Chris Burson, a One Nation candidate and former police officer running for Western Victoria Region, proposed during a 2022 podcast appearance to send drug-addicted offenders to work on Australian farms as part of a rehabilitation program. He suggests that instead of imprisoning these individuals repeatedly, they could contribute to regional agriculture labor shortages while undergoing rehabilitation and potentially repaying fines and compensating victims. Burson’s proposal aims to address the cycle of addiction and crime by providing alternative pathways for long-term employment and social reintegration.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-06,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.50, but every quote it verified points right, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
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Leaning score withheld for article 59125: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-10-06
A One Nation candidate and former police officer has proposed sending drug-addicted offenders to work on Australian farms as part of a rehabilitation program.
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candidate → propose → program
Chris Burson, a City of Greater Geelong councillor and One Nation candidate for Western Victoria Region, floated the idea during a 2022 podcast appearance while running for the now-defunct Angry Victorians Party.
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Burson → float → Party
The former Victoria Police officer and Australian Defence Force veteran said heroin addicts he encountered during his policing career were trapped in a cycle of addiction, petty crime and imprisonment.
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he → say → addiction
'We're paying a fortune for these guys to go to jail to then come out and recommit offences,' he said at the time.
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he → pay → time
Rather than cycling offenders through prison, Burson suggested inmates with a drug addiction could be sent to regional areas facing labour shortages and put to work in agriculture.
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inmates → cycle → agriculture
'We've got a massive issue out in the regions with employment,' he said.
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he → get → employment
They can't get enough workers, so they're trying to get migrants over to do all the fruit picking and do all this sort of stuff.
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they → get → stuff
Burson insisted he was not proposing traditional 'chain gangs', but argued offenders could combine farm work with rehabilitation programs and efforts to repay victims.
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offenders → insist → victims
Chris Burson (pictured) previously called for drug-using inmates to work on Australian farms
The suggestion was made during a 2022 podcast appearance while Burson was running for office
The proposal is not part of One Nation Victoria's current policy platform.
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proposal → picture → platform
The Daily Mail has contacted the party for comment
'
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Mail → contact → comment
I mean, not an actual chain gang, but if you have them out picking fruit, doing whatever, it gets them away from the environment that they're in,' he said.
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he → mean → that
'You could then have people speak to them and try and get them to get ahead.'
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them → have → them
The former negotiator said prison often failed to address the underlying causes of addiction.
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prison → say → addiction
'I don't know that the jail system is great for them because they go in and then they meet other people who get them into more serious crime and teach them how to do other things,' Burson said.
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Burson → know → things
He argued work programs could be paired with mentoring from former addicts and create pathways into long-term employment.
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programs → argue → employment
'If they enjoy it, they might even move rurally and then keep working there and have an actual job,' he said.
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he → enjoy → job
'Whereas a lot of these guys have never had a job, never had anyone to work for, never had someone care about them.'
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someone → work → them
He also suggested offenders could use earnings from the programs to pay fines and compensate victims.
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offenders → suggest → victims
One Nation leader Warren Pickering (right) previously revealed his history with drug use
'
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Pickering → reveal → use
They get fined, but they never pay it because they never have a job,' he said.
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he → fin → job
'If they can work their fines off whilst also doing rehab, then that's doing something to get ahead.'
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that → work → something
While acknowledging he had not developed a formal policy, Burson said the idea stemmed from frustration with repeat offending.
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idea → acknowledge → offending
'What we're doing right now isn't working,' he said.
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he → do → What
'So why are we not looking at what other people are doing around the world to try and do best practice that's worked elsewhere?'
The proposal is not part of One Nation Victoria's current policy platform.
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proposal → look → platform
The Daily Mail has contacted the party for comment.
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Mail → contact → comment
Instead, the party supports expanding Victoria's Drug Court and Assessment and Referral Court programs, increasing access to treatment, strengthening Community Correction Orders and creating a 'H.E.L.P.' program focused on health, employment, learning and purpose.
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party → support → health
The platform argues supervised community-based rehabilitation can be a more effective and less costly alternative to prison for suitable offenders.
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rehabilitation → argue → offenders
The comments also come after One Nation Victorian leader Warren Pickering revealed he experimented with drugs in his 20s before turning his life around through military service.
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he → come → service
Pickering admitted last month to previous use of speed, methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana as a young man, but denied ever using ice.
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Pickering → admit → ice
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