They were heralded just months ago as "the only people" Pauline Hanson could trust with the task of engineering One Nation's resurgence in Western Australia. Within weeks, the plan was in tatters.
Ron McLean and wife Marye​ Louise Daniels, associates of Senator Hanson for 20 years, were unceremoniously dumped as state president and secretary of One Nation, and expelled from the party.
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Hanson facing discrimination lawsuit
Two axed One Nation officials intend to take legal action against Pauline Hanson for alleged age discrimination.
Now, as the party implodes just days out from the election, the pair have engaged a lawyer to file an anti-discrimination claim against Senator Hanson for allegedly telling Mr McLean he was "too old" to run for a seat.
"She said:Â 'Ron, I'm sacking you from the position on [the] agriculture [ticket], I believe you're too old and you'll be 91 when the term's finished'," Mr McLean, 87, told reporters at a shambolic media conference on Thursday.
The couple were responsible for vetting and pre-selecting One Nation candidates for the WA election, including upper house aspirant Richard Eldridge, who was revealed to have advocated murdering Indonesian journalists, and another candidate Michelle Meyers, who believed gay people were using Nazi-inspired mind control techniques.
Ms Daniels, 79, said she and her husband were "devastated" when they were dumped from their positions, accusing Senator Hanson of running the West Australian division from Queensland.
She also took aim at Senator Hanson's chief of staff James Ashby, who is resented by many One Nation operatives for the power he wields in the party. "Oh, James Ashby's present everywhere," Ms Daniels said.
Mr Ashby told Fairfax Media the party did not want to comment on matters that could be subject to legal proceedings, but conceded the pair's age had been a factor in them being rejected for pre-selection.
"If that's the path they want to go down, so be it," he said. "Pauline did say it's not a good look having an 88-year-old run as a candidate. I know they were upset and disappointed but Pauline still thinks the world of them."
The couple's lawyer John Hammond said proceedings had been filed in the WA Equal Opportunity Commission and a full explanation about the dismissal had been sought in writing from Senator Hanson.
"We do not agree that anyone should be told that they're too old to stand for Parliament," he said, citing Bernie Sanders, who was 74 when he sought the Democratic nomination for US president last year.
WA One Nation leader Colin Tincknell did not return Fairfax Media's calls on Thursday, but told Sky News the party had found "a younger, more virile candidate" to take Mr McLean's position on the ticket.
"We were concerned for his health," Mr Tincknell said. The pair were sacked for disloyalty and not their age, he said.
It came as rumours spread that up to a dozen furious One Nation candidates were preparing to denounce the minor party over Senator Hanson's preference deal with Colin Barnett's Liberal Party.
One former candidate, retired bricklayer Ray Gould, last week declared he had "had enough" and abandoned his candidacy. "Nothing has been up front. We haven't been told the truth from day one," he said.
One Nation was expected to be a potent force at Saturday's election, but polling by Fairfax Media has put the minor party on a primary vote of just 8.5 per cent -Â ahead of The Nationals but behind The Greens.
Earlier this year the party's former federal senator from Western Australia, Rod Culleton, was removed from the job after the High Court found he was ineligible to be elected due to a larceny conviction at the time of the election.
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