2026 Secret Harbour state by-election

2026 Secret Harbour state by-election
29 August 2026 (2026-08-29)
Electoral district of Secret Harbour in the
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
  First party Second party
 
Candidate Georgia Tree Ryan Robertson
Party Labor Liberal
  Third party Fourth party
 
Candidate Rhi Davies Luke Herdegen
Party Greens One Nation
MP before election

Paul Papalia
Labor

 Elected MP

TBD

A by-election will be held on 29 August 2026 to elect the member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Secret Harbour, following the resignation of minister Paul Papalia. Papalia resigned because of family issues.

Background

Commentators have framed the by-election as a test of One Nation's rising support in national opinion polls.[1][2][3]

Electorate profile

Secret Harbour is located in southern Perth and is a replacement for the former seat of Warnbro. Differing from its predecessor, Secret Harbour crosses the boundary of metropolitan Perth by taking in parts of Mandurah. The electorate takes in the suburbs of Golden Bay, Karnup, Lakelands, Madora Bay, Port Kennedy, Secret Harbour, Singleton and Warnbro, and takes in part of the local government area of the City of Rockingham.[4][5]

Secret Harbour was first contested at the 2025 state election with a notional margin for the Labor Party of 31.3%. Papalia, the MP for the outgoing electorate of Warnbro was elected as Secret Harbour's inaugural member following the election, with an 11.5% two-party-preferred margin.[6]

Former member

On 6 July 2026, Papalia announced his resignation from his ministerial portfolios and as an MP, thereby triggering the by-election.[7] Papalia was first elected as the member for Peel in the 2007 by-election, held the seat when it was changed to Warnbro and finally Secret Harbour.[6]

Landsdale MP Daniel Pastorelli was awarded a spot in Cabinet, in place of Papalia.[8]

Electoral system

As with all elections in Western Australia, full preferential voting will be used where casting a ballot is compulsory. In the full preferential system used, a candidate must receive an absolute majority, over 50% of the votes. A voter needs to mark all of the boxes listed on their ballot paper.[9]

Key dates

On 14 July, the writ was issued by Stephen Price as Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. Dates relevant to the by-election are listed below.[10][11]

  • Postal vote applications open on 7 July at 6 pm
  • Nomination of candidates closes at midday on 21 July
  • Close of electoral rolls at 6 pm on 21 July
  • Postal votes will begin being sent to voters on 28 July
  • Mobile polling will begin on 16 August
  • Early voting begins on 17 August at 8 am
  • Postal vote applications close on 26 August at 6 pm
  • Polling day will be on 29 August from 8 am until 6 pm
  • The last day for receipt of postal votes is 3 September at 9 am
  • Last day for return of the writ is 10 October

Previous result

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2025 Western Australian state election (Legislative Assembly) § Secret Harbour.[edit]
2025 Western Australian state election: Secret Harbour[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor Paul Papalia 12,876 46.5 −28.5
Liberal Mark Jones 6,913 25.0 +9.7
Greens Tamsyn Heynes 2,439 8.8 +5.3
One Nation Liam Hall 2,332 8.4 +6.3
Legalise Cannabis Jim Matters 1,623 5.9 +5.5
Christians Robert Burdett 755 2.7 +2.7
Animal Justice Elizabeth Storer 723 2.6 +2.6
Total formal votes 27,661 95.4 −0.6
Informal votes 1,323 4.6 +0.6
Turnout 28,984 84.5 +4.0
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Paul Papalia 17,011 61.5 −19.8
Liberal Mark Jones 10,630 38.5 +19.8
Labor hold Swing−19.8

Candidates

Candidates are listed in ballot order.[13]

Party Candidate Background
  Liberal Ryan Robertson Councillor for the City of Rockingham and real estate agent
  Libertarian Matthew Barton Navy veteran
  Greens Rhi Davies
  Legalise Cannabis Craig Robert Buchanan Political staffer
  Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Tim Hamilton
  Labor Georgia Tree Political staffer
  Independent Paul Howard Leader of the unregistered Australian Patriots Party
  Christians Robert Burdett 2025 candidate
  Animal Justice Neil Jensen
  Independent Teresa van Lieshout Perennial candidate
  Independent Paul Gullan
  WA First Anthony Fels Former MLC, perennial candidate
  Independent Jayne Palmer Former Finance Manager CPA, Current Mathematics High School Teacher
  One Nation Luke Herdegen Anytime Fitness franchisee
  Independent Peter D. Dunne Perennial candidate
  Independent Brett Murrell

Labor

On 9 July 2026, the Western Australian Labor Party announced that Georgia Tree, a former advisor for federal resources minister Madeleine King, will be their candidate. Tree has also worked with gas company Woodside. Premier Roger Cook said that the by-election will be "tough for Labor".[8]

Liberal

Western Australian Liberal Party leader Basil Zempilas formally decided to field a candidate on 9 July.[7] Their candidate is Ryan Robertson, a councillor for the City of Rockingham.[14]

Greens

The Western Australian Greens expressed an interest in fielding a candidate for the by-election, with their leader Brad Pettitt criticising Papalia's management of the prison system and said that the state needed a minister focused on "reinvestment, rehabilitation and diversion" rather than "increasing police powers".[15] The Greens ultimately preselected Rhi Davies for the by-election.[14]

One Nation

Western Australian One Nation announced their candidate would be Luke Herdegen, a gym owner.[16] WA One Nation leader Rod Caddies said that One Nation are the "favourites" to gain the seats of Kwinana and Secret Harbour.[15]

Nationals

The Western Australian National Party have indicated an intention to field more candidates in metropolitan seats but leader Shane Love stressed that "The decision on which seats the Nationals WA contest is ultimately one for our state council".[15] They decided not to field a candidate, and instead to endorse the WA Liberals.[14]

How-to-vote cards

Western Australia uses a preferential voting system for Legislative Assembly elections, where voters must rank every candidate on the ballot in the order of their preference.[9] How-to-vote cards are small leaflets distributed by party supporters suggesting the order voters should preference candidates. In Western Australian elections, how-to-vote cards must be registered with and approved by the WAEC prior to their distribution.[17]

Independent candidates Teresa van Lieshout, Paul Gullan, and Brett Murrell, as well as WA First candidate Anthony Fels, did not register a how-to-vote card.[18]

Legalise Cannabis candidate Craig Robert Buchanan, as well as independent candidate Jayne Palmer, ran an open ticket, with no further directions for preferences beyond '1' for themselves.[18]

Candidate How-to-vote cards[18] (read column top down)
LIB LBT GRN LCA SFF ALP How. ACP AJP Lie. Gul. WAP Pal. ONP Dun. Mur.
  Ryan Robertson (LIB) 1 9 7 N/a 11 10 8 3 12 N/a N/a N/a N/a 5 16 N/a
  Matthew Barton (LBT) 4 1 10 N/a 2 11 4 5 14 N/a N/a N/a N/a 4 7 N/a
  Rhi Davies (GRN) 13 12 1 N/a 14 2 16 15 3 N/a N/a N/a N/a 16 15 N/a
  Craig Robert Buchanan (LCA) 9 8 6 1 10 4 9 12 2 N/a N/a N/a N/a 8 2 N/a
  Tim Hamilton (SFF) 5 2 12 N/a 1 12 6 4 16 N/a N/a N/a N/a 3 11 N/a
  Georgia Tree (ALP) 10 16 4 N/a 16 1 15 14 10 N/a N/a N/a N/a 15 4 N/a
  Paul Howard (IND) 7 10 14 N/a 9 14 1 8 7 N/a N/a N/a N/a 6 13 N/a
  Robert Burdett (ACP) 2 4 13 N/a 4 13 3 1 14 N/a N/a N/a N/a 2 10 N/a
  Neil Jensen (AJP) 12 13 2 N/a 15 3 14 13 1 N/a N/a N/a N/a 14 3 N/a
  Teresa van Lieshout (IND) 15 14 15 N/a 7 15 13 10 11 N/a N/a N/a N/a 9 5 N/a
  Paul Gullan (IND) 14 6 11 N/a 6 9 12 11 4 N/a N/a N/a N/a 10 12 N/a
  Anthony Fels (WAP) 6 7 9 N/a 5 5 7 6 8 N/a N/a N/a N/a 7 8 N/a
  Jayne Palmer (IND) 8 11 3 N/a 12 8 11 7 9 N/a N/a N/a 1 11 9 N/a
  Luke Herdegan (ONP) 3 3 16 N/a 3 16 2 2 15 N/a N/a N/a N/a 1 14 N/a
  Peter D. Dunne (IND) 16 15 5 N/a 13 6 10 16 5 N/a N/a N/a N/a 12 1 N/a
  Brett Murrell (IND) 11 5 8 N/a 8 7 5 9 6 N/a N/a N/a N/a 13 6 N/a

References

  1. ↑ Bourke, Keane; Waller, Pip; and Goerling, Samantha (7 July 2026). "Paul Papalia's difficult departure leaves WA Labor nervous about One Nation's surge". ABC News. Archived from the original on 7 July 2026. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  2. ↑ Rabe, Tom (6 July 2026). "Surprise WA byelection set to be a One Nation v Hastie practice run". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  3. ↑ Puglisi, Leonardo (8 July 2026). "One Nation will throw the kitchen sink at WA's surprise by-election. What role will Andrew Hastie play?". Crikey. Archived from the original on 9 July 2026.
  4. ↑ Green, Antony (1 December 2023). "Western Australia State Redistribution – Final Boundaries Released". Antony Green's Election Blog. Archived from the original on 2 September 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "Secret Harbour Electorate Profile (2025)". Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  6. 1 2 Green, Antony (2 April 2025) [8 March 2025]. "Secret Harbour - WA Election 2025". ABC News. Archived from the original on 29 March 2025. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  7. 1 2 Bourke, Keane; Withers, Courtney; and Mayes, Andrea (6 July 2026). "WA minister Paul Papalia quits politics, triggering Secret Harbour by-election". ABC News. Archived from the original on 6 July 2026. Retrieved 10 July 2026.
  8. 1 2 Thompson, Holly and Philipps, Michael (9 July 2026). "WA Labor reveals Secret Harbour candidate as rising star set for cabinet role". WAtoday. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  9. 1 2 "Voting Systems in WA". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 14 July 2026. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Secret Harbour By-election officially underway". Western Australian Electoral Commission. 13 July 2026. Archived from the original on 14 July 2026. Retrieved 14 July 2026.
  11. ↑ "I am a voter". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Key dates for voters. Archived from the original on 14 July 2026.
  12. ↑ 2025 State General Election – Secret Harbour District Results, WAEC. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  13. ↑ "Secret Harbour By-election 2026". ABC News. 21 July 2026. Archived from the original on 22 July 2026. Retrieved 27 July 2026.
  14. 1 2 3 Philipps, Michael and Thompson, Holly (18 July 2026). "Secret Harbour byelection heating up as major party decides not to contest". WAToday. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  15. 1 2 3 Philipps, Michael (6 July 2026). "'This is going to be tough for Labor': Behind the looming battle for Secret Harbour". WAToday. Retrieved 9 July 2026.
  16. ↑ Spagnolo, Joe (18 July 2026). "One Nation names Gym owner Luke Herdegen as candidate in Secret Harbour by-election". The West Australian. Retrieved 19 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "How-to-vote cards". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  18. 1 2 3 "How-to-vote Cards". Western Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 24 August 2026. Retrieved 24 August 2026.
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