One Nation secures WA Senate seat on preferences

One Nation has secured the sixth Senate spot in Western Australia through the ‘dark power’ of preferences, as Pauline Hanson’s conservative party bucks the national trend.

One Nation Senate candidate for WA Tyron Whitten with party leader Pauline Hanson. Picture: Facebook page

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One Nation has secured the sixth Senate spot in Western Australia through the “dark power” of preferences, as Pauline Hanson’s conservative party bucks the national trend and increases its numbers in parliament.

Businessman Tyron Whitten has beaten Labor for the final senate spot in WA, despite falling behind Labor in the primary vote count, with incumbent One Nat­ion senator Malcolm Roberts securing the sixth seat for Queensland.

The Australian Electoral Commission finalised the results for both states on Thursday, with the count confirming the right-wing party’s representation in the upper house will grow to three.

Senator Hanson is not up for re-election until 2028.

The result marks a shift from the national shift away from conservative parties, with the May 3 election handing Labor a landslide victory and decimating the Coalition’s numbers.

Labor has won 94 seats in the House of Representatives and at least 28 Senate spots.

Labor had hoped to secure the third WA Senate seat for its candidate, Deep Singh, from the usually unwinnable spot on the Senate ticket, matching its achievement in Victoria and South Australia.

Political strategist Glenn Druery, dubbed the “preference whisperer”, said the power of pref­erences was evident in the WA and Victorian Senate results.

“Preferences have made a difference in Victoria and WA, with respect to who won the last spot,” he said. “In the case of WA, Labor was clearly ahead of One Nation, and One Nation picked up enough preferences, predominantly from the right, to get ahead of Labor’s third candidate.”

Mr Druery said One Nation had been “smoked” in Victoria after preferences from the Legalise Cannabis Party had been redirected to Labor, allowing the ALP to secure a third Senate seat.

“The interesting states to watch were Tasmania, Victoria and WA, and as it turned out WA was the one where preferences put the minor party in ahead of Labor, such is the dark power of preferences,” he said.

Senator Whitten, who has never stood for political office before and previously ran a construction company with his brother, said he was left “numb and overwhelmed” when the vote count had been finalised.

“I’d always say to my children, don’t complain about things, do something about it,” he said.

“I’m in a stage of my life where I need to do something about it.”

The result means Labor will be able to win 29 Senate seats at the most, with the outcome for NSW still to be announced.

After former Labor Higgins MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah won the third Senate seat in Victoria on Wednesday, the ALP had ­officially secured 28 seats, allowing the government to pass legislation with the support only of the Greens. The Greens have vowed to use the balance of power to compel Labor to take strong climate action.