Exit now: Mark McGowan follows his advice to Scott Morrison

Pedal to the metal, the West Australian premier finished his political journey on Friday, catching everyone off guard.

Departing premier Mark McGowan on Friday, his last day as an MP. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sharon Smith,

Shortly after last year’s federal election, which Mark McGowan had an outsized influence on, the West Australian premier called Scott Morrison.

They had developed something of a friendship during the Covid years (helped at least in part by Canberra’s willingness to fund almost anything and everything WA and McGowan asked for) and McGowan wanted to reach out to wish Morrison well.

He also gave him some advice: get out of parliament now. McGowan reasoned nothing good would come of Morrison ­remaining on the backbench.

He also offered to help the now former PM find job opportunities in the private sector, and was prepared to call on some of the strong ties he had built in the corporate world. It’s an anecdote that takes on added significance in light of this week’s extraordinary events in the west.

McGowan’s calling of a snap press conference on Monday to announce his retirement caught everyone off guard. So many of those close to him believed McGowan would lead Labor to the next election in 2025, and a third straight win, and retire midway through the next term when he became the longest-serving Labor premier in WA history.

Instead, McGowan opted for a swift exit. On Friday, he made the 45km drive for the last time from his home in Rockingham to the government offices in West Perth – a journey he has made countless times over his more than 26 years as an MP.

Mr McGowan and then Prime Minister Scott Morrison in 2022. Picture: AAP

When he told colleagues on Monday of his impending resignation, some tried to talk him out of it. He could give up the Treasury portfolio, delegate more, stay in place for a gradual transition to a new leader. Instead, he took the advice he had given Morrison and opted for a hasty departure.

During his resignation press conference – the only time he spoke publicly during his final week in office – he made it clear he intends to keep working after he leaves politics. Those business connections he offered to put to use on Morrison’s behalf will now be put to use for himself.

The rumours have begun about which of his confidants in the WA business sector will ­employ him. Tim Picton was the WA Labor state secretary for much of McGowan’s premiership. He is now an executive general manager at mining company Mineral Resources.

He told The Weekend Australian McGowan had built a new model for modern successful Labor governments: a moderate, disciplined and responsible Labor that can work with the private sector and be favoured on both economic and social issues, and in turn render the Liberals irrelevant. “He had a calm collectedness about him that is too often undervalued in politics, particularly in internal debate. That meant he could lead a united team with very few internal or external blow ups, despite the often-messy internals of the Labor Party in WA,” Picton says.

Labor stalwart Alannah MacTiernan first met Mr McGowan in the early 1990s when he was Rockingham deputy mayor with clear ambitions.

She said his capacity for hard work and policy was matched by a great instinct for understanding the people of WA.

“He’s got a good radar for the average bear and there’s absolutely no doubt about it that he’s cut of the cloth of the people,” she says. “He has an instinctive feel of where the punters are and how the average person of goodwill will react to things. That is, of course, a great political strength.”

Beyond the Covid border policies that proved so popular in WA and so divisive in the rest of the country, McGowan’s headline legacy is the state’s strong bottom line. Booming iron ore royalties and the bigger GST share he ­secured from then-treasurer Morrison in 2018 were the primary drivers of that, but he also instituted difficult public sector pay freezes atypical to Labor.

Despite his reputation as an economic manager and his advocacy for the resources sector, McGowan quietly built a long list of environmental reforms.

Bans and restrictions on native forest logging, fishing and plastic bags were accompanied by plans to close the state’s remaining coal-fired power plants.

Those who have been close to him say the environment was one of his biggest policy passions, but one he did not draw attention to in a state that would not want an ecowarrior as premier.

He leaves office sooner than anyone expected, but with Labor dominant at state and federal level. “The result in 2021 (when Labor won 53 of 59 lower house seats) can’t be understated,” ­Picton says. “It was the greatest electoral victory of a major jurisdiction in the long history of the Westminster system. For this, he will rightly go down as the most successful politician in Australian history.”