Labor’s WA election landslide aided by preference deal ‘imbroglio’

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.

"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 privatisation of Western Power wasn’t a discussion point 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.

“When I stuck my hand up to run for Geraldton, it was on the back of the good work done by the Nationals throughout regional WA building infrastructure.

“But that was before the rise of this discussion about the potential sale of Western Power and also the Liberal preference deal with One Nation wasn’t a factor or the feeling of anger towards Colin Barnett.

“However, that’s the hand I was dealt and I accept the outcome; the voters are always right.”

Mr Brown said he would now take some time out to spend with his family and would not be left “stranded” due to his livestock and feedlot business in northern-WA, connected to the live export trade.

“Should I have stayed in the Upper House – probably I should have and would still be in parliament but I gave it a shot,” he said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defended Mr Barnett saying he’d provided eight and a half years of “very strong leadership” as the WA Premier.

“Colin has had a very long career in public life and as Premier he took the reins when Western Australia was going through the global financial crisis,” he said.

“He’s led the state through a once-in-a-generation, once-in-a-century mining boom and of course, as it inevitably wound back, he’s led the state through that transition.

“He’s made a remarkable contribution to Western Australia and indeed to the nation.

“He’s played a great innings, magnificently.

“Western Australians and Australians owe him a debt of gratitude for the work he’s done.”

But asked whether the Liberal leader had made a mistake preferencing One Nation ahead of the Nationals, Mr Turnbull said Mr Barnett had “summed it up very well when he said overwhelmingly it was the ‘it’s time’ factor”.

“It’s a government that as he said, had been in for eight and a half years,” he said.

“The history is that it’s very hard to win re-election after that length of time - so that was overwhelmingly the factor.

“The election was overwhelmingly a consequence of state issues.

“It was decided on state issues and the result was pretty much as had been expected for quite some time.”

Mr Turnbull said preferences were a matter for the Liberal party’s WA division and were always entered into with the intention and objective of maximising the vote and parliamentary representation.

“The next federal election is more than two years away - all preference decision will be considered by the party organisation closer to an election,” he said.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten congratulated WA Labor leader and new Premier Mark McGowan.

Mr Shorten said West Australians voted for a government which would put local jobs and apprentices first, invest in public transport and stop the privatisation of Western Power.

“Above all, West Australians have put their trust in a leader with the courage to stand up for what he believes in,” he said.

“Mark McGowan and Labor refused to horse-trade their values with One Nation and have been rewarded for it.

“Mark ran an outstanding campaign and deserves this victory.

“His campaign reflected who he is – a down to earth bloke, a hard worker, and a person driven by his values.”

With potentially three Upper House seats, The WA Greens congratulated the incoming McGowan government on a well-fought campaign and in claiming to have helped disrupt One Nation’s national momentum, said they looked forward to working constructively to address urgent challenges facing WA, “no matter what the final makeup of parliament”.

In reference to One Nation leader and Queensland Senator Pauline Hanson, senior federal Labor MP Anthony Albanese said “the mob have worked her out”.

“She is good at identifying problems and grievances but she doesn’t provide solutions and the deal with the Liberal Party showed her to be just another political party looking to put people into parliament rather than someone who acts as a matter of principle and I think it hurt both of them,” he said.

“Mark McGowan and WA Labor stood up as the real alternative, as the party that had a plan for Western Australia’s future and I think this is a rejection and a very bad result for One Nation.

“And again, the Liberal Party have to decide if they are going to be a partner of One Nation or if they are going to stand alone as a party of mainstream Australia.

“In the Queensland election, unless they commit to not give preferences to One Nation above mainstream political parties, they will be committing exactly the same mistake.”