OPINION: The state’s electoral redistribution commissioners shouldn’t expect Christmas cards from opposition leader Liza Harvey, former Labor minister Margaret Quirk or the first-term member for Joondalup, Emily Hamilton.
OPINION: The redistribution of the state’s electoral boundaries have thrown a spanner in the works for the Liberal opposition, and a few Labor MPs.
The state’s electoral redistribution commissioners shouldn’t expect Christmas cards from opposition leader Liza Harvey, former Labor minister Margaret Quirk or the first-term member for Joondalup, Emily Hamilton.
Three commissioners, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Eric Heenan, have just completed their eight-month review of the boundaries for the state’s 59 Legislative Assembly seats, taking into account the effect of population changes.
Their final report is bad news for the Liberal Party and several Labor backbenchers, including Ms Quirk (whose safe seat of Girrawheen was abolished) and Ms Hamilton in her volatile electorate of Joondalup.
After the last election wipeout with Colin Barnett as leader, the Liberals hold just 13 of the 59 assembly seats.
When combined with traditional allies the National Party’s six seats, it means that they must take a further 11 seats from Mark McGowan’s Labor government to gain power.
According to ABC election analyst Antony Green, the new boundaries mean the uniform swing required to defeat Labor has increased from 5.8 per cent to 7.9 per cent under the new arrangements.
Redistributions occur every four years to ensure that all seats have roughly equal numbers of voters. Concessions are provided for sparsely populated electorates in the north, which can have fewer voters.
The Liberals were hoping for an electoral bounce when Ms Harvey successfully challenged Mike Nahan for the leadership in June. At least a neutral redistribution would have given them heart.
The view was that, under a fresh leader, many of the seats lost to Labor would automatically swing back, and a lot of Labor MPs would prove to be one-termers.
That opinion has changed, however, taking into account the capacity of the new MPs to build personal followings and become better known to their voters.
And the redistribution cards haven’t fallen the Liberals’ way.
Two Liberal frontbenchers facing an anxious time are Peter Katsambanis, whose margin in Hillarys has been cut to 0.6 per cent, and Zak Kirkup (considered a rising star), who gained a wafer-thin benefit in Dawesville, with a new margin of just 0.8 per cent.
The redistribution wasn’t all one-sided, however.
Labor’s Ms Hamilton was elected in 2017 in Joondalup by just 0.6 per cent. Boundary changes mean her seat is notionally Liberal by 0.4 per cent, based on the voting pattern last time.
Ms Quirk was the only MP whose seat was abolished.
She has represented Girrawheen since 2001, and will now have to contest the new seat of Landsdale, which on paper is reasonably safe Labor with a margin of 9.6 per cent.
However, no longer being the sitting member adds uncertainty.
There was a view that, although governments usually win a second term, the Liberals would come back strongly next time, encouraged by the solid support at the May federal poll.
However, the redistribution commissioners have sounded a new note of uncertainty.
Accountability call
The chairman of State Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, Labor MP Tony Buti, has called for more stringent financial controls within government agencies, including for senior project managers to be personally responsible for reporting the results of their projects and contracts.
Dr Buti made the call when releasing his committee’s latest report on public sector contracts.
It coincided with charges being laid against a former senior bureaucrat, Paul Whyte, for his part in the alleged theft of $2.5 million (with suggestions the amount could be as high as $25 million) from the Department of Communities.
In an extraordinary twist, the department told the committee it had no concerns ‘About the capacity or capability of the internal audit function’.
It claimed this provided assurance that internal processes had been sufficient to manage risks and achieve outcomes.
But the government agreed with Dr Buti and has moved to implement increased integrity in the auditing of government agencies to achieve greater accountability.
Weaknesses in the processes of several agencies have been highlighted in recent months with the Health Department’s procedures, including in the North Metropolitan Health Service, coming under intense scrutiny. A more rigorous approach to financial controls across government has been long overdue.
