Is this seat taken?
As the major parties draw election battle lines out west, changes to electorate boundaries may have an impact on who wins the next election.
It was almost like Anthony Albanese was in election mode this week as he launched a blitz of Western Australia, aware that Labor will struggle to hold onto its gains in the state when the country next goes to the polls.
The prime minister saturated the local airwaves and held a cabinet meeting in Perth on Monday. He also didn’t hesitate to make a commitment not to touch the state’s sweet GST deal in writing, albeit on the arm of a local journalist, while Defence Minister Richard Marles announced the expansion of the Henderson shipbuilding precinct.
At the 2022 election, Labor rode a unique wave in WA to seize four seats from the Coalition off the back of the popularity of then-Labor premier Mark McGowan’s border politics during the pandemic.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton now views the west as a key part of his route to the prime ministership, as Labor will be forced to defend the four seats: Hasluck, won by Tania Lawrence, Pearce (Tracey Roberts), Swan (Zaneta Mascarenhas) and Tangney (Sam Lim).
