‘In prison by Christmas’: One Nation attacks Andrews, Allan in campaign launch

A prominent One Nation Victorian candidate has threatened to jail former premiers Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan “by Christmas” if the insurgent right-wing party wins November’s state election.

The pledge by Mark Nicholson – mirroring Donald Trump’s promise to “lock up” Hillary Clinton – was met with rapturous applause by a crowd of about 750 party faithful at One Nation’s campaign launch at the Crown Conference Centre in Southbank on Saturday.

Party founder Pauline Hanson helped present the 93 candidates who will contest every lower house and upper house seat in the November 28 poll, while railing against the legacy of 12 years of Labor government.

A 63-page policy document, titled The Real Deal, outlines One Nation’s plan to make Victoria the toughest state on crime, repeal a raft of taxes, cancel the Suburban Rail Loop, rip up the Treaty with First Nations Victorians, and roll back renewable energy projects while lifting the state’s ban on nuclear power.

The party is yet to produce costings for any of its policies, as major parties typically do.

In a slickly produced event, One Nation’s candidates adopted a revolutionary tone, with Victorian leader Warren Pickering saying the upcoming election was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the course of Australian politics.

“This is an opportunity to shake the established order to its core,” he said. “We are ready to take this state back and put it into the hands of those who built it. We must assume control of our own destiny here in Victoria.”

Nicholson, the creator of One Nation’s online cartoon series and their lead candidate for the Northern Metropolitan upper house region, said that “heads are going to roll” should the party win power.

“Dan Andrews, Jacinta Allan – they’re going to be in prison by Christmas,” he said. “This is a revolution. This is a movement. And this is how, together, we can take Victoria back.”

Hanson meanwhile invoked the state’s history as a place of anti-government rebellion.

“This is the state of Ned Kelly. This is the state of the Eureka Stockade, where the miners at Ballarat raised a flag, drew a line in the sand, and told the government, their government: enough,” she said.

In a speech laden with nostalgia for a bygone era, Hanson mourned the decline of Victoria’s manufacturing and automotive industries, drawing heavy applause.

“I remember how strong and prosperous Victoria once was,” she said. “But that was a long time ago.”

The latest Resolve Political Monitor, conducted for The Age, showed One Nation attracting 23 per cent of first preference votes in Victoria. Labor was polling at 23 per cent and the Coalition at 28 per cent.

If repeated on the November 28 election, that support would likely result in One Nation winning eight upper house seats – possibly giving it the balance of power – and potentially several lower house seats.

One Nation has only ever won one seat in Victoria’s parliament, with Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell currently representing the Northern Victoria upper house region.

Nicholson said the party was riding a national wave of support for One Nation, which started with its win in the Farrer byelection and continued with its performance in the South Australia state election.

“And now the orange wave is about to hit Victoria, which will reverberate across the country and build a tsunami that’s about to make its way to Canberra,” he said. “Folks, we’re taking over.”

Hanson and the party’s candidates steered clear of One Nation’s traditional political priority of opposing immigration and multiculturalism, but it was an event that revelled in political incorrectness.

It opened with an AI-produced video including a young black man with a machete, while Nicholson joked about holding a Welcome to Country and sarcastically used the Wurundjeri words Narrm (Melbourne) and Wominjeka (welcome).

One Nation’s policy document proposes boosting police numbers, speeding up the court hearings including by introducing a 24/7 bail court, and introducing harsher sentences for violent crimes.

News crews from the ABC and SBS were refused entry to the campaign launch. The party’s national leadership has banned the public broadcaster and The Guardian from events earlier this year, while it has previously also barred The Age in response to its reporting.

Michael Slezak, the federal president of media at the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said One Nation’s ban on certain news outlets was a threat to press freedom and breached the public’s right to know. “When one of us is attacked with impunity, it sets a new standard of behaviour that will impact us all,” he said.

A group of about 30 protesters gathered outside the event at Crown in heavy rain on Saturday.

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