One Nation claims by-election win

One Nation has claimed victory in the Secret Harbour by-election to win its first ever seat in the Western Australian legislative assembly.

With almost 40 per cent of voting counted, One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen declared himself to be the new member for the former Labor stronghold.

By 10pm on Saturday, Mr Herdegen was looking comfortable with almost 54 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.

Labor’s Georgia Tree was trailing at 46 per cent.

On primary figures, One Nation was heading towards 36 per cent when Mr Herdegen claimed the win.

Liberal candidate Ryan Robertson had just 17 per cent, or nearly 2,300 votes, at the same time.

Premier Roger Cook had repeatedly warned Labor was in the fight of its life to retain Secret Harbour after the retirement of 19-year incumbent Paul Papalia.

The win for Mr Herdegen comes despite One Nation cruising through the campaign with no targeted policies and the revelation he had been a heavy cocaine user while living in London in 2016 and associated with “Albanian underworld figures”.

When Ms Hanson came to Perth during the campaign she told reporters she had no idea of that part of her candidate’s background.

“I haven’t heard that about him, at all,” Mrs Hanson said after speaking at a Perth breakfast event.

“If there is an issue there, I’m sure it will be brought to my attention. But I will be asking questions about it.”

Mr Herdegen said he had written about his experience with drugs, alcohol and gangsters to help others going through addiction.

The Liberal candidate, Ryan Robertson, offered a stark difference in background to the One Nation hopeful.

He had served in the Australian navy and was once submariner of the year.

Liberal leader Basil Zempilas repeatedly denied his plan was to run dead in Secret Harbour because One Nation had the better chance of unseating Labor.

But as the by-election campaign was about to get underway, Mr Zempilas described One Nation as “an opportunity” rather than a threat.

That prompted federal MP Andrew Hastie, whose seat of Canning overlaps with the state seat of Secret Harbour, to criticise Mr Zempilas for running up the white flag.

One of the strangest, and possibly costly moments of the campaign, came when Ms Tree was standing behind Premier Roger Cook on August 2, when a $156 million campaign commitment to build a train station at Karnup was announced.

“Can I ask few questions for Georgia, please,” veteran political reporter Geof Parry said, as the premier appeared to wind-up the press conference.

“Nuh, we need to keep moving,” Mr Cook responded while moving away from the lectern.

“Sorry about that.”

The decision to prevent Ms Tree from speaking, and speculation about why it was made, distracted from her bid to hold Secret Harbour.

“It was not ideal because I do want to talk about Karnup and I’m happy to take any questions you have today,” Ms Tree said at later press conference in Mandurah.