One Nation’s South Australia leader Cory Bernardi says media pressure on his Victorian colleague Warren Pickering will only lead to more votes for the conservative-leaning party.
Bernardi’s comments come as Victoria gears up for its election on Nov. 28.
Recent polling also shows Labor’s popularity sitting on just 24 percent of 2,347 Victorians surveyed between Sept. 1 to Sept. 24.
The Liberal-National Coalition is leading on 29 percent, according to the Australian Financial Review/Redbridge/Accent poll, while One Nation now sits on 24 percent.
One Nation’s Victoria leader Pickering has faced pressure after media reports of his personal relationships were made public.
In early September, Jo Scott, Pickering’s former partner of 18 years, told The Australian newspaper that he led a secret life involving illicit drug use and “sexual deviance.”
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Scott, 54, said they both used drugs like marijuana and amphetamines, including ice, in the homes they shared with their daughter and her three sons from a previous marriage.
The hopeful Victorian premier later admitted to using ecstasy, methamphetamines and marijuana, as well as having his licence suspended multiple times for drink-driving.
Pickering said his past lifestyle choices “hurt people I loved,” but denied using or smoking ice while his children were home.
Newly announced leader of One Nation in Victoria, Warren Pickering, speaks to supporters in Melbourne, Australia, on Aug. 3, 2026. Jesse Thompson/Getty Images
Amid the scrutiny, the South Australian Bernardi believes the attacks on Pickering’s character will only make the “orange wave” more powerful at the ballot box.
“I think the attacks on Warren Pickering have spectacularly backfired. We’re all human, we’ve all got baggage, we’ve all got a history,” he told The Epoch Times.
“The great thing about life is you can make mistakes while you’re young, learn from them and then you can say ‘there’s some wisdom there that I want to pass on to other people’.”
Bernardi also doubled down on his support for Pickering, 43, who said he turned his life around after his drug use by joining the Australian Defence Force.
“It is refreshing, just to be able to talk to someone normally and say, ‘Yeah, I’ve been where you’ve been.’
“It doesn’t matter whether they’ve been in business or the army, or they’ve had social or personal issues, all of that can go towards making you the person you are today.”
At the same time, Bernardi said he was confident of an orange wave coming to Victoria in November in the same fashion it swept South Australia, where the party saw a major swing in primary votes, but ended up with four seats in the 47 member lower house and three in the upper house.
“Whatever way you want to measure it—our quality of life or socioeconomic status—we are going backwards,” Bernardi said.
One Nation leaders take to the stage to celebrate as their party wins the Farrer by-election in Albury, NSW, in Australia, on May 9, 2026. Jesse Thompson/Getty Images
The One Nation leader said voters on both the left and right side of the political spectrum desperately wanted change.
“They’re all being left behind. And so, the tribal nature of politics—the blue team and the red team, the left and the right, is kind of behind us,” he said.
“I think One Nation’s popularity is reflecting the fact that the two major parties have not delivered benefits for regular Australians. It’s not just in South Australia.”
