One Nation’s Victorian election campaign will open in Melbourne on Saturday with the party expected to unveil tougher bail policies and plans for more police on the streets.
State leader Warren Pickering will launch the campaign at Crown conference centre alongside Pauline Hanson and more than 750 supporters. The party expects to field candidates in 95 per cent of Victorian seats and will present what Mr Pickering described as a full policy platform.
“We should launch 95 per cent of our candidates and we will launch a full policy platform for a better Victoria,” he told 3AW on Friday.
Crime and community safety are expected to be at the centre of the platform, with One Nation also calling for empty police stations to be staffed and for bail laws and sentencing to better reflect the offences committed.
“(It) is the key issue in the state right now and people need to feel safe in their homes and places of work once more,” Mr Pickering said.
“You make that happen by taking a pragmatic approach, not an expensive one, to ensuring we get more police on the streets, get our empty stations manned and ensure bail laws and sentences are fitting with the crimes.”
The latest Mood of the Nation report by public affairs and strategic communications consultancy SEC Newgate found that one in three Victorians considered crime a top issue, the highest proportion recorded in any state.
The polling found 19 per cent of voters believed One Nation was best placed to manage crime and community safety, compared with 16 per cent for Labor. The Coalition was the leading choice on the issue.
The campaign launch is expected to attract opposition from activists. Unite Against Racism, a coalition of anti-racist, pro-refugee and pro-Palestinian groups, is organising a protest outside the venue.
Spokesperson Julie Monteiro said the group would challenge the party wherever it appeared, adding: “Migrants are welcome, racists are not.” A larger demonstration against One Nation is planned at the State Library later in October.
The event will also be the first major test for Mr Pickering since he faced scrutiny over admissions that he had taken speed, ecstasy and marijuana before joining the Australian Defence Force at the age of 28.
During a press conference on September 8, he said his past was marked by “mistakes” but maintained that he was the right person to lead the party. His admissions followed allegations published by The Australian newspaper and raised by his former partner.
Mr Pickering is standing for the lower house seat of Pakenham, having previously contested the 2022 state election and the federal Senate election in 2025 without success.
The September Resolve Political Monitor, published by Nine Newspapers, put Labor’s primary vote at 25 per cent, the Coalition at 27 per cent and One Nation at 23 per cent.
