A former WA One Nation candidate has issued an apology after footage appeared online showing the political hopeful describing gay people as having “mental illness” in an interview posted by a Perth comedian.
Parminder Singh appeared third on the One Nation ticket for the WA Legislative Council at the 2025 state election, but made headlines this week after making several homophobic comments in an interview with content creator Jasky Singh, also known as “Mr Sikkant”.
In the video, the former candidate is asked if he thinks people are born gay before replying “no, no, mental illness.”
The political hopeful also said he believed marriage equality should never have been legalised, gay parades “advertise” their sexuality and that women who date women do not “go back” to men.
The video drew condemnation from a host of WA politicians, with Minister John Carey expressing his disappointment, but lack of surprise, at the comments.
“We’re seeing a long list of One Nation Party candidates, and this is on the public record, that make really deeply extreme, nasty comments against the LGBT community,” Carey said.
“This does demonstrate the risk of One Nation in any government, because it is very clear this is not a one-off - this is something that we see on a regular basis, and what’s worse is Pauline Hanson and the One Nation leadership never call it out.
“I do blame squarely One Nation for this because they’re putting it into the public arena.
“There is a significant cultural problem here at One Nation. They facilitate it. They enable it because they pre-select these candidates.”
Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti questioned if One Nation supporters know who they are voting for.
“Some of their views are disgusting and seek to divide people,” she said.
“Now, we’ve said it a number of times that we are a very, very cohesive community in Australia, and we don’t want parties who thrive on and promote division and hatred.
“This is not the Australia that I grew up in.”
WA Greens MP Sophie McNeill said her party stood in solidarity with the LGBTQI+ community.
“This kind of hate has a price. It has a cost,” she said.
“There are so many young people who feel at risk in their own communities when they see leaders in parliament and political candidates say things like this.”
In a statement obtained by 9News Perth, Singh apologised for his comments and attempted to clarify what he meant in the video.
“I respect everyone, I accept everyone, I’m sorry I hurt people.” he said.
“I want to clarify what I said. I was repeating something I had heard people saying on social media about homosexuality being a mental illness.
“I should not have presented that as a fact. I respect everyone, and I believe every person in Australia should be free to live their life with dignity, equality and respect.”
On Thursday, federal One Nation leader Pauline Hanson distanced herself from the former candidate while Barnaby Joyce described the party as “one of the gayest parties in Australia”.
“He’s not standing for One Nation… They’re not my views,” Hanson said.