Click here for full Western Australian election results updated live.
End of Saturday night
The two-party projection on the entry page to my live election results facility currently credits Labor with a 13.7% swing, which if uniform would have left the Liberals only with Cottesloe and Vasse, both on margins of less than 1%. Those are indeed the only two seats the Liberals have clearly won – that they’re ahead by a fair bit more than 1% there reflects a general tendency for the swing to be a little milder in their own seats, which may yet save them in Churchlands, Carine and Nedlands. It should be noted that a very great proportion of the vote remains uncounted, with last night’s proceedings only scratching the surface of the unprecedented postal and pre-poll count. A dynamic may yet emerge which favours the Liberals in the in-doubt seats, but there hasn’t been any evidence of it in the pre-polls and postals that have thus far been counted, which have actually been even worse for the Liberals than the election day votes.
Whether the Nationals will emerge with more seats than the Liberals remains to be established. They look to have lost North West Central to Labor, who get belated revenge for Vince Catania’s defection to the party way back when, although the Nationals wouldn’t be conceding yet. A loss here would bring to an end the regional empire the party built under Brendon Grylls. The South West region seat of Warren-Blackwood has swung 11.7% to Labor and has not definitely been retained, which could potentially reduce them to three.
Nonetheless, the Nationals’ performance in their traditional Wheatbelt heartland was the only bright spot for conservative politics last night. Happily for the Nationals, the four electorates here are accommodated by the boutique Agricultural upper house region, which has three-and-a-half times as much voting power as the metropolitan area, and in which they have retained their two seats. The party’s primary vote was up in all four of these seats (and was down only slightly in Warren-Blackwood), but a slump in support for the Liberals and One Nation powered two-party swings to Labor of roughly 10%. This gained them Geraldton, where former Liberal member Ian Blayney had defected to the Nationals since the last election.
Now to the upper house, where I don’t see Labor winning less than 21 seats out of 36, and could get another three besides; the Liberals will get five to seven; the Nationals four or five; the Greens one to three; Legalise Cannabis one to two; and Shooters should have one.
Agricultural. Looks like being Labor three, Nationals two and Liberal one.
East Metropolitan. The ABC computer has this as four Labor, one Liberal and one Legalise Cannabis, but with Labor on 64.7%, there could be a scarcely believable result of five Labor, one Liberal if the micro-party vote fades in late counting.
Mining and Pastoral. The ABC says four Labor, one Nationals and one Shooters, but depending on where the uncounted votes are from, the Liberals may take the Nationals seat. The Daylight Saving Party could potentially take the Shooters seat, though I would expect late counting will reduce the micro-party preference snowball.
North Metropolitan. Labor clearly has three and Liberal one, with the last two seats a game of musical chairs between Labor, Liberal and the Greens, with the Greens seemingly behind the eightball. However, there’s another scenario in which Australian Christians take the seat that might go to the second Liberal.
South Metropolitan. The ABC says four Labor, one Liberal and one Green, but the Greens have only a slight lead over the micro-party preference snowball which leaves an outside chance of another fluke another win for Aaron Stonehouse of the Liberal Democrats.
South West. Three Labor and one each for Liberal, Nationals and Legalise Cannabis, according to the ABC, but a bit of playing with the calculator suggests the situation to be a bit fluid: the Legalise Cannabis seat could go to the Greens or a fourth Labor, and I’ve managed to concoct a scenario where the Nationals vote goes to Australian Christians.
Election night commentary
11.17pm. My results updating was offline for half an hour while my laptop was in transit, and is now back on to greet the late night addition of pre-polls and postals. My intimation that these might save some furniture for the Liberals is not being borne out: the collective two-party swings so far on pre-polls (15.3%) and postals (20.7%) is worse for them than the election day vote (a mere 13.2%).
9.48pm. So to summarise, it’s very hard to see how Labor doesn’t win a majority. Kevin Bonham notes the raw figures these calculations are coming off look too low for the Greens, so they could make it to three, although the worst case scenario is zero. A micro-party or two could get up, but that’s up in the air. For the second time, One Nation have come up empty-handed a term after winning three seats.
9.41pm. South West is three Labor and one apiece for Liberal, Legalise Cannabis and Nationals. The Nationals seat could conceivably go to Australian Christians or a fourth Labor, though I assume they will firm up in late counting.
9.40pm. South Metropolitan currently four Labor, one Liberal and one Greens, but the Greens only have their nose in front against the micro-party snowball at the close. I assume though that the latter will come back a bit in late counting.
9.36pm. North Metropolitan currently Labor four and Liberal two, but the last two seats are a very tight race between the fourth Labor, the second Liberal and the Greens, and could land with any combination thereof.
9.32pm. Back to the upper house. The ABC’s Mining and Pastoral progressive projection is Labor four, Liberal one and Shooters one, but the Liberal seat could potentially go to the Nationals, and it’s a squeaker between Shooters and the Daylight Saving Party for the last seat.
9.31pm. My system is now calling North West Central for Labor, as the ABC and Nine already were, a result that makes it slightly less likely the Nationals will emerge with opposition status.
9.30pm. In East Metropolitan, the ABC currently says four Labor, one Liberal and one Legalise Cannabis. But Legalise Cannabis has only a slight lead over the Greens at a key point, and if it closes there could be an opening for the Greens.
9.25pm. I’m going to go through the upper house region by region with highly impressionistic views of the situation based on how early returns are playing out through the ABC’s preference calculators. Starting with Agricultural, which looks like it should go three Labor, two Nationals and one Labor, which would be the first time Labor has ever won three seats here. However, there could be an opening for a micro-party at the third Labor’s expense if they fall back substantially.
9.20pm. The ABC and Nine are both calling North West Central for Labor, but I’m not quite there yet. That would mean four seats for the Nationals. The best case scenario for the Liberals is five, in descending order of likelihood: Churchlands, Vasse, Nedlands, Churchlands and Carine. The ABC is calling the latter two for Labor, but neither I or nine are.
9.05pm. Kevin Bonham tweets on the upper house: “Seems to me a very good chance of a Labor majority upstairs. 20 seats looks realistic.”
8.55pm. An update of booth-matched primary vote swings by upper house region. I’m hoping someone with more mental energy than I have at the moment might analyse their implications for the Legislative Council result which I can then pass off as my own work.
8.41pm. The Nationals have four seats in the bag, are in danger of losing North West Central, and clearly haven’t held Geraldton. Do the Liberals clear that hurdle? Only Cottesloe and Vasse look in the bag. Churchlands is very tight; they may yet get home in Nedlands; Carine isn’t looking good for them.
8.32pm. My statewide two-party preferred for projection isn’t improving for the Liberals, and shouldn’t move much until pre-polls start coming in. Then we will see if, as I keep suggesting it might (though this is far from certain), the situation improves a bit for the Liberals.
8.30pm. Now there are two-party numbers in from Nedlands, my system is no longer calling to for Labor. This is because independent Fiona Argyle is on 13.1% and was apparently directing preferences to the Liberals — for the want of better information to go on, it was assuming they would split evenly. I’ve still got Labor ahead, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a more positive dynamic for the Liberals on pre-polls pulls it out of the fire for them.
8.29pm. My results weren’t updating for a period, but we’re back in business now.
8.06pm. The Greens are running ahead of the Liberals in Fremantle, Kimberley, Kwinana, Maylands and Perth, after having done so nowhere in 2017. Obviously that’s more a reflection the Liberals’ performance than Labor’s — I’m calculating a 1.2% swing against the Greens on the primary vote.
7.59pm. All the interest now is what the Liberals can hold on to, which is no more than Cottesloe, Vasse, Churchlands and Carine, though I wouldn’t rule out a late miracle in Nedlands.
7.50pm. The image below shows lower house primary vote swings by upper house region, which may be of use to those of you trying to work out how the Legislative Council will look.
7.43pm. Dawesville being called now for Labor by the ABC and Nine (my system is less conservative it seems).
7.35pm. I’ve lost count of what of my system’s calls I have and haven’t related, so I’ll run through the projected Liberal defeats: Dawesville, Geraldton, Hillarys, Kalgoorlie, Nedlands, Riverton, Scarborough and South Perth. The only seat I’m calling for the Liberals is Cottesloe: they are merely ahead in Vasse and Churchlands.
7.34pm. So my election results facility is running very smoothly I’m pleased to say. If you’re finding it useful, note that I’ve tactfully but donations buttons on the top right of each page.
7.32pm. Nationals leader Mia Davies just asked on Nine if she is about to become Opposition Leader, a not unreasonable question. As noted two entries below though, a degree of caution is still required as to quite how bad this will be for the Liberals when all the votes are in.
7.31pm. There are now TCP figures from four seats, and my statewide Labor two-party projection has gone up rather than down.
7.29pm. My system is now calling Nedlands for Labor. I will add one note of caution though: we could be seeing a dynamic where Liberal voters were more inclined to go from election day to pre-poll and posting voting this time. Something similar happened at the last Victorian elections, and there were a few calls in Nedlands-like seats that ended up being reversed when pre-polls came in in the small hours.
7.26pm. There’s finally TCP figures for two booths in Balcatta, so a statewide two-party projection is now showing on my results page. It has Labor on 71.2% — but like I said, two booths from Balcatta.
7.22pm. There still aren’t any TCP results from the WAEC, but my primary vote projections suggest a swing of about 12%, which is in line with the YouGov poll. Their Dawesville poll isn’t looking bad either.
7.21pm. Calling Dawesville for Labor.
7.12pm. I’m now calling Hillarys and Scarborough called for Labor.
7.08pm. My system is calling Riverton for Labor, estimated a two-party swing of around 10% based off the primary vote numbers.
7.06pm. Apparently the WAEC likes to hold back on publishing two-candidate preferred data for some reason.
7.02pm. On top of anything else, movement from Liberal to Nationals in country seats.
6.58pm. I have the Liberals retaining Cottesloe after one booth with around 1000 votes recorded only modest swings on the primary vote.
6.55pm. First result in from Dawesville with 342 primary votes, and I’m calculating a 7.3% swing to Labor against Zak Kirkup’s 0.5% margin, which happens to be the smallest swing I’ve yet seen.
6.52pm. Two booths in Kalgoorlie both have Labor up around 30%, causing my system to call it for them. I note that there is yet to be a two-party result anywhere — hopefully this isn’t some issue with the media feed.
6.50pm. A bunch of booths on the primary vote make it clear Labor will win Geraldton with a swing of around 15%, so the regions appear on board with the swing.
6.43pm. Pilbara (a 38% primary vote swing in the Roebourne booth) and Swan Hills (23% at Wooroloo Primary School) added to the Labor retain booth.
6.40pm. Still early days of course, but every indication I’m seeing points to the anticipated Labor avalanche. With two booths in from Baldivis the Labor primary vote is up 38% — an independent polled 21% here in 2017.
6.38pm. With around 2000 votes in from Central Wheatbelt, I’m projecting a swing to Labor of around 10%, which still leaves Nationals leader Mia Davies very safe.
6.37pm. Each of those calls is based on small booths showing primary vote swing to Labor of between 15% and 28%.
6.33pm. My system is calling Rockingham, Burns Beach and Butler for Labor already.
6.31pm. We’re getting a flood of Special Institutions, Hospitals & Remotes results – there are a handful of these for each electorates and they’re evidently being counted straight up, and not a few days later as I’m normally used to. As well as being small in number, I don’t have historic data for them to calculate swings.
6.26pm. The blockage in my results facility has now been removed. Those party swing figures on the entry page are screwy but everything else looks okay.
6.17pm. There are 77 primary votes in from Central Wheatbelt (Westonia Shire Office). About a 15% swing to Labor, for what little that is worth.
6.15pm. I think my results facility is working — the WAEC’s time stamps are screwy which makes it hard to say until results the first results are in, which should probably be in about 15 minutes.
6pm. Polls have closed. Commentary and, hopefully, live publication of results to follow.
Stuart says:
Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 8:06 am
A lot far better than being in alternative reality, on another plane existence.
Well that was quite the spectacle. My advice to Labor supports would be to soak this one up and enjoy it while you can because I doubt we’ll ever see anything quite like that again in our lifetimes. An extraordinary result for extraordinary times.
Federal implications? I’m not sure to what extent but I think it’s pretty obvious that brand Liberal is on the nose in the West. The Porter issue alone would be enough to do that. Newspoll tonight(?) will be interesting after all that has happened in the last few weeks.
Covid+iron ore prices+nativism+Morrison = the mother of all electoral massacres.
Two excellent electoral reform opportunities beckon.
Get rid of the Upper House.
Get rid of the anti-democratic weighted rural vote shonk.
McGowan does the sensible centre left and LO!
Margaret Court’s band of happy clappers may not be so jovial today.
But she will probably blame the election result on the devil!
Speers very keen to sheet it home to Covid.
McCormack about to embarrass them even more.
This result is extraordinary.
Fed implications? Who knows but the Feds only sit with 76 seats out of 151. It doesn’t take much for a swing to oust them – they have seats in Qld, WA and Tas which are all winnable for the ALP. And if a swing is on, it will be on.
Personally, I don’t think SmoCo will be leading the Coalition to the next election. The CP affair will eventually be the end of him. He has stuck with his Hillsong mate and it will cost him the PMship.
Tingle uses the ‘ludicrous’ word.
Oh it’s Austrade’s fault. Of course.
Wow! Congratulations to WA and to all WA bludgers!
Is McCormack on speed this morning??
Without doing a close analysis, it looks like the WA disaster was not confined to the Lib/Nats, and that the Greens may end up with only 1 LC seat.
“I want to put empathy there” says the deputy prime minister. What a dropkick.
“Secrecy is the salt in the (deaths in custody) wound” the ABC indigenous correspondent beautifully explains.
Interesting the arrogance of the Australian in their reporting of the W.A. election. The banner on the front page (digital) shows ALP with 51 seats, Lib 6 seats, and the Nats in the “others” box on the graphic with 4 seats. Actually quite misleading and derogatory towards the Nats who unequivocally did better than the Libs who were crushed like bugs.
Refusal to accept that the Coalition dynamics may be a changin?? 🙂
Stuart @ #250 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 5:06 am
Absolute nonsense.
The influence of fundamental Christian groups on the Liberal Party has come back to haunt them. They are completely church dependant in several northern suburbs seats and the approach puts off many voters. Wife was scrutineering and her Liberal counterpart was ranting on in all seriousness about various QAnon theories. Of course COVID and the way it was handled here was the biggest factor but if the Liberals put it all down to that then they are delusional and it will happen again.
Very proud of middle son, who worked 12-14 hour days for a month or so to help his boss get reelected -with a quite ludicrous margin. Watching a hardened pollie sit looking stunned and delighted at the results rolling in was quite the thing. Partner and I spent 11 hours on a booth yesterday. The support for Labor was right across the board, but I’d suggest if anything the pre-poll will be even stronger.
Labor now needs to be Labor. Get the basics right on health and education and set in place the inevitable transition to renewables in a sensibly managed way. If they do so they could be in government for another 12 years from here.
Personally, I don’t think SmoCo will be leading the Coalition to the next election. The CP affair will eventually be the end of him.
Anyone thinking the Porter affair will bring the government down alone are kidding. When the general election is called on people minds will be (response to Coronavirus, economy, bread and butter issues etc).
I really doubt your prediction about Scott Morrison not leading them to the next election. But your entitled to your view. But I just can’t see it happening considering I still think Anthony Albanese will be the underdog going into the next election.
Political Nightwatchman @ #268 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 10:51 am
And with good reason 🙁
boerwar says:
Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 8:24 am
Covid+iron ore prices+nativism+Morrison = the mother of all electoral massacres.
Nativism is a mis-description. Morrison allied the Liberals with Palmer and the local Liberals to oppose the State border closure system. This opposition was purely politically decided. It was an attempt to politicise the pandemic response. It was in conflict with the very clearly and overwhelmingly expressed feelings of West Australians. The Liberals have paid the price for snubbing the electorate on a matter that seriously affected every one of us. The Porter matter has further consolidated the disgust we all feel for the Liberals. They are now really unelectable. No-one in WA is surprised by the result. They very richly deserve it.
Questions from a Queenslander who is hoping there are no dumb questions.
Why do the Nats and Libs compete against each other in WA? In Qld they are one party. Federally they are in coalition. In WA they compete. It puzzles me. Is it simply that they never got around to a formal non-compete arrangement? How badly do they actually dislike one another? Is it a country/city thing? After these results might there be pressure for a marriage of convenience?
Merely a mild itch.
Kudos to the Liberal Party.
They have now achieved gender party within their ranks of elected members. 50% Women (1), and 50% Men (1).
Bravo. Well played.
It is important to understand that the election yesterday was not only an affirmation of support for Labor on Covid and the economy. It was a very emphatic repudiation of the Liberals. They have let the State down. Betrayal is not too strong a word. They will have to make amends before voters will trust them again.
In WA the Libs and Nats have been in coalition in government but not in opposition.
One old political observer once told me the Libs would rather take a seat off the Nats than win one from Labor.
Under Brendan Grylls the Nats forced the Libs to spend money in the regions which shored up their position and there would be nothing a Liberal Minister would like less than spending money to help elect a Nat.
After a previous loss (I forget which one) there was allegedly a move to parachute Julie Bishop into WA.
That happened after their state election loss in 2001. I read it was reported Julie Bishop called are then furious Colin Barnett (who was viewed as successor) to try and get him on board. She was asking him what role he wanted and so forth. Barnett wasn’t having a bar of it and Bishop realised the whole exercise was futile stayed put in federal politics. Barnett would be elected leader after then leader Richard Court was then forced to quit after it was revealed he tried to get her drafted.
sprocket_ @ #236 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 7:38 am
That is a political disgrace. Shame on the Liberals.
Player One @ #263 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 10:55 am
Anyone would think you’re a Bill Shorten/AWU hack.
Rossmcg @ #274 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 10:13 am
Thanks Rossmcg. I’ve never warmed to the term frenemy, but maybe it works here.
A truly amazing result in both political and psephological terms. Up until the 80s it seemed, based on history, that the upper limit of landslide lopsidedness was 60/61-40/39 in 2PP terms. The ALP’s thumpings in NSW and Qld in the 2000s moved the needle into the 63/64-37/36 territory, but those seemed to be way out there/once in a century events. If this result ends up being 67/68-33/32 in favour of the ALP, and in a State with a default electoral setting that is not usually favourable to Labor, it’s something else again. Congratulations to all WA bludgers and non-bludgers who contributed to the result. If Federal Labor could bottle whatever’s going on west of the Nullarbor, they’d be home and hosed. With new cases of COVID in Qld and now NSW today I wonder if, with the next election 4 years away, and the likelihood of two terms in office secured, Mark McGowan will be as inclined to immediately shut the borders.
PN
I wonder what the Courts are thinking this morning with the jewel in the crown, the seat of Nedlands, headed to the Labor camp.
If anything underlines the magnitude of the Labor victory it’s that.
On a scale with the Liberals winning Fremantle.
“Morrison allied the Liberals with Palmer and the local Liberals to oppose the State border closure system.”
Which cost them big time among the oldies. And its vehement…along the lines of:
“that bastard Morrison is trying to kill me??? ”
Oh, they would go back to the Libs if they got rid of Morrison, but Morrison has created is a firm link in the minds of people who seriously know how to hold a grudge between Morrison, Palmer and trying to re-open borders too soon.
I’m really hoping Labor get up in North West Central and end the career of political turncoat rat Vince Catania. Its still in doubt on ABC website, but Labor is ahead.
PN
Go with William. He has it as a Labor gain.
Rex Douglas @ #277 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 11:25 am
No, just not an Albo fan. My partner used to work on the booths in Albo’s electorate, and met him several times. General consensus was that he was a lazy sod in a very safe Labor seat who didn’t really deserve to win. Having now seen how he performs as leader, I think we can all see that was a pretty fair assessment.
The Liberals campaigned to prevent Labor winning a majority in the Legislative Council. It’s possible this backfired on them. In drawing attention to that contest, the Liberals may have encouraged voters to support Labor. In effect, voters were reminded they could vote against the Liberals not once but twice. For the first time in my memory, voters remarked that they really hoped Labor could win the Council and give effect to change.
The Player….Not only Labor-phobic but also Albo-phobic too.
Its the rout after the battle of Culloden
They are cutting them down as they flee through the Wheatfields…
Nedlands!
Mark, no Hubris please no Hubris… arr stuff it, Hubris away!!
“In effect, voters were reminded they could vote against the Liberals not once but twice”
LoL! So many reasons to just sit and keep giggling this morning. 🙂
Has Smoko commented on the result as yet??
N @ #286 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 11:41 am
Try not to be such an ass all the time, Briefly. Enjoy your victory.
No, just not an Albo fan. My partner used to work on the booths in Albo’s electorate, and met him several times. General consensus was that he was a lazy sod in a very safe Labor seat who didn’t really deserve to win. Having now seen how he performs as leader, I think we can all see that was a pretty fair assessment.
Yeah well when his seat of Grayndler looked to be under threat against the Greens during redistribution in 2016. He didn’t run away from a fight unlike other Labor members (Jane Garrett). But hey but I’m not based in his seat, but on the outside looking in Albo didn’t abandon his electorate.
imacca says:
Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 11:43 am
“In effect, voters were reminded they could vote against the Liberals not once but twice”
LoL! So many reasons to just sit and keep giggling this morning.
Has Smoko commented on the result as yet??
I’ve been chatting to one of my siblings today. He is lifelong Lib-positive in attitude and voting behaviour. Today, he let it all hang out. He and his wife were really deeply furious with the Liberals and they voted their wish for revenge. Covid, Palmer and Porter all got a mention. If such voters have turned against the Liberals federally then Morrison will be in for a similar thrashing whenever the election is called.
Political Nightwatchman @ #289 Sunday, March 14th, 2021 – 11:50 am
Of course he wouldn’t abandon it. He was born, raised and spent his whole life there. Truly a Labor man from birth. Also, I believe he was a bit of a firebrand in his younger days. Not sure what happened, but clearly his fire has gone out since.
I’m hopeful that one or two upper house members will be elected from micro parties on tiny vote shares.
This may seem odd, but because Labor will have majority the votes of the micro party members will be irrelevant and they will provide McGowan with useful examples to orosecute the case for electoral reform.
Does anyone know if the counting is continuing today, or do we have to wait for Monday.
3z
In last few weeks the Liberals campaigned heavily on not giving Labor “total control”
The numbers suggest they were ignored on that, along with everything else.
I don’t think McGowan will have much trouble prosecuting the case for reform of the legislative council and its voting system if he is of a mind to. And the temptation will be hard to resist.
The Nats and the Libs will bleat but in politics numbers are everything.
From far away it actually looks like the Greens vote held up pretty well in what was already looking like a landslide shift due to COVID, closed border disputes and Mc Gowan for weeks, with huge personal and provincial WA vs Clive and Morrison, Fed and local Liberals as factors.
Seems like Lib and ONP voters deserting to Labor was really the big movement.
Looks like if Legalise Cannabis get in it will pretty much be on Greens prefs, after using the group voting ticket rort, getting ahead of the other minors and rolling the micro party vote up to pass the Greens who then pref them. Or vice verse if more Greens do get up. Probably a few PV lost to legalise Cannabis but seems unlikely they’d have got past the Greens without the GVT rorting, I guess as the Greens are the only party supportive of drug law reform a lot of their PV prefs would’ve gone direct to Greens. I wouldn’t expect Labor to even countenance the idea of Cannabis law reform without being held to it somehow.
Disappointing for Greens WA I’d guess, but the third biggest party vote of the election, still a bit of counting to go, no idea if it will change. Pity to lose experienced MPs to ask questions if they don’t make it back.
Everything will be on Labor if they do get a majority in both houses then I guess.
Seems like it will be a while before an election in such circumstance and with such a result will occur again. Though I don’t expect issues and events around climate and ecological breakdown and other challenges to diminish for anyone either.
I expect Morrison to say he is happy to work with the new WA govt, as on matters of political importance to him and the LNP, like gas and fracking, they’re on the same page.
A state apart: Mark McGowan’s pandemic performance taps into WA’s separatist past
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/feb/27/a-state-apart-mark-mcgowans-pandemic-performance-taps-into-was-separatist-past
“On the issue that is most likely to put WA in direct conflict with other states, rising carbon emissions from the liquid natural gas industry, the state and commonwealth are in lockstep. Both are intent upon promoting the gas industry as a cornerstone of Australia’s energy policy, and leave the problems of reducing emissions to another day.”
WA seems have a particularly strong influence from plutocrats in mining and media, could that be even more so in a one party state?
Does WA Labor have any policy position really challenging any Fed LNP position, aside from the COVID borders issue and the perennial arguments over GST?
I doubt whether setting up a separate ‘country’ in WA is anything more than Fantasyland for a handful here, but no WA politician ever loses votes bashing the East or taking exception to advice from the Wise Ones in the East……e.g “Come out from under the doona/NSW Rolled-Gold Standard/Open the Borders/Sydney does the heavy lifting” crap…….
As just a small point, but a flavour of how many of the Sandgropers think, we get minorly pissed off when we get “National News” from the East fed to us on the commercial channels it is often a diet of a minor car crash in Sydney, a minor house fire in Sydney, a bashing in Sydney…………..then rinse and repeat for similar events in Melbourne and Brisbane and Adelaide to a lesser extent.
The only news which flows the other way is when there is a shark attack here….
The rest of the time, WA does not exist for many Easterners, beyond the Victorian-NSW-SA-South Queensland corner…….
Damn, he must have been crushed when the doctors gave him the news.
Elections since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (in NT, ACT, QLD, WA) have all returned sitting governments. Some of them with increased majorities.
All of these governments have handled the pandemic very well, with the NT and WA in particular being exemplary standard setters.
Once again the voters have made it clear that they don’t actually value economics above all else. It is not all about the hip pocket nerve.
This is the big lesson for politicians from these election results.
‘Quoll says:
Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 1:27 pm
From far away it actually looks like the Greens vote held up pretty well….’
aka ‘We lost.’