How Liberals’ WA bloodbath delivered the election for Albo

Anthony Albanese has one man above all others to thank for Saturday’s massive election victory of the Coalition.

Anthony Albanese can thank Mark McGowan for delivering him to government.

The Liberals suffered an enormous double-digit swing against them in Western Australia on Saturday in a humiliating bloodbath that will likely see them lose six seats and push Labor above the 76 required to form government.

Some have already attributed the result to Prime Minister Scott Morrison unwisely picking a fight with the hugely popular Premier, who won a landslide re-election last year as voters embraced the state’s hard-line Covid lockdowns and border closures.

“We lived a fundamentally different life to the eastern states, and that has obviously played out tonight,” Senator Michaelia Cash said during Channel 7’s election coverage.

Experts had already predicted a big win for Labor in the state could affect the national result, with some tipping a swing of up to 5 per cent.

But across the state the Liberal party saw a 10.03 per cent swing against it compared with 4.53 per cent nationally, while Labor saw a positive swing of 7.49 per cent versus a negative swing of 0.54 per cent nationally.

Scott Morrison and Ken Wyatt at Sandalford Wines in Hasluck. Picture: Jason Edwards

Six seats gone in bloodbath

Labor has picked up the seats of Hasluck, Swan, Tangney and Pearce, while Curtin will likely go to a teal independent. Moore is going down to the wire, and could still go to Labor.

The eastern Perth seat of Hasluck, held by Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt on a margin of 5.9 per cent, will go to the Labor’s Tania Lawrence.

The widely respected Mr Wyatt has held the seat for more than a decade.

Swan was previously held by the Liberals’ Steve Irons on a margin of 3.2 per cent, and will go to Labor’s Zaneta Mascarenhas after beating the Liberal candidate Kristy McSweeney.

And in a major upset, Ben Morton, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and close friend of Mr Morrison, has lost the seat of Tangney – held on a comfortable margin of 9.5 per cent – to Labor’s Sam Lim, a former police officer.

Independent for Curtin Kate Chaney. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

Former Attorney-General Christian Porter’s seat of Pearce, with a margin of 5.2 per cent, will go to Labor’s Tracey Roberts instead of Liberal candidate Linda Aitken.

In Curtin, which the Liberals’ Celia Hammond held on a margin of 13.9 per cent, it’s looking like teal indepdenent Kate Chaney will pull off a win.

The loss of the seat covering Perth’s affluent western suburbs, formerly held by Julie Bishop, would be another massive blow.

Finally in Moore, the Liberals’ Ian Goodenough – who won last election with a margin of 11.6 per cent – is fighting for his life against Labor’s Tom French.

As of Sunday morning Mr Goodenough is only ahead by 445 votes, after suffering an 11.33 swing against him, with 98.75 per cent of the ballots counted.

WA Premier Mark McGowan at Labor’s campaign launch. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

PM’s fights with WA backfire

During the pandemic, the Prime Minister saw his popularity plummet in WA as he regularly fought with Mr McGowan over the state’s “Zero Covid” approach.

At same time, the WA Premier’s popularity soared, hitting as high as 90 per cent.

Mr Morrison labelled West Australians “cave people” for locking themselves away — and supported billionaire Clive Palmer’s 2020 court challenge to the hard border before backflipping after copping major backlash from local media.

At the time, Mr McGowan said the Morrison government had “some explaining to do” for briefly backing the failed High Court challenge.

“We put the borders in place for the right reasons – to protect the health of the people of this state and therefore ensure that our state could continue to function,” he said, adding he was “very disappointed” in the Liberal Party.

Mr Albanese capitalised on the Liberals’ unpopularity in WA, targeting the state heavily and heading to Perth to launch Labor’s official election campaign for the first time since World War II.

At the launch event, Mr McGowan slammed the Liberal Party’s preference deal with Clive Palmer. “To be that desperate and blatant, it’s an insult to every Australian, and especially every Western Australian,” he said.