FARRER — One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce defended his party's migration cap policy and predicted victory for One Nation candidate David Farley in the Farrer by-election during a Sky News interview on Sunday. Joyce said he expected Farley to prevail in next Saturday's vote in the electorate on the New South Wales–Victoria border.

One Nation's stated policy is a cap of 130,000 migrants a year, compared with Australia's net overseas migration of 306,000 last year. Joyce said that if 400,000 people are brought in annually without corresponding houses, schools and hospitals, it cannot be sustained.

Asked about discrepancies in how the policy had been described during the campaign, Joyce said, "When you're a candidate and you're on the beat, obviously the policy is 130,000, as we've said, and he agrees when we talked about it. That's just the pressure of a campaign."

Joyce also said, "I think that worries people in the fourth estate more than it worries people on the ground."

The Farrer by-election is expected to produce a tight final count between Farley and independent candidate Michelle Milthorpe. Since the seat's creation, it has only been held by Liberal and Nationals members.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said he was not concerned about the Coalition losing Farrer. He said he believed the Nationals could improve conditions if elected in the seat but understood why voters had been disillusioned with the party, and said he was fighting hard in the campaign without raising expectations of a strong showing.

Canavan accused Milthorpe and Farley of running dishonest campaigns. He criticized Milthorpe's fossil fuel policies and labeled her a "teal," a description Milthorpe has rejected. He also said Farley had indicated he was comfortable with the federal Labor government's migration policy settings, despite One Nation's website calling for those settings to be substantially reduced.