WA Nationals moving to the city
WA premier Roger Cook says the move reflects the dysfunction and chaos with the National and Liberal parties.
Western Australia’s Nationals have unveiled their first crop of candidates targeting seats in the Perth metropolitan area, in the latest sign of the ongoing tensions between the party and their Liberal alliance partners.
The Nationals will for the first time field candidates in four city seats – Bateman, Darling Range, Kalamunda and South Perth – as the party looks to shore up its presence in the WA parliament.
The Nationals found themselves in the unlikely position of being the official party of opposition on the back of the four lower house seats they retained in the 2021 state election rout that reduced the Liberals to just two lower house seats.
The two parties have maintained a fractious alliance since then, particularly after one Nationals MP – North West Central MP Merome Beard – defected to the Liberals.
Ms Beard will go up against Nationals leader Shane Love in his seat of Moore at the next election, after North West Central was abolished in a redistribution.
Talks between the two parties about finding a way to make the Liberals the official opposition party have been fruitless.
The party’s focus on the city comes as it faces a significantly reduced presence in the WA parliament’s upper house. Electoral Act changes pushed through by the McGowan government soon after its record-breaking win abolished the over-representation of the regions in the Legislative Council, putting the Nationals’ three upper house seats at risk.
The metro candidates confirmed by the Nationals on Sunday included two people with strong ties to the Liberals.
Donna Gordon, who will run as the Nationals candidate in the seat of Bateman, stood for the Liberals in the federal seat of Brand in 2013 while South Perth candidate Jonathan Shack is the brother of former federal Liberal MP for Tangney Peter Shack.
Mr Love on Sunday said the move to target metropolitan voters was driven by the recent changes made to the electoral act.
“West Australians will have the ability to choose a party which sits in the sensible middle of politics,” Mr Love said.
“We’re not driven by ideology, we’re driven by pragmatism, we’re driven by listening to our communities, and common sense.
“We believe we can provide an alternative to people who are looking for someone other than Labor, and perhaps don’t want to go to the traditional other choice being the Liberal Party.”
WA Premier Roger Cook said the Nationals’ decision to run candidates in city seats showed how “dysfunctional” the alliance parties were.
“It’s a sign that the Nationals and the Liberals are in chaos and are not fit for government,” he said.
“They not only can’t agree on the leadership and the shadow ministerial arrangements, they can’t even agree in relation to their seats that they’ll be contesting.”
While the entry of the Nationals into city seats threatens to split the conservative vote, Mr Love said the party would always direct its preference to the Liberals over any other party.
“What the Liberal Party choose to do is up to them, but that’s the offer that I’m making today,” the Nationals leader said.
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