Western Australian general election, 2005
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| Legislative Assembly election, 2005 | ||||
| Party | Vote % | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 41.9 | ↑4.7 | 32 | ↑1 |
| Liberals | 35.6 | ↑4.5 | 18 | ↑2 |
| Nationals | 3.7 | ↑0.4 | 5 | 0 |
| Independents | 2 | ↓3 | ||
| Labor win | ||||
A general election was held for parliamentary seats in the Australian state of Western Australia on Saturday 26 February 2005. The incumbent Australian Labor Party, led by Premier Geoff Gallop, retained its comfortable majority, picking up one seat in the Legislative Assembly. The Coalition gained two seats, well short of their target.
The election was fought amidst a generally solid economic outlook for Western Australia, as well as the personal popularity of the premier, who had implemented socially progressive and economically conservative policies during his first term in office.
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[edit] Campaign
Despite only needing a small swing to win government, the Liberal Party under Barnett squandered a 12-point opinion poll lead between December 2004 and election day. Barnett's campaign-trail performance, and in particular his promise to build an enormous—and uncosted—drinking-water canal, was widely blamed. Adding to Barnett's woes, the Liberals and Nationals, who had only recently renegotiated a coalition agreement, fell out with each other publicly early in the campaign over the Nationals' agreement with Labor not to contest Mining and Pastoral in order to receive Labor preferences elsewhere, and a visit by Wilson Tuckey to key Nationals seats.[1]
The Australian concluded that despite the failings of the Gallop government, "Some of [Barnett's] policies are pitched to prejudice and economic ignorance, and he has made no convincing case he would be a competent premier." For The Australian, "The strongest case for a second Gallop Government is made by Mr Barnett."
[edit] Results
[edit] Legislative Assembly
[edit] Marginal seats
According to ABC analyst Antony Green, the following seats were notionally marginal (that is, held with two-party-preferred margins of 6% or less) heading into the 2005 election. Among the Labor-held seats:
- Bunbury (0.2%)
- Swan Hills (0.3%)
- Mindarie (1.2%)
- Collie-Wellington (2.6%)
- Geraldton (2.7%)
- Joondalup (3.1%)
- Riverton (3.1%)
- Wanneroo (3.1%)
- Albany (3.7%)
- Ballajura (4.8%)
- North West Coastal (5.4%)
The independent-held seat of Vasse, whose member had quit the Liberal Party disputing preselection processes, was considered to be notionally Liberal given that the sitting MP had been elected as a party member. This seat was held against the ALP on a margin of 4.1%.
Factoring in boundary changes since the last election, the Liberal-held seat of Murray was considered to be notionally ALP-held, with a margin of 0.7%.
The other Liberal marginals were:
- Darling Range (0.6%)
- Kalgoorlie (1.0%)
- Kingsley (2.5%)
- Murdoch (4.1%)
- Serpentine-Jarrahdale (4.2%)
- Hillarys (4.4%)
- Carine (5.1%)
No National Party-held seats were considered marginal.
[edit] Results
In the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, all three major parties enjoyed positive swings, mainly due to the massive drop in the One Nation vote from 2001. Labor retained 32 seats on 41.88% of the first-preference vote, and its comfortable Assembly majority. The opposition Liberal Party of Australia picked up two seats for a total of 18 on 35.64%. The National Party of Australia, the Liberals' coalition partner, retained five seats on 3.69%. Two of the four independents lost their seats.
In percentage terms, the Australian Greens polled third behind Labor and the Liberals to take 7.57% of the first-preference vote. Christian Democrats and the Family First Party took 2.93% and 2.02%; the One Nation Party took 1.64%.
When the result was declared:
- the Australian Labor Party gained 2 and lost 1, finishing with 32 seats
- the Liberal Party of Australia gained 4 and lost 2, finishing with 18 seats
- the National Party of Australia gained 1 and lost 1, finishing with 5 seats
- the independents lost 3, finishing with 2 seats.
[edit] Changing hands
- In Bunbury, local mayor John Castrilli beat one-term Labor MP Tony Dean, turning a marginal Labor seat to marginal Liberal with a swing of 1%.
- Labor won Central Kimberley-Pilbara with the retirement of the sitting independent MP, Larry Graham. Graham had held the seat for Labor before losing preselection in 1999 and retaining the seat without party endorsement. Tom Stephens was elected with a swing of 4.4%.
- In Greenough, one-term Liberal MP Jamie Edwards was defeated by the Nationals' Grant Woodhams with the help of the third-placed ALP candidate's preferences.
- Labor took the seat of Kingsley from the Liberals, whose sitting MP, Cheryl Edwardes, was retiring, with a swing of 3.6%.
- Murray, a new seat created in a redistribution to replace Liberal-held Murray-Wellington, was notionally a Labor-held seat. Retiring Murray-Wellington MP John Bradshaw was replaced by the Liberals' Murray Cowper.
- Roe, a staunchly conservative seat, elected the Liberals' Graham Jacobs to replace retiring Nationals MP Ross Ainsworth, with the ALP candidate placing third.
- The retiring independent MP — and former Liberal — Phillip Pendal in South Perth chose to endorse and campaign for the Liberals' John McGrath rather than another independent. This helped McGrath win the seat despite Labor and the Greens preferencing high-profile independent candidate Jim Grayden.
- The Liberals regained the seat of Vasse from independent Bernie Masters, who had earlier resigned from the party after losing preselection. The Liberals' Troy Buswell was elected.
[edit] Legislative Council
In the Legislative Council, Labor and the Liberals each gained three seats, at the expense of the Greens and One Nation. The latter party saw its parliamentary representation wiped out.
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| Legislative Council election, 2005 | ||||||||||
| Region | Labor | Liberals | Nationals | Greens | One Nation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | Quotas | Seats | Quotas | Seats | Quotas | Seats | Quotas | Seats | Quotas | |
| Agricultural | 1 | 1.60 | 3 | 2.36 | 1 | 1.16 | 0 | 0.26 | 0 | 0.18 |
| East Metropolitan | 3 | 3.04 | 2 | 1.93 | 0 | 0.39 | 0 | 0.12 | ||
| Mining & Pastoral | 3 | 2.64 | 2 | 2.14 | 0 | 0.45 | 0 | 0.12 | ||
| North Metropolitan | 3 | 3.39 | 3 | 3.23 | 1 | 0.70 | 0 | 0.07 | ||
| South Metropolitan | 3 | 2.79 | 2 | 2.16 | 0 | 0.47 | 0 | 0.07 | ||
| South West | 3 | 3.02 | 3 | 3.12 | 0 | 0.43 | 1 | 0.61 | 0 | 0.17 |
| Change since 2001 | ↑3 | ↑3 | 0 | ↓3 | ↓3 | |||||
| Total | 16 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |||||
[edit] Electoral system
Government is formed in the lower house of parliament, the Legislative Assembly. The assembly consists of 57 single-member seats elected through preferential voting. Voters must allocate preferences in order for their vote to be valid.
Up until and including the 2005 election, a system of zonal malapportionment where rural and remote seats had a lower number of electors, giving them a greater weight in Parliament than their populations would ordinarily merit, was in place.
The Western Australian Legislative Council consists of 34 members, elected for fixed four-year terms. Each member is elected using a proportional and preferential voting system using the single transferable vote method, and represents one of six multi-member regions. Two of the regions elect seven members, while four elect five.
[edit] References
- ^ ABC Online. "Coalition infighting intensifies with Labor preference deal", 13 February 2005. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
* Taylor, Robert. "Tuckey in dirty tricks - Nationals", The West Australian, 12 February 2005, pp. 9.
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Western Australia Election 2005
- Western Australian Electoral Commission
- University of Western Australia: Australian Government and Politics Database
[edit] See also
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