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One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering has admitted using illicit drugs including methamphetamines as a young man, a day after denying allegations about his drug use made by his former partner.
Pickering, who is contesting the marginal seat of Pakenham at November’s state election, acknowledged on Tuesday that he had used marijuana and methamphetamines after initially rejecting his former partner’s claims and threatening legal action over their publication.
He maintained that he had never used drugs while their children were in the house and denied he had been a “drug addict”, saying he had not used illicit drugs for at least 16 years.
He also said he had lost his license three times for drink-driving and had made mistakes when he was in his 20s.
“I’ve never made the suggestion that I’m any type of angel,” he said.
“I was a young man in my 20s, not unlike everybody else that has ever been a young man in their 20s. I made mistakes.
“What I did since then was change my life dramatically for the benefit of not only my children, but for myself and those around me.”
Pickering’s former partner of almost two decades, Jo Scott, made the explosive claims in an interview with The Australian published on Monday.
Initially, Pickering denied Scott’s claims on Monday. One Nation founder Pauline Hanson also described the allegations as “false” and said that she backed Pickering as a candidate on Monday.
On Tuesday, Pickering addressed the media flanked by his daughter and stepson at a press conference, which was held in a rented event room on the 29th floor of Crown Towers.
There, Pickering admitted he had used methamphetamines. He denied using crystal meth or ice, which are types of methamphetamines, but also said he was “not as familiar with the terms as you would like me to be”.
Pickering’s step-son, Johnny Scott, said his mother had “a vendetta against Warren and has for many years”.
“My mother has a past and she’s stuck in that past,” he said.
In response, Jo Scott said Pickering’s press conference was a “lost opportunity for him to come clean with Victorians about his past”.
“Warren’s claim that he simply ‘dabbled’ in drugs as a young man, and that he was a ‘casual drug user’ was a masterclass in deceit and dishonesty,” she said in a written statement.
“His claims were false, and he knows them to be false,” she said. “The greatest contribution Warren Pickering could make to One Nation, and to the people of Victoria, would be to resign immediately.”
Scott confirmed she has been estranged “for many years” from her son and Pickering’s stepson.
At the press conference, Johnny confirmed he had messaged Jo in recent days to tell her to “get back to Queensland”.
Pickering’s admissions of drug use and drink-driving leaves One Nation open to claims of political hypocrisy, with the party also using the media conference to release the details of its Victorian election crime platform.
One Nation’s upper house candidate Mark Nicholson said the party would introduce a hardline criminal law regime to make Victoria “the toughest state on crime” – including on drug use.
“The judiciary system is letting our front line down drastically. They pat them on the head. They focus on rehabilitation,” he said.
However, when asked if Pickering’s would have been treated as a criminal under a One Nation government, Nicholson said his party leader would have been treated with “therapeutic jurisprudence”.
“We would try and intervene before crime ever happens to someone like Warren,” he said.
Pickering said he had disclosed his previous drug use during security vetting when he joined the Australian Army when he was 28. The last time he used drugs would have been when he was “26, maybe 27”, he said.
Pickering, who is now 42, admitted that when he initially applied to run for the party, he disclosed potential issues with his ex-partner but concealed his own illicit drug history. He later disclosed that history when it became clear Jo wanted to make that information public, he said, but could not say when.
Pickering said that a note he wrote apologising for “sexual deviance” related to him cheating on his former partner.
“We’d opened our relationship, but that hadn’t given me permission to do some of the things I’d done with respect to exploring sexuality,” he said.
Pickering was named as One Nation’s Victorian leader early last month and is standing for the marginal lower house seat of Pakenham in the November state election.
He previously ran unsuccessfully as a candidate in the 2022 state election and for the Senate in 2025.
Journalists from the ABC and The Guardian were kicked out of the press conference just before it started, which Pickering said was the decision of the One Nation’s national party leadership.
“I’m not going to impede on the parties’ judgment. I’m still learning with respect to campaigning,” he said.
Reporters from those outlets, as well as The Age, have recently been barred from a number of the party’s press conferences, including when One Nation’s Victorian state candidates were announced.
Pickering said on Tuesday he was considering legal action against The Australian.
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Patrick Hatch is state politics reporter at The Age. Contact him at patrick.hatch@theage.com.au, or via Signal at @pwhatch.61Connect via X or email.
Clay Lucas is an investigative reporter at The Age who has covered urban affairs, state and federal politics, industrial relations, transport, health and aged care. Email him at clucas@theage.com.au or claylucas@protonmail.com, or via Signal +61439828128.Connect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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