PAULINE Hanson has taken the unprecedented step of allowing the public to vote via a Facebook poll on whether One Nation should run a candidate with a criminal conviction in the upcoming WA state election.

Former customs officer Brian Brightman was convicted of stealing departure tax stamps and selling them to Australia Post in 1993, Sky News reports.

Now he wants to run in the upcoming state election for the seat of Joondalup, in Perth’s northern suburbs.

Senator Hanson has asked the public to vote on whether she should select Mr Brightman as a candidate via a poll on the Facebook page of Sky News program Paul Murray Live.

It comes after the party was forced to dump two candidates in Queensland over inappropriate comments on Facebook.

The One Nation leader said she would like to give Mr Brightman a chance.

“I respect this man because he could have kept this hidden,” Senator Hanson said told Sky News.

“’Who of us have not made mistakes in the past, and he’s paid the punishment for it, and I think we need to move on and I’d like to give him a go,” she said.

.@PaulineHansonOz: I think Brian Brightman will be a terrific candidate despite his former criminal conviction MORE: https://t.co/tXtsjb0CbM pic.twitter.com/2UysZkXL4v — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) January 19, 2017

“But I’d like to know how the public feel about it as well.

“Are the people of Joondalup ready to give him a go?”

A number of voters have indicated support for Mr Brightman, commenting on the poll that an “indiscretion 23 years ago should not impact on an individual’s future”.

“While I may or may not agree with the gentleman’s politics, I think what he has opted to do here shows he engages with a democracy, and also has the guts to front up,” one man said.

Another said: “$1100 is less than what many of the pollies have stolen from the taxpayer on their junkets, and if genuinely contrite then this guy should get a chance to run.”

Brian Brightman says he's learned his lesson from his criminal past and wants to make a difference now: MORE: https://t.co/tXtsjb0CbM pic.twitter.com/FGtJY53I1b — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) January 19, 2017

Mr Brightman reportedly made just over $1000 in selling the stamps and was fined $5000 for the offence.

Last night, he explained why he had initially taken the stamps and told the program he had learnt from his mistakes.

“I was in financial difficulty,” Mr Brightman said.

“I’d taken out an interest loan on my house and the interests rates started to rise so I was very short of money.

“And I took what I thought was the easy way out.”

Mr Brightman said he’d had a “few twists and turns in life” but was now determined to run for Parliament.

“Time has gone past and I’m a different person now,” he said.

“I’ve learnt obviously from my mistakes.”

There’s doubt over whether Mr Brightman could be eligible to run however.

A person who has been convicted of an offence where the penalty is imprisonment for life or more than five years is ineligible to stand for election to Parliament in WA.

The maximum penalty for most stealing offences in the state is seven years.

Yesterday, Senator Hanson launched One Nation’s campaign for the upcoming election in Perth.

The party is running 55 candidates across the state.

A recent ReachTEL has indicated the party could win 11 per cent of the vote.