One Nation secures fourth Senate seat in conservative resurgence

One Nation has secured a fourth Senate seat, putting its representation in the upper house on par with the Nationals.

One Nation senator Pauline Hanson handing out how-to-vote cards for the party at Lansdowne Crescent Primary School in West Hobart. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

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One Nation has secured a fourth Senate seat, putting the party’s representation in the upper house on par with the Nationals, as vote counting reveals Labor will have the numbers to pass legislation with only the Greens’ support.

After former hostage negotiator and SAS soldier Warwick Stacey won NSW’s sixth Senate seat for One Nation on Friday, Pauline Hanson said the conservative party’s gains at the May 3 election reflected the support among voters for “commonsense policies”.

With One Nation’s Tyron Whitten securing the final spot in the WA Senate, Malcolm Roberts reprising his position in the upper house for Queensland and Senator Hanson holding her spot until 2028, the party’s numbers have grown to four.

Senator Hanson, who founded the party 28 years ago, said the feat set One Nation on the road to achieving party status while leaving the door open to other MPs to join the movement, including United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet.

One Nation had hoped to pick up another seat in Victoria but was beaten out by Labor claiming a third seat in the state.

“It would be lovely to have that fifth one to get the party status in the Senate, by all means,” Senator Hanson told Sky News. “It’s a shame that we just missed out. Victoria is our toughest state.”

After Jacinta Nampijinpa Price defected to the Liberal Party and Perin Davey lost her Senate spot, the Nationals were reduced to five senators in the upper house.

Senator Hanson attributed One Nation’s gains in the election to her party’s commitment to “Australian values” while the Coalition had “sat on the fence” after being pushed further to the left by its moderate faction.

“They thought, no, they’re going to put out policies that are to the left of the conservative, and their moderates in the party are pushing them to that way,” she said.

“The thing is, they’re not going to pick up those Greens or Labor voters at all with their policies, they’re staunch Labor voters. Or the Greens, there’s no way you’re going to contend with them.

“So what you have to do is have those policies. People say we’re extreme right. That is ridiculous to say that, we’re more of a centrist party than extreme right, if you look at our policies.”

Senator Hanson also vowed to oppose the net zero by 2050 target, branding climate change as a “scam”.

Senator Stacey, who was overseas when his electoral victory was announced, has railed against “out-of-control immigration” and rejected the net-zero target, declaring Australians “deserve leadership that puts their needs first”.