One Nation’s WA leader Rod Caddies says he would welcome the opportunity to work with state opposition leader Basil Zempilas ahead of the next WA election, stating his party are like “old-school liberals” with shared values.
However, Caddies added that the WA Liberal leader was yet to reach out to his party in any official capacity.
The One Nation MLC, who along with Philip Scott are the only representatives of Pauline Hanson’s party in WA parliament, said while a state election was still a long way off, any form of collaboration to win seats from Labor would be beneficial.
“He hasn’t approached me, but I welcome those comments, because the Liberals are a conservative party,” he said.
“One Nation are on that side of politics, and any party that aligns with our values and where we see the country heading. Why wouldn’t you work together?
“We are the old-school liberals, in a sense … we have all people from every demographic.”
Speaking as the guest of honour at Monday’s Leadership Matters breakfast at Crown Perth, Zempilas acknowledged One Nation’s upward surge following recent poll results showing the party had overtaken the federal government in popularity.
“If their support holds, inevitably it will be people in my position’s job to find a way to work with or alongside One Nation,” Zempilas said.
“That will be important, and it’s something that at this stage, almost three years away from our next state election, I have an open mind about.”
While the recent poll results show a growth in popularity federally, Caddies said there was also strong feedback of support for party members at a state level.
“There’s a number of seats that are going to be more viable for us to really go hard on, and the thing is, they’re conservative seats,” he said.
“Perhaps people might say you couldn’t pick them up, but I’ll sure as heck make sure we take a lot of votes off them if we can’t.
“We will definitely have a chance in seats like Albany, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton. There’s all these different seats that we will certainly go hard at.”
Caddies also stated he would be open to taking on metropolitan seats including Premier Roger Cook’s seat of Kwinana and Treasurer Rita Saffioti’s seat of West Swan.
However, he ruled out a potential change to federal politics, despite the recent surge in polls.
“I could have been the Senate candidate this last election, and the one before, but I have a young family and that’s why I chose to stay here in WA,” he said.
“I felt I can be a good representative as a state leader in Western Australia, and so that was my choice, not to be spending half my time in Canberra.
“It’s not ideal timing when you have a young family.”
Caddies also hit out at recent comments by Saffioti, who earlier this week was firm in her belief that the party broadcast racist messages.
Caddies said the demographic of the rooms at Hanson’s recent public appearances in WA were proof that the party was no longer being held to a previous stereotype.
“We’ve got these people that are from all walks of life from different backgrounds,” he said.
“So to try to call our party racist, that old term being thrown around has lost its firepower these days.
“Even friends of mine that were very left leaning, but have swung across now, because our country is not heading where we want to see it for our children and grandchildren.”
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