Ex-Labor MP Tania Mihailuk speaks out after jumping ship to One Nation

Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk has slammed her former party in a scathing spray after it was revealed she will run as a candidate for One Nation at the state election.

Ex-Labor MP Tania Mihailuk has sensationally declared her former party has “lost its way to left wing extremists and property developer mafia”, while confirming she will run for One Nation at the March election.

In a scathing attack, Ms Mihailuk slammed her former frontbench colleagues as “the extreme left”, while revealing she wouldn’t recontest the Bankstown electorate she has held since 2011 and would instead run for the Upper House as part of One Nation’s team.

“Chris Minns as Premier and a Labor Government will see NSW go both woke and broke. I know the true agenda of the people currently sitting on Chris Minns’ front bench – they are from the extreme left,” she said.

“I am seeking preselection as a One Nation candidate in Mark Latham’s team because the Labor Party has sadly lost its wayto the left wing extremists and property developer mafia that have taken over Labor like a cancer with their woke views and political donations.”

She also took aim at the “inner-west left wing hipsters” she claimed were setting Labor’s policies.

Bankstown Labor MP Tania Mihailuk has spoken for the first time about why she has chosen to join One Nation. Picture: Tim Hunter.

“I am a strong believer in freedom of religion and the right to express your faith,” she said.

“South West Sydney communities like those in Bankstown have the highest observance in faith, be it Christianity, Buddhism or Islam, but freedom of religion is a toxic notion to the inner-west left wing hipsters that set Labor Party agenda on social policy.”

Lakemba MP Jihad Dib, who will run for Labor in Bankstown in March, said Ms Mihailuk had “turned her back” on the multicultural communities she once represented.

Member for Lakemba Jihad Dib. Picture: Joel Carrett

“Like so many people, I am shocked by Ms Mihailuk’s decision. I never imagined someone who grew up in and represented this community, would join a political party known for its lack of acceptance of cultural diversity,” he said.

“People in our diverse and multicultural community will be bitterly disappointed that she has joined a political party with division and fear at its core.”

Ms Mihailuk sat as an independent since October after she quit the Labor Party.

In an explosive speech to parliament when she left the party, Ms Mihailuk doubled down on claims first raised in September, telling parliament that certain sites in Canterbury-Bankstown had been given favourable planning treatment under Mayor Khal Asfour, who has been selected to run on Labor’s upper house ticket.

Ms Milhailuk will now run alongside NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham.

It comes after Ms Milhailuk claimed Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour was corrupt using parliamentary privilege.

A subsequent independent investigation completely cleared Mr Asfour of any wrongdoing.

Although running mates now, Mr Latham and Ms Mihailuk have previously clashed, with Mr Latham tweeting in 2018 that Labor MPs like Ms Mihailuk “are too busy chasing Islamic vote to support deradicalisation” after she defended the Bankstown Poetry Slam.

In 2017 Ms Mihailuk said in parliament “Mark Latham is just a buffoon” who embodied “political opportunism at its worst” after he claimed 90 per cent of people he approached in Fairfield couldn’t speak English.