TLDR
Luke Herdegen won the Secret Harbour by-election with 57 per cent of the two-candidate-preferred vote, giving One Nation its first seat in Western Australia's Legislative Assembly. A primary swing of 30.6 points erased Labor's 11.5 per cent margin in what had been a safe outer-suburban Perth seat.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Herdegen takes 57 per cent as One Nation rewrites WA political history
One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen won the Secret Harbour by-election on Saturday with 14,924 two-candidate-preferred votes to Labor's Georgia Tree's 11,242, a margin of 3,682 votes and a 57 to 43 per cent split, delivering the party its first seat in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly.[1] Labor's hold on the outer-suburban beachside electorate south of Perth had rested on an 11.5 per cent margin at the 2025 state election.[1]
Herdegen recorded 10,234 first-preference votes, a primary swing of 30.6 points toward One Nation, while Tree's primary vote fell 22.2 points to 6,386 votes.[1] Across the contest, 27,132 votes were cast, including 935 informal votes at a rate of 3.4 per cent.[1]
Senior Labor minister Paul Papalia resigned from the seat in July 2026, triggering the vacancy.[2] One Nation preselected Herdegen shortly after the vacancy was confirmed.[3]
Herdegen signals broader Labor vulnerability
Herdegen told supporters the result carried a national message. "There are no safe Labor seats in this state or in this country anymore," he said.[4]
Secret Harbour encompasses Port Kennedy, Golden Bay, Singleton, Madora Bay and parts of Lakelands and Karnup. Young working families in new housing estates had delivered comfortable Labor two-party-preferred results for years. One Nation achieved only 8.4 per cent in the seat at the 2025 state election before targeting it on cost-of-living and service-delivery sentiment.
WA Electoral Commissioner Dennis O'Reilly said voting was one of the most important ways Australians participate in their democracy and thanked Secret Harbour residents for taking part in the by-election.[5]
One Nation's national primary vote has been tracking in the mid-20s in recent private surveys. The Secret Harbour two-candidate-preferred swing of more than 18 percentage points will be studied for what it foreshadows at the 2026 federal election and next year's WA state poll.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What triggered the Secret Harbour by-election?
How big was the swing against Labor in Secret Harbour?
Is this One Nation's first seat in the WA lower house?
Caleb Reed covers breaking news and sport. He works to the rhythm of a story as it unfolds, and he is happiest when the facts arrive faster than anyone can spin them.
