Former NSW Liberal leads overhaul of One Nation candidate selection process
News Source
β’Sun, 01 Nov 2026 14:00:15 GMT
π° What Happened
A former Liberal staffer is now helping One Nation pick and check its election candidates. Mark Jones quit the Liberal party in January and joined One Nation as a political consultant in February.
In 2023 he was one of the final three people up for state director of the NSW Liberals, one of the party's most powerful jobs. The role went to someone else.
Internal One Nation documents seen by Guardian Australia show Jones helped redesign how candidates are chosen and vetted, and sat in on interviews. Former Queensland Nationals executive Susie Douglas is helping him.
π The Backstory
One Nation was founded by Pauline Hanson in 1997. For most of its life it has run a handful of candidates and relied on a small group of loyal supporters.
That is changing. The party's NSW branch said in September it had received 900 applications for 93 seats.
The party has a history of vetting problems, with candidates disendorsed after old comments surfaced. A tighter process is meant to stop that happening again as it tries to win more seats.
π― Why It Matters
One Nation could win more seats at the next election. How it picks candidates decides what kind of MPs end up representing voters.
A former Liberal staffer is now helping One Nation pick and check its election candidates. Mark Jones quit the Liberal party in January and joined One Nation as a political consultant in February.
In 2023 he was one of the final three people up for state director of the NSW Liberals, one of the party's most powerful jobs. The role went to someone else.
Internal One Nation documents seen by Guardian Australia show Jones helped redesign how candidates are chosen and vetted, and sat in on interviews. Former Queensland Nationals executive Susie Douglas is helping him.
One Nation was founded by Pauline Hanson in 1997. For most of its life it has run a handful of candidates and relied on a small group of loyal supporters.
That is changing. The party's NSW branch said in September it had received 900 applications for 93 seats.
The party has a history of vetting problems, with candidates disendorsed after old comments surfaced. A tighter process is meant to stop that happening again as it tries to win more seats.
One Nation could win more seats at the next election. How it picks candidates decides what kind of MPs end up representing voters.