One Nation angers miners after rookie MP sides with Greens on fuel rebates

The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, right, and the Farrer MP, David Farley. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP View image in fullscreen The One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, right, and the Farrer MP, David Farley. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP One Nation angers miners after rookie MP sides with Greens on fuel rebates Opponents seize on Farrer MP David Farley’s decision to vote alongside teals and Greens to wind back fuel tax credits for miners, farmers and others Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast One Nation is under pressure to clarify its position on fuel tax credits after its rookie MP voted to wind back the rebates, a position opposed by mining and farming groups. The Farrer MP, David Farley , sided with the Greens and teal independents in a lower-house vote to cap the scheme, which refunds miners, farmers and other industries that use heavy machinery the 52.6c a litre excise applied to petrol and diesel. The amendment – which was moved by the Bradfield MP, Nicolette Boele – was defeated after Labor and the Coalition rejected it. Farley’s stance endorses a position that the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) and National Farmers Federation (NFF) have labelled an attack on farmers, miners and truck drivers – constituencies One Nation claims to represent. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email The MCA chief executive, Tania Constable, whose organisation this week launched a new campaign to protect the scheme from “noisy activists” , said Farley’s position on the vote was “really disappointing”. “David Farley is a regional member and it was his first big opportunity to show what he’s made of, and he voted against regional Australia,” Constable told Sky News. “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.” Farley’s vote puts him in the same camp as climate campaigners, unions, rank-and-file Labor members and the mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, who view the rebate scheme as a handbrake to decarbonisation and want it capped. Guardian Australia has not been able to establish if Farley – who was only sworn into parliament earlier this month – intended to vote for Boele’s amendment or made a mistake. The Farrer MP told the Nine papers that Tuesday’s vote was “political theatre” and replied “No” when asked if he was caught out by the speed of the process. Farley did not respond to calls from Guardian Australia and One Nation declined to comment. If Farley did intend to support the amendment, it would represent the latest case of policy freelancing after he backed current migration levels and signalled he would fly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag in his office. He later clarified on Facebook that his office would fly the Australian flag and that no flag would stand