Pauline Hansons One Nation launches assault on Victorian election

March 04, 2026
One Nation’s Pauline Hanson announced its candidate for the Victorian seat of Nepean on Sunday as it prepares to field up to 100 candidates in its first major political assault on the progressive southern state.
Small business owner Darren Hercus will contest the May 2 byelection in the seat, which covers the Mornington Peninsula and has been a Liberal stronghold except for a single Labor term from 2018 to 2022.

The byelection was triggered by the dramatic departure of former Liberal deputy leader and retired tennis star Sam Groth, who had accused the party of undermining his leadership and leaking to the media.
Liberal leader Jess Wilson on Saturday unveiled the party’s candidate, Mornington Peninsula Shire on-leave mayor Anthony Marsh, who previously declared he would not run for parliament or join a major political party.
Wilson said she was not concerned. “No, because I know that Anthony has a proven track record. I know that as a three-time mayor, someone who grew up here, he really understands the local issues.”
Labor has confirmed it will not run a candidate at the byelection, which means a resurgent One Nation is the likely biggest challenger to the Liberals.
Labor leader Jacinta Allan on Sunday repeated her attack line that the opposition was keen to do a deal with One Nation to win the November state election. “What the Liberal Party haven’t ruled out is what deal have they done with One Nation? It’s time the Liberal leader came clean,” she said.

A Roy Morgan poll last month showed One Nation (26.5 per cent) was currently ahead of the governing ALP (25.5 per cent) and the Coalition opposition (21.5 per cent) in Victoria.
Hercus, who will seek to become One Nation’s first-ever Victorian lower house MP, is a 55-year-old civil engineer, father of two, and owner of a Dromana floor and roof truss business.
He is a former Liberal voter who said that he signed up as a One Nation candidate after meeting Hanson at the Southbank airing of her Super Progressive Movie.
He pointed to an 800 per cent increase in his land tax bills, the doubling of his workers’ compensation expenses and another $1800 on his rates notice for the fire emergency services levy, as factors making it untenable for business.
One Nation state president Warren Pickering said he had been swamped with candidates as the party prepares to run up to 100 candidates in lower and upper seats in the November state election.

“Darren represents our broader initiative to cultivate talent from the real world and add real-world experience to the Victorian parliament,” he said.
“Victoria used to be the jewel in the crown of Australian [growth]. Over 130,000 businesses have closed or moved interstate since 2023, the state government is now the largest employer in the state, and Victoria is officially the worst state in the country to do business.”