One Nation candidate’s radical plan to send druggies to the bush to pick fruit, get them off the gear and repay the victims of their crimes
Chris Burson, a One Nation candidate for Western Victoria and former police officer, has proposed that drug-addicted offenders work on regional farms while receiving rehabilitation. He says this could help break the cycle of addiction, petty crime and prison, while addressing farm labour shortages and giving offenders a way to repay victims.
Burson raised the idea in a 2022 podcast, when he was running for another party, and said it was not a formal policy. He envisaged mentoring and job pathways alongside farm work, with earnings used to pay fines or compensate victims. One Nation Victoria’s current platform instead backs expanding drug and specialist courts, treatment access and supervised community rehabilitation; the party has been contacted for comment.
- Burson proposed farm work alongside rehabilitation for drug-addicted offenders.
- He says the scheme could help offenders repay fines and victims.
- The proposal is not part of One Nation Victoria’s current platform.
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Drug policy and criminal sentencing are significant political debates in Australia. There are different approaches to handling people convicted of drug-related offences—some emphasise imprisonment, whilst others focus on rehabilitation and treatment. This story involves one proposal within that broader discussion about how to reduce reoffending.
Chris Burson is a former police officer now standing as a One Nation candidate for Western Victoria. He first proposed his farm-work idea in a 2022 podcast interview when running for a different political party. He suggested that drug-addicted offenders could work on regional farms alongside mentoring and job training, which he argued could break cycles of addiction and crime, address rural labour shortages, and provide earnings to compensate victims or pay fines.
One Nation Victoria's current platform on drug offences does not include the farm-work approach. Instead, the party supports expanding specialist drug courts, improving access to treatment programmes and supervised community-based rehabilitation.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
This approach addresses multiple challenges simultaneously—it provides purposeful structure and mentoring for recovery, helps offset labour shortages in agriculture, and enables offenders to make direct restitution to victims through their earnings. Structured work programmes with genuine job pathways and support can meaningfully break cycles of addiction and crime whilst reducing the burden on the prison system.
The case against
Whilst well-intentioned, the proposal risks exploiting vulnerable people with complex health needs and insufficient safeguards, particularly given rural isolation and potential vulnerability to inadequate supervision. Evidence-based addiction treatment addressing trauma and underlying causes is typically more effective than labour programmes alone, and meaningful victim compensation requires offenders to successfully reintegrate into society rather than potentially deteriorate in unsuitable conditions.