At the launch of One Nation’s Victorian campaign on Saturday, party candidate Mark Nicholson pledged to imprison Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan “by Christmas,” eliciting strong applause from attendees at Melbourne’s Crown Conference Centre. Nicholson, known for creating One Nation’s online cartoon series, framed the gathering as a revolution aimed at “taking Victoria back,” signaling a confrontational approach to the upcoming state election.
The event, held at Crown—a venue symbolically tied to corporate privilege and the gambling industry—highlighted the party’s appeal to disaffected voters. Former Labor minister Martin Pakula chairs Crown’s Melbourne operations, while Chris Reilly, a senior adviser to Andrews, manages the company’s corporate affairs. This contrast underscored One Nation’s positioning as a populist challenger to established interests.
During the launch, party leader Pauline Hanson vocally criticized Andrews, Allan, and Minister Ben Carroll over Victoria’s extended pandemic lockdowns, prompting shouts from the crowd of “Lock him up!” and “Put him in jail!” The atmosphere echoed similar rhetoric employed by former U.S. President Donald Trump against political opponents. Observers noted the challenge this posed to fundamental democratic norms in Australia, where governments do not determine criminal charges against political rivals.
Hanson herself has a complex legal history, having been wrongfully imprisoned for eleven weeks in 2003 before her electoral fraud convictions were overturned. More recently, she has defended the principle of innocent until proven guilty in her support for Ben Roberts-Smith amid his war crimes allegations, emphasizing that judgment is a matter for the courts. On Saturday, it was Nicholson and members of the audience rather than Hanson who pushed for imprisonment without judicial process, raising questions about the seriousness and implications of such statements.
One Nation’s broader 63-page policy platform outlines ambitious proposals including a form of gas reservation, reinstatement of native timber logging, harsher criminal penalties, abolition of the Suburban Rail Loop, and the elimination of Victoria’s treaty framework. The platform also advocates for “sunset reviews” requiring parliamentary approval to maintain government agencies. Notably, the party has yet to provide detailed costings for these initiatives.
The party’s strong rhetoric and policy agenda tap into persistent frustrations among many Victorians regarding the prolonged and strict COVID-19 lockdowns, which have fueled a lingering sense of grievance and alienation from the political establishment. These feelings are compounded by cost-of-living pressures affecting households across the state.
Hanson has described both the Labor and Coalition parties as part of a “uni-party” accused of betraying ordinary Victorians, reflecting One Nation’s narrative of systemic political failure. While the anger driving their support is palpable, analysts caution that such resentment does not justify criminalizing political opponents or circumventing due process. Investigations, such as the royal commission into the construction industry, are expected to proceed on evidence and legal standards rather than political pressure.
Despite the packed venue and visible enthusiasm for One Nation’s challenge to Victoria’s political status quo, the party faces significant questions about its readiness and capacity to govern. The event demonstrated One Nation’s ability to mobilize voter discontent and inject it into the electoral debate, but whether this translates into effective leadership remains unclear and subject to further scrutiny.