WA Labor leader Mark McGowan has joined in the condemnation of a One Nation candidate who wrote that single mothers should not receive welfare payments, but won't rule out preferencing him above the Liberals or Nationals.
David Archibald, who is running for the seat of Pilbara, wrote in a 2015 Quadrant magazine article that such women were too lazy to attract and hold a mate.
Mr Archibald wrote single mothers were "undoing the work of possibly three million years of evolutionary pressure".
"This will result in a rapid rise in the portion of the population that is lazy and ugly," he wrote.
Mr McGowan said the comments were offensive and rude, and people should look carefully at the candidates who they were voting for.
However he would not be drawn on whether the geologist, who is standing against Nationals leader and Pilbara MP Brendon Grylls, would be placed behind him on how to vote cards or comment on preference deals with One Nation.
"I will leave it to the party to manage those issues. Those sorts of internal issues I am not really going to talk about here today," Mr McGowan told reporters.
Mr Archibald is campaigning against Mr Grylls' proposed mining tax and repeatedly speaks out that the science of human-induced climate change is wrong.
One Nation is looming as a major influence on the election, emulating the populist success of Brexit and Donald Trump overseas, and will field about 60 candidates.
Polling suggests it could hold the balance of power and gain three upper house seats, as it did in 2001, and be the third-most popular party with well in excess of 10 per cent of the primary vote, putting pressure on the major parties to discuss preferences.
Leader Pauline Hanson made it clear she would not dump Mr Archibald, by tweeting: "To all the fat lazy politicians & fat lazy journalists in the fat lazy media playing fat lazy, PC, identity politics - The answer is no".
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese and WA Deputy Premier Liza Harvey were among those to describe Mr Archibald's comments as offensive.
The WA Liberals recently met with Ms Hanson and while the party previously had a ban on preference deals with One Nation due to its controversial views on race and immigration, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he would not stand in the way of any agreement.
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