Mettam plays down teal threat, insists she can win
The Liberal leader says she believes West Australians are ready to punish the Cook government for squandering the boom
West Australian Liberal Party leader Libby Mettam says she is not concerned about the threat of teal candidates to her party’s revival hopes, despite another Liberal stronghold falling in NSW at the weekend.
Ms Mettam used her speech to the last Liberal state conference before next March’s election to make it clear she believed the party could win, despite the seemingly impossible task ahead of it.
The Liberals won two of 59 lower house seats in the 2021 state election as Labor leveraged the Covid-era popularity of Mark McGowan to engineer the most emphatic result in Australia’s political history.
The WA poll is also shaping as a key indicator for the next federal election, given Anthony Albanese’s hopes of remaining Prime Minister appear to rest with retaining Perth seats won by Labor in 2022.
While Mr McGowan is gone, the state Liberals are set to face teal candidates in key WA seats for the first time next year.
One group is already working on a teal campaign for the Liberal blue-ribbon seat of Nedlands, with the group scheduled to hold an event with Kate Chaney – the teal candidate who took the federal seat of Curtin out of Liberal hands for the first time – on Monday.
The ongoing risks from teals was underscored at the weekend when independent Jacqui Scruby comfortably won a by-election for the former NSW Liberal heartland seat of Pittwater.
Speaking after her address to the party faithful, Ms Mettam said she believed the Liberals would differentiate themselves from the teal threat. “I think when you consider the teals experiment, it’s unclear what they actually stand for,” she said. “What we stand for as a Liberal team is being made explicitly clear today.
“We stand for a better health system, we stand for stronger law and order, we stand for restoring our regions, more homes and, importantly, cost-of-living pressures for households.”
Ms Mettam said she believed West Australians would punish Roger Cook’s government at the next election for squandering the state’s latest boom. “Western Australians just have to ask themselves a very simple question. During the largest boom this state has ever seen, has your life improved? Has this government delivered for you?” she said.
“This is the best resourced government our state has ever seen, and yet in key areas our state has gone backwards.”
Ms Mettam on Sunday unveiled a policy that would guarantee West Australians received their elective surgery within recommended timeframes by paying for patients to access services inside private hospitals.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the policy showed the Liberals did not understand healthcare.
“We already have agreements in place with private hospitals to perform elective surgeries for public patients,” she said.
More Coverage
BCA seeks $10bn housing reform fund
The Coalition is also calling for construction workers to be placed on the immigration skills priority list as the Albanese government faces mounting pressure on housing.
‘Death better than wait for aged care’
Cyril Tooze is the tragic face of the crisis in Australia’s home aged care system – sick, and so sick of waiting to receive any care that he would rather die peacefully on his own terms.