Secret Harbour By-Election Results 2026: One Nation Wins Historic WA Seat

RESULT UPDATE — August 29, 2026, 10:51 PM AWST:

One Nation’s Luke Herdegen has claimed victory in the Secret Harbour by-election, with the seat being reported as a One Nation win. WAEC’s formal counting process remains underway.

Secret Harbour by-election results 2026: One Nation has won the Secret Harbour by-election, with Luke Herdegen claiming a historic victory over Labor in the traditionally Labor-held Western Australian seat.

Herdegen’s breakthrough follows a dramatic swing toward One Nation in Perth’s outer southern suburbs. The result delivers the party its first lower-house seat in Western Australia and represents a major reversal from the 2025 state election, when One Nation received just 8.4% of the primary vote in Secret Harbour.

The result is a major political upset for WA Labor. Papalia won Secret Harbour at the 2025 state election with 61.54% of the two-candidate-preferred vote, giving Labor an 11.5 percentage-point margin over the Liberals.

Just over a year later, the by-election has produced a dramatically different outcome, with One Nation emerging as the successful challenger.

One Nation Wins Secret Harbour in Historic WA Breakthrough

Luke Herdegen has delivered One Nation a historic victory in Secret Harbour, overturning what had been a comfortable Labor advantage in one of the most closely watched Australian by-elections of 2026.

The result represents a remarkable increase in support for One Nation compared with the previous state election.

At the 2025 Western Australian election, One Nation secured only 8.4% of the Secret Harbour primary vote. Herdegen’s performance in the by-election represents a dramatic improvement on that result.

Labor’s Georgia Tree emerged as Herdegen’s principal opponent, while Liberal candidate Ryan Robertson finished behind the two leading contenders during the election-night count.

Reported indicative two-candidate-preferred figures have Herdegen leading Tree by approximately 53.6% to 46.4%.

The result is particularly significant because Labor entered the contest defending a seat it had dominated for years.

Former Labor MP and minister Paul Papalia secured 61.54% of the two-candidate-preferred vote at the 2025 election, compared with 38.46% for the Liberal Party. His majority was 6,381 votes.

Papalia’s retirement in July triggered the by-election and removed a long-serving incumbent who had represented the area for almost two decades.

Official counting information and subsequent updates are available from the Western Australian Electoral Commission.

Why One Nation’s Secret Harbour Victory Matters

The significance of the result extends beyond a single seat in Western Australia.

Secret Harbour was viewed as an important test of whether One Nation’s increased support could translate into parliamentary representation in an outer-metropolitan electorate traditionally dominated by one of Australia’s major parties.

The by-election has now provided a clear example of that support translating into a seat.

One Nation recorded just 8.4% of the primary vote in Secret Harbour at the 2025 election. The scale of the party’s improvement in the by-election will therefore attract attention from Labor, the Liberals and political strategists nationally.

For Labor, the loss is particularly striking because of the electorate’s recent history.

Papalia comfortably retained the seat in 2025, but his retirement created an open contest at a time when cost-of-living pressures and dissatisfaction with the major parties were prominent issues among voters.

The Liberal Party’s performance will also face scrutiny after Robertson ran behind One Nation and Labor during the count.

That raises a broader question for the traditional opposition about whether voters looking to move away from Labor in outer-suburban electorates are necessarily moving toward the Liberals — or whether parties such as One Nation are increasingly capturing that vote.

Cost of living and housing were among the major issues shaping the Secret Harbour campaign, particularly in Perth’s fast-growing outer southern suburbs.

Those pressures form part of a wider affordability debate across Australia. Household budgets are also facing changes in other areas, including proposed private health insurance rebate changes that could affect millions of Australians from 2027.

Housing availability, homelessness, traffic congestion, infrastructure and access to local services were also prominent during the campaign.

The political consequences of the Secret Harbour result could now extend well beyond Western Australia.

For One Nation, winning the seat demonstrates that the party can convert increased support into lower-house representation in an outer-metropolitan electorate.

For Labor, attention will turn to the size of the swing and whether the defeat reflects circumstances unique to a mid-term by-election or points to broader vulnerability in similar outer-suburban electorates.

For the Liberal Party, the result raises questions about its ability to capture voters moving away from Labor, particularly where One Nation is also mounting a strong campaign.

The Secret Harbour result will therefore be closely examined by all three parties as they assess what the outcome could mean for future state and federal contests.

Editor’s note: Luke Herdegen has claimed victory and the Secret Harbour result is being reported as a One Nation win. The Western Australian Electoral Commission’s formal count remains in progress, including the processing of eligible postal votes. This article will be updated if the final official figures materially change the reported margin.

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