WATCH: One Nation unveils its Victorian upper house ticket ahead of November election

One Nation has officially launched its campaign for the Victorian state election, unveiling a diverse slate of candidates as Pauline Hanson declared the party would contest every lower house seat and fight to secure the balance of power in the Legislative Council.

Victorian party president Warren Pickering was confirmed as the party’s leader for the state election and its candidate for Pakenham. A former soldier, farmer and construction industry professional, Pickering said One Nation was campaigning to govern in its own right rather than prop up either major party. He was also dismissive of Labor and the Coalition, joking that he had “left bottles of milk out on the bench that have lasted longer than the leadership” of both parties.

🚨 VICTORIA, IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR STATE BACK.

Yesterday, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson officially launched its Victorian election campaign, announcing Warren Pickering as our Victorian State Leader and unveiling a united team of Upper House candidates ready to fight for… pic.twitter.com/eL43y9StEC

— One Nation Victoria (@OneNationVic) August 4, 2026

The party also introduced its upper house team, with candidates drawn from animation, law, small business, education and law enforcement. Among them was former Liberal Party member Colleen Harkin, whose defection after more than two decades with the Liberals gives One Nation one of its highest-profile recruits heading into the November election.

Leading the Northern Metropolitan ticket is Mark Nicholson, best known as the creator of the Please Explain political cartoons. Until now, Nicholson has largely remained anonymous, preferring to let his work speak for itself.

Nicholson told Rebel News his path into politics was anything but conventional. After losing around $30,000 worth of film equipment in an accident early in his career, he taught himself animation out of necessity before producing online content and later working with Channel 7. That work came to an end after the COVID period, before One Nation chief of staff James Ashby discovered one of his comedy sketches, leading to his involvement with the party.

Before his career in media, Nicholson studied law at Monash University and briefly worked as a criminal lawyer. He said his experience inside Victoria’s justice system during the Rob Hulls era convinced him the state had shifted too far away from punishment and community safety in favour of rehabilitation.

Good luck Team Victoria.

The game is officially on – let’s take Victoria back! 🇦🇺🧡 pic.twitter.com/fiOXxA2khE

— One Nation Victoria (@OneNationVic) August 6, 2026

Now contesting one of Melbourne’s most progressive regions, Nicholson said he has already experienced the hostility that comes with entering politics. He said his office had been vandalised and spray-painted with swastikas by people accusing him of being a Nazi but insisted the attacks only strengthened his resolve.

“You only know you’re on the right path when you’re encountering obstacles,” he said. “So I hope we encounter some more obstacles out there.”

Nicholson said One Nation’s priorities were restoring Victoria’s finances by cutting what he described as government waste, making Victoria the toughest state in Australia on crime and rebuilding trust in politics.

Also on the upper house ticket is Colleen Harkin, a former long-time Liberal who quit the party after more than two decades. Harkin said her decision was not driven by a single issue but by what she described as “death by a thousand cuts”.

“My values haven’t changed. My core principles haven’t changed,” she said. “One Nation is standing for those things that have always been important to me.”

She argued many Victorians no longer saw the Coalition as a credible opposition and believed One Nation was becoming a political home for conservative voters frustrated with both major parties.

Asked what success would look like on election night, Harkin said the party’s greatest opportunity lay in winning the balance of power in the upper house.

“Success has many layers,” she said. “One Nation could win government. But success, if it gets the balance of power in the upper house, that changes Victoria completely.”

Joining the campaign launch was Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, One Nation’s first Victorian Member of Parliament, who was elected to the Legislative Council in 2022.

Tyrrell argued that while winning lower house seats would be significant, control of the Legislative Council would ultimately determine whether governments could pblock legislation.

“That is where you need the balance of power,” she said. “We can stop, we can make, we can break really good or bad legislation.”

Reflecting on her first term in Parliament, Tyrrell criticised what she described as wasted debate and political grandstanding, saying Victoria faced far more pressing issues.

Crime remains One Nation’s top campaign priority, she said, while regional voters were also concerned about deteriorating roads, education standards and the impact of renewable energy projects on productive agricultural land.

Outside the launch, protesters gathered near the Melbourne venue, prompting a visible police presence. No major incidents were reported.

Inside, One Nation restricted access to selected media outlets. Hanson defended the decision, arguing some mainstream organisations had repeatedly taken comments out of context and forced the party to spend time correcting the record.

Recent polling has suggested One Nation could record one of its strongest Victorian results to date. With candidates set to contest every lower house seat and an expanded upper house ticket, the party is mounting its most ambitious state election campaign yet as it seeks to convert growing support into parliamentary representation in November.