?There are two main migration figures commonly used when we're talking about people in and people out: NOM (net overseas migration) and permanent.Permanent is essentially what it says on the packet, while NOM tracks the arrivals and departures of both foreigners and Australians, excluding short-term visits.Joyce is asked to clarify what he means by net migration."It's 130,000 net, that means if you take the people coming, and the people going away, and the difference is 130,000 on the positive side," he says.As for Farley? Well, Joyce says, who doesn't sometimes make a mistake?"That's not unusual," he says."Show me a political career where people have not made a mistake."When people are new in parliament, they can get things incorrect."Tanya Plibersek, who is also on Sunrise, isn't as forgiving."If there's three One Nation MPs in the room, there is three immigration programs," she says.Mon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:31amMon 24 Aug 2026 at 7:31amGood morning!Hello! Welcome to our politics live blog. I'm Holly Tregenza from the ABC's Parliament House team, standing in for Courtney Gould.ICYMI: Yesterday, One Nation MP David Farley told Insiders the party's migration cuts put it on a footing "not too different" to the government, at a figure of about 230,000 a year.It forced an intervention from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who said the party's net migration target would be 130,000, "less than half" the government's current migration levels.Party director James Ashby appeared on TV a while later brandishing a literal mop and said he'd spoken to Farley but that it's OK for people to make mistakes, as long as they own up to them.You can expect more about this today.We're also anticipating some chatter about the meeting of national cabinet on Wednesday, where data centres are on the agenda.As my colleague Jake Evans has reported this morning, Queensland and the NT are still holding out on signing up to renewables as a way to power new data centres. Watch this space.Let's get into it!