WA State Election 2013

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Category: Politics

Written by President, Fagmedia.com

The 2013 Western Australian State Election Campaigns run by ALL parties seemed aimed at collecting votes from the big end of town or from large easy to access demographics while ignoring golden check out chicks and the small end of town!

As predicted Colin Barnett's Government did not lose power at the March 9 Election but lost seats, e.g. Albany in those places where LNP candidates ignored ordinary people and those in the "diverse" demographic.

There is a history of Mediocre Incumbent Governments being able to lose an election campaign and still hold onto power, but in this election campaign the result was driven by the failure of WA Labor!

The problem for all Western Australian Voters is that there was no contest in the campaign. WA Labor offered one big idea with no back up vision or Plan B so when the campaign derailed McGowan was left looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights waiting for the hunter to pounce.

Instead of attacking the Liberals Strong forehand side "Betty's Jetty", WA Labor should have directed the conversation onto health "paper sheets on beds" & the 1911 Public Health Act, Gonski, Cost of living Increases and the environment.  

Perth is in the middle of an affordable housing crisis and No Major Party had a policy that rated more than a blip by the campaign worm. This is not something any of them should be proud of!

WA Labor tried to run a US Presidential Style Campaign but ended up with a brand haunted by, a perception of being out of date, tired tokenism, controlled by union hack support groups and unready for government.

What was meant to be envisioned as a Leader riding to campaign on a War Stallion with armoured knights following, turned out resembling more a Ring Leader in a Circus where the only entertainment is a "Committee of One" with a one trick pony!

Metronet started out with a big bang, but proved to be more style than substance. When the finances didn't stack up, WA Labor thought pruning the New WA Museum would do what? Lose the Seat of Perth? At the end of the day Metronet looked like it was a PR inspired London Underground Map, retweeked by a 1st year graphic design student!

Banning the Member for Lalor from WA during a State Campaign is one thing but excluding the Prime Minister of Australia was a disrespect to the Office of Prime Minister that did not sit well with the people.

The only meaningful question this situtation raised in the minds of voters was: If WA Labor is unable to work with a Federal Government from their own side then how ever would they be able to work with one from the other side?

Colin Barnett might have won this election but the Liberals shouldn't rely on the dysfunction of WA Labor to keep them in government forever.

 From a Community point of view it was disappointing to find so many of our candidates for high office unwilling or is that unable to have intelligent conversations about health & strategies to prevent Western Australia's skyrocketing rates of BBV & STIs.

Many candidates from all sides of parliament seemed to give the unfortunate impression that they were only interested in elector issues, though "they" seemed to have an interesting lack of perception about the nature of their electorates. Given that in regards to STIs the most at risk demographic includes those in the age range 14 - 26 the "phrase du jour" "does not effect my electorate", suggests that the reason why MPs don't support money being spent on safer sex education is that young people under the age of 18 don't count as they don't vote!

 Fagmedia understands that it was not the WA AIDS Council who were out and about lobbying for improvements for their clients! Anyone with an interest in conflict of interests can still visit WAAC's website and find Board Members profiles listed without any Political Party Membership disclosure!

Mr Barnett will need to deliver on his ambitious election promises, including those relating to public transport and make improvements in health, housing, the cost of living and get over it's fear of talking about sex!

If not the Liberal Party risks being left with a legacy that will resemble WA Labor's history of support for nepotism, wasting of taxpayer money and feeding the rich at the expense of the poor with the added bonus of destroying the environment for short term financial gain!

Fagmedia's "3 Seats To Watch".

Albany

The Biggest Winner at this State Election was WA Labor's Tom Watson who managed to retain the seat of Albany. This seat demonstrates the fact that a good local MP who delivers results for his electorate does not need to be a union hack to win preselection.

The Albany result demonstrates that building local grass roots connections and being interested in government for ALL voters will always trump glossy campaigns run by shiny candidates! Fagmedia suggests that all budding MP's who choose to meet with "members of the public during an election campaign" should be aware that texting when one is supposed to be engaged in a serious policy conversation is "something" that might cost precious votes when it gets talked about all over town.

If Colin wants to win Albany, the he will need to find a candidate who is more switched on to social niceties than Mrs Talbot's nephew!

Midland

 Someone said recently that the Member for Midland has the dubious achievement of having turned every safe ALP seat she has been given into a marginal seat. In this election a win by just 24 votes is something Michelle Roberts should be having a long think about!

It might be a win by 24 votes, but in campaign terms this represents a huge loss of face. It suggests that the Member for Midland has failed to engage with her electorate. Perhaps if Ms Roberts were to instruct her taxpayer funded staffers to start answering letters from constituents then WA Labor might yet save this seat next time.

In terms of the campaign, "what campaign?" seems to most appropriate question. While some WA Labor candidates ditched the logo on election materials, the Member for Midland seemed to take it one step further and ditched door knocking and delivering election materials altogether. Every-one in the electorate Fagmedia has spoken to, has the impression that the Campaign for Midland was a lazy effort and 24 votes equates to luck not good management! 

There is a rumour that some dodgy preference deals effected the results. Apparently the Christian Party agreed to preference the Libs but then after the printing of preference forms was done and dusted they changed their minds to and did a deal with the ALP.  Not very Christian but...

Perth

 Credit where credit is due, the Liberal Candidate for Perth, Eleni Evangel, was the clear Winner of this Seat! This was no good luck story the win was based on hard work door knocking and engaging with the electorate over a period of years which culminated in a visit to the Court Hotel with Premier Barnett!

The WA Labor MP, John Hyde seemed to give up on holding his seat and this is evidenced by the ditching of logos from advertising materials. Many commentators try to spin dropping party logos as benign but in truth it appears that ditching recognised brands from advertising is a sure sign of trouble in the electorate.

In addition to this, John Hyde's post election bolt from the media and subsequent public criticism of GLBTIQ who voted for the Liberal Party was perceived by many as lacking in respect for the community that supported his rise to high office. It is disappointing that the former Member did not take the time to thank the many people who have supported his work rather than blaming gay voters.

The problem for WA Labor is that certain "perthonalities" have seen fit to aggressively attack people either via email or face to face over their choice to vote for the Liberal Party. The problem this presents is that WA Labor failed to offer GLBTIQ people any policy incentives to vote for them.

Electors are more savvy people than political organisers like to think and so the introduction of the federal issue of Marriage Equality into this state campaign seemed have to been regarded as a publicity stunt rather than a genuine and serious policy innovation.

There is no doubt that politicians turning up to events for a photo in the paper is important but after time this becomes meaningless if all the talking about the need for change is not backed up with the delivery of policy outcomes that improve the life of the community. 

For the HIV Community, it is a sad fact that having a Gay WA Labor MP in the seat of Perth did not result in the delivery of any improvements to medical care access or any reformation of the toxic AIDS Council culture, that permeates care and support for positive people and their families.

Fagmedia understands that the Office of the former MP for Perth was made aware by both poz men and women, of many serious complaints including allegations of breaches of confidentiality that have been ignored or not resolved by the AIDS Council as per it's own rules of governance.

It is unfortunate that not delivering change for the electorate is sometimes easier in the short term rather than asking high profile members of one's own party to change a negative culture.

As this election result demonstrates,  ALL MPs should be aware that flicking 1 or 2 constituents once might not seem to be a big deal but over time 3 or 4 becomes 10 or 12  and before you know it there is a wave of dissatisfied voters chattering around the ether, influencing voting intentions and changing election outcomes.

What Fagmedia said was  "No one political party has a mortgage on the GLBTIQ "Vote" and we believe that before you cast your vote you should ask your sitting MP what have you delivered for the Positive & GLBTIQ Communities?"

The Greens Vote Collapse.

 In the Seat of Perth, the WA Greens could not hold departing South MLC Giz Watson's Central City power base. The Deputy Chair of the WA AIDS Council Greens Candidate lost half the Greens Vote to the Liberals & Socialist Alliance.

As counting continued beyond day 1, it was clear that The WA Greens had lost the Lesbian GLBTI Vote in the inner central areas of Perth and the AIDS Council Candidate's "StyleAID Legacy Vote" was too insignificant to prevent the GBTI & Poz Landslide away from the Greens.

In contrast to the Liberals who actively Courted the GLBTIQ Vote, the WA Greens got stuck online with a preaching to the converted facebook Campaign which surely stuck it to the Media Black Out Laws? If the Greens had been serious about improving their electoral clout then their candidates would have been out door knocking instead of relying on federal issues, e.g. marriage equality to win seats in a State Parliament.

If the Greens want to be serious about winning seats then they need to pre-select candidates with a real chance of winning. From a "PHGLBTIQ" perspective it was interesting that while the WA Greens candidate in the Seat of Perth might have been the Deputy Chair of the AIDS Council, this did not seem to translate into the added value of a comprehensive BBV STI policy which no doubt cost them votes.

If you examine the election result on a polling station level it is arguable that, the areas where more HIV+ people live "co-incidently" had those where highest Green vote drops offs were! John Hyde's "gracious" election speech is further proof of the GLBTIQ drift away from the Greens/ALP Coalition.

 Is it true that the Socialist Alliance won more votes from the Greens than it collected from WA Labor? At the end of the day, the Greens Vote loss in the city does not say much for the "Cache in the Community" of the WA AIDS Council!

Perhaps WAAC doesn't represent as many people as they say they do or they just like their constituency to be perceived as bigger than it is?  Or is it just that Rainbow Labor is also smelling of being the token ALP branch, that is confusing things?

The Socialist Alliance are one of the few political parties that seems to have mutual respect and good process as part of their modus operandi. It is disappointing that their result was over shadowed by the other minor parties. It will be interesting to see how the Socialists fare in future elections. 

Complaints have been made all over social media about the conduct of the extreme right christian Parties at polling booths all over WA. It was obvious that the 6 metre rule seems to be one of those "one rule for them another for us" opportunities. It is disappointing that the Electoral Commission has not taken action to ensure that on Sept 14 voters are not further harassed by Christian attack dogs!

Below: Sister Mary-Jane's Campaign.

In East Metro Seat the ABC reported: "Greens Vote Collapse in Midland!

It is interesting that Midland is in the Sister's catchment area! Perhaps if the WA Greens had banged out a HIV policy on their tippy typewriters when they were asked for one instead of ignoring a request from a journo and then expecting soft media, then the Midland result might not be so poor!

FYI: As Fagmedia has said many times before, being rude or nasty to one of our journalists is a sure way to make a name for yourself... the only problem the result might not be exactly to your liking. Bad Press at Fagmedia is always a last resort. Usually our staff beg community leaders not to make the dumb choices that get them onto our pages and yet no matter how hard we try some of "them" still like to find ways to blame our writers for their actions i.e. errors of judgement or policy decisions. 

As a result of our election coverage Fagmedia did receive many abusive bullying emails from people who turned out to be members of the WA Labor Party. Fagmedia has tried the "blah blah we all have freedom of choice".... "blah blah this is a free world we can have different opinions" etc etc. If you choose to engage in bullying tactics via email then please be aware that our new policy is to publish your hateful bigotry in all it's unedited personal identifying glory and let's see how that works out for you!

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