SYDNEY: Australia’s right-wing populist One Nation party, which wants to emulate US President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportations, vowed to focus on ending mass migration, after winning its first seat in the country’s lower house.
Saturday’s by-election win by farmer David Farley in the rural seat of Farrer, some 550-kms south of Sydney, does not affect the majority of centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as the seat was previously held by a member of the Liberals, the biggest conservative group.
But it is a significant advance for One Nation, which has four Senate seats. The party is polling second this year to Albanese’s Labour Party in opinion surveys, ahead of the mainstream conservative coalition. One Nation’s leader, Senator Pauline Hanson, has higher approval ratings than Albanese or the Liberal leader.
“The people of Australia will not be forgotten. One Nation will fight for you on the floor of Parliament,” Hanson posted on X late on Saturday. “We will fight to lower cost of living, end net-zero and stop mass migration.”
Immigration is a growing issue in Australia, where half the country’s 27 million people were either born overseas or have a parent who was. Thousands attended anti-immigration marches in major Australian cities last year.
Liberal shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said One Nation’s victory “showed there’s a lot of work we’ve got to do”. In televised remarks on Sunday, he said: “We need to outline very clearly a bold and confident vision for the country about where we want to take it.”
Albanese’s Labour, which has never held the Farrer seat and did not run a candidate in the by-election, has said One Nation is damaging to Australia’s social fabric.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese´s centre-left Labour Party did not contest the by-election, which it considered unwinnable.
The next general elections are expected to be held by May 2028, and the Labour Party has a significant lead in the opinion polls.
The Farrer by-election was triggered when former Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley -- who held it for 25 years -- resigned in February after being toppled as her party slumped in opinion polls behind One Nation.
The Liberal Party under new leader Angus Taylor is still battling for second place with One Nation, which has surged in the polls since mid-2025 but has few parliamentary seats.
One Nation holds four senate seats and two in the lower house following the Farrer by-election victory, including one gained by a high-profile defection from the National Party.
