Hanson steps in to mop up Joyce’s ‘train wreck’ housing interview

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has stepped in to clarify her party’s policy on foreign ownership of residential property, after a “train wreck” interview on Thursday evening in which MP Barnaby Joyce had to re-record his response.

The intervention from Hanson came after One Nation Senator Sean Bell struggled to explain the policy on Friday morning, amid attacks from senior Nationals and Liberals over Joyce’s performance and the party’s proposal to force the sale of residential properties owned by foreigners.

“Australian homes should be prioritised for Australians. One Nation makes no apologies for putting Australians first. Foreign owners – temporary visa holders and foreign citizens residing overseas – would be given two years to sell their Australian residential properties under One Nation’s policy,” Hanson wrote in a Facebook post on Friday morning.

“Permanent residents have been accepted to settle in Australia permanently. They live here, work here, pay taxes here and build their lives here. Many are on the path to citizenship. One Nation’s policy does not require them to sell their homes.”

On Thursday evening, Joyce appeared on Sky News’ program The Bolt Report and was asked about his party’s policy on forced sales of foreign owned residential properties. Joyce was twice asked whether permanent residents were counted as foreign owners, and twice said they did.

“We want to make sure that you become a permanent resident, you know, become a permanent resident and become sorry, become an Australian citizen, excuse me, become an Australian citizen, and, and that will, that’s going to deal with the issue, isn’t it? Become an Australian citizen.”

Following the interview, Joyce made a series of phone calls before requesting to re-record his answer to the question, ultimately saying that permanent residents would not be barred from holding residential property, or forced to sell their properties.

“This policy is formative,” Joyce said, “but on further investigation and discussions with One Nation, no, we are not going to be kicking permanent residents out of their house … The concept is quite clear: it is ‘we want people to progress through to Australian citizenship’, but that should not come at the expense of permanent residents being divested of their house,” Joyce said in his second response.

The interview was described as a “train wreck” by deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume, who said this was not out of character for Joyce, a man she described as: “a bag of tricks”.

“It’s a slogan, it’s not a policy, it’s got no substance behind it. And the idea that they would have different messages about whether they were going to kick permanent residents out of their home, I find that extraordinary, very disturbing,” Hume told Sky News.

First-term senator Bell appeared on a television panel alongside Nationals deputy leader Bridget McKenzie on Friday morning to explain the confusion from the night before.

Asked whether the party’s policy meant foreigners with properties in Australia would be forced to sell their homes, Bell said: “So it’s going to depend on the type of visa they’re on”.

“We need to look at making sure those, you become Australian citizens, or they are required to make sure those homes become available for Australia. We believe that homes should benefit Australians first.”

Pressed again on what groups of non-citizens would be included, Bell told Sky News: “So, again, it’s going to depend on what type of visa you have.”

“I really appreciate the hard questions, and I think what it shows is we’re prepared to have these tough conversations,” Bell said, in response to a question on whether the party was ready to govern.

Asked her perspective on the policy, McKenzie said: “Well, I could have a view if I knew what One Nation’s view was”.

“It’s still a little confusing because we do know there are people that reside overseas who also own property here in Australia. I think it’s important that if you’re going to change those rules, that you need to grandfather existing provisions because otherwise we actually undermine contractual law in this country.”

In a comment responding to her Facebook post, Hanson said voters would be grateful to Joyce for having corrected the record, and would “rather see politicians be upfront and do this instead of lying to avoid embarrassment”.

Foreign owners hold around 40,000 residential properties across the country, according to the Australian Taxation Office. There were just under 11 million dwellings in the country when the last census was collected in 2022.

Under current regulation, temporary residents and foreign citizens are banned from purchasing established dwellings in Australia, with a few exceptions. They can purchase new or “near-new” dwellings, established dwellings if they intend to redevelop, off-the-plan properties and vacant residential land.