E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TELEVISION INTERVIEW
SUNRISE
MONDAY, 11 May 2026
Topics: Farrer by-election result; Immigration; Budget.
NATALIE BARR: For their take, let's bring in Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and Barnaby Joyce, live in the studio this morning after a very big weekend. Good morning to both. Barnaby, first of all, congratulations. It was a historic win. Where does One Nation go now?
BARNABY JOYCE: Well, I've got my happiness hat on but I'm just going to put that down now that I've worn it for you. Well, what, where, where we-- where the Australian people decide to take us. I think what they've seen is the polling is not an aberration. It's now been validated by both South Australia and Farrer. There is a strong following out there. I've tried to encapsulate so many issues in one and it would possibly be this. At the end of the Malaysian peninsula is a little island. It has no coal, no oil, no gas, no cattle, no irrigation, no uranium, yet it has - called Singapore - it has a GDP that is about a quarter to third of the size of Australia. Yet with all our resources - and has three different ethnic groups by the way - but with all our resources, we should be a superpower and we're not. We're languishing, we're going backwards and people have incredibly frustrated with that.
BARR: Are you going after Bowen's seat?
JOYCE: We are very much in the mind for western suburbs of Sydney. I was talking to people from the western suburbs of Sydney last night, both on the ground. To be quite frank, I was even talking to potential candidates. People are very enthusiastic. They get the idea that when you have record insolvencies in small business, when you have a government that's just incapable of understanding that people are over climate change policy, they're over the climate change department, they're over their power bills, they're over Australia having so much potential but seem to lack putting it on the paddock. They're over being dominated by Teal views and sort of progressive left views. They know we have a huge potential as a nation and they want to be part of that potential, not part of this butterfly chasing exercise.
BARR: Who are the candidates putting up their hands?
JOYCE: I won't go through that.
BARR: What types of people are you talking about? Where from?
JOYCE: People who would probably be first-generation, second-generation Australians.
BARR: Tanya, we have a respected pollster this morning saying One Nation is poised to clean up everything in regional NSW in the next Federal Election. How worried is the government?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Well certainly this has been a disaster for the Coalition. It's a very strong repudiation of the Liberal and National parties and you know, we need to listen to what people are saying as well, and we do, I mean, we'll see another tax cut for working people on the 1st of July. We support higher wages and better services. I think this is really a time for people to start to look at what One Nation does compared to what they say. They're pretty good at having a whinge and identifying problems. They're not so great at finding solutions. So, this is the One Nation that voted against higher wages and better conditions for working Australians. They say that they're for the ordinary person, but they vote against higher wages and better conditions. They vote against cheaper childcare, they vote against fee free TAFE. They vote against energy bill relief. They vote against all of the things that make life easier.
JOYCE: Okay thanks for your talking points.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: They vote against all of the things that make life easier. So, look at their record. That's what I'm saying to ordinary Australian voters.
JOYCE: Thanks for your talking points Tanya.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I listen to you, Barnaby.
BARR: Tanya, is this a snapshot of Australia in Farrer over the weekend? The big talking points for them were ban net zero. Immigration is too high. We don't have enough houses for our population. How much is your government sitting there and thinking this is alarming? They're talking about us too, not just the Coalition.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Certainly, I think it's important to listen to what all Australians are telling us, and yes, they are telling us that housing affordability is a problem. That's why we are acting on housing affordability after 10 years of inaction from the Coalition government where Barnaby Joyce was the Deputy Prime Minister and never did any of the things he now says are important. They're talking about--
BARR: What about immigration?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, exactly. I mean, we inherited immigration settings that saw some of the highest numbers, we've brought them down. We've halved immigration since we've been in government.
JOYCE: [inaudible]
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, we have, Barnaby.
JOYCE: [inaudible] just finish with the talking points Tanya.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: The numbers aren't there in the budget. Those numbers are coming down year after year off. They're coming off the settings. The two highest years for immigration, nine million visas issued two years in a row when you were in government, Barnaby, and Peter Dutton was the immigration Minister. So, we're changing the settings, particularly around students. For example, we're making sure that the universities can't bring in more students than they've got accommodation for. And we're making sure that those numbers meet Australians interests. We need to have some immigration. Barnaby knows that there are farmers who rely on those backpackers and other workers from the Pacific to come and, you know, pick crops every time that they need help with their crops. I don't think Barnaby is saying that he's going to stop that.
JOYCE: I'm not saying anything at the moment.
BARR: Ok, Barnaby, let's respond. First of all, immigration. It seems like almost the biggest issue in the electorate of Farrer.
JOYCE: And people, Australian people who can't get a house. And I sort of repudiate what Tanya said. We've had massive immigration. Over 400,000 people a year coming in under Labor, which is the population of Canberra without them having built the houses, without them having built the schools. If you wait forever in the emergency department at hospitals, because we've got too many people and not enough capital infrastructure to deal with them. They have this pathology against building dams and to build a vital infrastructure, if you're moving towards AI, moving towards data centres, you need the water infrastructure. They've just closed down building the inland rail.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You didn’t build dams either Barnaby.
JOYCE: So, they closed down, close down the freight rail. But they are going to build a fast train apparently from Newcastle to Sydney, which will eat its head off.
BARR: And what's your immigration number?
JOYCE: 130,000.
BARR: But is that permanent? Permanent migration?
JOYCE: That's net.
BARR: Net, net immigration.
JOYCE: So, what you have to do, what you have to do is take a stock take before that, we focus on the numbers, but we should be focusing also on can you absorb these people? If you can't absorb these people, then if you can, don't have the houses for them, if you don't have the dams for them, if you don't have the schools for them and you're going to put them in the western suburbs of Sydney, then get ready to just be parked on your on your road. Do you believe that's happening? Do you believe you have houses that you afford to, able to?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Okay let's use an example then. Here's an example.
JOYCE: Every day I get in the traffic in Sydney is a pretty good example. Every young couple. Every young couple who can't buy a house is a pretty good example.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Barnaby says build dams, he promised a hundred dams and he built two.
BARR: Okay.
JOYCE: I think we've got some incredibly good examples.
BARR: Okay. Okay. Thanks Barnaby, can you respond to that?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You've got a list of grievances.
BARR: Let's talk about immigration because it is one of the issues that people are.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah I can-
JOYCE: You seem very worried, Tanya.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Absolutely-
BARR: Hang on a second, Barnaby. Hang on a second, Barnaby. Let's just go to Tanya on immigration.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Absolutely. And that's why, Nat, we've got a responsible immigration policy that's bringing down those numbers year on year. And just listen to Barnaby. He talks about dams. This is the best example of the difference between what he says and what he does. He promised 100 dams last time he was in government, he promised 100. He built two and they were small.
JOYCE: So, you're wrong there.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: There promised 100, built two.
JOYCE: I can go through the ones I've done and then I want you to list the ones you've done, Tanya. The upgrade of Quipolly Dam, the upgrade of Chaffey Dam, Charleston Dam in Georgetown, just to name a few. The upgrade of water infrastructure even so much in my electorate. Tanya, please tell me the one dam you've even thought about starting. Cause I can tell you the ones you've stopped. You've stopped Hel's Gate, you stopped Uranna, you stopped the--, you stopped the Bowen pipeline, you stopped Emu Swamp, you stopped Dungowan Dam upgrade, you stopped the inland rail. You have a vision for climate change-
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I didn’t promise a hundred dams, Barnaby, and delivered two.
JOYCE: You have a vision for renewals, you have a vision for solar panels, you have a vision for transmission lines and you have an outcome of the duress power.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Yeah and so have Australians. Australians have got 4 million homes with solar panels on their roof and 300,000 people with batteries because they've worked out solar's cheaper, and you're still haven't learned that.
BARR: Okay, just on that before we go--
JOYCE: --That's not the issue.
BARR: Just before we go, Barnaby. Thank you. Leading one of the papers this morning, your Finance Minister, Tanya is saying you're going to reduce net zero spending. Is that because your government has realised that a lot of Australians-
JOYCE: Are over it.
BARR: Tanya?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, it's the exact opposite Nat, and I think it's the exact opposite Nat and that if you look at that story, what Katy Gallagher is saying is that the policies have been very successful.
JOYCE: Success?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We're well on the way to achieving the target we've set out and so you don't need to continue to invest at the same rate.
JOYCE: Success?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: There are, there are. Yeah, yeah. There are 4 million people who've got solar panels on their roof and 300,000 of them have put on batteries not because they're climate warriors but because they've worked out it's cheaper.
JOYCE: No you're the climate warrior, not them. You get it right.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: --and the more solar and wind we have.
BARR: Hang on, Barnaby.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: No, we're listening to Australians--
JOYCE: Not very well.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: --who say they want cheaper energy bills and they have worked out that putting solar panels on the roof and a battery helps them with their cheaper so you don't need to.
BARR: So you don't need to spend as much, okay.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: And by the way it also makes us well -- because we're well on the way to achieving the targets that we've set out and that also makes us more energy self-reliant.
JOYCE: Oh you've done a great job of that.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: The more energy that we are generating here--
JOYCE: -- Oh we’re doing so well with energy prices. It’s a roaring success record insolvencies in small business.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Have you missed the war in Iran, Barnaby? Have you missed that?
JOYCE: Your lunatic policies started long before the lunatic war in Iran.
BARR: We haven't got time to go into energy today but thank you. I think we've got across several issues that people were concerned about on the weekend in Farrer. Thank you very much. We'll see you next week.
ENDS
