Senator Malcolm Roberts claims One Nation wants to deport at least 200,000 people and has repeatedly referred to the far-right concept of 'remigration' in podcast interviews and speeches to niche platforms. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
In two recent podcasts, Roberts said One Nation wanted to deport 100,000 temporary residents as well as 100,000 international students – a total much higher than the party's published policy. The senator said after those people were removed, he wanted to 'start working on the higher numbers of people we need to get rid of'.
One Nation's policy website states the party would seek to 'deport 75,000 illegal migrants', specifically noting 'visa overstayers, illegal workers, and unlawful non-residents'. The website also pledges to 'end the student visa loopholes that turn study into a backdoor to permanent residency or low-wage labour'.
But Roberts, in an interview with the 2 Worlds Collide podcast in November 2025, suggested One Nation wanted to deport or 'remigrate' a far higher number.
'We would also deport immediately anybody who's here illegally, and that's 100,000 people now … on contravention of their resident visas. That's 100,000 we would deport, remigrate. Call it what you want. Get rid of them straight away,' he said.
'Then we've got about an estimated 100,000 international students who are here illegally. They've either graduated and not gone home or they've breached their legal visa. So we would send them home.'
In another interview with podcaster Brodie Buchal, published in June, Roberts repeated those sentiments.
'We have 100,000 people here on temporary resident visas illegally. We would deport them, remigrate them, send them home,' he said.
'We've got 100,000 students who are here illegally, and we suspect it's much, much more. Send them home.'
'We'd tighten the entry requirements, remigrate, deport, and then start working on the higher numbers of people we need to get rid of.'
One Nation was contacted for comment and clarification of its deportation policy.
One Nation's hardline immigration policy has come under renewed scrutiny after Pauline Hanson's appearance on Channel Seven's Spotlight program, where she met Rupert Lowe, leader of hard-right party Restore Britain. Lowe gave her a pamphlet titled 'mass deportations' and Hanson replied they were 'on the same page'.
Seven reporter Liam Bartlett asked Hanson whether she thought 'this concept of mass deportation is a good one?' She replied: 'I love it.'
However One Nation has consistently declined to detail how it would enact such a policy. MP Barnaby Joyce on Monday said people would be deported 'as it becomes apparent that they're not supposed to be here'.
Abul Rizvi, former deputy secretary of the immigration department, said it would be 'eyewateringly expensive' for a system to deport such numbers of people from Australia. He said recent figures showed only about 2,000 people were apprehended, detained and deported from Australia last year, with another 6,000 voluntarily leaving.
'It would cost a fortune and unless you did it carefully, it would result in massive errors and all sorts of problems,' Rizvi said.
Roberts' recent comments have also repeatedly referenced 'remigration'. The term has featured in Trump administration immigration policies, including an 'office of remigration' to oversee deportations.
But remigration has also become a buzzword for the global far right. The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism described remigration as 'a white supremacist policy concept'.
In his speech, Roberts said: 'Remigration is the second part of my speech. Take the people who are not fitting in or that we don't need and send them home.'
'We need to put Australia first. Stop immigration, deport people, remigrate.'
Roberts' speech was praised by a white supremacist news outlet, The Noticer. The outlet said 'remigration' had been popularised by German and Austrian far-right parties.
Dr Kurt Sengul commented on these remarks.