Regional residents hope their voices will continue to be heard by new leaders of the Liberals and Nationals

A spectacular week in State politics has left country residents with hope of a louder voice after the Liberals joined the Nationals in electing two regionally-based leaders.

WA’s State Opposition is now headed by four MPs all representing regional WA — new Nationals leader Shane Love and deputy Peter Rundle, and the WA Liberals’ Libby Mettam and deputy Steve Thomas.

The four cover a large part of WA’s South West Land Division, with Moore MLA Mr Love living in Dongara, Roe MLA Mr Rundle in Katanning, Vasse MLA Ms Mettam in Busselton and South West MLC Mr Thomas in Donnybrook.

They started their new roles just four days after Central Wheatbelt MP Mia Davies sparked an unexpected chain of events, when she announced plans to step down as Opposition Leader and the leader of the WA Nationals.

WAFarmers president John Hassell said he was “interested to see” what the change in leadership would mean for country residents and hoped it would be “much stronger”.

“I would like to see considerably more support for infrastructure spend in regional areas, particularly on the ability to get grain to port,” he said. “We need greater pushback on a range of regional issues.”

Ms Davies was the first member of the WA Nationals to hold the role since 1947, after the WA Liberals were all but wiped out by Labor at the 2021 election.

Originally from Wyalkatchem, Ms Davies was elected to the Legislative Assembly for Central Wheatbelt in 2013 and was Minister for Water and Forestry, Sport and Recreation in the Barnett Government.

She previously served in the Legislative Council from 2009 to 2013 and was the youngest member at the time.

Ms Davies plans to remain in Parliament until 2025 as the Central Wheatbelt MP, representing a 100,000sqkm electorate that includes 27 shires and more than 40 towns.

“I spent the summer thinking about my own parliamentary career and what’s ahead, not only for the next two years but what it would take to contest the March 2025 State Election,” she said.

“I don’t have any fuel left in the tank to go beyond that election.”

At times holding back tears, Ms Davies said it had been an enormous privilege to lead the party but she did not want to be a “career politician”.

“I think when you do this role, you have to have the energy and the passion to get up and do it with everything you’ve got and I know it’s my time,” she said.

On Monday, Mr Love became the first Mid West politician to hold the party leadership in more than 50 years when he was unanimously elected.

Mr Rundle, a farmer from Katanning, was appointed his deputy.

Mr Love is the first Mid West-based MP to take on the task since David Brand, the Liberal MLA for Greenough, resigned in 1972.

His situation is very different from that of Mr Brand, who had been Premier from 1959 to 1971 and led an Opposition of 25 seats in the Lower House.

Mr Love would not rule out Ms Mettam taking over as Opposition Leader, but said he was confident of leading the Nationals to the next election in March 2025.

“We have an existing alliance agreement and I’ll be seeking to have that continue into the start of the new parliamentary year while we further explore further options going forward into 2025,” he said.

“I’m committed to being the leader, to carry us through to the election, have a strong election in 2025 and represent regional Australia.

“I wouldn’t have taken the position . . . if I didn’t think I could do that and my party has supported me into that position.”

Mr Love, who was elected to Parliament in 2013, is the sixth Opposition Leader to challenge Mark McGowan’s Government since 2017 and does so with an Opposition of six Lower House seats.

Mr Love assured Moore voters he would still dedicate time to representing the Mid West and highlighting the issues it faced.

“I would hope the people of my electorate would understand that and they will continue to see me in their electorate as much as I possibly can,” he said.

“The affairs of the Moore electorate are fundamentally important to me.”

In the wake of the Nationals leadership change, Liberal leader David Honey stepped aside rather than suffer a divisive party room vote on Monday, when faced with Ms Mettam’s long-anticipated leadership challenge.

Ms Mettam declared the change was the “reset” her party “desperately needs”, while also assuring her constituents that she would continue to represent residents in the South West.

She immediately moved to have conservative powerbroker Nick Goiran replaced as the Liberals’ parliamentary secretary with first-term MP Steve Martin — a Wickepin farmer — but the move fell short when put to a vote.

Ms Mettam said she had subsequently asked Mr Goiran to voluntarily relinquish the role and a second party room meeting has been called for Thursday to vote on the issue again if he refuses.

The Liberals’ refresh also elevated South West MLC Dr Thomas to the deputy’s position.

Dr Thomas — a veteran politician and former veterinarian who was previously based in Margaret River, lives in Donnybrook, and is now based in Bunbury — and holds the key finance portfolio.

He said the Liberals remained committed to regional WA, as reflected by the leadership change.

“It means that we will continue to have a strong country focus going forward,” Dr Thomas said.

“I look forward to working in both roles to build and deliver a credible Opposition in WA, because I don’t think anybody believes that the current one-sided political situation is good for our great State.

“It will be tough work, but I am up for the fight.”