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State election 2021

opinion
opinion
Moment of truthPremium
opinion
Liberal review of State election must be brutal, honest

For die-hard Liberals, August 28 will be an important day when we find out whether WA Libs are dinkum about resurrecting a once proud party which is now the laughing stock of Australian politics.

Joe Spagnolo

Big jobCommentsPremiumWA Libs name new State director after election disaster

Stuart Smith has been selected to help rebuild the electoral prospects of the WA Liberals after the party lost official opposition status and was reduced to just two seats.

Josh Zimmerman

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
prioritising the peopleCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Daylight Saving MP will oppose it for voters

The leader of the Daylight Saving Party Wilson Tucker, who received just 98 votes in the state election, has pledged to oppose daylight saving if it ‘conflicts’ with what his electorate wants.

Charlotte Elton

Electoral reformCommentsPremiumLibs push for regional Labor MPs to oppose reform

The WA Liberal Party has called on regional Labor MPs to sign a petition opposing regional electoral reform, accusing Labor of planning to ‘slash’ regional representation.

Charlotte Elton

Mother’s Day 2021CommentsPremiumMother of all career changes for new MP

Ayor Makur Chuot, who gave birth last Saturday, will be sworn into WA’s Upper House next week — making her Australia’s first South Sudanese MP and WA’s first MP of African descent.

Rhianna Mitchell

‘Not on our agenda’CommentsPremiumElectoral reform dismissal a boot to democracy

Mark McGowan insisted during his campaign for a second term in government that electoral reform of the Upper House was ‘not on our agenda’. But with the win secured, the reality is far different.

Peter Law

Peter LawState Political Editor

opinion
opinion
Vote one equalityCommentsPremium
opinion
We must make electoral system fair for West Australians

A vote in Kalgoorlie is worth 3.48 times more than the value of a vote in Albany, and 1.48 times more than Esperance — our outdated system discriminates against some and boosts the stocks of others.

John Quigley

New EraCommentsPremiumNats, Libs sign ‘alliance agreement’ to battle Labor

The Nationals and Liberals have committed to hold talks on how they can work together to defeat Labor after signing an ‘alliance agreement’ today.

Peter Law

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
New-look partnershipCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Nats and Libs to form alliance after election bloodbath

The Nationals and Liberals are just days away from signing an agreement to form an alliance in State Parliament for the next four years, The West can reveal.

Peter Law

‘Team effort’CommentsPremiumScoMo claims credit for McGowan’s landslide victory

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is claiming credit for Premier Mark McGowan’s electoral wipe out of the WA Liberal Party, in his first trip to Perth in 537 days.

Michael Traill

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
‘great renewal crusade’CommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
WA Liberals ask members to do free work for MPs

Rank and file Liberals have been asked to volunteer their time ‘working with and for MPs’ as part of efforts to rebuild, while the State President has denied the party is broke.

Josh Zimmerman

Election post-mortemCommentsPremium‘Corby’s lawyer’ to lead WA Libs’ election review

Perth QC Mark Trowell, who briefly assisted in the battle to free Schapelle Corby from a Bali jail, has been called in to conduct a review of the WA Liberals’ disastrous State election performance.

Joe Spagnolo

opinion
opinion
Electoral reformCommentsPremium
opinion
Why the micro-party will be over in WA

Mark McGowan has signalled it is time to look at the voting system for WA’s Upper House.

Josh Zimmerman

Josh ZimmermanReporter

High timesCommentsPremiumCannabis party wins second seat in WA Parliament

A Perth doctor has become the second member of the Legalise Cannabis party elected to WA’s Upper House while the Greens have learnt their electoral fate.

Michael Traill

‘Opportunity to rebuild’CommentsPremiumWA Liberal boss Sam Calabrese resigns from top job

WA Liberal state director Sam Calabrese has resigned in the wake of his party’s devastating election loss.

Josh Zimmerman

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
98-vote winnerCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
‘Daylight savings’ MP to fly home, sit in WA Parliament

A controversial MP who lives in the US and wants to bring daylight savings to WA says ‘democracy has prevailed’ and has vowed to return to Perth as soon as possible to start his $156,000 a year job.

Joe Spagnolo

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
Court me outCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Richard Court rules himself out of Libs’ review panel

Former Premier Richard Court will not sit on a panel set to investigate the reasons for the Liberals’ devastating State election loss — but has promised he will not abandon his old party.

Joe Spagnolo

‘An absolute joke’CommentsPremiumPreference system slammed after MP elected on 98 votes

The State government has promised to look at ‘flaws’ in the WA voting system, just days it was revealed a recently-elected single-issue candidate who lives in the US gained just 98 votes.

Charlotte Elton

Bombshell revelationsPremiumNewly-elected WA daylight saving MP ‘lives in US’

Daylight Saving Party leader and new WA Upper House MP Wilson Tucker has broken his silence with a bombshell revelation he is living in the United States.

Jason Mennell

opinion
opinion
Lib serviceCommentsPremium
opinion
Tony Abbott: What WA Liberals must do

Former prime minister Tony Abbot explains how the WA Liberals can bounce back from the Labor bloodbath of the 2021 State election — and he doesn’t mince his words.

Tony Abbott

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
‘recipe for ruination’CommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
Abbott delivers brutal spray at WA Liberals

Tony Abbott has launched a blistering attack on the State Liberal Party saying the thumping election loss was ‘inevitable with a leader on training wheels and policy lifted from the Greens’.

Lanai Scarr

‘individual errors’PremiumState election workers ‘still to be paid’

People who helped run the WA election claim to have been left thousands of dollars out of pocket by the recruitment company that hired them.

Charlotte Elton

State election wipeoutCommentsPremiumLiberals bicker over who will decide what went wrong

Two weeks after the WA Liberal Party was annihilated at the State election, it still cannot agree on who should be on a review committee to find out what went so horribly wrong on Black Saturday.

Joe Spagnolo

The West Australian exclusive
The West Australian exclusive
Power to the peopleCommentsPremium
The West Australian exclusive
‘Radical’ plan to let Lib rank and file pick leader

WA Liberal Senator Dean Smith wants to break the influence of party powerbrokers, proposing a bold new plan in which the Liberal leader would be chosen by rank and file party members, rather than MPs.

Joe Spagnolo