Pauline Hanson nominated her staffer for a NSW Senate seat. He lives in Queensland

3 weeks ago 10

The long-term staffer Pauline Hanson selected to fill One Nation’s NSW senate vacancy is a Queensland resident, and the party is refusing to confirm if he has ever lived in the state he will soon represent.

Sean Bell, 38, was announced on Tuesday as One Nation’s nomination for the Senate seat vacated after Warwick Stacey quit parliament just three months after the May election due to health reasons.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has nominated her staffer for the party’s senate vacancy.

A spokesman for Hanson did not respond to questions from this masthead asking whether Bell had ever resided in NSW, saying only: “In response to all of these questions, I can confirm Sean Bell is in the process of moving from Queensland to NSW.”

Bell is listed on the electoral roll as a resident of Queensland. Sources linked to One Nation speaking on the condition of anonymity said there was confusion about Bell’s selection to fill the state’s senate vacancy, given he lived north of the border.

But Bell’s appointment could be stonewalled as the NSW Parliamentary joint sitting on Thursday has not yet found someone to nominate him formally. With One Nation no longer represented in Macquarie Street, government sources said they were unwilling, and Liberal insiders said none of their MPs were planning to do so on Wednesday evening.

Liberal sources said Ashby approached MP Rachel Merton on Wednesday asking her to call him.

One Nation’s pick to fill its NSW Senate vacancy, Sean Bell.

In a statement announcing the nomination, Hanson said Bell had served as her adviser for nine years and would serve “the people of NSW with conviction, skill, dedication and the conservative values”.

While the statement spoke to Bell’s professional experience in “retail, hospitality and as a manual labourer” and “as a claims assessor”, there was no reference to him ever living in NSW or having any other link to the state.

“Housing in NSW has become unaffordable, infrastructure is overloaded, and energy prices are out of control. Mass immigration is driving demand beyond what the state can handle and net zero policies are making the cost-of-living crisis even worse,” the statement said.

“Too many people in regional NSW feel completely ignored by politicians in Canberra.”

While there is no explicit constitutional or electoral law stipulating that a senator must reside in the state they represent, it is a political convention that politicians live in the area they serve.

While many MPs have lived outside their electorates, it is extremely unusual for politicians to live interstate from their constituents.

In a post on Facebook, One Nation candidate Stuart Bond said: “I’ve known Sean for years now, and he’s a top bloke”. After being contacted by this masthead, Bond said he had known Bell “for as long as I’ve been involved with the party” but deferred any questions about the soon-to-be senator to Hanson’s chief of staff, James Ashby.

One Nation is enjoying a surge in popularity. The party has four senators in federal parliament, and polling undertaken for this masthead this month showed the party’s primary vote at 12 per cent, up three percentage points from the previous month.

Stacey’s resignation was confirmed in mid-August, shortly after attending his first two sitting weeks, with the senator saying he could not in “good conscience” serve in his role with health problems.

Over the past decade, One Nation has been plagued by issues with its nominated senators. Rod Culleton resigned from the party to become an independent after claiming Hanson had engaged in “public rants” and “irrational dictates” against him.

Fraser Anning and Brian Burston both left the party to sit as independents in 2017 and 2018. NSW upper house MPs Mark Latham, Rod Roberts and Tania Mihailuk have all joined Hanson’s outfit and subsequently resigned.