WA Labor Party seeks third term in upcoming State election as Mark Mcgowan’s shadow looms large

The ghost of Mark McGowan still looms large for the WA Labor Party as it seeks a historic third term at the upcoming State election. Premier Roger Cook said on Sunday that he trusts his party’s experience over the paper-thin Liberals will be a hit with voters at the March polls. But with less than six months to go until West Australians cast their votes, many still yearn for Mr McGowan, despite him retiring from politics more than a year ago. A new opinion poll has found more than a third of West Australians either don’t know who his successor is or have no opinion of him. That man is Mr Cook, and in an exclusive interview with The West Australian to mark 500 days in the top job, he said the election will offer WA a choice. “The Liberals represent a risk,” he said. “My team has the experience now and the runs on the board … So whether I’m debating Libby (Mettam), whether I’m debating Shane (Love), that’s not important” Mr Cook described the prospect of his first election as leader as an “important milestone” and said he was expecting a tight contest, knowing Labor is unlikely to retain all 53 seats it holds in the 59-seat Legislative Assembly. He nominated the economy and cost of living as the main election battlegrounds and turning WA into a “renewable energy powerhouse” as his signature policy. LEADERSHIP APPROVAL But voters still long for Mr Cook’s predecessor, according to the poll by Freshwater Strategy, with Mr McGowan miles ahead of all other WA political figures with a net approval rating of +41. The good news for Labor and Mr Cook is that his popularity is still rubbing off on them, with the Premier’s net approval rating of +7 the next best for an individual. He was ahead of Liberal leader Ms Mettam (+4), Nationals leader Mr Love (-2) and Perth Lord Mayor and Liberal candidate Basil Zempilas (-4). Mr Cook is leading Ms Mettam 46-34 as preferred premier, but 20 per cent of voters are yet to make up their minds. And 82 per cent of voters were either “unsure” or had “never heard of” official Opposition Leader Mr Love, putting a big question mark over the WA Nationals’ new strategy to compete for metropolitan seats. Mr Cook wouldn’t be drawn on leadership rumours surrounding Liberal candidate for Churchlands Mr Zempilas, but said his prominence is a sign the party is struggling under its current leadership. “Basil seems to be taking on a life of his own and is making announcements on behalf of the Liberal Party. It is another example of how dysfunctional and chaotic they are,” he said. Labor’s iron grip over State Parliament will be loosened, with electoral reforms that mean 50,000 votes are enough to win a seat in the legislative council. The Greens and One Nation are vying for the balance of power in the upper house, which could impact the Government’s legislative agenda. COST OF LIVING The Premier believes a strong economy will decide the election and said diversification was his focus, to secure the “jobs of the future”. He hinted that voters can expect more cost-of-living relief, on top of free public transport for students and free entry to the Perth Royal Show and Perth Zoo for kids. But he said the Commonwealth was better placed to directly impact inflation. “I think we’re now starting to see the peak of that inflation starting to come off, which will hopefully lead to lower interest rates,” Mr Cook said. HEALTH IN CRISIS The state of WA’s health system looms as a big issue at the election and Mr Cook argued ambulance ramping had improved this year, although at 5982 hours in August, it remains five times the 1100 hours he declared a “crisis” when in Opposition. “What represents a crisis is when a government says, ‘I give up, I don’t know what the solution is’, which is what the Barnett government did,” he said on Sunday. “We have a whole range of programs.” Pressed on whether ramping can return to pre-COVID levels under 2000 hours, he said, “I think it can”, but refused to say when and put the onus on the Federal Government. “Well, it’s a complex system and we don’t have control of all those parts of the system. We don’t have control of aged care, we don’t have control of primary care. So we just need to make sure our hospitals are working as best they can,” he said. Mr Cook denied that amounted to blame-shifting. “I think it’s self-evident that our primary care system is struggling at the moment. It is very evident that our residential aged care system at the moment is at full capacity,” he said. JUVENILE JUSTICE There was also no tangible timetable to close Unit 18, in the wake of the death of Cleveland Dodd. Plans to replace it with a high-security “therapeutic” detention facility next to Banksia Hill were announced in November 2023, with a business case due to be finished by May. The Premier said that work was still ongoing and might not be complete before the election. “We have to do it properly and we have to make sure we get it right.” But he insisted progress has been made. “Today there are just 57 young people in (Banksia Hill), only four in unit 18… It will close when it is safe to close,” Mr Cook said.