While the official results are still being finalised, with one Legislative Council candidate yet to be declared, Labor was reelected in Western Australia on March 8.
Labor won 46 out of 59 Legislative Assembly seats, down from 53. It received an overall swing of just over –18%.
In the past, this loss of seats would mean the incumbents would lose. But because the swing went to minor party and independent candidates, not the Liberal or National Parties, that did not happen.
This trend away from the major parties has increased over the last three WA elections Labor has won.
The numbers are significant. The percentage of votes which did not go to a major party has risen from 15% at the last WA election in 2021, to 25% this year. But this is somewhat hidden by Labor’s large lower house majority: it won 77% of the seats with 41% of the votes.
Labor’s vote this time around is similar to its 2017 result, when it won government. With such large majorities, the historic opposition parties, the Liberals and the Nationals, have not had enough seats to be effective.
Indeed, according to parliamentary rules, at the last election the Liberals did not have enough lower house seats to be recognised as a party.
While Labor reigns supreme in the lower house, in the Legislative Council, which has a new reshaped proportional voting system, there are now 10 Liberals, four Greens, two Nationals, one One Nation and one Legalise Cannabis MP. The last Legislative Council seat will likely go to the Australian Christians.
As Labor no longer has majority control of both houses, it will need the votes of three other minor parties in the Legislative Council to pass any of its new bills.
The Greens received a swing of almost 5%, large by WA standards, going from one to four upper house positions.
Greens MP Brad Pettitt said on March 9 as “hundreds of thousands of West Australians have voted for progressive change” Labor should “work constructively” with the Greens, rather than the Liberals and far-right parties.
The swing against Labor in some traditional areas was reflected by progressive independent candidate Kate Hulett nearly winning Fremantle from Labor’s Simone McGurk, who was sitting on a 27% margin.
Hulett, who claimed not to be associated with the Teal grouping of independent candidates in federal parliament, was nevertheless supported by Climate 200, which gave her campaign $50,000.
McGurk conceded on March 10 that voters had sent Labor a message on the environment and climate change. She was eventually declared the winner, with a margin of 430 votes.
Hulett announced on March 24 she will contest the federal seat of Fremantle against Labor’s Josh Wilson, who has a 16% majority. She has also announced she opposes AUKUS, saying the money could be better spent.