TOPIC:

Zac Kirkup has just given his concession speech.  Given the enormity of the defeat I thought it was a gracious and magnanimous speech under extremely difficult circumstances.

Mama Mia. New leader of the opposition, the National Party. Four seats to the Nats, just two for the Liberal Party. Oh dear.

Have to feel for Zack.Thrown in the deep end,that's politics.Well done to sneakers.In a historical LNP state he's almost wiped them off the map in 2017-21.

turns out I was miles under - total & utter annhiliation 
Nats are now the opposition front benchers and the state will see positive opps for a long awaited change
maybe the country folks will see some changes to their backyards in a good way
serves the Libs right to be honest 

Whilst WA state and federal election results have often been quite distinct e.g. 2017 State and 2019 Federal is a case in point.  However, the 2021 state election result might have an impact on the next federal election due to a significant number of voters deciding to vote Labor for the first time ever.  Depending on when the next federal election is called and the WA Labor government's performance in the period leading up to the federal election those same voters may choose to vote for the Labor candidates as well.

Even the most Labor supporter, including myself, would never in their wildest dreams have thought that it was possible for Labor to win such state seats as South Perth, Nedlands and Churchlands.

I watched the ABC election coverage and was impressed with the way Nahan dealt with the result, fall out and his opinion of Sneakers.

He congratulated McGowan on the result, he praised him for the covid stuff but said quite clearly that the result was not just abt that issue, that it was abt policies or lack thereof from the liberal party, that it was abt the loss of faith in the party and its lack of commitment plus the bailing of the previous leader her stand on the borders.He also praised Sneakers for his handling of the Palmer issue saying that it was handled very well by McGowan and appallingly by the state and federal liberal party. All in all I thought wow now that is someone who knows how to deal with the issues confronting the libs.

Swing to Lisa Simpson who was abt as gracious as a spoilt brat. She made it very clear that it was abt popularity! Nothing abt policies, nothing abt leadership, all in all nothing.

I do not think that it is a good thing to have such a weakened opposition and one thing I will be watching is how Sneakers deals with it and how gracious he is! Me the first thing I would do is have a lunch with the LNP and Libs to talk abt what can we do to help the state and not allow parliament to become just a bickering place.

McGowan’s biggest issue will be his own party and all these people elected on the back of his popularity along with the useless ones already there like Templeman.
And the unions will now come for him to push Cook as treasurer and McGowan can’t stand the unions.
Quite a few libs who had no idea like L’Estrange gone is a good thing but some hard working local members gone which will hurt some local areas over time.
also Wyatt a massive loss, smart bloke

Its a concern that there is going to be no functional opposition for the next 4 years. I am uncomfortable that the Government will have very little scrutiny of their policies in parliament and very little in the way of alternative ideas presented. In a democracy it is important to have a strong opposition which holds a Government to account

This result really does highlight that state elections are fought on state based issues. If a federal election were to be held tomorrow there's no way we'd see a 10% swing to Labor nationally. The fact that the Libs in WA went from government to potentially 2 seats in 4 short years is a disgrace and the behind the scenes leaders within the party like Collier et al should be ashamed of themselves and fall on their swords.

Kirkup was the fall guy who was thrown to the wolves by the Liberal Party machine. He didn't help himself with some dumb decisions and statements during the campaign. I will be interested to see how Mia Davies goes as Opposition leader as I have always thought that she is a very competent and considered person but she will be pushing a heavy wheelbarrow up the hill with the lack of resources available to her.