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Barnaby Joyce says his One Nation colleague David Farley misspoke when he said the party’s net migration target was “not too different” from Labor’s, describing it as a rookie mistake.

Farley, who won the seat of Farrer for Pauline Hanson’s rightwing party in May, ruffled feathers when he told ABC’s Insiders that while One Nation’s net overseas migration (Nom) target was 130,000, it would allow an additional 100,000 migrant workers at a minimum. They would include skilled workers, backpackers, and Pacific and Timor-Leste labour through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (Palm) scheme.

The final figure, of about 230,000, is slightly more than the Albanese’s government’s forecasts of 225,000 by 2027-28. Hanson insisted on Sunday that the party’s target was 130,000.

On Monday, Joyce said a mistake had been made.

“There’s not going to be an extra 100 [thousand] on top of [the 130,000 Nom target],” Joyce told Channel 7’s Sunrise.

“I mean, that’s not unusual. Show me a political career where people haven’t made a mistake and I’ll show you a person who’s not told the truth.

“Look, I’m not going to throw anybody under a bus. When people are new in parliament, they can sometimes get things incorrect and that’s … what happens. God knows I’ve done it enough.”

Farley has previously been counselled by Hanson during the Farrer byelection campaign after he agreed a Nom of 306,000 last year was “probably not” too many.

In a post on social media, Hanson said on Sunday that “One Nation’s policy is to cut net overseas migration to 130,000”. The One Nation leader added “short-term seasonal agricultural workers who do not meet the ABS residency test are not counted in net overseas migration”.

The Nom is calculated by the difference between the number of people entering and leaving Australia, who have lived in or out of the country for 12 months over a 16-month period. It includes Australians moving abroad and returning but excludes short-term visitors, such as tourists.

It is different to permanent migration, which measures longer-term visas offered to skilled workers and family members. For this financial year, there are 185,000 permanent places.

The Nom was set to fall to 295,000 people last financial year, but reached 301,000. The government forecasts it to drop further to 245,000 in 2026-27 and 225,000 in 2027-28.

The shadow defence minister, James Paterson, said the comments demonstrated One Nation was “all over the shop when it comes to migration”.

“It’s very typical of One Nation. They talk a really big game when it comes to issues like migration, but they fall down on the details, and it is yet more evidence of why they’re just not fit to govern,” he told Channel 9’s Today program.

Hanson’s rise in the polls has dominated headlines this year.

The latest Demos poll, released Monday, shows One Nation’s primary vote slipping behind the Coalition by one percentage point to 24%, while Labor sits at 26%.