The Poll Bludger kicks off what promises to be an action-packed year with a comprehensive guide to a Western Australian state election now 66 days away. As always, this features pages for each of the lower house electorates including historic background and displays of past results in map, table and chart form, a guide to an election for the Legislative Council to be conducted for the first time under a new system that abolishes the old model of six-member regions, and a general overview of the situation. A full accounting of the post-redistribution margins and party vote shares can be found here. If any of this seems of value, a reminder that the bi-monthly Poll Bludger donation drive is also under way.
Some recent election-related developments since I last weighed in on the subject, either new or hitherto unnoticed by me:
• Steve Catania has been confirmed as Labor’s candidate for Midland, to be vacated with the retirement of Michelle Roberts. Catania is a lawyer and former Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union organiser, the brother of Labor-turned-Nationals former MP Vince Catania, and the son of former Labor MP and Vincent mayor Nick Catania.
• Kyran O’Donnell, the Liberal member for Kalgoorlie from 2017 to 2021, announced in August he would run for the seat as an independent. O’Donnell is a former police officer and was elected to Kalgoorlie-Boulder City Council in October 2023. He was initially preselected for an unwinnable position on the Liberal Legislative Council ticket for the coming election.
• Three independents have emerged who can loosely be categorised at teals: Rachel Horncastle in Cottesloe, a general practitioner backed by the Cott Independent group; Lisa Thornton in Churchlands, a Stirling councillor backed by the Churchlands Independent; and Rosemarie de Vries in Nedlands, a Subiaco councillor. Another independent in a normally Liberal-held seat is former Global Lithium director Hayley Lawrance in South Perth, who disavows the teal label.