You may remember Peter Angelico from the Nepean by-election earlier this year. He is back on the campaign trail, swapping the maroon of the Libertarian Party for One Nation orange as he prepares to contest Hastings at November’s Victorian state election.
Angelico has been announced as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation candidate for Hastings, marking his second election campaign this year after running as a Libertarian in the Nepean by-election in May.
This time, however, he is campaigning on much more familiar ground.
Peter Angelico Returns To Somerville
Angelico was out in the electorate on Sunday, meeting long-time Somerville sporting advocate Peter Alp at the Somerville Recreation Reserve.
Alp walked Angelico through parts of the reserve, showing him ageing facilities and discussing issues local sporting clubs have been pushing to address for close to a decade.
For Angelico, who grew up in Somerville, it was an early opportunity to get out into the community and hear directly about one of the town’s major infrastructure priorities.
The visit comes just weeks after Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors unanimously adopted the Somerville Recreation Reserve Master Plan, providing the long-awaited framework for major improvements across the precinct.
The next challenge is turning that plan into funded projects.
Alp has been among the local advocates pushing for investment in the reserve for years, alongside sporting clubs, officials, families and supporters.
The campaign for better facilities stretches back well before the master plan was adopted, with years of community pressure helping push the reserve upgrades forward.
From Somerville To Manufacturing
Angelico told STPL News he grew up on an orchard farm in Somerville, the son of parents who migrated to Australia from Sicily.
He went on to build a career in manufacturing and is the founder and managing director of ABECK Group.
Angelico is also president of the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance, representing the interests of manufacturers across Melbourne’s south-east.
It gives Angelico an interesting family connection with the man he is seeking to unseat.
Labor MP Paul Mercurio also has Sicilian roots.
Mercurio told State Parliament in his inaugural speech that his father, Gus Mercurio, was born in the United States to a Sicilian father and German mother before later settling in Australia.
Their political backgrounds are very different, but both men have family histories shaped by migration and connections to Sicily.
Peter Angelico’s Path From The Liberals To One Nation
Angelico spent around 20 years as a Liberal Party member before leaving the party and eventually joining the Libertarians.
He says his break with the Liberals followed his decision to nominate for Hastings preselection.
Angelico told STPL News he entered the process wanting to represent the electorate, but came away believing internal party politics had effectively determined who would get the opportunity.
Frank Schiefler was subsequently endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Hastings.
STPL News previously reported on concerns surrounding the Liberal Party’s Hastings preselection process, including criticism over the role afforded to local rank-and-file members.
Angelico went on to contest the May Nepean by-election for the Libertarian Party, receiving 505 first-preference votes, or 1.2 per cent.
Now, only months later, he has joined One Nation and turned his attention back to Hastings.
Angelico describes himself as a straight-to-business operator and says he has had enough of internal political manoeuvring, instead wanting to focus on practical outcomes and projects that benefit the communities he hopes to represent.
Angelico Joins A Changing Hastings Contest
Angelico’s entry adds another dimension to the contest for a seat Labor holds by just 1.4 percentage points from the 2022 state election.
Incumbent Labor MP Paul Mercurio is seeking a second term, but Hastings has reportedly been left outside Labor’s group of priority electorates for the 2026 campaign.
As previously reported by STPL News, citing the Australian Financial Review, Hastings was among a group of Labor-held seats not allocated the same level of central campaign resources as the party’s priority electorates.
On the Liberal side is Schiefler, the candidate endorsed after the preselection process Angelico says contributed to his departure from the party.
That means Angelico will now contest Hastings against the Liberal candidate selected after he had himself sought the party’s nomination.
Labor holds the seat, the Liberals are seeking to regain an electorate they held for 16 years before the 2022 election, and Angelico has now returned under the One Nation banner after two decades within the Liberal Party and a brief stint with the Libertarians.
For Angelico, the campaign has begun close to where his own story started, back in Somerville and getting out to hear about the issues local communities want addressed.
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