The latest quarterly Newspoll survey of state voting intention in Western Australia provides grim news for the Labor opposition, with the Liberal-National lead on two-party preferred reaching a new high of 57-43. Labor is down two points on the primary vote to 30 per cent, the Liberal are up three to 41 per cent, the Nationals steady on 6 per cent and the Greens are down two to 14 per cent. Opposition Leader Eric Ripper, whose hold on the Labor leadership is thought to be looking tenuous, is down two points on both approval and disapproval, to 34 per cent and 42 per cent, while Colin Barnett is up a point on approval to 55 per cent and down one on disapproval to 32 per cent. Barnett’s lead as preferred premier has widened from 60-19 to 61-17. The survey covers 842 respondents over the past three months, with a margin of error of about 3.5 per cent.
What is it with the ALp State Governments,
1) Now that we have a confirmed ALP fed gov, will the much derided State Fed divide again come into play. Ie when the Hawke/keating dynasty ruled we had perth to Byron with Fibs, when the Howard dictatorship took over we had wall to wall ALP state governments, Ummm
2) How come the Greens seem to do 2-5% better at the State Level than federally,? Who knows, maybe at the State level, Who cares?
If you agree that the Green supporters are generally left wing supporters, ie disenchanted normally ALP supporters, then that is what you have
ie the old incompetant left wing ALP government (looking at you QLD, NSW) losing more votes to the greens, then the young federal ALP government.
Do not worry, I am sure it will even out within the next 3 years
This is another illustration of the immense harm done to Labor in WA by Kevin Rudd’s disastrous political miscalculations. As well, the previous Labor Government was unable to escape the stink of Brian Burke’s mischief – a problem entirely of Alan Carpenter’s making – and the consequences of their generally expedient approach to politics. The local Parliamentary Party lacks leadership, policies, talent and relevance. It is hard to see them making much headway, even though the Government would have to be one of the least capable in living memory.
WEll now. could it be based on Barnett’s own racist attacks on aboriginal lands, the theft of such lands for the use of the stinking rich Woodside destroyers?
I suspect so. Grylls is recently embroiled in something far worse than Burke ever did, he is colluding with the miners to steal land and make special deals to mine more crap.
If WA wants to be a stinking, putrid mine let them, but the feeling that this is based on nothing more than aborigine and refugee bashing is pretty strong.
Why on earth you think Rudd had anything to do with it though is beyond me, these are the same sort of polls in WA for years now.
I lived in Perth for 6 months back in the 1970’s and there were more corporate crooks per square inch than in any other part of the country, anyone from east of Kalgoorlie was considered an alien – it seems not much has changed.
And WA’s Stephen Smith was foreign minister.
Perhaps the idiot cousins in the west are more attuned to the thousand mile stare freak.
[WEll now. could it be based on Barnett’s own racist attacks on aboriginal lands, the theft of such lands for the use of the stinking rich Woodside destroyers?]
Given the poll was conducted over a period of three months, I wouldn’t have thought so.
It can’t be long before Eric Ripper is replaced by Ben Wyatt?
I’m not sure Rudd helped but the fault lies with those pulling the strings in WA. Individually they have few clues collectively no clue. The anti-woodside rant is very entertaining until you think of the suburbs of Perth that rely on oil and gas for income. Many might like the native title rights acquired the nice way you’ll struggle to find that many who would stop the project and give back a few thousand jobs.
I’m very sure Ben and it seems to me Mark are doing some ground work. More seasoned players would be having morning tea with power brokers stitching up preselections for the next election and probably choosing the leader caucus will be told to have.
I think your figures are for the Apr-Jun column William. Oddly, the July- September column appears blank to me at least. Perhaps saving it for later?
Also, I love how the Oz reports that “Just 30 per cent of voters want the party (Labor) back in power” when the 2PP is clearly 43%.
It’s staggering how badly Carpenter handled being premier. Arrogance and hubris are the mortal enemies of political leadership, but Carpenter had both in spades, to the point where the public became so disenchanted they elected a has-been who was and always will be a policy dud. I’m a Labor voter from WA, but I gotta admit the current Labor team is pretty dismal…it’s painful to watch.
I said: “became so disenchanted they elected a has-been” – by this I meant Barnett, not Ripper, but it could also apply to Ripper I guess.
Thanks Hamish, The Oz seem to have had a production error on their primary votes table. I’ve replaced this with correct figures from the Newspoll site.
And WA Labor have lost their strongest performer, Alannah McTiernan. Her attempted shift to federal politics was thwarted by one of the biggest duds the Libs have produced, Don Randall. That result on its own tells you everything you need to know about WA politics.
I think Ripper was a fantastic treasurer (treasury were known to comment positively on his grasp of issues) and probably a better Minister than all in th current govt. Alan was all you say and a lot lot worse, but we must spare some condemnation for the two or three power brokers who gave him total control of state exec and people on state exec who blindly voted as they were told or more likely handed over ballot papers so they didn’t even know how they had voted.
Evil prevails web good men and women do nothing.
This makes WA Libs easily the most popular Government in Australia, Federal or State.
Hi William
I agree with Mr Pajama.
Which ever way you dice it in WA, Labor is just not electable, currently, at the State level.
Having said this, paradoxically, at the Federal level, Alana M was not so far away and neither was Sharon Jackson in Hasluck. A couple of other seats are now in marginal territory for the Libs. There is no reason, provided the cards are played strongly and Labor gets some support, that at least 3/4 currently held Lib seats are get-able.
The last State election was, for Labor, an absolute disaster due to a mixture of poor politics and stupidity. Which Premier threatened to “kick teachers in the bum” (or words to that effect) if they did not “lift their game”? Great way to get a possible constituency on side! Even the Libs were surprised they won. In my electorate the Lib candidate had his picture plastered everywhere and there was a trailer with his name on it parked for weeks just down the road. I did not have a clue who the Labor candidate was and what she stood for. I am afraid the boys and girls from ALP back office, who hoped to move from party hack to Member, really needed to get out and do some hard work in the electorates. They thought, as did Allan Carpenter, it would be lay-down misere.
To rub salt into the wound, how Labor lost the seat of Morley is beyond comprehension. It should come back but………..who knows?
Lovely man that he is, Eric R just cannot lead Labor to any kind of success.
Labor supporters should not despair as I remember Charlie Court crowing that Labor would become a “rump” party at a previous election. He lived a long and full life, including seeing his son subsequently kicked out of office.
Labor is not for ever on a downer WA. The savage increases in utility costs are starting to bite and the hospital mess is something the Libs copped full force. Meanwhile, the Liberal front bench is so weak that Troy B is having a seat warmed for him in cabinet. No pun intended.
Whoops – Alannah!
That is just plain scary. Colin doesn’t even trust his own cabinet and while he is a shining star in that team he is medicore by any reasonable standard. I trust Alan and the clowns responsible for this are very proud.
WWP
This poll was taken over a few months so it may have missed the current state of popularity but I keep seeing very bad health stories in SA about WA (and WA has traditionally been above average on health).
Are they getting much bad Health press in WA?
Bad health stories seem to have started in the last couple of weeks. Nothing like the west reporting of health under labor but probably similar probs.
Also I don’t know I the opposition has been saying very little or failing to get it published.
Diogenes, hospital bungles made the front page of The West on Monday, and there has been quite a lot of media coverage of this kind over the past week. However, the comments by Kim Hames you took umbrage with failed to create a stir.
William / Diog how did the reporting you saw slant, in the main item I heard it sounded to me like practitioner nurses were being lined up for a bulk of the pain.
WWP
I’m sure that is who will be scapegoated. Whenever there is evidence for a serious problem with the system, as in this case, they always scapegoat someone or talk about a bad apple or an isolated incident to cover up for a major system wide problem which they are always aware of.
WB
Perhaps it’s just me as a doctor who found that comment despicable. You just cannot treat patients/parents like that. As bad as John Hill etc are, they would never try and justify a failing of their hospital by saying the parents were nurses so the hospital is absolved of their duty of care.
Are the system wide errors essentially driven by funding constraints and or priorities or by bad management various ministers should address, taking into account of course that substantial funding decisions in regard to the public service (that is a never ending cycle of mindless cuts described as savings or efficiency gains) severly limit the public services ability to attract or retain good people.
WWP
All of the above. You’ve obviously had experience.
I also live in the West. In my conversations with a few people their perception is that the East is trying to rip off the wealth in the West. They see Colin standing up to Canberra by fighting the mining tax and arguing for a bigger share of the GST.
Meanwhile, the only people making money from mining are an elite group – this has forced up the price of housing and this is making life tougher for those on standard incomes. Combine this with the rise in utilities and average people are feeling the pinch BUT they seem to have been convinced that this is the fault of the East, Canberra and Rudd.
Richard Court also played the east vs west thing. But as someone who voted ALP for the first half of my life, and now votes Green, I would say the Barnett is the best person in the parliament for premier. Hames is certainly the best for health minister. Porter is very good as Attorney-General, Redman and Grylls from the Nationals are also good. I don’t agree with all their decisions, but they are intelligent, informed, hardworking and seem sensible. Labor seems to have no ideas, only interested in spinning and politics, and after the Mr Ward case, I don’t know how half of them can show their faces in public.
I had hopes for some of the new ALP members, but by the time they rise through the ranks the awful ALP culture will probably make monsters of them. Gweneth, the price of utilities had to rise because the ALP stupidly, and for nothing but political advantage, kept them below cost for so long.
The ALP members of parliament are mostly a pretty poor bunch and they don’t have a few ‘star performers’ that can carry the rest. The upper house members, in particular, are an embarrassment. What do any of them stand for?
Until they take the bull by the horns and boot three quarters of the Duds that make up the Labour party in WA they will get nowhere.
Ripper is to scared to say anything until Bullock of the shoppies OKs it,on late night trading,and theres a few more like him on the party how Logan is still there I don’t know he is as incompetent as the rest.
The Labour party should be having Barnett at blowie on toast,but seem to scared to say boo,now we have Grylls playing footsie with the owner of the QLD LNP,is he making a takeover offer for the Local Nats,don’t ask Eric though McGowan and Waytt seem to be making the running at the moment.
But until they clean out the dead wood Labour wont get anywhere
It seems that the Canning Candidacy was a bad decision as I think that Alannah McTiernan would be doing much better as opposition leader.
Dear Boscome referring to the Liberal Govt and the people you seem to admire,I also live in the west and if you think that Grylls Barnett Porter and Haimes Redman are the best you joking.
Barnett is a blustering bully who turns nasty the moment anyone questions his judgement,Porter is bringing in with that fool Johnson laws that they are repealing in the UK,hes just another right wing jail em all AG,I dont notice the Liberals doing any more about Ward than Labour did.
Hames is still having the same problems the Labour govt did with Hospitals owing to lack of funds not helped by blustering Colin and his anti Fed money campaign,Grylls has enough problems with Palmer and possible dodgy dealing or maybe Palmer wants to buy the Nats in WA as well,Redman well I read a lot even the West complete with Paul Murrays raving but Redman he must be good I have no idea who he is.
And for gawds sake stop this I voted ALP but now I support so and so, its rubbish and mostly BS and makes people automatically wonder if you actually vote Liberal,which is your right but kindly don’t BS about it
[WEll now. could it be based on Barnett’s own racist attacks on aboriginal lands, the theft of such lands for the use of the stinking rich Woodside destroyers?]
The poor Aboriginals… they’ll have to deal with just a $100 Million dollar or so payout or so.
How will they ever cope? Poor buggers.
Sorry, not buying the BS.
[John RyanPosted Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 11:22 pm | PermalinkDear Boscome referring to the Liberal Govt and the people you seem to admire,I also live in the west and if you think that Grylls Barnett Porter and Haimes Redman are the best you joking.
Barnett is a blustering bully who turns nasty the moment anyone questions his judgement,Porter is bringing in with that fool Johnson laws that they are repealing in the UK,hes just another right wing jail em all AG,I dont notice the Liberals doing any more about Ward than Labour did.
Hames is still having the same problems the Labour govt did with Hospitals owing to lack of funds not helped by blustering Colin and his anti Fed money campaign,Grylls has enough problems with Palmer and possible dodgy dealing or maybe Palmer wants to buy the Nats in WA as well,Redman well I read a lot even the West complete with Paul Murrays raving but Redman he must be good I have no idea who he is.
And for gawds sake stop this I voted ALP but now I support so and so, its rubbish and mostly BS and makes people automatically wonder if you actually vote Liberal,which is your right but kindly don’t BS about it
]
I’ll bet he voted for Adele in Fremantle 🙂
As said ezrlier this Westpoll was taken during the Hurley Burley of the original Mining Tax/Federal Election period, so it would be seen as favourable to the Libs.
Re the current issues, our Sanguine media are going through the motions re their coverage and are not as feral if you replace Barnett/Johnston/Hames with Carpenter/McGinty/R.oberts.
Meanwhile in Barnett’s own Electorate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEJcj9wU-I4
@31
With respect, Frank, you’ve churned out exactly the same “this poll was taken before ABC and after XYZ so next poll we’ll see the people come crawling back to Labor” post on nearly every WA thread for the last two years.
But in fact the Liberals seem to have maintained a pretty constant lead bouncing around the 55-45 mark in every poll for their entire term. Surely there has to be more than just “this poll was unnaturally favourable to Barnett so doesn’t really count” going on here?
TTH
[Sorry, not buying the BS.]
Your racist slant is showing, again!. your one sick puppy!.
Labor hates WA. They have since the Creen /Copeman deal and have abandoned us at every turn since. Today we find our main industry being butchered to pay for unsustainable lifestyles in the welfare states of Vic. NSW, Tas and SA and our outback is being used as a convict camp. meanwhile Sydney gets new roads for an election, Tasmania gets a new hospital and so on… Pathetic. labor hates WA and unless the state labor opposition can finally claim to put west Australians ahead of Canberra’s wish list they deserve political oblivion.
This poll is clearly rigged. WA is clearly a pro-Labor state and we know that the current government is really really unpopular there! Real numbers are actually 55-45 ALP 😛
Seriously though, while it’s probably a while until the next election (does WA have fixed terms?) and when the election approaches, if we still see numbers like this they will narrow, Barnett should be reelected with reasonable ease. That makes sense considering it is a government still in its first term, bounded by a hung parliament. Come the next election, it’ll likely get a majority in its own right and possibly the shine will start wearing off. I am not that knowledgeable of the state of affairs in WA but it doesn’t seem like there is much rage against the government for anything right now. And, from what I’ve seen, Ripper doesn’t exactly inspire.
But I dunno. Don’t know much of WA affairs.
I am pretty sure Colin’s tea party is a good strategy. The whole run to the next election can avoid any serious discussions of wa – can be all big bad Canberra. If he can pull that off he will win big.
Labor decided to get into a fight with the West they could never win instead of doing th eprofessional thing and gritting their teeth and responding issue by issue or using other means such as radio and local newspapers to get their message across.
Then Alan Carpenter completely misjudged the electorate on several issues like daylight saving (which I support but man people don’t, especially the ridiculous extension into March).
To add insult to injury he called an early poll, which rarely proves popular and tried to parachute favored candidates into seats they had little or no connection with. The tight result showed Labor effectively handed government to the Libs.
Since then I don’t think they have landed a blow up until the Grills/Palmer issue. Buswell self-destructed.
The Barnett government is hopeless but it is hard to see who in the current Labor ranks can capitalise.
[I am pretty sure Colin’s tea party is a good strategy. The whole run to the next election can avoid any serious discussions of wa – can be all big bad Canberra. If he can pull that off he will win big.]
The (state capital) v Canberra strategy is a time honoured one that has been proven effective at getting many a government across the line.
It always amazes me that people attribute WA Labor’s loss in 2008 to be largely the result misjudgment by Carpenter in calling an early election. While this is a factor it seems to ignore the many ministerial probelms/scandals ( i.e. D’orazio, Marlborough, McRae, Bowler, Logan) which did the Government major harm.
The other major factor was the West Australian newspaper which went completely feral on the Carpenter Government ( as opposed to just plain feral under Gallop)
The daily attacks on Government rendered it unable to often get a message out and I believe severely damaged the chances of winning any election. Carpenter may have made mistakes and showed some poor judgment however these would not be fatal political mistakes in normal circumstances. The treatment by the West was such that they were turned into anti government campaigns lasting several days or news cycles.
Over in WA now you have the polls reflecting a Government that is not subject to any degree of scutiny ( apart from a bit on channel 7) in fact largely has the West newspaper and the OZ etc running its agenda.
Surprise surprise 57-43 is what you get
Gweneth
Your view that only a minor group of people are enjoying the mining and Wayne Swann’s 2 speed economy had been completely debunked by the RBA Chairman yesterday
He said that miners flying into the minefield, spending when they are away and logistics of delivering material to other part of Australia and the docks, and the fact that most mining co (esp big miners) has their head office in Eastern states, and most Australians has super and they invests in Mining stocks, means we do not have a 2 speed economy and that all Australians are benefiting from the mining boom.
Nixon my understanding is that polling survived the ‘scandals’ but did not survive the early campaign period. I could be wrong and you know what they say about internal polling. Labor gave away Morely (some might think this was a morally correct decision but right or wrong they don’t hold it) and mangled swan hills and almost mangled um Roger cook’s seat. These are all own goals. All Carpenter and the clowns with the numbers on state exec. Also if the scandals were important as libs always hoped they would be they were still carpenters fault and the power brokers who made him premier. He always claimed ignorance about how he got the numbers as if that kind of lack of understanding of the labor party was a good thing.
Every dog has its day. Col will find this out one day. Today isn’t that day.
The disenchantment with the ALP wasn’t just with the scandals. It was the promising but not delivering, it was the bullying of public figures who criticised the government, it was not replacing clapped out prisoner transfer vans while planning billion dollar sports stadiums, half billion dollar museums, not settling the teachers’ dispute or being able to explain what OBE was …..
The election would have been a wipeout except that the Libs looked unelectable. Now a coalition government is looking quite acceptable (moderate, competent), the ALP will need to make out a case for people to choose them. Has that case been made?
Boscombe at 44 as deserved as alan’s loss was you haven’t made the case for the scandals having an impact and you certainly haven’t made a case for promising and not delivering – unlike the current govt they did deliver in a spectacularly good way. In my electorate they delivered on promises and then MORE. The rest are just fiction only religious readers of the west could possibly know about and most of them arenway too samrtbto believe it. The election would have been a wipeout in labora favor if gallop had of led labor to it
I have always voted Labour but I regard most of the present parliamentary members of the party as useless and incompetent,and untill they have a cleanout things aint going to change.
I think Barnett runs a one man band and would rather vote communist than vote Liberal, as an old Midland workshop boy I knew Jack Marks and a few members of the party,I think one also worked in the car and wagon builders store,the Local Liberals are as bigger bunch of Liars and shifty crooks you could not hope to find.
Look at their federal Leader Abbott,did he not say if he signed something he meant it,looks like that,s BS as well,let the members of the party choose the people who stand for office not the bloke who runs the shoppies.
I Barnett has a few problems coming up and big ones, where will Ripper be,will he asking advice of a bloke who still thinks women should not work after they get married and shops should shut at 5 and 12 on Sat,give me a break
[boscombePosted Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 1:31 pm | PermalinkThe disenchantment with the ALP wasn’t just with the scandals. It was the promising but not delivering, it was the bullying of public figures who criticised the government, it was not replacing clapped out prisoner transfer vans while planning billion dollar sports stadiums, half billion dollar museums, not settling the teachers’ dispute or being able to explain what OBE was …..
The election would have been a wipeout except that the Libs looked unelectable. Now a coalition government is looking quite acceptable (moderate, competent), the ALP will need to make out a case for people to choose them. Has that case been made
]
The OBE campaign was orchestrated by a Lobby group with VERY close links to the Education Writer at The West.
As for not delivering – Can anyone say Mandurah Rail Line ?? 🙂
Get your hand off it – To underestimate the local media’s role in this is to deny the obvious – The West undert Armstrong made the OO look like a School Newsletter – even Matt Buirney said as much.
Why not, he only started the attacks at the beginning of the election phase. And he simply has not done one other thing.
The ALP education minister couldn’t explain or defend the government’s policy. Teacher’s salary dispute, Frank?
As for not delivering – Fiona Stanley hospital, sewerage in Spearwood, new Fremantle traffic bridge ?? And a hundred other things. Since we’re mentioning the railway, the Libs would have built their rail line to Mandurah anyway. And the sainted Alannah, as planning minister, made many enemies for the ALP. The property developers always had their voice in cabinet while Alannah was there.
[boscombePosted Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 2:50 pm | PermalinkThe ALP education minister couldn’t explain or defend the government’s policy. Teacher’s salary dispute, Frank?
As for not delivering – Fiona Stanley hospital, sewerage in Spearwood, new Fremantle traffic bridge ?? And a hundred other things. Since we’re mentioning the railway, the Libs would have built their rail line to Mandurah anyway. And the sainted Alannah, as planning minister, made many enemies for the ALP. The property developers always had their voice in cabinet while Alannah was there.
]
Who introduiced the OBE – Your Mate Colin when he was Education Minister 🙂
As for the others – Hospitals take time to buld.
Nice try spruiking for your mate Col.