COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE, REPORTER:\u00a0 From the east coast to the west coast, One Nation is disrupting major party politics.<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN, ONE NATION CANDIDATE:\u00a0 I really believe together we are on the verge of something truly historic here.<\/p>\n
GEORGIA TREE, LABOR CANDIDATE:\u00a0 I’m in the fight of my life, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n
BASIL ZEMPILAS, WA LIBERAL LEADER:\u00a0 My approach has been respect what’s happening politically. Don’t fear it.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0The resignation of a long-serving MP in Perth\u2019s southern suburbs has triggered a by-election in a once-safe Labor stronghold. It could be an opening for One Nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PETER KENNEDY, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR:\u00a0 A big swing to One Nation would send shock waves through the major parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Luke Herdergen starts his day early. The gym owner from New South Wales is One Nation\u2019s candidate for the seat of Secret Harbour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the east coast, One Nation has barred the ABC from some of its media events but here in the west, Luke Herdegen has invited 7.30 along.<\/p>\n
Is there a joke in here about a political storm?\u00a0<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 There might be a joke about a political storm, I think. I think there’s definitely a storm brewing.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0From the beach to the roadside joined by the One Nation WA leader Rod Caddies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ROD CADDIES, WA ONE NATION LEADER:\u00a0 He’s got the commitment; he’s got the personality. Everyone seems to really find him likeable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0At the state election last year One Nation got less than 9 per cent of the vote here and Labor was ahead of the Liberals by 11 and a half percent.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s thought Labor and One Nation are neck and neck and support for the Liberals is waning.<\/p>\n
ROD CADDIES:\u00a0 There’s been a shift. The momentum on the ground now, these horns, you used to get a bit of that before. We aren’t just this protest party as they keep trying to push.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Luke Heredegen\u2019s campaign hasn\u2019t been without controversy. There were questions over his social media posts about using and then quitting cocaine.<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 That’s a story I put out there to try and help inspire people to live happier and healthier lives and I think it really did help a lot of people, When I’m in the streets of Secret Harbour they’re not asking me about a blog post from 10 years ago.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0He also had to to sell his stake in a gym franchise because the company didn’t want to be linked to any party and he says his sister isn’t talking to him.<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 She sees Pauline Hanson in One Nation as racist, and I guess lots of the support and the things that she supports.<\/p>\n
Yeah, it’s a huge personal toll. I love my sister. We’re a close family, but yeah, like all families and all communities, not everybody agrees. And yeah, we have to be able to disagree.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Secret Harbour is in Perth\u2019s rapidly growing south. Home to many young, working families, affordable housing and cost of living is front of mind.<\/p>\n
VOX POP:\u00a0 It’s the young ones I feel sorry for, trying to get off the ground away from mom and dad.<\/p>\n
VOX POP:\u00a0 I’m building a house at the moment and prices of it and everything to do everything. It’s just through the roof and it’s mainly because we’re overpopulated.<\/p>\n
VOX POP:\u00a0 They seem to like coming out and everyone seems to be sprucing a lot of things, but actions are better than words. So we’ll see what they deliver.<\/p>\n
PETER KENNEDY:\u00a0 There are far few rusted on voters now than there were. And in the outer suburbs, that’s where that party loyalty I think is falling away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GEORGIA TREE:\u00a0 I never would’ve imagined that I’d be coming up against One Nation and the level of support that they do have.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Labor\u2019s candidate in the by-election is Georgia Tree.\u00a0<\/p>\n
GEORGIA TREE:\u00a0 We’re building Karnup Station and we’ve capped public transport fares at $2.80. One take Tree they call me.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Transport is a big issue here. The train station Labor has promised was first announced back in 2013, but it\u2019s still not built.<\/p>\n
VOX POP:\u00a0 Go One Nation!<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0There are reminders everywhere of what she’s up against.<\/p>\n
Have you been getting a bit of that?\u00a0<\/p>\n
GEORGIA TREE:\u00a0 Yeah, definitely but I will keep fighting. I can be the person in the room where those decisions are made and if they do vote for another party, that won\u2019t be the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Later, she meets some volunteers for the daily routine of doorknocking.<\/p>\n
GEORGIA TREE:\u00a0 We’re a microcosm here and there’s a lot of scrutiny on this seat because it’s part of a broader movement that we’ve seen all over the world. So it’s interesting for me to be in the petri dish as it were, and everyone’s looking to see what happens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0On the eve of early voting, One Nation volunteers gather in a local hall to be briefed.<\/p>\n
ROD CADDIES:\u00a0 People will try and troll you and try and get you into an argument or maybe film you or get some footage of you. Be the bigger person. Do not bite. Walk away.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0 A lot of the volunteers say they’re here because of Pauline Hanson.<\/p>\n
Some of things she said this year so earlier this year she said that she didn’t believe there were any good Muslims. She also said that domestic violence was a two-way street. Do you agree with those things?<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 I mean, look, to be honest, it’s not something that anyone is talking about in the community here. It’s just not really an issue down here. So yeah, not really.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0You don’t agree with those things?<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 Oh no, it’s not that I don’t agree with it. I think, like I said yesterday, all crimes are committed by both sexes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ROD CADDIES:\u00a0 Think that’s been done over and over about the good Muslim thing. I think that’s coming back to that reason why Pauline has not wanting to talk to the ABC.<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 I haven\u2019t spoken to Pauline about that, she hasn\u2019t said those comments to me.<\/p>\n
ROD CADDIES:\u00a0 That cut about the good Muslim was about if they’re following the Quran and dadada, so you have to have things in context.\u00a0<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0What’s your response to people who say that Pauline does peddle kind of racist messages?\u00a0<\/p>\n
LUKE HERDEGEN:\u00a0 Well, I completely disagree. Yeah. I don’t think she does peddle racist messages and no one in the party peddles racist messages.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0Parts of Secret Harbour sit within the federal electorate of Canning held by Liberal Andrew Hastie – one of the Coalition’s loudest voices against One Nation. He’s been critical of the WA Liberals for not running hard enough against the party and preferencing One Nation too high.\u00a0<\/p>\n
BASIL ZEMPILAS:\u00a0 There is support for One Nation. Now for us to be disrespectful of that would be not acknowledging the current will of the people. So my approach has very much been see One Nation’s rise as an opportunity, not a threat.<\/p>\n
RYAN ROBERTSON, LIBERAL CANDIDATE:\u00a0 I think we\u2019re in with a great chance and importantly we\u2019ve spent the last five weeks listening to the people of Secret Harbour and I think that\u2019s got to show. Knocking on over 4,000 doors and hearing exactly where the frustrations are.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PETER KENNEDY:\u00a0 The Liberal Party’s in a fight for not only its sort of continued existence, but sort of to try and become a major voice again in West Australian politics.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0The Prime Minister spent the day in Perth today, but Anthony Albanese didn\u2019t make it to Secret Harbour.<\/p>\n
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER:\u00a0 I am here and I\u2019m doing my job as prime minister of Australia. If the people of that electorate want a voice in government, they should vote Labor.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0You don\u2019t think there\u2019s a message for you if Labor loses this by-election?<\/p>\n
ANTHONY ALBANESE:\u00a0It\u2019s a state by-election.<\/p>\n
PETER KENNEDY:\u00a0 One Nation potentially is becoming a force in Australian politics. And the reality then for the major parties is how do you deal with it? Do you ignore them or do you strike some sort of arrangement with them? And that’s what’s playing out at the moment.<\/p>\n
COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE:\u00a0And in this seat, it\u2019s a force that could be gaining momentum at the expense of both major parties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
VOX POP:\u00a0 I’ve always voted Labor, always, my whole life, because they were for the middle-class people, but now they’re not.<\/p>\n
VOX POP:\u00a0 I just think Labor and Liberal, they haven’t done anything since they’ve been parties really, have they? Let’s be honest.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COURTNEY BEMBRIDGE, REPORTER:\u00a0 From the east coast to the west coast, One Nation is disrupting major party politics.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,38323,1788,4273,44,60504,369969],"class_list":["post-866669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-by-election","tag-labor","tag-liberal","tag-news","tag-one-nation","tag-secret-harbour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866669","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=866669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}