State election 2021: The West Australian readers respond to Premier Mark McGowan’s landslide victory

Readers of The West Australian from across the political spectrum have responded passionately to the historic result of the 2021 State election. Premier Mark McGowan led WA Labor to a landslide victory of epic proportions, with readers rushing to share their views with the paper. Here’s what they had to say. Once great party has been destroyed In politics the punters rarely get it wrong and on Saturday it was ever so true. The notion of voting for a discredited, corrupted and incompetent party led by an inexperienced novice entirely out of his depth was incomprehensible to all but the few most loyal Liberal supporters. Equally, punters detest sooks and losers. The very notion of supporting a team without hope, courage or grit is an anathema to a nation which cheers on triers with “have a go, ya mug” as part of its lexicon. The farce of conceding defeat, continuing to put out policies which were consequently never to be implemented, then being entirely unable to explain their implementation cost, illustrated to the public that the Liberal Party was not fit to govern. Having accepted it could not win, the Liberal Party proceeded to tell the voters, lest they be tempted to vote Liberal, that if elected they had plans to destroy jobs and introduce an absurd eenrgy policy the Greens would be proud of. If giving the Labor Party too much power was dangerous, how dangerous was giving the Liberal Party any power? Kirkup’s foolish promotion to leader, having not the slightest skerrick of necessary attributes. was the product of those power brokers who would rather lose government with a person they controlled than win with one they did not. The utter destruction of this once great party which has governed Western Australian for 44 years since its founding need not have been so. Those MPs who stood compliantly by, often in hope of reward, are as guilty and responsible as the powerbrokers who contrived its takeover by a religious group and the crude manipulation of its internal voting forums. Unless the few good men and women in the Liberal Party lay organisation have the courage to expose its cancer and grasp a scapel, oblivion will be its permanent fate. Noel Crichton-Browne, Leighton They took us for granted The Libs took us, the voter, for granted. The leadership change so close to poll date was a monumental disaster. I voted for Labor for the first time in my life. The main reason was Mark McGowan’s leadership and decisive, courageous decision making. To win me back to the Liberal party requires a demonstration of capable candidates, capable leaders, and, most importantly, respect for the ordinary voter. Congratulations to Labor. Chris Krishnan, Madeley Dirty tactics shameful I applaud Mark McGowan for his outstanding win. It was inevitable he would retake the West Australian premiership, and he knew it all along. So why did he have to indulge in a dirty advertising campaign against Zak Kirkup, making an absolute fool out of him? There was never a need to do that and he should feel ashamed of the needless pettiness. I vote for a minor party, but I have admired Mark McGowan for his solid leadership, but he has gone way down in my estimation for indulging in such poor behaviour. Rae Le Serve, Gooseberry Hill ScoMo should’ve come Whilst it is debatable whether it would have made a difference, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s decision not to visit WA during the run up to polling day in the State election was a disgraceful move by the federal Liberal Party. Is he so arrogant and full of himself he could not visit for a day during the election? Perhaps he should take a close look at what happened to the Liberal Party here, as he is not bulletproof. Sam McDonald, Dawesville Keep them honest Without a strong State Opposition for the foreseeable future, it will be essential to provide feedback to our elected local members of Parliament through emails, letters and phone calls. If there will not be checks and balances in state Parliament, then the public needs to provide those checks on the new very powerful State Government. Ron Peckitt, Duncraig No revolution coming Why is everyone counting it as a disaster if Labor takes both Houses of Parliament? We are used to Liberal governments holding both. And for you lot who think we are in for a socialist revolution, look again. It is Mark McGowan not Comrade Mark. At least Labor can fulfil its visions. As far as I know, they don’t have many. John Rome, Mt Lawley Liberal powerbrokers to blame Wherever it exists, the Liberal Party proclaims itself as a “broad church” in that it welcomes the membership and active participation of a wide variety of liberal thinkers. WA Liberals in their selection of candidates over the last decade have taken the church descriptor somewhat too literally, but unfortunately the adjective that best fits many of these candidates is narrow-minded. I’m sure that many West Australian electors would agree with Zak Kirkup that a strong democracy needs a strong opposition. But the actions of Nick Goiran and his ilk in the Legislative Council made us doubt the suitability of the Liberals in opposition to rationally review the Government’s legislation and represent the interests of a secular State. It will be interesting to see the final composition of the Legislative Council when all the votes are counted to see if it can be an effective body in reviewing Government legislation and ensuring the best interests of all the State are considered. Emlyn Jones, Hazelmere Canberra take note If the WA Liberals want to avoid another shellacking in WA when the Federal election comes around, the biggest take-outs from Saturday’s result should be that voters much prefer politicians to be focused on the people’s needs and interests, not ideologically-driven games, together with competent, honest governance instead of one appalling ministerial scandal after another. Scott Morrison has a lot to learn from Mark McGowan, and he needs to learn the lessons fast if he hopes to retain seats in WA such as Pearce, Hasluck and Canning. McGowan’s massive victory proves that the Liberals can no longer take anything for granted in this State. Anthony Negus, Beverley Refreshing change How exciting to see so many new young Labor members of our State Parliament, particularly young women. These young people should be encouraged and emboldened by the knowledge that many thousands of seniors, who previously voted Liberal, are confident enough in their abilities to change their long held political preferences. Fresh eyes and fresh ideas will be very successfully guided by the many experienced incumbents, a mix of both old and new. Should we also be encouraged that the Liberals have at long last achieved parity? Deirdre McGorry, Greenmount Equality at last Congratulations to the WA Liberal party for finally achieving 50 per cent female representation in its Legislative Assembly team. K. Sullivan, Greenwood Basil on the money In his post-election article about what went wrong for the Liberals (Sunday Times, 14/3), Basil Zempilas hit the nail on the head — Mark McGowan had the required “instinct”. Some call it reading the play, and in the army they call it situational awareness. McGowan got inside the voters’ heads and recognised exactly what they were telling him. He understood, he delivered and he was rewarded. That’s how elections work and the Liberals never got that, particularly the old guard. Even on election night, when the result was clear, the likes of Liza Harvey were carrying on about the extreme danger of handing Labor too much power. This type of hubris is exactly the problem. The people strongly disagreed — end of story. It’s a shame Zak Kirkup is walking away from politics. Yes he was inexperienced but he tried to connect with the people and, unfortunately, was obviously fed some appalling advice. Time heals all wounds and, thanks to his colleagues’ lack of instinct and voter arrogance, he is likely to have at least 12 years to change his mind. John Nelson, Swanbourne Party to blame It should be of no surprise, the election result, really. The Labor party already knew what a lot of voters already thought. The Liberal party has become very lazy, to the extent that the best option to admit defeat was to trot out that it would be a COVID defeat. No it was not — you were all invisible during the campaign except Zak Kirkup who was put up as the scapegoat. Very poor form Liberals. Shame, shame, shame. Greg Purdue, Ocean Reef Send him to the Senate There was media talk about Zak Kirkup being too young, at age 34, to be Leader of the Opposition in WA. Yet Ben Small, the nominated replacement Senator for Mathias Cormann, is aged 32. So age is not really an issue for the Liberal Party. If Senator Linda Reynolds decides to retire, thus creating a Senate vacancy, might Mr Kirkup be a suitable contender to replace her? He seems quite personable and it might be too soon for him to retire from the world of politics. Catherine Sullivan, Queanbeyan NSW Broken polling system It did my heart good to see election analyst Antony Green lose his cool on live TV and slam this State’s preferential voting system. He outlined a case where you vote for one party and, due to who he referred to as the faceless preference dealers, you get exactly the opposite. If you choose not to be cannon fodder and vote below the line, you have 64 chances to make a mistake and your vote is then invalid. The system is broken and needs to be fixed. Gary Sprunt, Jandakot Dinosaurs deposed Congratulations to Mr McGowan on his overwhelming election victory. Now I hope we will hear some mention of what will be done for the following issues — homelessness, ambulance ramping and delays to elective surgery, regional services and community safety. It’s not all about how well we’ve avoided COVID and Metronet. Commiserations to Mr Kirkup. I’m sorry we’re losing an energetic and seemingly honest politician, although, on the plus side, we’ve got rid of the majority of those dinosaurs who handed you that poisoned challis. Best wishes for your future. W. Stewart, Hocking Address mental health Mr Premier, congratulations on your historic, well earned win. And perhaps now is a good time to ask for increased funding for desperately needed improvements to mental health facilities, especially in rural areas? Brian Plester, Como Good candidate lost To the journalist who recommended voting against the proposed Liberal candidate for South Perth, you were correct. The proposed candidate wasn’t “like for like” with the previous Liberal incumbent — the new candidate was driven, energetic and deeply concerned about the residents. D. Morgan, South Perth Reap what you sow Congratulations Western Australians all! You have just mandated the first ever democratic dictatorship. Don’t complain about anything ever again. Do as you are told and you can vote again in four years. In the meantime, whatever happens serves you right! Greg Simpson, Belhus State’s let me down I was born in Perth and used to be proud of being an West Australian, but the rest of you have let me down this weekend. You have very short memories because you are forgetting one simple fact — all Labor policies are based around communism. Good luck, because you are going to need it. Ross Anderson, Craigieburn, Victoria Standing room only I have just picked up my elderly mother from mass at the local church. Much to my surprise, she complained about how tired she was after having to stand up for the whole service. When I expressed my dismay that nobody in the whole church would stand up so that an 88-year-old woman could sit down, she explained to me that everybody had to stand — apparently Labor had taken all the seats on Saturday night. Ivan Monaghan, Morley