WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas says One Nation deserves 'respect'

Pauline Hanson's One Nation deserves "respect", according to Western Australia's Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas, who says he is open to finding a way of working with the minor party as support for it grows.

In a Newspoll published by The Australian today, which surveyed 1,240 voters across the country, One Nation received 31 per cent of the primary vote, above Labor (30 per cent) and the Coalition (18 per cent) for the first time.

In one of his first major speeches to the business community as leader of the WA Liberals, Mr Zempilas said ignoring One Nation "would be to ignore the will of the people".

"Right now, as a political movement, One Nation deserve respect,"

he said.

"And if this support holds, finding a way to work with, or alongside, One Nation will be important, and it's something I have an open mind about."

Growing support

In just 12 months, One Nation's popularity has surged on policies that include significantly reducing immigration, economic nationalism and significantly boosting coal and gas production.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese even recently admitted that the party's popularity was partly behind the government's decision to take on tax reform in this year's budget.

Mr Zempilas put down this increase in support to frustration with the Labor government's policies.

"To ignore One Nation would be to ignore thousands of people who are frustrated,"

he said.

"Frustrated they're working so hard but not getting ahead."

Preferencing One Nation

Later, in a Q&A session with The West Australian, Mr Zempilas said he would be willing to preference One Nation above Labor on how-to-vote cards in some electorates.

"This is not about supporting or believing in what One Nation are talking about. This is accepting that 30 per cent of the Australian population right now are indicating that their frustration is so high, they are prepared to throw their support behind One Nation," he said.

The last Liberal premier of WA, Colin Barnett, preferenced One Nation ahead of the WA Nationals at the 2017 state election.

The deal was staunchly criticised by several ousted MPs who said it was a significant factor in the record swing against the Liberals in that poll.

Mr Zempilas said 2017 was "a very different time" and One Nation were "nowhere near where they are now".

He also warned Labor it should be concerned about the party's popularity, adding that it was his duty to give voters as many options as possible.

"They are rising. They are rising because people are frustrated. They rising principally because so many West Australians and people around Australia, right now, are indicating they could or would vote for them," he said.

"If people's frustration in Western Australia is so elevated that they are in a mood for change — as the leader of the Liberal-National alliance, [that] would be my job.

"I would be derelict in my duty not to look at all options to bring that about."

'A sign of desperation'

WA Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti said Mr Zempilas's comments were a "sign of desperation".

"For Basil Zempilas to be considering a deal three years out from an election shows how desperate he is to try and gain power," she said.

Ms Saffioti said she understood why people may feel disillusioned with the government or the major parties.

"We know there have been many challenges. External shocks that have really, I think, really shocked the system … things like COVID, the oil price shock," she said.

"There's always legitimacy to question governments, but what we're focused on is continuing to drive a strong economic agenda, strong jobs growth, supporting households with cost of living."

Cost of living concerns

Mr Zempilas said opposition to major parties stemmed from the frustration West Australians were feeling because the state Labor government was not addressing concerns about housing, health and cost of living.

His speech included six policy commitments, including building a new hospital at Yanchep and mandating lighting on trains to improve safety at level crossings — both of which received applause from the audience.

Mr Zempilas also pledged to extend trading hours on Sunday mornings, to be transparent about how much the government spends to lure major events to the state and to lift a ban on uranium mining.

"This is about what's best for WA," he said.