One Nation’s “orange tsunami” is headed for WA as former Coalition members flock to Pauline Hanson’s minor party as it surges in popularity nation-wide.
After dismantling 77 years of the Coalition in the NSW regional seat of Farrer and picking up a surge in the polls at the South Australian election, One Nation’s WA senator Tyron Whitten said momentum was building in his home State.
Senator Whitten said thousands have poured into the party’s WA branch in the past year — signing up as members, offering to volunteer or even to be candidates.
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While he and WA State leader of One Nation Rod Caddies were tight lipped on names coming forward they say former Coalition members have been among those drawn to the party — eyeing preselection with One Nation at the next Federal election.
“People in Western Australia sort of think of One Nation as an East Coast party but the orange tsunami is going to cover the whole country, not just the East Coast,” he said.
“We’ve proven in a blue blood liberal stronghold, that it’s possible. So, why can’t it be transferred around the country? We’re working hard and listening to people.”
Senator Whitten had been a surprising last minute addition to the Senate after the 2025 poll after he shocked Labor’s Deep Singh to secure the sixth seat in the final count of votes.
But Senator Whitten said the party’s infrastructure was growing in his home state to take on key seats held by both Labor and Coalition.
“It’s certainly going to be easier next election than it was last election and we still pulled 6 per cent last time. I think the next election is going to be just a totally different landscape,” he said.
He said among the people knocking on the door of the party were former “prominent members of parliament” but warned Senator Hanson wouldn’t just be accepting any old stray.
“Look without giving too much away, there’s been phone calls from people at every level,” he said.
“But just because they wanted to come over, doesn’t mean Pauline would have them.
“Just because you’ve been a good member of parliament or a prominent member of parliament and you want to come over doesn’t mean you’re going to get a guernsey.
“Pauline wants people that love the country and are fighting for the right reasons.”
Earlier this month, WA Treasurer Rita Saffitoi dismissed One Nation’s rise in the west — insisting one east coast by-election win didn’t mean Pauline Hanson’s outfit was a threat to the State Labor stronghold.
Senator Whitten said One Nation was ready to stand up for key WA issues, including ensuring the state gets a fair share of the GST deal.
“You’ve got to remember Pauline was the one who went out and fought for Western Australia to fix the GST last time,” he said.
“She’s a big part of that, because she could see it wasn’t fair.
The problems families and people have in Western Australia aren’t much different to what they have on the East Coast — it’s electricity prices, it’s insurances, it’s fuels, it’s mass-immigration. Those issues are happening everywhere.
“Everything we do, every decision we make, goes through a filter of ‘is it good for Australia?’ And once it gets through that, then we’ll decide whether we’re voting for or against something.”
Mr Caddies, who represents the party in WA’s upper house, said he believed One Nation could be a real threat in outer Perth seats held by Labor as well as the Liberal-held electorates of O’Connor, Durack, Canning.
“I’m actually, at the moment, getting inundated with people wanting to volunteer. We’ve got hundreds of people. We’re getting emails constantly every day,” he said.
“People are asking ‘what can they do? How can they get more involved?’
“We’ve got more resources, more people putting their hands up. Our pool of applicants is a lot bigger. I’ve already got people asking to be a candidate for the election already.
“There’s just lots of people including people who have been involved in other parties. I’ve had a lot of Liberals and Nationals joining our party.
“We don’t want to be just that sort of place where everyone who’s been somewhere else wants to jump on board because we’re doing well now.
“I’m very careful and making sure we vet really well. We just want the best candidate.
“But we’re growing so quickly. Sometimes it’s a bit hard trying to implement the systems and infrastructure to align with that.”
Senator Hanson on Tuesday complained that her staff were becoming burnt out from being inundated by people and urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to lift her allocation.
“We are being inundated with thousands of calls, emails and messages every week and it’s not possible to respond to all of them,” she posted online, which attracted almost 40,000 reactions.
“The Albanese government cut the staff allocation to One Nation after the last election. I have been going to both the Prime Minister and Special Minister of State Don Farrell since the staff cuts… begging and pleading with them to give us more staff to deal with the heavy workload.”
Last year, the staffing issues brought unlikely opponents of Senator Hanson and former Labor senator Fatima Payman, as well as independents like Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock, together to push for more political operatives.
On Wednesday, it was revealed by Sky News that the One Nation leader has requested an additional office in Yeppoon, fuelling speculation she may contest the House of Representative seat of Capricornia.
The seat is currently held by Nationals MP Michelle Landry and had been rumoured to be a future home of Nationals leader Matt Canavan if she retired to allow him to shift from the Senate.
According to Newspoll published on Sunday evening, Labor’s primary vote held steady at 31 per cent while the Coalition fell a point to 20 per cent and One Nation’s surge continued — up from 20 to 27 per cent.
