Teresa van Lieshout

In January 2022, she was refused bail. Her proposed guarantor had previously been fined for breaching COVID-19 rules, which judge Brett Dixon said made him unsuitable. She was remanded in custody until March. On 11 March, van Lieshout was granted electronically-monitored home detention bail under the condition that she take medication for her mental health and doesn't use the internet to post videos or speak to her followers. While van Lieshout denies being mentally ill, her lawyers attempted to argue a mental incompetence defence. Prosecutors rejected this defence and laid an additional charge against her in April. In September, it was reported that two psychiatrists had declared her competent to stand trial, but incompetent to have committed a crime due to a delusional disorder.

In 2019, she contested Cooper in the 2019 Australian federal election. During the campaign, she was captured on video berating two Nigerian men in the street, telling them to get out of her country and claiming that foreigners are being brought to Australia to murder Australian-born citizens. Despite the video, she denied being racist and claimed that the men had verbally abused her beforehand. She placed last and received 1.7% of the vote.

She contested the 2018 Batman by-election as an independent, receiving 1.5% of the vote.

Van Lieshout has attempted to launch two political parties of her own, the West Australian Party (not to be confused with the earlier Western Australian Party or the later Western Australia Party), and the Voter Rights Party. Van Lieshout's attempt to register the Voter Rights Party was rejected by the Electoral Commission in 2018.

In 2018, a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis successfully sued a woman for defamation after she shared a video made by van Lieshout in which van Lieshout accuses the group of being Satanic pedophiles.

In the 2016 Australian federal election, she ran for the senate in New South Wales alongside Colin Bennett. Together they received 0.09%.

In 2016, van Lieshout organised a petition to stop the Commonwealth Bank of Australia from closing its branch in the suburb of Brighton-Le-Sands.

In 2015, she contested the 2015 Canning by-election. She launched her campaign with a dance video. She received 0.64% of the vote.

On 8 September 2015, a warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to show up at court on charges of breaching bail, stealing, and wilful unlawful damage in relation to the destruction of a wheel clamp placed on her car. She referred to the trial as "a Nazi fascist process" and called for the judge to be arrested. After this was reported in the Mandurah Mail, van Lieshout lashed out in a tirade on Facebook and left them abusive voicemails. Her attacks were condemned by the local Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance chapter. By 9 November, she had been arrested.

Van Lieshout is a deregistered teacher. She has a Master of Education from the University of Notre Dame Australia. Her registration as a teacher was cancelled in April 2015. She claimed this was done by the government to destroy her political career.

In April 2014, she contested the 2014 Australian Senate special election in Western Australia. Later in October, she ran in the 2014 Vasse state by-election, raising attention by posing in a bikini in a campaign ad. She placed last with 1.4% of the vote.

In 2014, after police dropped the investigation into historical rape claims against Australian Labor Party leader Bill Shorten, van Lieshout published a video expressing support for the accuser and claiming that "the male gender is not morally fit to be politicians or police officers".

In March 2013, van Lieshout ran as an independent in the Western Australia state election for the district of Willagee. She received 1.8% of the vote.

On 20 June 2013, van Lieshout was endorsed by Clive Palmer's United Australia Party to contest Fremantle in the federal election, having turned down offers by the Australian Democrats and Katter's Australian Party. The party rescinded its endorsement two weeks later. Van Lieshout initially claimed this was done by party executives without Palmer's knowledge and refused to accept the decision, however he would later label her an opportunist. In response, van Lieshout accused Palmer of promoting human trafficking with his policies on asylum seekers. She would go on to contest the seat for the white nationalist Australian Protectionist Party, receiving 0.24% of the vote.

In 2013, Van Lieshout was convicted for breaching planning laws after putting up political signage outside her home during an election. She had two appeals rejected by the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

She contested the 2006 Victoria Park state by-election as an independent, coming last place with 0.27%.

She was a candidate for Pauline Hanson's One Nation in the 2005 Western Australian state election. Contesting the multi-member South Metropolitan Region, she and her fellow candidate Neil Gilmour received 1.2% of the vote.

Van Lieshout contested Swan as an independent in the 2004 Australian federal election, receiving 1.4%.

Teresa Angela van Lieshout (born 1971) is an Australian perennial candidate, author, and former teacher. She has been contesting elections since 2004. In 2021, she was arrested for allegedly taking part in a plot to overthrow the government.