Rural slant for potential Culleton stand-in

Newly appointed WA One Nation party leader and spokesperson Colin Tincknell is one of several likely candidates to fill any void left by Senator Culleton’s potential disqualification, along with Robin Scott.

Mr Tincknell is a former AFL development officer who has worked in the WA media and more recently in stakeholder engagement for his personal consultancy business in dealing with governments on various issues like land access negotiations for resource companies.

Mr Scott is the long-standing owner operator of a regional business – Electrical Mining Services – and like Mr Tincknell has been a campaign candidate for One Nation at previous elections.

He also accompanied Senator Hanson during her visit to WA during last year’s federal election campaign and is considered a loyal ally.

Mr Tincknell was ranked second on the party’s upper House ticket at the 1998 federal election where they missed-out on gaining a Senator, by several thousand votes.

Mr Scott has ran in different regional seats at several federal polls including Kalgoorlie like at the 2004 election - won by Liberal Barry Haase - where the WA National Party’s number one Senate candidate at last year’s federal election, Kado Muir, ran for the Greens.

Former WA Liberal Upper House member and farmer Anthony Fels has also been speculated as a potential replacement for Senator Culleton but may have damaged his chances this week following an incident outside the Magistrates Court in Perth.

Mr Fels was seeking to serve a summons document on Senator Culleton in relation to a bankruptcy claim being pushed by his former associate and one-time farmer Frank Bertola when a terse physical exchange took place.

Senator Culleton was found to be bankrupt through a decision handed down by the Federal Court just before Christmas but has said he intends to appeal it within the 21-day period.

He is also waiting a High Court decision on a matter relating to his eligibility to sit in federal parliament, at the time of nomination for last year’s election, which was referred by the Senate with a hearing held on December 7.

Mr Tincknell said One Nation leader Pauline Hanson was in WA just a few days before Christmas speaking to potential candidates to replace Senator Culleton and in view of the March WA election where he expects they can win up to five Upper House seats; including two in the Agricultural Region.

He said Senator Hanson had a plan to help the party decide who she would like to replace Senator Culleton but it was “a complicated issue”.

“The issue’s not finished yet and there are still many things that have to come out to play with the legal matters and the High Court on whether he was eligible to run for parliament, that’s one issue, and then there’s the bankruptcy case,” he said.

“Pauline will announce a replacement for Rod, when the right time comes.

“She would have a few people in mind but none of that would be made public right now; it’s too early.

“We need to see what happens with the case and make necessary decisions after that.”

Mr Tincknell declined to confirm whether he or Mr Scott could be headed to Canberra or would contest the state election in March, but said there was a lot of speculation about who the potential replacement could be for Senator Culleton.

“I have no inside information,” he said.

“I’ve spoken to Pauline about this issue and she may have some people in mind but her mind could change and it could be weeks and weeks before we find out the final outcome.

“We’ve just got to leave it to Pauline and (advisor James Ashby) to discuss that and they’ll make decisions later on.”

Complicating the matter is Senator Culleton’s move in December to quit One Nation and become an independent member after ongoing tensions with Senator Hanson reached an impasse.

After Senator Culleton’s bankruptcy decision was handed down, Senator Hanson told Channel 7 she felt sorry for her former party colleague and his family but the court’s decision was “a relief to me”.

She said Senator Culleton faced another legal challenge – involving the alleged theft of a car on a farm at Cuballing in the WA Wheatbelt linked to a farm foreclosure protest – while other people were also chasing him for money and in facing legal costs, such issues would be “ongoing”.

She said if the High Court decided Senator Culleton was ineligible to stand and should not have actually nominated for the election, because he had a conviction against him, then it would be the court’s determination, on how to proceed.

It could return to a recount, she said, which would mean the party held the seat, and then the position would go to who was listed second on the ticket.

Or the court may determine that it is a One Nation seat then it goes back to “I put someone into the position”, she said.

But Senator Hanson said if the court determined that Senator Culleton was eligible to stand at the election, then the Federal Court’s decision, that he is a bankrupt, “still stands, so he’s no longer a Senator”.

Senator Hanson said One Nation could nominate anyone they wanted as a replacement WA Senator and pointed to two long-serving loyal party servants as her main choice.

“There are two gentlemen that I’ve known for 20 years who have stood with the party previously that I have high regard for,” she said.

“They also have very loyal support for myself and respect for me.

“Before that all happens, let me assure the people it will be someone from Western Australia; I will not be parachuting anyone else into the seat.

“They will be a person that I know will work hard – but apart from all that they will be a person that I will sit down and talk to because I want to know what they want to do for Western Australia and what they will bring to the floor of the parliament.”

Senator Hanson said after being in WA to interview people who wanted to stand for the party she was “very, very pleased” with the calibre of the candidates.

“I think they’re great candidates and I’ve got a very good leader for the state now Colin Ticknell who is going to lead the team,” she said.

“One Nation is moving ahead very strongly; I think I’ve got a great strong team.

“I think that we are the voice for many people who feel neglected by the major political parties.”

Senator Hanson said “the problem with Rod” was that he doesn’t get clear and concise information and his performance in the courts, before Christmas, “was a circus”.

She also said he had “no respect for authority” and was “a bush lawyer” which was why he was in “so much trouble”.

“I’m sorry for Rodney’s family and I know they’ve gone through a lot and I understand that,” she said.

“But I virtually begged Rod, ‘Rod please don’t destroy what we’ve worked so hard for and I have worked so hard for over 18 plus years, to have this opportunity to get back to represent the people on the floor of parliament’ (but) he never understood it.

“(Rod) disregarded too many people out there and he was ready to see this party go under with the circus that was going on and he had no regard for me, the other Senators and the people of this country.”

While confident of finding good candidates, including some with strong farming links, to run at the March election, Mr Ticknell conceded the party had suffered damage due to Senator Culleton’s ongoing legal affairs and his high profile split from One Nation.

“You’d be blind to say it hasn’t caused any (damage),” he said.

“It has caused a bit of angst for us and a little bit of damage but when the party chose Culleton at the start of the federal election, in WA, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation had virtually started up at the same time.

“We could have chosen our candidates a little bit better but that’s just the way it has worked out.

“Pauline has made many attempts to help Culleton in his endeavours but he’s decided to go his own way and we can now see the results of that.

“Yes it’s disappointing but we’ve got a better-lead-up to the state election and we’re talking to the farmers about that issue and they’re talking to us and showing their faith in us.

“The candidates we have are very well known in the area and very well supported.”

Mr Bertola was in court this week facing Violence Restraining Order matters brought on by Senator Culleton, ahead of the altercation with Mr Fels.

He appeared alongside Bruce Bell who also sought to warn One Nation of Senator Culleton’s background issues, ahead of the July 2 election.

Mr Tincknell said it was hard for him to comment on whether One Nation did sufficient due diligence on Senator Culleton, before accepting his nomination, as he’d only recently re-entered the fold.

“I wasn’t around at the time and did not participate in that process for the last federal election. but I believe Pauline has taken responsibility and so has the party for electing Rod to be that candidate,” he said.

“But we only need to look at the Labor party and the Liberal party and they’ve had certain candidates and certain members of parliament who have let them down badly over the years; we’re all susceptible to that.

“Pauline has shown she can compromise and work very closely with other cross benchers in the Senate and in the government and that’s the way we’d like to run our internal politics as well.”

Mr Tincknell said he expected One Nation to formally gain official party registration in WA over the next few days and well before the March 11 polling date.