Labor’s barnstorming victory at the WA election has been blamed on a controversial preference deal that tied the Liberals with One Nation to confuse and alienate traditional conservative voters.
But as One Nation had a “shocker” and the Liberals a “bad day at the office”, as described by federal Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, the WA Nationals fought a rear-guard action amid significant voter backlash primarily aimed at ousting unpopular, long-serving WA Liberal Premier Colin Barnett.
With vote-counting continuing, the WA Labor party easily surpassed the 30 seats needed to win a majority government in the Lower House; having claimed 36 to the Liberals 11.
The WA Nationals look to have five electorates while the fortunes of party leader Brendon Grylls in the north-west seat of Pilbara and Tony Crook in Kalgoorlie remain in delicate balance.
The Nationals may also win up to four Upper House positions - down from five - comprising two in the Agricultural Region and one each in Mining and Pastoral and the South West.
Labor also looks headed towards a strong majority in the Upper House; including two representatives coming from the Agricultural Region where traditionally they’ve held only one.
But One Nation may only claim two as many as members - Colin Tincknell in the South West region and Robin Scott in Mining and Pastoral - despite forecasts of potentially claiming four places, to strike a shared balance of power scenario with the Nationals.
Voter polling had One Nation running at about 14 per cent early on in the election campaign but it plunged to 8pc in the final stages and failed to hit 5pc, at yesterday’s poll.
The landslide election result is also set to see the Liberal Agriculture and Food Minister Mark Lewis unable to retain his position in parliament via the Mining and Pastoral region, where the Liberals may only claim one place.
Speculation also suggests Labor’s Lisa Baker - who holds the metropolitan seat of Maylands - could jump ahead of shadow Mick Murray to become the new Labor Agriculture and Food Minister.
As the election loomed closer, and analysts tipped Labor would easily deny the Liberal/National government a third, four-year term in government, the WA Liberals agreed to preference One Nation ahead of the WA Nationals in the Upper House, in exchange for Lower House preferences.
“The first and only game in town is retaining government and if One Nation preferences can help us do that, then so be it,” WA federal O’Connor MP Rick Wilson said ahead of polling day.
But as WA voters clearly backed Labor, they also rejected One Nation’s radical policies in areas like foreign investment and appear to have also reacted against ongoing controversy linked to slack candidate vetting; including the disqualification of former One Nation WA federal Senator and one-time Williams farmer Rod Culleton amid a minefield of ongoing legal battles, including bankruptcy.
Today in the wake of Labor’s crushing win Barnaby Joyce slammed the controversial preference deal that disadvantaged the WA Nationals in the Upper House to expand One Nation’s presence, while boosting the Liberals claim for Lower House seats.
"All the imbroglio regarding preferences means people start to over-assess and exaggerate what they think the support is of their new partner and they also just confuse their constituency," Mr Joyce said.
“It's in the Liberal party's interest to be close to the National party and it's in the National party's interest to be close to Liberal party and it’s in both interests not to be close to anybody else.
It's in the Liberal party's interest to be close to the National party and it's in the National party's interest to be close to Liberal party and it’s in both interests not to be close to anybody else.
- Barnaby Joyce
"They talk to different constituencies but people see them as a team and on election-day you should just stick to that idea.”
Mr Joyce said it wasn’t a “good day in the office” for the WA Liberals and many questions would now be asked about the final result.
“As a general principle, they overestimated the support of One Nation and in the process possibly compromised the view people had about their association with the National Party,” he said of the Liberals.
He said the WA Nationals had performed well considering the Liberals’ poor showing and was “confident” holding onto the seats of Pilbara and Kalgoorlie, while calling One Nation’s effort "a bit of a shocker".
WA Nationals Upper House Agricultural Region member Paul Brown said he was now considering his future options after failing at his bid to shift to the Lower House, via the prized regional seat of Geraldton.
Mr Brown sought to take on Liberal incumbent Ian Blayney who was marginally ahead of his Labor candidate on Sunday, during the ongoing vote-count.
But he said if he knew about the Liberals and One Nation preference deal, he may have decided to stay in the Upper House where he was elected in 2013.
Mr Brown said the “palpable hatred” of Colin Barnett also wasn’t a determining factor when he decided to make the move to the Lower House, in late 2015, and the proposed sale of Western Power wasn’t discussed in Geraldton. “The Liberal party killed us; there was a clear and palpable hatred of Colin Barnett in the community,” he said. “But the Nationals held their own against One Nation in the bush so that’s a positive outcome.”
