The upper house member formerly known as Ben Dawkins is now listed as “Aussie Trump” on the WA parliament website as the state election draws near.
Austin shared the official Births, Deaths and Marriage document to social media, proving the name change was genuine.
He said the name change was an act of political protest against Labor, who kicked him out of the party in 2023 after his guilty pleas to a raft of domestic violence restraining order breaches were made public.
He joined One Nation in 2024 but the party failed to endorse him for a spot on its ticket.
Now, Trump is running his campaign for re-election against current gender laws, firearm reforms and the live sheep export ban.
“I want to be like Trump in the sense of calling out woke left nonsense,” he said.
“I would love you to reach out Donald, ring the office here.”
His political colleagues were stunned by the name change.
“I’m speechless,” Premier Roger Cook said after laughing.
WA Liberal Party Leader Libby Mettam called it “very juvenile”.
Austin said he was confident the stunt would see him retain his seat in the state election, which is being held on March 8.
If not, he said he won’t change his name back.
“We can launch into a golden era for WA if we vote the Labor Party out,” he said, in a reference to the US president’s inauguration speech.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
