Richard Wilson’s resignation as the Liberals’ WA president more than a year after an internal party review makes clear the reasons for the 2021 wipe-out remain.
“HOPE is not a strategy,” was how one Liberal insider summed up their political party’s protracted torment.
“I wake up some mornings and ponder whether this is just a waste of time.”
What you’re about to read is not a hatchet job on a former political force reduced to just two seats in Western Australia’s Legislative Assembly by an election thrashing in 2021.
The Liberals have managed to flog themselves repeatedly without any provocation from outsiders.
But in the words of some party members reaching the end of their tether, it’s time the internal bloodletting, point scoring, score settling, navel-gazing and straight-out malice came to an end.
This journalist has heard all the arguments, listened to all the protestations and history-worn tirades about who did what to whom.
During those conversations there were Liberals who warned that overblown egos and narcissism had the potential to kill the 78-year-old institution in this state.
They said certain influential members of Parliament, lay party office holders and “old men still fighting old fights” are blind to how terminal the situation is while they obsess about the “need to be right” even at the expense of electoral success.
“They are elevating petty squabbles, exacerbating the negativity and this is coming at a severe cost,” said a Liberal MP, who did not want to be named.
Indeed, these types of stories rarely identify the sources because they fear retribution, or just use that as an excuse for their desire to remain nameless.
That in itself screams hypocrisy because the need for a robust democracy, rather than a one-party state, is at the centre of why the anonymous Liberals want to call time on the public feuding.
Even one-eyed warriors inside the Labor Party can see the current political landscape – a Legislative Assembly consisting of 53 of their MPs, four Nationals and two Liberals – is fraught.
“Seriously, it really worries me for democracy,” retiring Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan said last week.
“Notwithstanding that absolutely catastrophic incident – the 2021 election – those same people are in charge.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s really bad for democracy that we have an opposition you can’t even see beginning to dig themselves out of this hole.”
That was clearly a free kick for a Labor stalwart, but after securing the total-control victory that failed opposition leader Zak Kirkup so desperately warned about, Premier Mark McGowan had to assure the public there was nothing to fear.
“People have seen with me and my government that we’re very centrist, we’re very middle of the road, we’re very progressive, we’re caring but we’re responsible,” Mr McGowan said the morning after Labor’s resounding victory last year.
No-one could dispute that when voters went to mark their ballot papers in 2021, Mr McGowan and his Labor team were front of mind because of WA’s enviable pandemic management.
Some Liberals, though, have used COVID-19 as a sole defence when analysing the election wipe-out.
The internal review of the loss, written by barrister Mark Trowell and former Liberal president Danielle Blain, took a different view of the opposition’s defeat.
“The staggering laziness of the opposition and lack of action by the party in creating and selling acceptable policies much earlier than the advent of the pandemic were contributing factors,” the report found.
“The party was humiliated. The only conclusion that can be made is that the Liberal Party lost most of its voter base, who deserted it, because of its leadership squabbles, factional activities and loss of principles.”
The review also blamed the rise in evangelical and conservative religious powerbases within the party.
“They are well organised, turn out to vote and they are coalescing against rapid social change,” it said.
The problem is, according to the review, these members do not represent core Liberal values.
“The Liberal Party has for most of its history been a centre-right political party espousing beliefs in individual freedom, free enterprise and secularism,” the review said.
Labor secured a 17.7 per cent swing in 2021, and its opponents received just 21.3 per cent of the primary vote.
Blue-ribbon Liberal seats such as Nedlands, South Perth, Churchlands and Bateman fell to Labor in stunning results that made the premier blush.
“The Liberal Party is not even the opposition now,” a Liberal Party insider said.
“How bad does it have to get?”
Fundraising
Look no further than the once mighty 500 Club in WA to see how far the Liberal Party has fallen in the eyes of business and industry sectors. It’s understood the number of club members to walk away from the Liberal-aligned institution is in double figures.
The Australian Electoral Commission’s latest annual returns of political parties reveals the club, established in 1986 to support conservative politics at the time Brian Burke’s Labor was in office, donated a paltry $50,000 to the Liberal Party’s WA division.
Compare that to the $635,000 in 2014 or the $588,000 in 2016.
“Established Liberal supporters are not wanting to throw good money after bad,” was how a fundraising operative saw the current situation.
“True-blue, rusted-on Liberal donors gave money to [Curtin Independent] Kate Chaney in the federal election.”
Continuing to plague the party’s reputation with big and small business across the state is the fallout from thousands of leaked WhatsApp messages between a powerful group of Liberals, who referred to themselves as “the clan”.
The group included former federal finance minister Mathias Cormann, former state Liberal vice-president Michelle Hofmann and upper house MPs Peter Collier and Nick Goiran.
Source: Australian Election Commission
Enemies of the clan inside the Liberal Party were routinely referred to by puerile and offensive nicknames in the chat group.
As recently as August, Mr McGowan and his ministers gleefully quoted from clan messages in Parliament to blunt an opposition attack, and then tied in Liberal leader David Honey as a captive to the clan’s power.
“We know that the member for Cottesloe cannot do anything because if he dares criticise Nick Goiran, the person sitting next to him now will be the leader the next day,” Racing and Gaming Minister Tony Buti said in reference to Vasse MP Libby Mettam.
“He has been absolutely pathetic in his lack of criticism when it comes to the clan.”
A number of businessmen and women, on top of those who have already gone public, made it very clear to the 500 Club that they will not even support the party at arm’s length until the clan issues are in the past and the negative headlines end.
One person involved in fundraising did suggest some businesspeople were returning to the fold and that they were quietly confident the Liberals were now “at the bottom of the bell curve”.
“Then again, you might come back to me in a year and tell me I have no idea what I’m talking about,” they said.
Another indictment on the party’s financial position, as revealed in the post-election review, was the performance of the Liberals’ own finance committee.
It had not raised a single dollar in the 12 months leading up to the election.
Frustration
The internal review, titled Labor’s Full House: Road to Reform, provided an opportunity for the party to adopt recommendations and move forward with unity.
But 13 months later, the person charged with pulling the Liberals back from the cliff’s edge – party president Richard Wilson – quit, citing a new career opportunity and despair at the “toxic self-interest” he faced daily.
“It is also noteworthy that our party has faced significant challenges from within over the past 12 months,” Mr Wilson wrote in an email.
He rattled off a litany of dysfunction in what must have been a cathartic release for the outgoing president.
“Including two senior MPs threatening legal action against both the party and individual volunteers, public media commentary about internal party matters for the purpose of pursuing factional objectives, leaks from party meetings carried out for the sole purpose of undermining factional opponents, motions and speeches delivered at party meetings which look to settle internal scores rather than advance the party’s objectives, and the use of the party’s constitution to disenfranchise members from exercising a vote in local branches for the sake of preserving the career of sitting MPs, regardless of the quality of the MP’s performance,” Mr Wilson wrote.
He went on to say that none of the above will win the party “a single vote at election time”.
“The party must overcome such disunity if it is to return to being an electoral force,” he said.
The name Noel Crichton-Browne, a Liberal powerbroker when Sweet’s Fox on the Run was topping the music charts, was suggested to Business News as being a key agitator in the shadows.
When that was put to the former Liberal state president and senator, he didn’t hold back.
“Those running the party have gutted it,” Mr Crichton-Browne said.
“Traditional Liberal voters have no reason to support the party. They have lost heart, trust and faith in the party.”
His doomsday scenario was that enough independents and so-called teal candidates will emerge at the next state election to completely neutralise the Liberal Party in the crucial western and inner-city seats.
“And there can only ever be a change of government again if those seats go back to the Liberal Party,” Mr Crichton-Browne said.
“People say it can’t get worse. Yes, it can.”
After the federal election battering, Mr Wilson addressed the party’s state council saying the message had been clearly received from the public twice in 14 months.
Reform was critical.
“Failure to do so will result in more disappointment in 2025, and the continuation of a dangerous left-wing agenda to the detriment of Australia,” he wrote.
“We cannot allow this to happen. We must demonstrate to the public that we are cleaning up our own backyard and are committed to reform in advance of the 2025 elections.”
To illustrate the level of complexity in making any progress, Mr Wilson was apparently a strong supporter of the party’s constitutional and drafting committee chair Tim Houweling.
He saw Mr Houweling as someone trying to bring about change, however, a group of party elder statesmen, ironically called the Liberal reform coalition, remain hostile and argue the rehabilitation has been minimal.
The outspoken coalition includes former Liberal opposition leader Bill Hassell, who last year warned that a new conservative party would be created if the Liberals couldn’t get their house in order and act on all of the review’s findings.
“And if it doesn’t, the Liberal Party is finished,” Mr Hassell told reporters.
“It’s as simple as that.”
Mr Hassell’s continued public criticism triggered a demonstration of how profound the current animosity is and how far back people are prepared to go to make a point.
According to a 1983 document sent to Business News, Mr Hassell was the then chair of a party committee trying to stop Liberal members speaking out publicly about their concerns.
Remarkably, the committee’s 39-year-old meeting notes mirror the problems besetting the party today.
“Members airing personal grievances publicly has done immeasurable damage,” the notes read.
“Public and internal criticism has it that the party has lost its sense of purpose, its determination and its sense of direction.
“It matters not whether this public perception is real or otherwise. Re-establishing its creditability in the wider community by demonstrating its commitment to Liberal values must be the primary objective for the party at this time.”
Fast forward to the present, and only last week a potentially explosive legal fight between Liberal Senator Dean Smith and the party was averted when the senator threatened to go all the way to the Supreme Court, after facing censure for comments he made about the federal election’s campaign chairwoman in WA.
“For as long as there are stories like those going around then that’s where the media will go,” a disheartened Liberal MP said.
“Forget the fallacy of a white knight riding in to save the day. I mean, why would they?
“The first priority must be to win enough seats in 2025 to become the official opposition again.
“The energy needs to stop being misdirected.”
Some of that energy involved Mr Houweling bringing forward a controversial proposal to have new Liberal members of parliament agree to a series of key performance indicators.
If they failed to meet the KPIs they would have to resign.
What followed was another battle in the public arena when Mr Trowell, who is not a Liberal member, warned such a move would be against the law.
The plan was dropped.
Around the time of Mr Wilson’s decision to resign as party president, Ms Mettam was put on the spot during a press conference.
She expressed a view that many of her bickering colleagues refuse to adopt.
“The public is quite frankly sick of the Liberal Party talking about itself and it is vital that, as a party going forward, we remain committed and focused on our significant job ahead,” Ms Mettam said.
Leadership
As one of only two Liberal MPs in the lower house, Ms Mettam is never far from leadership speculation because of the ongoing turmoil.
Recent polling has been damning of Mr Honey’s ability to cut through and some Liberals in the upper house are getting anxious as the 2025 state and federal elections come closer.
However, there is a range of problems in turning to Ms Mettam.
She is a regional MP and would be expected to be available to the city media most days of the week and on weekends.
A party-room spill to dump Mr Honey would create an untenable situation in the lower house while there are only two Liberals to take the fight up to the government.
Labor would have a field day during the all-important parliamentary question time.
Thirdly, Ms Mettam is comfortable when bashing the government about the state of the health system.
She is less confident when questions turn to other issues of the day.
Nevertheless, most Liberals spoken to by Business News believe the change has to happen.
“David Honey can’t make a connection with the community,” said one.
“Having Honey as leader is a disincentive to voters,” said another.
“The growing view in the party room is that David has had enough time, support and advice but there has been no improvement.”
A Liberal MP said it was difficult getting motivated to take on the government when, as things stood, the opposition didn’t even have the ability to get an amendment to legislation changed, let alone to stop new laws being enacted.
“We have next to no influence on policy in the state,” the MP said.
“Right now, the Liberal Party remains a political movement that needs to be rebuilt and we don’t have the luxury of time.”
