One Nation claims historic by-election win in Western Australia

Full account

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation has won its first seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, after Luke Herdegen defeated Labor candidate Georgia Tree at the Secret Harbour by-election. Count figures cited by the reports on Sunday put Herdegen on 57.04 per cent of the two-candidate-preferred vote, compared with Tree’s 42.96 per cent. The outcome represents a notable expansion for One Nation in Western Australian state politics and a loss for Labor in an outer-Perth electorate described as having been regarded as safe for the party.

The reported primary-vote figures show a sharp change from the 2025 state election. One Nation recorded 39 per cent, up from about 9 per cent previously, while Labor fell to 24 per cent from 46 per cent. The Liberal Party received 17 per cent, a decline of seven points. One Nation characterised the result as evidence that it could compete with Labor in seats where the Liberals had not previously mounted a strong challenge. Herdegen said after the result that Labor should not regard seats in Western Australia or elsewhere as guaranteed.

The by-election followed campaigning in which both leading candidates faced criticism. Reports said Tree’s opponents questioned her residence outside the electorate and drew attention to her earlier work for Woodside and for Resources Minister Madeleine King. Herdegen was challenged over past social-media material, including an account of drug use while living in London and videos said to have been recorded while he was driving. The first report also said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spent the final week of the campaign in Western Australia but did not appear alongside Tree, attributing that account to the Daily Mail’s understanding of the campaign.

In a subsequent address to the Queensland Labor conference, Albanese cited One Nation among what he called the growth of hard-right populist politics and said Labor had a responsibility to oppose it. He accused the party of spreading misinformation and of seeking to divide Australians, while defending multiculturalism. The second report focused on the online criticism prompted by those comments, with some respondents arguing that the Prime Minister had not addressed the reasons some voters had backed One Nation. The result therefore became both a local electoral upset and a point of wider argument about the major parties’ response to minor-party support.

Where outlets differ

The first report places greater emphasis on the by-election campaign itself, including scrutiny of both candidates, the Prime Minister’s limited visible involvement and comments from One Nation figures after the count.

The second report concentrates on Albanese’s speech after the result, his criticism of One Nation and the online reaction to that intervention.

Both reports give broadly the same result and primary-vote movement, although the first provides the more precise two-candidate-preferred figures while the second describes them approximately.

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