{"id":82679,"date":"2026-08-29T06:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T06:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/82679\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T06:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T06:30:25","slug":"no-safe-harbour-labor-fears-shock-wa-poll-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/82679\/","title":{"rendered":"No safe harbour: Labor fears shock WA poll loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Australia Premier Roger Cook says he will be heartbroken if his party loses Saturday\u2019s by-election in the seat of Secret Harbour<\/a>, as he took aim at the \u201cbots and trolls from the east coast\u201d that he believes have helped build the momentum behind One Nation.<\/p>\n

One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen<\/a> is considered a strong chance to win Secret Harbour just over a year since Labor retained the seat with a healthy margin of 11.5 per cent. The by election was triggered by the retirement of veteran minister Paul Papalia.<\/p>\n

A win by One Nation would deliver the party its first ever lower house seat in WA, and would mark the first time Labor has lost a seat to One Nation since the Pauline Hanson-led party started surging in popularity.<\/p>\n

Appearing alongside Labor candidate Georgia Tree<\/a> at a polling booth on Saturday morning, Mr Cook said it would \u201cbreak my heart\u201d if Labor lost the seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re in the hands of the people of Secret Harbour today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just today immensely proud of the woman that\u2019s standing behind me. I\u2019m immensely proud of the campaign that we\u2019ve run and just every WA Labor volunteer coming out to work to make sure that we can get Georgia Tree as the member for Secret Harbour. She\u2019d be a great advocate for this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Cook said Labor had been up against the entire One Nation movement from around the country, and flagged his concern at the nature of some of the debate about the by-election online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all seen some of the incredibly toxic and poisonous social media activity coming from bots and trolls both on the East Coast and overseas, but we\u2019ve been on the doorsteps, we\u2019ve been talking to people, talking about the issues which matter to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s by-election could also have significant implications for prominent federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, whose electorate of Canning overlaps with Secret Harbour.<\/p>\n

Mr Hastie, who has clashed publicly with One Nation, has criticised his own party over its campaign in Secret Harbour and Mr Cook said a win by One Nation this weekend would only happen with assistance from Liberal preferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf One Nation gets elected today, I think on most analysis it would be on the back of Liberal Party preferences. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s made Andrew Hastie so incredibly angry with (WA Liberal leader) Basil Zempilas. I think he feels let down that the Liberal Party state leader is essentially working to undermine Andrew Hastie, by pushing a One Nation candidate,\u201d Mr Cook said.<\/p>\n

Mr Herdegen, meanwhile, told reporters he firmly believed One Nation would win and said the support for the Secret Harbour campaign had the party weighing up its prospects in other nearby seats – including Kwinana, the seat held by Mr Cook.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly think that if we win this seat, we\u2019ll put the surrounding areas on notice as well. Rockingham, Baldivis, Kwinana and hopefully it sets a standard for the rest of the state and the whole country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Herdegen said he was mindful that he and his One Nation colleagues had been up against the full weight of a Labor apparatus that has dominated politics in WA for the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident, but you know, we are coming up against a big machine here. We are definitely the little guy, so we\u2019ll see where it lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read related topics:One Nation<\/a>\"Paul<\/a>Paul Garvey<\/a>Senior Reporter<\/p>\n

Paul Garvey is an award-winning journalist with more than two decades’ experience in newsrooms around Australia and the world. He is currently the senior reporter in The Australian\u2019s WA bureau, covering politics, courts, billionaires and everything in between. He has previously written for The Wall Street Journal in New York, The Australian Financial Review in Melbourne, and for The Australian from Hong Kong before returning to his native Perth. He was the WA Journalist of the Year in 2024 and is a two-time winner of The Beck Prize for political journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Australia Premier Roger Cook says he will be heartbroken if his party loses Saturday\u2019s by-election in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[132066,118280,132084,132099,132071,132081,110086,132090,42039,83540,132093,132080,38438,37834,41519,16786,62261,22,21,132086,24993,132065,118281,36917,316,45206,119042,132073,116634,132075,43856,91383,92645,132067,93355,132088,91969,156,132098,132070,132063,132092,36526,132083,68133,132091,36716,3116,1955,118237,132097,132064,7350,149,132078,47225,35047,16821,34209,132076,132087,132069,132062,125807,42022,132068,52746,37024,40956,132082,40109,132094,47672,40679,132074,45815,132079,58034,37542,80802,56136,132089,37011,46232,118273,37324,38553,57208,50867,132100,132085,37964,37634,132096,92267,37141,101017,132077,40130,31666,132095,3735,24995,8935,132072,118262],"class_list":["post-82679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-by-election","tag-11-5","tag-a-big-machine","tag-a-great-advocate","tag-a-healthy-margin","tag-a-labor-apparatus","tag-a-one-nation-candidate","tag-a-polling-booth","tag-a-seat","tag-a-standard","tag-a-strong-chance","tag-a-tense-roger-cook","tag-a-win","tag-a-year","tag-aim","tag-andrew-hastie","tag-assistance","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-baldivis","tag-basil-zempilas","tag-bots-and-trolls","tag-canning-overlaps","tag-cent","tag-election","tag-georgia-tree","tag-heartbreak","tag-herdegen","tag-his-concern","tag-his-one-nation-colleagues","tag-his-own-party","tag-his-party","tag-its-campaign","tag-its-first-ever-lower-house-seat","tag-its-prospects","tag-just-every-wa-labor-volunteer","tag-kwinana","tag-labor","tag-labor-candidate-georgia-tree","tag-liberal-party-preferences","tag-liberal-preferences","tag-lower-house-seat","tag-morning","tag-most-analysis","tag-mr-cook","tag-mr-cook-said-mr-herdegen","tag-my-heart","tag-notice","tag-one-nation","tag-one-nation-candidate-luke-herdegen","tag-one-nation-eyes","tag-other-nearby-seats","tag-people","tag-politics","tag-prominent-federal-liberal-mp-andrew-hastie","tag-reporters","tag-rockingham","tag-saturday","tag-secret-harbour","tag-secret-harbour-mr-hastie","tag-shock-by-election-loss","tag-significant-implications","tag-the-bots-and-trolls","tag-the-full-weight","tag-the-back","tag-the-by-election-online","tag-the-campaign","tag-the-country","tag-the-debate","tag-the-doorsteps","tag-the-east-coast","tag-the-entire-one-nation-movement","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-hands","tag-the-incredibly-toxic-and-poisonous-social-media-activity","tag-the-issues","tag-the-liberal-party-state-leader","tag-the-little-guy","tag-the-member","tag-the-momentum","tag-the-nature","tag-the-one-nation-surge","tag-the-party","tag-the-past-decade","tag-the-pauline-hanson-led-party","tag-the-people","tag-the-rest","tag-the-retirement","tag-the-seat","tag-the-secret-harbour-campaign","tag-the-secret-harbour-seat","tag-the-state","tag-the-support","tag-the-surrounding-areas","tag-the-whole-country","tag-the-woman","tag-this-community","tag-this-seat","tag-this-weekend","tag-today","tag-veteran-minister-paul-papalia-a-win","tag-wa","tag-wa-liberal-leader","tag-wa-premier","tag-western-australia-premier-roger-cook","tag-whose-electorate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}