WA election 2025: Daniel Pastorelli assures voters he knows how to ‘get things done’ as campaign draws to end

The Premier’s right-hand man is keeping any ministerial ambitions to himself but has assured voters in Landsdale he knows how to “get things done” as the State election campaign enters its final week. Daniel Pastorelli, 37, has been one of the few people in the room to influence the biggest decisions impacting WA, as chief of staff to both Premiers Mark McGowan and Roger Cook. Now he is running for election himself, but he wouldn’t be drawn on speculation he’s on the cabinet track when The West Australian joined him on the campaign trail. “I’m not focused on that stuff,” he said. “I have a great relationship with the Premier. I’ve known Roger for a very long time and I’ve obviously worked with him closely the last 18 months or so. “The thing about Roger is that he’ll pick up the phone to anyone in his caucus, he’s very good at talking to anyone in his team, listening to them, hearing their advice. That’s one of his strengths.” Does he heed your advice? “Of course.” The Premier said on Friday that his loyal lieutenant had to “earn his stripes” and get elected first. If successful, he’ll receive a six-figure payout from his current job as chief of staff, but an MP’s base salary of $173,393 would amount to a pay cut. He is currently paid at least $310,000 a year. “Yeah, the wife and I had a discussion about that, definitely,” Mr Pastorelli said. “(People) think that politicians are on huge dollars and you are on a decent salary, of course, but it wasn’t about the money. It was about what was going to be fulfilling.” Hitting the pavement in his local neighbourhood, Mr Pastorelli was quick to find common ground with voters who answered his knock at the door, chatting about schools, parks and traffic snarls. And he was adept at ensuring Labor’s message hits home with one voter declaring she always votes for Labor locally but won’t in the Federal election that is looming large after. Mr Pastorelli has a 25 per cent margin up his sleeve, courtesy retiring Labor MP Margaret Quirk, but though he hasn’t seen much anger from locals, he admitted he has been surprised by the level of apathy. “In terms of disengagement, I think post-Covid we were so engaged in what was happening and everyone was exhausted,” he said. “So now the level of interest and knowledge of what’s happening is very low, that’s not a surprise but it’s probably more than I expected.” He described the pandemic as both the highlight and hardest moment of his career so far. “Nothing is more important than saving people’s lives and saving people’s jobs,” he said. But though he’s always been politically active and a prominent Government figure behind the scenes, Mr Pastorelli insisted the decision to put his own name on the ballot paper was not an easy one. And was not part of his original career plan. “Probably the trigger was Mark (McGowan’s) retirement,” he said. “I was thinking about ‘OK well what do I do next’ because I realised I can’t be a chief of staff to a Labor premier for the rest of my life. “Mark was big on me running, as was Roger, and then I was still pretty much against it but then the news came that Margaret (Quirk) was retiring here and I thought, well, I love what I do. “Being able to do things, solve problems, I want to be able to continue doing that . . . this is my shot.” Mr Pastorelli is one of 17 new Labor faces vying for a seat in the Legislative Assembly, after a series of retirements opened the door for generational change. Former speaker Michelle Roberts and Ministers Sue Ellery, John Quigley and David Templeman are among senior Labor figures making way for new blood. Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams is aiming to fill Mr Templeman’s shoes but has vowed he won’t be following in his footsteps as Labor’s most vocal performer in Parliament. “I spend a fair bit of time explaining to people that they’ll only ask me to sing or dance once and then I won’t get asked again,” he laughed. While Mr Pastorelli’s family had a long affiliation with Labor, through his shop steward father, Mr Williams said his family never talked politics. School community projects and a chance encounter with former mayor Paddi Creevey inspired him to get involved. “A lot of people moving here were younger people, young families, and that wasn’t reflected in the representation of the community so that’s where the drive came from,” he said. He was 21 years old when first elected to council in 2009 but resigned as mayor in January to campaign full time for the State election. Mr Williams rated cost of living and health the biggest issues in Mandurah in 2025 and conceded patience was running out, five years after a $152 million redevelopment of Peel Health Campus was promised. “There’s always complexities when you’re talking about a major project like that, bringing it back into public hands was important,” he said. “But I also think there’s an expectation in the community that it gets on with pretty fast and that it’s delivered.” If it’s not delivered on time, Mr Williams knows there’s a certain voter who will blame him. “One of the conversations that will really stick with me was a guy who said he’s not typically a Labor voter,” he said. “He said he’s going to give me a crack, but he was really really pointed about ‘do not change, because I will tell you’ . . . I’m also fortunate to have a wife and family who will tell me to pull my head in. I think that’s important.” Accountant Michelle Maynard is the Labor candidate for Swan Hills, in the wake of the shock resignation of rising star Jessica Shaw to return to the private sector. Ms Maynard said “people are loving the train” but vowed that delivery of the Ellenbrook rail line did not amount to “job done” for Labor in Swan Hills. “Oh so much to do, the Ellenbrook pool is underway and that’s something that, again, people have been waiting for for a really long time,” she said. “The population out here just keeps growing, so with that comes the need for infrastructure and services.” She’s aiming to be a “good, local, solid” politician in a government that already has plenty of ambition waiting on the backbench, as Labor aims for a historic third term. But Ms Maynard hasn’t started daring to think about her first day State Parliament. “It’s like applying for a job that you don’t know how to do until you kind of get in there,” she said. “I’m just happy and willing to learn and work from everybody.”