Pauline Hanson is confident she can secure the balance of power in Western Australia, warning the major parties that support for her One Nation party is far larger than recent polling suggests.
Ms Hanson was in Perth on Thursday to announce 45 lower house candidates who will contest the March 11 election, the first test of an Australian electorate since the poll-defying victory by US President-elect Donald Trump.
A ReachTEL poll published in The West Australian at the weekend put Ms Hanson's primary vote at 11 per cent and on track to secure the balance of power in the upper house. Political analysts expect Ms Hanson could achieve this by winning three seats but do not expect One Nation to get enough support to get elected in to the lower house.
Ms Hanson told Fairfax Media there was a large "sleeper vote" for her party and that she believes it can win its first lower house seat in the West Australian Parliament.
"If we go back to 1998 they were actively saying we were polling 13 per cent; we polled 23 per cent so there is a lot of sleepers out there," Ms Hanson said.
"People were not saying they were voting for One Nation. I believe it's there again."
Storming the lower house
The man in charge of her West Australian campaign, Colin Tincknell (who will become leader of the WA branch if elected in March) said support for One Nation in some pockets of Western Australia was as high as 30 per cent.
"Is it going to be broad enough to get us a [lower house] seat? Maybe not this election but certainly next election," Mr Tincknell said.
But he said "realistically" he felt One Nation could secure up to three lower house seats.
"That would be the first time ever One Nation has been able to win a lower house seat in Western Australia. It is very hard to do," Mr Tincknell said.
A recent Queensland poll put support for One Nation at 27.2 per cent. Some analysts believe Ms Hanson could attract a protest vote against the WA government at the expense of the Labor opposition and in turn deliver WA Premier Colin Barnett a third term.
One Nation has not yet done preference deals. Mr Tincknell said "everyone except for Labor or the Greens" had contacted the party.
"They [Liberals] come to us and they want our preferences because they are going to lose this election," Mr Tincknell said.
Ms Hanson said her party was opposed to a mining tax proposed by Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls and did not support the partial sale of the state's electricity poles and wires, Western Power.
Asked how she could restore the state's finances without major asset sales she said it just had to be done in other ways including the government cutting its spending.
Ms Hanson said her party was no longer viewed as "racist" despite her policies remaining similar to those touted in the late 1990s.
"I think that [racist right-wing] tag has been lost and we have gained some credibility because of the policies we are putting up," she said.
Mr Tincknell said he has spent 18-hour days vetting candidates and has had to knock back good candidates because of criminal convictions more than 20 years ago.
One Nation plans to field 60 candidates, with 45 contesting 59 of the state's lower house seats and the remainder contesting the upper house.
