ALBURY, May 9: Australia's far-right One Nation party battled for a breakthrough win in a by-election Saturday for a seat in the country's lower house of parliament.
The party, whose leader Pauline Hanson advocates big immigration cuts and campaigns against "radical Islam", is a front-runner in the election for Farrer, a large agricultural and mining electorate in New South Wales.
Held by traditional conservatives since 1949, the seat is widely expected to slip out of their hands as voters react against major parties at a time of rising prices, unaffordable housing and divisive issues like immigration.
If One Nation is successful, it would mark its first win at the ballot box for a lower house seat. It already holds one seat there, but only because of a defection by a former leader of the rural-based National Party.
"The nation is looking to change and Farrer is screaming out for change," One Nation candidate David Farley told reporters.
"So today is very, very important," said Farley, a former beef and agricultural industry executive.
His main rival in the polls is a popular local independent, Michelle Milthorpe, who is promising to work with all sides of politics for agreements that benefit the electorate.
Australian Ambassador Felicity Volk awards women bird guides
The ruling Labor Party is not contesting the seat.
Political analysts say the by-election throws into question a long-held notion that Australia's voting system insulates it from the global rise of populist parties -- including in this month's English local elections.
Voting is compulsory in Australian elections.
Voters rank each candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority, votes cast for the least-popular person on the ballot are redistributed until someone gets more than 50 percent.
The system has made it harder for minor parties to enter the lower house of parliament, but it is a "speed bump, not a bulwark", said Benjamin Moffitt, senior lecturer in politics at Monash University.
Moffitt said he expected One Nation to win in Farrer, potentially building a narrative of rising success and legitimacy.
- 'Yes it's sexy' -
"I think it's a moment we could be looking back at going: 'That was the one'," he said.
"And if they lose, it could take a bit of the wind out of their sails, because you couldn't really design a seat and context better for them to be competing in."
The seat came up for grabs when former Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley -- who held it for 25 years -- resigned in February as her party slumped in the opinion polls behind One Nation.
Under new leader Angus Taylor, the Liberal Party -- which has governed Australia for a total of 48 years since World War II -- is still battling for second place in the opinion polls with One Nation, which has surged since mid-2025.
Both parties remain well behind Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor Party.
Australia's traditional conservative Liberal-National Party coalition had "imploded", Moffitt said.
People were struggling in a tough economy while society was polarised over issues like immigration and shaken by an antisemitic mass shooting in December at Sydney's Bondi Beach.
"One Nation finally have been in kind of the right place at the right time," Moffitt said.
The party is also benefiting from some big donations.
Australia's richest woman, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, notably donated a Cirrus SR Series G7 single-engine plane to the party late last month, reportedly through one of her companies.
"Yes it was donated. Yes I'm super happy. Yes it's fast. Yes it's amazing," One Nation founder and leader Hanson, who is one of the party's four senators in the upper house, posted on social media at the time.
"Yes it's a Cirrus G7. Yes it's sexy. Yes I have a pilot."
-1778309205.webp)
