The West Australian state election 2021 — pick your poison

From the APP WA Chairman

The West Australian state election of March 13, 2021 is pretty much your run-of-the-mill Hobson’s Choice between two very unappealing major party candidates. Both Labor premier Mark McGowan and new Liberal leader Zak Kirkup are very eager to sell the notion that WA is just a stone’s throw away from being devastated by a killer pandemic that will see West Australians start dropping like flies should either of them open state borders or lessen, relax or reverse any of the various reforms intended to “keep West Australians safe”. This means things like the customer service plexi-screen barriers will be there for a while yet. So too, will the Covid tracking and tracing measures brought in by the McGowan government late last year.

Whilst both party leaders dance to the controlled media’s tune, and promise to “take the advice of the Chief Health Officer” (who is paid by the government anyway), West Australians can either way expect basically more-of-the-same, with both leaders doing whatever they perceive will best help their own election chances. Of course, both leaders are enthusiastic to sell Covid-19 vaccines to the WA public, although neither is openly indicating that they will be too draconian about it. They know vaccine-skepticism is growing.

Perhaps one of Mark McGowan’s best assets is that he isn’t Daniel Andrews, although he has praised Andrews for his zeal in “protecting Victorians” from the dreaded ’rona. McGowan deserves some credit for halting the trend under the previous Barnett government of privatising WA assets and their over-eagerness to sell anything and everything to China. However, the McGowan government has also opportunistically brought in a series of draconian measures in response to the dreaded ’rona threat, including extraordinary powers protecting the WA government from any liability.

Liberal leader Zak Kirkup is a wet-behind-the-ears 33 year old, and a real gamble for the WA Liberal Party. In a desperate attempt to appeal to the inner-city Leftie brigade, Kirkup has vowed to move to phase out WA’s coal industry. His promotion to WA Liberal Party leader is a clear sign of the obvious lack of talent in the state party.

So, it’s pick-your-poison for WA. The McGowan government deserves a kick up the backside, but it’s doubtful that Zak Kirkup deserves to be WA premier.

The Australian Protectionist Party recommends voters consider local electorate candidates and issues on their merits. We recommend a vote for any of the following parties at the 2021 state election:

Health Australia Party
Great Australian Party
No Mandatory Vaccination Party
Australian Christians (WA)
Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (WA)
The major parties, the Greens and the Socialist Alliance should be put last.

References:
Clive Palmer’s legal action against WA will ‘absolutely’ be quashed by new law, Premier says”, ABC News, 14 August 2020 (Eliza Laschon)
Urgent legislation to support State’s COVID-19 response”, Government of Western Australia, 31 March 2020 (Mark McGowan, WA Premier)
Clive Palmer’s legal row with WA is far from over, despite urgent laws to block his damages claim”, ABC News, 14 August 2020 (Rhiannon Shine and Nicolas Perpitch)

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