Western Aspect

Labor has 32 members in the Legislative Assembly – 14 more than their Liberal opponents and 7 more than all non-Labor members combined.

Labor, with the support of the Greens, also holds sway in the Legislative Council.

At the next election Labor could win something in the order of 37 seats with a total of 22 non-Labor seats.

The Liberal Party is, in most respects, irrelevant in the State Parliament. Due to the botched handling of the one vote one value legislation that situation will continue for many years into the future.

Business donors will not give money to an irrelevant organisation that can not offer anything in return. Members won’t voluntarily join a party that offers no avenue for meaningful input and that sanctions morally deficient acts of self-interest.

Traditional funding sources are rapidly drying up. The Liberals have seen the writing on the wall and, in league with the ALP, seek to ensure their continued survival at the expense of the taxpayer.

The present plight of the Liberal Party can be laid squarely at the feet of faction leaders that have knowingly and deliberately destroyed the Party to secure their own positions.

The introduction of taxpayer-funded elections is but one example – albeit a shameless and utterly indefensible one – of how Western Australia will suffer as a result of personal greed and ambition.

None the less, I hold on to the hope that more individual Liberal MP’s will realise the depth of public outrage at this move and will reject it.

The message that would send to the voting public and the resulting restoration of confidence in the Party would be the first step toward the eventual return of a Liberal State Government.