Pickering’s flawed life speaks to One Nation voters in a way the rest of us don’t understand

September 8, 2026 — 7:57pm

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Let’s go out on a ledge here.

Normally, a leader of a right-wing political party admitting to popping pills, taking speed, smoking dope and, in this drug-induced haze, swapping beds between his partner and other likely lads would not be good for their electoral prospects.

But as we keep being reminded, these are not normal times in Victorian politics and One Nation’s Warren Pickering is not leading a normal political movement.

His claim on Tuesday to be inexpert in the dark arts of politics was perhaps stretching the truth. He has been cunning enough to climb the greasiest of poles within Pauline Hanson’s organisation and November 28 will be the third time he has stood as a candidate for team orange.

Everything else about his press conference confession ached with authenticity. It was raw, sad and bizarrely, uplifting – like watching a Jerry Springer Show episode when all the members of a dysfunctional family hug at the end.

He told us way more than we needed to know. And........

© The Age