Australian Liberal Party's Vice President Defects to One Nation, Exposing Voter Hemorrhage

Teena McQueen, the Liberal Party's vice president, defected to Pauline Hanson's One Nation in June 2026, weeks before her death. The loss of a senior figure signals accelerating defection on the party's right flank. Since the Howard era, Liberals have struggled to retain conservative voters without losing them to One Nation—a tension that remains unresolved as the party tries simultaneously to appeal to urban moderates and its own right-wing base.