Narelle Seymour, the One Nation candidate for the seat of Hughes, is elusive and no one knows what she looks like. Her name was added to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation website only last night with a short biography. And attempts by other candidates and event organisers to contact her have been unsuccessful.
Her anonymity led to reports by the ABC last night that she is one of at least 12 ghost candidates being spruiked by One Nation that haven’t been seen or heard of since being nominated. Leaked emails showed the party was scrambling to find candidates hours before nominations closed after Hanson vowed to field a candidate for each seat in the House of Representatives.
So it was unsurprising Seymour was a no-show at the candidates forum in Sutherland last night (to be fair, she could have been in the audience. Who would’ve noticed?). She wasn’t the only absentee: Liberal candidate Jenny Ware also didn’t make it. (Crikey understands she had another forum in a different electorate.)
New polling shows the Liberals could lose the seat to independent Georgia Steele, who is supported by Climate 200. The Liberals’ primary vote has dropped to 37%. They have held the seat from 1996 until 2021 when Craig Kelly quit the party to stand first as an independent and then as a member of Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party.
But Steele and another independent, Linda Seymour (no relation to the One Nation candidate — she had to scrap her “Seymour 2022” stickers), Labor’s Riley Campbell, the Greens’ Pete Thompson and Kelly were there for the forum.
Without a Liberal or One Nation candidate to bring any colour, entertainment rested on Kelly — and a cockroach. As candidates fielded questions on aged care, climate change and education, a woman made her way through the rows of chairs with her hands cupped. “I’ve caught a cockroach, I didn’t want to kill it,” she said quietly as she made her way outside.
The final question of the night went to a former union president who started speaking about the loss of personal freedoms, her career and meeting former prime minister Malcolm Fraser — before being told to ask a question.
“I want to know your views on the digital identity card,” she said.
After some soft-footed responses from the other candidates (excluding Labor’s Campbell who told her there were bigger things to worry about, like the cost of living), Kelly stepped up. The four police officers manning the doors became visibly alert.
As he started preaching about medical interventions, blackmail and extortion, about 20 voters stood up and left the hall. “Shame on you,” one yelled.
“Thank you for walking out … If you agree with the human rights abuses then I say shame on you,” Kelly responded.
Speaking to Crikey later, Kelly said there were a limited number of people who could attend and he didn’t want to “flood the place with [my] supporters”.
