One Nation reveals Victorian state leader ahead of November election

One Nation reveals Victorian state leader and upper house candidates Mon 3 Aug 2026 at 12:25pm In short: One Nation has announced its Victorian state president Warren Pickering will lead the party into the upcoming state election. Mr Pickering told media One Nation intends to govern in Victoria and announced six new upper house candidates, including a Liberal party defector. What's next? The party says it will run candidates in every lower house seat in Victoria, which are set to be announced soon. One Nation has announced army veteran and former senate candidate Wayne Pickering will lead the party at the upcoming Victorian state election. Mr Pickering, who is also the state president of One Nation in Victoria, will be the party's leader and candidate for lower house seat of Pakenham. At a media event which the ABC was denied access to, Mr Pickering told reporters One Nation intended to govern in Victoria. "It's also not lost on us that this is the biggest state campaign in the party's history," he said, calling Victoria "the most fiscally and morally bankrupt state in Australian history". "We are officially putting the major parties on notice, we intend for this to be a November to remember and we are contesting to govern." Mr Pickering clarified that he did not intend to "share" government in Victoria as part of a coalition with the Liberals, as has been warned by state Labor figures. "We don't see it, we can win in our own right," he said. "Let's take this state back." Victorian Labor is facing a tough battle to retain government at the November election. Last week, former deputy premier Ben Carroll successfully challenged Jacinta Allan for the Labor Party leadership to take the state's top job. Speaking after the challenge on Tuesday, Mr Carroll said the stakes for Labor were high. "Polling says Victoria is on track for Australia's first Liberal-One Nation government," he said. Some polls have shown One Nation attracting as much as a quarter of Victorian voters. The party is yet to reveal its state-based agenda, with Mr Pickering telling reporters today that One Nation would make its policies clear "within a month" and that a focus on farmers, crime and corruption were to be expected. One Nation also confirmed six more candidates who will run in Victoria's upper house regions, including Liberal Party defector Colleen Harkin, and the creator of One Nation's "Please Explain" cartoon series Mark Nicholson. Ms Harkin was a one-time federal Liberal candidate for the seat of Macnamara and is also the director of education at the Institute of Public Affairs, a conservative think tank. Mark Nicholson is a co-director of Melbourne animation studio Stepmate Studios, which produces Please Explain, the popular satirical animated series published by One Nation. Further candidates include lawyer Aaron Sanford, office manager Natalie Adams, Geelong councillor Chris Burson and human resources manager Fiona Lopez. Mr Burson has formerly run for state Parliament under the since de-registered Angry Victorians party. One Nation's existing Victorian MP, Rikkie Lee-Tyrrell, who has represented the party in the Northern Victoria region since 2022, will recontest her seat. Federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson said the party plans to field candidates in every Victorian seat, with more to be announced soon. "We'll have a talented team of people intent on restoring Victoria and kicking out the tired and toxic Labor government which has run this state into the ground, getting away with it thanks to a weak Liberal opposition," she said in a statement. Ms Hanson said Victoria's One Nation candidates were chosen not by her, but "through the process of people in Victoria". "If we can get government, or even the balance of power, it's going to make one hell of a difference in this state,"she said. Ms Hanson was also asked about her decision not to allow the ABC or The Guardian to attend the press conference. "ABC were denied entry into here and the Guardian, I'm not putting up with their rubbish, I'm not putting up with their spin," Ms Hanson said. The Age newspaper was also denied entry to the event. [Image text:] RAS one oue VICTORIA RIA VICTORIA one one VICTORIA RIA one VICTOR one ORA VICTOR one W ORAA on VICTORIA one C10 X