ELECTION DAY
It’s been a fun few weeks.
The pre-polling has been a great lesson in politicising — the art of vote-getting, and learning that there is an art to it. Democratising is fascinating.
It is the study of maximum benefit for minimum effort. Yes, larger funding allows for more advertising, more Facebook ads, more corflutes around town, media access, shinier how-to-vote cards, more volunteers — more, more, which means more access to the people. Then there are policies and promises. Do they even matter?
There is much more to discuss. Stay tuned.
Interesting times indeed
One Nation’s performance over Labor’s safe seat — much will be written about it. Did the candidate matter? What are we voting for: local promises, state and federal policies, party direction, party leaders, party colours, parties and their history, their past promises and how they let us down? Much to observe and much to discuss.
Today is no doubt another turning point in Australian politics. Just how, we will discover over the coming months and years.
I feel honoured to have been part of it.
Well done to One Nation. The people have spoken. The pot has been stirred, and the incumbent parties are now paying attention.
The result
Luke Herdegen took the seat for One Nation on 39.1 per cent of first preferences and 57.2 per cent two-candidate preferred, leading by 3,999 votes. It is the first Western Australian lower house seat One Nation has ever won. Labor held Secret Harbour on a margin of 11.5 per cent; the two-candidate swing against them was 18.8 points, and their primary fell 22.5 points. It was a safe Labor seat. It is not one any more.
Two-candidate preferred
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Herdegen | One Nation | 15,868 | 57.2% |
| Georgia Tree | Labor | 11,869 | 42.8% |
First preferences
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Share | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Herdegen | One Nation | 10,863 | 39.1% | +30.7 |
| Georgia Tree | Labor | 6,696 | 24.1% | −22.5 |
| Ryan Robertson | Liberal | 4,779 | 17.2% | −7.8 |
| Rhi Davies | The Greens | 2,153 | 7.8% | −1.1 |
| Craig Buchanan | Legalise Cannabis | 1,036 | 3.7% | −2.1 |
| Neil Jensen | Animal Justice | 505 | 1.8% | −0.8 |
| Robert Burdett | Australian Christians | 470 | 1.7% | −1.0 |
| Jayne Palmer | Independent | 278 | 1.0% | +1.0 |
| Matthew Barton | Libertarian | 230 | 0.8% | +0.8 |
| Anthony Fels | WA First | 184 | 0.7% | +0.7 |
| Tim Hamilton | Shooters, Fishers and Farmers | 136 | 0.5% | +0.5 |
| Paul Howard | Independent | 116 | 0.4% | +0.4 |
| Brett Murrell | Independent | 106 | 0.4% | +0.4 |
| Teresa van Lieshout | Independent | 102 | 0.4% | +0.4 |
| Paul Gullan | Independent | 60 | 0.2% | +0.2 |
| Peter D. Dunne | Independent | 57 | 0.2% | +0.2 |
| Informal | — | 982 | 3.4% | — |
| Total | — | 28,753 | — | — |
Figures from the ABC election results, 79.0 per cent counted, updated 3 September 2026. The count is not final.
106 votes — thirteenth of sixteen. Three candidates finished behind me. No party column on the ballot, no registration, no funding, and last position on the paper, in a field that included two sitting councillors and a former member of the Legislative Council. The number is what it is, and it goes on the record here alongside everybody else’s. That is the honest shape of a first run with no machine behind it.
Up next: the Victorian state election, then New South Wales, then the federal election.