Liberal leadership stunned into silence, as lessons of defeat prove hard to learn
Updated
There are hard lessons to be learnt from political defeat, especially one as devastating as the electoral catastrophe that wiped out the Barnett government.
The scale of the Liberal-National alliance's defeat has left its MPs and supporters stunned, and the surviving Liberal leadership silent.
Seven cabinet ministers fell, including the leader of the WA Nationals, and Labor is ruling the Lower House with 41 seats.
It was a comprehensive, overwhelming and brutal victory which stripped the Liberals of some its most experienced and talented politicians, and the Nationals of the firebrand leader that led its resurgence.
But a week after the Barnett government was swept from office, it appears the lessons from that loss are proving hard to learn.
President standing by One Nation deal
As the campaign pressure intensified in the week leading up to polling day, then-premier Colin Barnett vented his frustration at the media, telling reporters to "raise their game".
Internal polling reportedly showed in the wake of that performance, the Liberals' primary vote dropped below 30 per cent.
Yet just 24 hours after the election loss, Liberal president Norman Moore was still defending the preference deal with One Nation.
Mr Moore said he accepted full responsibility for the campaign, but insisted the One Nation deal did not adversely affect the party's already low primary vote.
The spectacle of the premier's media appearances being dominated by questions about the preference deal and Pauline Hanson was the fault of the media, not the party or its powerbrokers.
"If your journos and all your friends in the media want to keep asking questions about One Nation, that's their decision, not mine," he told ABC Radio Perth on Monday.
"But the fact is they were somehow infatuated with Pauline Hanson. If that's the way you want to be in the media, its entirely up to you."
Leaders' deafening silence
But while Mr Moore was quick out of the blocks to defend the preference deal, the silence was deafening from the surviving Liberal leadership team of Mr Barnett and his deputy Liza Harvey.
As the days passed and the list of cabinet casualties mounted, they were nowhere to be seen or heard, remaining both silent and invisible.
By Tuesday, it was left to outgoing Corrective Services minister Joe Francis to fill the void.
A former naval officer and submariner, Mr Francis has an acute appreciation of the need for leadership in a crisis.
He was facing a crisis of his own, trailing Labor in his seat of Jandakot, a seat he would lose just a few hours later.
Mr Francis was openly dismayed by the paralysis and denial that had gripped the Liberals since the defeat.
But where were his leaders? And why did it fall to him to speak out?
"I have desire to be open and honest with people, whether my colleagues, a few of them will probably be quite angry with me," he said.
"But you have to be honest with people and you have to be honest with the public. This is what I'm trying to do. Let's start the conversation. Let's admit our failings," he said.
But from the premier and deputy premier, there was still nothing.
It was not until a chance encounter with Mrs Harvey at a coffee shop in East Perth on her way home from a school drop-off that she offered any explanation for what happened.
Approached by ABC reporters, she reluctantly answered questions about the campaign and the disastrous result it produced.
"I'm halfway through cleaning up my house and mopping up after what has been a terrible election," she said.
"I'm not going to comment on that until we've had a proper analysis done. The party will arrange a proper analysis of everything that's occurred."
Reporter: "You say it was terrible. They are your words?"
"Well look at the outcome. The outcome has been devastating for many many members. Yes, it has to have been a terrible campaign if that is the result that we've achieved," she said.
The hard grind of opposition
Mrs Harvey was one of the Liberal class of 2008, a cohort of politicians who have only known life on the government benches, with all the support and resources that go with being in office.
The lack of visible leadership in the days after the loss has raised serious questions about how many of those MPs have the stomach for the hard grind of opposition.
Premier Mark McGowan knows both the despair of political defeat and the resource-starved existence of life on the opposition benches.
He said it takes time to come to grips with the loss and get back in the game.
"Defeat is hard. There's a grieving process they'll go through. But I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm not dancing at their misfortune," he said.
"All I'm going to do is fill the role of Premier as best I can and create the best government I can."
The challenge for the Liberals is to now regroup and create an effective opposition.
Topics: government-and-politics, liberals, wa
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