Inside One Nation's campaign to conquer Secret Harbour

Inside One Nation's campaign to conquer Secret Harbour in West Australian by-election It's just after 6 o'clock on a stormy Monday morning when a barefoot Luke Herdegen meets 7.30 in a car park by the beach south of Perth. He's the One Nation candidate in the Secret Harbour state by-election and has agreed to let us follow him on a day of campaigning, which starts with a run and a swim. Loading..."I just love it. It makes me feel alive, especially when the weather is like this," he said. I ask him if there's a metaphor in that. "I think there's definitely a storm brewing," he replied. Access all areas This kind of access to One Nation is unusual for the ABC, which has been barred, along with The Guardian, from most of the party's events across the country. Campaigning alongside his candidate, Western Australia's One Nation leader Rod Caddies says he's running things differently. "Pauline doesn't restrict us on what we're allowed to do. Her decisions are her decisions, and I support her doing that because she obviously feels that she's not being treated the way she should be," he said. Later I questioned Mr Herdegen about some of Pauline Hanson's comments — including suggesting there are no "good" Muslims and labelling domestic violence a "two-way street" — and Mr Caddies intervened. "That's been done over and over about the good Muslim thing. I think that's coming back to that reason why Pauline hasn't let ABC in," Mr Caddies said. "It's not something that anyone is talking about in the community here," Mr Herdegen added. "It's just not really an issue down here." "I don't think she does peddle racist messages and no-one in the party peddles racist messages." Mr Herdegen's sister is among those who disagree. He said she was not talking to him after he told her he was running for the party. "She sees Pauline Hanson and One Nation as racist, and I guess not sort of supporting the things that she supports," he said. "I love my sister. We're a close family, but yeah, like all families and all communities, not everybody agrees … we have to be able to disagree." Mr Herdegen's campaign has not been without controversy. There were questions about his social media posts about using and then quitting cocaine. "I've certainly done some things in my past that I'm not particularly proud of, but I'm certainly proud of the person that I've become and the character that those things have built in me and the people that I've been able to inspire through that," he said. Loyalty drifts as cost of living bites Secret Harbour has always been a safe Labor seat, but outer-suburban seats like this, where housing and cost of living are front of mind, are considered the next frontier for One Nation. "It's the young ones I feel sorry for, trying to get off the ground away from Mum and Dad," an older voter told us at Secret Harbour Beach. "I'm building a house at the moment and prices of everything … it's just through the roof, and it's mainly because we're overpopulated," a voter in his 20s said. Others tell us they feel let down by the major parties. "I just think Labor and Liberal, they haven't done anything since they've been parties really, have they? Let's be honest," one man told us. "I've always voted Labor, always, my whole life, because they were for the middle-class people, but now they're not," a woman said. 'Significant' contest Former journalist Peter Kennedy has covered politics for more than 40 years and said this by-election was the most significant in some time. "There are far fewer rusted-on voters now than there were, and in the outer suburbs, that's where that party loyalty, I think, is falling away," Mr Kennedy said. "A big swing to One Nation in the Secret Harbour by-election would send shock waves through the major parties." "One Nation potentially is becoming a force in Australian politics, and the reality then, for the major parties, is how do you deal with it? "Do you ignore them or do you strike some sort of arrangement with them? And that's what's playing out at the moment." Labor's candidate in Secret Harbour, Georgia Tree, navigated that challenge every day. "We're a microcosm here, and there's a lot of scrutiny on this seat because it's part of a broader movement that we've seen all over the world," she said. "So it's interesting for me to be in the Petri dish, as it were, and everyone's looking to see what happens. "I never would've imagined that I'd be coming up against One Nation and the level of support that they do have. I'm in the fight of my life, that's for sure." "But I will keep fighting, and that's why I am here, because I know that people in my community and this place that is my home will benefit from a WA Labor government. At the WA state election last year, One Nation got less than 9 per cent of the vote in Secret Harbour, and Labor was ahead of the Liberals by 11.5 per cent. Now it's thought Labor and One Nation are neck and neck and support for the Liberals is waning. Liberal Party disagreement on One Nation WA Liberal leader Basil Zempilas has chosen to preference One Nation third on the ballot. "There is support for One Nation. Now for us to be disrespectful of that would be not acknowledging the current will of the people. So my approach has very much been to see One Nation's rise as an opportunity, not a threat," he said. Parts of Secret Harbour sit within the federal electorate of Canning, held by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie. He is one of the Coalition's loudest voices against One Nation, and he has criticised his party here in WA for not running hard enough against the party. "I don't think that we see eye to eye on the political strategy," Mr Hastie told 7.30 on Monday. "I don't accept this idea that a win for One Nation is a win for the Liberal Party. We're fighting for our lives and we should be fighting for every single vote. "You don't wave the white flag. Voters sense weakness, and they'll go to the strong horse if you signal weakness." Mr Zempilas denied the Liberal Party was running dead in the by-election. "What I know is what we've done, and that is not the case," Mr Zempilas said. Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV [Image text:] LUKE HERDEGEN SECRET HARBOUR one