West Australian Premier Colin Barnett insists there will never be a leadership spill against him because he will handle it with maturity if his colleagues want him out of the role.
Mr Barnett has been plagued by rumours about his leadership after poor results in recent opinion polls and a Perth businessman flagging a spill motion that never eventuated.
But the premier said on Thursday there would never be a spill because there would be no contest.
"If it was necessary to change leader then I would have a mature, sensible approach to that," he told 6PR radio.
Mr Barnett said the community had been courteous to him, but the Liberals were still slipping in the polls and his leadership had been discussed in the party room.
"I put the question to my colleagues. They want me to continue as leader," he said.
Asked if he would remain in the role through to the state election in March, Mr Barnett said: "For so long as my colleagues want me to do so, yes I will."
He added he currently had their full support.
"If I thought my time was over and if I thought there was someone else that could do a better job then I would walk out the door, but that's not going to happen," he said.
Political analyst Harry Phillips said Mr Barnett may not lead the party to the state election if he continued to poll badly, and would likely wait until the next Newspoll in July - and after the federal election - to decide his future.
"I think he would step down if he absolutely thought he was going to lose," Prof Phillips told AAP.
"It's still not going to be easy for Labor to win.
"Ten seats with a 10 per cent swing - that's very, very big - and if he thinks he can just come under that with an 8 per cent swing, he might just stay there."
Prof Phillips said regardless of when Mr Barnett stepped down - given he has said he won't serve a full term if re-elected - he'll go out fighting for WA to get a fairer share of the GST.
A clearly frustrated Mr Barnett has taken aim at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in recent days, including him in a string of successive prime ministers "who show sympathy but fail to act".
Share
