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Tuesday, June 2, 2026 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

One Nation MP not afraid of side-stepping party line

One Nation’s newest MP David Farley hasn’t ruled out voting against party policy. Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS

By Zac de Silva and Andrew Brown

The first One Nation MP to be elected to the House of Representatives has taken his seat in the lower house, but has left the door open to voting against his party.

David Farley was sworn into parliament on Tuesday after winning the Farrer by-election in May, up-ending more than 70 years of the coalition holding the southern NSW electorate.

Mr Farley was led into the chamber by One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce, who he will join on the cross bench, before taking the oath.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and other senators from the party were also watching from the floor of the lower house, who Mr Farley embraced after his swearing in.

A date has not been set for Mr Farley’s first speech to parliament.

The new MP also says he plans to attend all parliamentary sittings unless he’s called away with “great urgency”, after questions were raised about Senator Hanson’s lack of attendance at many parliamentary sitting days.

Asked whether he was prepared to vote according with his electorate’s view and personal beliefs, even if that meant disagreeing with Senator Hanson’s position, Mr Farley didn’t rule it out.

“It’ll be rare that we find ourselves in disagreement, but then again, I’ve got one job to do – it’s to represent Farrer and represent it the best I can,” he told ABC Radio.

Pressed on Senator Hanson’s attendance record, which shows she missed 88 per cent of senate estimates hearings since returning to parliament in 2016, Mr Farley said his goal was to be present for all parliamentary sittings.

“I’ve got a two-year window to be able to report back to the constituency of Farrer and say ‘here was the platform that we went in on’ … and at the end of that two-year period … show them the scorecard,” he said.

Liberal frontbencher James Paterson said it was important to shine a spotlight on Senator Hanson’s attendance at parliament.

“If, 88 per cent of the time, Senator Hanson can’t even be bothered showing up to do her job, to advocate for her constituents, I think that reflects badly on her commitment to her job,” he told ABC Radio.

Senator Hanson has previously said she did not want to attend hearings regularly because government officials often did not answer her questions.

It comes as One Nation leapfrogged Labor to become the political party with the highest primary vote, according to the latest Redbridge poll.

Mr Farley said the poll was encouraging, but warned against reading too much into the figures.

“It is a poll, it’s not a ballot … polls have got elasticity to them,” he said.

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