West Australian voters punished the McGowan government for increasing household fees and charges, rather than its scandals, with a big swing against Labor in the Darling Range by-election, the state's Opposition says.
Alyssa Hayden, a two-term Barnett government upper house MP, beat Labor's candidate Tania Lawrence 53.3 per cent to 46.7 per cent on a two-party preferred basis when counting was more than 76 per cent complete.
Opposition Leader Mike Nahan says internal Liberal party polling of the electorate last month found the big issue for mortgage-stressed families was the government's July 1 household costs hike, including electricity and water.
Dr Nahan revealed the survey also predicted Saturday's result, despite the Liberals maintaining their underdog status right up until first results rushed in.
He also thanked Nationals WA for their assistance, with their former coalition partners handing out Liberal how-to-vote cards in a protest against the government's cuts to rural education.
Premier Mark McGowan has blamed disgraced former MP Barry Urban for the loss, saying the scandal had coloured Labor's campaign.
The by-election was triggered when Mr Urban quit before he could be expelled from parliament after lies about his education and work history were uncovered.
That highly public embarrassment compounded for the government when their candidate Colleen Yates resigned just days after being endorsed because she too was untruthful about her background, exaggerating tertiary qualifications in an online profile.
Mr McGowan says he decided the party should run despite the twin debacles.
"I had some people saying to me we shouldn't run," he told reporters on Sunday.
"I decided personally that we should run and we should give the people of Darling Range a choice."
Voter turn-out was higher than average for a WA by-election, with 77 per cent of the electorate casting their ballot.
Minor parties took a sizeable chunk of the vote, with the pro-GST reform Western Australia Party securing 5.8 per cent, while Pauline Hanson's One Nation beat the Greens with 7.8 per cent, although analysts had expected it would win nine per cent.
Share
