2025 Western Australian state election
← 2021 8 March 2025 2029 →
All 59 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
and all 37 members in the Western Australian Legislative Council
30 Assembly seats are needed for a majority
Opinion polls
 
3 Feb 15 FREO FSH gnangarra-123.jpg
Toodyay show gnangarra-2000.jpg
Leader Roger Cook Shane Love Libby Mettam
Party Labor National Liberal
Leader since 6 June 2023 30 January 2023 30 January 2023
Leader's seat Kwinana Moore Vasse
Last election 53 seats, 59.92% 4 seats, 4.00% 2 seats, 21.30%
Current seats 53 seats 3 seats[a] 3 seats[a]
Seats needed Steady Increase 27 Increase 27
Incumbent Premier

Roger Cook
Labor



The 2025 Western Australian state election is scheduled to be held on 8 March 2025 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, where all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 37 seats in the Legislative Council will be up for election.

Going into the election, the Labor government, will be led by Premier Roger Cook who replaced Mark McGowan after his resignation in June 2023. They will attempt to win a first full term against the National–Liberal opposition, currently led by Shane Love and Libby Mettam respectively, after Labor's two consecutive election victories under McGowan.[3]

Candidates will be elected to single-member seats in the Legislative Assembly via full-preferential instant-runoff voting. In the Legislative Council, 37 candidates are elected across the state, which functions as a single electorate.

Background

The 2021 state election saw Labor win one of the most comprehensive victories on record at the state or territory level in Australia. It won 53 of the 59 seats, surpassing its own record set four years earlier for the largest government majority and seat tally in Western Australian parliamentary history.[4][5]

Electoral system

Candidates are elected to single-member seats in the Legislative Assembly via full-preferential instant-runoff voting. In the Legislative Council, 37 candidates are elected across the state, which functions as a single electorate.

Legislative Council voting changes

In September 2021, the McGowan Labor Government introduced the "one vote, one value" legislation to change the voting system for the Legislative Council at this election. Under the then-existing voting system for the upper house, which had been in place since 2005, voters were divided into six regions of unequal weight, each of whom were responsible for electing six candidates (36 in total). Three of the regions were based in metropolitan Perth, and three in the regions. This meant that a region like the Mining and Pastoral region had 16% of the average number of electors in the three metropolitan regions.[6][7] The government proposed abolishing the regions and replacing them with what it called a "one vote, one value" system. Instead, 37 members will be elected from a single statewide constituency. This increased the size of the council by one seat. Group voting tickets, which were abolished for the federal Senate in 2016 and are utilised only for the Victorian Legislative Council, would also be abolished.[8] Votes are instead cast under an optional preferential voting system, requiring electors to vote for one or more preferred parties above the dividing line on the ballot paper, or at least 20 candidates below the dividing line.[9] The legislation passed the parliament on 17 November 2021 and received royal assent seven days thereafter.[10][11][12]

Redistribution

The Western Australian Electoral Commission conducted a redistribution of the boundaries of all 59 electoral districts. The final boundaries for the electoral districts were released on 1 December 2023.[13]

The seats of Moore and North West Central were merged to create a new seat, Mid-West.[13] The merger of two rural seats into one was matched by the creation of a new seat in Perth, Oakford, which covers growing suburbs between Armadale and the Kwinana Freeway.[13]

According to psephologist Antony Green, the Coalition will need a combined swing of 23.4% to gain the 24 seats needed to form a majority government.[13]

On the new boundaries, there are 17 seats with margins under 15%, which will be regarded as "key seats". (Green described these as "marginal seats" due to the extent of Labor's landslide in 2021, as normally a margin of over 15% would be considered a safe seat.)

New "key seats", with margins under 15%
Seat Party Margin
New 2021 2017
Churchlands ALP 1.6 0.8 13.2
Warren-Blackwood ALP 2.2 1.3 13.4
Nedlands ALP 3.1 2.8 8.3
Carine ALP 4.0 2.5 9.0
Vasse LIB 4.3 4.3 14.7
Bateman ALP 6.7 6.7 9.5
Cottesloe LIB 7.4 7.4 13.3
Mid-West NAT 8.6 —
Central Wheatbelt NAT 8.6 10.7 22.6
Geraldton ALP 9.3 11.7 1.3
Scarborough ALP 9.5 10.4 5.6
South Perth ALP 10.1 10.1 7.2
Roe NAT 12.2 11.1 14.4
Albany ALP 11.0 13.7 5.1
Dawesville ALP 13.1 13.9 0.7
Darling Range ALP 14.1 13.5 5.8
Kalamunda ALP 14.5 11.8 2.5

Key dates

Elections are scheduled for the second Saturday of March every four years, in line with legislative changes made in 2011.[14]

While the Legislative Assembly has fixed four-year terms, the Governor of Western Australia may still dissolve the Assembly and call an election early on the advice of the Premier.[15]

Retiring MPs

Labor

National

Liberal

Opinion polling

Voting intention

Legislative Assembly (lower house) polling
Date Firm Sample Primary vote TPP vote
ALP LIB NAT GRN ONP OTH ALP LIB
14 December 2023 Redbridge[22] 1200 44% 29% 4% 11% 3% 9% 59% 41%
23 July 2023 Utting Research[23] 1000 32% 37% 6% 10% — 15% 46% 54%
31 May 2023 Utting Research[24] 800 52% 28% 5% 8% — 7% 61% 39%
13 Mar 2021 election N/A 59.9% 21.3% 4.0% 6.9% 1.3% 6.6% 69.7% 30.3%

Preferred Premier

Date Firm Sample Preferred Premier
Cook Mettam Don't know
31 May 2023 Utting Research[24] 800 50% 24% 26%

Satisfaction ratings

Date Firm Sample Cook Mettam
Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know Net Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know Net
23 July 2023 Utting Research[23] 1000 27% 37% 36% -10% 31% 24% 45% +7%
31 May 2023 Utting Research[24] 800 42% 26% 32% +16% 31% 33% 36% -2%
Date Firm Sample McGowan Mettam
Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know Net Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know Net
11 Mar 2023 Painted Dog Research[25] 1052 63% 24% 13% +39% 24% 18% 58% +6%
Date Firm Sample McGowan Honey
Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know Net Satisfied Dissatisfied Don't know Net
19–21 Oct 2022 Painted Dog Research[26] 637 70% 18% 12% +52% 9% 31% 60% -22%

Notes

  1. ^ a b In late October 2023, Merome Beard, National MP for the rural electorate of North West Central, defected to the Liberal Party.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ Carmody, James; Perpitch, Nicolas; Mundy, Garrett (31 October 2023). "Nationals MP Merome Beard quits party to join Liberals, throwing opposition alliance into doubt". ABC News.
  2. ^ Hastie, Hamish (31 October 2023). "WA Liberals-Nationals divide widens to a chasm with shock defection of MP". WA Today.
  3. ^ Shepherd, Tory (29 May 2023). "Mark McGowan resigns as premier of Western Australia saying he is 'exhausted'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  4. ^ WA Election 2021 ABC News
  5. ^ Mark McGowan leads Labor landslide in WA as Liberals' worst fears are realised The Guardian 13 March 2021
  6. ^ Green, Antony (6 March 2017). "The Growing Bias Against Perth and the South West in WA's Legislative Council". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
  7. ^ Green, Antony. "WA's Zonal Electoral System and the Legislative Council Reform Debate – Antony Green's Election Blog". Antony Green's Election Blog. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  8. ^ Rhiannon Shine and Jacob Kagi (15 September 2021). "Mark McGowan announces sweeping changes to WA's electoral system, abolishing regions". ABC News.
  9. ^ "EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM: CONSTITUTIONAL AND ELECTORAL LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (ELECTORAL EQUALITY) BILL 2021" (PDF). parliament.wa.gov.au. Refer to pp. 3
  10. ^ Rhiannon Shine and Nicolas Perpitch (17 November 2021). "WA government uses majority to introduce sweeping changes to electoral system". ABC News.
  11. ^ "Progress of Bills: Constitutional and Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Equality) Bill 2021". parliament.wa.gov.au.
  12. ^ "Constitutional and Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Equality) Act 2021" (PDF). legislation.wa.gov.au.
  13. ^ a b c d https://antonygreen.com.au/western-australia-redistribution-final-boundaries-released/
  14. ^ "State Elections". Western Australia Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  15. ^ Electoral and Constitution Amendment Act 2011 (WA), section 5
  16. ^ Law, Peter (29 July 2022). "Alannah MacTiernan set to retire from politics at next State election". The West Australian. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  17. ^ Weber, David (30 November 2023). "WA's Mines, Petroleum and Energy Minister Bill Johnston resigns from state parliament". ABC News. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  18. ^ Carmody, James (27 January 2023). "WA Opposition Leader Mia Davies announces resignation". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  19. ^ Joe, Spagnolo (29 January 2023). "Joe Spagnolo opinion: Leadership stoush a test of the power of The Clan". The West Australian. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  20. ^ Dietsch, Jake (10 January 2024). "Long-serving Liberal MLC Donna Faragher will retire at 2025 election". The West Australian. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  21. ^ Hastie, Hamish (10 January 2024). "WA Liberals' only upper house female MLC to quit parliament". WAtoday. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  22. ^ "WA has turned into a Labor fortress". Twitter. 15 December 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  23. ^ a b "Poll shows Libby Mettam's Liberals hold 54-46 two-party preferred lead over Labor with Roger Cook as Premier". The West Australian. 23 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  24. ^ a b c "Leadership polling: New numbers offer Liberals a small glimmer of hope". The West Australian. 31 May 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  25. ^ "McGowan's approval rating at lowest level since pandemic". 11 March 2023.
  26. ^ Law, Peter. "'WA Liberal Party leader David Honey's approval rating at a humiliating low, new Painted Dog Research reveals'". The West Australian. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
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