Barnaby Joyce said he and Andrew Hastie were “back in the bed together” after One Nation had declared the Liberal MP a “traitor”.
One Nation MP Joyce and Liberal MP Hastie appeared on the ABC’s National Migration Forum on Monday night, where they debated proposed changes to Australia’s migration system and the potential impact on the economy and national identity.
The unusual exchange came when host David Speers asked Hastie: “What do you think, should temporary skilled workers be able to bring their kids and their spouse?”
“We have to cut the NOM (Net Overseas Migration), simple as that. If we’re going to get the NOM down there will be hard decisions,” Hastie said.
“Let’s do it,” Joyce interjected with a laugh. Hastie, more reserved, responded by patting him on the shoulder and saying: “He’s good fun.”
The apparent reconciliation contrasted sharply with last week, when Hastie clashed with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson over a nine-minute cartoon posted to her X account.
In an email to supporters, Hastie said Senator Hanson had labelled him a traitor and called on One Nation to remove the cartoon or acknowledge it in parliament.
The Western Australian MP accused the party of politicising court proceedings involving accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith and of “trashing” his military service record.
Andrew Hastie (left) and Barnaby Joyce (right) revealed they have made amends after Pauline Hanson labelled Hastie a “traitor”.
“Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce are lying cowards, and I’ll say it again so there’s no ambiguity,” Hastie said.
‘On July 23, at the top of her X account, she posted a cartoon … I’m called a traitor eight times … when you start calling me a traitor to my own country, then we have a big, big problem.’
On Monday night, Speers laughed at the interaction between Joyce and Hastie and said: ‘You two have been at war all week.’
‘We have, but Barney apologised and I accepted that. So we’re on good terms,’ Hastie said.
‘Yeah, we’re right. We’re back in the bed together,’ Joyce added.
Hastie appeared thrown-off by the comment, saying: ‘I wouldn’t say that, mate. I wouldn’t say that at all.’
The Liberal MP then reverted back to the question on migration, but refused to give a straightforward answer.
‘I resigned from the Home Affairs position last year because I believed that we needed to cut immigration,’ Hastie said.
Last week, Hastie sent an email to his supporters claiming Hanson (above) called him a ‘traitor’ eight times in a cartoon video
‘I was that serious about it and the Coalition is working through the process.’
He then took a swipe at Joyce’s party, adding: ‘We are committed to this, to getting it right.
‘That’s the difference between us and One Nation.’
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Alongside them on the panel was Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Anne Aly, who earlier addressed whether temporary migrants, especially skilled workers, should be allowed to bring their partners and children.
She implied different policies should be made for regional and metropolitan temporary visa holders.
‘I think it depends. I think that’s something you need to work through and need to look at but it also depends how long people are here for,’ Aly said.
‘…It’s complex depending on whether it’s regional or city. It’s complex whether it’s the Northern Territory or South Australia, Western Australia or Sydney.’
The forum also heard from Ethiopian lawyer Nyadol Nyuon, a migrant who got her law degree and had a family in Australia, but is now looking to move overseas.
Hastie (left) said Joyce (right) had ‘apologised’ over the incident while Joyce joked they were ‘back in bed together’
She acknowledged a large part of her family’s decision to move was due to growing tension about multiculturalism and the idea of Australia needing a ‘monoculture’, a phrase frequently used by One Nation.
‘Australia’s never been monocultural before. Before the European settlement, there were Indigenous people who spoke multiple languages and considered themselves to be people of different nations,’ Ms Nyuon said.
‘Then there was the immigration post WWII, those were also a diverse number of people.
‘If we start talking about terms like Anglo-Celtic and stuff, it creates this idea that there is some form of white culture that exists somewhere that can be recreated here in Australia.
‘But there is no white culture. There is Italian culture, there’s French culture, but there is not this notion of sort of a a white culture that is being threatened.’
Ms Nyuon was also upfront in the fact she had ‘no intention of assimilating’ and losing her own cultural identity.
Instead, she encouraged panel members to consider whether all Australians needed to look and behave the same way for there to be ‘social cohesion’.
‘I’m not dismissing the idea that people have different views. That’s what a democratic country does, we debate things,’ Ms Nyuon said.
While being quizzed on how Australia could reduce migration, Small Business Minister Anne Aly (above) suggested different policies for regional and metropolitan areas
‘What I’m saying though is that the way it’s being framed, it’s very hard to appreciate the argument being made.
‘The very principles you guys say everybody gets to share. You talk about the freedom of religion, people should be able to practise their religion.
‘You talk about freedom of speech, yet when certain groups speak, somehow that is problematic.
‘We all want equality, but I think we can all be much more direct about the kind of conversations we have.’
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How should Australia balance preserving its identity with embracing growing cultural diversity?
