Pauline Hanson's right-hand man weighs up Capricornia run
James Ashby has confirmed he is weighing up a possible tilt at the federal seat of Capricornia. (ABC News: Jacob Kagi, file photo)
In short:
One Nation national director James Ashby has not ruled out running for Capricornia, following Michelle Landry's retirement.
It comes as One Nation's national support grows and Nationals leader Matt Canavan weighs his options.
What's next?
One Nation's Capricornia branch will have the final say on its candidate.
One Nation's party director James Ashby has not ruled out contesting Capricornia at the next federal election, following the retirement of long-serving MP Michelle Landry and a surge in support for Pauline Hanson's party.
Ms Landry announced on Friday she would retire at the next election, opening the way for Nationals leader Matt Canavan to seek a move from the Senate to the House of Representatives.
Mr Ashby has now confirmed to the ABC he is considering calls to run, adding another potential contender to the race for the central Queensland seat.
"I've had quite a number of business and community members reach out over recent months asking me to run," he said.
"I've told them I will consider their request, therefore I haven't ruled out running.
"The Capricornia branch will have the ultimate decision."
Mr Ashby is One Nation's national director and a close political ally of Senator Hanson, having also served as her chief of staff.
He lives on the Capricorn Coast and unsuccessfully contested the state seat of Keppel at the 2024 Queensland election.
Pauline Hanson and James Ashby are looking to boost their party's presence in central Queensland. (Supplied: One Nation)
One Nation's growing support
The potential candidacy comes as One Nation's national primary vote has climbed sharply, putting the party in contention with Labor and the Coalition in recent polling.
The latest Newspoll reported by the ABC on Thursday put One Nation on 28 per cent, just behind Labor on 29 per cent and ahead of the Coalition on 20 per cent.
The party also polled 15.5 per cent of the primary vote in Capricornia at the 2025 federal election, when Ms Landry retained the seat for the LNP.
Senator Hanson announced earlier this year that One Nation was looking at opening an electorate office in Yeppoon, signalling its interest in boosting its presence in the region.
Senator Canavan has not confirmed whether he will seek LNP preselection for Capricornia, saying the party will make an announcement in due course.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.