One Nation’s WA leader says they can’t vet everyone after alleged neo-Nazi hands out how-to-vote cards

One Nation’s WA leader Rod Caddies says it is too big a job to vet every volunteer who puts their hand up for his party after the founding member of a now-disbanded WA right-wing group handed out how-to-vote cards during the Secret Harbour byelection.

David Donis, the founder of the defunct Society of Western Australian Nationalists, handed out how-to-vote cards for Luke Herdegen at the Singleton Primary School booth on August 29 and was pictured celebrating the One Nation candidate’s win at his victory party that night.

SWAN was declared a “nationalist and racist extremist” group that followed Neo-Nazi and white supremacy ideologies in an Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision in 2023 that stripped a Perth-based army reservist of his security clearance because of his associations with the group and Donis.

But Donis had told the tribunal that he was not a neo-Nazi, white supremacist, violent or instigated violence of any kind. He stated that his organisation was not racist, and all races were welcome to join his group. The tribunal disagreed.

“We are also satisfied that Mr Donis and other members of SWAN … adhere to, and promote, racist and neo-Nazi ideologies,” the decision read.

Caddies sought to downplay Donis’ involvement in the party, confirming he hadn’t been a party member, and pointed out Donis was actually a member of the Liberal Party before he started SWAN.

“There was plenty of people that handing out how-to-vote [cards] at Secret Harbor and all through the election, and he’s not a member of One Nation. I know that. I’ve checked that,” he said.

The attraction of people to One Nation with extreme views has drawn the ire of its leader Pauline Hanson herself, who in June said she had to shut down four branches over concerns about “far-right” figures speaking at meetings.

“I do not want neo-Nazis coming and volunteering for us at One Nation. Is that clear enough?”

One Nation WA leader Rod Caddies

The latest headache for Caddies comes a month after former One Nation WA candidate Parminder Singh apologised for an interview where he described gay people as having “mental illness”.

Caddies defended his party’s vetting processes and said it was unrealistic to be able to vet every volunteer.

“Look at our social media [during the byelection]. Anyone that wants to come down and hand out how-to-vote cards for One Nation, we said, come on down. We’ll give you a T-shirt and a cap to hand out if that’s what you want to do,” he said.

“We had hundreds of volunteers that day. What’s the percentage of people that volunteered there that were neo-Nazis? One guy, maybe that was identified by someone who used to be involved in something that was not good.

“Anyone that thinks that you would be able to vet every volunteer that shows up on election day, obviously would have big backing of money to do that or the resources. We don’t even have one paid staff for One Nation in WA.”

When asked about the infiltration of extreme views in One Nation, Caddies angrily responded: “I do not want neo-Nazis coming and volunteering for us at One Nation. Is that clear enough?”

“I’m not happy for anyone that doesn’t meet a decent standard to be involved in my party,” he said.

“You can keep trying to link us to extremists, but it’s not true. One Nation aren’t extreme in any angle, and every party has their issues with different people.”

Caddies pointed to his dressing down of neo-Nazis attending an anti-immigration rally in perth in August last year as proof he didn’t support the movement.

“The only time I’ve ever come across anybody that identified as neo-Nazis, or I could identify as neo-Nazis, was at the rallies we went to, and I called them out on stage, I said: ‘You’re not welcome here. I don’t condone what you’re here for’,” he said.

“If there’s anyone that people point out to me for any reason they think is not appropriate to be part of our party, I will make sure I deal with that.”

Caddies took to his social media last week to accuse upper house Liberal MP Anthony Spagnolo of being a “weak woke joke” in an AI-generated image after he asked questions of the government in parliament about whether it had any information about neo-Nazis infiltrating One Nation WA.

Caddies described the questions as “bizarre” and accused “this squishy moderate” of asking Labor for dirt to use against One Nation.

On Thursday, Spagnolo’s leader, Basil Zempilas, said the revelations about Donis’ volunteering were not vindication for his MP.

“It’s not about vindication or otherwise. If there is a matter to be addressed by the leadership of One Nation, then that is a matter for One Nation to address,” he said.

Herdegen said he did not know Donis, but said he didn’t support his views, and his involvement was “disappointing”.

“I don’t think extremists are welcome. I don’t think they should be welcome at any political party,” Herdegen said.

This masthead was unable to reach Donis for comment.

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