The WA National Party should be heading into parliament’s winter break full of confidence.
The annual WA Farmers conference on Friday confirmed the growing anger among rural and regional voters over a number of Labor policies — in particular, the federal government’s live sheep export ban.
But instead, the party is dealing with the fallout from yet another MP quitting, which has left just two men standing.
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Upper House MLC Louise Kingston sensationally quit the party on Thursday and used parliamentary privilege to drop a bomb on her way out — accusing WA Nationals leader Shane Love of “relentless bullying and harassment” just before parliament wrapped for the winter break.
Mr Love emphatically denied the claims.
He pointed out that Ms Kingston had never lodged a formal complaint to the party, implying that she made the claims because she was upset about being dropped down the party’s upper house ticket.
“I think that this is the result of a difficult and bruising pre-selection process, but we’ve gone through that, and we have now pre-selected candidates for the upper house who are great champions for regional Western Australia,” he said.
Mass exodus
But the accusations made against Mr Love aside, the party is grappling with a mass exodus.
Of the seven Nationals MPs elected in 2021, just two are re-contesting their seats.
Former leader Mia Davies announced her plans to retire last year, and her colleagues Martin Aldridge and Colin de Grussa followed suit.
Last year, North West Central MP Merome Beard, who had been elected as a Nationals member after Vince Catania announced his plans to retire, defected to the Liberals.
That leaves just Shane Love and his deputy Peter Rundle as the only sitting MPs running as Nationals in the March state election.
‘Renewal’, or destruction?
On Friday, Mr Love spun this exodus as a time of “renewal” for the party.
“We’ve been in opposition now for two terms and people make reflections upon their futures,” he said.
“It’s not about personalities, it’s about where they see themselves going in the future, and other people are coming forward wanting to take part in an exciting future for the National Party.”
But privately, some MPs who have left the party don’t have quite such a rosy view — saying the departures are a reflection on the overall state of affairs.
The party had been riding a wave of positive momentum following several Labor policies that have proved unpopular with its rural and regional base.
WA Labor’s failed cultural heritage act, an overhaul of firearms regulations, and federal Labor’s live sheep export ban have all attracted a significant backlash in regional communities.
These policies give the WA Nationals clear platforms to take to voters in 2025.
But now the challenge will be finding a way to fully capitalise on this discontent, despite the party’s depleted size and with serious concerns over its unity.
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