WA election 2017: Premier Colin Barnett urges Liberals to campaign with deputy Liza Harvey
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Liberal candidates have been urged to use WA Deputy Premier Liza Harvey to boost their election chances, with Premier Colin Barnett citing her "rock-star" drawing power as his personal approval rating remains at a record low.
Mr Barnett met with candidates behind closed doors on Tuesday and told them Mrs Harvey was very popular with voters, and they should use her as much as possible in public appearances and shopping centre walk-throughs.
After two terms in office, the Liberals continue to trail Labor in the polls, with Mr Barnett deeply unpopular with voters and well behind Labor leader Mark McGowan as preferred Premier.
While both Mr Barnett and Mrs Harvey insist he will lead the Liberals to the March 11 election, the Premier wants his deputy, who is tipped as a likely successor, to play a key role in the campaign.
"Liza is going to be very prominent ... She's an outstanding member of Parliament. She is a good communicator. She's very popular in the community so yeah, she's a big asset to our campaign," he said.
"She identifies with families in suburban areas. She's got children at school. She's been through a personal tragedy everyone is aware of [the loss of her husband to cancer] and she's a light, breezy and engaging person."
Mr Barnett has maintained a strong presence in media events as Premier and Tourism Minister, however he appears largely absent from election billboards for sitting members and candidates.
His deputy was quick to dismiss suggestions Mr Barnett was deliberately lowering his visibility to minimise the impact of his unpopularity in the electorate.
"He's not absent from election material at all. The Premier and I are together on a number of documents and a number of media releases," she said.
"He'll be out in the media daily just as I have been, so it's a complete furphy to say he's absent from the campaign. He's in the media all the time."
'No plans for any kind of swap': Harvey
Pushing Mrs Harvey to the frontline of the campaign is seen by some as a means of boosting the Liberals' stocks in the electorate, and by others as laying the foundation for a late leadership swap if the polls make it clear Mr Barnett is unlikely to win a third term.
However, Mrs Harvey said Mr Barnett would lead the party to the election.
"There's no plans for any kind of swap. As I've said previously, I'm happy to stand beside the Premier throughout the entire election campaign," she said.
"He's the Premier of the state and he's the right person to take us to the election."
Topics: states-and-territories, state-parliament, elections, perth-6000, wa
