The WA Liberals go into the election as underdogs, but the premier says the gap is narrowing, while his opponent tapped into voter angst about the economy with a bold budget repair pledge.
After officially kicking off campaigning for the March 11 state election on Wednesday afternoon with a visit to the governor for the issuing of writs, Premier Colin Barnett admitted securing a third term would be tough, as history has shown.
"This election is going to be close, it's going to be perhaps unpredictable, it's going to be hard fought," Mr Barnett told reporters.
"We are behind as I would judge it and indeed the various opinion polls have consistently shown that.
"I believe it's the case that the gap is narrowing.
"There are a number of unpredictable seats, some of them held by the Liberal party, some of them held by the National party and certainly some of them held by the Labor party.
"So this is a very unusual election - I can't call it - I will simply work as hard as I can to win it."
His comments came a day after he warned it would be a nasty campaign, lashing Labor for what he labelled personal attacks on his ministers.
The Liberal leader also expects the opposition will capitalise on the fact he won't serve a full term if he wins and still refuses to say specifically how long he would remain premier, only saying he would serve most of the four years.
Mr Barnett didn't hold back when it came to trashing Labor's policies, singling out its pledge to tear up contracts for the contentious Roe 8 project, saying that would create nervousness about other contracts such as crucial mining state agreements.
Mr Barnett conceded his government had let debt mount higher than he'd like, but insisted the spending was necessary and privatising utility Western Power was a good part of the Liberal solution.
"This money has not been squandered or lost," he said.
"It has been invested in services for people today and then for their children and grandchildren into the future
"There is a plan. The Labor party have no plan."
Opposition Leader Mark McGowan disagreed, saying the Liberals had blown the boom while promising to bring the budget back to surplus in a first term - an ambitious plan considering the deficit is forecast to hit a record $3.39 billion this year.
"We've certainly got the plans and policies," he said.
"If people are concerned about debt as they should be, the first thing the state should do is vote out the government that created the problem."
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten will visit Perth on Thursday to lend his support to the party's campaign, hot on the heels of opposition transport spokesman Anthony Albanese's trip to the west.
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