Canavan says Hanson has lost control of MPs after Farley votes with teals

Nationals leader Matt Canavan has said Pauline Hanson has already lost control of her lower house MPs, after the newest One Nation member, David Farley, voted with the teals and Greens to curb a fuel tax rebate for heavy industry.

Canavan demanded on Wednesday that Hanson declare her party’s position on the fuel tax credit scheme after Farley supported an independent-led push on Tuesday to cap the benefit for the wealthiest mining companies, and to redirect the savings to renewable energy projects.

“Do they support rural industries or not? Because if … One Nation does support a new tax on farming and mining, they don’t support workers’ jobs and industries in regional Australia,” Canavan said in Canberra.

Tuesday’s vote raises questions over whether Farley was sufficiently directed by party headquarters on how to vote, or whether he chose to break from the party line weeks after being sworn in. Hanson’s office declined to comment when approached for clarification.

Farley said on Tuesday that he had not made a mistake, and described the proceedings as theatrics.

Canavan said parliament did not need any more theatre and that the wayward vote showed Hanson “seems to have no control or influence about what happens in the House of Representatives.

“I don’t think this is a place for training wheels,” Canavan said. “This is our nation’s parliament. We need people here that take this job seriously.

“If you elect a One Nation candidate, you’re voting for a party full of independents that will just make this place complete chaos. And so what we need right now is some stable leadership.”

Canavan said Farley’s vote was at odds with the campaign he ran in the Farrer byelection last month, in which he opposed the rollout of renewable energy on farmland. Farley swept to victory as the first One Nation MP elected to the lower house, while the Nationals secured just 10 per cent of the primary vote.

The credit scheme provides a rebate for the fuel tax paid by businesses that use heavy machinery. Advocates argue the industries do not use the roads the fuel excise pays for.

Canavan said Farley’s vote to curb the rebate, coming after Hanson’s failure to mention farming or mining during her sprawling National Press Club speech last week, suggested One Nation did not have a plan for regional Australia.

“They get hoodwinked into voting for Greens and teals motions that would just put taxes on the very jobs and industries of regional Australia,” he said.

The vote on Tuesday was a symbolic gesture shepherded by independent MP Nicolette Boele, and was defeated after being opposed by Labor and the Coalition.

Opposition resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald said: “David Farley says it’s all theatrics. If he wants theatrics, he should join a playgroup, but if he is serious about being a part of the Australian parliament, of taking his job and the voters that have sent him here seriously, he has got to think about what he is doing.”

National Farmers’ Federation chief executive Michael Guerin said he opposed any change to the fuel rebate, and called for all political parties to rule out its removal.

“The precedent that will set for regional Australia and for agriculture, struggling already with fine margins, with the challenges of fuel and fertiliser shortages, with the cost of living pressures that we feel across region Australia … can potentially be scary,” he said.

Farley’s vote comes in the same week the mining and farming lobbies united to campaign to keep the rebate.

The chief executive of the Minerals Council, which is spearheading the “Hands Off Our Fuel” campaign, said Farley’s vote as a regional representative was disappointing.

“It was his first big opportunity to show what he’s made of, and he voted against regional Australia,” Tania Constable told Sky News on Wednesday.

“He voted against the farmers, the fishers, the construction industry. He voted against the miners. He voted against regional Australia, and we’re really deeply disappointed that he threw his lot in with the Greens and the teals.”

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