A leading One Nation candidate has made his first public statements after his former partner accused him of hard drug use and “sexual deviance”.

Jo Scott, who was the partner of One Nation’s Victorian leader Warren Pickering, for 18 years has claimed he engaged in illicit drug taking and “sexual deviance”.

Scott alleged to The Australian on Monday that the pair used marijuana and methylamphetamine in the home they shared with their children. It reports she has provided handwritten letters and text messages in which Pickering apologised for his behaviour.

One Nation federal leader Pauline Hanson appears to be standing by 43-year-old Pickering, declaring on Monday she was comfortable with him leading the party in Victoria ahead of the November 30 state election.

“I’m happy [with him],” she said. “These are allegations that have been put to Warren Pickering, and he’s denied those allegations. I will not be saying any more about it. It is a personal situation.”

One Nation has reportedly engaged lawyers to defend Pickering against Scott’s allegations. The Australian reports he categorically rejects Ms Scott’s claims, saying she has used “false and salacious” allegations against him in family law disputes dating back to 2010 and that they have been repeatedly dismissed.

Warren Pickering’s Instagram post.

On Tuesday, Pickering posted a cryptic statement to his Instagram stories.

“There’s a calm some men have that didn’t come from peace,” he wrote. “It came from being tested so often they stopped flinching at every storm.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said on Monday the drug use claims were contested. He said Pickering — who is a former bricklayer – had served in the Australian Defence Force.

“Obviously he managed to serve our nation,” he said.

“The other thing is we’re talking about something 20 years ago.”

But federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told The Australian that One Nation had “serious questions” to answer over the contested historical allegations.

“There are really serious questions to answer here for One Nation. They need to answer those questions,” he said.

Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson refused to answer questions about the allegations on Tuesday.

“That’s simply a matter for Mr Pickering to answer,” she said.

Pickering is a self-confessed conspiracy theorist who has claimed Australian government policy is controlled by a cabal of foreign “globalists”, and endorsed the idea that the world economy was deliberately crashed to trigger a “great reset”.

Last month, Pickering told the Herald Sun that a One Nation government would have “everyday Victorians” review sentences, “discipline” judges who gave youth offenders a slap on the wrist, and would initiate criminal investigations into Labor figures associated with Big Build corruption.

He said his justice policy would establish a panel of both everyday citizens and legal experts to examine whether sentences handed down by the courts fit the crime committed, on a case-by-case basis.

Pickering was named One Nation’s Victorian leader only a month ago. He is standing in the marginal lower house seat of Pakenham at the November election.

Pickering was also an unsuccessful candidate at the 2022 Victorian election and ran for the federal Senate in the 2025.

Polling suggests One Nation will have a big role in the outcome of Victoria’s November election.