Candidates contesting the Victorian state election for One Nation include a former Liberal who has won support from alleged underworld figures, a naturopath who has endorsed Donald Trump’s unfounded claim that paracetamol is linked to autism and a former shire councillor who lost his licence for drink-driving.
Pauline Hanson announced who would be her party’s upper house candidates and Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, at a press conference last month. Since then One Nation has used social media to unveil a steady stream of candidates, with ۵۱ of the ۸۸ lower house spots now filled.
Among them is Michael Piastrino, who launched his campaign on Sunday for the outer-suburban seat of Berwick, held by the Liberal Brad Battin on a ۴.۷% margin.
The launch was attended by Malaki Salesui, who was convicted in ۲۰۲۱ for his role in an organised car-theft ring.
Mick Mantzaris commented on photographs of the event on Instagram, writing: “great day great people” and “time for a change”. Mantzaris pleaded guilty in ۲۰۱۲ to possessing testosterone, disclosing restricted information and misleading the office of police integrity. The following year he was targeted in a drive-by shooting. Police described him at the time as “an associate of some outlaw motorcycle gang members”.
Anthony Younan, the nephew of the slain underworld figure Nabil Maghnie, also commented on Piastrino’s Instagram posts, saying he would vote for One Nation because of him: “I can’t believe I am going to vote for a red headed woman who hate Arabs. My mother is going to disown me Michael. But I am doing this for you bro!”
Piastrino, a hairdresser, ran for the Liberals at the ۲۰۲۲ election. He was forced to apologise during that campaign after declaring that Daniel Andrews would be “brought to justice for the murder of ۸۰۰ people” under a Liberal government.
He told the Cranbourne Star News last month that he had met Mantzaris and Salesui through church. “I’m not here to judge people,” he said. “I’m here to help people.”
Sources have told Guardian Australia that One Nation has strengthened its candidate vetting process in the lead-up to the November election, with more stringent background checks and lengthy interviews.
In an interview in June, Kelvin Morton, One Nation’s general manager, said the party had also employed technology that did a “very comprehensive deep dive” into potential candidates’ social media accounts and provided a “thorough assessment” of their characters.
One Nation has also shown a willingness to accept candidates with controversial histories, including Pickering, who this month acknowledged past drug use and drink-driving.
Ben Lucas, the party’s candidate for the Liberal-held seat of Narracan, resigned from Baw Baw shire council in ۲۰۲۱ after being convicted of drink-driving and dangerous driving.
Court records seen by Guardian Australia show he was fined $۲,۰۰۰ and had his licence suspended for two years.
This month he pleaded guilty to operating a category-one aquatic facility without registering it with the council and was ordered to pay $۳,۰۰۰ in costs.
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Lucas described the charges, which related to the operation of ice baths at his gym, on Facebook as a “storm in a teacup” that had been “blown out of proportion”. He said they arose from an “administrative oversight” involving the registration of his business after it moved.
“If I wasn’t involved with One Nation, would this have still been pursued in the same way?” he wrote.
Several One Nation candidates have deleted or scrubbed their social media accounts since announcing their candidacies, including Elita Dabrowski, who is contesting Sunbury, a seat Labor fears it could lose.
A deleted tweet, seen by Guardian Australia, shows Dabrowski backed Trump’s claim that paracetamol is linked to autism.
“This morning I watched Trump’s announcement on autism, vaccination schedules & paracetamol,” she wrote on ۲۳ September ۲۰۲۵. “As a naturopath & functional health practitioner, I felt proud – it reflects what I see in clinic every day.”
Trump had said pregnant women should limit their use of the medication, claiming it heightens the risk of autism in children – an assertion disputed by scientists.
Meanwhile, Tammy Lindrum, One Nation’s candidate for the historically safe Labor seat of Albert Park, has left a trail of comments on Meta’s Threads about Muslim and First Nations people.
Under the handle “Lindrum Legends” and the username Tam Lindrum, she responded in April ۲۰۲۵ to a since-deleted post, saying there was “Black and Muslim supremacy in Australia” and that “the Whitman [sic] can’t say anything as they risk being accused of being racist”. Three months later, responding to another post, she wrote: “If you don’t like Bacon go back to a Muslim country.”
Responding to a post about plans to make the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria permanent, she wrote: “For a minority group I think we are going a little too far.
“We have paid their housing, welfare, education, health, for many years. When does that stop?”
Among candidates announced this week is Bruce Whalley, who blamed children for the climate crisis in tweet posted during the ۲۰۱۹ student strikes for climate action.
“Climate change is the fault of kids,” he wrote. “Stop asking for a car lift to school. WALK! RIDE a BIKE! or CATCH PUBLIC TRANSPORT. Gosh! Start to be a generation of doers Not talkers and complainers.”
Whalley, who is running in Labor-held Bundoora, also describes himself on Instagram as an “ABC۲ TV Think Tank tragic” – despite One Nation’s plan to defund the broadcaster, and its ban on its journalists attending the party’s media events.
