One Nation leaders have vowed they’re coming for Western Sydney and the rest of the country in an orange wave after a historic victory over the Liberals in the Farrer by-election.
One Nation deputy leader Barnaby Joyce issued a warning to the prevailing political establishment on Saturday evening: “Here we come”.
One Nation’s newly-elected MP David Farley unseated the Coalition in the electorate for the first time in its 77-year history. It is also the first time the party has won a federal lower house seat at an election.
The election is a staggering loss to the Liberal party, who have failed a first major test of Angus Taylor’s leadership by losing the seat held by deposed leader Sussan Ley for 25 years.
The result was called in less than two hours after the polls closed on Saturday, with Mr Farley taking a projected 59.44 per cent of the two candidate preferred votes as 9:30pm.
Speaking at a packed out pub in Albury, The Bended Elbow, Mr Joyce said the party would be coming for Western Sydney seats in the next election, riding a wave of frustration at the prevailing political establishment.
Speaking to Sky News’ Paul Murray inside the One Nation election HQ in Albury, Mr Joyce gave a stark warning to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that this was just the beginning for the party.
When asked what his message was for Prime Minister Albanese, Mr Joyce said “Western Sydney, here we come – believe you me.”
“I was talking to people from Lebanon, from all around the world – and guess what – they were at a One Nation function.
“We’re coming to Western Sydney… we’re coming to a hall near you. I look forward to meeting you there Chris Bowen, I’ll be on the stage, come talk to me!”
Speaking to a crowd of more than 200 supporters, to the chants of ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi’, Mr Farley said the party had “reached the end of its beginning”.
“We’re going through the ceiling from here,” he said.
He used his first speech to outline his plans to push for the end to net zero and to drastically cut migration.
“We want to get the cost of living down and our first target is on this damn net zero program. It’s going to be pulled down, ripped down and kicked out. It’s not what Australia wants.
“Australia should be for Australians,” he added.
“We will not have housing supply, we will not get education right, we will not get health right until we address this,” he said.
“We don’t want to be dependent on other countries for our energy. And we definitely don’t want to be dependent on other countries bringing their culture into ours. We need Australia for Australians.”
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson had “a tear in her eye” after the victory and told the gathered crowd it was “a win for the rest of Australia”.
“Millions are watching on their TVs now and I believe it’s giving them hope,” she said.
“(We will) represent you, the people to get our country back.”
She used her speech to announce her first task after her party’s historic victory will be to hold an agricultural Roundtable in the region and commit to releasing a gas plan next week.
“What I want to do is put money back in our pockets from the gas industry – they are our resources and it’s been given away,” she said.
“I want a system where we will own part of that equity share in the exploration of gas. I’m not just going allow them to take it.”
Earlier, Hanson told Sky News: “A win for Farrer, but a bigger win for the nation.
“Everyone kept saying, ‘you’re our last hope’, and that’s how people feel.
“They’re so distracted from the major political parties, they’ve been left behind.
“Don’t underestimate us.”
Ms Hanson received a rockstar arrival when she, Mr Joyce and other One Nation federal senators entered One Nation HQ to thunderous applause, with the AC/DC anthem Thunderstruck playing, and a sea of more than 200 supporters in orange.
Every supporter and volunteer told The Daily Telegraph they believed history was about to be made and that they were at the beginning of “an orange wave” about to take the country by storm.
The MC of the evening joked that the “dark forces had gathered” in the room.
“But never have I seen a brighter room than this one,” he said.
Victorious candidate David Farley came to the stage to the John Farnham anthem You’re The Voice, as One Nation senator Tyrone Whitten led the crowd in chants of “Aussie Aussie Aussie, oi oi oi”.
Mr Farley clapped along for the entirety of the song – next to Ms Hanson who appeared to not know all the words to the iconic track.
Mr Farley, as member elect, said he was “seriously humbled”.
“One Nation has reached the end of it’s beginning and we’re going through the ceiling from here,” he said.
“Listened, you agreed and you spoke tonight. What are you doing tonight? We’re like a mason with a chisel and a hammer and we’re re-carving the letter into Australian democracy.”
One Nation MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said the Hanson-led party was coming for Western Sydney next.
Speaking to Sky News’ Paul Murray inside the One Nation election HQ in Albury shortly after it was announced in the room that One Nation would win the seat, Mr Joyce was jovial.
He declared that the people who voted for One Nation in Farrer were former Liberal, National and even Labor voters – and he issued a warning to Canberra that this was just the beginning for the minor party.
“Remember the Australian people have a tolerance,” Mr Joyce said, donning an Akubra in the packed Bended Elbow pub.
At 7pm, with more than 2700 formal votes counted, One Nation’s David Farley had more than 49 per cent of those votes.
Independent Michelle Milthorpe had made a slow start, taking in more than 19 per cent of the early vote.
Liberal candidate Raissa Butkowski was trailing behind her Nationals counterpart Brad Robertson, with more than eight per cent and 10 per cent of the vote respectively.
Mr Farley’s win makes him the first One Nation candidate to win a seat in federal parliament’s lower house.
Issuing a statement, former Liberal leader Sussan Ley warned it would be “an error” to
“reduce both the scale and significance” of the defeat “to a Coalition
split which occurred months ago” or to “misattribute it to the date the vote was held”.
“I urge the Liberal leadership to accept this result with humility because the voters never get it wrong,” she said.
“On the day the leadership spilled in February, the new leader said the Liberal Party needed to ‘change or die’.
“Three months later, the result in Farrer demonstrates that statement to be far truer today than it ever was.”
ABC host Patricia Karvelas had a meltdown during the Farrer by-election coverage, attacking the Liberals for making a “big and dangerous mistake” that has “emboldened One Nation”.
In a pointed on-air monologue, Karvelas argued the Liberals had effectively “emboldened” Hanson’s party and contributed to its growing legitimacy.
Speaking on the ABC election panel alongside David Speers, Karvelas warned a strong One Nation result could normalise the party in voters’ eyes.
“I used the term earlier on in the broadcast, the permission structure,” she said. “If they are able to win their first lower house seat, that begins the process of legitimising them, and in other electorates where they may run, voters will be thinking, well it’s happened before … it’s normal now.”
Karvelas appeared to suggest such an outcome was wrong and would have broader political consequences, arguing the Liberal Party’s preference decision risked accelerating One Nation’s mainstream acceptance.
Patricia Karvelas hosts ABC News’ Afternoon Briefing and previously fronted Q+A before the program was axed.
The ABC’s editorial standards require journalists and presenters to maintain impartiality and avoid adopting overt editorial positions in news and current affairs coverage.
The Australian Electoral Commission had warned to expect a slower-than-usual vote count for the hotly contested by-election because of the large 12-candidate field, but Sky News announced One Nation would win before 8pm.
AEC spokesman Evan Ekin-Smyth said the sheer number of candidates would mean the count might be slower than usual.
“When we’re counting the votes, there could be a lot of candidate-appointed scrutineers at our count centres and polling places for instance. That might slow things down a little bit,” he told Sky News.
“A hotly contested vote as well could mean that we obviously need to be patient for a result.
“And our motto is: always right, not rushed.”