By Alexandra Smith & James Robertson
Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation are among the 19 parties who will contest next year's state election, as both sides of politics brace for the possibility of a hung parliament with right-wing parties holding the balance of power.
The deadline closed last week for parties to register to run candidates in the March 2019 election in order to be eligible for electoral funding.
Senator Pauline Hanson during an estimates hearing in federal parliament.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Other parties that have registered include Keep Sydney Open, which has campaigned against lock-out laws, the Voluntary Euthanasia Party and the Flux Party, which proposes a direct democracy model, where NSW residents would use an app to vote on every bill in Parliament, with MPs casting their vote based on the result in their electorate.
But it is the return of One Nation, as well as the Australian Conservatives, that is making senior Liberal strategists nervous.
Two polls within six months have had One Nation with a primary vote of 8 per cent in NSW, a level of support that Liberals believe could give One Nation two seats in the upper house.
And the Australian Conservatives founder Liberal defector Cory Bernardi has said NSW is the state where his party has the highest membership levels.
High-profile anti-halal campaigner Kirralie Smith, who was a NSW Senate candidate for the right-wing Australian Liberty Alliance at the last federal election, has been touted as a possible state candidate for the Australian Conservatives in NSW.
Ms Smith said she was a member of the party but had not yet made a decision about whether to run for the Australian Conservatives in NSW.
“The party is accepting candidate nominations all around the country and I haven’t made any decisions yet,” Ms Smith said.
Asked whether she would consider an upper or lower seat, she said: “I haven’t made any decisions”.
High-profile anti-halal campaigner Kirralie Smith.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Senator Bernadi last year said his party had 40 per cent of the paying membership of the NSW Liberals, a figure which would put his party’s membership at more than 4000.
When asked about membership levels on Monday, he said: “We have definitely proven we are a mass base party and whether it’s now 15,000 or 20,000 [members] it doesn’t matter, I’ve stopped counting."
Senator Bernadi praised Ms Smith’s star power in the conservative movement but stressed he had no say in preselections, which would be decided by the party’s local membership.
“She is welcome to apply like anyone else and she would be an excellent candidate,” he said.
According to the NSW Electoral Commission website: “Political parties, applying for registration and intending to participate in either a state or local government election, must be registered for 12 months prior to the close of nominations for that election. "