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.
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who → contest → driving
Pauline Hanson announced who would be her party’s upper house candidates and Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, at a press conference last month.
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who → announce → conference
Since then One Nation has used social media to unveil a steady stream of candidates, with 51 of the 88 lower house spots now filled.
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spots → use → candidates
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 4.7% margin.
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who → launch → margin
The launch was attended by Malaki Salesui, who was convicted in 2021 for his role in an organised car-theft ring.
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who → attend → ring
Mick Mantzaris commented on photographs of the event on Instagram, writing: “great day great people” and “time for a change”.
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Mantzaris → comment → change
Mantzaris pleaded guilty in 2012 to possessing testosterone, disclosing restricted information and misleading the office of police integrity.
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Mantzaris → plead → integrity
The following year he was targeted in a drive-by shooting.
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he → target → shooting
Police described him at the time as “an associate of some outlaw motorcycle gang members”.
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Police → describe → 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.
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who → slay → Arabs
My mother is going to disown me Michael.
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mother → go → me
But I am doing this for you bro!”
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I → do → you
Piastrino, a hairdresser, ran for the Liberals at the 2022 election.
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Piastrino → run → election
He was forced to apologise during that campaign after declaring that Daniel Andrews would be “brought to justice for the murder of 800 people” under a Liberal government.
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Andrews → force → government
He told the Cranbourne Star News last month that he had met Mantzaris and Salesui through church.
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he → tell → church
“I’m not here to judge people,” he said.
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he → ’m → people
“I’m here to help people.”
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I → ’m → 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.
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Nation → tell → checks
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.
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that → say → characters
One Nation also shown a willingness to accept candidates with controversial histories, including Pickering, who this month acknowledged past drug use and drink-driving.
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who → show → use
Ben Lucas, the party’s candidate for the Liberal-held seat of Narracan, resigned from Baw Baw shire council in 2021 after being convicted of drink-driving and dangerous driving.
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Lucas → hold → driving
Court records seen by Guardian Australia show he was fined $2,000 and had his licence suspended for two years.
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licence → see → years
This month he pleaded guilty to operating a category-one aquatic facility without registering it with the council and was ordered to pay $3,000 in costs.
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he → plead → costs
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”.
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that → describe → proportion
He said they arose from an “administrative oversight” involving the registration of his business after it moved.
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it → say → business
“If I wasn’t involved with One Nation, would this have still been pursued in the same way?” he wrote.
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he → involve → way
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.
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it → delete → Sunbury
A deleted tweet, seen by Guardian Australia, shows Dabrowski backed Trump’s claim that paracetamol is linked to autism.
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paracetamol → delete → autism
“This morning I watched Trump’s announcement on autism, vaccination schedules & paracetamol,” she wrote on 23 September 2025.
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she → watch → September
“As a naturopath & functional health practitioner, I felt proud – it reflects what I see in clinic every day.”
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I → feel → clinic
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.
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it → say → 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.
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Lindrum → leave → people
Under the handle “Lindrum Legends” and the username Tam Lindrum, she responded in April 2025 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”.
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they → respond → anything
Three months later, responding to another post, she wrote: “If you don’t like Bacon go back to a Muslim country.”
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you → respond → 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.
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we → respond → group
“We have paid their housing, welfare, education, health, for many years.
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We → pay → years
When does that stop?
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that → stop → ?
Among candidates announced this week is Bruce Whalley, who blamed children for the climate crisis in tweet posted during the 2019 student strikes for climate action.
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who → announce → action
“Climate change is the fault of kids,” he wrote.
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he → write → kids
Whalley, who is running in Labor-held Bundoora, also describes himself on Instagram as an “ABC2 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.
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journalists → run → events
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