This is the awkward moment One Nation candidate Malcolm Roberts refuses to admit defeat after failing to secure a seat in the Queensland election.
Mr Roberts, a former senator, received less than half the vote of the Labor Party candidate in his electorate of Ipswich overnight.
Despite this, he appeared to be in denial saying: ‘We’ll see when the count is finished’.
Former senator Malcolm Roberts, who failed in his bid to leap from the Senate to a One Nation seat in the Queensland election, refused to believe the results
In the cringe-worthy interview with Channel Nine’s panel on Saturday night, Mr Roberts went on to condemn the Labor Party for running a ‘smear campaign’.
‘The Labor Party’s run a very dishonest campaign… they haven’t talked about policies, they’ve just been smearing people,’ he said.
‘Annastacia Palaszczuk herself is not running a positive campaign doing what the state needs doing and they’ve told lies doing that.’
Labor Party candidate for Ipswich Jennifer Howard received 47 percent of the primary vote where Mr Roberts received less than half of that.
When Mr Roberts was asked if he thought One Nation was a spent force in Queensland, he said ‘Definitely not, definitely not’.
‘Australia needs people who will speak up, and we will continue speaking up,’ he said.
When Mr Roberts was told he received less than half the vote of the ALP’s candidate in his electorate of Ipswich, he did not accept defeat
Responding to polling numbers on Sunday morning, Greens leader Senator Richard di Natale said ‘One Nation were a huge flop’.
‘They talked up a big game,’ he told ABC News.
‘(But Queensland said) we don’t want the division and bigotry that One Nation put forward’.
‘I think this is a clear indication that One Nation is not going anywhere. We are going to be around for a while yet,’ Senator Hanson said
One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson also appeared to be in denial about One Nation’s poor showing in the Queensland election, where it may end up with just one seat at best.
Despite poor results for the ultra-conservative party, she said One Nation and its preferences would decide many seats in the regions.
‘I think this is a clear indication that One Nation is not going anywhere. We are going to be around for a while yet,’ Senator Hanson said.
Senator Hanson said she believed there was potential for One Nation to win Senate sits at the next federal election based on Saturday’s results.
One Nation stood candidates in 61 of the 93 electorates, but is yet to pick up a seat in Senator Hanson’s home state where she had at one stage predicted a repeat of the 1998 election when One Nation won 11 seats in Queensland.
Senator Hanson said she believed there was potential for One Nation to win Senate sits at the next federal election based on Saturday’s results
And it lost its two highest profile candidates when both state leader and LNP defector Steve Dickson lost Buderim and former senator Malcolm Roberts failed to win Ipswich.
There is still a chance the party could still get at least one, maybe a few more, MPs into the parliament, with Stephen Andrew ahead in central Queensland seat of Mirani.
But One Nation is unlikely to hold the balance of power if Labor secures the 47 seats it needs for a majority government.
Despite poor results for the conservative party, One Nation and its preferences will decide many seats in the regions
Senator Hanson, who could not stand for election but was the face of the party’s campaign across the state, blamed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk relentless campaign for the result.
‘It was a scare campaign that the Labor party did. Saying that a vote for the LNP is a vote for One Nation, people were confused about it,’ Senator Hanson said.
She said she was pleased with the overall, saying the party had run a very strong campaign.
‘We are polling in the mid to high 20s, some in the 30 per cent. I’m very pleased with that result,’ she said.
Senator Hanson, who could not stand for election but was the face of the party’s campaign across the state, blamed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk relentless campaign for the result