(Keane Bourke’s article from THE ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA on 30 August 2026.)
One
Nation secures historic victory in Secret Harbour by-election, taking first WA
lower house seat; One Nation has scored a historic win in Western Australia,
securing its first lower house seat in the state.
The
ABC's chief elections and data analyst Casey Briggs called the outer suburban
seat of Secret Harbour for One Nation's Luke Herdegen a little over four hours
after votes began to be counted. One Nation's WA leader Rod Caddies claimed
victory at 9.30pm local time, although Labor had yet to concede.
Labor's candidate was political staffer-turned-Woodside lobbyist Georgia Tree. The area was traditionally safe Labor territory, having been held in different shapes and under different names since 1989, including most recently by Paul Papalia on an 11.5 per cent margin. 'Fight of our lives'; WA Labor Premier Roger Cook had repeatedly described the by-election as a "fight for our lives", given the threat posed by One Nation.