One Nation leader blames ‘bit of a hole’ in vetting for pro-Nazi candidate

Résumé détaillé

Party leader Warren Pickering said he knew One Nation’s secretary ran a strip club linked to the Comanchero bikie gang, but did not judge her “guilty by association”.

One Nation Victoria leader Warren Pickering has said he was aware his party secretary ran a strip club linked to the Comanchero bikie gang but that he did not judge her as guilty by association, as the party faces growing scrutiny over its selection of candidates and personnel.

One Nation is polling with primary support of 23 per cent ahead of the state election – 1 point ahead of Labor – and is promising to make Victoria the country’s toughest state on crime.

But that commitment has been undermined by revelations published by this masthead that One Nation’s state secretary, Bianca Colecchia, spent eight years working as a manager at the Melbourne strip club Dreams, whose key promoter had once been accused by police of having deep links to the Comanchero bikie gang.

Coleecchia ran the CBD venue – which is owned by her partner, Salvatore Aparo – over the same period that its chief promoter and liquor supplier was Mike “Skinny” Jones, whom police previously accused of being a bikie gang money cleaner.

“It wasn’t a problem because we understand that you cannot tar people with a brush if they’re three-times removed,” Pickering said on Thursday.

“She happens to work at an establishment and a venue that previously employed someone that obviously had links – implied links – from many years ago. [That is] guilty by association.”

Pickering, who is running for election in the seat of Pakenham, said One Nation had examined Coleecchia’s connection to the club before she ran as a candidate in the last federal election and found “no red flags whatsoever”.

Victoria Police accused Jones in 2018 of “laundering funds through his legitimate business of promotions and liquor wholesaling” for Comanchero boss Mick Murray.

Police withdrew a money-laundering prosecution against Jones in 2020 and instead used civil proceeds-of-crime powers against him. Jones settled the proceeds-of-crime case in 2023 by paying a confidential sum into state coffers.

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