One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and senior party figures have publicly distanced themselves from remarks made by former Western Australian Legislative Council candidate Parminder Singh, who described homosexuality as a mental illness in a video posted by Perth online personality Jasky Singh, known as 'Mr Sikkant'. Singh, who was third on One Nation's upper house ticket at the 2025 WA state election but was not elected, also said in the video that marriage equality should not have been legalised and took issue with gay people 'advertising' their sexuality, according to The Guardian.
One Nation distances itself from ex-WA candidate's remarks describing homosexuality as a mental illness
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and senior party figures have publicly distanced themselves from remarks made by former Western Australian Legislative Council candidate Parminder Singh, who described homosexuality as a mental illness in a video posted by Perth online personality Jasky Singh, known as 'Mr Sikkant'. Singh, who was third on One Nation's upper house ticket at the 2025 WA state election but was not elected, also said in the video that marriage equality should not have been legalised and took issue with gay people 'advertising' their sexuality, according to The Guardian.
Asked in the video whether people were born gay, Singh replied: 'No, no, it's a mental illness. No-one born anything … I blame on the parents because parents are too busy.' He also said, according to The Guardian, 'You [don't] need to gay parade in city,' though he claimed not to have a problem with gay people.
The comments were first reported by ABC on Wednesday. Following ABC enquiries, a page linking to Singh's candidacy was removed from One Nation's website. One Nation federal MP Barnaby Joyce said the removal was 'a strong statement,' adding: 'That is not a good sign, is it? To be pulled off the website.' Joyce said he did not have the power to formally disendorse Singh.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament House in Canberra, Hanson said Singh was no longer a candidate and that his views were not hers. 'He's an individual that has his own views. He's not standing for One Nation … they're not my views,' she said. Singh is not running in the upcoming Secret Harbour by-election but has posted content on social media supporting One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen.
One Nation's WA leader Rod Caddies said Singh had not been authorised to make the comments and was now 'just the same as you or any other person.' Caddies said Singh had messaged him to say he was 'disappointed in himself and for letting the party down,' and that Singh and his family were 'going through a lot of stress.' Caddies added that One Nation had substantial support from the gay community, which deserved to feel 'equal in society,' and said he was 'honestly sorry' that community had been caused any hurt.
Joyce, a former National who now sits with One Nation, described Singh's remarks on ABC's Afternoon Briefing as 'highly offensive' and said they were 'outside the guardrails' of Australian culture. He said the party had 'quite a large proportion of gay people' and described One Nation as 'one of the gayest parties in Australia.' When asked, in the context of gay animals, whether he was referring to animals on farms, he confirmed he was. One Nation's South Australian MP James Virgo is gay, according to The Guardian.
WA Labor upper house member Dr Katrina Stratton told the Legislative Council that homosexuality had not been classified a mental illness for 53 years and called Singh's views 'not only outdated, but deeply offensive and deeply harmful, including to the young people Mr Singh claims to be so concerned about.' She urged other MPs to use 'the megaphone of state parliament' to denounce the comments.
WA Labor minister John Carey, one of a small number of openly gay politicians in the WA Parliament, posted on Facebook that the remarks were 'extreme, divisive and nasty' and had no place in public debate. He wrote that everyone deserved 'the right to live their life with dignity' and said the comments amounted to 'prejudice dressed up as politics.'
Anna Brown, chief executive of Equality Australia, described Singh's comments as 'demonstrably false, thoroughly discredited and deeply harmful,' adding that nearly two-thirds of the roughly 80 per cent of Australians who participated in the 2017 postal survey voted in support of marriage equality, according to The Guardian.
The Guardian reported that Singh's remarks surfaced as One Nation prepares candidates for the Victorian state election in November, and noted the party's vetting process had previously attracted criticism. Most recently, One Nation was required to drop South Australian candidate Aoi Baxter after ABC revealed a UK arrest warrant had been issued over an alleged sexual assault in 2024. Joyce acknowledged the party's candidate selection would improve with growth, saying: 'When something's growing like that, you're going to have growing pains … and your internal resources won't be able to keep up with the membership as it goes.'
- Singh has not publicly commented in response to the reporting; The Guardian noted it had contacted him but no response is recorded in the supplied sources.
- It is not established whether One Nation will formally discipline or disendorse Singh, or what specific internal steps Caddies referred to when saying matters were being dealt with 'behind the scenes.'
- The sources do not establish what vetting procedures One Nation currently applies to candidates, beyond Joyce's general statement that they will improve with growth.
- It is not confirmed whether Singh retains any formal membership or affiliation with One Nation.
- No response from One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen, whom Singh has been supporting via social media, is included in any source.
- ABC News Australia — original — by Keane Bourke
- The Guardian — by Sarah Basford Canales
Read the original at ABC News Australia