One Nation's Victorian Push: 51 Seats Filled, Full Ticket Still Ahead

One Nation had named candidates in 51 of 88 lower-house seats for Victoria's November election as of 19 September 2026. It remains short of a full ticket with less than two months to go, and its state operation is still recruiting toward a complete slate The Guardian.

Pauline Hanson announced the party's upper-house candidates and Victorian leader Warren Pickering at a press conference in August 2026. Pickering now leads the state campaign and is also listed as One Nation's candidate for Pakenham. His stated background spans farming, construction, military service and mining.

In Berwick, the party has endorsed Michael Piastrino. The seat is held by Liberal Brad Battin on a 4.7% margin — the cushion Battin holds against a swing to another party. Piastrino ran for the Liberals at the 2022 Victorian election. He was forced to apologise during that campaign after declaring Daniel Andrews would be brought to justice for the murder of 800 people.

The selection drew attention because of the figures around the launch. Malaki Salesui attended Piastrino's campaign launch and was convicted in 2021 for his role in an organised car-theft ring. Mick Mantzaris publicly supported Piastrino's campaign and pleaded guilty in 2012 to possessing testosterone, disclosing restricted information and misleading the office of police integrity.

In Narracan, One Nation has endorsed Ben Lucas. Lucas resigned from Baw Baw Shire Council in 2021 after being convicted of drink-driving and dangerous driving. Pickering himself acknowledged past drug use and drink-driving in September 2026. That acknowledgment prompted scrutiny of One Nation's candidate vetting process in September 2026 ABC. Kelvin Morton is One Nation's general manager.

The party's stated intent goes beyond the current 51 endorsements. One Nation is preparing to contest every seat at the November 2026 Victorian election. An earlier party statement said it was preparing to field up to 100 candidates, a total that would cover lower-house and upper-house contests. The party was also gearing up for the Nepean by-election, and Hanson announced One Nation's candidate for the Victorian seat of Nepean. The party started in Ipswich, Queensland in 1997.

The broader context here is preference arithmetic and ballot access. Victoria uses compulsory preferential voting in the lower house, so voters must rank all candidates in order. A minor party does not need to win seats like Berwick and Narracan outright to shape the result there. By endorsing candidates in more than half the districts, One Nation already gains leverage over how-to-vote flows. A full ticket would extend that leverage statewide.

Looking at what this means for the major parties, the vetting questions cut two ways. Criminal histories and past apologies create lines of attack and complicate any discussion of preference deals. Contested preselections and late recruitment are familiar features of minor-party expansion drives. The test in Victoria will be whether One Nation can turn early announcements into a disciplined ticket, and whether scrutiny of individual records distracts from its push from 51 to 88.