The rechristened lawmaker’s name on the parliamentary website has been changed to “Austin (Aussie) Letts Trump.” He posted photos of documents showing he legally changed his name on January 29 to prove he was serious. His battle cry, posted Wednesday to the #AussieTrump hashtag on social media platform X, was, “Vote Labor Out! & Drill Baby Drill!”
Dawkins was originally a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) for West Australia from the Labor Party, but he was expelled from the party in April 2023, less than a month after taking his seat, due to 42 alleged breaches of family violence restraining orders. He pled guilty to all of those alleged breaches, most of which seem to have involved making forbidden efforts to communicate with his former partner, but later tried to change his pleas to “not guilty.”
Dawkins compared his expulsion from Labor to an “execution,” unfairly conducted against “people who have not been found, in my case, to have committed any kind of violence, physical or other.”
Dawkins proceeded to join One Nation, a right-leaning populist party technically known as “Pauline Hanson’s One Nation” (PHON) in honor of the Australian politician who founded the party in 1997.
Hanson left the party in 2002 during an election fraud scandal and dropped out of politics for a while, returning to lead the party in 2013. She welcomed Dawkins as One Nation’s only representative in West Australia in February 2024, saying his party switch demonstrated “our growing appeal to Australians across the country.”
“He stands for the same democratic principles and individual freedoms that are at the heart of One Nation’s ethos and policies. Ben is a born and bred Western Australian who will put his community and state first,” Hanson said.
“Pauline Hanson never leaves anyone in doubt about what she’s thinking, and that’s an approach I’ve always favored myself,” Dawkins replied happily.
Alas, that happiness was short-lived, as Hanson booted Dawkins from the One Nation ticket six months later. Hanson herself declined comment on the action, but other One Nation leaders said they felt Dawkins was not sufficiently committed to the party.
“I’ve got not ill-feelings for Ben. However, I just don’t feel that he has performed to the level that I think the public would expect of a sitting member of parliament,” said One Nation WA leader Rod Caddies, who replaced Dawkins on the party ticket.
“I miss the odd session, as do all the other people,” Dawkins responded. “Sometimes your time is best spent, and you’re most effective, doing what we call urgent parliamentary business, which is effectively work in the electorate or work meeting with people.”
“Can I work harder? Yep, definitely. I can always work harder and smarter, but I’m 100 percent comfortable that I have done a good job,” he said.
Dawkins “reluctantly” resigned from One Nation, saying he still held Hanson in “high regard as a courageous advocate for everyday Australians.”
“As an independent candidate, I will continue to have the courage to speak for those who feel unheard,” he promised.
“Mr. Trump” told 9News on Thursday he hoped the name change would help him keep his seat in West Australia’s March 8 election. He praised the other Mr. Trump for “unwinding leftist nonsense” and said he would “happily be a small part of that.”
Labor politicians in WA jeered the “Aussie Trump” name change as a “juvenile” and “attention-seeking” stunt.
“I’m not sure how much lower he can go,” said WA Premier Roger Cook.
WA political analyst Peter Kennedy told Australia’s ABC News that the Aussie Trump name change was a “great publicity stunt” for an independent politician who needs only a small percentage of highly energized voters to win a seat.
“You don’t need a big proportion of votes to gain election to the upper house. It’s less than three per cent of the ballot vote,” Kennedy noted. “If he can gain that through this gimmick, it’ll be a success for him.”
Some local voters who spoke to ABC sounded less enthusiastic about the debut of Aussie Trump, calling the name change “ostentatious” and “extremely cringe.”
“Catchy is always a good way to go,” countered WA resident Shelly Watson. “Any slogan’s a good slogan.”
Breitbart News
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