Warwick Stacey: One Nation’s Senate ‘stunner’
By Michael de Percy 16 June 2025 The Spectator (Australia)
One Nation’s newly elected senator for NSW, Warwick Stacey, brings to the table skills and experience that most Australian politicians have only ever seen at the movies. Our own Professor David Flint has sung his praises, and after discussing Stacey’s views about the long-forgotten idea of representative democracy, in my opinion there is much to like. Warwick Stacey’s responses to my questions are outlined below.
Michael de Percy: What would you like to say to the people of NSW who voted for you?
Warwick Stacey: I am grateful to the voters of NSW who have put their political trust in One Nation and me.
As a politically engaged citizen I was frustrated at realising that whatever voice I had with regard to politics (letters to the editor/comment on articles in The Australian or The Spectator Australia and questions to speakers at political events) was of little effect, hence my standing for election.
No doubt all conservative, politically engaged voters are similarly frustrated, and I will be glad to be able to speak for them, and give voice to conservative ideas, concerns and potential policy that either are not aired or are simply dismissed out of hand.
Michael de Percy: What was your biggest challenge during your campaign? Were you surprised by the result?
Warwick Stacey: My lack of campaign experience was my biggest challenge. I was fortunate in having very good social media support and suspect that this assisted greatly in the NSW senate seat result.
I was surprised by the result. Before polling day, I felt there was a very good chance of a win. On election night, I felt the weight of the swing to Labor and the fall in support of the Coalition would mean Labor’s primary vote and preferences would prevail and One Nation could not win the sixth senate seat on preferences.
Glad to be wrong on that one.
Michael de Percy: You’ve had a lifetime of experience outside the political bubble. Can you tell us about your experience and how you will draw on that during your tenure?
Warwick Stacey: Initial life experiences included unrealistic – and unfulfilled – expectations (primarily when young), combined with academic immaturity, meant a lack of direction, focus and qualifications for any of the career options I thought I wanted to pursue. My move to France when I was 21 and my later enlistment in the British army at the age of 22 were turning points in my life.
I have experienced the lows of failure and various highs of success over the course of my life, and across a range of activities.
Activities and work have included manual labour employment in Australia and abroad, language study (my only academic and practical interest at the time), and soldier service followed by commissioned service.
My British military service and my languages opened up unexpected but great opportunities that aligned with things I wanted to do. I am grateful for that unplanned, unexpected conjunction of opportunities and half-formed goals. These included a return to education in Germany and the UK, working as a military consultant/contractor on very interesting projects in the Middle East, an introduction to business in Europe with a global (Australian) company, establishing my own small business on my return to Australia, and interesting security and risk management work around the world. In turn, this led to work in the unique field of kidnap-for-ransom and extortion (K&R/E) response.
All experience can and should provide foundations for further goals and activities, as well as lessons learned and mistakes or pitfalls to avoid.
The life experiences to date on which I will draw as a senator have given me a very healthy scepticism of the knowledge, capabilities and decisions of ‘experts’, our so-called ‘élites’, senior bureaucrats, and politicians.
I will contest, where I can, their ideas and our current government’s responses and decisions to issues of national significance for Australians and Australia.
Michael de Percy: You’ve stated that ‘our economy, energy security, and national identity are being eroded – we need real leadership to turn things around’. What will be your priorities in this regard for NSW?
Warwick Stacey: Priorities here include dramatic improvements in education, educational outcomes, and the acquisition by our students of relevant, practical tertiary qualifications, providing appropriate foundations for employment, and enabling them to contribute to their own and Australia’s development and prosperity.
Other areas include reliable and low-cost energy, self-sufficiency in food and fuel, water as a resource – not a financial asset or political plaything – and Australian jobs in manufacturing and industry.
I will also seek to promote an Australian monoculture, not the absurd, incoherent, divisive, and ultimately meaningless multiculturalism imposed on us since 1972.
Further priorities include a capable and effective ADF and an end to the careless waste of taxpayer funds across so many government and bureaucratic ‘brilliant ideas’ that only ever fail.
What is more, because we are a democratic party with principles based on representative democracy, we are surveying the rank and file of our party to see what they want us to raise, and what their priorities are for this term. Our party is built on great members, and it is incumbent on us as elected representatives to promote their policy priorities for New South Wales and Australia.
Michael de Percy: Infrastructure is a major issue for Australia, and we are falling behind. You’ve stated that you’ve ‘seen the effects of out-of-control immigration’ on our infrastructure, but what priority infrastructure areas do you intend to focus on over the next six years?
Warwick Stacey: One Nation took comprehensive immigration and infrastructure policies to the election. Policies that I will continue to promote and focus on include ending mass migration by taking control of our currently uncontrolled immigration and making immigration numbers net negative.
Infrastructure priorities include building High Efficiency, Zero Emissions coal-fired power stations that use Australian coal, keeping all who work in the coal industry in jobs, and providing reliable and inexpensive energy.
Also, completing the National Rail Circuit and the re-establishment of Australia’s steel industry via a steel mill in Moranbah, Queensland, producing slab steel for input into rolling mills in Newcastle, Port Kembla and Whyalla, building new dams – three in Queensland and one in Victoria – and restoring petrol refining and self-sufficiency in domestic fuel needs, and returning the Port of Darwin to Australian ownership and control.
Other priorities include the establishment of a People’s Bank offering low-cost, fixed-price mortgages, as well as bringing back banking services across rural Australia that the major banks now no longer offer.
One Nation would also seek to end government waste (saving $90 billion for starters) and start to pay off Australia’s current $1 trillion debt.
With the Coalition still wobbling under the weight of its existential crisis, One Nation will play an important role in representing conservative voters. Warwick Stacey’s election to the Senate was, in the words of one correspondent, a ‘Senate stunner’, bringing One Nation’s total to four and one away from major party status. The promise of additional resources that major status brings has encouraged Pauline Hanson to run again at the next election. If One Nation’s representatives can stay the course, the conservative vacuum created by LINOs is bound to bring success like the party has never seen before.
Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is The Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website.
Original article here