Opportunistic Outer Metro Furniture Salesman Considers Joining One Nation, Getting Elected To Parliament, Immediately Leaving The Party And Sitting As An Independent, As Is Tradition

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

A Betoota Heights furniture salesman is genuinely considering joining One Nation this week for quite selfish reasons.

Whether it be for the House or Senate, Mick Fraser doesn't really give a shit. He's just interested in throwing his hat in the ring and riding the One Nation wave all the way to Canberra and all the trimming that come with being an elected official.

Speaking to The Advocate this morning, the proprietor of Frasers Furniture explained that he's often looked at senators and elected members and felt pangs of jealousy at how easy their job is and how good the renumeration is compared to selling rooted furniture to New Australians and people out on their arse.

"Yeah I reckon it's a good pathway to a good career where not much is asked of you," he said.

"I wouldn't be a Pocock or whatever. I'd honestly just stay out of trouble and vote for whatever. Toss a coin stuff. It's a well-worn path, too. There's been heaps and heaps of people who've done this."

One Nation has developed a reputation not just for electoral volatility, but for internal instability, with a significant number of MPs and senators elected under its banner later walking away from the party. At the federal level, senators Rod Culleton, Brian Burston and Fraser Anning all entered Parliament as One Nation representatives following the party's 2016 resurgence, only to resign or be expelled and continue their terms as independents or, in Anning’s case, form his own party. The pattern has repeated in state parliaments. In Western Australia, Charles Smith quit the party in 2019, while several MPs elected during the party’s 2001 breakthrough similarly departed before completing their terms. In New South Wales, former federal Labor leader Mark Latham, elected to the Legislative Council under the One Nation banner in 2019, later split from the party amid leadership turmoil, as did fellow MLC Rod Roberts. In South Australia, Sarah Game left One Nation in 2025 to sit as an independent. The cumulative effect has been to cement One Nation’s reputation as a party that can win protest votes but struggles to retain the loyalty of its own elected representatives once they arrive in parliament, with defections and internal disputes forming a recurring feature of its political history.

Fraser continued to outline his plan to our reporter, who during the interview decided to buy a totally fucked and flogged out Matt Blatt replica of the classic Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. It was 50% off because a report in The Advocate's crosstown, News Corp-owned rival, The Betoota Bugle, revealed that a disgraced local businessman passed away while relaxing on it.

"Perhaps Barnaby [Joyce] and I could peel off and make our own party. Wouldn't that be funny. We could link up with Pocock and that propellerhead from the Greens. It's endless, the possibilities."

More to come.