{"id":842032,"date":"2026-08-03T14:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842032\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T14:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:57:16","slug":"one-nation-reveals-victorian-state-leader-and-upper-house-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/842032\/","title":{"rendered":"One Nation reveals Victorian state leader and upper house candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

A large group of protesters has gathered outside a One Nation fundraiser in Melbourne where the party’s supporters are meeting to see the new Victorian leader and candidates for the November election.<\/p>\n

Dozens of police were monitoring the rally outside The Tower Hotel in Hawthorn.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Protesters gather outside a One Nation fundraiser in Hawthorn, in Melbourne’s inner-east. (ABC News: James Oaten)<\/p>\n

Many protesters carried banners and others used loudspeakers, before the large crowd began chanting and banging drums while One Nation supporters gathered inside.<\/p>\n

The road outside the venue was blocked for about 500 metres in both directions, including the busy Burwood Road.<\/p>\n

A Victoria Police spokesperson said approximately 200 people attended the demonstration and that “police were pleased with behaviour at the protest”.<\/p>\n

“There were no arrests and no issues of note,” the police spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“Our priority at protests is the safety of the community.”<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

There was a large police protest monitoring the rally. (ABC News: James Oaten)<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Protesters chanted and banged drums while the One Nation fundraiser was being held. (ABC News: James Oaten)<\/p>\n

The fundraiser followed the announcement that army veteran and former Senate candidate Warren Pickering will lead the party at the upcoming Victorian state election.<\/p>\n

Mr Pickering, who is also the state president of One Nation in Victoria, will be the party’s leader and candidate for the lower house seat of Pakenham.<\/p>\n

At a media event, which the ABC was denied access to, Mr Pickering told reporters One Nation intended to govern in Victoria.<\/p>\n

“It’s also not lost on us that this is the biggest state campaign in the party’s history,” he said, calling Victoria “the most fiscally and morally bankrupt state in Australian history”.<\/p>\n

“We are officially putting the major parties on notice.<\/p>\n

“We intend for this to be a November to remember and we are contesting to govern.”<\/p>\n

Mr Pickering clarified that he did not intend to “share” government in Victoria as part of a coalition with the Liberals, as has been warned by state Labor figures.<\/p>\n

“We don’t see it. We can win in our own right,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Let’s take this state back.”<\/p>\n

\"Warren<\/p>\n

Warren Pickering will lead the party into the Victorian state election. (Facebook: Warren Pickering)<\/p>\n

Victorian Labor is facing a tough battle to retain government at the November election.<\/p>\n

Last week, former deputy premier Ben Carroll successfully challenged Jacinta Allan for the Labor Party leadership to take the state’s top job.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the challenge on Tuesday<\/a>, Mr Carroll said the stakes for Labor were high.<\/p>\n

“Polling says Victoria is on track for Australia’s first Liberal-One Nation government,” he said.<\/p>\n

Some polls have shown One Nation attracting as much as a quarter of Victorian voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The party is yet to reveal its state-based agenda, with Mr Pickering telling reporters today that One Nation would make its policies clear “within a month” and that a focus on farmers, crime and corruption was to be expected.<\/p>\n

One Nation also confirmed six more candidates, who will run in Victoria’s upper house regions, including Liberal Party defector Colleen Harkin<\/a> and the creator of One Nation’s “Please Explain” cartoon series Mark Nicholson.<\/p>\n

Ms Harkin was a one-time federal Liberal candidate for the seat of Macnamara and is also the director of education at the Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank.<\/p>\n

\"Colleen<\/p>\n

Colleen Harkin has confirmed she resigned from the Liberal Party in June this year. (Facebook)<\/p>\n

Mr Nicholson is a co-director of Melbourne animation studio Stepmate Studios, which produces Please Explain, the popular satirical animated series published by One Nation.<\/p>\n

Other candidates include lawyer Aaron Sanford, office manager Natalie Adams, Geelong councillor Chris Burson and human resources manager Fiona Lopez.<\/p>\n

Mr Burson has formerly run for state parliament under the since de-registered Angry Victorians party.<\/p>\n

One Nation’s existing Victorian MP, Rikkie Lee-Tyrrell, who has represented the party in the Northern Victoria region since 2022, will recontest her seat.<\/p>\n

\"Pauline<\/p>\n

Pauline Hanson is hopeful her party can have a big impact at Victoria’s election. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the party planned to field candidates in every Victorian seat, with more to be announced soon.<\/p>\n

“We’ll have a talented team of people intent on restoring Victoria and kicking out the tired and toxic Labor government which has run this state into the ground, getting away with it thanks to a weak Liberal opposition,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Ms Hanson said Victoria’s One Nation candidates were chosen not by her, but “through the process of people in Victoria”.<\/p>\n

“If we can get government, or even the balance of power, it’s going to make one hell of a difference in this state,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Hanson was also asked about her decision not to allow the ABC or The Guardian to attend the press conference.<\/p>\n

“ABC were denied entry into here and The Guardian. I’m not putting up with their rubbish, I’m not putting up with their spin,” Ms Hanson said.<\/p>\n

The Age newspaper was also denied entry to the event.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note (03\/08\/26): An earlier version of this story included two instances of Warren Pickering being erroneously named as Wayne. This has been corrected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large group of protesters has gathered outside a One Nation fundraiser in Melbourne where the party’s supporters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,414198,44,60504,414200,414195,414197,414199,41,39,42,40,414196,64459],"class_list":["post-842032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-mp-rikkie-lee-tyrell","tag-news","tag-one-nation","tag-one-nation-candidates","tag-one-nation-victoria","tag-pauline-hansons-one-nation","tag-pauline-hansons-please-explain","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-victorian-state-election","tag-warren-pickering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}