One Nation’s thumping victory in a West Australian by-election has prompted the Nationals to warn of a “massive backlash” from Australians towards federal Labor’s economic agenda.

The populist party’s Luke Herdegen won the Secret Harbour contest on Saturday with a massive 17.5 per cent swing against Labor in a seat it had easily won last year.

The win makes Mr Herdegen One Nation’s first MP in the state’s lower house.

One Nation’s increasing favourability with voters has proved a major challenge for the Liberals and Nationals, who have crashed in the polls as the populist party accelerates its campaign to target disaffected voters across the country.

But Nationals leader Matt Canavan – who clashed with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson on the front lines of News Corp’s Bush Summit last week – insisted a Liberal-National partnership would be the “best alternative government” and would not be drawn on a possible deal with One Nation.

He said Secret Harbour voters were frustrated with Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers for having “lost control” of the economy.

“The results we saw in Western Australia on the weekend are no doubt related to a massive backlash against this government’s economic agenda,” Senator Canavan told News24.

“People are trying to send a message, but it doesn’t seem like the Treasurer, the Prime Minister, or anyone in the Labor Party are getting the note.”

The Prime Minister, in his first comments following One Nation’s WA victory, on Sunday told Labor faithful in Queensland it was more “crucial” than ever to defeat populism, a threat he described as peddling divisive politics around the world.

He accused One Nation, in particular, of having “no serious answers to our problems”.

“Every time they achieve any success, it leads to chaos and division,” Mr Albanese said.

This criticism was derided by One Nation chief of staff James Ashby, who described the federal government as “desperate”.

“They know that no Labor seat is safe across this country after the by-election in Secret Harbor in Western Australia,” he said.

“And rather than the Labor Party accepting they have a problem, they’re now suggesting One Nation is the problem, which is just completely inaccurate.”

Mr Ashby accused Mr Albanese of using language in his criticism that “incited hate” and directly linked his speech to “some serious death threats” targeting Senator Hanson.

But Attorney-General Michelle Rowland claimed One Nation needed to reflect on its own behaviour that she described as trading “on the politics of division”.

“I think some of One Nation’s elements, particularly where they have been recruiting or otherwise giving a platform to extremist views … that is dangerous,” Ms Rowland told ABC News Breakfast.

“I think it is also dangerous, at a time when social cohesion has never been more important, to trade on the politics of division.”

As of last month, Mr Albanese is subject to at least 20 ongoing court matters in which people are accused of making violent threats, mostly online or by phone, according to a Nine Newspapers report.

In November, the AFP warned there had been 951 referrals of threats to federal parliamentarians in 2024-25, rising 63 per cent over the past four years, in what officials have described as the most dangerous security environment in decades.

Read related topics:One NationPauline Hanson