One Nation has secured its first lower house seat in Western Australia’s state parliament, defeating Labor in a once safe seat.
In the Secret Harbour by-election, the party’s Luke Herdegen claimed victory after outpolling Labor’s pro-gas candidate Georgia Tree.
An 18.6 per cent swing against Labor saw Herdegen overtake Tree, leading 57 to 43 per cent with 74.5 per cent of the vote counted by 5pm on Sunday night.
Although the 39-year-old lives outside the electorate, he operates several local gyms and has campaigned on various local and national concerns, highlighting red bin collection frequency, housing pressures, and migration.
“Mass immigration is starting to manifest as a homelessness issue in this area. We’ve got streets of people living in tents popping up and it’s a real problem,” he told News24 before polling day.
Leader Senator Pauline Hanson hailed the win as a “dramatic shift in support towards One Nation”.
“The result in Secret Harbour should be a warning to Labor, we’re coming for more of your seats,” she posted on social media.
“Australians are choosing One Nation as a serious alternative to the tired old uni-party who have destroyed our nations economic prowess and made the cost of living so outrageously unaffordable.”
Labor conceded defeat on Sunday morning. However, Ms Tree emphasised that her party remained committed to constructing a railway station in Karnup regardless of the outcome.
“While the result wasn’t what we hoped for, I am incredibly proud of what we achieved,” she said.
“I want to be clear, WA Labor is building Karnup Station and works will start in 2028.”
In an interview with Tapt Media, Mr Herdegen claimed the Cook Government would delay the station’s development “to make (One Nation) look bad”.
The Greens candidate, Rhi Davies, secured 7.5 per cent of the primary vote despite a 2.2 per cent swing against the party. She attributed Labor’s loss to their choice of candidate.
“The result is a reflection of that fact – WA Labor have got to get the message that doing the bidding of Woodside isn’t going to cut it with voters,” she said.
Greens WA leader Brad Pettitt said the election outcome was a “key moment in the unravelling of Australia’s two-party system”.
“The two-party system is no longer working for West Australians, and the result showed the combined vote of the Labour and Liberal parties falling to around 40%. In this election alone, they lost 30% of voters to One Nation,” he said in a statement.
